Upon learning that the 19th Infantry Division had been smashed in the head at the fortress of Verdun and that Crown Prince Wilhelm, who had led the corps headquarters across the Maas River, could not help but be furious, and he unabashedly denounced the division commander as a "reckless man who could not turn", "a fool with no intelligence", and "an old man who did not understand military affairs at all". Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

Crown Prince William was so angry, not to mention the staff officers of the headquarters, even Natsuki rarely encountered it. In his opinion, the angry expression, posture and even phrasing of the imperial prince are deliberately imitating Kaiser Wilhelm II, but they are only like gods, and his relatively weak personality makes it difficult for him to establish a sense of majesty from the inside out in the minds of others.

In any case, the heavy casualties incurred by the 19th Infantry Division as a result of the active attack were indeed very undeserved. According to the Legion Command's operational orders, the division's mission before the arrival of the follow-up troops at Verdun was to carry out combat reconnaissance of the French fortifications, and no one usually understood "combat reconnaissance" as a heavy blow—unless they had misjudged the situation on the battlefield and thought that a single punch would bring out the opponent. In contrast, the combat reconnaissance of the 3rd Prussian Lancer Division was more reliable, and the forced raid on Verdun was a bit reckless, but the commander did not put his main forces at great risk.

Now that the mistake has been made, punishing those responsible will not help change the reality, and Crown Prince William and his staff officers have to find ways to make amends. Sent to attack the French army on the west bank of the Maas River, the two corps under the command of Bavarian Crown Prince Ruprecht and Duke of Württemberg Albrecht have basically completed their tasks, and now the French defense line in the middle of the Maas River is completely lost, and hundreds of thousands of German troops in the 4th and 6th Army Corps are using pontoon bridges and boats to step up to cross the Maas River, and Crown Prince Wilhelm was able to concentrate his two wings of troops into battle, but the attack of the remnants of the French army and the carrying capacity of the road itself are restricting the marching speed of these German troops, Most German infantry divisions could only move 20 to 30 kilometers a day, and it would take three or four days for them to reach Verdun, which was enough time for the French to gather more front-line troops around Verdun, thus making it much more difficult for the Germans to conquer the fortress.

Reinforcements are still far away, and if the existing forces are forced to attack the fortress, the situation is not optimistic. Two infantry divisions, one of which was a lightly equipped light infantry division, a weakened cavalry division, and a heavy artillery group that took 24 hours to reach - in front of the French fortress artillery, the 150 mm howitzer was simply not qualified to be called "heavy artillery", and the 240 mm heavy howitzer could compete with it, but it was limited in number and difficult to destroy the French defense in a short time.

After thinking about it, Colonel von Carson, chief of staff of the corps command, thought of the batch of naval tanks transferred from Danzig. In the battle of the Maas River, there were only 6 Hubert-13 vehicles that were actually put into the battlefield, but they played a very important role as a surprise soldier. Led by these tanks, the German infantry broke through the defensive positions of two French divisions in succession and rushed to the "Iron 17" regimental defense area in time, thus holding the L18 road bridge across the Maas River. After this battle, these tanks continued to be used in the main attack direction of the 5th Army, and in the battle on August 24, they again supported the German infantry to break through the French lines, but the continuous march over long distances wore out these tracked vehicles very much, and most of the vehicles were stopped for repair, so they gradually fell behind the advance troops. On the night of the 19th Infantry Division's storming of the Verdun fortress, the nearest chariot unit was still resting more than 30 kilometers away.

Seeing that everyone's eyes were on him, Natsuki scratched the tip of his nose and said unhurriedly: "According to the equipment tests we have done, as long as an ordinary 150 mm caliber shell falls within 10 meters, the crew of the chariot will be seriously injured, and may even die of serious injuries after a short period of fainting; Within 5 meters, the body of the car will be damaged due to the strong impact of the explosion; At a range of 1 to 2 meters, the vehicle may be overturned and completely incapacitated; In the event of a direct hit by a shell, the result does not need to be said. So in terms of performance, the 'Hubert 13' was not suitable for storming fortresses, nor was the 'Hubert 14', which had a larger tonnage, thicker armor, and moved more slowly. But ......"

Natsuki's "but" dragged on for half a beat, and I saw Crown Prince William take two puffs of cigarette hard, but he didn't interject.

"The fortress of Verdun was mainly used to defend against attacks in the east, south and north, and the west side, that is, the side facing Paris, was its back, and there were also batteries on this side, although the French would not have deployed new heavy artillery with a long range and great power, but it was still not advisable to storm it. I suggested that chariot units and a part of the infantry should be interspersed on this side, cutting off the east-west railway line, which was the preferred route for the French to send reinforcements to Verdun. ”

A senior staff officer questioned: "Even if we surround the fortress and use the ammunition and supplies in the fortress, it will be difficult to force the defenders to surrender in a short time." ”

"Today, there are only a maximum of 5 tanks that can be put into the battlefield of Verdun, and tomorrow, this number can be increased to 15, as long as we cut off the support of the defenders of the fortress, it can not only damage their morale, but also indirectly weaken their strength, making tomorrow's attack easier." Natsuki explained, "Otherwise, how many reinforcements can the French army send to the fortress in a day and a night? ”

This question obviously does not require knowing the exact answer.

Crown Prince Wilhelm held his pointed chin in his hand and pondered for a moment with a deep expression before looking at Colonel von Carson. At this time, the chief staff officer was also pondering, calculating in his mind various possible engagements and their outcome. After waiting like this for five or six minutes, a communications officer came in and reported that the French had launched a counterattack on the battery southeast of Verdun and had recaptured the outlying positions that had been occupied by the Germans. According to German officers and soldiers at the front, many of the French soldiers who fought were Afro-Asian, that is, troops from the French colonies.

"Sure enough, reinforcements have arrived." Colonel von Carson frowned and said, "In this case, we simply advanced an infantry brigade of the 7th Light Infantry Division to the west of Verdun to cut off the railway line and build fortifications outside the range of the French fortress artillery, another infantry brigade moved to the southwest of the fortress to dig trenches and stand by, the 16th Infantry Division continued to be deployed south of Verdun, and the 3rd Cavalry Division carried out mobile reinforcements for the entire battlefield." As long as the French had no more than one field force at Verdun, we should be able to hold out until the arrival of the follow-up troops. ”

Crown Prince William nodded in agreement, and then asked Natsuki, "How many troops do you think you can win by attacking the fortress of Verdun?" ”

Xia Shu thought about it, at present, the defense of the French army in Verdun is mainly based on fortress batteries, and the defense system combining fortresses and field fortifications is only rudimentary, and there is no need for hundreds of thousands of troops and thousands of heavy artillery to launch a strong attack, so he said: "As long as there are 15 chariots, 50,000 infantry, 40 long-range artillery, enough smoke grenades and high explosives, I think I can give it a try." ”

"Can you give it a try?" Apparently because of the example of the 19th Infantry Division, Crown Prince William was very resistant to this wording, and he said to Natsuki brutally: "No, I want the guarantee of victory." Even if I need 100,000 infantry, 200 artillery pieces and 1,000 tons of explosives, I can get them in the shortest possible time! How many tanks do I have left in the navy, I will borrow them all, and when the battle is over, it will be no problem to return them twice! ”

At last, like an angry bull, he turned back and forth in this room, and when he stopped, he faced Natsuki: "Now that the whole of Germany is watching us, we must not suffer defeat at Verdun." Even if you pile it with soldiers and push it with shells, you have to take it down! ”

Natsuki was unhappy with Crown Prince William's unquestionable tone, but he thought that he could not repeat the mistakes of history for the sake of arrogance, so he calmed down and thought about it carefully, and then looked at Colonel Carson, and then replied to Crown Prince William: "Please allow me, if Colonel von Carson agrees, to go to Verdun as well, and we will have good news for you in two days at most." ”

Von Carson immediately responded with an "honor" to this challenging task.

Natsuki and Carson were very happy, but now Crown Prince William hesitated. It is clear that the Kaiser's favorite young son, the epic hero of the German Navy, has multiple scruples about letting his youngest son, the German Navy's epic hero, run to the front line where the situation is unstable. After thinking about it, he suggested to Natsuki that a special telephone line could be established between the corps headquarters and the Verdun front command so that he and Carson could keep abreast of the situation at the front and adjust their deployment, or take a step back and let them indirectly direct the operation in a place closer to the front line but in a safer position.

Natsuki was noncommittal, but looked down at the military uniform on his body, in the battlefield of the Western Front, such a naval uniform was indeed too different, so he took the initiative to suggest that he could change into the army's uniform and go to the front. In any case, with Colonel Carson present, his tactical intentions must be fully executed, and no one else will know about his participation in the Battle of Verdun except for the officers of the regimental headquarters. In addition, the combat operations of the German Navy were far from over, and they needed to return to the fleet command as soon as possible.

The more calm Natsuki's attitude became, the more serious Crown Prince William's concerns became, and he smoked two cigarettes in a row, and talked with Colonel Carson alone for half an hour before agreeing.

Because it takes time to assemble and deploy troops, deploy and transport materials, and only travel more than 70 kilometers from the headquarters of the 5th Army Corps to the front line of Verdun, if the road is clear, it is enough to drive for two or three hours, Natsuki and Carson did not set off until the new battle plan was arranged, and when they left the corps headquarters, the 7th Light Infantry Division, the 16th Infantry Division, and the 3rd Cavalry Division had already begun to act accordingly in accordance with the latest operational instructions.

(End of chapter)