On February 21, at 6:30 in the morning, the mist was long on the streets of Verdun, and the cold wind blew, making the temperature in the air seem to be lowered. For poor families, this was not a good day. War, this war brought some changes. At least for most French families here, because the woodland is located in the war zone and a large number of trees are used to build field fortifications, the French families in this area have lost the wood for heating in winter. At the same time, due to the increase in coal prices and the increase in transportation costs, most families do not even have enough fuel. In this case, winter is undoubtedly extremely frustrating.

The castle in the early morning looked a little dark, especially the old and short houses, which seemed even darker. The buildings along the streets of this castle had a low window and looked very simple. The people living in it were really poor. But they were kind and hardworking, and always had love and respect for God in their hearts. In their opinion, God gave them everything, and everything they were experiencing now was just God's test.

At this time, the bell sound came from the bell tower of Bishop Verdun's palace. The clock looked very deep and even a little cheerful. This was a solemn moment, and the bell sounded full of everyone who prayed devoutly and was full of respect. After this war, Bishop Lefur in the Bishop Palace blessed the people and soldiers here, as if everything there was protecting the place. Perhaps it was precisely because of the existence of the Bishop Palace that no enemy had captured this place hundreds of years ago, and even now, they still would not have any doubts.

As a military priest, Ryan Poongalai can be regarded as a devout believer, or even an extremely devout believer. The reason why he joined this war was very simple. In his opinion, it was his responsibility as a priest. In his opinion, he had the responsibility to calm the soldiers on the battlefield when they were about to die, and for the past two years, he had been working so hard to help every dying soldier.

“God is looking at us!”

Every time he looked at this war, Ryan Poongalai, the "patriot" in his hometown, would always say to himself in his heart that perhaps when the war broke out, his heart was not only shrouded in the piety of the believers, but now when he experienced the Battle of the Marne River, the cruelty of the subsequent wars and millions of casualties, his patriotism was unexpectedly diluted.

For him, now, there was only one believer's mercy for those who experienced the war. Almost every day, he would pray for everyone in the early morning in the church of the Bishop's Palace, no longer just for France, but for the poor lost lambs in the French team. There were even the German soldiers opposite, who also bleed in this war and lost their lives in this war.

At this time, for Ryan Poongalai, he was just walking towards God with sincerity, and like every devout believer, he had already begun to pray in his heart, for the civilians of this small town, for the soldiers, for the peace here.

Feeling the rare breath of peace around you, thinking that there has been a rare peace here in the past few months. Ryan Poongalai felt endless joy in his heart. The church bell seemed to ring out his joy, bringing his joy to the entire city, and even the whole of France, of course, if the French could experience it.

However, Ryan Poongalai himself understood very well that this joy was only short-lived and even could not be told to others. In now, in this country shrouded in unprecedented patriotism, any yearning for peace, even equal to defeatism and traitorism, the only thing this country can accept now is to fight, fight constantly, until victory, until the shame of Xuehuan 1871, and there is no choice in this country.

"This is just the choice of politicians!"

After experiencing too many deaths, for Ryan Poongalai, it seemed that everything in the world had no choice but to him, even the so-called "1871" shame. At this time, he even agreed with his former teacher, Professor Abel, the saying "Arsace and Lorraine belonged to Germany. The French-Prussian War in 1871 was just Prussia that blocked France's war to interfere with the unification of Germany. Germany won the victory, and what they had recovered was only what they had lost."

At the beginning, Ryan Poongalai did not agree with this, but now it seems that Germany and France have experienced countless wars on territorial expansion, and Alsace has been snatched away by France and Germany. The competition for these two regions is also a condensed history of grievances between Germany and France.

Europe was unified during the Roman Empire, and then the Charleman Empire briefly unified most of Europe. In the end, Charlene's three grandsons divided the Frank Kingdom into three in 843 AD, namely the West Frank, the Middle Frank and the East Frank, which was later the prototype of France, Italy and Germany.

The successors of the Central Frank gloriously implemented the same "grace order" as the Han Dynasty in China. Instead of passing the throne to the eldest son, all brothers were divided equally. In this way, the Central Frank was divided into many small parts, which naturally gave the East and West Frank the opportunity to take advantage of. The East Frank and the West Frank seized Lorraine and Provence respectively.

After the 30-Year War in Europe from 1618 to 1648, the Treaty of Westphalia was signed, and the defeated Germany officially recognized France's ownership of Alsace-Lorraine. In 1870, France was defeated. The two sides concluded a peace treaty the following year, and the French-German border returned to the situation 300 years ago, and Alsace-Lorraine was re-occupied by Germany.

After the French-Prussian War, the novel "The Last Lesson" by the great French writer Dude has been translated into texts from all over the world since its publication in 1873 and is widely circulated, and its exquisite artistic conception is often appreciated by people. However, few people know that the Alsace and Lorraine have been a German-speaking region in a broad sense since the Middle Ages. Until now, the Alsaceans still retain their own language - the Alman dialect, which is very similar to German.

Perhaps, after the end of this war, when France regains Arts and Lorraine, the same scene in "The Last Lesson" may appear again, but the protagonist of this story is a child who once spoke German, who bid farewell to Germany with a sad mood. He said goodbye to the German teacher and had to accept the fact that he could only use French in class the next day.

But at that time, will there be a very influential writer in Germany writing similar articles? By then, it may be difficult to hear someone complaining about Germany. Judging from the traditional language habits of the two regions, the Germans seem to have more moral advantages and more reason to exaggerate tragedy.

At that time, in order to completely assimilate Arts and Lorraine, the French might be more cruel in cultural domination, not more kind than the Germans. The key is that the local residents mainly speak German. In order to erase their memories of Germany, the French would only be more cruel!

Of course. This is just Professor Apeer's statement, and all he said is ultimately to prove a point of view that the so-called regaining of French territory Arts and Lorraine has no legal basis, and it has never been a territory of France. It is precisely because of this that Professor Apeer was accused of being a "traitor".

In the past, Ryan Poongalai agreed with those people's views, but now he agrees with Professor Abel's view that France should not continue this war with Germany for the so-called "Shame of 1871", in order to seize Arthas and Lorraine from the real masters of Alsace and Lorraine. It is even more worth it!

But even if it is not worth it, France has been involved in this war that seems to be in no way possible. For Ryan Poongalai, the only thing he can do is pray, pray every day, and use his prayers to exchange for the recovery of even a life...

Suddenly, a sharp roar came from the air. The roar was the roar of a shell, but it was something he had never heard before. The roar was as loud as a train roaring in the sky, and the most amazing roar was sharp, not the dullness of a low-speed cannon. What is this...

Ryan Poongalai, who was pulled back to his thoughts by the roar, looked into the air, and he saw a black shadow passing by in the air, and in an instant he heard a loud noise, like the sound of a building being crushed.

After that sound, as soon as Ryan Poongalai's front feet fell, he felt a shaking wave. In this short moment, he only felt an illusion that the earth seemed to be overturned!

this……

While the earth was shaking, a dull and violent explosion sound came from the ground. The sound was extremely dull. At the same time, a huge black cloud of smoke began to rise. Huge stones were flying in the smoke. The stones weighing hundreds of kilograms easily shattered the surrounding buildings and the black smoke rose into the air.

The moment Ryan Poongalai fell, a scene from Revelation appeared in his mind, which was the scene of Satan rushing out of the underground. Now, what he was experiencing seemed to be that scene, the scene of the end of the world.

But in just a blink of an eye, amid the violent explosion, the morning sun was blocked by black smoke balls hundreds of meters high. The entire Verdun was shrouded in black smoke in just a few seconds. The fortress was completely changed while the earth was shaking.

When Ryan Poongalai stood up again, his ears roared, everything in front of him was like the end of the world. The Bishops' Palace hundreds of meters away disappeared, and the streets were covered in mess, and people covered in blood were stumbled on the streets. After this explosion, everyone seemed to have lost their souls, but they were walking numbly in the black smoke, crying.

The Bishop Palace disappeared. During the explosion, the Bishop Palace completely disappeared, forming a huge pit dozens of meters deep on the ground. After the violent explosion, Captain Arres, who was in the Fortifications, looked at the smoke pillars that were hundreds of meters high in fear. The first reaction that emerged in his mind was the explosion of the arsenal.

Is there an arsenal in the Bishop's Palace?

The answer is no. The commander did not set up an arsenal there, but how did such a powerful explosion happen? Was it a German shelling?

impossible!

Anyone with a little military knowledge knows that such an explosion is by no means something that can be brought by cannons. Captain Arres naturally would not believe that it was an explosion. Even the previous sound of the shells breaking through the air, in his opinion, could be an illusion. Just here, a roar came from the air, which was the roar of the shells.

Compared with the previous ones, such as the train "Benz" roaring in the sky at high speed. This time the roar was extremely dense. Some shells were extremely sharp, some were dull, and some were extremely violent. This was the shelling of train cannons of various calibers, heavy artillery, howitzers, and field cannons. Only the roar was heard, and no need to consider anything else. Anyone understood that the attack had begun!

The Germans are attacking!

"Damn bureaucrats!"

After the first round of explosions, Colonel Delion scolded hatefully in the trenches filled with pungent gunpowder. Unlike other ordinary officers, Delion was a military officer who volunteered to join the army after the explosion of war. Before the war, he was a member of Congress in the Nancy area. A year ago, he came here to command a group of light infantry battalions on the front line of Verdun.

At the end of November last year, Colonel Delion, the officer and MP went on vacation to Paris and held a hearing at the request of the Parliamentary Military Committee. On December 1, he revealed to his colleagues about the lack of organization and general defence in the fortress. The Military Committee confirmed the narrative provided by Colonel Delion, whose report was sent to the Minister of the Army.

The alert General Galeni has learned similar reports from other aspects. He wrote to General Xiafei on December 16. In his letter, he said that different sources said that the organizational conditions of the front line showed that the defense defects of certain locations were prominent, especially the areas such as the Melt River, Toulle and Verdun. Most of the trench nets on the front line were not complete. If this situation is true, there would be a danger of serious chaos. Under this situation, once the enemy broke through, not only General Xiafei would be responsible, but the entire government would be responsible.

Moreover, the war experience in the past year has fully proved that the first line of defense may be forcibly broken through, but the resistance of the second line of defense can prevent even a successful attack. He asked the other party to ensure that at least two lines of defense were designed and deployed on the front line, and all necessary fortifications were built - iron gill nets, moats, deer forts, etc.

Finally, in the face of Commander-in-Chief Xiafei's hastily replying to the letter on December 18, in which he clearly asserted that there was no evidence that the government's concerns were justified. He ended the letter with a special professional tone that was by no means a legal person's patent, and he said:

“Since these concerns are caused by reports that assert that there are defects in the defense situation. I urge you to convey these reports to me and specify their authors in their own body. I cannot tolerate any dissatisfaction or protests from the government on the implementation of my orders through other channels. I do not want to self-disclose the vague slander of my ignorance that I do not know its origin. The government encourages the transmission of such messages, but whether from fresh members or from active officers directly or indirectly from the frontlines,

All news should be regarded as a serious disruption of military discipline. The soldiers who wrote the report knew that the government valued their opposition to their chiefs, and the authority of these chiefs was damaged, and the morale of the entire army was also repaid by this distrust... I cannot tolerate this situation to continue. I demand that the government be trusted wholeheartedly. If the government trusts me, it will neither encourage nor tolerate that practice that undermines the moral authority of our headquarters; without this authority I cannot continue to take on this important task."

From then on, under Xia Fei's arbitrary decision, Colonel Delion, who was in the trench in the frontier of Verdun, faced danger from more than one side. He had to consider the attack of the Germans and also faced internal suppression. After all, the commander-in-chief had characterized him as "a politician who only knows how to play with conspiracies and is not worthy of the name of an officer."

But what about now?

In this smoke, Colonel Delion cursed the so-called Parisian savior and the bureaucrats in the headquarters:

'These damn bureaucrats don't believe me. France was destroyed by such bureaucrats. As long as I survive, I must drive Xiafei from the position of commander-in-chief. Didn't this pig say he needs any evidence? Now, the evidence he wants is here, but what else can our great Marshal Xiafei do?"

At this time, Colonel Delion had even made a decision in his heart that as long as he could survive, he would definitely leave the front-line army, not because of timidity, nor because of cowardice. In fact, for this great-grandfather, who had experienced expeditions with Emperor Napoleon on Russia, his heart was filled with the blood of desire for war. Now, in his opinion, his battlefield should be parliament, and the place where he could defeat those "bureaucrats". Only in this way can France be saved.

"Col. Let's talk about it when we survive!"

The subordinate's face only made Colonel Delion's face flush suddenly. At this time, a strange sound suddenly appeared in the space, which sounded like a sharp bagpipe, but the sound of the bagpipe was far beyond people's imagination, just like before... Then a violent explosion came from outside the outpost for a moment. The whole world began to shake.

"Oh my God..."

Suddenly, a scream came from outside. As the screams were heard, people were looking in the direction of the explosion, but they only saw a huge pit with a radius of hundreds of meters. The fortifications that had existed there had completely disappeared in the explosion.

'We're fucked!"

The huge bomb crater only caused such an idea to come out of Delion's mind. He realized that the Germans had invested a new weapon here, a weapon that could change war.

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Chapter completed!