~Date: ~November 06~

Verdun, located on the banks of the Meuse River, is a small city in northeastern France, 225 kilometers west of Paris and 58 kilometers east of Metz, and is known as the "key for Paris". It was the castle of Gaul in ancient times. In 843, three grandsons of Emperor Charles the Great signed the Treaty of Verdun to divide the Charlemagne Empire, establishing the Kingdom of East, Middle, and West Frank, forming the prototype of Germany, Italy and France. Later, Verdun belonged to a variety of changes. After belonging to France in 1648, a series of forts were built around it, and thus became a fortress. After that, it became a place for war between the two countries of Pradesh and France. It was captured by the Ao and Pradesh coalition in 1792. It was occupied by the Pradesh and Pradesh war again until 1873.

Verdun in 1916 was just a support point for the fortress that was not noticed by people. However, for this fortress, its dramatic start might have begun in June 1915, when a delegation of the French Parliament Military Committee inspected the fortress there. The delegates heard some rumors on the front that some grassroots officers and soldiers of Verdun were worried because of insecurity, because the German prince's army was right in front.

General Dibay, who commanded the Eastern Army Group, and General Kudonso, the local commander of Verdon. General Dibay explained to the delegates that after the Battle of Liege and the Battle of Namur, the actual use value of the permanent fortresses no longer exists. They can definitely be destroyed by heavy howitzers, so they are only facilities for local garrisons to attract artillery shells. Verdon's only effective defense is a field army that guards the defense line extending around the fortress.

According to this well-reasoned idea, the equipment of the fortress had been removed, and the reserved guns, garrisons and storage supplies had been scattered to the various units. General Kudonso, the local commander, was a reckless person, and almost after his superiors made this statement, he expressed his dissent. He believed that the fortress still had high value and should play an important role in the defense of the position. General Dibay was furious at his subordinates and rebuked him in a bad manner, so that after the delegation returned to Paris, he believed that the Minister of the Army must be called upon to protect the wise chief, who dared to speak out, from punishment and humiliation.

However, in fact, after a few weeks, the general Kudonso, who dared to speak out, was still transferred from the position of Verdon as the chief of the local officials and replaced by General El. By the end of January 1916, the command of the army, including the Verdon defenders, was transferred from General Dibay to the central army group commanded by General Delanger Dekari. Therefore, the responsibility for ignoring the comprehensive expansion of defense in the region was not concentrated, so it was difficult to pursue it.

If, in a military sense alone, Verdun has no special importance to the French and German forces. The fire equipment of the Verdun Fortress has been removed. Verdun has no real ammunition depot; it has no protective effect on any meaningful strategic point. It is 220 kilometers away from Paris, and even if the Germans capture the place, it will not have any significant impact on the security of the capital or the entire line of defense.

It is also because of this that for the French Command, they have never paid attention to this place, and for the French, they have never considered the Germans to launch an attack from here, but they do not know that it is a dangerous exit for Frankingham or Rudendorf, which endangers the major German railway transportation lines less than 20 kilometers away.

However, on the contrary, Verdun had only two bad railway lines on the French side, and the German army had received no less than 15 railways in the occupied areas of this front. Therefore, it should be easy for the German army to try to prevent Verdun from attacking. At best, the capture of Verdun was only a military convenience for the German army, and it was only a minor inconvenience for the French army.

For the French, Verdun had no military significance, but for the French nation, there was a feeling of dependence on Verdun here. Because of this, before the French realized all this, the Germans took the initiative to choose here.

"It is a great fortress facing Metz with pride. Its name has been lingering in the minds of the Germans for centuries. It is the most progressive castle in France and the main fortress on the eastern border of France. Its fall will react throughout Europe, and once we conquer it, the victory of the Marne and Iser will be forever eclipsed."

In the Fifth Army Command with the "Crown William Army", Farkinhan, who rushed from Berlin to the front line, watched the Crown William, whose reputation rose sharply after Ardennes' victory, once again explained his offensive ideas to him. At this time, the argument he made was the basis for Farkinhan's decision to attack Verdun.

"Our attack on Verdun will not be a "breakthrough" attack, and the attackers will not fall into a pocket surrounded by firepower on all sides. They will shoot at the French army, constantly attacking the French army's positions that are determined by pride. And the 18 divisions and a large number of artillery under the command of His Highness will extinguish the French troops and make France "blood flow into a river."

When he explained his own ideas, Fajinhan seemed to be full of glory. In his opinion, in the end, this place would attract the attention of the whole of France as he planned, and then it would become a "mill" and a mill that devoured the French.

"Blood flows into a river?"

Crown William looked at the French defense line in the Verdun area on the map and looked at Farkinhan with some confusion, but his brows frowned. Although he was just a colonel, as the crown prince, he was often summoned by his father as his son. However, he was uneasy about the attack on Verdun. In fact, he had already obtained this news from his father after Farkinhan proposed this strategic concept to his father William II last year. Unlike Farkinhan's strategic view, he was more inclined to the view of most military staff in the General Staff. He also believed that it would be wiser to settle Russia in the East first, because if Russia was defeated

, can help Germany get rid of the dilemma of fighting on both sides. At the same time, Germany can use the resources of Russia and even the entire Asia to help Germany win this war. Now, Faringham's choice is simply a risk, but on the other hand, because he has been suppressed for a long time, his opposition will not play a decisive role, although he is the owner of the future Germany. However, at this time, Faringham repeatedly claimed that the French army will "flow all the blood" in Verdun, which made him feel deeply uneasy because he does not believe that the blood shed will only happen to the French army, and the blood is corresponding. When France sheds a drop of blood, Germany is also bleeding.

"Once the battle begins, the French's proud land of "Verdun", will become an anvil iron. The French will be hammered on the anvil iron by German artillery until death. The French army held a fixed position with patriotic passion, and may be blown away by artillery fire there! As long as two French people die, one German soldier will be killed, then we will win this war! The ultimate goal of this battle is to use Verdun to exhaust France's blood!"

The extremely cold words made Prince William look at him while he was silly. This was really... too risky. Did he never consider that Germany's blood was thinner than France? What is Germany's blood easier to flow dry?

"What if the French decide to give up Verdun?"

Looking at the map, in the eyes of Crown William, Verdun has no value worthy of persistence in the military. If he was Xia Fei, in the face of this situation, he would definitely withdraw from here, and then...

"Of course, if the French army is unwilling to sacrifice tragically, if they think that there is no need to make a huge sacrifice to defend the hills of Verdun, which have built empty fortresses, then this plan to make the French shed blood will inevitably fail. I do not want to make this statement too far."

While talking about Fa Jinhan said confidently.

"Whether for France or Germany, Verdun will be a monument to victory. For the challenges from us, the proud Frenchmen will definitely deal with all their manpower and material resources..."

Fakinhan, who correctly measured the psychology of the French nation, suddenly looked up at Crown William and said vigorously.

"So. We have to launch an attack from here, to make the Gaul roosters pay the price for their pride, and ultimately the price of letting the whole France run dry!"

As he said that, he raised his chin slightly and looked at Prince William and said mysteriously.

"And. In this battle, we will use an unprecedentedly powerful weapon. The use of this weapon will ensure that we can conquer the French positions at a very small cost. It can be said that this weapon will completely change the state of war on the Western Front!"

Fakingham's pride made Prince William curious. He looked at Fakingham who seemed a little mysterious. He had never doubted his confidence, but it was the first time he saw his mystery, so he asked in confusion.

"General, can you tell me what weapon you are talking about?"

Faced with the curiosity of Crown Prince William, Fakingham smiled slightly and then said.

"When the railway is completed next week, your highness will be able to see him. After the battle begins, the whole of France, no, will be the whole world at that time, and will witness the power of the shocking power of "Alfred"!"

The moment the words fell, Fajinhan tried his best to fist Verdun on the map table, and said with certainty.

"Veldon! This war will change from here!"

"Veldon!"

In the city of Peiping thousands of kilometers away, in the military map room that is only a wall separated from the General Office, a large map of the French battlefield is hung on the wall, and a military map of the Verdun region is tiled flat on the map table.

"Believe me, this place will soon attract the attention of the whole world!"

Looking at Xiao Xiao standing in front of the military map, Li Zicheng said in a very confident tone that since the expeditionary army set out, he has been observing the situation in Europe. Although he did not know the history of World War I, he remembered that place and that time because of the name of "Verdun Meat Grinder" - February 1916.

It was from then on that time that Li Zicheng ordered the intelligence agencies stationed in France to collect intelligence from the Verdun area, but the collected intelligence scared him. The French did not seem to realize the possibility of the German attack on Verdun. It can be said that it was the weakest place in the entire Western Front.

"According to the information we have, the French Verdun Fortification area spans the banks of the Meuse River, with a front width of 112 kilometers and a depth of 15 to 18 kilometers; there are four defensive positions, the first three are field defense positions, and the fourth is a solid position composed of the fortifications and two fortification areas. It is condescending, easy to defend and difficult to attack. The French Third Army has 11 divisions and more than 630 artillery, commanded by General F. El, 5 divisions defend the area north of Verdun, and 3 divisions defend the area east and southeast of Verdun. Three divisions are arranged as reserves in the west bank of the Meuse River south of Verdun."

Then, Li Zicheng pointed to the German controlled area on the other side.

"The 5th Army under the command of the German Crown Prince William has 7 troops, 18 divisions, more than 1,200 artillery and about 170 aircraft. In terms of force, the Germans have an absolute advantage. Considering the national sentiment of the French nation maintained by Verdun, if the Germans attack here, the French have almost no other choice except to defend Verdun, unless the French can sit and watch Verdun fall, and thus have a severe blow to their national sentiment!"

Recalling the information about Verdun meat grinders I saw in some military magazines in the past, Li Zicheng was like a military strategist. He was talking there, and the military staff of several National Courtyards in this military map room kept nodding. They might have doubts, but at this time, they were unwilling to disturb the President's interest. After all, this was just his attention. The National Courtyard was very involved in the war of the Expeditionary Force, even the President's Office. Therefore, they were extremely cooperative with the President's interest today. After all, sometimes, they could benefit a little from some of the Prime Minister's ideas. Although to a certain extent, he was an outsider, but in many cases, he had some extremely novel ideas, and those ideas could always change the way of war to a certain extent.

For example, airplanes, such as airborne troops, and... In short, listen to his military ideas more, and there will be no harm. However, today, they find that the Prime Minister is different from the past, because he is talking about a possible battle on the Western Front.

They do not have much confidence in the "future" battle mentioned by the Prime Minister. Although the State Council does not interfere with expeditionary military affairs, it does not mean that these military staff of the State Council do not pay attention to Europe. After all, their 100,000 colleagues have arrived in Europe, and there are still hundreds of thousands of expeditionary forces in China.

Because of this, they also pay attention to the development of the war situation in Europe. Because the expeditionary force set them no longer in the past, they limited their attention to the new tactics and new weapons shown in this European war, and more attention to the development of the war situation. At the same time, they will also conduct a lot of war games to consider this war far away from Asia from a strategic perspective. Therefore, they are not unfamiliar with Verdun. Now, they only smile knowingly in their confidence in the Prime Minister, and they treat it as accompanying the Prime Minister to play a "military game" here.

However, they did not know that in fact, what Li Zicheng was considering was to show everyone his "military strengths" through this incident, and to predict the outbreak of a battle to prove that he had "military expertise" and at least had an extremely keen "military sense".

For those engaged in political activities, the only thing they need to remember is to seize every opportunity to expand their reputation and influence. For Li Zicheng, he does not mind using some "mastery of the future" to make the people around him more "supercreated" him and thus gain more reputation.

Therefore, although they are very clear about their attitude, they do not hinder Li Zicheng's attitude.

"Prime Minister, national emotions belong to national emotions. For a qualified soldier, we must not consider military reality based on national emotions!"

At the right time, when the Prime Minister finished speaking, Xiao Xiao raised his objection. As the commander of the Internal Affairs Force, his work is not very busy now. Although nearly 50,000 internal affairs forces are scattered across the country to cooperate with local police to suppress bandits, as the commander, he is idle, because all he needs to master is the general policy of suppressing bandits. Naturally, grassroots commanders are responsible for specific tactical commands. Now, he often spends time in this military map room, accompanying the Prime Minister to conduct various military chess performances.

In the past two months, the Prime Minister seems to have become obsessed with wargame deductions. He spends an hour every day to propose some possibilities for future wars, and then asks these military advisers to help him perform wargame deductions.

"No!"

Xiao shook his head, and Li Zicheng said with great certainty.

"National sentiment determines war, not war determines national sentiment. You must remember one thing, war is another continuation of politics. War has always been subject to political needs. If French politicians think that Verdun is related to national sentiment, they will determine that it is even related to whether the French nation can persist in this war. For any country, there are always several holy places that they cannot lose. Therefore, the French will continue to invest their troops in Verdun as the Germans disappeared!"

"Prime Minister, if this is the case, will the Expeditionary Force be thrown there by the French as cannon fodder!"

Suddenly, an extremely young voice came to Li Zicheng's ears. He looked at the sound and saw the young officer talking clearly. Li Zicheng smiled. He was Fu Zuoyi, a young officer who was recommended by Baoding Army. Looking at the young officer, Li Zicheng's expression became extremely solemn.

"…that's exactly what we need…because China needs to prove itself with a war!"

> ,


Chapter completed!