The German General Staff made detailed plans for the siege of Falden, and finally decided to launch the attack in November 1915, codenamed the Execution Site.

The capture of Verdun was a very difficult task, but it was also an incomparable honor for the generals who led the team.

As a result, many German generals were eager to try the commanders of the execution plan.

But Falkingham finally chose the German Crown Prince Wilhelm as the commander of the main attack on Verdun, perhaps to flatter the royal family, or perhaps to get Wilhelm II to approve the plan as soon as possible, in short, Crown Prince Wilhelm did become the commander of the capture of Verdun.

An authoritative work on the history of the First World War, called August Fire, describes the German crown prince in a satirical tone:

The crown prince was in his 30s, born with a fox face, no breast, and as thin as a wicker, not at all like the five sturdy brothers born to his mother every other year.

The crown prince gave the impression of being weak and intellectually mediocre, not at all like his father.

But his posturing posture was exactly the same as that of Wilhelm II, and he liked to make amazing shapes.

Although Wilhelm II intended to train him to become a commander, his training was far from sufficient. Although he served as colonel of the Skull Hussars and worked in the German General Staff for a year, he did not hold any division or corps commander positions, and directly became the commander-in-chief of the German Fifth Army.

Former Chief of Staff Schlieffen has been unimpressed by Crown Prince William's assertiveness, believing that it is unfortunate to appoint young and inexperienced commanders, who are frantically hunting for personal glory and are not interested in carrying out strategic plans.

Although Kaiser Wilhelm was initially the main commander in the capture of Verdun, Falkingham did not give the original text of the memorandum to the Kaiser to the Crown Prince, or his chief of staff, General Schmidt.

Falkingham's order to Crown Prince Wilhelm was: "In the direction of Verdun, attack the Moz region." ”

Crown Prince Wilhelm mistook this order as a signal from the General Staff for him to take Verdun, but it was not what Kinham had hoped for, which was to lay siege to Verdun and shed French blood.

In order to achieve the goal of besieging Verdun, Falkingham mobilized the forces of three armies under the command of Crown Prince Wilhelm.

This expanded the Fifth Army under the command of Crown Prince Wilhelm to six corps, all of which consisted of Germany's most elite troops.

As soon as the execution site was formalized, the German army and the General Staff entered into intense preparations.

Falkingham constantly inquired about the readiness of the Fifth Army, and then a large number of artillery pieces were transferred from the Russian front and the Krupp military factory to the front of the Verdun fortress.

The previous capture of the Belgian fortress convinced Falkingham that the German army could easily seize positions on the ground with the help of artillery, and that the infantry attacking in the narrow frontal field was only to occupy and consolidate the position.

In order to destroy the strongest French fortifications and crush the French resistance, the Germans mobilized 1,200 artillery pieces and 200 mortars, including the most powerful 304 mm naval guns and 420 mm siege guns at present.

In particular, the 420 mm siege artillery, which is a huge artillery designed for siege and land, can be heard dozens of kilometers away, and any strong pillboxes and fortifications will be blown to pieces by it.

In addition to these artillery pieces, which were designed to capture cities, the German army was also armed with mine-throwers, small-caliber high-speed guns, poison gas and flamethrowers.

Logically speaking, it was impossible for the Germans to plan such a large-scale offensive in the Verdun area from the eyes of the Entente.

Although there is currently no satellite technology for surveillance, the large number of spies and intelligence agents sent by countries to each other is not vegetarian.

In fact, this was indeed the case, as the French intelligence services had already known about the imminent German attack by the time the Germans began to prepare.

Russia also reported from the Eastern Front that Germany had mobilized a part of its main forces to the Western Front, leaving Britain and France on guard.

But at this time, the French commander-in-chief Xia Fei did not think so. Chauffeur firmly believed that the Battle of the Somme planned by the Anglo-French forces was a more important matter than the German offensive, and that Chauffeur did not believe that the direction of the German offensive was Verdun, after all, Verdun had been a calm area since the outbreak of the war.

However, because of the advice of his subordinates, Xia Fei still sent a small number of troops to the Verdun area, increasing the strength of the defenders in the Verdun area.

27 November 1915, Verdun, early in the morning.

The temperature on this day was a little cold, because there was a lot of humidity in the air, and fog covered the whole land like a veil.

If you had a thermometer, you would have been able to see that the temperature had reached below zero today, and even the few green plants on the land were covered with a layer of hoarfrost.

In a trench in France, recruit Gerry rubbed his hands lightly, took a breath of hot air, and followed the veterans around him out of the underground bunker in twos and threes, breathing in the cold but very fresh air.

The French army, including Gerry, had been stationed in the area of the Verdun fortress for months, and all the surrounding fortifications and defenses were all too familiar to them, most of which they had built by their own hands.

During this time, some brave French soldiers would shout to the soldiers in the German trenches not far away, and sometimes they could get the same boring German soldiers, and there was no cruelty of war on both sides.

But today, after Gerry's squad leader shouted twice to the opposite position, he did not get any response.

"Damn! This group of pigs knows how to sleep. The squad leader scolded stupidly, trying to relieve a trace of embarrassment.

But it wasn't just that, the German soldiers who often accosted him never responded, which made the French soldiers, including Gerry, feel a little unusual.

Looking at the time, it was already early eight, and Gerry's squad leader ordered, "Everyone, go have breakfast first, and then continue to build that damn defensive position." ”

The logistics of the French front-line army were still sufficient, so that the troops defending the fortress of Verdun were able to eat steaming food every day, with the occasional coffee, milk and fruit.

Of course, after the weather gets colder, the logistics department will also provide some bad wine to the frontline troops to help the frontline troops relieve fatigue and protect themselves from the cold.

That's right, it's bad wine. Because of the inferior quality of this wine, it tastes spicy to drink, and it can even heat the artifact properly from the throat to the chest.

Thanks to today's cold weather, the French soldiers were each given a sip of bad wine, keeping them warm up on the premise that they would not get drunk.

Hearing that they were going to eat first, Gerry's unit quickly forgot that the Germans had not spoken to him, after all, in this boring position, eating was more important than anything else, so why should he care about the Germans on the other side?

But soon, the French army found out that something was wrong. There was no movement of the German troops not far away, and it stands to reason that this should also be the breakfast time of the German troops.

Rumble!

With a bombardment, the silent Verdun Line suddenly shook and the flames soared into the sky.

The German troops were no longer hiding, and the artillery positions arranged in the front and in depth, all the large and small caliber guns roared in unison, and launched a large-scale bombardment of the French positions in front.

The loud bang shook the earth, and countless shells pierced the dust in a terrifying howl, and rained down on the French positions from far and near, causing a series of explosions and wails.

Coincidentally, some shells exploded in the logistics department in the rear, not only injuring many French soldiers queuing up to receive meals, but also making the hot soup for breakfast one of the main culprits of the injuries to the French soldiers.

The steam of breakfast, the smoke and dust of the explosion of shells and the fog of cold weather, like a suffocating cloud of smoke, completely covered the entire French position.

The dazzling red light and deafening loud noises that came from the smoke, coupled with the continuous explosions that shook the surrounding land, caused some of the fortifications under construction or not yet to be built to collapse, and buried many French soldiers.

"The Germans have attacked! Take shelter in the trenches! The commanders of the French armies roared hoarsely.

It was not convenient to make all kinds of food in the trenches, so the logistics department in charge of cooking was a few hundred meters behind the trenches.

Although there were some fortifications here, they could not accommodate so many French soldiers, and they were far less solid than the fortifications of the trenches on the front line.

Under the orders of their own commanders, countless French soldiers stooped down and ran into the trenches, looking for the strongest places to hide.

There were still some French soldiers in the trenches who had not yet come to their senses, and they had already lost their lives with the bombardment of the Germans.

Gerry was not in a good situation at this time, although he took refuge in the trenches in time, but the aftermath of the explosion made Gerry suffer from ear and nose bleeding, his eyes were full of gold stars, his ears were roaring, and he had temporarily lost his hearing.

"Gerry, open your mouth to ease the shockwave!" Gerry's squad leader shouted orders.

Seeing any reaction from Grie, he knew that he might have temporarily lost his hearing, and hurriedly motioned for Gerry to open his mouth.

This is the experience of these French veterans in the face of German bombing, and opening their mouths can effectively alleviate part of the shock wave, at least not to make people lose their hearing from the shock wave.

Of course, such an approach can only effectively prevent the shock wave generated by the explosion of the shell at a distance, and will not help in any way to defend against the explosion of the shell.

Anyone can only pray for one thing in the face of bombing, either they can't blow it up, or they blow it up a little more happily.

The worst of all is the one that only hits the leg or limbs, which not only causes great pain, but also is very likely to cause infection and cost a life due to this severe trauma.

3000 words for the first update, ask for a monthly pass, ask for support!

(End of chapter)