The Rise of the Empire

The fall of night did not stop the confrontation between the two sides of the war. Although night fighting was prohibited in order to prevent large-scale friendly fire incidents, it did not prohibit the preparations of both sides. Now, both sides are sitting and preparing for the next day's war. , the quality of the Prussian army is still excellent. In just 2 hours, 6 battalions of reinforcements and the attached 8th company of artillery were dispatched to the attack position. Behind them were another 8 battalions of infantry. It was already the entire front-line force that one Prussian division could hold down. Mackensen's mobile troops were located on the flanks of the entire Tu Cluster and did not participate in the first wave of attacks.

Each 75MM artillery was pulled to the designated position by horses or vehicles. The artillery was only 800 meters away from the opponent's warning position, while the engineers and vanguards were closer to the opponent. They had already detoured to a distance of 300 meters, and at this distance The more important reason why they were not discovered was because they faced only an incoherent line of defense consisting of guard posts and a small number of support points. This position is like a probe, responsible for sensing the opponent's attack.

The real trouble is those 150MM heavy howitzers. These artillery were originally deployed behind the second line of defense. They need to advance 4 kilometers to meet the new strike requirements. However, this also brings them closer to the first line to 4,000 meters. About meters. "We can see the artillery positions behind us from the high ground on the front line, and there is no obstacle between our front line and the artillery positions." Hindenburg said with some worry. He now began to wonder whether it was the right choice to remove the large-caliber howitzers from the long-established artillery positions.

There are some things that cannot be seen without actually walking around. When the entire Prussian army prepared to move forward, Moltke and others discovered that the entire defense line seemed to have become very fragile. Moltke even had some illusions that he had returned to Napoleon. During this era, both sides felt like they were queuing up to kill each other. The entire formation had no depth, lacked concealment and defense.

"So my mobile regiment must not be exposed in advance. This is the last guarantee for our rear artillery positions and logistics units. We can do this." Mackensen said while drawing a line and several points on the map, and after we took After setting down the opponent's warning position, the rapid-fire artillery units should not be too far forward. We should gather them and stick them in these positions to form a rear warning line. "

"If the opponent follows the road and attacks from here, we can rely on the position we built to counterattack. If the opponent goes around, their sides will be exposed to the attack range of my rapid army."

"What about the Bavarian Legion's planes?" Hindenburg asked.

"No way, this is a way of exchanging injuries for injuries." Mackensen answered simply.

"Well, we have done our best, and all that's left is to wait." Little Moltke sighed and looked at the morning star that had risen in the sky. The Prussian Army, which had worked hard all night, finally completed its pre-war deployment. They can use this time to rest a little before the official war begins.

When the sun shone on the earth again, the Prussian Army's attack officially began. The first wave of four infantry battalions, under the cover of front-line rapid-fire artillery and howitzers, launched an attack towards the Bavarian Army's cordon. The company's mortar company Launching smoke bombs, the engineers rushed to the position a few hundred meters away with various tools under the cover of intensive firepower. They then used steel pliers to cut off the barbed wire fence and used detonating cords to remove the mines. The subsequent infantry followed the engineers. The road opened moved forward quickly.

The Bavarian Army reacted quickly, and under the guidance of the frontline observation posts, began to intercept and fire at the Prussian Army.

The long-range artillery at the rear also began to try to suppress the rapid-fire artillery and howitzers deployed by the Prussian Army at the front. Amid the roar of artillery fire, the two sides launched their first large-scale ground confrontation.

"Hindenburg Mackensen really has his way." After looking at the Prussian Army's offensive posture marked with red arrows on the huge sand table, Ruprecht had to admit that the opponent did indeed do what he did at the tactical level. Yes, the fundamentalist offensive theory emphasizes concentrating all forces on one point to launch an attack, breaking the stable structure of the enemy's position, and then expanding to the two wings and depth, but this theory is obviously not suitable for the current situation.

The Bavarian Army cordon position only acted as a delay and could easily be broken through. Therefore, in order to occupy the entire position as soon as possible, launching attacks at multiple points is naturally the best choice. Moreover, the Prussian artillery did not dare to concentrate too much under the threat of the Bavarian Air Force and heavy artillery units, so dispersing support and enhancing direct firepower was obviously the best way. On the one hand, it reduced the intensity of the opponent's attack, and on the other hand, it also used more efficient close-range firepower. Ranged attacks enhance fire support.

"The Air Force and Armored Corps are ready to attack at any time," Caliput said.

"Let's see, we need to seize the opponent's main force and let them enter the position before we start." Ruprecht did not issue an attack order. In his opinion, the air force is an ultimate weapon that is extremely powerful but requires a long cooling time. Skills: It takes nearly an hour to fly a straight-line distance of 80 kilometers. Do you think it’s cheating or not? Therefore, how to use precious bombs and time is an important issue. As for the temporary defense of ground troops, the fundamental reason is that Ruprecht cannot judge whether the opponent is feinting, so his main card cannot be thrown away easily.

Half an hour later, several reconnaissance planes of the Bavarian Air Force flew over the battlefield. From the air, a large number of Prussian troops in gray military uniforms poured into the newly occupied positions from multiple directions. The troops that had entered the position quickly began to develop in depth on both sides. The breakthrough point was from point to line, and then to the surface. Some artillery units in the rear also made forward movements. The soldiers, under the command of the officers, hung the artillery on the front vehicles. and then taken to the next forward position by tow vehicle.

"The other side is building a new line of defense, and the artillery units from the rear are also beginning to press forward, but we still haven't seen the other side's armored vehicles and cavalry." A staff officer sent the intelligence that had just been compiled.

"How many troops have they already moved into position?" Schmidt asked.

"Probably about 4 battalions." An officer replied.

"This makes us uncomfortable." Ruprecht smiled bitterly. A German division has about 16 battalions, and the total number of Prussian infantry in this exercise should be about 22 battalions, which is one fifth. A less than adequate force. This force is still far from the prince's expectations.

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