Chapter 433: A Mistake

Before the Battle of Verdun, the Germans were confident that their army and artillery were invincible. But only after the Battle of Verdun, the Germans discovered that artillery was not completely invincible in war.

During this half month, the Germans first tried to launch a fierce attack on the central position of the French army's defense line. After the attack failed, they turned to attack the left and right wings.

But in addition to paying a lot of casualties, the Germans did not have too obvious results.

Especially after Pétain adjusted his strategy, the Germans felt unprecedented pressure in the Verdun area. Their plan to win by attacking with artillery and manpower advantages has completely failed.

The main reason why this tactic was able to win on the Eastern Front was actually because the Russian army was poorly equipped and its logistics were too backward.

But the logistics of the French were not weaker than that of Germany. With fortresses and new equipment, the French army was not much inferior to the Germans in terms of equipment.

After the French army stabilized its defense line, the rear staff supplemented a large number of troops, ammunition and weapons and equipment to the front line.

This also gave the French army sufficient strength to launch a counterattack and recapture some of the positions and fortresses lost in the early stages of the battle.

With the victory of the recent small-scale battle, the morale of the French army gradually rose, and most of the troops on the front line also restored sufficient combat effectiveness.

While the two sides were in offensive and defensive confrontation, time quietly came to 1916.

On January 3, 1916, French Commander-in-Chief Joffre issued the latest instructions to all defensive troops in the Verdun area, including Joffre's encouragement to all soldiers.

Joffre said that for more than a month, the German army had launched a fierce attack on the Verdun Fortress in an attempt to advance straight in.

With their elite troops and extremely fierce artillery fire, they achieved considerable results on the Eastern Front.

The French army in the Verdun area could make the Germans make no progress and even defeat the German army's spirit, which was enough to show the strength of the French army.

Joffre proudly stated that he would ensure that all military supplies and reserves arrived as soon as possible in the rear, and make all logistical preparations for the soldiers on the front line.

If the enemy still wants to attack, the French army will use its unyielding courage and its sincerity to defend the lifeline of the nation, and will be praised by all the French people under the attention of the whole country. They are the solid sky that blocks the German army from entering Verdun.

Starting from January 3, 1916, the Battle of Verdun officially entered the second stage.

The German command decided to mobilize troops and shift the focus of the attack from the east bank of the Meuse River to the west bank, capturing the important defensive positions of the French army on the west bank in one fell swoop, and preventing the French army from using the terrain to provide artillery support to the east bank.

For the new battle, the German General Staff transferred a small number of elite troops from other places and supplemented the personnel of the various armies that participated in the first phase of the attack.

In fact, the real purpose of the Germans' initial attack on Verdun was not to capture this solid fortress.

The real purpose of the German military leaders headed by Falkenhayn was to make the French bleed to death and exhaust the French's vitality in the Verdun area.

But the problem is that this plan is now impossible to achieve. Maybe the French will bleed to death, but the Germans will definitely bleed to death.

Although he knew that the Battle of Verdun had reached a stalemate, Falkenhayn decided to let the German army in the Verdun area continue to attack, and the title was only for Germany's prestige.

It was from this moment that the Battle of Verdun changed from a plan to a meaningless war of attrition.

The French and German sides continued to invest troops in this area, and the two sides launched rounds of tug-of-war, but it was just a consumption of manpower and equipment, and the actual front line did not move much.

Starting from January 10, many German soldiers had a feeling of dissatisfaction with this worthless sacrifice.

Although everyone is willing to sacrifice their lives for patriotism, it is unnecessary if it is consumed in a war that is not necessary at all.

Planes from both France and Germany hovered over the Verdun battlefield, and a large number of corpses could be seen anytime and anywhere.

These piles of corpses are French, German, and colonial natives.

Some positions had been destroyed by artillery, but the French were still standing firm. On such positions, they sang the war song of blood and fire.

Such soul-stirring scenes can be seen almost everywhere on the battlefield. Soldiers from both France and Germany suffered heavy casualties. Their sentiment of dying generously for the country is worthy of recognition.

Dense artillery exploded in a chaotic pile of dead wood, creating craters of varying sizes.

Some blind and seriously injured soldiers groped their way to caves or bunkers to survive. They thought that such bunkers could bring them a sense of security, but the snow melted by the heat wave of the artillery explosion became the death god.

These bloody waters flowed into huge craters and caves, drowning the wounded soldiers lying on the ground unable to struggle.

Such scenes are cruel, but in the famous Battle of Verdun in history, this was a bloody reality.

Wherever the shells passed, there were corpses of human bodies and horses everywhere. Fortunately, it is January now and the Verdun area is still relatively cold, so the corpses have not yet given off a foul odor.

If it were summer, the smell of rotting corpses alone would be enough to cause some soldiers to have a psychological breakdown.

What is even more exaggerated is that some German soldiers, because they have lived in such a bad environment for a long time, are not only covered in mud and have deep eye sockets, but also look extremely old and weak, and are unrecognizable.

However, the German military leaders still wishfully dreamed of consuming the French army's manpower through the Battle of Verdun to stop the large-scale offensive that the British and French forces were about to launch.

Instead of waiting for the British and French forces to launch an offensive in an unknown area, it is better to take the initiative to lead the British and French forces to the Verdun area, and have a decisive battle in the Verdun area to try to eliminate the main force of the British and French forces. This is the plan of the German leaders.

In fact, the Germans' massive offensive in the Verdun area did remind the British Empire.

The British government keenly realized that it must invest more forces in the European continent as soon as possible, and at the same time do its best to support the French army to prevent France from experiencing a Russian-style rout.

Russia has great strategic depth, and a few failures are nothing to Russia, which has a vast territory and a large population.

But for France, if the Battle of Verdun fails, not only will Paris be at risk of falling, but it will also affect the combat capability of the French army in the entire French region.

It is no exaggeration to say that after the fall of Verdun, Paris will not be safe. If Paris is not safe, France will not be safe.

Under the premise of Britain's strong support for France, the French army fought fiercely with the German army in the Verdun area. Neither side could take the initiative, and the Battle of Verdun was deadlocked.

In February 1916, more than two months had passed since the start of the Battle of Verdun.

The German and French armies also confronted each other in this area for nearly 70 days, during which a large number of battles were fought, and both sides suffered heavy casualties.

In the hilly and forested areas of less than 20 square kilometers on the east and west banks of the Meuse River, the offensive and defensive sides fought fiercely many times.

The German troops, who lacked the necessary rest, were exhausted at this time. The French army took advantage of the German army's fatigue and slackness to launch counterattacks in some areas from time to time, which made the German officers and soldiers overwhelmed.

Due to heavy casualties and inadequate food and ammunition supplies, the German soldiers who had always strictly observed discipline and bravely charged forward had gradually lost confidence in the command.

Since the beginning of the Battle of Verdun, the German command had never been concerned about the heavy casualties. Due to their eagerness to win, the commanders had never taken the number of casualties seriously. This was actually contrary to the German army's initial battle intention, which was to "let the French bleed to death."

Because in terms of human resources, the Allied Powers Group could not really compete with the Allied Powers Group.

In this way, the Battle of Verdun not only failed to achieve the intention of letting the French bleed, but it seemed to have the intention of draining Germany's own blood.

Faced with extremely heavy casualties, Falkenhayn had to revise the original battle plan under the pressure of William II to avoid causing more casualties.

The combat method of heavy group intensive assault, which was previously commonly used by the German army, was finally revised. The French General Staff required officers at all levels to pay attention to scientific command in the war, and required all armies to implement timely and effective artillery support during the offensive.

In order to prevent the French machine guns and artillery in the fortress from causing huge casualties to the attacking German army, the German army also modified the tactical actions of the infantry.

The German General Staff required the German army responsible for the attack to adopt a more dispersed spacing and continuous progressive assault, rather than the previous cluster charge.

Learning from past lessons, the German High Command no longer unilaterally emphasized the power of artillery attacks, and began to emphasize that machine guns are effective weapons when approaching the enemy, and their role is difficult to replace by artillery. In subsequent operations, the German army paid more attention to the ability of machine guns to sweep, especially the role of fire suppression when approaching the enemy.

In terms of the use of troops, the German army also changed the tradition of elite troops acting as pioneers in the past, and instead used weaker troops to launch attacks first, and then used elite troops to expand the results.

In order to change the serious defeat on the battlefield and reverse the passive situation, the German army did make a lot of efforts in war wood and technology.

In order to destroy the French defense line, German engineers even dug a hole under the French position and buried a large amount of explosives in it, blowing up a 10-story deep pit on the French position.

However, the subsequent battles once again proved that due to the lack of necessary protection of the offensive forces at the time, these so-called new tactics could not produce much effect in the face of a solid position defense system with strong firepower support and a certain depth.

Will the German army stop the attack because of too many losses? This is the most concerned issue for the Allied Powers, especially the French people.

The protracted and tragic situation of the Verdun War has become a heavy psychological burden for the French people.

The whole country is proud of the French army's ability to stubbornly hold its position and crush the German army's crazy attack, but also feels uneasy about the heavy number of casualties.

Facts have proved that the Germans still have not given up attacking the Verdun fortress.

But Germany originally thought that the Battle of Verdun would soon achieve its goal, so it only invested six army main attack forces.

But as the battle progressed, Germany had to send more reinforcements to join the Battle of Verdun.

Such behavior is exactly what is most taboo in war. The practice of increasing troops gradually is far inferior to investing more troops at one time. This is like the gourd baby saving his grandfather. Troops that are supported in small quantities and multiple times are extremely easy to be targeted by the enemy, because they can never maintain their troop strength advantage over the enemy.

To borrow the original words of the Paris Daily in late February to evaluate the situation of the Verdun War: "No matter what the reason, it can be proved that the German army has reached the time to take a defensive position. From now on, the German army has been powerless to stop the development of the Allies."

Of course, there is an exaggeration in this, but the current situation of the German army in Verdun is indeed not good, and the Germans can no longer maintain their advantage over Verdun.

On March 1, General Robert Georges Nivelle replaced General Pétain as the commander-in-chief of the Verdun Theater, and General Pétain was transferred to the Central Army Group on the Western Front as the commander-in-chief.

The reason for changing the commander-in-chief of the Verdun Theater at such an important moment is that Joffre was quite dissatisfied with General Pétain's strategy in Verdun.

In fact, the new commander-in-chief of the Verdun Theater, General Nivelle, also has a good reputation.

General Nivelle is a knowledgeable and eloquent artillery expert. Before he became the commander-in-chief of the Verdun Theater, he served as the artillery commander of the theater.

He was born in a military family. He was studying at the Saumur Cavalry School, majoring in cavalry command, and then changed to artillery, with excellent grades.

General Nivelle's promotion journey was also very exaggerated. When the war just started, Nivelle was just an ordinary lieutenant colonel.

But then, he was quickly promoted to the commander of the Fifth Brigade, and then was appointed as the commander of the Sixth Division.

His outstanding talent in artillery found its place in the Battle of the Marne River, and he was promoted to general and served as the commander-in-chief of the Third Army.

It is worth mentioning that General Nivelle also invented a high-altitude explosive bomb that could destroy flying balloons, even airships and airplanes in this war.

After the invention of this shell, it dealt a fatal blow to the German air reconnaissance troops and greatly weakened the German air force. General Nivelle's talent in artillery can be seen.

At this time, the British and French coalition forces' offensive preparations on the Somme River line in northwest France had come to an end.

The original purpose of launching this battle was to deal a heavy blow to the German army and even invade Germany, but the main purpose at this time was only to relieve the pressure in the direction of Verdun and force the German army to withdraw its troops from the Russian front.

In order to reduce the scale of the battle launched by the British and French coalition forces in the Somme area, the Germans launched a more fierce attack on the Verdun area.

Because of the fierce attack of the Germans on the Verdun area, the British and French coalition forces decided to strengthen the offensive in the Somme area to distract the Germans and force the Germans to divide their troops and even withdraw from Russia.

Both sides implemented combat plans for their own strategic goals, but judging from the current development of the situation, it is obviously more unfavorable to the German side.

Under the orders of the German headquarters and the British and French coalition headquarters, the German army decided to re-launch a large-scale offensive in the Verdun area, and the British and French coalition forces decided to speed up the preparations for the battle in the Somme area, using an offensive that was enough to shock the Germans and force the Germans to withdraw from Verdun and Russia.

Today is only one update, 4200 words.

The specific reasons are explained in the Easter egg chapter, thank you for your support!