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At night, even at a distance of more than ten kilometers, people could still see the huge artillery group in the German artillery position opposite. The brilliance of a salvo of thousands of artillery pieces is something that no one can ignore.

What should not be overlooked is the violent explosion and thunderous sound of the shells as they fall to the ground with a sharp whizz.

On this battlefield, dozens of shells fell almost every second, pillars of dust were lifted, and the earth trembled, as if the world was apocalyptic, and the only thing the French soldiers hiding in the fortifications could do was pray to God...

Praying for God's blessing...

However, perhaps because the Germans on the other side also believe in God, or maybe God is lazy today, from time to time a cannonball will fall into the trench, or even hit the fortifications directly, sending all the French hiding inside to the western sky...

By the time this hellish shelling was over, the French troops on the defensive line had suffered heavy casualties, and the entire defensive line was riddled with holes...

And after surviving the shelling of the Germans, the next thing they had to face was the German charge...

When Cai Ye arrived at Verdun with the expeditionary force, he saw such a scene.

In the face of the strong German force, the French had completely lost the courage to fight back, and the only thing they could do was to organize their forces to resist in the third line of defense. However, the Germans' advantage in firepower was too great, under the heavy shelling, the French had already suffered heavy casualties, not to mention that the Germans still had an advantage in troops, Cai Ye had just arrived, and the news of the loss of the defense line had already come from the front line...

Glancing through the binoculars at the third line of defense, which had fallen into the hands of the Germans, and the French soldiers who were withdrawing from the line, Cai glanced at Leonard, who was standing beside him.

"So what we have in our hands now. Only one last line of defense remains? ”

"That's pretty much it," Leonard said with a wry smile on his face. At this moment, he could not put on the arrogant appearance of a French general in front of Cai Gong, after all, the situation here still needs to be saved by these Chinese in front of him, and the other party is not a colonial army that he reprimands, but a friendly army in the same position as them in name. "The firepower of the Germans is simply too strong. And the heavy artillery we are going to have in champagne again, and the inferior troops, ordinary fortifications alone will not be able to stop the German attack..."

As long as he thought of the heavy artillery that was taken away under Xia Fei's orders, Leonard couldn't help but grit his teeth. If it weren't for the fact that all the heavy artillery and troops of the fortress had been transferred, the defenses here would not have been so weak, and the front line would not have fallen into a situation of passive beating. Nor is it possible to lose three lines of defense in a single day.

After witnessing the firepower of the Germans, Cai Ye frowned slightly.

If you can stop it, you can't stop it for the time being, with such a strong firepower, the casualties will definitely be not small, so he can't say anything more about the French. Thankfully, the French lost three lines of defense in a row, although in the space of a day. But at least the last and most critical one was not lost, otherwise even Cai Ye couldn't help it, after all, it was difficult for a good woman to cook without rice, but now...

At least some certainty...

Hold on here...

Bowing his head and groaning, Cai Ye said to Leonard. "General Leonard, I already know the general situation, please send some officers to take our men to familiarize themselves with the situation of the defensive line. As for the rest, we can leave it to us, and your men will withdraw and rest first, and then talk about it when needed..."Judging from what I have just seen, it is obvious that the troops of the fortress are no longer suitable for continuing the battle, and if they want to use it, they must first withdraw and rest.

However, although the expeditionary force had been training in Saint-Menud for some time, it was the first time he had come to Verdun, and he was not familiar with the situation here, and he did not know how to use the facilities in the Dumont and Suvel batteries, and someone had to lead the way, so he hoped that Leonard would send some people out.

Cai's request is reasonable. Leonard also had no reason to refuse. And at this moment, what Leonard wants to hear most is probably that Cai Ye asked him to lead people to withdraw.

So Leonard nodded directly almost without hesitation. "No problem, I'll arrange for someone...", Leonard saluted Cai Ye before turning around and leaving the headquarters.

Although there are many people in the French army who look down on these expeditionary forces from China, Cai Ye is a general after all, and Leonard is only a lieutenant general. And the commander of the entire Verdun region, Leonard naturally could not be rude.

At the same time, Cai Ye, who was left in the command headquarters, also raised his head to Liu Guangyuan and the others after groaning for a while.

"Now I'm going to announce the battle plan......... Actually, there's nothing to announce, and at the moment we only have the last line of defense left...", Cai Yi pondered for a moment before continuing. "We have all understood the situation of the Verdun fortress before it came, the fourth line of defense is actually two Verdun fortress fort belts and the middle permanent fortification belt, which are 2~3 kilometers apart, a total of 12 batteries and 3o intermediate permanent fortifications covered by ditches, cliffs and barbed wire, which are the main defensive positions in the entire fortification area, of which the Dumont battery in the outer defense belt and the Suville battery in the second line are the most important, and our task is to hold here..."

"The problem now is that the 34th and 35th Divisions are newly formed units, which have not yet experienced actual combat, and even the training has not been completed, so they are directly thrown to the front line......... We have all seen the German artillery fire just now, they may not be able to hold it, and if the third division is deployed on the defensive line alone, in case of a sudden situation, we will not have a reliable reserve in our hands, so I decided that each of the three divisions will send a brigade to deploy on the defensive line, and then the two brigades of the 34th and 35th divisions will take turns to replace them, accumulate actual combat experience, and grow up in actual combat, while the third division will be stored as a reserve..." "How's that, no comment?"

"No..."Xiang Xinyuan and the others shook their heads.

Under normal circumstances, they would definitely have to argue with Cai Yi, after all, they were the commanders of the troops, and Cai Yi's words just now clearly showed that they did not trust the combat effectiveness of the 34th and 35th Divisions. The problem is that the offensive of the Germans, they have also seen. It was very violent, especially in terms of artillery fire, as Cai said, their troops had not yet experienced actual combat, and even the training was still somewhat incomplete.

Like the kind of Cheng dù's offensive just now. It's hard to say if they'll hold it out.

It's best to survive, but what if you don't...

Not only is it embarrassing, but it is likely to affect the entire battle...

What's more, all the people present are their own people, and they are very clear about the combat effectiveness of each other's troops, and there are no outsiders at the moment, so there is no need to argue at all. And argue in this case. It's also easy to give the impression of being indiscriminate.

Seeing that everyone agreed, Cai Yi nodded with satisfaction.

"In that case, let's get started..."

As Cai Ye said, there is indeed nothing to announce. After all, all the heavy equipment was thrown behind, in other words, the only thing to do was to throw all the people into the trenches and wait for the Germans to attack.

It's just that the situation of the expeditionary force is somewhat peculiar. Two of the three divisions are newly formed, if they are blindly thrown into it......... Considering the firepower shown by the Germans just now, Cai Ye was a little worried about whether they would be able to withstand it, and if they were used as reserves, it was difficult to say whether they would be able to deal with them in time in case of an emergency.

Therefore, there was only one choice for Cai Ye, that is, the two newly formed divisions were only put into one brigade. Leaving a brigade to rotate and accumulate combat experience―――――― in fact, Petain has also done this, and the purpose is almost the same, but Petain's troops are much more in his hands than in Cai Yi's hands now, so there is no need to play the rotation of two brigades at all.

However, because of this, by the middle of the Battle of Verdun, almost 70% of the French troops in Verdun had been on the battlefield, while only 20% of the Germans on the opposite side had been on the battlefield, and due to the brutality of the war (they were all named meat grinders), it had a psychological impact, which almost led to the defection of the French army, and finally promised the soldiers that they would never participate in the harsh battles against the German army in the future. So that the mutiny did not really take place. Later, the French soldiers refused to engage in offensive battles, but only defended themselves in the trenches.

Fortunately, this kind of thing is too strange in the eyes of the Chinese, so Cai Gong doesn't have to worry...

――――――――――――――――――――――――

Just when the French were in the trenches thanking God for saving themselves from the fate of being killed by shells. These French, who had already withdrawn to the fourth line of defense, also received news of the arrival of reinforcements.

This news naturally made the French very excited, but what excited them the most was that the Chinese replaced them with this order.

The French in the fortifications were almost handing over the line of defense with the expeditionary force with the fastest degree in their lives, and at the time of the handover, the French looked at the expeditionary force with a trace of gratitude and a hint of suspicion...

The French are naturally very grateful to be able to get out of hell.

But in the same way, they were a little skeptical about the combat effectiveness of the expeditionary force, after all, in the impression of the French, the Chinese army always seemed to be very ......... Reliable? And they've just gone through a hellish baptism of cannonballs.

Many French people have the idea in their hearts that the German offensive will be difficult for even them to withstand, let alone these Chinese...

For this reason, some judicial officers even proposed that some troops should be left on the front line, so that even if the Chinese on the defense line were scared away, they could continue to go up.

This is probably not long after the Germans started the offensive, and the morale of the French has not completely collapsed.

Naturally, many people in the expeditionary force did not like the distrust of the French. But in the end, Cai Ye agreed, not because he was also worried about the ability of the expeditionary force, but...

"Just let these French people see how we fight, and let us use the facts to shut up these French people..."

Just one sentence made everyone agree to this matter...

Not long after the French withdrew from the line, a French force numbering more than 3ooo was soon re-engaged in the line. As mentioned earlier, the morale of the French had not completely collapsed at this time, so there was no opposition from the French soldiers, and of course, it was inevitable to greet the person who gave the order...

As a result, on the fourth and final line of defense, there was a scene of Chinese and French troops fighting together.

However, when they were fighting together, the French were surprised to see that the Chinese next to them seemed to be better equipped than them, especially in the number of light and heavy machine guns, almost every squad had a light machine gun, and the number of heavy machine guns was also very large...

Moreover, these soldiers are completely different from the opium ghosts they imagined, not only have strong bodies, but also have a clean appearance and high morale. If it weren't for the slight nervousness in their expressions, any general would have rated these soldiers at least ten points.

Even though the expeditionary force lost some points because of their nervous looks, looking at these colleagues from all the way from Asia, the French in the trenches had more confidence in holding Verdun.

――――――――――――――――――――

Just when Cai and the expeditionary force were preparing to fight the Germans in Verdun, the eyes of the world were also turned because of the fact that they were born here.

For the Entente, if Verdun was captured by the Germans, the entire shape of the Western Front could be reversed.

As for the Allies, if Verdun can be captured, whether it is to exhaust the 'last drop of French blood' there, or to go straight in, it will no longer be a problem to attack Paris again, and maybe even end this damned war that has been going on for two years ahead of schedule.

Even the United States, which has a neutral attitude, has shifted its attention, not to mention China, which has already intervened in this war and even become the protagonist of the war.

Not long after Cai Ye took command of the area around Verdun, the military attachés of Britain, France, and other countries in China had already come to the door to brief Jiang Baili, Yan Shao, and others on the specific situation of Verdun at the Ministry of National Defense.

Paris and London also sent a telegram to Yan Shao, hoping that Yan Shao could cheer up the expeditionary force, ensure that the expeditionary force could hold out in Verdun for at least three days, and ensure the safety of Verdun before the arrival of subsequent reinforcements...

Needless to say, Yan Shao had already done this.

After all, if the expeditionary force can hold Verdun, not to mention the political bonus points for the time being, with this battle, China's position in the Entente camp will also be greatly improved, and it may even surpass Japan.

And with these merits, Yan Shao could also ask for more things from the Entente.

Say...

Drive out all the hellish foreign ** ships in the Yangtze River...

In any case, after a full day, almost the whole world is chanting three words.

Verdun...

At this moment, it almost became the center of the world...

And Cai Ye and the expeditionary force have become the protagonists on this stage...