"This is a document that I obtained through secret channels, which describes the new ideas of the French for defense, and their suggestions for improving the fortresses of Verdun and Belfort. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info I have to say, the French did a very good job with defense and counter-artillery! The prince handed Moltke a document and brought it to a large sand table.

"Although the French advocate attack, they pay equal attention to the defense of fortified areas and key nodes, and they know that they will not be able to stop us in a hard-fought field battle. So they designed forts in key areas and a new type of defense system called fortifications, which were based on the fortresses and integrated into the field defense system. The heavy artillery group of the fortress can be used to support field units within a radius of more than ten kilometers, while the field troops filled in the fortified area can limit the penetration of opposing troops, the deployment of artillery, and outflanking! The prince said with a shaky stroke of the putter in his hand.

Do the French have this level? The answer is yes, but that was after the start of World War 1, in order to make Moltke Jr. aware of the crisis of the war on the Western Front in advance, and to dispel the idea of bulldozing France as much as possible, the prince can only lie that this is the plan of the French now!

The previous fortress was actually very easy to breach, as long as the surrounding field troops could be killed and the fortress was isolated, it would be easy to do, anyway, it was smashed with heavy artillery? As long as it is not strong enough to a certain extent, the 210mm gun will not work, so the 280mm heavy howitzer will be used, and the 305mm heavy howitzer will not be used. The German siege artillery units had developed a well-developed system of smashing turtle shells. There is nothing to be afraid of at all about the fortress of Liège and the like.

But this time, the fortress system presented in front of Moltke's eyes is completely different! On this sand table that simulates the fortress of Verdun in France, Moltke sees a new defense system, if the previous fortresses are just points stuck in the main transportation hubs and passages, this defense system is one side! A defensive zone made of reinforced concrete based on the topography!

In addition to the main fortress of Verdun, the French also built 4 defense lines based on the terrain, which is about 6 to 7 kilometers away from the main fortress of Verdun, which is just a number in the eyes of ordinary people, but in the eyes of Moltke Jr., he discovered the hidden danger in it!

After the French built defensive positions at this distance, it was equivalent to excluding most of the Germans' siege artillery from the effective range, you know, there are two key indicators of artillery, one is the weight of the bullet, the other is the range, if you want to have a high bullet weight, you must sacrifice the range, and if you want a high range, you must sacrifice the weight of the bullet. If you don't want to sacrifice, then add money.......

And this thing can not be done with money, judging by the current situation of the German Army, this defensive depth alone can already exclude almost all siege artillery from the firing range! At present, the maximum firing distance of siege artillery is about 8 kilometers. If you look at the effective range, it is even shorter, and it is certain that the siege artillery cannot be placed in the front line, so that the artillery generally cannot reach the fortress, but the long-range cannon on the fortress uses the altitude advantage and its own long barrel advantage to threaten the siege artillery. If you can't crack the other party's turtle shell, then this siege battle is still a fart!

Some people may say that siege guns can continue to move forward, theoretically feasible, but in practice it is still very difficult, siege guns have always been very heavy, and it is very difficult to move 210mm heavy guns, not to mention moving these big guys who can easily dozens of tons, even if you use a special trailer, pull it to the position and reassemble the shot is a trouble. And also to worry about being hit by the enemy's artillery on the move.......

And after looking at the cross-sectional drawings of the important fortress facilities of the French, Moltke Jr. was even more disappointed! Because the main turret of the French used a combination of armored turrets and underground multi-layer structures, the French turrets were not large, and the defense of the top was deliberately strengthened for the artillery that attacked the top, using armored steel instead of reinforced concrete as a defensive material. You must know that 90mm steel armor can defend against long-range empowerment attacks of 1 battle 15-inch naval guns. And the power of the Germans' large-caliber siege guns was absolutely ...... less powerful than naval guns.

There was no big Berthor gun in this era, but even if there was a Bertha gun, the shell weight of this thing was only 810kg, and the muzzle velocity was not very high. Although it has the advantage of falling corners, it is still doubtful whether it can really be stronger than the Queen's 15-inch gun. And for this armored turret, Moltke Jr. also had to admit that it was quite difficult to destroy.

If the various turrets that are difficult to destroy in the above-ground part are just points, then the underground fortress system with a multi-level layout forms a net, and the upper and lower three to six floors of the fortress almost make it impossible to destroy the fortress with artillery fire! And the only solution is to occupy the ...... with soldiers.

"This fortress is almost impossible to build!" Moltke Jr. lost his voice when he saw it.

"How could it not be? What we can think of, why can't the French think of it? Since the Franco-Prussian War, they have spent decades perfecting their military system, allocating a little money every year, and now they have also repaired it! "The prince lied at this time, there was no psychological pressure at all!

"We have to say that the advantage of the defense side in this era is really too great." The prince mended Moltke's wound again...... The French are fighting on their own soil, so they can rely on defensive lines and fortresses, and the French can also get a variety of train guns to provide long-range fire support, and our train guns will have to advance about 350 kilometers from Germany to reach the front line, and then pounce on a railroad and a usable ring fire position to use .......

It has been said that the artillery skills of the French army in history are inferior to those of the Germans, and the ordinary artillery of the army is a large number of 75 rapid-fire guns, and the effect in the eastern region is not as good as the 105mm and 150mm howitzers of the Germans. So why, in addition to being relatively passive at the beginning, the French artillery was still fierce?

One thing is for sure, the French in the usual sense of the army heavy artillery have a certain gap with the Germans in terms of the quantity and quality of equipment. But there is a kind of artillery, the French are quite superior! That's railway artillery! You must know that even the majestic siege guns of the Germans in the Battle of Verdun were not railway guns, if you look at the weight and range of the guns, these fixed-set siege guns and railway guns are still a level behind!

Looking at the entire battlefield of World War 1, purely from the point of view of artillery, the Germans had a huge advantage in howitzers and medium and short-range projections, because the Germans were equipped with high-power short-range guns such as 150mm and 210mm heavy howitzers in general troops.

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