Just when the British, French and German armies were fighting fiercely near the Marne, a fierce battle thunderstorm was also brewing on the battlefield in the middle 200 kilometers away.

On 1 June, with the German breakthrough in the Maas River area, the headquarters of the Fifth Army of the Qing Ying moved forward again, moving from Longwei to the town of Verdun. Although the Germans had previously fired more than 80,000 shells in the area, they had attacked various fortifications outside the city, and the civilian buildings in the town were almost undamaged. After the Germans entered the city, they transformed the most "luxurious" three-story hotel in the town into a command post for the army group; The French who lived next to it were forcibly removed and replaced by heavily armed German guards. Two days later, Qingying was here, welcoming the Duke of Württemberg, who was now the commander of the Fourth Army.

Albrecht? Joseph, born in the Kingdom of Württemberg in 1865, as a crown prince, he married Sophie, the niece of Austrian Emperor Franz and the sister of Archduke Ferdinand. Like Bavarian Crown Prince Ruprecht, Duke Josef of Württemberg was one of the best royal army generals in the German army, having performed well in many battles throughout history, and was promoted to field marshal in August 1916. Compared with Qingying, who rose to power purely by connection, the Duke of Württemberg was undoubtedly a powerful faction among the officers of the German royal family.

According to the new plan that Qing Ying peddled to Moltke Jr., the direction of the German breakthrough would be shifted from the right flank to the center: therefore, the headquarters of the Duke of Württemberg, which had originally joined Hausen, was now transferred to the area where Qing Ying was located. Out of courtesy, the Duke of Württemberg made a special trip to Verdun to meet the crown prince. At the same time, some discussions were held on the next joint actions of the two armies.

Duke in his fifties. It has the characteristics that are common to German army generals: energetic. Rigorous and wise. After congratulating Qing Ying on his previous success, the Duke of Württemberg went straight to the point with Germanic rigidity and began to agree on the next step of a coordinated attack. And since the General Staff had already decided on the strategy of action, the exchange between the two army commanders went very smoothly; After a short time, the offensive areas for each of them have been decided. On the vast operational map, a line of attack representing the Fifth Army has been outlined: they will go straight south along the opposite direction of the Maas, capture Turkey in the heart of France, and encircle the two French armies that are isolated on the Alsace border.

On the night of June 5th. The German soldiers who had entered the starting position were waiting for the next morning to attack the French stronghold. The artillery units and logistics officers and men are still busy nervously, working hard for the artillery preparations in the early hours of tomorrow morning and the attrition of the battle afterward. As the Germans advanced up the Maas River, the terrain had gradually changed from plains to rugged mountains, which undoubtedly put a lot of pressure on the artillery and convoys. However, after a few days of recuperation, the Fifth Army, which had only advanced a little more than 100 kilometres, was in high spirits, and was eager to make a furious attack on France like a friendly army on the right flank.

The waning moon sinks in the west, and the stars are hidden. A hint of the whiteness of the fish's belly suddenly rises on the eastern horizon. The entire sky turned from darkness to light almost instantly. Several small airships flew out of the German rear positions, hovering over the battlefield as the eyes and ears of the artillery - at this moment. The French planes were still unarmed, and the German airships could hover in the air in a blatant manner. A short time later, a violent roar like a landslide woke all the German infantry who were still asleep; Hundreds of cannons rained down in a dense rain of orange flames, and the distant target area was immediately engulfed in a raging explosion.

The red and brilliant firelight flew out from the German position, whistling vertically and horizontally in an instant, breaking through the sky and groaning, crossing the high and low arcs in the air, and slamming into the French position, the light waves exploded, and the fragments flew sideways. Although the French officers and men on the front line had to endure the wanton humiliation of the German artillery every day, and they were no longer as panicked in the face of the artillery as ordinary recruits, the sudden outbreak of the German army's fierce fire today still made them tremble and fall into a nightmare. In a short time, all the obstacles in the front line of the French army were swept away by the fire of the German airships; A large number of artillery pieces immediately raised their muzzles and began to bombard the rear area fiercely.

Although the Germans were far less prepared for this artillery fire than they had been outside Verdun a week earlier, the French fortifications on these sections were far inferior to the fortifications they had been operating for forty years; When the roar of 8,000 shells was over, the French position still showed a scene of thick smoke and flames. The German infantry then burst out of the attacking trenches and, under the cover of skittling planes and roaring tanks, charged the target position. After the cannon stopped roaring, the battlefield not only did not fall silent, but became more noisy and fierce; The battlefield, which stretched for more than ten kilometers, was filled with the sound of explosions and gunfire, and airships like giant sharks cruised through the sky, from time to time stirring up earth-shattering waves of fire and flames.

"Bang ......" A series of bullets from nowhere hit the hull of a tank, and immediately bounced off with a crisp but sore sound. The German commander in the tank, with a playful smile on his face, continued to direct the vehicle forward. For this trick of the French, he has long been experienced in a hundred battles, in the previous battles, which tank has not been hit more than a thousand times? It had been proven that even the 8 mm thick side and rear armor of the Panzel I tank could not penetrate with rifle bullets: in the last battle, the side of his tank was fired by a French heavy machine gun from less than 100 meters away, but when the French machine gunner ran out of bullets from a bullet board, not a single shot penetrated!

Cannons roared, machine guns roared. As the tanks turned around, the French breastwork in the trenches exploded and collapsed, and the thinning fire undoubtedly created a gratifying gap for the German infantry advancing in the rear. Seeing that the resistance fire on the French position was still fierce, the German commander simply ordered the car to stop and first deal with the deadly tongues of fire that erupted from time to time. However, what he did not notice in any way was that in the cover of blades of grass hundreds of meters away, the elongated muzzles of the black holes of the three 75mm cannons were already aimed at his tank; A dozen French gunners had a look of hatred in their eyes and, on the orders of the officers, pressed the knobs to open fire.

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! "With three loud bangs, a cloud of blazing fire exploded near the tank, and one of the shells exploded less than three meters from the tank; With a loud roar, countless shrapnel rained around the tank, and the clanging sound tore at the eardrums of the crew members. A large piece of shrapnel tens of centimeters long thunderbolted through the side armor of the tank, which had deterred countless bullets, and stabbed into the vulture's self-rotating engine exhaust fan with a "duh", causing the electric motor whose resistance suddenly became infinite to let out a painful roar. The commander was so shocked by the sudden change that he hurriedly asked the driver to drive the tank to a dirt slope in front of him to cover it, but it was too late. The French 75-mm cannon, which was able to reach a perverted rate of fire of 15 rounds / min, did not give the Germans a chance to escape at all, and after a short correction and adjustment, another round of shells roared, and this time, two shells hit the tank directly!

Although the front of the German Panzer I tank has 15 mm 60 degree inclined armor protection, even in the face of 37 mm guns, in the face of 75 mm cannons, this armor is still like mud and paper, and it cannot withstand such a heavy setback. A 75-millimeter armor-piercing bullet sliced through the front armor of the tank like a sharp knife, flashing red, and then bursting into thousands of fragments with a roar, dancing across the small tank inside. The driver and the commander immediately flew flesh and blood, and blood flew like a waterfall. Another shell split through the 8 mm of armor on the side of the turret through the thorn and instantly sank into the ammunition piled up in the rear. In an instant, the tank suddenly burst into a dazzling blazing light, and then shattered and exploded with a thunderous bang, bursting inch by inch!

Seeing this situation, the French soldiers on the front position were all thunderous with joy. In previous battles, these steel monsters were almost invincible, and countless French soldiers had fallen under its machine guns and artillery, and they hated them to the core; Seeing such a tragic death this time, the hearts of the French officers and soldiers were all excited, and many of them even shed tears. For a time, the French positions were filled with gunfire and firepower, pouring a rain of deadly death bullets on the German infantry that were rushing towards them.

"Boom!" With the earth-shattering sound of explosions, the surging purple waves erupted like volcanoes; A French 75-mm cannon was instantly blown to pieces, and half a wheel flew out of the billowing smoke and flew in the air. The French gunners, who had achieved the victory, were obviously a little red-eyed, and they did not dodge or dodge in place, firing at other German targets at the maximum rate of fire, and such a movement obviously could not escape the eyes and ears of the Gotha bombers cruising in the air. After a few round bombs fell suddenly, this hot-blooded artillery crew was instantly submerged in the cascading and surging sea of fire. In the current lack of anti-aircraft weapons, the wooden-skinned three-winged Gotha I bomber can still act as an invincible master on the battlefield. (To be continued......)

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