1890 King of Southeast Asia

On May 3, Pétain returned to the Verdun Fortress. The first thing he did when he returned to the fortress command was to order the outermost division to launch a counterattack against the German army.

In the past three days, the German army has not stopped attacking the Verdun area, and the scale has been maintained at the division level, and the artillery bombardment is mostly 105 mm and below.

The German army launched an attack on a defense line of more than 110 kilometers, and there was not even a platoon per kilometer. Although no one would distribute troops evenly like this, this amount of troops did not put any pressure on the Verdun defenders with complete fortifications.

The German attack made the French somewhat vigilant, but it was only vigilance, because the German army did not make a large-scale offensive posture.

This was a battle between two major military groups. The prelude to a large-scale battle was generally a covering bombardment of hundreds of artillery or even heavy artillery. The time for each firepower preparation was as short as a few hours, and the longest was up to seven days.

Raid? In an era without a deep Western Front and no tanks breaking through the barbed wire, a raid could only be a death sentence, because there was not enough space to carry out a large-scale roundabout operation.

Think about it, you lead a troop, attack from the enemy's flank, successfully break through the enemy's flank defense, and then rush forward, hoping to go around the enemy and cut off the enemy's retreat.

But before you have time to get to your position, the enemy's troops drawn from other battlefields have been stuck beside your forward route. If you continue to move forward, you may face the danger of having your retreat cut off.

Isn't this how the Schlieffen-Moltke plan failed? Because of the delay in progress and the commander's hesitation, the French drew enough people to defend.

Verdun's locational advantage is similar to that of Paris. To the north is the Northern Army Group of the British and French Allied Forces with a total of more than 50 divisions, and to the south is the main French Central Army Group. Although there are not many troops, the fortifications are strong.

Pétain thought for a long time and didn't know how he would be in danger, so he directly ordered the two divisions on the front line to join the battle and used 200 artillery to support the battle.

On May 3, the French army took advantage of the German attack to launch artillery bombardment and counterattack, which achieved very great results.

The French army advanced a full ten kilometers, which was simply the biggest victory of the French army since the tug-of-war. It was really exciting.

Unfortunately, the two divisions were still a little short of strength. The French army, which did not dare to disperse its strength too much, could only occupy part of a trench.

But this was enough. Pétain even felt that he should take his own direction as the main attack direction. If he continued to attack, he might be able to surround the thirteen divisions of the German Second Army in one fell swoop and take the strategic initiative.

In the early morning of May 4, when Pétain was still being promoted to marshal, serving as the commander-in-chief of the French army, and becoming a French hero, overwhelming artillery shells fell on the two protruding divisions of the French army.

Because the French army attacked too hastily, they chose to live directly in some German fortifications after checking the traps, but the Germans were well prepared. The shells hit the fortifications as if they had eyes, and the French army suffered heavy losses.

Half an hour later, the German artillery fire began to extend. The two French divisions were less than one and a half left, with a casualty rate of 30%, and the hesitation was at night, and the organizational ability of each unit declined.

Not long after the artillery fire extended, the German army rushed up. Countless German troops easily divided the French army. Three hours later, the French army surrendered.

At this time, Pétain had woken up and looked at the clouds in the sky dyed red by the artillery fire, and remained silent.

At this time, Pétain only thought that this was a retaliatory act of the German army, not a precursor to a large-scale attack. It was not until an hour later that the German artillery did not seem to rest at all, and Pétain realized that something was wrong.

"Such a scale of artillery fire is too abundant for an army. I suspect that this is an artillery group of an army group or even an army group."

The artillery fire was so intensive that Pétain could not judge the approximate number of artillery by the explosion, but a rough estimate was that it would not be less than 600.

The artillery fire spread to the front-line positions, and the defenders suffered heavy losses. The artillery units organized more than one anti-artillery operation, but all failed.

The Germans had more field artillery, larger caliber, and better performance, and easily defeated the old artillery of the fortress garrison.

At 10 a.m. on May 4, the bombardment lasted for eight and a half hours before the Germans sent out infantry to launch an attack.

Within eight and a half hours, the Germans concentrated more than 1,200 artillery pieces and carried out a comprehensive bombardment of two areas with a total width of about 30 kilometers. The number of artillery pieces far exceeded Pétain's expectations.

For this battle, the Germans prepared for two months. Within eight and a half hours, the Germans fired more than one million shells and destroyed all the firepower points exposed by the French in the previous few days of fighting.

Because the battle went smoothly the day before, the French troops who were replenished on the front line were resting and preparing to follow the two divisions in front to continue the attack after dawn, so the defense of the front line was very lax.

When the bombardment came, the French soldiers did not live in the underground fortifications according to orders. After all, the underground fortifications at this time were still relatively elementary, and there was no need to talk about water accumulation.

The air was not circulated and was filled with stench. Rats were everywhere, and there were even various excrement. The narrow space and dim lights could drive people crazy.

Therefore, in order to maintain strong combat effectiveness, the French army chose to set up tents on the defense line, and then was defeated by intensive artillery fire.

At 11 o'clock, the German army not only recaptured its starting position, but also captured three positions of the French army's first line of defense.

The battle lasted until the afternoon of May 4th. The German army had eaten up the French army's second line of defense in Verdun, which only existed on paper. Now, they were only five or six kilometers away from the Verdun fortress.

Until then, Pétain still didn't know the strength of the German army. He only knew that he had found the main attack direction of the German army.

On May 5th, Pétain retreated and waited for reinforcements, but he lost five of his eleven divisions and all his reserves. He didn't know how long he could hold out.

Joseph was ordering neighboring troops to quickly concentrate in the Verdun area.

At the same time, Joseph ordered the airship transport troops preparing to go to the Northern Army Group to stop their mission immediately and prepare to quickly transport a group of troops to Verdun.

Falkenhayn chose the right place. Whether in terms of political significance or military strategy, the French would not give up Verdun before exhausting their last drop of blood.

Otherwise, the Germans would either go north to encircle the Northern Army Group, and France would face the possibility of losing fifty divisions and strategic transportation lines, or go south to threaten Paris, and France would face the possibility of another Paris attack.

Either way, the damage to France would be great.

…………

In Europe, the decisive battle had already begun, and on the Japanese side, Terauchi was not willing to be left out.

On May 7, after another "persuasion" failed, Terauchi gave a manuscript and asked Jiro to take 200 fully armed soldiers to the radio tower and newspaper office.

Japan was relatively poor, and only wealthy families could afford to use radio. After the war began, it was regulated, so the communication was not smooth.

But newspapers were different. Newspapers were cheaper, had a wider audience, and were more widely disseminated.

On May 8, the soldiers of the Japanese Fourth Division heard a shocking news while eating - the emperor was going to surrender.

"After carefully considering the changes in the international situation and the current situation of the empire, I decided to clean up the mess with an extraordinary means."

"After fully exchanging opinions with the cabinet, I, as the head of the empire, ordered to accept the peace conditions of the South China Empire..."

"For the stability and health of the subjects of the empire, the survival of the empire and the stability of East Asia, I had to declare war on Huaxia and the South China Empire. The war has been going on for more than a year. My navy and army officers, the bureaucrats of the imperial government, and the 70 million subjects of the empire have all performed their duties. I am deeply gratified.

However, the world situation is not favorable to me. Persistence may not change the situation of the war. Recently, the Huaxia Empire has used incendiary bombs to set fire to Tokyo, causing the deaths and injuries of innocent subjects.

For the sake of the 70 million subjects of the empire, I decided to accept the peace conditions of the Huaxia Empire and summoned the four directions of the empire and the 70 million subjects. I will stop my activities as the emperor of the empire..."

In just one day, the news spread all over the streets and alleys, and all Japanese knew that Japan was going to surrender.

In fact, surrender is not unacceptable to Japan, and they even enjoy it.

Japan is a cheap person at heart, admiring the strong. Even if the strong insults him in every way, he thinks it is an honor.

But asking the emperor to abdicate is obviously challenging the bottom line of the Japanese.

Japan's native religion is a polytheistic sect - Shintoism.

Its core is nature worship, ancestor worship, and emperor worship. Its highest god is Amaterasu, the emperor is a descendant of Amaterasu, and the imperial line is the divine line.

So although the gods they believe in are varied, they all have a fanatical worship of the emperor.

Before the Meiji era, Shintoism was suppressed because the shogun was not the emperor. After the Meiji Restoration began, Japan vigorously supported Shintoism and began to develop rapidly.

By the beginning of the 20th century, Shintoism became the national religion of Japan. Although Japan claims freedom of belief, believing in Shintoism has become part of citizens' obligations.

In this way, Japan changed from a constitutional monarchy to a religious state with a combination of politics and religion. The emperor can easily influence the government's decision-making with his huge influence.

"What?"

"Isn't this true?"

"The Chinese are bullying too much!"

"That's right, it's better to die in glory than to live in disgrace..."

The Japanese reacted very fiercely. They didn't believe it at first, then they were confused after confirmation, and then they were angry.

The Fourth Division was stunned to see the docile civilians in Kyoto take to the streets, surround the government, demand the punishment of the traitors, withdraw the surrender order, and meet with the emperor.

[Author's digression]: I caught a cold while taking a nap yesterday afternoon, and then I had a fever and a splitting headache. I really can't write it out, sorry.

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