The "Verdun Battle Plan" drawn up by Field Marshal Hindenburg, Chief of Staff, was aimed at squeezing the last drop of blood out of the French, and it was destined to be an extremely bloody battlefield.

And the "Battle of the Somme", the second battlefield on the Western Front opened up by the British and French forces, also has the same effect, that is, the blood of the Germans was drained, an out-and-out hellish battlefield.

It has been 10 months since the Battle of Verdun, and 5 and a half months since the Battle of the Somme, and Britain, France and Germany have shed too much blood here.

Germany was the only country to have participated in all three battles, all of which were the main force, and the pressure was unimaginably great, and it was all supported by a strong will to win.

In addition to the large-scale battles that broke out on the Eastern Front, in this decisive year, three different battlefields in Europe broke out since the start of World War I, which is also the three largest battles in human history, with a total of more than 7.7 million casualties so far.

These three major battles took place in the same time period, and the battles were interrelated and influenced by each other, and they were strategic decisive battles that were being waged simultaneously between the Entente and the Central Powers on the two fronts of Europe, east and west.

These three major battles are also decisive battles that will determine the future of mankind and the fate of the 20 th century.

The failure of any battle will inevitably produce a chain reaction that will contain each other and affect the ultimate success or failure.

As one of the supreme commanders of the German army, Colonel-General Fritz von Billow, commander of the 1st Army, Colonel-General Galwitz, commander of the 2nd Army, and Lieutenant General Edgar von Manstein, chief of staff of the 2nd Army, were all deeply aware of this truth, and deep worries appeared in their eyes.

There was a moment of silence

Admiral Fritz walked to the window with his hands behind his back, and looked at the blue sky with gray-blue deep eyes floating in the white clouds, and said;

"This devil Marshal Lee of the Ocean Empire is a soldier whom His Majesty William highly respects, and it can be seen in the North American war that the layout is majestic and the command is unique.

Especially in the Hampton landing on the east coast of the United States, this move is really applauding.

Unfortunately, this Marshal Lee will be our tough opponent at the moment.

This first move made us understand his strength, and he is indeed a general who should not be underestimated.

But good German soldiers will not be afraid of any opponent, not the British, not the French, and the same will not be true when the Ocean Empire comes, and we have proved with our strength that the German army is the most powerful army unit in the world. ”

Speaking of which

Admiral Fritz turned around, and the resoluteness in his eyes was like a stubborn stone, and he said word by word; "In view of the new changes in the battlefield of the Somme, we must request reinforcements from His Majesty Wilhelm, and send no less than 16 more German divisions to the battlefield of the West Rum, in order to be able to withstand a new round of stormy attacks."

"Your Excellency, the 2nd Army agrees with you." Admiral Galvetz replied without hesitation.

It was no secret to the German top brass that the 300,000 troops of the Ocean Empire were sent to the battlefield on the Western Front.

With enough reinforcements, they were confident of holding the Somme line, as had been proven in past battles.

An army of 300,000 people wants to change the tide of the war, which is simply a fool's dream.

In today's era of big ships and big guns

Limited by the times, even the best senior German generals could not deeply understand the importance of air supremacy, and their thinking was limited to land hegemony.

The fact that the German planes could not rise into the air to fight only increased the difficulty of some defenses, and had nothing to do with the overall situation.

In the eyes of the senior German commanders, these covered planes were just small grasshoppers flying around in the sky, and their main role was to detect the enemy situation and drive away the enemy planes.

The role is nothing more, and the victory or defeat of the war depends on the heavy army group on the ground.

However, the development of events was much worse than they thought.

After gaining full air supremacy over the Somme, a large number of Allied fighters flew over the German positions with a large number of bomber groups, like a swarm of black press, and began to carry out indiscriminate bombing.

This action caught the Germans off guard.

From morning to night, the German positions were blazing with flames and explosions, and artillery positions hidden in the forests and towns were found, and then bombed into ruins by the rain of iron bombs falling from the sky.

Railways, bridges, roads, material depots, ammunition depots, command posts and even hospitals were bombed wildly, and the 2nd generation bombers from the Ocean Empire, nicknamed "Farmer", and 3rd generation bombers nicknamed "Hercules", carried out bombing missions during the day without stopping, raining bombs on German positions.

A Farmer medium bomber with a crew of two, an aircraft pilot and a bombardier and heavy machine gunner, carried a 14.5 mm heavy machine gun for self-defense, and could carry a 1,100-pound payload for ground bombing missions.

In the case of full load

It could carry 40 20-pound bombs or 16 50-pound bombs, and after the bombing, it could dive and strafe along the trenches until all the ammunition was exhausted, which dealt a heavy blow to the Germans.

The third-generation bomber, nicknamed "Hercules", had the same personnel and armament as the "Farmer", but with an increased wing area and a 9-cylinder radial piston engine, which increased power by 38% and load capacity by 54.5%, and was able to carry more bombs over German positions, bringing great fear and death.

The Imperial Army Air Force was armed with a total of 380 bombers, and lost 72 of them in the next 11 days of bombing, except for a small number of German planes that were shot down by German planes in a decisive sortie, and most of them were shot down by German anti-aircraft fire.

The Germans were indeed very quick to respond, and immediately after the massive bombardment, they sent a large number of 14.5 mm heavy machine guns, 20 mm, 37 mm and 76 mm rapid-fire guns to the Somme front, totaling more than 700 guns.

Whether the German army wants to admit it or not, the frenzied bombing of the Ocean Empire Expeditionary Force Air Force in the past 11 days has achieved remarkable results and greatly weakened the German army's combat effectiveness.

During the 11 days of bombing, a total of 10,000 tons of aerial bombs were dropped, hundreds of bridges were blown up, the German rear railway lines were paralyzed, dozens of material warehouses, dozens of German command posts and artillery positions were blown up, more than 2,100 artillery pieces of various calibers were destroyed, and more than 43,000 German troops were killed and wounded.

The 14.5mm heavy machine gun was the deadliest of all the way along the trenches, and the screams of bombers falling from mid-air were called "death howls" by German soldiers in fear.

The Germans did not have much to do to deal with this kind of volley attack, and they could only try their best to urge the rear to produce and transport more small- and medium-caliber rapid-fire guns and heavy machine guns, drive the enemy bombers to fly higher, and avoid heavy casualties caused by strafing along the trenches.

The 14.5mm heavy machine gun is very penetrating, even if there are many German soldiers hiding in the anti-gun holes, the 14.5mm heavy machine gun bullet can still penetrate the 400mm side of the soil, setting off a bloody storm among the densely packed German soldiers.

In the face of the indiscriminate bombardment of the oceanic imperial planes, the German soldiers could only hide in the trenches and shiver, and the feeling of powerlessness and despair slowly grew and lingered.

December 22, 6:00 a.m

Command of the southern line of the Somme

Marshal Li Xuanzhu and the senior commanders of the British and French forces came here, and the generals in the headquarters were shining brightly, and they did not have a brigadier general badge on their shoulders, and they were not qualified to stand in the headquarters.

Today is the first day of the Somme front's campaign for Operation Cauldron Breaker.

As the name suggests, the "Cauldron Breaker" is taken from the ancient Chinese meaning of breaking the cauldron and sinking the boat, intending to open a big gap in the German defense line through a decisive battle to the death, which is of great significance.

For this day, the Anglo-French forces have been waiting for more than 110 days and nights.

For this day, Imperial Marshal Li Xuanzhu threw all 300,000 troops into it, a stud.

For this day, Emperor Li Fushou personally reviewed the entire battle plan, and doubled it on the basis of the original eight days of aerial bombardment.

For this day, the British and French forces and the Imperial Ocean Army mobilized 2,860 large and medium-caliber artillery pieces to prepare for a five-day and five-night artillery bombardment of the German positions, with a total of more than 1.8 million shells.

Whether it can be done or not depends on this hammer deal.

The 300,000 troops of the Ocean Empire Expeditionary Force were the main force of the assault, all of which were gathered behind the 27-kilometer-long position on the southern line of the Somme River, including two fully equipped armored tank divisions with a total of more than 960 tanks.

Among them, more than 320 elite T-5 "Tiger" tanks are the arrows in the entire attack, and they are also the most powerful iron fists, which will play an irreplaceable and important role.

According to Li Fushou's words; "Marshal Lee prepared three axes for the Germans, the first move was aerial bombardment, the second move was artillery fire covering, and the third move was tank cluster assault. If these three axes don't work, the Imperial Army will not need to continue to increase troops to Europe, and it is clear that it can't be defeated! But this probability is not even 1/10. ”

Between the words, I am full of infinite self-confidence.

Looking at his watch, Marshal Li Zhuzhu did not ask for the opinions of other senior officers, his eyes turned to the dark and gloomy sky in front of him, and said in a deep voice; "Command; The second phase of Operation Cauldron was officially launched; Artillery bombardment was launched on all fronts. ”

Order

A group of officers in the staff department picked up the phones in their hands and gave orders to the other end of the telephone line in a hoarse voice; "The command of the expeditionary force ordered that artillery bombardment be launched on all fronts immediately."

In an instant

The ground shook on the rear artillery positions, and the boiling fire when the shells were fired formed a 10-kilometer-long fire dragon, shooting countless shells into the night sky.

On a long 27-kilometer-long front, a crimson web of fire was weaved, and then earth-shattering explosions were set off on the German trench positions, like rolling thunder.

Barbed wire, minefields, trenches, and bunkers were all submerged in artillery fire, reflecting a terrible scene of the apocalypse.

As is customary for wars in Europe

The artillery preparation before the war took several days, and the longer it was, the more tragic, bloody, and cruel the war would be.

The Ocean Empire Expeditionary Force, with a total of 300,000 elite troops, was only enough to launch a large-scale offensive on the southern line of the Somme.