Verdun is located southwest of Lorraine, next to the banks of the Maas River, about 220 kilometers from Paris, the capital of France. Although the town has a population of only 14,000 and is quite far from Paris, it is known as the "Key to Paris" because it holds the main road to Paris in the east of France and is at the very edge of the Paris Basin.

Since Verdun had been a battleground since the French Revolution and had become the main battlefield of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, France began to build fortifications near Verdun in 1874 in order to defend against foreign invasions in the next war. After decades of thickening the fortifications, a stretch of permanent fortifications has been built on the outskirts of the town of Verdun. In contrast to the formidable and unsheltered bunkers of the Belgian fortress of Liège, the French fortifications at Verdun were layered and extensive, and this system was even more difficult to capture now than in the rapid development of rapid-fire weapons.

In order to achieve a decisive victory on the Western Front, Falkenhein, chief of the German General Staff, put forward the operational concept of "letting France shed the last drop of blood" in early 1916, and in February of the same year, Verdun, located in the salient of the German front, was used as the core offensive point of the German army. In this fierce battle, which lasted for ten months, the total number of casualties of the German and French armies was close to 1 million, and the brutal and fierce attrition of positional warfare made this battle a veritable meat grinder. Although the Germans had an advantage of 433,000 in losses over the 543,000 in French, they were far from the 1 to 2 ratio that Falkenhain had expected, and with the end of the battle, the German offensive capability on the Western Front had fallen from its peak. The initiative on the battlefield gradually fell into the hands of the Entente.

For Qingying. The town had also become a site he had to conquer. It's not because of his historical plots. And solely for reasons required by the current situation on the battlefield. As long as you open the operational map, you can find that Verdun is exactly in the central axis of the entire French front: it is bordered by the French Fourth and Fifth Armies on the Aisne River in the west, and the French First and Second Armies in Alsace in the east.

Historically, the German Fifth Army also marched under Verdun at the end of August 1914, but failed to capture the area in one fell swoop. The main reason for this. It was the Germans who fought only one frontal repulsion battle in the Ardennes forest, and failed to effectively annihilate the vitality of the French army. The French Third Army was already slightly superior to the German Fifth Army in terms of strength, and when they retreated almost in a full-body posture to the fortifications near Verdun, they formed a barrier that the Germans could not cross.

Today, however, the situation has changed dramatically. Due to the success of the Qing Ying's life-and-death gamble in the border battle, the French Third Army was annihilated by nearly two-thirds of its troops; When Lüf ordered his troops to retreat in panic on the 23rd, the 250,000-strong army group was left with only a remnant of more than 80,000 soldiers. Although the French still have the fortifications, their defense of this area will undoubtedly be greatly reduced compared to the same period in history, and this is where the confidence of the Qing Ying is expected to seize this key point!

But even so, it was necessary to break through the defense line of the French in front of him and occupy Verdun. It was also by no means easy for the Germans. From the day of defeat and retreat, the French army began to dig fortifications on the front in which they were located. Fortified by the only fortifications they currently relied on, the level of trenching was gradually catching up with the Germans. The enormous power of defensive warfare is something that no competent commander of the First World War should not underestimate; Had it not been for this, the Western Front of World War I would not have been stalemate for four years with almost no changes. With the current techniques, there are only two ways to break through the well-fortified trench defenses, one is to launch an unstoppable infantry charge and pile them with human lives, and the other is to carry out devastating heavy artillery bombardment. In the previous battles, the French army, which regarded the "desperate attack" as the supreme bible, had always respected the former and despised the latter, resulting in extremely heavy casualties; As a traverser, Qing Ying obviously could not repeat the mistakes of the past, and destroying all defenses with unparalleled artillery fire became his only choice to conquer Verdun.

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On May 24, Qing Ying gave the order to capture Verdun, and the Fifth Army immediately rested and gathered under the command of Sickert and headed for the Verdun front on the east bank of the Maas River.

In order to obtain the desired strike effect, Qingying sent several telegrams to the German high command in Koblenz, urging the logistics to quickly send 100,000 shells to his troops. The previous battle at the foothills of the Ardennes had already caused the Fifth Army to lose a lot of ammunition, and it was difficult to carry out a completely devastating blow to the French fortifications with the current reserves. In addition to this, he demanded that most of the heavy train artillery units, which had been intended to support the right flank group, be transferred to the Verdun front and be supported with sufficient ammunition.

In the face of Qingying's almost lion-wide request, the German high command was extremely happy to give it satisfaction. Due to the victory of Qing Ying in the border battle, which almost completely annihilated a French army group, Moltke Jr. was greatly surprised by his achievements in commanding troops; Coupled with his special status as Crown Prince William, Moltke Jr. could not refuse his request in public or private, and he signed an edict to transfer cannonballs.

In terms of the train artillery unit, Moltke Jr. also did Qingying's wish, and ordered all the heavy train guns he requested to be transferred to the Longwei front line to wait for his dispatch. This is not because Moltke was completely trying to sell Qing Ying and the Kaiser's face, but the main reason for this was entirely due to the battlefield situation.

Due to the total destruction of their own railway lines by the Belgians, these big guys, who rely heavily on railway maneuvering, have been in a state of nothing to do in the right-wing cluster, and they have nothing to do with earth-shattering power; Although the German railways are working hard to get through the Belgian rail network, it will still take a long time. In the two storms of the Belgian fortresses of Liege and Namur, these heavy train guns, which had been pinned on by the army before the start of the war, were all lying in the rear because of their mobility; The decisive factor was entirely the giant bombing airships in the air and the 305-mm self-propelled siege guns of the Austro-Hungarian Skoda military industry. With the victory of the border battle and the rapid advance of the German army on the right flank, these big guys became more and more unable to keep up with the speed of the front-line infantry, and were reduced to ornaments that could only be seen but not used.

In view of this, Moltke Jr. had long wanted to withdraw this force from the right flank troops, and the Fifth Army for Qing Ying was almost the best choice that could perfectly exert its power. Longvi borders France and Luxembourg, which surrendered before the border battle began; The Germans could have taken advantage of their unspoiled and developed railway network to quickly transfer these train artillery to the designated places. In addition, Verdun was less than 50 kilometers away from Longvi in a straight line, which was the perfect place for the German train guns to exert their power. By contrast, the Duke of Württemberg's Fourth Army, which had merged with Hausen and advanced deep into the Maena River, and the two armies on the left flank, under the command of non-Hohenzollern descendants, were less necessary to use these train guns. The Second German Reich, which had not yet been truly unified, was also divided into descendants; Putting these train cannons under Qingying's command is just right for Moltke to sell him a favor.

From the night of the 25th, a large number of heavy artillery trains arrived at the Longwei front via the domestic railway in Luxembourg in the long hissing whistle of the steam locomotive. The technical brigades under the various armies have laid the battlefield tracks and led these important weapons to the designated artillery positions. As an army that widely used this weapon and enjoyed a good reputation in the military history of the world, the train guns in the German army were numerous and powerful; The heavy train guns passed through the Longwei railway station and drove to the front line, and their broad and majestic steel bodies and thick cannon bodies that pointed obliquely to the sky like giant arms made every German soldier enthusiastic and excited after seeing them.

Among these sonorous guns headed for Longwei, the "Bruno" type guns with a caliber of 283 mm accounted for the vast majority. This type of gun evolved from the main gun of the German battleship, and it achieved a fairly excellent balance of power and cost, so it was mass-produced by the German army as a standard weapon. At the request of Qing Ying, a total of 8 cannons of this type arrived at the front. In addition, three 350-mm heavy train guns were transported to the vicinity of Verdun: as a powerful weapon derived from the main guns of the Caesar-class battleships, the guns were capable of projecting 470kg shells up to 45 kilometers away.

What surprised Qingying the most was that little Moltke even sent him 2 big Beltas! Although this type of artillery is a howitzer with a stubby barrel and a range of only 14.5 kilometers, its caliber reaches a terrifying 420 mm, and the high reload factor shell weighing 817.2 kg is indestructible. Historically, the fortresses of Liège and Namur were reduced to dust under the bombardment of this artillery; And in this plane, Verdun has become the main battlefield for their first try. (To be continued......)

PS: Thank you for the reward of the book on February 30~~~