Under the blazing afternoon sun, thousands of German infantry dug fortifications in the precipitous mountain valleys. Located west of Verdun www.biquge.info the terrain is complex, with undulating mountains and lush vegetation. A double-track railway line runs through the valley and stretches far into the plain de France.

In the historical Battle of Verdun, in order to overcome the defensive positions of the French army here, the German army used three corps and invested hundreds of thousands of troops, but the corpses were scattered all over the field and returned in vain. Time went back 16 months, in the summer of 1914, the French army only laid guard posts along this important railway line, which could effectively prevent the infiltration and destruction of enemy spies, but it was unable to resist the attack of the enemy's regular troops, so the German army cut off this railway line with the strength of an infantry brigade and several cavalry companies, thus choking the communication line from the French hinterland to Verdun, at this time only the north of Verdun was still controlled by the French army, but in this direction, The French army was under heavy attack on the German right flank, and under heavy pressure, it was difficult to draw a large number of troops to rush to Verdun

This was the favorable situation achieved by the decisive westward advance of Crown Prince William's 5th Army.

In a silent tense atmosphere, the German soldiers sweated profusely, digging out firing bunkers for shelter and reinforcing the breastwork with trunk branches, machine guns and artillery were well hidden in the woodland, and all the fortifications were deployed around the railway line in front of them, which the Germans were clearly tasked with cutting off and preventing the French from repurposing it. To this end, German sappers planted explosives under the railroad tracks, and when they heard scattered gunfire coming from the west, they decisively lit the fuse. The roar of explosions echoed through the valley woods, the smoke cleared, sections of rails twisted and broken, and some sleepers were blown to pieces.

Soon after, the German cavalry, which was on combat alert duty at the front, withdrew along the railway line, and one of the cavalry officers rode to the regimental headquarters at the foot of the hill and reported the enemy situation to the officers here, who immediately informed the brigade headquarters high up the hill through the laid field telephone line.

Although it was easier to seize this section of the railway line from the French than it was to snatch sugar from a child, and the terrain here was very defensive, the commander of the 1st Brigade of the German 7th Prussian Light Infantry Division, Major General Joseph Plier, looked worried and worried. In his opinion, it was very risky for the corps headquarters to force a breakthrough into the Verdun area with the strength of three divisions, and now it actually sent a light infantry division to intercept the rear of the Verdun defenders. Even if his brigade was able to rely on the terrain and improvised field fortifications to resist the frontal attack of the French army, once the 2nd Brigade on the flank was repulsed, the nearly 10,000 officers and men would be surrounded by the enemy. As can be seen from the disastrous defeat of the German 19th Infantry Division, the defense of the fortress of Verdun was extremely strong, and the French army could use the fortress to contain the main offensive force of the German army, and at the same time send a large number of field troops to attack the German flank. If the German 4th and 6th Army Corps had been reinforced in time, Crown Prince Wilhelm's 5th Army would not have suffered defeat, but it would have been difficult to send heavy troops to come up in time to relieve the siege.

Fearing defeat, Prieer had ordered his staff officers to arrange the retreat routes and sequences of the battalions in advance. Knowing that the French troops coming along the railway line numbered about one and a half divisions, that they had an armored train, and that they had at least two battalions of field artillery, made Prier even more pessimistic, but instead of giving the order to retreat, he used the field telephone line to communicate his concerns to the division commander, and received the reply that the 1st Brigade was not to take half a step back until the approval of the corps command was sought.

Although Plier was disappointed by this result, as a Prussian officer, he did not look for a "workaround" and carried out the order to the letter, requiring all units to hold their positions and resolutely repel the enemy's attack.

Half an hour later, the German troops deployed on the outermost part exchanged fire with the French advance force. Because the Germans had destroyed the railway line in advance, the French armored trains could not get close, and the range of the artillery carried by the armored cars was not much stronger than that of ordinary 75-mm rapid-fire field guns, and the German troops only had to concentrate on dealing with the French infantry engaged in the attack, so they repelled the opponent's first two attacks quite smoothly, killing and wounding three or four hundred French officers and men. When the battle report reached the brigade headquarters in Plier, the melancholy general still had a sad face. At this moment, the belated naval tank unit finally arrived in his defense area, and four of the 15 naval combat vehicles originally intended to support the 7th Light Infantry Division remained in Verdun due to a breakdown, and the remaining 11 were divided into two, 7 in conjunction with the 1st Brigade and 4 on standby in the 2nd Brigade defense area.

The performance of naval chariots in the Battle of the Maas River had spread throughout the 5th Army Corps, and their arrival undoubtedly made most of the officers and men under Prieer's command feel happy and reassuring, Prier had seen these armored tracked vehicles at close range in Verdun, and knew that they were not afraid of ordinary bullets, and could serve as the vanguard of the attack, but also as the tactical fulcrum of the defense, and could also play an active role in the combat operation of retreating and breaking through. Thinking of this, Prier's mood eased slightly, and he ordered the communications officer to communicate with the commander of the naval tank unit, asking them to stay on the last line of battle and be ready to maneuver at any time.

Although the advance force attacked without success, the French commander took advantage of this to find out the defensive strength of the German outlying positions, and he decisively held high the banner of the French army's proud attack, and ordered three fully armed infantry regiments to attack with all their strength under the cover of field artillery groups. Although the French 75 mm caliber field guns had an astonishing rate of fire, their power was difficult to effectively kill the defenders hidden in the bunkers, so the French infantry was blocked by unexpected resistance in front of the German positions, the soldiers fell in batches, and rushed forward in batches, after nearly an hour of fierce attack, the French expelled the Germans from the front-line positions located halfway up the mountain at the cost of heavy casualties, and most of the German soldiers who withdrew from the positions withdrew along the railway line to the rear positions, and small units retreated along the hillside to the woods on the mountain, from there continue to pin down the French army.

Ignoring the attack of small German forces, the French army continued to advance along the railway line in the direction of Verdun. Soon, they came to the main position of the 7th Brigade of the 1st Light Infantry Division of the German Army.

Meanwhile, southeast of Verdun, another "lightweight" fight has come to an end. Three battalions of the German 22nd Infantry Division broke through the French line in their first counterattack, and the remaining hundreds of French soldiers lost their armor and collapsed. As the other two German infantry battalions had lost most of their strength in the attack, the task of pursuing the French was entrusted to the Ottzig battalion. Braving the heavy bombardment of French shrapnel shells, the German infantry rushed to the hill where the French field artillery was located, and the French gunners fled in panic, and the four 75-mm field guns all became trophies of the Ottzig battalion.

Through this simple battle, Natsuki successfully tested his superficial understanding of World War II infantry tactics - although the Hubert 13 naval tank played a decisive role in the final stage of the battle, it was the outstanding performance of Camp Ortezig that was the key to victory.

However, Colonel von Carson, who was observing the battle from the same vantage point, had a different focus than Natsuki. Although he agreed that the new infantry tactics had a positive significance in improving the combat effectiveness of the troops, he was full of praise for the might of the naval chariots charging into battle and the domineering spirit of rampage in the enemy formation, and as a result, like Crown Prince William, he firmly believed that this equipment was the key force that would determine the victory or defeat of the war and even sweep the group.

Putting aside the gap in consciousness between the two, after road traffic resumed, Natsuki and Colonel von Carson continued to Verdun. At about 3 p.m., they finally arrived at General von Gels's forward headquarters - Crown Prince Wilhelm entrusted the difficult task of attacking Verdun to the veteran, who had just been awarded the Blue Order of Max for his outstanding performances in the Ardennes and the Maas, and eagerly awaited his victory.

Von Gers, who was particularly dear to the Kaiser's beloved young son and the younger brother whom the crown prince praised him, was certainly respectful, but he apparently did not think that a naval general was more proficient in land warfare than a professional army commander. Natsuki's proposal to attack was agreed upon by Crown Prince William and Colonel von Carson, but was refuted and questioned by von Gels, and the veteran's reasoning sounded very strong: there was not enough artillery to storm the fortress and almost send them to death, even if the soldiers bravely carried out the order, after suffering heavy casualties, the morale of the troops would quickly decline or even collapse.

"The 7th Light Infantry Division has cut off the most important line of communication for the fortress of Verdun, so that the defenders of the fortress cannot be reinforced for the time being, and the French high command is not well prepared in the early stage, a large number of troops are still regrouping after the Battle of the Maas River, and the defenders of Verdun are not many, this will be the best time for us to seize the fortress." Natsuki resolutely retorted, "The Verdun defenders are not easy to move between fortress groups, we can feign a siege of one fortress group, induce the defenders from other positions to come and reinforce them, and inflict heavy damage on the way. If the French do not come to reinforce us, then we will concentrate our forces and take this fortress group by storm, and then take the other fortress groups one by one in the same way. ”

"Your Highness's idea is very good, but this fortress is also like a battleship...... The fortress of Verdun is like a 20,000-ton battleship, with many guns and thick armor, and the attacking forces we are gathering now are like several cruisers, even if they form a siege, they will not be able to sink the battleships, but will be solved by the battleships one by one. ”

Von Gels's cautious conclusion from his personal perspective was not wrong, but he miscalculated by using the analogy of a naval battle in front of Natsuki. Natsuki smiled in front of von Gers, von Carson, and several senior staff officers, and argued in a hearty manner: "Before the Battle of Orkney Islands, all the people in the world probably thought that only battleships could deal with battleships, but the fact is that we severely damaged the British main fleet with mine arrays and submarines in one fell swoop, and sank a 30,000-ton new British capital ship. With the same strategy, I believe that the Battle of Verdun will also be able to create a big surprise for the world! ”

(End of chapter)