The same fierce fighting was fought at Verdun in the fourth line of defense, and the commander of the French Verdun Army, General Nivel, began to fall into a state of despair. The German attack at all costs made his army less and less, a ten-kilometer-long front, an ill-prepared army of 200,000, and a large number of heavy weapons. Yesterday the entire line of defense was almost broken by the Germans, and today the situation can only be worse, and reinforcements are still on the way. And the commander-in-chief of the French army, Marshal Pétain, had personally arrived at Verdun, and according to his latest order, all reinforcements advancing towards Verdun were required to slow down, otherwise once the defense line was breached, the hundreds of thousands of French troops exposed in the field would become the meal of the Germans.

Neville felt that he was about to become a sinner of the French Third Republic, just like Napoleon III. This feeling is really torturous, and it is the Chinese liars who are not trustworthy in their words, God, let these damn Chinese go to hell with me!

At this time, the French Supreme Commander did not think about how to save the situation, but wholeheartedly prayed to God to send him to hell with the Chinese, and in this case, it would be hellish if the fourth line of defense could be held.

The French soldiers did their best, "Behind us is our motherland and relatives, the enemy stepping on our corpses is Paris, do not leave the shame to future generations, brave French soldiers, even death will not allow the enemy to step into our sacred motherland and capital half a step." ”

The high Marseillaise was once again sung on the French positions, and the French soldiers bravely fought Zuihou to the death with the German soldiers, fearless in the face of the German soldiers who were getting closer and closer, and they were fearless in the face of fierce firepower, and they wanted to defend the French Third Republic with their lives and blood......

Field Marshal Hindenburg, Chief of the General Staff of the German Army, stepped on muddy ground and came to the front, because General Ludendorff, who was in charge of the offensive, had just assured himself that the Verdun Line would be broken through within today. This is something that the Second German Reich failed to achieve at the cost of half a million lives and a large amount of supplies in 1916, and it was about to come true in the summer of 1917.

"Ludendorff, I wonder where your faith comes from?" Field Marshal Hindenburg, who was not angry and arrogant, asked.

General Ludendorff, who came from the lower echelons of the Empire, confidently reported: "Please rest assured, Your Excellency, that this line of defense can be breached at any time, because the French have no reinforcements and have lost heavy weapons, and now they can rely on that little bit of poor spirit." ”

Speaking of the formation of good relations between Ludendorff and Hindenburg, there are certain historical reasons for this. Ludendorff's lower-middle-class origins and the strict hierarchical concept of the German Imperial Army (at this time he was not yet an aristocratic person) prevented him from being appointed commander. But this arrangement resulted in a brilliant Hindenburg-Ludendorff pairing, which had a major impact on the whole of Germany.

But now, whether it is Hindenburg or Ludendorff and others waiting, waiting for the moment when the Germans break through the French Zuihou line, now both sides know that this moment is not far off......

At 5:27 p.m. on May 16, on the left side of the Verdun Line, the Germans captured three positions in succession, tearing a three-hundred-meter-long hole in the entire flank of the French army. The combat determination of the French command was finally completely shaken, and although the combat troops below were still trying to draw a soldier to launch a counterattack against this opening, everyone knew that it was in vain. Seeing the hope of victory, the Germans launched Zuihou and the most ferocious attack, and the fourth line of defense of Verdun was finally completely defeated. More than 100,000 French troops fled towards the Verdun fortress like scattered sand, and the Germans did not continue the pursuit, according to General Ludendorff's jihua, next, about 300,000 German troops will besiege these demoralized French troops who have lost their equipment and supplies in the Verdun fortress and force them to surrender, and at the same time, about 160,000 German troops will bypass the Verdun fortress and establish a new defensive line behind its flank, and when the French army of the Verdun fortress is solved, the German army will be able to press down greatly, It is believed that there are not many liliang in the whole of France that can stop the pace of imperial victory.

Just when the entire German command was cheering for the German army's successful breakthrough of the Verdun Zuihou defensive line, Field Marshal Hindenburg suddenly asked a very scathing question: "Hasn't the Vauburg area been taken yet?" Where else are those damned Chinese resisting? ”

It was not General Ludendorff who was in charge of this matter, but the general who was in charge of the offensive in this area did not know how to answer. This is really embarrassing, here General Ludendorff easily defeated the 200,000 French army with 350,000 troops, and over there he attacked more than 20,000 Chinese troops with 70,000 troops, with more than 10,000 casualties but no progress, it is really unacceptable to say it!

When everyone was silent, a young staff officer suddenly ran in and said: "Report, the Metz Regional Garrison Command has sent an urgent telegram that the Chinese army has appeared in the Metz area and has taken advantage of the situation to attack the city, and the strength is expected to be more than 50,000, and now the imperial army is relying on the city defense to resist Zuihou, requesting reinforcements from His Excellency the Marshal." ”

What, the Chinese actually appeared in Metz! Hearing this, everyone, including Field Marshal Hindenburg and General Ludendorff, was stunned......

At this moment, Bai Chongxi and De Gaulle were standing less than three kilometers away from Metz, and the vanguard of the entire expeditionary force was Xia Wei's third division, and they rushed into the undefended city of Metz almost as fast as they could. For the German troops stationed in the city of Metz, or strictly speaking, the city of Metz, May 16 could have been a disastrous day. What a surprising sight it was for some German soldiers who had just finished their lunch and were about to take advantage of the brief sunny weather to wander through the streets when they suddenly saw a large group of Asian soldiers wearing French uniforms and wearing helmets similar to German helmets running past them with weapons. At least these German soldiers were stunned at the time, they had no weapons to resist, and they had to surrender and their sense of responsibility was not allowed. So they could only stand stupidly on the side of the road and remain motionless, until someone pointed a gun with a black hole at them, and they remembered to put their hands on their heads, which was allowed by the German Emperor Bixia.

Equally surprising were the inhabitants of Metz, who are said to be French, but who have been German citizens for nearly fifty years. But mere fifty years could not change their perception of their nationality, and only yesterday they received the sad news that the German raid at Verdun had been an unprecedented success, and that France might be doomed. But as soon as they finished lunch today, they were surprised to find that the Allied army actually appeared beside them, although it was Asian, but it was not important. The important thing is that the Germans seem to have lied, and perhaps it is themselves who will lose.

With the help of the French soldiers assigned to the Chinese Expeditionary Force, the residents of Metz quickly stood up and led the way for the soldiers of the Expeditionary Force, and the key units of the German army stationed in the Metz area were soon occupied by the Chinese soldiers with weapons, and the German soldiers inside did not even have time to resist, they did not know what was happening? Is it April Fool's Day?

In addition to the resistance of the German army near the garrison headquarters, almost 9,427 of the 10,000 German soldiers in the entire Metz area were captured without fighting and without knowing the situation, although for these German soldiers it was not necessarily a bad thing, at least for them the war was over.

At 3:40 p.m. on May 16, after half an hour of resistance, all 600 German troops at the garrison headquarters were wiped out, and the Chinese troops used mortars and a large number of grenades in this small battle for buildings, and the Germans suffered heavy casualties.

At about three o'clock in the afternoon, the German troops in Metz had already sent a report to the German troops on the Verdun front, but due to the movement of the command post, the telegram was delivered to Hindenburg at about five o'clock in the afternoon. God still favored the Germans at Zuihou, because by this time the Germans had already defeated the French army under the command of Nivel......

The news of the loss of Metz was terrible for the German army, which had just won the victory at Verdun, knowing that about 50 percent of the supplies prepared for the battle were still piled up in the warehouses of Metz, in addition to more than 100 heavy guns transferred from the navy. To make matters worse, due to its distance from the front line, Metz had no trenches and fortifications, and most of the guards were heavy troops who had never been on the battlefield.

"Now we are in big trouble, Ludendorff," said Field Marshal Hindenburg very nervously, "how did those damned Chinese get there?" ”

Ludendorff immediately pulled over a military map, looked at it for a few minutes, and said: "Your Excellency, I think we may have to give up the victory that is already within reach, once these cunning Chinese seize the Lorraine region, they can enter the heart of the empire through Luxembourg, and this is exactly what Emperor Bixia cannot tolerate." Worse still, if we don't give up this victory, we will also be unable to hold out because of the lack of follow-up materials, and all we can do now is to quickly return to Metz before the Chinese, and at the same time rush back to Luxembourg to defend the gateway to the empire. ”

"What, wouldn't that open the gates of Verdun and give up Lorraine and Alsace to the French?" Field Marshal Hindenburg couldn't help but exclaim.

Ludendorff did not speak, he just looked at His Excellency the Marshal with a painful face, and secretly cursed the cunning of the Chinese in his heart, but he still insisted with a clear mind: "Your Excellency, the French army has been severely damaged, and now it seems that we and the Chinese have obtained what we need in the whole operation, what we need to do now is to return to Metz and destroy or drive away the Chinese, in short, we can no longer continue the offensive, I believe that a large number of French troops are rushing towards Verdun." Regardless of the outcome of Zuihou, the Entente will no longer have enough troops to fight in the Western Sector on the entire Western Front, our strategic purpose has been achieved, and what we need to do now is to maintain stability in the Eastern Sector, so that our glorious peace can be realized......"