78 – Episode 78 Kaiser Line
As the season entered June, the international situation changed, creating a trend that was relatively favorable to the negotiating countries.
To summarize,
1. In the Arab region, the Emirate of Riyadh of the Saud family joined the Entente camp. The House of Saud, the group that would later create Saudi Arabia, was a country so hostile to the alliance camp that it attacked the Ottomans in 1913 and took over their territory.
Here, Sharif Hussein of Mecca joined the negotiating camp through the persuasion of Thomas Edward Lawrence, greatly reducing Britain’s burden on the Middle East front.
2. Duan Qirui, who virtually succeeded to power after Yuan Shikai’s death, gave in to pressure from Japan and declared war on Germany.
China’s participation as a negotiating party in itself did not mean much, but the large number of workers brought in from China could have an impact on the global economy.
3. The former Russian sphere of influence in Persia, a pro-German country, was suppressed by the White Army from Kazakhstan.
Thanks to this, Britain was relieved of the burden of subduing all of Persia.
With the above changes, Britain was able to focus much more powerful forces on Europe than before. With the Mark 1 deployed steadily, the British government was able to come up with its own victory plan.
“The summer offensive will completely push the German army out of French territory. If possible, advance to Alsace-Lorraine. If Germany is agitated by the above results, we will present an agreement with appropriate conditions.”
In any case, it was difficult to get Germany to surrender with the current national strength of the negotiating countries.
The French government, which wanted to see the end to Germany, was also tired of the massive casualties and national losses and agreed to the victory plan presented by the British.
On August 5, 1916, the offensive of the Negotiation Army began in Verdun with the sound of large-scale gunfire. The German soldiers didn’t think it was a big deal at first, but they were frightened when they saw the metal lumps crawling towards them with the sound of a tractor.
“What on earth is that?”
The German army was shocked by the Mark 1 tank unit at the forefront of the Negotiation Army’s offensive. The tank advanced through the mud, bouncing off bullets without a care in the world.
The speed was not fast. The speed of the tank in the mud is 4 km/h. The mobility of the tank was so poor that the infantry could run away on foot.
Grrr. That’s right.
“What, why did you stop?”
“The vehicle has spread.”
Mark 1 had poor reliability, so half of it broke before departure, and the remaining half broke while driving.
It was a limitation of the early tanks, but tanks were still objects of fear.
Ta-ta-ta-ta! Ta-ta-ta-ta!
Every time the Hotchkiss machine gun mounted on the tank spewed fire, the German soldiers in the trenches could not even raise their heads.
“Entering into enemy territory.”
The barbed wire was cut with scissors, and the road was opened, and the tank moved with a fierce engine sound.
The first number of tanks deployed was 40, but only 7 reached the trenches. As the tanks trampled over the trenches and broke through, the infantry rushed into the trenches and mopped up the surviving German soldiers.
“Damn that damn piece of metal.”
The German infantry was helpless as the slow-moving piece of metal served as a moving barrier for the infantry of the negotiating army.
“I can’t believe the trench line was breached!”
“Send in the assault troops.”
The German army deployed assault troops as they had learned so far.
But.
“You don’t even bow to a bullet, right?”
The assault corps had nothing to do with the majesty of the tank, which did not even flinch from the rifles of the German infantry.
Some brave members threw grenades to cut off the tracks, but they couldn’t do more than that.
“Retreat, retreat!”
When even the assault force that was waiting as a counterattack retreated, the Germans decided to play their last card.
“It is best to kill them directly as prisoners of war.”
The German army realized that they were no match for infantry and decided to mobilize artillery.
Finally, a 75mm rapid-fire gun fired directly at the British tank that was steadily approaching through the third line.
Boom!
After missing several shots at first, one shell hit and shattered the tank with a roar.
“Good!”
The German army confirmed that although it was difficult, they could somehow capture it by mobilizing artillery.
Fortunately, many of the enemy tanks spread out while advancing, so there were less than 5 enemies to deal with.
It wasn’t long before the Germans were successful in destroying most of the remaining tanks and driving out the British troops.
But the shock the tank gave was enormous.
The Negotiation Army achieved the feat of breaking through 6 km in four days with Mark 1 tanks at the forefront.
The shock the German army received was significant.
“It’s not that it can’t be stopped with artillery, but it’s too tactically disadvantageous. “At this point, it will be fortunate if we don’t lose more trenches, let alone counterattack.”
German military tacticians raised their voices that they needed weapons to counter tanks.
In the second offensive, one more new weapon of the Negotiation Army was deployed.
It was developed in 1904, but it was Lewisite, a notorious poisonous gas that was buried.
Lewisite was a blister agent and had similar efficacy to mustard gas.
The German military was taken aback when an unprecedented blistering agent gas was dropped. So far, negotiating forces have used a pattern of using a mixture of vomiting agents, tear gas, and chlorine gas.
However, when the blistering agent was mixed in, it became quite difficult for the German military to fight against the gas.
“It’s hot! “It’s hot!”
“Just spray some urine.”
German soldiers wrapped cloth or whatever else they could around their bodies to protect their skin and respiratory organs.
It was difficult to stand for even an hour in the sweltering heat.
The negotiating force exhausted the German army’s strength with gas and then deployed infantry.
New poison gas following tanks.
The offensive of the Negotiation Army was powerful, and the Allies were unable to come to their senses.
The German army retreated 4 km again and reorganized.
The next day, the Negotiation Army launched its third offensive without stopping.
This time, Trench Raider, a professional assault corps imitating the German assault corps, led the offensive.
French soldiers carrying heavy machine guns and flamethrowers ran through the no-man’s land, sweating profusely. The German army tried to stop them, but it was not enough to stop the trench raiders, who were united with pride in being elite.
“Crazy, they’re an assault force.”
The German army was astonished to see heavily armed enemies running through the no-man’s land.
Nevertheless, the German army, demoralized by the series of retreats, could not last long in the defensive line.
It was another retreat.
Finally, the German army was pushed back to Fortress Verdun.
“Don’t give the Germans a chance to come to their senses.”
The negotiating forces went on the offensive without even taking a breath.
Every weapon that could be drawn, from heavy artillery to Rolls-Royce armored vehicles, was mobilized.
The German army requested relief from the Supreme Command due to the wave of attacks by the Negotiation Army.
“Is there support or no support?”
“No.”
The German army, which had tenaciously held on around the fortress, could not hold out any longer.
On August 19, 1916, the Negotiations Army recaptured Verdun after a two-week offensive. The number of casualties suffered on the way to this point reached 200,000, but it was a sacrifice worth making.
The German army began to hastily withdraw its troops from France to prevent the salient from being cut off and surrounded.
“It will only be a matter of time before we advance to Alsace-Lorraine like this. “The Germans are going to get burned.”
“Congratulations, Excellency Marshal.”
The Negotiation Army command celebrated the victory in advance.
Once we had broken through the powerful fortress of Verdun, it was only a matter of time before we could break through to the German border.
“For victory!”
“For the victory of Anglo-French negotiations.”
The generals raised a toast with joy.
But that was the end of the victory. The negotiation army was defeated two days after resuming its advance.
“Gentlemen, welcome to the Kaiser Line.”
The strong defensive line of the German army, created by digging up the high ground over several months since last spring, was waiting for the negotiating forces.
“What is that?”
The negotiators could not believe their eyes at first.
Notwithstanding the elaborately dug trench lines along the highlands, the artillery and observation unit positions solidly built on the elements made the onlookers tremble with shame. With a fortification like that, it was difficult to control the observation unit, let alone block the enemy artillery.
In addition, the German army even equipped minefields in anti-tank tanks with a depth of 3 meters as a means of countering tanks.
In the face of this terrible obstacle, the negotiating army generals were speechless for a moment. What on earth have the Germans done?
But we couldn’t give up the offensive here.
On August 25, the Negotiation Army launched a renewed offensive with 12 repaired tanks. As it was an enemy line that must be broken through, this offensive method was borrowed from the British army. Even if it meant losing people, we had to break through.
After the massive pre-emptive bombardment of one million rounds, thousands of infantrymen lined up in separate waves.
“Jerry’s eardrums are blown out and he’s going crazy. When he goes into shell shock, wipe him out.”
“Charge!”
The leaders were the French infantry. The French soldiers were burning with enthusiasm to take revenge on the Germans this time.
“It would be nice to have a warm welcome, right?”
The German artillery greeted the pitch-black infantry.
Kwa Bang!
The barrage of shells pouring down like rain boasted even greater power thanks to the support of sophisticated observation and communication. People were crushed to pieces and their skin was scattered.
Although they were supported by tanks, half of the first group became corpses in an instant, and those who survived were destroyed in German minefields. Even some of the tanks were destroyed or collapsed, spewing out smoke.
“Next!”
With the sound of a whistle, the second wave began its assault.
But the results were no different.
Except for adding thousands of corpses as fertilizer, the German defense line did not even flinch.
We tried sending in 3rd and 4th waves to rush in tanks, but we could not do anything in front of the anti-tank trench dug in front of the trench.
After repeated fruitless attacks, the negotiating forces came to the conclusion that they could not break through the German defense line with their current strength.
Whether it was heavy artillery or tanks, greater quantities were needed than now.
‘Then you have to wait a year.’
But if the war continues until then, will domestic public opinion support it?
From Noble mtl dot com
Nevertheless, France experienced one major disobedience movement. Adding to this the fatigue of war, it could collapse from within even before being defeated by the enemy.
Britain’s situation was better than that, but the regime’s situation was not.
They managed to extend the life of the regime by occupying Verdun, but they failed to show the people confidence that they could actually end the war.
If something like this happened, it was only a matter of time before the cabinet collapsed like the previous cabinet.
“Is there no way to break through that damn defense line?”
“It’s not like it doesn’t exist. “We have to dig a tunnel just like when we were tearing down a fortress.”
Also, it was a pitiful mine.
It took several months to do that.
After much deliberation, the leadership of the negotiating forces decided to resume the offensive as soon as the Asian allies joined.
Even though they were inferior Asians, the expeditionary forces of Japan and Thailand were quite numerous, so it seemed possible to achieve a breakthrough by combining their forces.
The problem is that there are no troops left to expand the war effort.
“Let’s think about the future after we break through.”
The Negotiators were determined to resume the offensive before the Germans further strengthened their defense lines.