At noon, as the scorching summer sun scorched the earth, Hans-Flinz sat under a fir tree and watched as the soldiers of the other units walked across the bridge of the L18 not far away, and rushed to the other side of the Maas River in high spirits. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info There was a rumble of artillery in the distance, and two cloudy zeppelins were floating in the sky, but the brutal battle had nothing to do with him for the time being. At the makeshift field hospital, Flintz was bandaged, the French bayonet made a deep hole in his face and in his arm, and the medic judged that he should have left the front for at least three weeks of treatment and recuperation, so that he was now waiting to be transported back to the rear with his comrades who were also slightly wounded.

"Soldiers, stand up to those who can stand up, and try to get your military appearance in order...... His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has come down to inspect it! ”

Hearing this, Flintz turned his head in surprise, only to see several officers busy passing on the situation. The field hospital in the woods housed mainly the wounded of the "Iron 17" regiment. In addition to some of the seriously wounded who had already been transported to the rear hospitals, there were four or five hundred officers and men, and this was almost all the strength left of the glorious "Iron 17". Although the German army had a large number of reserve soldiers to replenish the front-line troops, experienced officers and non-commissioned officers could not be replenished in a short period of time, as was the tacit understanding and trust between officers and soldiers.

Not long after, a small car stopped on the road outside the woods. Flintz, like many of his companions, craned his neck curiously to see officers and guards walking into the woods in a tall and thin man with a silver helmet. He wore a straight military uniform with gold ornaments, carried a long sword at his waist, pressed the hilt of the sword with his left hand, and walked with his head held high. When he came to the field hospital, he first shook hands and talked to several military medical officers, and then turned to the officers of the "Iron 17" regiment. The regimental commander, Colonel Rice, had been killed in the battle, the regimental chief of staff, Major Loerze, was seriously wounded and unconscious, and the battalion commanders were either dead or wounded. Flinz saw the haughty Crown Prince Wilhelm shaking hands with the officers one by one, and seemed to be saying the same thing to each of them, and he noticed that the crown prince was next to a young man who was slightly shorter than him and wearing a German naval uniform. The godly eyes, the high bridge of the nose, and the broad lips are not different from the handsome faces on the postcard, and the real person looks like an indescribable unique charm.

Under the gaze of Flintz, the crown prince and his party finally came to the front, and a sergeant in front of him looked excited and nervous, and he said in a very high tone: "Salute to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!" ”

Crown Prince William's face still had that haughty look on his face, and he shook hands with the sergeant in white gloves and nodded slightly at him.

Prince Joachim, who was following him, had already taken off his gloves and had a friendly smile on his face.

The prince of a country should have the majesty of the prince of a country, and Flinz did not dare to say a word about this. When it was his turn, he straightened his chest and saluted solemnly: "Salute to you, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!" ”

Crown Prince William nodded mechanically, his thin face flashing in front of Flintz.

When that humble and kind smile came into view, Flintz stood up again and tried to squeeze out a smile that would express his admiration without losing his proportion: "Greetings to you, His Royal Highness Prince Joachim!" ”

"Thank you!" The young prince replied softly, "Hail to you, too, brave soldier!" ”

Taking advantage of this fleeting opportunity, Flintz quickly said: "Well done navy!" ”

Prince Joachim said "thank you" again, and in order to keep up with the crown prince, he did not continue to give, but nodded to Flintz.

Before Flintz could come to his senses, the next general had already taken his hand and said, "Well done, lad!" I'm so proud of you! ”

When Flinz realized that this person was the commander of the corps, General von Gers, and that he had been in the army for almost two years and had never shaken hands with the general, he thought that the status of the two members of the imperial family in front of him was far more than that of ordinary generals in the army.

There are some intangible honors that make people more proud than medals and medals!

The inspection and condolences of the crown prince and his entourage lasted only about ten minutes, and not every soldier had the opportunity to shake hands with him. Before parting, the imperial prince suddenly stopped, turned around in a dashing manner, and said to the wounded soldiers: "The German army is crossing the Maas River and advancing towards the heart of the enemy, gentlemen, let us see you in Paris!" ”

The victory in the Franco-Prussian War brought a qualitative leap forward to the German world, and there was a precedent for the German military and civilians to see Paris as the end of victory when they entered another war against France. Hearing Crown Prince William's rousing declaration, the officers and soldiers alike shouted long live.

At this time, the direction of the attack of the German 5th Army was indeed directed towards Paris, but the road to Paris was still quite long at a time when the soldiers had to march on foot. After crossing the Maas, Crown Prince Wilhelm's troops first faced Verdun, an important military fortress in eastern France.

Meat grinder, human meat mill...... The reason why Verdun in the old historical time and space is called this is because the German and French armies fought a protracted offensive and defensive battle around this fortress during the First World War, and more than a million soldiers on both sides were killed or wounded here, and no battle before or after has reached such a staggering casualty, so the little Verdun is famous all over the world.

Verdun in 1916 was a terrible scene of purgatory on earth, and in 1914, the first month of the war, it was just a quiet town, on the hill overlooking the road, the old fortress and the newly built batteries formed a relatively complete defense system, and when the German 5th and 6th Army broke through the French defense line on the Maas River, the French army stationed in the fortress of Verdun had only one fortress artillery unit, although the field fortifications on the periphery of the fortress were renovated every year, after the rainy season was always a mess, More than 400 laborers were still digging trenches and bunkers for ten hours a day, and the French infantry division scheduled to be deployed there moved to the front line due to the tension of the fighting, only to be involved in a fierce battle with the German 3rd Army Corps, which was crippled within a few hours.

Whether it was the original Schlieffen Plan or the combat strategy modified by Moltke Jr., the German units engaged on the Western Front should act strictly according to the planned timetable, and the corps should coordinate with each other and advance in turn, so as to achieve the operational goal of annihilating the main French army in eastern France. With Count Schlieffen's almost paranoid will and influence within the army, if he had commanded the battle as chief of the General Staff, the Germans would have carried out this plan to the end, but Moltke Jr. was neither Schlieffen nor his uncle Moltke the Elder, but an overly cautious and uncourageous general. Seeing that the right flank of Luke and Bülo's corps was stubbornly blocked in Belgium, and the pace of the advance was much behind schedule, and the French army's attack in Alsace and Lorraine was not as fierce as expected, but was beautifully routed by the Crown Prince Wilhelm and Crown Prince Ruprecht, Moltke Jr. was shaken, and he drew up a new battle plan overnight and sent it to the Kaiser. Wilhelm II kept his cannons on his lips all day, but he did not have the ability to really military strategy. In the eyes of ordinary people, it was certainly safer to fly on both wings than to throw alone on one wing, and a new battle plan was successfully adopted: according to this plan, the 5th Army of Prince Wilhelm and the 6th Army of Crown Prince Ruprecht would march side by side with the 4th Army of the Duke of Württemberg from southeastern France to Paris.

With the desperate struggle of the "Iron 17" regiment, Crown Prince William's troops were the first of the three corps to gain a foothold on the west bank of the Maas River. In accordance with the operational order of the German General Staff to "march in unison", the 5th Army Corps immediately dispatched two main corps to support friendly forces along the west bank of the Maas River, and at the same time left one corps and several reserve troops to clear the remnants of the enemy and consolidate the rear road, and only five infantry divisions, one and a half cavalry divisions plus artillery groups directly under the corps continued to advance in depth to the French army. Crown Prince Wilhelm's staff officers repeatedly estimated that before the main forces of the 4th and 6th Corps crossed the Maas River and launched a follow-up offensive, the attacking force could only advance 50 to 60 kilometers west at most, beyond which it was in danger of being surrounded by the French at any time, and that once encircled, whether it could hold out until reinforcements arrived depended on the strength of the army and the determination to annihilate the German force, on the one hand, and the will of the German officers and men themselves to fight, which obviously could not be expected from every regiment"Iron 17" fought bravely until the last moment.

With the aftermath of the battles of Lorraine and the Maas, Crown Prince Wilhelm's troops continued their westward offensive with rapid progress, and by the evening of 23 August they had advanced more than 50 kilometres from the west bank of the Maas, and before deciding to halt their advance, Crown Prince Wilhelm took great pains to consult Natsuki.

Xia Shu stood in front of the sand table and thought for a long time: "After suffering defeat in a row, the French army command will inevitably try to curb the defeat momentum of the front-line troops, they can easily notice our assault force on the map or sand table, with a cautious conservative strategy, it is time for the troops to stop and build positions." ”

Hearing this, Crown Prince William did not immediately respond, "cautious and conservative", this word is probably not far from "coward" in his understanding, and he has hated people saying that he is "cowardly" since he was a child.

Natsuki understood the character of Crown Prince Wilhelm and could see it in his expression, so he pushed the boat forward and put forward a more courageous and positive plan - the troops would advance another thirty kilometers and capture Verdun in one go!

"The French high command wanted to hold on to the counterattack, but the front-line generals and soldiers were probably only trying to hold on, because they had seen the German army's positional defenses - or had heard terrible descriptions from their defeated friendly comrades." Natsuki explained, "The enemy certainly doesn't know exactly how many troops we have to attack, and we can bluff and make the generals of the French front-line troops fearful." As long as Verdun is captured, we will have a significant offensive bridgehead, and when friendly forces come up to launch an offensive together, we will still be the first to make a breakthrough. ”

(End of chapter)