"What, the French launched a sizable offensive on the Verdun side?"

The commander of the Verdun front in Germany - Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany.

He was not satisfied with the dissatisfaction on his lean face when he had been disturbed from sleep, and at the same time he was not satisfied with the French attack in the area where the Germans were preparing to attack.

"Yes, Your Highness, we didn't get any information in advance, the French would launch an attack of this scale, and according to the information we received, they used a lot of new weapons, including vehicle-mounted flamethrowers, 75mm rapid-fire guns, and a considerable number of machine guns, according to the front-line soldiers, those machine guns were about 30~40 machine guns."

The adjutant who followed him anxiously reported what he had heard.

"Oh my God, oh my God! Are these French people crazy? 40 machine guns? 40 machine guns? What do they want to do? And didn't we even notice it beforehand? These staff idiots! ”

Crown Prince Wilhelm expressed his displeasure in his words, and this attack of the French army left him scratching his head. According to the intelligence of the German army, the French army in the Verdun area was completely complete troops, how could they attack the German army first?

After all, in terms of the number of machine guns, according to the German army at that time 1~2 machine guns per company, there were at least 20 companies of troops, so the French army in such a small area this time, the strength of the attack is not small.

Suspicious, accompanied by his adjutant, he quickly walked to the war room, where his chief of staff and chief of staff were already waiting.

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Like the crown princes of other countries, he always had great respect for officers, after all, these people would be the strongest guarantee for him when he ascended the throne.

So as soon as he entered the door, the look of sorrow, dissatisfaction, doubt, and so on on his face dissipated into nothingness, and was replaced by a caring and commanding expression.

"Dear gentlemen, it is quite unpleasant that we have to give up our dreams under the disturbance of French bastards!"

For the crown prince's relaxed expression, the sensitive generals knew very well that the French army must have done something that made the crown prince undecided.

His chief of staff was afraid that the crown prince, who was eager to raise his prestige in this large-scale offensive operation, would make some unwise move.

"Well, the French army has made some small moves on our front line, and as far as I know, the French are engaged in an exchange of fire with a small unit belonging to our air force! The purpose of this skirmish was nothing more than to compete for parachuting pilots, so I thought that the French did not have insight into our plans for a large-scale attack in the direction of Verdun! ”

As he spoke, Prince William's face showed the kind of conceited expression that young and inexperienced crown princes often have.

"Really? Do you think so? They don't know our plans for the offensive? No, gentlemen, any large-scale campaign has some secrets that can hardly be kept at the beginning of the campaign, and I think perhaps a massive air raid on the part of the air force has alerted the other side. ”

The Chief of Staff carefully observed the face of the future German Emperor, and of course he could not easily overturn the intelligence of the General Staff. And, judging by the prince's smug expression, I am afraid that he will immediately launch a limited offensive to break up the movements of the French army.

"Because they sent about twenty companies of troops to rescue their pilots, twenty companies! This is what we extrapolated from the number of machine guns they used, and if this is true, then the goal of the operation was not as simple as snatching the pilots. Twenty companies, gentlemen, this is impossible, and the territory they seized is exactly where we are ready to attack, gentlemen, is it a coincidence? ”

Prince William's words silenced his staff, and while the crown prince was often overconfident, his questions were difficult to answer. No one pilot was enough for the army to launch an attack with the participation of twenty companies.

If too many forces were to be invested in a small battle for pilots, the French side would realize that this long-planned attack would be more than worth the loss.

"Your Highness, after all, the possibility of a limited offensive by the French army is really small...... Twenty companies of troops participated in the offensive based solely on the number of machine guns...... This ......"

Prince William waved his hand, obviously slightly dissatisfied with the chief of staff questioning his judgment. He did not see anything wrong with the number of machine guns as a criterion.

"Machine guns, to a certain extent, represent the strength of an army, in the previous year's war, the French army lost an unprecedented number of losses, is not a lot of to do with the fact that our front-line troops are equipped with almost twice as many machine guns as theirs?"

At this point, it seemed that he sensed that the reprimand and questioning in his words were a little impolite to the chief of staff, so he immediately ended his rebuttal and elaborated on the problem from another angle.

"I think this attack is a tentative offensive that the French have taken advantage of to perceive our offensive plan and change the operational situation. What I would say about this attack is that we should counterattack, and if the French fight back again at any cost, it must mean that they have discovered our plan of attack. We will immediately launch an offensive campaign, so that at least the suddenness of the campaign can be preserved. ”

"But our bombing ......"

"There is no need to mention those bombings, if they hadn't been bombed, or they wouldn't have taken the opportunity to launch this attack, would they? There is no need to fight, we will launch an attack in the early hours of tomorrow morning, of course, in a tentative nature! Let us know the rest of the reaction of the French! ”

Looking at William's expression, the chief of staff knew that this matter was irreparable, so he had to silence and prepare for the upcoming operation. If you think about it again, it seems that the French side already has some understanding of this offensive operation, or that it is not a bad thing to advance it.

The only problem was that the fortifications on the French side had not been subjected to a week's worth of air raids, and that the only thing that could be counted on was the powerful artillery fire of the German side, which would open a gap for the attacking German infantry and ensure a smooth assault.

In this way, because of a misunderstanding in a skirmish, especially the machine guns and flamethrowers on those tanks, the German side had a misunderstanding, and the Battle of Verdun began.