Welcome to 19th-century Europe, where strength reigns supreme

In mid-April, McMahon personally led the Châlons Corps, totaling about [-] men, and marched towards Verdun. Bittenfeldt's Second Army was stationed at Verdun, and he wanted to wait for Moltke's army to break through. After Tours, attack Sedan.

Verdun was indeed a place of hardship, but this time it was the Prussian Second Army that held Verdun. Because of August's continuous output, the Second Army's supplies had no problems.

As long as the logistics can keep up, Verdun will be a mill on the Moss River, crushing the soldiers' bodies and minds.

Bazin's troops had been surrounded for so long, but they refused to surrender. They often thought of crossing the Moss River, attacking Verdun, and joining forces with MacMahon, so that France could get some blood back, at least not retreat all the way. Paris.

Manteuffel asked the First Army to hold on and surrounded the entire fortress. These waves of charges were pushed back by the Prussian army. Bazin lost thousands of people, but there was no result.

It's hard to say about Verdun. France launched an unprecedented offensive. After all, it was led by McMahon, which still had a certain deterrent effect. Bittenfeldt didn't like to defend. In just two days, Two important positions were lost in succession.

This made Bittenfeldt a little depressed. Why is this French guy so fierce? Is he taking drugs?

Bittenfeldt always thought about how to take the initiative to attack, but he was not very good at defensive tactics. Of course, Old Moltke also knew that he could conquer the city, but he might not be able to stand firmly, so he sent him a comprehensive staff officer, Lu Dolf von Rundstedt.

After receiving the news, Bittenfeldt immediately asked him to arrange the defense line. Rudolf's tactic was that we should not be in a hurry and let the enemy rush first. We have the advantage in numbers. If we lose those positions, we will lose them. What's the big deal.

As long as Verdun is not lost, Rudolph will ask most of the French troops on the defensive line to move to better defensive points, instead of just staying in those places that are easy to attack and difficult to defend.

He deliberately seduced McMahon to attack Verdun, and occupied all the good places that could be defended. McMahon also saw it, and the opposite team was replaced. According to the previous defense method, he could retake Verdun in less than half a month.

But now the broad road is in front of him. As long as he stretches his feet further, he can step into Verdun, but according to this situation. Instead, he did not dare to attack Verdun, which made many French officers wonder, why?

McMahon said, "You are stupid. Didn't they deliberately open the back just to allow you to attack from here? You will be tricked if you go there."

You can see it. McMahon just wanted to set up camp and squat in the pit to compete with Bittenfeldt. He thought that as long as he could squat, he would probably fight for a longer time, as long as the rear did not cause trouble.

Then Napoleon III came, "McMahon, what the hell are you doing? Why don't you attack?"

"How do I attack? The other side is so tightly defended. How can I not seek death if I charge forward?"

"Hurry up and come to me. The Prussian army is not yet stable and should attack immediately! Don't worry, I understand very well. It's not a big problem!"

McMahon had something in his mind that Cao Nima didn't know whether to say or not, but the leaders had spoken, so McMahon could only be coerced and rushed forward, completely falling into the trap set by Rudolph.

In order to lead to Verdun, McMahon must waste his troops fighting for those points that are easy to defend and difficult to attack. In addition, Bittenfeldt's cavalry regiment rushed out from time to time to give himself a try, especially at night. Come out for a sneak attack.

After firing one shot and running away, McMahon could only use the excuse of insufficient supplies to ask Napoleon III to agree to withdraw. Napoleon III was definitely unwilling to withdraw. He asked Ducrot to escort the supplies to McMahon. The result was obvious. Ducrot Crowe simply failed to get supplies to McMahon.

When Bittenfeldt heard that it was Ducrot across from him, he immediately got excited. Beating him was not easy. I was familiar with this job. He led the cavalry to hit Ducrot again, which left everyone with a psychological shadow.

When Napoleon III heard this, he immediately gave up. He was afraid that McMahon would not be able to get out, so he quickly asked him to retreat. Of course, McMahon was able to withdraw. The lack of supplies was just an excuse. He could run away immediately.

Napoleon III's random interference in the movement of the front line caused a lot of trouble for those generals. McMahon could not get through Verdun, so it was a luxury to go to Metz to rescue Bazine. After all, the French army could not cross the mountains to attack Metz. Sri Lanka.

The French army definitely has an advantage. The Challon Corps is very large in number. It is the last elite of France. It has all the black technologies that France has so far. Many of them are not available in Prussia, so even Bittenfeldt dare not Just attack Sedan.

After repelling McMahon, Bittenfeld saw that Paris was only one step away from him. France's heavy troops were placed in the Sedan Fortress. As long as he could break through the important town of Reims, he would be able to capture Paris just around the corner.

But Auguste dismissed it. Auguste thought this was pure nonsense. Just attack one city after another. It would be useless for you to capture Paris. You don’t even have the strength to destroy the enemy. Moreover, you Just occupying Paris, others can take it back, is of little significance in general.

By May, Moltke successively attacked Nancy and Tours in the south. Prussia invested almost [-] troops on the front line. The strength of each group army increased to about [-]. It had an absolute military advantage. Prussia marched into Verdun with great force.

Moltke and Bittenfeldt's group armies joined forces, with a total of more than [-] troops and more than a thousand artillery pieces. This number of troops was very terrifying.

Regarding the dispatch of the French army, Prussia actually took a gamble, because at this time, if Napoleon III carried out some high-end operations, such as withdrawing to Laon, the Prussian army would be in vain again.

Of course, Moltke made many false starts during the Austro-Prussian War. The intelligence may not be accurate. The intelligence from all aspects is very messy. You don’t know which one to believe. You can only calculate which one is the most reasonable. But if the enemy doesn't follow your train of thought, then it's useless no matter how accurate your calculations are.

As a planning maniac, Moltke always guessed the location of the enemy's main force. As a result, after experiencing many wars, he finally realized that those who use troops should cause harm to others without harming others. Don't wait for the enemy to mobilize themselves, but mobilize them yourself. The enemy laid a trap and tortured him to death, whether it was real or not.

He is doing this now, so Bittenfeldt cannot be allowed to run to Paris. He may not be able to defeat him if he runs to Paris, just like Zhuge Liang disagrees with the Ziwu Valley strategy. You have to march to Paris in a hurry, otherwise you will be robbed halfway. .

This also means that you cannot bring too many troops, you can only bring cavalry, and the supplies cannot keep up. Even if you are lucky and Paris is undefended, if you really capture it, will your troops be able to respond in time? The success rate is slim, and you have a great advantage. It is better to play it safe than to take risks.