As the morning dawns and the light dances, the sleeping land of Western Europe quickly wakes up from the darkness and shows its summer vitality.

The German positions east of Verdun were already a spectacle of excitement: more than 600 cannons lined up along a 12-kilometer-long arc of battle formed a black wall of artillery. A large number of German artillerymen in gray uniforms had already completed all the pre-battle preparations, and they waited sideways, waiting for the order to open fire. The most eye-catching thing is the vast cluster of more than a dozen heavy train guns in the rear; The thick barrels, which were completely disproportionate to the gun carriage beneath him, were as high as the arms of the giant Hercules, exuding an unparalleled sense of majesty and oppression. The two large Belta cannons with a caliber of up to 420 mm are as thick as giant holes, and the fat and stout control and withdrawal barrels shine in the cold light, which is even more exciting and difficult to help themselves under the illumination of the sun!

The sirens sounded sharply and harshly, and when the glow completely reflected the whole land, the sound of artillery sirens sounding throughout the German offensive positions as they were about to begin. German gunners began to skillfully stuff cotton balls into their ears to prepare for protection before firing. The most exaggerated were the 400 artillerymen in the service of the two Great Berta cannons: not only did they protect their eyes, ears and mouths with dunnage, but they also hid in a single bunker a hundred meters away from the cannons, ready to launch this powerful supermonster electronically controlled.

At 6:30 a.m. on May 28, a red flare rose into the air from behind the German position. In the glorious glow of the morning sun, it still looks clear!

"Boom!" Accompanied by an earth-shattering roar of a tiger and a dragon's groan. A giant 420 mm siege cannon named "Bertha" gave the enemy the strongest roar of its time; The thick muzzle of the cannon suddenly exploded, and a cloud of fire waves more than ten meters in a radius of more than ten meters burst out. The gunners in the bunkers in the rear were brow-raising. The colossal bomb weighing more than 800kg soared into the air like a fire dragon, and thunder burst out; After soaring into the sky at a height of 1,200 meters, it immediately swooped down and crashed towards the French position like a meteor!

"Boom!" Thunder and earthquakes, the sky shook, thousands of dust, sand and gravel swept like crazy, flying to the sky; The shock wave was unprecedentedly strong and roaring like a hurricane. Some sandbags and masonry that were not firmly built flew high one after another, and were suddenly thrown dozens of meters away, tumbling endlessly. The fiery red rolling waves carried the layers of debris and gunsmoke, and in an instant, they rose to an altitude of more than 300 meters; From a distance, it looks like a majestic pyramid with a sharp top and a round bottom, towering majestically between heaven and earth.

At the same time, the red light on the German artillery position suddenly burst out; Artillery of other calibers joined in the chorus of unprecedented pomp and circumstance, tilting the French fortified positions opposite in a dense rain of bullets that symbolized destruction. German artillery observers were released into hot air balloons that could stay for long periods of time, and in a series of undulating explosions, they guided the landing point and direction of their own heavy artillery, which was very different from conventional artillery.

The red light shines. Loud bangs; In the glow of the morning light, the German artillery frantically poured deadly fire on the French positions at an average rate of 10,000 rounds per hour. Suddenly. The sand and gravel of the French position were covered with fog and fog, and the vigorous air waves squeezed and collided, and countless fragments and liquid metal flew wildly in the air; As soon as the French soldiers touched it, they all shot blood, and fell to the ground with screams. The French soldier lay trembling in his bunker, like a hellish nightmare from which he could never wake up: as far as the eye could see, there was a terrible sound of the earth collapsing all around, and the rumbling and trembling were ten times more ferocious than the most terrible storm and thunder!

"Boom!" A 283-millimeter cannonball flew into the sky like a comet, and suddenly slammed into a bunker fortification with a thunderous force, and the red purple light was like a fire chrysanthemum. The concrete bunker in front of it was as if it had been smashed by a heavy hammer, all of which cracked, and the twisted and broken shrapnel burst into the air inch by inch, shooting into the sky. A moment later, another 350-millimeter bomb broke through the wind and groaned, blasting a fortress-like fortification into thousands of pieces; In the billowing smoke, several French soldiers ran out of the hole in a frenzy, but after a few moments, they staggered to the ground, never moving again.

As time passed, the bombardment of German heavy artillery became more and more accurate under the calibration of the observers; The French only felt that the super loud noise of the earth cracking was getting closer and closer to them, and the last one exploded over their bunker, and the ground shook. The dome collapsed, the corridors were blocked, and the large and small fireballs flew high and danced like golden snakes, and then joined together, turning the interior of the French fortifications into a sea of fire. The billowing smoke and poisonous gas from the combustion frantically encroached on the air inside the fortifications, suffocating countless French officers and soldiers in the closed room. There were shouts and shouts in the fortifications, and the figures ran and fled, and they were in a mess.

Although the French fortifications near Verdun had been under construction since 1874, and it was reasonable that nearly forty years of work should have become impregnable, the reality was not as rosy as the French imagined. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the French Army, which has gradually recovered, has embarked on a road of no return that superstitious about the power of the "desperate attack"; In addition to taking stock of the wrong tech trees, he also lost almost all interest in building fortifications. By 1910, the word defense had become taboo in the French army: even General Michel, who advocated fighting a defensive battle on the Franco-Belgian border, was directly dismissed from the position of commander-in-chief originally assigned to him!

As a result of this situation, the French army gradually slowed down and eventually halted the construction of this defensive fortress that "dishonored" the army from the first years of the 20th century, which coincided with the rapid development of artillery skills. In 1909, Krupp Military Industry developed the giant siege cannon of the Great Berta, and this kind of giant cannon lost suspense in the face of the fortress fortifications that had fallen behind the times.

The artillery roared, like a heavenly river pouring down, and a tsunami rushing. The shells exploded violently, destroying the deep defense line that had fallen behind the times due to the lack of succession. And the most powerful of them are undoubtedly two giant siege guns of unprecedented caliber 420 mm. Every time the cannon burst out, the huge explosion produced by the fierce wind and agitation of the cannon was like a thunder tsunami, and the fire wave cloud that spread out for 100 meters was even more terrifying, and the cascading sea of fire was swept up everywhere it went. In the face of German train artillery fire, French trenches, earthen walls, masonry fortresses, concrete fortresses...... and all the fortifications, all of which shattered and collapsed like mud and paper paste. Countless German shells were like lightning and thunder, dragging the red and gorgeous flamboyant tails and slamming down; The blazing waves and the raging flames complemented each other, making the French position a dazzling source of light that could be combined with the scorching sun.

"Everywhere there was a raging fire, everywhere there were shattered earth, stone and steel. A large number of mutilated corpses lay on the ground, and bloody limbs and internal organs could be seen everywhere; Thick, pungent smoke whistled across the battlefield, mixed with the smell of burnt human bodies and the stench of dead bodies. The German shells seemed to be never-ending, and the violent explosions never stopped for a moment; One by one, the French pillboxes were destroyed and blown away, and sections of trenches collapsed and collapsed...... Suddenly, a shocking noise that was even more violent than the tsunami suddenly remembered, and it shook people's ears as if they were torn. From afar, the entire battlefield seemed to explode: layers of fiery red gas rushed out three hundred feet in all directions, and everything within the radius of the explosion became burial objects in a huge crater - God Almighty, who can tell me what kind of weapon the Germans are using? An American military reporter who was behind the battlefield trembled with a pen in his hand and wrote down what he saw at that time. After writing this, he immediately smeared oil on the soles of his feet; The intensity of the German artillery fire has far exceeded his imagination, and the French army, whose fortifications have been completely destroyed, can no longer effectively resist the German attack!

As the sun rose in the sky, the devastating artillery fire of the German army finally subsided. In just over five hours, the German Fifth Army rained nearly 60,000 rounds of artillery shells on the opposite French position, and its firepower was far superior to that of any previous battle. From the air, the French fortifications on the outskirts of Verdun had been blown to the surface of the moon: craters of all sizes were densely packed, and the burning flames had been extended into a sea of fire in the continuous shelling. The remaining French soldiers got up from their bunkers trembling, their eyes glazed like soulless corpses; Rao is loyal and brave like them, and he can't help but feel a strong sense of despair at this moment. Why did they suffer this hellish nightmare bombardment in every battle they fought with the Germans? And where are your own artillery units? What they ignore is that the French army is still equipped with a large number of 75 mm cannons, and this kind of artillery has no chance of resistance when facing the enemy's heavy artillery fire of more than 105 mm due to its range!

The roar of the machinery is sonorous and piercing; More than twenty Panzel I tanks spewed a faint cloud of green smoke and slowly drove towards the ruined French fortified positions. Behind them, a large number of German infantry, lined up in stragglers, followed closely. Seeing that this almost inexplicable attack was again, the French officers and men raised their rifles in grief and indignation; Even if you die in battle, you must defend this land of your own! (To be continued......)

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