On May 1, the two German divisions deployed on the right wing began a tentative attack on the Verdun area and conducted multiple artillery bombardments on a defense line of more than 100 kilometers.

Further 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 mobilized back and forth across the entire Western Front. Some trains were loaded with soldiers and weapons and equipment, some were loaded with ammunition supplies, and some were empty.

The large-scale mobilization could not be hidden from anyone. The British and French spy intelligence networks quickly reported the news. The British and French allied forces immediately learned of the German mobilization and judged that they were going to launch a new round of attack.

But the problem is, they don't know which direction the Germans are attacking.

"Henry, where do you think these damn Germans will attack?" Joseph looked at the map filled with marks and angrily threw his pencil on the map.

"Marshal, the Germans are obviously confusing us to cover up their true goals. The Germans made a stupid mistake. I think it is a trap." Henry picked up the pointer and pointed to several train interchanges on the map.

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

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

"It's impossible for Falkenhayn to know something so obvious. If you look at it this way, his actions make no sense."

Henry drew a cross over places with frequent rail traffic.

"Well done. We can't expect our enemies to make mistakes. The Germans are out of strength. They are eager to launch an attack just to continue to have the initiative on the battlefield."

"Even if we don't know what the enemy wants to do, we must oppose what the enemy wants 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 conduct a probing attack in the northeast, and the three divisions to your south will be assigned to your command."

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

"Marshal, we need to leave enough troops behind. The Verdun Army can draw up to 5 divisions... plus the 3 newly transferred divisions, a total of 5 divisions will be used for the attack."

Henry thought for a while. Of course he would be happy if he could play the main attack, but he didn't have enough strength.

Verdun was a salient that threatened the German right wing. If the French army set off from Verdun and could cut off the retreat of the two German right-wing armies, the German army would of course take it seriously and deploy three divisions on the first line.

It sounds like a 5 to 3 advantage is not small, but the French army is the attacker, and the attacker is the German army with complete trenches and fortifications. It is impossible to win in a short time with just these people.

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

For the army, retreat is not that easy.

"General Ferdinand's Northern Army Group will cooperate with you. Your purpose is not to break through the German positions, but to conduct an exploratory battle to cooperate with the investigation of the Germans." Joseph smiled and patted Henry on the shoulder.

"You mean, disrupt the Germans' plan?" Henry was a little depressed, but at the same time he breathed a sigh of relief.

There were 8 divisions in Verdun, but except for the artillery, the others were all newly formed units after the war began. Their combat effectiveness was not strong, or to put it bluntly, they were cannon fodder used to fill the lines.

The artillery is a veteran, but it is a fortress artillery rather than a field artillery. There is an extreme shortage of field artillery because all the artillery that can be easily moved 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 difficult to move. All the artillery pieces that are easier to move have been used as field artillery.

When attacking with such an army, a short distance is fine. But if the distance is a little further, the artillery will not be able to keep up. Without artillery, how can we fight a war?

"That's right to understand. To launch an army-level attack, the Germans will definitely deploy troops to prevent the worst." Joseph curled his lips and nodded lightly.

"In this way, the German targets will be exposed more easily, because they have insufficient troops, and they will be able to easily judge the direction of the main attack by the frequency of train movement." Henry nodded.

At this time, he was only the commander of the Verdun Fortress, and his judgment of the current situation was not comprehensive enough, but war will 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, immediately thought of a response plan when he heard about Joseph's plan.

"General Ferdinand proposed that the Northern Army Group should be the main attack and launch a large-scale battle in the north to expel the Germans in the north from French territory."

"The battle plan was to open the defense line of von Bello's German 2nd Army, then use cavalry to quickly break through and occupy the traffic arteries, infantry to quickly follow up on trucks, and use airships and aircraft for supplies."

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

"Use airships for supplies?" Petain 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. Germany's long-range bombing airship troops, in particular, visit London from time to time.

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

But China's bombing of Tokyo rekindled the world's interest in airships. Yes, airships fly slowly, are difficult to maneuver, and are prone to catching fire.

But it carries a lot, flies far, and flies high!

With reasonable use of tactics, as long as you don't encounter bad weather, the role of the airship is still considerable.

"Yes, the airship is not a useful weapon. It is no longer safe at 5 kilometers. If it flies higher, the load capacity of the airship will be further reduced, and it is of little value for bombing."

Joseph shook his head and continued:

"But for supply, airships are a very useful tool. Whether it was during the Battle of Paris or when China was responding to earthquakes, its transportation attributes were highlighted."

The material consumption of one division per day is between 1,700 tons and 3,000 tons. The consumption mainly depends on the degree of mechanization.

A pure infantry division consumes less, but its advance speed is slow. A mules-horse division is 1 point faster, but consumes the most, but is not easy to lose.

In contrast, the motorized infantry division that uses trucks to carry soldiers forward is the fastest and lasts the longest, as long as there is fuel.

However, due to technical reasons, the off-road capability is mediocre, and due to the problem of component wear, the chain may easily fall off after long-term use.

That's why Joseph considered using cavalry corps together with motorized infantry this time.

As for supplies, an airship transport brigade with 12 airships can carry all the energy of a division at one time, and the speed of the airships can reach 780 kilometers per hour, and they can still fly in a straight line.

France also has an imported airship force, which are armed airships ordered during the South China period. Six of them have a payload of 302 tons. Excluding ballast, fuel, food and water, the payload is at least 20 tons.

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

Six ships weighing 120 tons at a time may not sound like much, but the airship can fly more than once a day. If conditions permit, it can complete takeoff or landing in one hour (not that it does not need to be too high for combat).

The airship can fly as slowly as 23 kilometers per hour and as fast as 78 kilometers per hour. Can the battle line advance 78 kilometers per hour in one day?

Joseph did not think that the advancing speed of the battle line would exceed the supply speed of the airship. These days' battles, advancement and retreat were all measured by meters.

Sometimes you may not be able to advance a few meters even if you fight for a whole day.

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

The Verdun Fortress is a protruding area in the northeast of Paris. It is a huge transportation hub, where multiple railways intersect, and it is also a transportation hub from 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 center army group.

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

But there is movement in the direction of Verdun, which will definitely arouse the vigilance of the Germans.

If Verdun was on the central or southern front, Pétain would not have any doubts, but Verdun was in the north. How could it help Ferdinand's Northern Army Group?

Even if they can temporarily attract some of the German troops from the north, won't they be able to replenish them when the battle starts and the main attack direction is exposed? It's so close that even walking can only take a few days.

"Ferdinand proposed a new way of fighting, which is to use the rapid maneuverability of cavalry and automobiles to outflank the enemy."

"This is also the core tactic of this battle. I call it the sausage-slicing tactic. The mobile troops are our sharp knives, cutting the Germans apart piece by piece."

"As long as they lose the ability to organize on a large scale, infantry can easily defeat them."

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

"As long as the frontline reserve troops are reduced, the Germans will not have enough troops to plug the gap. Only in this way can we complete this tactic."

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

"Don't put too much pressure on us. As long as we can understand that the Germans' goal in this battle is victory, we can take our time in attracting the enemy's attention."

"I have discussed with the British that they will send a secret weapon to the battlefield to cooperate with the battle in the direction of Verdun, but don't have high expectations, you know those British guys."

Joseph shrugged, making the originally serious Pétain feel much more relaxed.
Chapter completed!