In February and March, while the Allies were arguing about an offensive, Ludendorff had quietly withdrawn his troops to the Hindenburg Line, ceding away the 1,000 square miles of land captured after the outbreak of the world war at the cost of nearly a million German lives.

Ludendorff retreated with the same scorched earth policy that the Russian Empire had used when it abandoned Poland on the Eastern Front, the Germans destroyed all the houses on the site, all the trees were cut down to build the Hindenburg Line, roads and bridges were destroyed, and the Germans even blew up the embankments of the Aisne River, creating as many difficulties as possible for the Anglo-French forces.

The weather was also helping the Germans, and just the day before the British expeditionary force's attack, it snowed heavily in Lanspoo, and Roque and Nivelle urgently contacted to try to postpone the attack, but Nivelle refused.

The French offensive began earlier than the British Expeditionary Force, and it was too late to change the plan.

Nivelle did not dare to stop the offensive either, and after the New Year, the French troops were given 120 tanks, which were purchased from southern Africa, and Nivelle wanted to replicate the victory of the British expeditionary force in Belgium, and on the first day of the offensive, send all these tanks into battle.

However, the French troops did not have enough time to adapt to their new weapons, the German units already had a way to deal with the tank units, and the weather was not favorable for the attacking troops, and many tanks were stuck in the mud shortly after departure, becoming fixed targets for German gunners.

Of the 120 tanks, 52 were completely blown to pieces on the first day of the offensive, and another 28 tanks were badly damaged.

On the first day of the offensive, Nivile mobilized three army groups, 53 divisions, and about 1.2 million men.

The troops launched an attack on the Hindenburg Line on a 90-mile-wide front, and Niveler expected that the Germans had only nine divisions at Shermandham, but in fact the Germans had 21, and soon increased to 48 after the spring offensive began.

Roque did not know how heavy the casualties of the French troops were on the first day, and the British Expeditionary Force mobilized fewer troops than the French troops, only 34 divisions of two armies, and if the auxiliary was not correct, the total strength was almost 800,000.

On a good note, the British Expeditionary Force's front was only 40 miles wide, and the German defense in front was the German Sixth Army, which was commanded by Ludwig von Falkenhausen.

Ludwig von Falkenhausen was a stubborn traditional soldier who, like Schuffy and Haig, refused to accept new things, and his mind was still stuck in the early days of world war, as if he had no idea what modern warfare had become.

Although Roque had mobilized as much air and artillery as possible to carry out continuous fire strikes on German positions before the attack, the Hindenburg line was unusually strong, and the first wave of troops engaged in the attack lasted less than two hours before being crippled.

Rock was so strong in his heart that he ordered the follow-up troops to continue the battle, and until he observed a hole in the German line, Roque would not stop the offensive.

The weather did not have much effect on the British Expeditionary Force's offensive, which had brought in 206 trains of stone to repair roads damaged by the Germans, and the French government had requisitioned 250,000 workers to work with the British Expeditionary Force, which had lost 75,000 men in the daytime battle, more casualties than on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, in which about 25,000 men were killed.

While Roque was having dinner, Paul Cockle brought the report of the first day of the French army.

The French forces were even worse than the British Expeditionary Force, with 115,000 casualties on the first day of the attack.

"Nivelle is mad, and he will cut himself off from the French people at this time." Roque really couldn't figure it out, feeling that Nivelle was a traitor sent to France by the German army.

Although the British expeditionary force suffered heavy casualties, almost all of the casualties on the first day came from the Indian Legion, and Winston was pleased with the result.

Although there were colonial servant troops in the French army, they were small in size and were mainly native troops.

Roque estimated that Nivelle had not considered this issue either, and that a significant portion of the casualties on the first day of the offensive must have come from French troops.

The problem then arises that even if Nivelle wins the battle, then Nivelle will be abandoned by the French government.

It is said that the attack time of the French troops was one day earlier than that of the British expeditionary force, so that is to say, when Roque got the French battle report, the French troops had actually finished the next day's offensive, thinking of the promise made by Nivelle to the Allied high-level before the offensive began, Nivelle was going to be unlucky.

Before the offensive began, in order to persuade the British expeditionary force to cooperate with the French troops, Nivelle had said that if the front-line troops could not achieve a breakthrough within 48 hours, then the French troops would stop the offensive.

Now that the 48 hours are almost up, I wonder if Neville will give the order to stop the attack.

"Even if France wins the war, it will lose a generation—" Paul Coker shook his head and sighed, as France dug its own grave.

Roque was silent, and now Roque could only do his best to save a breath of vitality for Britain to deal with a more complicated situation in the future.

Just after the end of the first day of fighting by the British Expeditionary Force, at Sheman Dydam, the offensive of the French troops was still underway.

In just 40 hours, the French army had suffered 270,000 casualties, including 100,000 killed, a result that would have been ruined if it reached Paris.

So Nivelle had no choice and ordered the troops to continue the offensive at night, sure to break through the Hindenburg line.

"The front-line troops are fighting too badly, they need more time to rest—" even Charles Mantin, the butcher, was unacceptable to the casualties of the French army.

Charles Manking now holds the position of commander of the French Sixth Army.

"The offensive must not be stopped, we have wasted too much time, before dawn, even if we use human lives to pile up, we must break through the Hindenburg defense line and capture Sherman Dydam!" Nivelle roared wildly in his luxurious castle, leaving little time for Nivelle to prove himself: "If we can beat the Germans at Verdun, why not at Shermandam?" It must be the front-line troops, you personally go to the front, drive the soldiers to attack with a whip, I want to see the news of victory before dawn. ”

Nivelle has not yet figured out how he defeated the Germans at Verdun, and if it were not for the fact that the Germans voluntarily abandoned their positions, then Nivelle would not have had the opportunity to serve as the commander-in-chief of the French army at all.

"Your Excellency Commander-in-Chief, we can't do that, an overnight attack will increase unnecessary casualties, even if we continue to attack, we will start again tomorrow to give the officers and soldiers a night's rest." Alfred Michel, the commander of the mobile forces, was also not in favor of continuing the offensive, and his mobile forces, consisting of 27 divisions, were the strategic reserve of the French army, and if the French troops broke through the German lines, or found a hole in the German lines, then Nivelle would throw the mobile forces into the battlefield.

It's a pity that the spring offensive has been carried out so far, and Nivel has not yet found an opportunity to commit to the mobile forces.

"You shut up, it's because your troops didn't go into battle in time that we couldn't make a breakthrough." Nivelle frantically threw the pot, just like the desperate Xia Fei and Haig.

"Is it my fault? It's ridiculous, I've been reminding you not to attack lightly, it's because you insist on going your own way and can't listen to anyone's words, that's why this is happening. Michele was not welcome, when Nivelle planned the spring offensive, it was not only Roque who opposed the attack, but also the opinion within France.

The most staunch opponent of the spring offensive was the new French Minister of War, Paul Pallevé, who persuaded Nivelle to abandon the spring offensive from his second day in office.

Determined not to give up, in order to realize his campaign plan, Nivelle went to French President Pongaré, claiming that if he could not organize an offensive according to his own will, he would resign as commander-in-chief of the French army.

At this time, it was less than three months before Nivelle became commander-in-chief of the French army, and if Nivelle resigned, it would mean that the new government would fall again, and Nengallé did not dare to take this risk and was forced to accede to Nivelle's demands.

Even so, Alfred Michelle did not stop persuading, so now when Nivelle is crazy to shake the pot, Alfred Michelle can't stand it: "-I have never stopped reminding you that you are now actually blaming me for the failure of the attack, but my troops have not received the order to attack at all, what do you want me to do?" Do you know what you call this behavior? It's called cowardice! ”

Alfred Michel was not welcome, the battle was too bad, the French lost 540,000 in the Battle of Verdun, of which 156,000 died, but the Battle of Verdun lasted a full year.

Now that only two days have begun, the losses of the French troops have reached 270,000 men, and the spring offensive is unprecedented in terms of the intensity of the fighting.

"You dare to call me cowardly?! You bastard, you've been dismissed, get out of here right now, out of my headquarters! "Nivelle wants to go crazy, before the spring offensive is over, infighting broke out in the French leadership, and if this spreads, Nivelle can only resign voluntarily and leave the French command in a disgraceful way.

"Let's go, I'll see what happens to you, you bastard, executioner, butcher, devil, you deserve hell—" Michelle burst into rage, jumping to his feet and scolding, until he was dragged away by the guards.

"Sir, the front-line troops mutinied, they refused to attack the German positions, and killed the officers—" The staff officers had already hurried to report, and this was not the first time.

(The second shift is delivered.,It should be the third watch today.,But there may also be a fourth watch.,It depends on how powerful the brothers are-)