The sun never sets.

After that, the German army was never able to launch that kind of vigorous offensive rhythm again. Although they used flamethrowers and bombers and captured some fortresses and trenches, because the German army was the attacking party, the number of casualties did not decrease.

The Germans were still clearly stronger than the British and French forces, but they could not solve the problem of artillery failing to keep up with the infantry. On the west bank of the Meuse River, the Germans advanced too quickly and lost the advantage of artillery support, exposing themselves to the artillery range of the French on the west bank of the Meuse River. The battlefield had become a quagmire due to continuous artillery attacks, and it was difficult for artillery to move forward. When the Germans finally occupied the village of Douaumont, they had lost four regiments.

The French army blocked the German attack with great difficulty, which made the Allies breathe a sigh of relief. As long as they could block it, it would be fine. The Allies had far more manpower and resources than the Central Powers. As long as they continued to consume the enemy's resources, the Allies would surely win the final victory.

At this time, France only had one road leading to Verdun. In order to stabilize the front line, the French organized more than 15 trucks to transport supplies to the front line day and night. In one week, troops and more than tons of supplies were transported to Verdun.

The British newspaper The Times claimed that "this is a great miracle", the French called the Bar-le-Duc-Verdun road the "holy road", and newspapers of the Allied Powers trumpeted the victory of Verdun. Although the French army only held half of Verdun, they achieved a strategic victory.

The German side did not launch a tit-for-tat propaganda offensive this time, but strangely remained silent. Something unusual happened, and the British intelligence department activated several spies to find out what tricks the Germans were playing. This happened before. That time, the German army used poison gas on a large scale on the battlefield, causing 1 casualties among the British and French coalition forces.

Are the ballistic Germans planning to use poison gas on a large scale again?

But the two warring parties had already been throwing gas bombs at each other recklessly. The Germans had gas bombs, and so did the French and the British. Soldiers on the front line were equipped with gas masks, and the power of the gas bombs was greatly weakened.

Or did the Germans develop a new poison gas?

The chemical industry is stronger than that of Britain and France. Intelligence shows that German chemists are researching new types of concentrated poison gases that cannot be blocked even with gas masks.

The Allied Central Command was very worried about this, but Joffre thought it was not a big problem. He believed that the Germans were already at the end of their strength, and even if they developed a new type of poison gas, it could only gain a tactical advantage, but would not be able to break the Allied trench system.

Chapter 600: Fall

In the early morning of Verdun, a strange sound suddenly came from the sky, "boom, boom, boom, boom...", the roar of engines filled the air. The French soldiers were awakened, poked their heads out of the trenches and looked into the distance.

"Teng, teng, teng..." The strange sound was getting closer and louder, making the French panic. "What's going on?"

"what happened?"

"Over there, the sound is coming from over there!"

"Oh, God! What is that?"

The steel chariots painted with the Iron Cross emerged from the mist, as if they had come to reality from a nightmare. After the first tank (assault gun) appeared, the second, the third... dozens of tanks rushed towards the French defense line. If three tanks had not broken down on the road due to malfunctions, this assault could be called perfect.

In order to achieve the effect of a surprise attack, the German army, contrary to its usual practice, did not carry out artillery preparation in advance, but directly led the tank troops and charged forward with thousands of commandos.

The French were stunned at first when they saw those steel behemoths, and then they hastily launched a counterattack with their weapons. Rifle and machine gun bullets hit the tanks, making a "ding-dong" sound, but without any effect. The bullets could not even leave any marks on the 20mm thick armored steel plates.

Machine guns played a very important role in previous defensive battles, but today they were completely ineffective. Several machine guns kept firing at the leading steel monster, but to no avail.

The French soldiers in the trenches nervously operated the mortars. "Bang, bang, bang," the shells landed on the open space between the tanks, blowing up clumps of dirt, but it was still useless. "Boom!" The infantry gun fired a shot at the front tank, but after the smoke cleared, the tank continued to move forward. Several tanks on the side turned their turrets and fired shells at the defense line.

"Boom!" "Boom!"

"boom!"

The machine guns on the tanks also started firing, knocking down the French in rows. At this point, the morale of the French army finally collapsed, and they abandoned the trenches they had held for a long time and turned to flee to the rear.

The Germans captured a six-kilometer-long front without much effort, annihilated and captured more than 4,000 French troops, and the cost was only two or three hundred casualties, which was unimaginable in previous battles. The commander on the front was overjoyed and continued to advance with 32 tanks. Due to technical failures and terrain reasons, another six tanks broke down halfway. Now there were only 32 tanks that could be used. The ammunition was still sufficient, but the fuel was running low.

But the opportunity now was too rare, could we just let the French retreat? Of course not!

The tanks rumbled along the French retreat route, and the French launched a desperate counterattack, but they had no anti-tank weapons and the counterattack was quickly crushed. Thousands of French soldiers could only throw down their weapons and raise their hands in surrender.

Pétain did not receive accurate information until after 11 o'clock. "What? The second line of defense was also lost? The fortress was also occupied?" He was so shocked that he could hardly speak. Then he immediately shouted, "Where is our artillery? Block the enemy's attack route immediately!"

But the bad news made him think more, "The heavy artillery position has been lost!"

"How can this be?"

"The enemy has deployed a new weapon!"

"I don't care about any new weapons, I just want the Suwei Fortress!"

The German offensive continued. With tanks as the vanguard, they broke through the French defenses and deployed all their reserves. Falkenhayn, who was forced into a desperate situation, was much more decisive this time. He deployed all his reserves to the battlefield. Ten German divisions poured in from the breakthrough point, and German troops in other directions also launched a full-scale offensive.

By the evening, the French army in the direction of Verdun had lost unified command. Pétain initially asked the French army to hold the front line and put the reserve troops into the battlefield. In the past two years of war, this tactic has worked every time. But this time, the French reserve was defeated by the German army.

The French army, facing tanks for the first time, had no way to deal with those steel monsters. After discovering that machine guns and mortars were ineffective against the steel vehicles, the French army could only turn around and flee. Field artillery had a chance to destroy tanks, but the German army also risked everything this time, and launched a desperate attack, risking the destruction of the tanks.

German fighter planes also appeared in the sky, and after driving away the French planes, they continued to fire at the ground. When the German tanks rushed to the Bar-le-Duc-Verdun road, Pétain completely lost the will to fight. He ordered the front-line troops to retreat to Paris. However, the road was blocked by German tanks, and the French infantry could only throw away everything and run towards Verdun from other places.

"It's over, it's over!"

Petain burst into tears as he saw the German tanks with his own eyes.

The soldiers on their side were helpless in front of the tanks and could only be slaughtered unilaterally. The roads were full of trucks that were hit by bullets and on fire, and soldiers who were fleeing in panic.

In desperation, Petain drew his pistol and prepared to die, but was stopped by the guards beside him. "General, we can continue to resist in Paris!"

"Paris?"

Pétain smiled bitterly and said, "We have no reserve forces left. How can we defend Paris without troops?"

"If you don't have troops, mobilize the militia! France will not perish!"

Since ancient times, the only way to die is to die with difficulty. After Pétain wanted to commit suicide but was stopped, he did not try again, but was dragged away from the battlefield by the guards. They escaped, but most of the French troops in Verdun could not escape.

The battle was so intense outside that the French soldiers in many positions and fortresses felt that there were enemies everywhere and had no idea what was going on. The orders from the army headquarters were inconsistent. One moment they said they had to hold the line and not retreat a step, and the next moment they said they had to retreat immediately, leaving behind even the artillery and other supplies. The French soldiers were at a loss as to what to do with the confusing orders. By the time they figured out what was going on, it was already two days later, and it was too late.

The French army held out for a few more days, but without the supply of manpower and ammunition, it was impossible to hold out forever. A week later, all the French troops in the Verdun area surrendered, and this bloody battle came to an end.

The German army once again won a brilliant victory. Not counting the first half, in the decisive battle after the use of tanks, more than 300,000 French troops were annihilated and captured, and thousands of artillery and mortars, as well as mountains of various supplies, were seized. The ammunition, food, medicine and other supplies that the French urgently transported to the front line became the spoils of the Germans.

Chapter 601: Constraints

General Henri Pétain believed that it would be difficult to defend Paris without reserve troops, which was true. However, France had no reserve troops, while Britain still had them. The French army was about to collapse in Verdun. In order to give the French a break, the British government collected dozens of divisions from all over the world, mainly recruited a large number of troops from India, and then sent them to France in a rush, preparing to use a large-scale offensive to relieve the pressure on the French army in Verdun.

Churchill declared that "the British Empire will never surrender until the last Indian dies". The Indians were not stupid, and they were unwilling to work for the British. Just a few years ago, a major uprising broke out in northwest India, and was bloodily suppressed by the British.

In this situation, the Indians were very uncooperative with the conscription. An army without morale would only be killed on the battlefield, and might even surrender to the Germans with their weapons.

In order to stabilize morale and make Indians willing to fight for the British Empire, the British government announced that as long as the war was won, India would be independent. This pie was too big, and the Indians were tempted. In addition, the British used division and disintegration, coercion and inducement to finally stabilize the situation in India and successfully complete the task of recruiting soldiers.

The troops that the British government sent to France were planned to be used for attack, but plans did not change quickly. Who could have imagined that the French army in Verdun would suddenly collapse? At the request of the French Prime Minister, the British army changed its battle plan and transferred 20 divisions to Paris.

After capturing Verdun, the German army wanted to continue the offensive, but too many tanks broke down, and the spearhead of the offensive had been broken. The German army was producing and using tanks for the first time, and many technologies were not mature and reliable. Failures such as broken tracks and engine flameouts were inevitable.

Moreover, there were so many French troops in Verdun that the German army could not move forward without getting rid of this large group of enemies. By the time the German army cleared the French troops in the trenches and fortresses in Verdun, the British army had already built fortifications outside Paris.

During this period, France gathered the defeated soldiers and reorganized ten light infantry divisions and fifteen militia divisions. But can infantry alone stop the German "tanks"?

After fleeing back to Paris in a panic, Pétain was summoned by the Allied Supreme Command for questioning. The French army was now in a state of panic, with rumors of the Germans' steel monsters circulating among the army. The British army's morale was better, but that was because they had never faced the impact of German tanks.

Spies sent back a lot of intelligence from Germany. The "water tanks", that is, the German tanks, were no longer a secret to the Allies. They were just tractors wrapped in steel plates. There was nothing special about them. Britain was also secretly developing the "Land Cruiser", but the Germans got there first.

Now the British wanted to know the specific performance of German tanks on the battlefield, and also wanted to know how to stop those tanks walking on land. Pétain was the first general to face tanks on the battlefield, so he was naturally asked to be questioned.

How to deal with tanks?

After returning to Paris, Petain kept thinking about this problem. Laying the cannon flat can deal with those steel tanks, but the existing artillery is either too heavy or not powerful enough to deal with tanks. In addition, digging anti-tank trenches before the position and placing obstacles in key areas... Perhaps these methods are not very effective, but as long as they can play a role, it's fine.

Germany had tanks, and Britain had the same plan, which was to bring warships to land. Britain had already been doing the same thing. The appearance of German tanks accelerated the pace of the British, just like the "Dreadnought".

Although Germany built them first, it was Britain that built the most dreadnoughts and super-dreadnought battleships.

In just a few months, British tanks will also appear on the battlefield.

But Germany would not give the British and French forces a few months. After the tank was put into actual combat and tested, the German rear continued to produce the "Panzer I" at full capacity. German engineers did not produce the tank completely according to the drawings. They made changes to some places that they thought were unreasonable, and they made changes to more than one place.

After the tanks broke down on the battlefield due to various faults, the Germans realized that the design on the drawings made sense. For example, the "cylindrical hydraulic shock absorber" in the suspension system is really different if it has one or not. Although the welded structure requires more man-hours and more money, the protection of the welded structure is much better than that of the riveted structure.

In the Battle of Verdun, most German tanks were destroyed by their own failures, and some were damaged by shells hitting the tracks or other parts. Some things that German engineers thought were insignificant were actually useful.

This cannot be blamed on the German engineers. The "tank" scheme that the Chinese came up with was too mature. Apart from replacing the gun, there was almost nothing that could be changed. The German changes made the "tank" cheaper and took less man-hours, but the price paid was that the reliability and defense were greatly reduced.

While the Germans and the British were working overtime to produce tanks, the German government received a request for help from the Netherlands. The Netherlands had remained neutral during the war, selling goods to both sides to make war profits, and did not want to join either the Allies or the Central Powers. If they had not been forced to do so, they would not have chosen to ask the German government for help.

The World War entered its third year, and the strength of the participating countries had been greatly weakened. At this point in time, national independence liberation movements broke out in places such as Sunda, Kalimantan and Indonesia. Many guerrillas appeared on the islands in the South Seas. Their weapons and equipment were not sophisticated, and they did not have airplanes, tanks or heavy artillery, but they were numerous and powerful, and the guerrilla warfare alone made the Dutch colonists exhausted.

The Dutch government knew that the Japanese were involved, and that China was behind Japan. Therefore, when the signs of the national liberation movement appeared in Southeast Asia, they took bloody measures to suppress it. The Dutch knew very well how the Americans in the Philippines were destroyed eight years ago, and they wanted to nip the incident in the bud.

However, the killing did not solve the problem. Instead, it gave the Japanese a handle to spread the evil and brutality of the colonists throughout Asia. The Japanese government sent a note to the Netherlands, asking the Dutch authorities to stop persecuting the Asian people and to send an investigation team to Kalimantan and other places to investigate the local human rights situation. This move was warmly supported by Japan, China, and other Asian countries.

The tactics were exactly the same as before the attack on the Philippines. The script had not changed. While the Dutch government denounced the Japanese as despicable and shameless, it strengthened its military forces in Southeast Asia. They not only sent land forces to the Far East, but also sent the few warships they had to Southeast Asia.

But this was not enough. Whether in terms of army or navy, the Netherlands could not defeat Japan. Not to mention that ASEAN's big brother, China, was watching covetously from the sidelines. In desperation, the Dutch government could only turn to Germany for help.

They did not only ask Germany for help, but also asked Britain and France to help the Netherlands maintain its colonial rule in the Far East. France was now busy with its own affairs and was about to lose the world war. How could it have the energy and energy to care about the Dutch colonies thousands of miles away?

Britain was willing to mediate, but Downing Street demanded that the Netherlands must join the Allies first. This was asking too much, if the Netherlands joined the Allies today, the German army would invade the Dutch territory the next day.

So the Netherlands could only turn to Germany for help, but how could Germany restrain Japan and China, which were thousands of miles away?

Chapter 602 Thought

Germany's current situation cannot be said to be good. On land, the German army finally fought a hearty annihilation war on the Western Front, and also defeated the British Royal Navy in the naval battle. It can be said that both land and sea have blossomed. The German Navy did gain some advantages in the exchange ratio. The "Dreadnought" hit the target and killed the first British dreadnought "Hood", but the "Dreadnought" was subsequently sunk by the Royal Navy's 13.5-inch artillery.

The High Seas Fleet sank 14 enemy ships at the cost of six battleships, achieving a tactical victory. The British Home Fleet lost more tonnage than the German High Seas Fleet, but statistics after the battle showed that the Home Fleet still had 21 battleships, including battleships and battlecruisers, ready to be deployed at any time, while the High Seas Fleet only had 10 battleships ready to be deployed at any time. Therefore, it can be considered that the High Seas Fleet failed to break the Home Fleet's numerical advantage in the North Sea.

This is indeed the case. After the largest naval battle in history, the Royal Navy's Home Fleet blockaded the High Seas Fleet in the port, and the High Seas Fleet never dared to go out to sea for a major decisive battle again.

From a strategic point of view, the German Navy failed to break the British naval blockade. The global oceans were still dominated by the British Navy. The High Seas Fleet was trapped in the port and was useless. It was still a "fleet in existence". The ships lost by Britain were quickly replenished by virtue of its strong industrial and economic power. As the New York Times commented: "The German fleet attacked it.

The prison guards were arrested but they were still in jail.”

After the naval battle, the Admiralty reported to the Kaiser that the German Imperial Navy could "inflict heavy damage on the enemy, but... even if it achieves the most favorable results on the high seas, it cannot force Britain to reconcile... The disadvantage of our geographical location compared to island countries... cannot be compensated by our fleet..." Finally, it said that unrestricted submarine warfare was indispensable, "even at the risk of fighting the United States."

Under such circumstances, how could Germany interfere in the affairs of the Far East?

Germany had diplomatic contacts with China and only mentioned the issue of Southeast Asia. After receiving no response, it moved on to the next topic.

After Lieutenant General Kondrachenko fled back to Warsaw, he held out for more than 305 days with the help of trenches and the city, until the Germans dragged in mm howitzers and bombed half of Warsaw into ruins. The defenders then laid down their weapons and surrendered. Because Kondrachenko was a general of the Grand Duchy of Siberia, Grand Duchy Olga hoped to redeem him.

The German government did not mind releasing a general, but took the opportunity to ask the Chinese government to join the Allies, which was naturally impossible. So the German ambassador compromised and expressed his willingness to release Lieutenant General Kondrachenko and other volunteers from the Grand Duchy of Siberia as long as China gave more benefits.

Tang Shaoyi's appearance was impeccable. Although he was older, he still looked elegant and graceful, which was different from most of the cadres of the People's Party. "We can withdraw all the volunteers from the Grand Duchy of Siberia in Russia."

The German ambassador waited for a moment. "That's it?"

"that's it."

“There is no sincerity in this proposal.”

"If you are willing to keep the prisoners until the end of the war, we have no objection."

The German ambassador could not make the final decision. He could only say that he would pass the proposal to Berlin as soon as possible. The ambassador stood up and shook hands with Tang Shaoyi. "Germany has captured Verdun. The next step is Paris, and then the war will be over. China..."

Tang Shaoyi loosened his hand and interrupted the other party, "China will not participate in any unjust war!"

The direct cause of the outbreak of the World War was the "Moroccan Crisis", which was a fight for colonies, and China and ASEAN have always been against colonialism. Therefore, China will not join the Allies or the Central Powers.

The fighting in Europe was too brutal. The fruits of civilization, wealth and lives were all reduced to ashes in the battle. The Allies and the Central Powers repeatedly broke the bottom line on the battlefield. It is hard to believe that it is something civilized people can do. Many people, including Europeans, Americans and Asians, have begun to reflect on whether there is something wrong with the European system. Otherwise, why would such a brutal war like the World War occur?

In recent years, China has not only made a lot of money by taking advantage of the war, but also done a lot of other things, such as redefining and deconstructing many concepts. Chairman Lin pointed out that the origin of China's country is completely different from that of Europe, and the current national concepts and various traditions of Europe and the United States are not completely suitable for China and the entire Eastern world.

"European countries emerged from war and plunder, while the predecessor of the Chinese concept of the state, the tribal alliance, was born in the process of water control. Because of the need for water control, primitive tribes had to unite and form a tribal alliance, and then in the long process of water control, a state was formed."

"...European philosophers divided ancient human society into primitive society, slave society, feudal society and capitalist society, and believed that China had a feudal history that lasted for more than 2,000 years. This is incorrect. Since the unification of the Qin and Han dynasties, China's feudal system has officially ended. Although there have been some repetitions since then, they were only short-lived..."

".......The Roman Empire around the Mediterranean established colonies in Europe, Africa and Asia, capturing a large number of local people as slaves. When discussing the democratic system of ancient Rome, it is important to note that the so-called democracy is only the democracy of a small number of slave owners, and has nothing to do with the efforts of more than 90% of the total population..."

"......European and American countries have inherited the practices of ancient Rome and are still promoting colonialism around the world......"

Why did China do these things? Wouldn't it be better to make money from the war peacefully? Ito Hirobumi pointed out that Chairman Lin did these things to compete with Europe for the right to speak and to establish a new set of relations between countries outside the European and American colonial system.

But the people's government does not want to rebuild the "tributary system". Lin Yongchang criticized the traditional "governing by virtue" of China and the Eastern world, believing that "although it can establish a relatively stable social order, it cannot continue to promote social progress." Chairman Lin believes that there are many things we can learn from European and American countries, but when accepting new culture and knowledge, we must engage in philosophical thinking to distinguish which ones are beneficial and which ones are harmful.

"......We cannot accept everything without discrimination. For example, aristocracy and colonialism should not be accepted and should even be overthrown......"

Soon after these articles were published, the guerrillas in Nanyang became more active. The locals received rifles, mines and mortars, as well as the advanced ideas of Lin Yongchang. The Dutch

The rule in Southeast Asia is on the verge of collapse.

Chapter 603 Diplomacy

The Central Powers were not able to intervene in the Netherlands' affairs, while the Allied Powers were able to do so, but they could not intervene in the Netherlands' affairs unless the Netherlands joined the Allied Powers first. Otherwise, why would Britain stand up for the Netherlands?

The Netherlands wanted to join the Allies, but Berlin said that if the Netherlands joined the Allies, the German army would inevitably attack the Netherlands. The Dutch were terrified. The German army had already occupied Verdun and annihilated 300,000 French troops. It was about to attack Paris again. It took some courage to join the Allies at this time. Courage alone was not enough, and one had to be stupid enough, just like Romania.

Romania is in contact with the Allied Powers and seems to be interested in joining them.

The Dutch were not as brave as the Romanians, and they did not dare to fight the Germans, so they could only solve the problems in Southeast Asia by themselves. For the Taisho government, the script was ready-made. They just had to repeat what they had done in the Philippines eight years ago.

After liberating the Philippines, Japan gained the opportunity to invest in the Philippines. The Philippines' rubber, spices, oil and various minerals promoted the development of Japanese industry and brought a lot of economic benefits to the Japanese government. Although the navy suffered heavy casualties, after defeating the US military, the Japanese government received 26 billion US dollars out of the 14 billion war reparations. This money was not only enough to rebuild the navy, but also helped Japan repay more than half of its debts.

The Netherlands certainly could not afford the $26 billion in compensation, but the Netherlands was also far less powerful than the United States. The Dutch were no longer "horse drivers", and the Japanese cabinet believed that Japan alone could liberate the entire South Seas.