CHAPTER 697: CHAPTER 697 TARGET VERDUN

The noonday sun, like golden satin, swayed back and forth in the sky, dispersing the fog over Mezieres, which increased the visibility of the battlefield several times over.

Even from the rooftop of the airport, Shire could see through the binoculars the First Armored Army resting a few kilometers away across the river.

This is the trouble with tank units; after a fierce battle, they need at least one round of maintenance, especially since some of the tanks have crossed the Meuse River.

The tank crews need to deflate and pack up their tents and also remove the external propellers and batteries to reduce weight.

At this moment, Tijani stormed up to the rooftop, angrily waving a telegram in his hand from a distance, his tone full of rage: "They’ve leaked our situation. These bastards, they did it on purpose, definitely! They hope we’ll die here!"

Shire took a look at the telegram; it was from Gallieni, reminding him: Some unknown source has spread the news that your units lack infantry follow-up. I believe the Germans know this too.

Shire smiled faintly, then handed the telegram back to Tijani.

He knew who had spread the news; those guys in the parliament and government always took every opportunity to bring him down.

Tijani frowned and asked Shire, "How do you plan to solve this problem?"

Indeed, the First Armored Army’s manpower was insufficient.

This was caused by their maneuvering through the Arden Mountains, where difficult resupply along the way prevented the First Armored Army from bringing more infantry.

Without infantry follow-up, it meant that once a town, key location, or even a small village was recaptured, the First Armored Army would have to split its forces to defend it.

In no time, the First Armored Army would scatter its forces along the defense line, fighting independently.

(Note: The more backward the communication equipment, the more taboo it is to disperse forces. If a section is attacked, it may not even be able to notify the command in time, often resulting in a state where "once the forces are sent out, they cannot be found or recalled.")

The enemy, however, could quickly pull together several infantry divisions with tens of thousands of troops.

Forcing a maneuver could result in the First Armored Army being cut off from supplies or even encircled during the maneuver.

Shire calmly replied, "Do you remember ’elastic defense,’ Major General?"

"Of course," Tijani answered. "That’s a tactic we used with the First Specialized Artillery Division. Our troops have also trained for that."

Shire nodded slightly and then fell silent.

At first, Tijani didn’t understand what Shire meant, then he suddenly realized: "You mean we use ’elastic defense’ against the enemy?"

But the next second, he felt something wasn’t right: "But ’elastic defense’ also requires a defensive line with infantry, and we don’t have any infantry unless we use our mechanized units as regular infantry."

But that’s clearly not feasible; mechanized units should be mobile rather than stuck in trenches for defense.

Shire took out a map from his uniform pocket, walked unhurriedly to the rail and spread it out, saying to the approaching Tijani: "What if our maneuvering target is Verdun?"

Tijani was stunned and speechless. He always thought the next maneuvering target for the First Armored Army was Le Teller.

Le Teller, a contested city closest to Mezieres, was only about 60 kilometers away. If they moved quickly, they could reach it in a day.

(In the image, the red circles mark Mezieres, Le Teller, and Verdun. The line between Le Teller and Verdun is the French-German frontline juncture. The Aisne River and Meuse River roughly form a triangle in this area.)

At this moment, the French Army also believed Shire’s forces would maneuver to Le Teller, and Fuxu was personally commanding troops to launch a fierce attack on Le Teller.

As long as Shire’s armored units struck Le Teller from behind, the German Army’s frontline would collapse.

"Verdun is more than 130 kilometers away from us, Vice Admiral," Tijani reminded. "Maneuvering to Verdun would be much farther than to Le Teller, which would take at least two days."

"I know," Shire answered calmly:

"But don’t you think the Germans are already prepared at the Le Teller line?"

"Let me guess what they could do."

"Plant landmines on the highways, set up ambushes in the heights and forests, blow up highway bridges, or plant bombs on the highways, or directly cut the highways!"

Tijani fell silent.

The Germans indeed might do this, making the 60 kilometers perhaps more challenging than the 130 kilometers to Verdun.

After considering it for a while, Tijani nodded:

"You are right, Vice Admiral. The Germans are likely unprepared in the Verdun direction."

"However, we still lack enough manpower for defense."

"And the longer the maneuvering route, the bigger our manpower gap becomes, making our maneuver more dangerous."

Maneuvering more than 130 kilometers meant a more vulnerable and difficult-to-supply line, more prone to attacks.

"Think about it, Major General!" Shire traced a circle between Mezieres and Verdun with his finger and analyzed: "This area is wedged between the Aisne and Meuse Rivers. What comes to mind?"

Tijani was momentarily stunned, then exclaimed excitedly: "This means ’elastic defense,’ Vice Admiral. We can use ’elastic defense’ to protect our supply line. Brilliant!"

Shire nodded slightly. Tijani wasn’t too dumb after all.

"Elastic defense" doesn’t necessarily require infantry to build a defensive line.

The reason for constructing a defensive line to guide the enemy’s attack direction is to prevent the enemy from scattering everywhere, making it hard for the armored units at the second line to know where to strike.

The characteristic of the Verdun area is having two rivers as barriers.

These two rivers are equivalent to two constructed defensive lines by the infantry. Without enemy defenses, the Germans will undoubtedly focus on crossing at the bridge locations.

No one would swim or build pontoon bridges nearby for no reason when there’s a bridge.

Thus, the enemy would naturally be "concentrated" together. The mobile units, timing it well, could move back and forth between several bridges, crushing one crossing force then another.

"Know what to do now?" Shire asked.

"Of course!" Tijani’s eyes roved over the map:

"The key is Bicangxi. We should take it swiftly as a base!"

"Then selectively blow up some bridges, excluding too remote locations."

"We also need to deploy aircraft to ensure air superiority, thus accurately grasping the German Army’s movements..."

Shire internally praised: Tijani had mastered his studies quite well.

At least, he could be considered a "master" in the trench warfare period!