1890 King of Southeast Asia

On May 1, the two German divisions deployed on the right wing began to make tentative attacks on the Verdun area, and carried out multiple artillery bombardments on the defense line of more than 100 kilometers.

In the south, the German army also launched many offensives of varying sizes. At the same time, the German army began to mobilize frequently.

With the help of the convenient railway network, the German army moved back and forth on the entire Western Front. Some trains were full of soldiers and weapons and equipment, some were loaded with ammunition supplies, and some were empty.

Large-scale mobilizations could not be concealed at all. The British and French spy intelligence network quickly reported the news. The British and French coalition forces knew that the Germans were mobilizing at the first time and judged that they were going to launch a new round of attacks.

But the problem was that they didn't know in which direction the Germans were attacking.

"Henry, where do you think these damn Germans will attack?" Joseph looked at the map that was full of markings and angrily threw his pencil on the map.

"Marshal, the Germans are obviously trying to confuse us to cover up their real goal. The Germans made a low-level mistake. I think it's a trap." Henry picked up the pointer and pointed to several train intersections on the map.

Henri Philippe Pétain, commander of the Verdun Fortress, commanded 8 divisions of the Verdun Army Group.

"The Germans don't have many troops available, and they must rely on trains for transportation to achieve rapid mobility. So if you want to find out the specific situation, you only need to place a few scouts near the railway to find out."

"It's so obvious that Falkenhayn can't be unaware of it. In this way, his actions are meaningless."

Henry drew a cross at the place where railway transportation was frequent.

"Well done. We can't expect our enemies to make mistakes. The Germans are short of troops. They are eager to launch an attack in order to continue to seize the initiative on the battlefield."

"Even if we don't know what the enemy is going to do, we must oppose what the enemy is going to do. I will order the front line to adjust its deployment and prepare to deal with the German attack."

"Then you, General Henry, I need you to make a tentative attack in the northeast, and the three divisions in your south will be assigned to you for command."

Joseph nodded and pointed to the Verdun area on the map.

"Marshal, we need to leave enough garrison troops. The Verdun Army Group will withdraw a maximum of 5 divisions... plus the newly transferred 3 divisions, a total of 5 divisions for the attack."

Henry thought for a while. If he could make the main attack, he would be happy, but the strength was not enough.

Verdun is a salient that threatens the right wing of the German army. If the French army starts from Verdun, it can cut off the retreat of the two German right wing armies. The German army will certainly attach importance to it and deploy 3 divisions on the first line.

It sounds like a big advantage of 5 to 3, but the French army is the attacker, and the attacker is the German army with complete trenches. It is impossible to win in a short time with only these few people.

If the breakthrough cannot be made in time, the German army behind will react, and the attacking troops will be in danger.

For the army, retreat is not so easy.

"General Ferdinand's Northern Army Group will cooperate with you. Your goal is not to break through the German position, but to conduct a tentative campaign to cooperate with the reconnaissance of the Germans." Joseph smiled and patted Henry on the shoulder.

"You mean, disrupt the German plan?" Henry was a little depressed, but relieved at the same time.

Verdun has 8 divisions, but except for the artillery, the others are newly formed troops after the war began, and their combat effectiveness is not strong, or to put it bluntly, they are cannon fodder used to fill the line.

The artillery is a veteran, but it is a fortress artillery rather than a field artillery. There is an extreme lack of field artillery because the artillery that is easy to move has been transferred away.

There used to be more than 1,000 artillery pieces in Verdun, but now there are only more than 600 artillery pieces that are not easy to move. Any artillery pieces that are easy to move are used as field artillery.

With such an army, it is okay to attack at a short distance, but the artillery can't keep up if the distance is a little longer. Without artillery, how can we fight?

"It's right to understand it this way. If an army-level attack is launched, the Germans will definitely have to draw troops to prevent accidents." Joseph curled his lips and nodded slightly.

"In this way, the Germans' goals will be more easily exposed, because they are short of troops, and then they can easily judge the main attack direction by the frequency of train travel." Henry nodded.

At this time, he was only a commander of the Verdun fortress, and his judgment of the current situation was not comprehensive enough, but war would make people mature quickly.

For example, Ferdinand Foch, who was only a corps commander at the beginning of the war and is now the commander of the army group, thought of a response plan as soon as he heard Joseph's plan.

"General Ferdinand proposed that the Northern Army Group launch a major campaign in the north to drive the Germans out of French territory."

"The battle plan is to open the defense line of von Belo's German 2nd Army, then use cavalry to quickly break through and occupy the main traffic routes, infantry to quickly follow up in trucks, and use airships and airplanes for supplies."

"If this plan is achieved, it can greatly speed up the progress of the war and drive the Germans out." Joseph said optimistically.

"Use airships for supplies?" Pétain was stunned.

Britain, France and Germany are also accustomed to using airships as war machines, to put it bluntly, they are used to drop bombs, especially Germany's long-range bombing airship units, which visit London from time to time.

Originally, airplanes, as an emerging air force, were gradually replacing airships. Even Germany stopped further research and development of airships and only maintained the progress of airships under construction.

However, China's bombing of Tokyo rekindled the world's interest in airships. Yes, airships fly slowly, have difficulty in maneuvering, and are prone to fire.

But it can carry a lot, fly far, and fly high!

With reasonable use of tactics, as long as there is no bad weather, the role of airships is still not small.

"Yes, airships are not a good weapon. 5 kilometers are not safe. If they fly higher, the load of airships will be further reduced, and the value of bombing is not great."

Joseph shook his head and continued:

"But for supply, airships are a very useful tool. Whether it is during the defense of Paris or when China responds to earthquakes, its transportation attributes are highlighted."

The material consumption of a division in one day is between 170 tons and 300 tons, and the consumption mainly depends on the degree of mechanization.

Pure infantry divisions consume less but advance slowly, mule-horse divisions are a little faster but consume the most but are not prone to breakdown.

In contrast, motorized infantry divisions that use trucks to carry soldiers are the fastest and last the longest, as long as there is fuel.

However, due to technical reasons, the off-road capability is average, plus the wear of 0 parts, it is easy to break down after long-term use.

So this time Joseph considered using the cavalry corps with motorized infantry.

As for supplies, an airship transport brigade with 12 airships can carry all the consumption of a division at a time, and the airship can reach a speed of 78 kilometers per hour, still flying in a straight line.

France also has an imported airship unit, which is an armed airship ordered during the South China period. Among them, 6 have a payload of 32 tons. Excluding the weight of ballast, fuel, food and water, there is at least 20 tons of load.

Moreover, for short-distance transportation, water, food and fuel can be greatly reduced, and more weight can be freed up for load.

6 ships, 120 tons each, doesn't sound like much, but an airship can fly more than once a day. If conditions permit, it can take off or land in an hour (not too high if not in combat).

The slowest airship can fly at 230 kilometers per hour, and the fastest can reach 780 kilometers per hour. Can the front line advance 780 kilometers in a day?

Joseph didn't think the front line's advancement speed would exceed the airship's supply speed. These days, the battles, advances and retreats are all calculated by meters.

Sometimes fighting for a whole day may not advance a few meters.

"But if that's the case, shouldn't the place for a tentative attack be in the south or the east?" Pétain asked doubtfully.

His Verdun fortress area is in the northeast of Paris, a salient. It is a huge transportation hub, where many railways intersect, and it is also a transportation hub for Germany to Paris.

The transportation hub means that the French can also gather here, so it can threaten the German right-wing army group and even deter the central army group.

If Verdun is used as bait to attract the Germans, they may not necessarily take the bait, after all, the Verdun area is densely forested and easy to defend but difficult to attack.

However, if there is movement in the direction of Verdun, it will definitely arouse the Germans' vigilance.

If Verdun is in the central or southern front, Pétain will not have any doubts, but Verdun is in the north, how can it help Ferdinand's Northern Army Group?

Even if it can temporarily attract some of the German troops in the north, when the battle starts and the main attack direction is exposed, won't they replenish it? It's so close that it won't take a few days even if it's on foot.

"Ferdinand proposed a new way of fighting, which is to use the rapid mobility of cavalry and cars to outflank from the flank."

"This is also the core tactic of this battle. I call it the sausage-cutting tactic. The mobile force is our sharp knife, cutting the Germans piece by piece."

"As long as they lose their large-scale organizational ability, the infantry can easily defeat them."

"So, we must mobilize the German right-wing troops as much as possible. We don't have to transfer them away, but we must make them feel nervous and draw troops from the front line."

"As long as the reserve troops on the front line are reduced, the Germans will not have enough troops to plug the gap. In this way, we can complete this tactic."

"Whether this battle can be won depends on whether the Verdun Army Group can attract enough German troops." Joseph looked at him seriously, and then smiled again.

"Don't be too stressed. As long as we can figure out the Germans' goal in this battle, we can win. We can take our time to attract the enemy's attention."

"I have discussed with the British. They are going to send a secret weapon to the battlefield to cooperate with the battle in the direction of Verdun. But don't have too much hope. You know those British guys."

Joseph shrugged, which made the originally serious Pétain feel much more relaxed.

"Marshal, for the great France, the Verdun Army Group will do its best to complete the mission!" At this time, Pétain didn't know what he was going to face...