Chapter 481 Crown Prince William's Decision

The sky gradually darkened, and the gunfire in Verdun stopped for a rare period of time, as if preparing for the upcoming "night state".

The commander of the German Fifth Army, who was also the German Crown Prince William, stood majestically on the high ground in a military uniform, holding a telescope and looking in the direction of the French army.

Although he only saw a little floating smoke under the vague moonlight, he still pretended to say: "The bombing effect looks very good, and the French have been bombed out of sight."

(Crown Prince William on the left in the above picture, his full name is too long and omitted. In the middle is the German Emperor William II)

Chief of Staff Lieutenant General von Ernst replied: "Perhaps we can despise the French bureaucracy, Your Highness, but we must not underestimate the fighting spirit of the French soldiers. They are much more tenacious than we imagined."

Crown Prince William laughed: "All I see is death, escape and defeat. Is it my illusion?"

Lieutenant General Ernst did not answer.

That's because the German army has too much advantage. He thought to himself, as the crown prince, you have never seen a real war!

Lieutenant General Ernst was somewhat dissatisfied with Crown Prince William.

He was the actual organizer and commander of this battle, and Crown Prince William was just a commander in name only.

If it was just like this, Lieutenant General Ernst would have accepted it, as it was the need of the heir to the empire. However, Crown Prince William, who did not know much about military affairs, liked to interfere with his command.

Crown Prince William did not notice Lieutenant General Ernst's dissatisfaction at all, and he thought that Lieutenant General Ernst had tacitly agreed with his statement.

He turned and walked down the mountain road, complaining: "I don't understand, General, why don't we attack with all our strength? We must wait for them!"

Crown Prince William thought the German attack was too conservative. They had always been on the defensive and only attacked when the enemy did not attack.

Ernst replied: "Because we don't want to fail, Your Highness."

"What?" Crown Prince William stopped and looked back at Ernst in confusion: "You mean, we will fail if we leave Verdun?"

Without waiting for Ernst to answer, Crown Prince William spread his hands around: "Look at the fortifications here, General, there are countless fortresses and trenches here. If we can easily win here, nothing can stop us."

Ernst replied calmly:

"On the contrary, Your Highness."

"We have gathered a large number of artillery and supplies here, surrounding the Verdun salient on three sides."

"We destroyed all the railways and roads leading to Verdun as soon as the war started."

"The There is only a secondary road that can barely allow two cars to pass side by side. "

…

Crown Prince William continued to walk forward and interrupted Ernst impatiently: "This does not conflict with what I said. We can solve this problem and move forward, and then create such conditions."

Ernst shook his head gently and followed Crown Prince William:

"The key is Charles's troops, Your Highness."

"Charles' armored and mechanized troops cannot enter this area to fight."

"Not only is the terrain unsuitable, nor is it just because it is surrounded by our artillery, but also because this secondary road of the French army is not enough to support the troops' supplies and tanks' fuel at the same time."

Crown Prince William said "Oh" and fell into silence.

After a while, he asked thoughtfully: "Charles, is he really as powerful as people say?"

Ernst had a trace of helplessness on his lips.

He knew what Crown Prince William meant by asking this question, and he hoped to compete with Charles one day.

The ignorant guy, the more ignorant he is, the less he takes Charles seriously, thinking that he can defeat him casually.

"You'd better not have such an idea, Your Highness." Ernst replied coldly: "Many people don't want to meet Charles on the battlefield, and this is correct."

This is not only to save his life, but also to respect war and opponents!

Crown Prince William raised his eyebrows disapprovingly, turned his head and glanced in the direction of the French army. He hoped that Charles was just opposite.

Because as long as Charles was defeated, the whole of Germany would cheer for his victory, and of course no one would doubt whether he was capable of leading the country!

…

The German headquarters was located in the Beaumont Fortress, a flat fortress far away from the defense line. It was occupied two days ago, and there was even blood inside that had not been cleaned up in time.

Crown Prince William, as usual, had dinner and read the newspaper for a while before going to bed.

The war on the front line had little to do with him. All he had to do was stay here and wait for the news of victory.

However, it was surprisingly quiet that night. At nine o'clock, there was still no sound of gunfire and artillery from the French charge.

Crown Prince William, who was not asleep, seemed to have thought of something. He sat up suddenly from the bed, was stunned for a while, got up and quickly changed into military uniform, opened the door and walked to Ernst's headquarters.

Ernst was reading telegrams in the headquarters. When he saw Crown Prince William coming in, he handed him a telegram: "There may be something that you want, Your Highness. There is news that the French intend to send Charles up, but only for one day."

"Really?" Crown Prince William's eyes lit up.

"We are verifying it." Ernst replied: "But it should be true."

Then Ernst raised his head in the direction of the French army: "They haven't attacked until now, maybe they are waiting for Charles."

"Yes." Crown Prince William agreed, and then he asked calmly: "Then, since the enemy is not attacking, should we attack?"

"Of course."

"Let me give the order." Crown Prince William rushed to say: "Major General Bennett's Seventh Army, right?"

"Yes." Ernst nodded.

Ernst thought that Crown Prince William just wanted to satisfy his addiction to giving orders, so he didn't take it to heart.

He didn't notice that Crown Prince William had a smug smile on his face as soon as he turned around.

...

In a field fortification built with logs and trenches, Crown Prince William found Major General Bennett, the commander of the Seventh Army.

Crown Prince William straightened the Major General's military collar and ordered: "Tonight's battle is different from usual. Major General, you have to keep attacking until you can't walk anymore, understand?"

Major General Bennett was instantly refreshed when he heard this. They never understood why Lieutenant General Ernst ordered the troops to "limited attack". He thought it was simply a waste of soldiers' lives.

Now, this day has finally come!

"Understood, Your Highness." Major General Bennett stepped forward and repeated what Crown Prince William said: "Keep attacking until you can't move anymore!"

(Note: Falkenhayn's strategic intention of using Verdun as a meat grinder was only known to senior officers, because he believed that the grassroots soldiers were unwilling to waste their lives with the French army and was worried that the soldiers' morale would be affected if they knew.)