Li Yinpei angrily scolded the French, but the cannonballs from the fortress of Verdun in the north drowned out his muttering. In the countless howls that broke through the air, one shell after another exploded on both sides of the road, and the shrapnel and mud from the explosion flew high, and the already dim dusk became even darker.

The armored division had already evaded the shells before they fell, and based on Li Yinpei's observation, the shelling was too uneven - it stands to reason that any area near Verdun should be mapped and mapped by artillery in advance, and the artillery can be named according to the area on the map, not to mention that the artillery will be tested before the shelling, even if the Germans are not familiar with the terrain and need to test fire, but the artillery fire after the test launch is sparse, and the shelling targets are even more crowded together without any firepower distribution planning. If this kind of artillery is in the Revival Army, then everyone from the regiment commander to the battalion commander to the company commander and finally to the artillery commander should be pulled out and shot! What kind of thing are you fighting? It's just a blind fight and a waste of shells.

The information obtained from the French army was that there were two elite German divisions stationed in Verdun, and the experts knew if there were any as soon as they made a move, and this cannon made Li Yinpei see that this was by no means an elite German division. The reason why an infantry division can become elite is because it has elite artillery, elite infantry, and incomparable tacit coordination of infantry and artillery. Now with the level of artillery shown by the Germans, it is believed that the level of infantry is not much higher.

Thinking of this, Li Yinpei suddenly laughed, this battle is easy to fight. When he was laughing, he took the field phone that the communication soldier had already connected, and Yu Jichun, the commander of the reconnaissance battalion on the other side of the microphone, shouted: "I am Li Zhichu, report the situation ahead immediately!" ”

"Report to the sir, the fort defense is thin, and the German soldiers are either old or young. It's all rookie ......" Yu Jichun on the other end of the phone shouted the exclusive vocabulary of the Fuxing Army, which immediately made Li Yinpei happy. He deduced from the artillery that the opposite side was by no means the elite of the German army. I don't want the reconnaissance battalion in front to draw this conclusion from the age as well. In this way, it should be the reserve division of the German Sixth Army stationed here.

Yu Jichun's report was brief. But there was a lot to say, and the phone call ended up going on for several minutes. Just when Li Yinpei hung up the phone, the artillery of the self-propelled artillery brigade also became powerful, and at this time, the German army's sparse artillery fire had not stopped, but as soon as the artillery in the rear rang out, the neat and deafening sound of artillery stimulated everyone's nerves. The self-propelled artillery brigade was formed by drawing on the elite artillery of the whole army in order to provide rapid, accurate, and effective fire support to the armored units.

When the cannon sounded. Major General Lin Datong, commander of the 9th Army, and Colonel Fang Xingwang, commander of the 27th Division, as well as two French officers, appeared in front of Li Yinpei. As soon as the Panzer Division broke through, the Infantry Division quickly followed, which was a fixed pattern of operations for the Baath Army. Although it was more than 50 kilometers away, the 9th Army still gathered all the trucks of the whole army and rushed to it quickly.

Army Commander Lin Datong is a fellow villager of Lin Wenqian, commander-in-chief of the expeditionary force, and they are all from Ruian, Zhejiang, but when he was in the special class of Nanyang Public School, he, Guo Bi of the General Staff, and Xiang Xiang, the commander of the 4th Army, were known as the Ruian Sanjie of the special class of Nanyang Public School at that time. Time flies, more than ten years have passed. It is really embarrassing that the achievements of this Ruian Sanjie fell under the inconspicuous Lin Wenqian, who would have expected that Lin Zhoumi, who was unknown and few words back then, could actually become the pillar of the country. Lin Datong has no jealousy of his classmate. On the contrary, I was extremely happy, and even felt that I should perform better so as not to embarrass my fellow countryman. Because of this, he followed the 26th Division to the Verdun extension position.

"What's up ahead?" Lin Datong asked after returning the salute to Li Yinpei.

"There was about a brigade or so of German troops stationed in front. However, now the German army is generally incomplete, and then look at the old and the young. It should be a reserve division, and the tactical literacy is not high. The Motorized Infantry Brigade and the 1st Armored Battalion are on the offensive. Li Yinpei spread out the map of the fortress of Verdun and said briefly, and then pointed to several key points on the periphery of the fortress and emphasized: "When the French army retreated a few years ago, it destroyed the defense system on the west side, although the Germans also had the intention of repairing it after the occupation, but the military situation was urgent, and it was too late to repair it at first, and then when the trench war began in front, the matter was pulled down again, and this time it happened to be cheaper for us." ”

"Division Commander Li, the French army has brought a more detailed map this time." A staff officer who came with Lin Datong said to Li Yinpei.

Lin Datong fully understood the significance of occupying the fortress of Verdun, and he also knew that the occupation of the fortress was not the director of the armored division, but had to be on his own side, so he had been studying the fortifications on the west side of Verdun since he got the battle plan. It was for this reason that he took with him two Frenchmen, both of whom were officers who had been stationed here and destroyed it.

"Good! It would be better if there were. Li Yinpei said happily. He was delighted to see the two Frenchmen open a large new map, much more detailed than the little map he had in his hand.

The hilly terrain on which the fortress of Verdun is located is actually a branch of the Argonne Mountains, a northwest-northeast mountain range cut from south to north by the Maas River, forming the Maas River valley, where Verdun is located at a bend and fork of the river, surrounded by mountains from the north, northeast and east. It is also the crossing of the Maas River, so the city was built 1,500 years ago, with ancient churches and monasteries stacked on top of each other in this small city of 15,000 people.

At first glance, the French map shows that the entire fortress of Verdun resembles the lungs of the human body, but the difference is that the trachea, which resembles the Maas River but is straighter, does not extend below the lobes, and the lower ends of the two lobes are somewhat outward, unlike the map that encloses the Maas River that flows from the south, and the lobes are not as small in the west and large in the east as on the map.

This ancient city, known as the 'Key to Paris and the Gateway to the Orient of France', is surrounded by countless fortresses built in various eras, but the fortifications of any era are not as large and majestic as those built by the modern French Republic. Nowadays, the defense system of the whole fortress is divided into four routes, nearly 50 kilometers in depth, about 112 kilometers wide from north to south, large and small fortifications and bunkers are dotted and countless, and all positions are cleverly arranged on the hills and forests full of deep ditches and high and low levels, and then use narrow-gauge railways and communication trenches to connect all the trenches, bunkers, and concealment departments, which can be said to extend in all directions.

It's just that. This massive fortress did little for the French army, after the Germans approached Paris from Belgium in a roundabout way. Here it was eventually abandoned; Again, it did little for the Germans. The fortress was in danger of being destroyed, but the Germans did not have that many men to defend it - the French had numbered as many as eleven divisions before the battle, and when the Germans' attempts at a large-scale attack became apparent, three more divisions were deployed, and another seven divisions were on standby in the area of Baledique and Saint-Man.

Now there were only two German divisions symbolically stationed here, although only two divisions needed to be stationed on the west side of the fortress, but St. Mielle at the southern end had been broken through by the 2nd Panzer Division, so one of the two divisions had to be transferred to the south. The Germans, who lacked manpower, could only shrink inward and try to hold on to key points.

The combination of the German strain and the deliberate destruction of the French before retreating made the capture of the fortress less difficult than it might have been. After listening to the introduction of the French and the information obtained from the front-line reconnaissance, Li Yinpei exhaled deeply. It's just that the good news is not over, after the white-faced French officer finished speaking, another red-faced short lieutenant colonel said a lot of words excitedly, and saliva sprayed directly on Li Yinpei's face.

At this time, Lin Datong said: "When the French army evacuated the fortress of Verdun, it not only blew up some weak fortifications in the west. There is also a backhand, that is, two tunnels are hidden, and the exit is all buried with earth and wood, as long as sappers are sent to find the entrance. And blow up the exit in the middle of the night, then we will be able to go around the rear of the German army. ”

A fortress of Verdun's size has such a back door, and Li Yinpei is not unusual. It's just that the serious Germans didn't search carefully after the occupation? Li Yinpei looked at the French with some suspicion, and Fang Xingwang, the commander of the 26th Division, who understood his thoughts, said: "Commander Li, let's rest first." When the infantry brothers open the way, your ironclad will rush to the end again. Took the bird's ...... in one breath Verdun. ”

In the past, the mountain bandit Fang Xingwang actually became the commander of the first division under the mention of Li Erhu, although this is a little incredible, but it is always some ability to pull people up to occupy the mountain as the king, this time to send troops to Europe, he wanted to be able to fight a few beautiful battles, one is to serve the prime minister of the party-state, and the other is to glorify the ancestors, and now it is just the opportunity of Verdun that will go down in history, the old bandit's eyes are red, and his lips are biting and waiting for Li Mengpei to agree, at this time the armored division is in front, they do not let out of the place, and the 26th division is not easy to develop.

Li Yinpei knew what he had when he saw Fang Xingwang's appearance, but he didn't care about this merit, what he thought was that his soldiers were more expensive than the infantry division, and this kind of tough battle really let the infantry fight, and it would be dark later, even if the attack could only be a night battle. During the day, the chariot's vision is limited, and at night it is even more difficult to see.

Thinking about this in his heart, Li Yinpei said with a smile: "The men who attacked the city were indeed done by the infantry brothers. You are ready now, and I will immediately inform the front to hand over all the positions to you. ”

As soon as Li Yinpei agreed, Fang Xingwang and Lin Datong also laughed happily on their faces, and Fang Xingwang, the old bandit, patted his thigh and shouted: "It's really happy!" We'll treat you to a drink another day. ”

Fang Xingwang's arrogance has not changed, and the smiling Lin Datong suddenly sank his face, and pretended to be serious and said: "Okay, if you want to drink and beat Verdun and then drink, give your people half an hour, and take over the affairs of Division Commander Li immediately in half an hour. ”

"Yes, mission guaranteed!" Fang Xingwang's gangsterism is only inadvertently revealed when he is happy, if he really wants to be serious, the cultivation of the Revival Association for more than ten years still makes him reborn.

After Fang Xingwang saluted, he hurried out to arrange the tasks of each regiment, and at the same time as the sun was setting, the front line sounded a fierce artillery sound, because it was approaching dark, and the time for artillery preparation was extremely short, and in less than half an hour, the artillery fire extended behind the enemy, and the infantry also launched a tentative attack. On the opposite side was only the German reserve division, but the tempering of the Western Front made the Germans extremely slow to respond to the shelling, thinking that this artillery would definitely bombard until tomorrow morning, and did not expect that as soon as the Chinese opened fire, the infantry began to attack.

Fortunately, the batteries and trenches on the innermost side of the fortress were all arranged in extremely steep hilly areas, and although the barbed wire under the ridges was broken by the artillery fire of the previous armored division, it was still extremely difficult to descend and rush into the German trenches. The German lookout posts stationed on the front line soon saw the enemy troops in colorful clothes rushing out of bunkers and running to some low-lying areas that were convenient for the breakthrough of the attack. The clothes and the grass beneath the trenches were so contrasting if it weren't for the long rifles and blasters in their hands. It's really hard to spot these rabbit-like enemies that are moving fast.

"Frenchman ......" shouted the lookout post, and the Maxim machine gun at the post also fired. As soon as the fire from his side appeared. The mortars, which the attackers had been on guard for a long time, immediately smashed them with a whistling. It's just ...... that the firing point of the two 80 mortar shells in a row is still pouring fire on the advancing infantry all the time; And. As this point of fire was fired, more points of fire also appeared, and staggered machine-gun shells formed a net of fire throughout the open field, and the assault on those infantry could only crawl on the grass, feel the sapper shovel behind them and start digging the fortifications on the spot.

"Verdun's firepower was all solidified with cement and steel, but there had been no fighting here for several years, and the weeds growing on the bunkers made it impossible to see where the fortifications were." In the field bunker less than two kilometers away from the firefight, Li Yinpei said to Fang Xingwang. "The assault just now by the motorized infantry brigade was also ineffective. There are only two ways to really occupy such a fortified fort: one is to approach the civil engineering work, and then bury explosives under the fort to send him to the sky. And then with large-caliber heavy artillery bombardment. Now it's up to the French to leave behind the tunnels, otherwise we'll be caught between the inside and the outside. ”

It would have been best to capture the fortress of Verdun before the Germans arrived, but if it was not captured, the Reconstruction Army would have to stand on its three outer fortifications, refusing reinforcements from outside and fighting the defenders from within.

Fang Xingwang also knew that mortars could not knock out the fire point of the fortress, but seeing that two 80 mortars could not make the German fire point pause in the slightest, he couldn't help but curse in his heart in annoyance, and then said: "Damn, it's indeed a hard bone!" He glanced back again—the batteries and bunkers behind him were empty. If the German army had enough troops, the 26th Division might not have been able to advance here even if it was all piled up.

When Fang Xingwang spoke, the situation on the front line changed again, and the German artillery fire also came. Although it was still sparse, the momentum after the explosion was extremely amazing, and the grass and soil exploded dozens of meters high. This is a fortress cannon. The French had already destroyed before they left, but they didn't want to pop up a few more doors out of nowhere.

The point of fire cannot be destroyed. The artillery of the fortress began to bombard, and in such a situation it was simply impossible to break into the positions of the enemy troops who were occupying high places. The commander of the front line saw the artillery attack of the fortress. The mortars once again opened fire on the exposed German fire, only this time they fired smoke grenades instead of high-explosive shells, and at the same time the retreating bugles sounded, and the soldiers who had cowered in the shallow trenches jumped back like rabbits in the craters of the German shells, and several of them dragged the wounded soldiers.

"The retreat was ...... Pretty. Lin Datong, the military commander who had been watching the firefight and didn't speak. His face was unhappy or angry, and he didn't know whether he was praising or talking back.

"Commander......" Fang Xingwang's face was hot, and he wanted to explain but didn't know how to explain.

"It's fine. How do you know the pounds of the Germans without trying? These Germans, I think they're just going to be. Lin Datong said that he seemed to be very satisfied with the performance of the Germans, and that the enemy on the opposite side was only fortified and had nothing to fear. After he finished speaking, he asked, "How to fight next?" ”

"Next......" Fang Xingwang stammered a little, and endured it for a while before saying: "The next thing is the artillery bombardment with all their might, and the civil engineering work is approaching, and a feint will be launched every once in a while to attract the attention of the Germans to the front." He added: "Although it can't be hit, at least the sound of the cannon can drown out the other sounds." ”

Fang Xingwang's order had already been issued, and the moment the sky was completely dark, the artillery groups of the divisions, military dependents, and armored divisions in the rear opened fire on the batteries garrisoned by the German troops. More than 200 artillery pieces gathered in one place and the roaring movement was earth-shattering, only to see countless red lights crossing the sky, and the opposite fort was like a cannon battle baked by open flames, and suddenly it crackled and exploded in all directions.

When the artillery opened fire with all their might, an elite engineer team led by the French began to search for the tunnels left by the retreat of the French army a few years ago according to the marks on the map, and an hour and a half later, the commander of the engineer battalion came to report with a gloomy face: "Report to the chief, those two tunnels are impassable, Germany has already destroyed them!" ”

"What!!" Everyone is counting on the authenticity that the French say can be used, and they don't want the tunnel to be destroyed long ago. In this way, it is either necessary to pile up artillery batteries with human lives, as the Japanese did, or to bomb the ground with large-caliber heavy artillery like the Germans.

Seeing a room of Chinese surprised and disappointed, the French red-faced lieutenant colonel who led the team spoke a lot of French, and the interpreter immediately relayed his words, "Mr. Lieutenant Colonel said that the tunnel was blown up by the Germans, and we can only comprehensively test the German defense range to see if those firing points are missing, and if there are omissions, the broken fire network can allow us to take the Fort-de-Regret battery on the right in the shortest possible time, which is what we call the four-seven-five heights." The ...... on the left

"That's so much trouble!" The old bandit, who had drilled too much in the ravine, immediately interrupted the translation's words. "Why do you have to compete with the Germans, he is so many, let's take the company as a unit, go around the mountain, and drill where there is a gap. If the Germans want to defend on all sides, they will divide their troops, and if they divide their troops, there will be loopholes in their firepower. In the final analysis, this fortress was too big, and the Germans did not have enough troops to defend it according to the fortifications, and there was no danger to rely on if they did not rely on the fortifications to defend them. ”

"That's right." Wu Guanqi, chief of staff of the army, immediately agreed, and looked at the army commander Lin Datong.

"Hmm. Immediately send a telegram to the 8th Army next door to the mountain, and we will go around in both directions, we will be responsible for the west and north, and they will be responsible for the south and east. As long as you find a weak point, immediately organize superior forces to attack! Lin Datong immediately ordered, and a game of hide and seek began immediately.

The game around the mountain did grasp the weakness of the German army, two German reserve divisions that were not satisfied with the formation, adding up to less than 19,000 people, even if they only defended the west was very reluctant, and now the enemy launched an attack from the west and south at the same time, and a division of troops was even more reluctant, and the place that originally needed a battalion to defend could now only be arranged with one company, but if the entire fortress was to be defended on all sides, the east, west, north and south, then the more than 18,000 people were estimated to be split into squads.

At two o'clock in the middle of the night, after the Souvel battery, the inner defensive belt, which was garrisoned by only one squad in the east, was drummed down by the 2nd Regiment of the 23rd Division of the 8th Army, the city of Verdun, the core of the fortress, was completely opened to the eyes of the Renaissance Army. As soon as the eastern side was breached, the German troops scattered in various places withdrew from their batteries and prepared to retreat into Verdun to engage the enemy in street fighting. Street fighting broke out in Verdun, and naturally the German troops defending on all sides withdrew from the fortifications, so that all the Revivan troops blocked by the periphery of the fourth defense belt poured into the Maas River Valley, and the battle was fought to this point, it was only a question of how many casualties to annihilate this German army. At 4:30 a.m., the German troops who had retreated into the city were divided and surrounded; At 7 a.m., the last German troops surrendered.

The whole world is watching the battle of Verdun, but the officers and soldiers of the revival who are shedding their blood in Verdun do not know it. From two o'clock in the afternoon, the heads of state who knew that the Chinese were launching an attack were waiting for this attack. French President Poincaré and Prime Minister Clemenceau, as well as Commander-in-Chief Petain and Chief of the General Staff Foch all declined other affairs and waited intently for good news from the Chinese; And the generals of the German Supreme Commander-in-Chief only expected that the two divisions of Verdun would hold the line, even if it was fought to the last man.

On the other side of the Channel, King George V and the wartime cabinet could not help but look at the door in casual chat, hoping that someone would send a telegram - the German army had set up a position, a hundred divisions were ready to drive the expeditionary force out of the sea with one blow, and if the Chinese attack failed, then Britain would have to consider whether to continue to increase troops to the French mainland or prepare for the withdrawal of troops from France; New York and Washington on the other side of the Atlantic, Wilson and Wall Street predators are also watching the French war, if the Chinese win, it means that the war in Europe is back to normal, and all that remains is how much time it will take to win.

In Beijing and Tokyo, although the lights of the Yin'an Hall and Matsukata Justice's residence were lit at night, both China and Japan hoped that the revival army would save the tide of the war in Europe and then get more benefits from the foreigners.

At 4:30 a.m. Paris time, a telegram from Verdun was sent around the world. The French, breathing a sigh of relief, immediately started the printing press to print the Verdun Extra; The Germans, who had waited for a long time, increased their forces again in order to recapture Verdun; The Englishman, who had been half-asleep all night, remained silent when he saw the telegram; On the other side of the Atlantic, Wilson, who was asleep, was woken up by a phone call and could not sleep again; In East Asia, after receiving a European telegram before lunch, Masayoshi Matsukata and Yang Rui both happily toasted themselves - this time, they could earn money with peace of mind. (To be continued......)