In the bright sunshine, a light and compact biplane, shaped like a dragonfly, flew across the Aene Valley from west to east. Its fuselage and wings were basically presented in original colors, with only blue, white and red flags painted on the side of the cockpit. The two pilots on the plane seemed to be sitting on canoes, with most of their bodies exposed. In this hot summer, they were wearing scarves, leather hats, windproof glasses, cloth face towels, and leather jackets. They were almost a complete set of wintering equipment.

Not only the Aene River is traveling through the Aene Valley, but a two-track railway line that runs east-west through this. It connects Confran in the heart of France and Metz on the French-German border. It has important strategic significance during the war, but it has now been cut off by a brigade of German infantry. In order to expel the German army from the Aene Valley, regain the railway line, and then rush to the Verdun front line, the French army attacked day and night, and the attacking troops they invested increased from the initial one and a half divisions to five divisions, and received direct support from four field artillery battalions. After three days and two nights, the dead French soldiers could cover several hills, and the most important position was still flying the German Black Hawk Iron Cross Battle Flag!

After hovering for a week, the French plane changed to flying from west to east. It was seen that it kept falling in height, and it seemed to be flying against the top of the mountain. The hill where the German main position was located was right in front of it. The French troops were launching a new round of attacks, so the sound of artillery was stirring and the smoke of gunfire rose. The front pilot made a throwing gesture, and the back pilot picked up a cannonball with only a warhead from his feet and leaned out to search for the target. The plane was opposite the back of the German main position. The Germans built auxiliary positions on this side to guard against the French detour attack. There were also several bunkers and tents with eye-catching Red Cross logos on the top.

The German officers and soldiers on the ground had obviously noticed the French plane. Although they did not have special anti-aircraft weapons, the rifle bullets could also threaten the Bregue-iii type flight mechanism, which was flying at a low altitude and was only 80 kilometers per hour. Seeing the enemy's bullets flying from nearby, the front seat pilot was a little nervous. He turned his head and shouted something to his partner. The back seat pilot decisively dropped the shell in his hand that had triggered the fuse.

Without the scream of ground artillery fire or the strange sound of bombs dropping at high altitude, the warhead fell silently, landing between two infantry trenches and exploded with a bang. The destructive power did not increase any bonus compared to an ordinary 75mm field shell.

The plane flew over the hill, and the wings suddenly became another world: the French infantry in blue tops and red pants were like a wave rushing towards the seawall, one after another, and all the people were shot and fell. The attacking troops in front had approached the German positions, while the French field artillery was still shooting at the German positions, which inevitably caused accidental injuries to their own personnel. However, in order to suppress the German defensive firepower to the greatest extent, such a method was also a last resort.

From the overlooking perspective of the two French pilots, you can not only overlook the system level of the German defense line, but also clearly see the details of the deployment of soldiers and weapons, especially those heavy machine guns hidden in a solid bunker. They avoided rounds of bombardment by French artillery and used condescending strafing to kill French infantry French pilots wished they could throw bombs directly into the German machine gun bunker, but even if they were given a thousand chances of dropping bombs in the air, it would be difficult to hit the target once.

The backseat pilot patted his partner's shoulder and said a few words with an indignant expression. The front seat pilot hesitated for a moment and directly rotated the disk above the battlefield.

The fierce battle on the ground was in full swing, and the German troops had no time to take care of the French plane, which was able to maintain a stable low-altitude flight. The pilot of the rear seat took out another cannon shell from his feet, aimed at it with one eye, and then dropped it.

Sometimes, experience can replace complex calculations, but if there is sufficient experience, the French aviation force should have used special aviation bombs instead of throwing them on the enemy's head with a shell.

The Brege aircraft continued to hover over the battlefield for several times, dropping several bombs, but only one fell into the German infantry bunker, bombing two German riflemen, and the rest of the bombs were all lost, and two even almost injured their attacking troops by mistake.

On this battlefield where both width and terrain are conducive to defense, the German heavy machine guns are undoubtedly the terrible masters. Their continuous cross-fire made the French offensive troops die and injured in front of the German positions, and the dead bodies even piled up into small hills. Faced with the fierce artillery fire of the French army, the German riflesmen also shot desperately in the bunker, shooting all the bullets and grenades. They decisively picked up the bayonets and prepared to fight the enemy with their chests.

In the last few dozen meters, the French infantry rushed for more than a dozen times. A small number of people arrived at the German positions, but were brutally annihilated because they could not get support. After being nervous and suffocated, the French offensive troops finally could not withstand the heavy casualties and retreated.

The bayonet was defeated by the machine gun again.

Looking at the remains of thousands of French dead on the hillside, the two French pilots were shocked and speechless. They focused all their attention on the battlefield, so that they ignored the German troops rushing to rescue from the southeast. Although this kind of fuel-filled supplement could not meet the consumption of the front-line defenders, it made the officers and soldiers of the 7th Prussian Light Infantry Division tenaciously hold on.

At this time, if you observe the battlefield situation from a height of thousands of meters, you can see that the main force of the German 5th Army was continuously rushing to the Verdun front line. On its left and right wings, the main forces of the other two legions were also rapidly advancing westward, especially the 6th German Army that invaded France from Alsace. The fierce Bavarian soldiers were commanding by Crown Prince Ruprecht. They captured Tur, crossed the Maas River, and successively defeated the temporary defense line organized by the 4th French Army, and crossed the Aene River south of Verdun, and then quickly advanced north along the west bank of the Aene River. When the German 5th Army captured the eastern fortress of Verdun, Ruprecht's advance troops suddenly approached the side of the French attacking troops in the Aene Valley.

When the French commander learned of the amazing movements of the German Bavarian Legion, the French commander was still unwilling to give up the Verdun Fortress, giving the enemy the opportunity to march straight into Paris. So, two colonial divisions who had just arrived in France quickly transferred to the Aine Valley via railway line. These colonial soldiers who were not afraid of what they were, attacked the cavalry of the Bavarian Legion as soon as they got off the train, forcing Ruprecht's advance troops to retreat.

On the first day of September, the German Crown Prince William visited the Verdun front. Although several main divisions were exhausted to conquer the eastern fortress, and the front-line troops urgently needed to replenish reserve personnel, relying on the arrival of all the heavy artillery troops directly under the legion, William forced his troops to attack the Marl Fort in the south of Verdun.

With the successful experience of conquering the Pojoslin Fort and the Eastern Fort, the German army still concentrated artillery fire to bombard the Marl Fort before the infantry entered the attack, and then released a large amount of smoke, making it impossible for the French defenders to implement accurate gun-and-cannon blocking the offensive forces. However, the terrain of the Marl Fort was more prominent than the previous two forts. The four forts were equipped with nearly 300 artillery pieces, and the field troops also gave up the peripheral fortifications and focused on defending the fortress.

Due to the consumption of the previous two battles, the naval chariot troops supporting the 5th Legion had only one Hubert-13 left in Verdun. General von Gers carefully arranged it in the reserve. In order to take down the Marl Fort in one fell swoop, he ordered the three divisions of the 19th, 22nd, 29th and 30th to draw elite troops to form a 6,000-man combat reinforcement regiment, and at the same time launched an attack on the four forts. The subsequent arrival of the 20th, 36th and 39th Infantry Divisions followed the combat reinforcement regiments and invested in one or both directions as combat reserves.

Xia Shu did not raise any objection to General Von Gers' combat deployment, because he did not agree that the attack on the Marl Fort at this time was not hopeless for victory, but had to pay too heavy price. In the past few days after arriving at Verdun, he witnessed thousands of German soldiers buried under the artillery fire of the military. The personnel responsible for the aftermath were transporting bodies back all day, so after each battle, he couldn't stand by the road. Now that he continued to attack, the smoke bombs and explosives had not been obtained enough.

There is enough supplement. Although the four divisions that participated in two consecutive tough battles have a large number of experience and courageous officers and soldiers, the troops have severely reduced their troops and incomplete command system; the three new divisions arrived in Verdun are intact, but they do not know how to reduce unnecessary casualties in the cruel tough battle. If the attack is launched a few days later, the four divisions that are supplemented by reserve personnel will have a more ideal combat state, and the subsequent troops can also gain valuable experience and skills through communication with friendly forces.

When talking alone with Crown William, Natsuki tactfully expressed his thoughts. Although the Crown Prince was shaken, he weighed the pros and cons and considered the overall situation, he still chose to attack at any cost. After all, Luke, the German right wing, had crossed the Belgium and entered the French territory, and the Hausen Corps also crossed the Mass River and was attacking the flanks of the French 5th Army, intending to cut off the retreat of the main French army, blocking it in the Mass River and Sambu River, and joining forces with the Bilo Legion to fight an annihilation battle. In addition, the French army was blocked in the Aene Valley.

The 7th Prussian Light Infantry Division was already in a hurry. Although they had the ability to continue to defend the defense line on the front of the valley, the flank defense line was shaky under the French attacks and could not defend for a long time. As long as the French army insisted on launching a few more rounds of fierce attacks, they might be expelled from the position, causing the troops of the 1st Brigade deployed in the front of the Aine Valley to lose their retreat. However, General von Gers and Colonel von Carson both believed that the 5th Legion's current primary task was to concentrate its forces to capture the Verdun Fortress, so they only sent a few regiments of troops to reinforce the 7th Light Infantry Division.
Chapter completed!