On the afternoon of August 22, Natsuki followed the command of Crown Prince Wilhelm's corps to Longvi on the other side of the Sheel River, where the Lorraine-Brière iron ore area had been completely occupied by the Germans, and even though some mining facilities were destroyed by the French before retreating, it would soon become one of the important sources of raw materials for German industry and war machines. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

As the French troops holding the fortress of Longvi refused to surrender, the Germans quickly brought in siege artillery, and people could hear the earth-shattering roar of 240 mm heavy howitzers and 320 mm siege mortars from more than ten kilometers away. The high-explosive armor-piercing shells specially made for the capture of fortresses have the terrible power to destroy all fortresses, and it can be seen from the experience of the capture of the fortress of Liège that infantry and ordinary artillery alone are no longer enough to seize the defense system built with modern construction technology and military thinking.

"An advance unit of the 6th Corps, the 17th Iron Regiment, had already broken through to the banks of the Maas, and they found that the French had deployed defenses on the opposite bank, while our aerial reconnaissance found that several bridges over the river were still in use."

Crown Prince William's Chief of Staff, Colonel von Carson, kept the triumphant Imperial Prince and his accomplished brother Prince Joachim up to date on the progress of the war.

The situation was so clear that the crown prince instructed without consultation: "Send a telegram to General von Gers...... Well...... Then send a direct report to the Colonel Rice of the 13th Iron Regiment, telling them to seize the bridges before the French destroy them, and to defend them resolutely, which is related to whether we can successfully annihilate the French army in the Lorraine area, and even the key to the war...... Do whatever it takes to have to! ”

After giving the order, Crown Prince William turned to Natsuki and said triumphantly: "Look, as I expected, our opponent is not vulnerable at all, and in less than two days, we are already in sight of victory." ”

Natsuki smiled: "Before the French sign the treaty of defeat and surrender, we still need to go all out, and we must not underestimate the enemy." ”

"Uh-huh!" Crown Prince Wilhelm was perfunctory and nonchalant, probably estimating in his heart who would be more prominent, himself or Ruprecht. For the success of the defense of Alsace, the Bavarian Crown Prince has been awarded two Iron Crosses by the Kaiser, and his performance is not only a glory for the Bavarian army, but also a source of glory for the whole of Germany.

A short time later, a staff officer came to report that a special train from the country had arrived in Luxembourg and, since the railway line damaged by the French army had not yet been repaired, the train would go up to Esch on the other side of Longvi.

"The truck you need is already in place." Crown Prince William said to Natsuki, "It's just that at present, the entire army is advancing, and all the transportation capacity has come in handy to ensure the supplies needed for front-line operations." I wonder if the 13th Iron Regiment can successfully capture one or two bridges, will it be necessary for your speedboats to be transported to the Maas River? ”

Natsuki thought for a moment: "To be on the safe side, I personally recommend sending the speedboat to the front line in time, after all, breaking through the Maas River is our primary goal at this stage." A dozen fewer trucks is nothing for the entire legion, while ten speedboats have the potential to work wonders when it matters most. ”

Now that the situation on the battlefield is very good, and Prince William's mentality is surprisingly open-minded, he readily agrees with Natsuki's opinion, and it won't be long before he knows how important this decision is.

Two hours later, a special train carrying 12 assault boats and 24 Hubert-13 vehicles arrived in Esch. You must know that at this time, the entire German railway system was operating in strict accordance with the operational plan of the General Staff, and tens of thousands of tons of war materials were transported to the front every day.

The assault boats prepared for amphibious landing operations are designed and built by the Friedrich Royal Shipyard, and are divided into three classes: 2 tons, 5 tons, and 12 tons, all of which are armored hulls, and their protection capabilities are much higher than ordinary high-speed torpedo boats, and they use high-speed torpedo boat engines to speed faster than ordinary civilian boats. Due to vehicle load limitations, the 20 assault boats arriving in the Ardennes are the smallest models with an empty weight of 2 tons, and they can carry 8-10 heavily armed infantry or combat equipment of equal weight to cross shallow water at a speed of 15 knots. However, due to the need for secrecy, these assault boats did not begin mass production until a month before the outbreak of the war, and are currently only equipped with a test group of the German Navy, and do not have a large-scale amphibious delivery capability for the time being.

Finalized in 1913, the Hubert-13 is also a new type of equipment developed in the name of naval amphibious landing operations, it was born in the territory of Prince Joachim, is a "derivative" of agricultural tractor technology, thanks to the designer's foresight, it avoids some detours in history, directly adopts a fully armored hull and a rotating turret, and is equipped with a powerful aviation Daimler gasoline engine, with a maximum road speed of 20 kilometers per hour and an off-road speed of 10-12 kilometers per hour.

When the naval equipment arrived at Longwei via the pontoon bridge over the river, Crown Prince Wilhelm went to inspect it with great interest. Carrying the F-14A assault boats, the four-wheeled trucks made by Daimler were quite difficult, and they were seen driving slowly on the road, knowing that some sections of the road ahead were more rugged, and it seemed that it would be difficult for them to reach the position on the south bank of the Maas River, more than 20 kilometers away, before dark.

Naturally, the crudely constructed assault boats did not attract the attention of Crown Prince William, but not the rumbling Hubert-13, whose armored turret and tracked power system were first impressed.

"These iron bumps are not afraid of any bullets!" This was the most direct conclusion he reached, but it was not entirely correct, since in this era there were already steel-core bullets, with which heavy machine guns were able to penetrate the weak points of the Hubert-13 at close range.

Natsuki replied lightly: "Theoretically, they are not afraid of the enemy's bullets and shrapnel, and can brave the enemy's heavy artillery fire to break through the enemy's positions, and this will be the first time they have been tested in actual combat." I'm not entirely sure what the outcome will be. ”

Crown Prince William turned around, stretched out his hand to take Natsuki's arm, and said in a gesture of brotherly intimacy, "With your genius abilities, Jochen, I am sure they will be a great success." Tomorrow I will write to my father, asking him to approve the mass production of these weapons, and my legion will be the first army unit to be equipped with them, in quantity...... Of course, the more the merrier, their production should not be lower than those high-speed warships, am I right, Jochen? ”

Because he chose to develop in the navy, Natsuki felt that it was inconvenient for him to directly intervene in the affairs of the army, so he decided to use the power of Crown Prince William to influence the equipment and tactics of the army, so that it could get rid of the quagmire of trench warfare and successfully defeat the fierce opponents of the European continent. Now that he has noticed the value of tanks and used them, Natsuki doesn't need to bother to talk about it, and he is naturally happy to be a good person.

"Although this vehicle and high-speed warship are manufactured in a very different way, as long as there is enough input, production is by no means a problem."

"That's good!" Crown Prince William received the assurance of his brother, and he was confident that he had found a way to succeed, and his mood suddenly opened up a lot. He watched the naval chariots passing in front of him, their "lumps of iron" running with a dull roar and a screeching sound of metal grinding, which attracted many curious glances, and even the local French residents stood in the doorway or watched from behind the windows.

In the face of the German army's tidal offensive, the main forces of the French 3rd and 4th armies, which were originally deployed on the east bank of the Maas River, began to withdraw across the Maas River, and several important military towns on the west bank of the Maas River were originally garrisoned by French troops. When twilight fell, the German troops successively arrived on the east bank of the Maas River, and most of the attempts to seize the bridge across the river failed under the stubborn resistance of the French defenders and the suppression of artillery fire from the opposite bank, and the scattered reconnaissance operations across the river rarely made progress, except for the German 17th Infantry Regiment, known as the "Iron 17th Regiment", which took a road bridge across the river held by the French army with three consecutive charges.

The smoke of gunfire is not over, the gunfire does not stop, the blood flowing on the ground has just coagulated, and immediately new blood is spilled, this is a cruel and merciless war. The French commander was well aware of the terrible consequences of this vehicular bridge falling into enemy hands, and did not give the Germans time to re-consolidate the bridgehead, so he drove the defeated French troops to turn around and counterattack, and the field guns deployed in the rear also aimed at both ends of the bridge and opened fire at all ends.

"Wiese, put the machine gun here, rebuild the sandbags, move fast!"

On the east side of the bridge, a German lieutenant officer with a melon seed face and a bearded lips ignored the shells that fell nearby, shouting at his men to hurry up and deploy defenses. The attire and weapons of these soldiers were no different from those of ordinary German officers and soldiers, except that the pointed helmets were embroidered with a red "17" - a simple number, but it was a special honor obtained in the smelting of blood and fire, a proof of the victory of iron will over human fragility, and the ultimate embodiment of the soldier's character.

Prompted by enemy guns, the German infantry quickly set up the MG08 water-cooled heavy machine gun in a position where it could strafe the opposite bank, control the bridge deck, and overlook the river beach, while the riflemen were in position in trenches, bunkers, or craters dug by the French. At this time, the German troops who arrived on the other side of the bridge also relied on the fortifications built by the French earlier to resist the counterattack of the French army, and a small number of German infantry were prostrate and fired on the bridge deck, but it was not a good position for soldiers with combat experience.

Seeing that his men were in battle positions, the gentlemanly-looking German lieutenant lay behind a chest wall made of sandbags, nervously observing the situation on the other side of the bridge through a telescope. The German infantry deployed there was about two companies in size, did not carry machine guns, and received very limited fire support, and the key to holding the position was to rely on their own efforts. But before they could engage the French infantry, they had already been repaired by the ferocious fire of the French artillery. In sight, the bridgehead position was constantly shrouded in the impact of explosions, and it was clear that the trench bunkers that were sufficient to accommodate themselves were not enough to help the German officers and men withstand such a dense and heavy shelling.

Seeing this, the lieutenant eagerly shouted to his soldiers: "Everyone dig deep trenches on the spot, the deeper the better!" ”

The French artillery concentrated their fire on the German troops on the west bank of the bridge, and at the same time sporadic shells fell on the east bank, and the instinct to survive made the German infantry more willing to wait motionless for the end of the shelling. The banks of the river were very strong, but at least easier to dig than the hard mountainous terrain, and the trenches began to deepen and protect the fighters as a result of the efforts of these German soldiers.

(End of chapter)