"Quick! Fast! Fast! Move fast! Haven't woken up yet?! Do you want me to use a belt to help you sober up?! "On August 19th, the morning in Baledik City was unusually noisy.

On the third day of the German assault on Verdun, the capital of the Meuse province was transformed into a chaotic bazaar, with a constant influx of French soldiers crowding the city, a city of less than 20,000 people. Loud with voices and neighing mules, Baledique became an important distribution center for the French army in the rear of Verdun.

Although Baledik became very noisy because of this, the citizens were still very enthusiastic about the arrival of the French army, after all, the sound of artillery and violent explosions from the Verdun area had made them gasp, and now that they could finally relax when they saw their troops here, they were optimistic that so many troops would rush to Verdun, and the German army that would repel Verdun would be just around the corner.

The efficiency of the French army was not insignificant, with more than 2,000 vehicles being transferred from all over the country in just two days, and the number is constantly increasing. On the fifth day of the German offensive on Verdun, the first troops from the First Army were to leave for Verdun from here.

"We only arrived here last night, and let us leave early this morning, and let us not let people rest?" Private Conte stood in the queue with a rifle and bag on his back and staggered and muttered.

"Shut up! Idiot! Sergeant Renard whispered, "The company commander is over there, do you want him to hear?" We're here to fight, not to sleep! ”

"But how can we fight if we don't rest? There are still more than 60 kilometers from here to Verdun, and we have to walk there! If you're really in a hurry, why don't you let us sit on that?! Conte retorted dissatisfiedly, but perhaps because of the might of the company commander, he still kept his voice down.

60 kilometers is not very far in the eyes of ordinary people. Healthy adults generally walk at a speed of about 4-5 kilometers per hour, 60 kilometers is 12-15 hours, but in practice, the marching speed of an army with weapons and ammunition and clothing is much lower than that. The foot speed of the infantry is normally 20-25 kilometers per day, and as the distance increases, the physical strength is consumed, and the distance traveled every day decreases.

Walk for at least 3 days? Just thinking about it makes people feel weak in their legs. Conte then pointed to the cars that were constantly driving on the side of the road.

"Did you think about it, did you see what was pulling behind those cars?" Sergeant Renard pointed to the canvas-covered artillery dragged behind the car: "These cars are used to transport artillery, how can we infantrymen take their turn?" ”

"Phew, those artillery are really comfortable, just hide behind and fire the artillery when you are fighting, and now you don't need to walk on the march." Conte spat under his breath.

The infantry was not satisfied, but the first priority of the French army was to hurry up and send all kinds of artillery and ammunition to Verdun.

After the Germans knocked out two fortresses with airships, the deployment of anti-aircraft guns to Verdun became a priority. Unlike the German army, which began to develop special anti-aircraft guns early, most of the anti-aircraft guns in other European countries were improved with old anti-balloon guns. The performance is not outstanding, the French M1897/1914 75 mm anti-aircraft guns shoot at an altitude of only 3,000 meters, and it is tantamount to a dream to deal with a V-shaped airship that can fly at an altitude of about 10,000 meters.

However, due to the attack on Verdun's fortress, the German V-boats had to hover at low altitudes to improve the accuracy of bombing, and the performance of the M1897/1914 was sufficient. The terrible continuous shelling before the German attack also made the French think that the Germans had deployed a large number of large-caliber heavy artillery on the Verdun front line at this time, so in order to counter the German artillery, the French also had to send a large number of artillery to Verdun.

Thus, at this time the artillery and their ammunition received the highest priority for transportation. The poor infantry was left on his own two legs.

Dozens of kilometers away in the Verdun area, the command of the German army.

"Report! Your Excellency, Commander! Captain Ernst, Army Aviation Liaison Staff Officer, reports to you! ”

"Your Highness? How did you end up here? Dimlin's eyes widened in shock as he looked at the young man in front of him.

"Your Excellency! Xiaguan first went from Berlin to Brandenburg Air Base. Then take a plane from Brandenburg Air Base to Ramstein Air Base to round with the KEK3 Wing, and then follow the KEK3 Wing from the Ramstein base, just arrived at the Verdun front airfield, and now reports to the Commander of the Verdun Theater of Operations! Captain Ernst replied with his chest puffed out.

"I'm not asking how you got here, wait, Your Highness, you flew here with the KEK Wing?" Deslyn was surprised and asked, "Your Majesty didn't leave you in Berlin?" ”

"As a staff officer of the Army Air Corps. Only by truly understanding the operations of the aviation can we do a good job in staff work! Captain Ernst replied loudly: "If you stay in the rear, you will not be able to understand the actual situation, and it will be a dereliction of duty on the part of the staff officer to make plans haphazardly!" ”

"Your Excellency, this is ......" Dimlin looked back at Ruprecht with a helpless expression.

"Alright, it's coming. Is it possible to drive him back? And drive him back from here, isn't that even uglier? Ruprecht waved his hand at Dimlin: "Let him be this liaison officer, it is probably Your Majesty's intention, let this little guy stay by my side, don't run around." ”

Then he turned to Captain Ernst and said, "You will honestly stay at the headquarters and do your liaison staff work, understand?" ”

"Yes, Your Excellency, Commander!"

That being said, it is estimated that no one dares to treat this little captain as a liaison staff officer. This young man was the crown prince, the future son-in-law of the commander of the Sixth Army and the supreme commander of the Verdun theater of operations.

Therefore, Ruprecht, who had just asked Captain Ernst to do his job with a straight face, immediately changed his tone and took the initiative to explain the situation to him in the tone of elders and juniors: "Leo, at present, Verdun does not have any air power of the French army, and the in-depth reconnaissance of our reconnaissance planes and the bombing mission of the airship unit have not met any resistance, so I am afraid that you have nothing to do now except to help the artillery shoot at home." ”

"Your Excellency, Commander, Your Majesty has a question." Reinhardt said, though still calling out to the Commander. However, the attitude of his future father-in-law emboldened Reinhardt.

"Say." Ruprecht nodded.

"Is there only one airfield in the Verdun area at the moment, and the entire aviation force, including KEK, FFA and airship units, will be stationed here?"

"Yes, what's the problem?" Ruprecht was a little puzzled, the airfield he asked to build could fully meet the requirements of the use of four aircraft wings, was there any problem with this?

This is not to blame for Ruprecht, although the army aviation belongs to the army. However, it was independent of the ground combat forces, so at this time there were no staff officers in the command of the 6th Army who knew how to combat aviation, and as for the airship troops, those guys only threw bombs and did not know anything about air defense work.

So Ruprecht was directly required by the size of the domestic air base, but in Reinhardt's opinion, it was somewhat inappropriate to concentrate a large number of combat aircraft so close to the front line.

"Your Excellency, the airfield is only about 50 kilometers away from our current defense line, which is too close to the front line." Reinhardt said, standing in front of the map.

"Too close? In this position, the shells of the French could not hit. And after our army has advanced the defense line, if you want to attack the airfield, you need to break through the four lines of defense of our army, how can it be said that it is too close? Dimlin asked, saying that in his eyes, 50 kilometers of depth was unattainable to the French.

"It's impossible to attack on the ground, but a 50-kilometer distance from an airship only takes about 30 minutes, and if it's an airplane, it only takes a few minutes. There is simply not enough time left for the airport to warn, and it is difficult for our airport to organize an effective defense. Reinhardt explained.

Ruprecht and Dimlin fell silent for a moment. Saying that the French army does not have air power at all now? Not having it now does not mean that it will not be in the future, and what is the level of air power of the French, the two of them have no bottom in their hearts, and they still know that the enemy will be lenient. The two stared at the map, and what seemed like a long 50 kilometers suddenly became shorter.

War cannot be taken lightly, although by a junior. A small captain pointed out the problem, but neither Ruprecht nor Dimlin wanted to hide their mistakes.

"You have a point." Ruprecht immediately asked: "Then according to your meaning, this airport can no longer be used now, and must be rebuilt in the rear?" ”

"Your Excellency, Commander, it won't be possible if you can't use it." Reinhardt also didn't want to disgrace his future father-in-law. "KEK's fighter jets are very lightweight, so they can take off in a short time, as long as there are pilots on duty at the airport and fighters with sufficient fuel and ammunition at all times," he immediately explained. As long as we ensure that there are reconnaissance planes on alert in the air at all times and that anti-air observation posts are set up at forward positions, we will have enough time to dispatch fighter planes to intercept the French air forces.

FFA's single-engine attack aircraft can also be deployed at this airfield, so it is also convenient to dispatch ground support at any time according to the needs of the front line.

But the FFA's twin-engine bomber and airship units had to move backwards, ensuring a distance from the front line, and the range of the twin-engine bombers and airships would not care about this distance of movement backwards.

In addition, it is too risky to concentrate a large number of aircraft on one airfield, so I think it would be more appropriate to be able to station two wings at the current airfield, and then build a new airfield in the other direction to disperse the KEK and FFA, and another airfield in the rear for twin bombers and airships.

As a result, the current airfield can continue to be used, and the amount of work can be significantly reduced, so that it can be completed quickly and then the FFA attack aircraft can be stationed. ”

In this way, the airport can continue to be used, and it will not be obvious that the future father-in-law gave the wrong order, and the airport that is being built now has done useless work, and the commander will lose face.

Although he did not understand aviation operations, Ruprecht, as an excellent commander, immediately discovered another very important problem from the direction of the overall situation: "There are no special aviation staff officers in the headquarters of the various group armies, and only when the aviation units are assigned to the command of the group army according to the operational needs will there be aviation liaison staff officers. This is a shortcoming in the command structure that must be remedied. ”

"Herald." Ruprecht said in a deep voice: "Send a message to the Army General Staff: 'Since there is no full-time aviation staff officer in the headquarters of the army group, there are loopholes in the construction of the airfield and the deployment of aviation units in the 6th Army, so it is recommended that each army headquarters should be equipped with a special aviation staff team. ’”

"It's not too late to find out." Ruprecht looked at Reinhardt and laughed: "Yes, it seems that you have learned a lot in the army." If I had insisted that you go to the Bavarian Military Academy, I would have one less excellent aviation staff officer. ”

The Imperial Crown Prince is the Imperial Crown Prince, and the speed of his promotion to the front line is very fast, and he has only met the commander of the group army for a few minutes, and as a result, he has changed from a small wing liaison staff captain to an aviation staff officer of the group army command in one sentence.

"Report! Hawkeye 4 spotted a French convoy in the C-9 area! The herald who had come to report the reconnaissance telegram had shattered the relaxed atmosphere in the headquarters.

"Your Excellency, Commander, it looks like we have something to do." Reinhardt said to Ruprecht with a smile. (To be continued.) )