"Smack!" The pencil slammed down on the map full of attacking arrows, and the hearts of the French officers standing in the entire headquarters jumped violently, and His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief became angry.

"3 days! Just 3 days! The Germans broke through the first line of defense of the Verdun fortress! The two fortresses of Duaumont and Vaux were destroyed! Dead Ridge and 304 Heights occupied! The commanding heights in the north-north-east direction of Verdun all fell into the hands of the Germans! It took the Germans only 3 days to do this! You tell me! How many days will it take for them to break through the Verdun line?! Isn't it a few days before the damned German Emperor will be able to remember the glory of his ancestors in the Hall of Mirrors of Versailles?! Xia Fei, Chief of the Army General Staff and now Commander-in-Chief of the Army, was furious.

A few days ago, he had sworn to Minister Messimi that the Germans would hit his head in front of the Verdun fortress and bleed, only to have reality slap him in the face.

The Germans' breakthrough of the first line of defense at Verdun not only made Xia Fei lose face, but more importantly, once the Verdun fortress was broken through, and then there was no danger to defend, the Germans could drive straight in, and the shame of the defeat of Sedang seemed to be in front of them, and it was absolutely unacceptable to let the Germans enter Paris.

"Your Excellency, the defenders of Verdun have done their best, and the defensive line of Dead Man's Ridge and Heights 304 has been improvised and has put up stubborn resistance even though the number of machine guns and artillery is far inferior to that of the Germans. The fall of Fort Duaumont and Fort Vaux was entirely due to the use of secret weapons by the Germans, and the explosions from the two forts could be heard by the townspeople 160 kilometers away, and so far there has been no news of the evacuation of the defenders of the forts. Someone argued.

I understand everything, but I can't listen to it now. Xia Fei is now in this state: "Since the German airship can smash through the first line of defense, then it can smash through the second line of defense!" The situation now is that we are helpless against the offensive of the Germans! ”

In fact, the situation was not as bad as Xia Fei thought, although the V-shaped airship with the goblet bomb seemed invincible in the face of any fortress system at this time. But this pairing is not without its flaws.

After completely destroying Fort Ormont in the morning with 11 goblets that hit through direct hits, the Sky Fleet, which had returned to the airfield to resupply, was almost deflated at Fort Vaux.

Although the defense of Vauxburg was inferior to that of Fort Duaumont, its area was smaller, and it would have been more difficult to hit, and to make matters worse, the wind increased in the Verdun area in the afternoon, which led to a significant decrease in the accuracy of bombing. A whopping 13 of the 16 goblets missed the target. Fortunately, the goblet was powerful enough, and even if it missed the target, the huge shock wave of the near-miss explosion also caused a huge shock to Fort Vaux, plus 3 direct hits, it barely achieved the effect of destroying the fortress.

The wind did not abate, and Ruprecht was prepared to continue using airships to bombard the forts and batteries of the second line of defense. Therefore, Xia Fei will not continue to hear the bad news that the fortress was destroyed by the Germans one after another.

In fact, the Germans did not have the ability to pull out the second and third lines of defense of the Verdun fortress group by airship bombardment, and there were 5 fortresses on the second line of defense on the northwest side facing Dead Man's Ridge and the 304 Heights, 3 fortresses on the second line of defense on the northeast side facing Fort Duaumont and Fort Vaux, and a third line of defense consisting of 8 fortresses scattered on both sides of the small city of Verdun. After consuming 32 goblets in one day, the Germans did not have enough bombs to bomb the entire fortress.

However, at this time, Ruprecht's initial tactical purpose had also been achieved, and the occupation of the four heights in the northwest and northeast made the communication arteries outside Verdun no longer under the strangulation of the French defense line, and the German army was completely free at this time, and directly transported equipment, ammunition, and supplies to the previously established defense line by rail and road, which greatly improved the transportation efficiency. By moving the first line of defense forward to four heights, the Germans could secure a large open area between the condescending blockade and the French second line of defense. Now it's time to keep digging and digging, and wait for the French to attack.

And Xiafei's decision met the expectations of the Germans.

"The Germans must be stopped at Verdun! Verdun can't afford to lose! Xia Fei said loudly.

"Your Excellency, Commander. If that happens, it will disrupt our offensive plans! ”

As soon as these words came out, Xia Fei also fell silent. According to the original Plan No. 17, Xiafei hoped that Verdun would be able to block the German 6th Army's attack from the direction of Lorraine, while the 7th Army from Alsace decided to make a detour to the south because the 6th Army's attack was blocked. At this time, the French army could concentrate its main forces and insert the gap between the German 6th and 7th armies, and then outflank the German 6th Army blocked at Verdun and attack the hinterland of Lorraine. Cut off the connection of the 6th Army with the rear.

At this time, the 7th Army was blocked in Alsace and could not rescue the 6th Army, so the 6th Army trapped in Verdun would lose supplies from the rear and reinforcements from friendly forces, and the French could destroy it first, so that it could be eliminated first. There would be no more forces in Lorraine to stop the French, and the French would turn their heads against the 7th Army.

It would not matter if the German 7th Army decided to support the 6th Army in the attack on Verdun, then it would be better for the main French army to attack Alsace directly from the south, and then from Alsace to the north to Lorraine, copying the rear roads of the two German armies together.

As long as the 6th and 7th armies of the Germans were eliminated, then even if the French army gained a firm foothold in Alsace-Lorraine, then it would be difficult for the Germans to repulse the French army with subsequent mobilization, and then in a few months, the war would end with a quick victory for the French army and the recovery of Alsace-Lorraine. France will regain the shame of the Franco-Prussian War and regain its position as the land supremacy of continental Europe.

At the beginning, Jochen was also worried about this, so he also reminded Goltz to pay attention not to let these two army groups be compensated for launching a diversionary offensive on the Western Front.

However, although the current situation is indeed according to the French assumption, and the Germans did attack Verdun first, the direction of this script seems to be a little wrong. The speed of the Germans exceeded Xiafei's expectations, and they broke through the first line of defense of Verdun in 3 days, which was very different from the situation where the 6th Army was blocked by the Verdun fortress group and could not move an inch.

The German 7th Army, although it was true that it had set out from Alsace to attack the French border, was not surprising, showing neither a strong desire to attack nor supporting the 6th Army, but firmly holding the flank of the 6th Army and cutting off the French army's attempt to outflank it.

In front of the 7th Army, the main force of the French army still had the advantage, and it was still feasible to attack with all its strength to break through the defense of the 7th Army, and then attack Lorraine and outflank the 6th Army.

But what if the Germans broke through to Verdun? Before the French broke through the 7th Army's defenses, the Germans would be able to fight under the city of Paris! Moreover, the longer it took for the French to break through the lines of the 7th Army, the greater the number of mobilized German troops reached the front, the stronger the French offensive would have to face, and the greater the number of forces that the Germans could use to attack Paris.

Now the question is whether to risk betting that Verdun will not be broken through by the Germans, and then continue with the offensive plan.

Xia Fei didn't dare to take this risk!

"Nope! We must reinforce Verdun, and if Verdun is breached, then our offensive plan will come to naught! Xia Fei shook his head: "Even if we attack Alsace-Lorraine, as long as the Germans attack Paris, then the results of our previous offensive will be meaningless." ”

Then he whispered as if to persuade others, as if to convince himself: "As long as we can stop the German attack at Verdun, then we can still continue to attack as planned, but for now, we must send part of our forces to Verdun."

Since His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief has decided so, then the people below can only comply, but even if the decision to reinforce Verdun is decided, the French still face many difficulties: "Yes, Your Excellency, the 1st and 2nd Armies, which were originally scheduled to attack Salz and Moranger, can go to Verdun at once. But the two railways east of Verdun were already under German control, and we were afraid that we would not be able to quickly send these two armies to the Verdun area. ”

"If the railway doesn't work, take the road! If the mule is too slow, use the car! The 1st and 2nd armies are now on the territory of the Meuse department, let them use the Bal-Dijk-Verdun road transport, and be sure to reinforce Verdun as quickly as possible! "Although Xia Fei's ability is mediocre, he is not indecisive, since he has decided to reinforce Verdun, then he must use all methods to achieve his goal as soon as possible.

"But Your Excellency, the Bal-Dijk-Verdun road is only an improvised road, and I am afraid it will be difficult to transport troops of this size."

"Then widen the road! There are so many people in the two armies, don't you know that some of them should stay and build roads?! Xia Fei reprimanded loudly: "I want this road to meet all the personnel, equipment, ammunition, and supplies needed for Verdun!" Whatever Verdun needs, this road must be able to transport for me! ”

Historically, the Baledique-Verdun Highway delivered 190,000 troops and 23,000 tons of ammunition to Verdun in just one week, making an incomparable contribution to smashing the Verdun offensive plan codenamed "virgin land" formulated by Falkingham, and the Baledique-Verdun Highway has also become the "holy road" that saved France.

This time, however, the path was destined to be a painful journey for the French soldiers. (To be continued.) )