The Waves Don't Forget

Fields of Verdun

Fields of Verdun
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"The Battle of Verdun...nearly an entire year of fighting, and hundreds of thousands of lives lost, all to gain the city of the same name." Kurfürst's once happy and jovial demeanor, thanks to the previous talk of the Christmas Truce, fell quickly to sorrow and guilt. "We threw men by the thousands at impossible odds, hoping that they would be the ones to make a difference..."

She looked down to her lap, keeping her gaze away as her hands slowly wound into fists. "I tried...I tried to change things, I tried to see things change so we could end this ceaseless bloodshed and send more men home then we hoped, yet...not only did the majority of the Cabinet reject my proposal, even the Prince was on their side, and so I wasn't able to convince them to stop."
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At first, the battle was going surprisingly well, thanks to the excellent plan by the Chief of General staff Falkenhayn. We had captured the largest and highest fort in Verdun, Fort Douaumont, and started holding out while Artillery rained on the French.

The relentless cannon fire made it hard to hear across the Fort, but communications were still underway as Kurfürst and her men held strong against the French adversity. Many of their faces were covered in grime and soot, but there was a hint of pride in them too, as this offensive was meant to be a notably good one.

After all, if they succeed here and capture Verdun, it could completely change the tide of the war, and Germany may very well win this entire war here.

Kurfürst herself was on a battlement, standing proudly in the line of fire as she helped call out bombardment positions to the Artillery crews. Every time her calls went through, a position would be shelled and, if they were lucky, anyone within that range was now a mess of limbs and flesh.

"...Aim 96°, last shelling missed but was proper height."

The last shelling hit the point where, if the coordinates were correct, the French would be paste. But since she told them a few degrees to the left too far, it missed and alerted them that they were being fired on.

The next salvo soon screamed overhead, and the men were hit dead on, their lives sniffed out just as quick as they were to arrive to this horrendous battle. She sighed and looked around, noting that a large portion of the soldiers were gathering near the gates, something that wouldn't ever truly happen unless they were getting ready to advance.

She gave the binoculars and compass back to the original scouter, hopping down to see who's division this was and what they were thinking of doing without her explicit command. In a war such as this, you must stick to the plan and make it all count, less you cause casualties that may have been prevented or outright stopped.

Though exceptions do exist, in this tight knit war zone, she wasn't accepting that easily.

She got to the front of the line, and her eyes nearly popped out of her head as she saw none other than the Crown Prince there, leading the soldiers as he prepared to open the gates.

"Wilhelm! What on Earth is this?!"

He turned around at her voice, smiling at her. "General Kurfürst, we're planning on taking this to the French and chasing them out of the city. We have wounded them enough that a run will flatten them easily and win us more territory within Verdun's other forts."

The Crown Prince was put as a leader of a division of troops, that much everyone knew, but the idea of running out there when they were already winning was something no one though of, for good reason. She stepped up to him, the young man flinching back as his Senior in all but political position stepped into his face, rage in her eyes.