The Rise of Australasia

After achieving decent results in the poison gas attack, the German army immediately exerted its full strength and launched its final assault on the remaining Highland 304 and artillery defense positions.

All attacking German soldiers were equipped with effective gas masks to avoid unnecessary casualties from the poison gas on their own side.

In fact, French soldiers were also equipped with gas masks, but most of the exhausted French soldiers did not react at all, being already engulfed by the poison gas.

A small part of the French soldiers who had reacted hurriedly put on their gas masks, but they could no longer have an impact on the remaining situation.

In the end, the German army successfully occupied all areas of Mort-Orme Highland, including Highland 304, all areas of this defensive position were occupied by Germany.

In this extremely tense tug-of-war battle, the entire hilly terrain was severely destroyed, swathes of woods were flattened or burned down, just like fields with cut wheat ears.

All artificial obstacles were riddled with bullet holes, even those piled up with three layers of sandbags were no exception.

Nearly all the roads nearby were plowed, and all crossroads were washed by the horrifying blood rain. You could still smell a strong smell of gunpowder and blood walking through them.

The entire Mort-Orme Highland was full of vehicles, cannons, and various debris, as well as the bodies of soldiers, seriously obstructing traffic in this area.

However, the army rested in this area for several days before barely clearing the roads and launching an attack on the Mimos region.

But here, the French army had rebuilt a strong defense line, which would be a difficult battle of attack and defense.

By the end of March, Germany's total reserve force for the Western Front also rushed to the frontlines. To cover the assault operations of the elite frontline troops, the Germans mobilized the largest artillery group of the Western Front to bombard French positions fiercely.

The intensity of the artillery bombardment forced the German artillery units to replenish their shells after every hour of bombardment.

A French officer who participated in the battle later described the attack situation to the media: "The German assault team was like a machine gun, with each soldier being like a fired bullet. This machine gun kept shooting continuously, they were just like relentless cockroaches."

Germany's firepower inflicted significant casualties on the defending troops, but as soon as the German bombardment stopped, the French army would stick their heads out and begin their tenacious resistance.

The Mimos area had been fought over several times by Germany and France, and the German army's attempt to seize the entire Mimos region had never been successful.

In April 1916, a British force arrived on the west bank of the Mars River, reinforcing the French 10th Army, which had been defending there for a long time.

A Paris correspondent for the Times commented on the development of the situation on the Verdun battlefield: "If it weren't for the brave French resistance, it would have been impossible to hold on to the Verdun fort; the sacrifice of the French army in the last week was greater than any other time... why else would the French 10th Army be replaced by British forces?

Of course, from this, it is not difficult to see that the unity of the Allies on the Western Front is gradually increasing. Meanwhile, Germany's losses in the Verdun region are also growing day by day."

Four months had passed since the outbreak of the Battle of Verdun, and the losses suffered by the main warring parties, Germany and France, could be summed up in one word - terrible.

So far, Germany has deployed nearly 40 divisions with about 1 million soldiers in the Verdun region.

The French were not far behind, deploying close to 35 divisions, with a total of 800,000 soldiers.

With nearly 2 million troops from both sides, the total number of casualties had already exceeded 700,000.

Among them, Germany suffered the most casualties. As the aggressor in the Battle of Verdun, even having mobilized a large number of firearms, the German army could not reduce its casualties.

By early April, Germany had suffered more than 400,000 casualties in the Battle of Verdun, with over 150,000 deaths.

French casualties were also as high as 350,000, with nearly 120,000 deaths.

Historically, the Battle of Verdun lasted for almost ten months, and the total number of casualties was only about 1 million.

But now, in just over four months, the casualties of both France and Germany had reached as high as 750,000, with nearly 300,000 deaths, which was not much weaker than the historical Battle of Verdun.

It should be noted that the current Battle of Verdun is still ongoing, with both French and German forces engaged in fierce combat and British reinforcements being sent to join the battle.

Without a doubt, the new Battle of Verdun might be even more brutal than the historical one.

If the situation continues to develop like this, the Battle of Verdun may turn into a monumental battle with over a million deaths. By then, it will be unclear who will be left with their blood drained.

It was precisely because the German casualties were even more exaggerated than the French that the German attempt to drain the French blood by launching a battle in the Verdun region had completely failed.

At present, it seems that the Germans may die of anemia before the French run out of blood.

Such massive casualties made the German upper echelons very dissatisfied, and William II was also dissatisfied with the plans of the German Chief of Staff Fakinhan.

When the German strategy shifted again, there were two different opinions among the German military top brass.

One opinion was that continuing to attack the Eastern Front was a better choice. Compared with the elite French Army, the Russian Army was a soft target.

As long as they could hold out on the Western Front, the German Army on the Eastern Front could invade Russian territory without any scruples, forcing Russia to withdraw from the war and easing the pressure of fighting on two fronts.

At that time, the Chief of the General Staff, Major Fagan, firmly believed that the pressure of fighting on two fronts could only be thoroughly eased by defeating France first.

As a result, the German army turned to defense on the Eastern Front and launched a new offensive on the Western Front, provoking what now seems to be an even more tragic Battle of Verdun for the German casualties.

According to information from the German Intelligence Agency, the battle preparations of the British and French forces at the River Somme are nearing completion, and they could launch a large-scale battle similar to Verdun at any time.

This is a huge blow to Germany, as the German offensive in Verdun not only failed to prevent the French from planning a battle at the River Somme but also tied up many of the German elite troops in the Verdun region.

In order to quickly break away from the Verdun region and guard against a possible Somme Campaign by the British and French forces, William II personally gave orders to the front line and the General Staff, demanding that the Verdun forces achieve a decisive victory by April 15th.

This order is impossible to achieve based on the current situation, as the German offensive in the Verdun region has lasted for more than four months and has not yet gained an absolute advantage, let alone in the half a month.

But helplessly, this is the order from William II, and the German army must obey.

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Under the orders of William II, the exhausted German army regrouped and launched a new fierce attack on the French positions on the Fergus Line to Suvierl Battery.

Due to the urgent orders from William II, the German generals began to act recklessly and without consideration of gain or loss, like mad gamblers, throwing in all their chips.

For these German generals, their best choice at the moment was to seize the positions ahead regardless of casualties.

As long as they could capture the positions, even if the casualties were large, the merits of taking the positions would not be diminished and could not conceal their achievements.

However, if they fail to complete the orders issued by William II, even if they do their best to minimize the casualties of the German army, they will definitely be held accountable by William II.

The new round of fighting lasted for several days, and the German army employed every means – machine guns, artillery, poison gas, flamethrowers, airships, and airplanes – any weapon that could cause damage to the enemy was used by the German army.

Using the impression of a British news representative who arrived in the Verdun region to describe the current state of the region: "The battery was destroyed by shells and it looked like hell. Major Ronald and his subordinates defended themselves desperately in this hellish fortress. Trenches that had just been formed near the battery were quickly destroyed by artillery fire."

Due to the protracted fighting, frequent heavy bombardments, and various weapons, the French army was severely short of water.

Logistics was difficult to deliver supplies. Food was manageable, but water resources had become extremely scarce on the battlefield.

The high temperature caused by the artillery explosions and the high-temperature flamethrowers used by the German army made the French army's agitation due to the intense fighting even more severe.

The excessive bleeding of the wounded further exacerbated the shortage of drinking water, coupled with the cries of the wounded, the French forces' restlessness became even more severe. In such a situation, it is difficult for anyone to calm down and look for a solution.

Since the batteries and defensive positions have become besieged islands, French soldiers have to risk being shot at and bombarded by shells in order to avoid being discovered by the German army while searching for water sources and logistics.

There were about 400 French soldiers holding out inside the Fergus Battery, and their daily minimum drinking water consumption was about 150 liters.

Under the long-term offensive of the German army, drinking water became a more vital supply than bullet shells, medical supplies, and food resources.

Even with the suppression of the high-level battery commanders, many soldiers would still fight with their comrades over the distribution of water resources, even turning against each other.

Although the situation of the garrison outside the battery was slightly better, they had difficulty transporting resources between each other and the battery.

Even with firepower support, it was very difficult to transport water resources into the battery, even at the cost of huge casualties.

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