Chapter 248

In wars in large industrial countries, the quality of soldiers can no longer be the decisive factor. The soldiers of the National Defense Force have experienced a direct decisive battle in large industrial countries and have seen what war in the industrialized era is.

The German artillery shells were raining like raindrops, and the position felt like the end of the world. The only thing I could do was to endure the almost suffocating feeling in the smoke. In other words, both armies were veterans, and they knew that running around under such artillery fire was courting death.

I could only hold my head in my hands and hide in the shell-proof hole to wait for the German shelling to end.

It’s not that the artillerymen of the Expeditionary Force don’t want to fight back, it’s because their family background is so little that they can’t bear to do it.

The shelling stopped, and the officers gritted their teeth and pushed their men out with their leather shoes. The soldiers, who were stunned by the shelling, got out of the holes. The surviving officers ran around to check whether any bombproof holes had been blown down, and organized

Human hands dug in to rescue the brothers. The soldiers who had regained consciousness a little went up to the position and saw German tanks lined up in the distance.

Zhang Jingyao's battalion was on the front line of the position. After he got out, his heart was churning and he wanted to retching, and a mouthful of blood spurted out. The shelling just now was so severe that a heavy shell almost hit the artillery hole directly. Zhang Jingyao was shocked.

I almost fainted. After taking a breath, I looked up and saw this scene. Zhang Jingyao shouted in a hoarse voice: "Tank, hurry up, push out the infantry cannons." One by one, the infantry cannons were pulled out from the anti-gun holes.

come out.

Soldiers operating infantry artillery are the most dangerous. They cannot hide in trenches. They can only push the cannon up a slope, set up the cannon in a preset bunker, and prepare to attack tanks. In fact, these bunkers are mostly

Parts have been destroyed, many guns are not covered at all, and the German tanks are not decorations.

As the battalion commander, Zhang Jingyao did not dare to flinch at this time. He rushed out of the trench himself and climbed into a temporary bunker made of sandbags. An infantry gun was set up here. "Send the order, don't rush to fire, wait for the German tanks."

I'm beating after 500 meters."

Liaison officer Aman witnessed with his own eyes the bloody battle between the Chinese ** team and the German army. Also dealing with German tanks, the Chinese seemed quite calm. Although infantry cannons were constantly hit by German tanks, the soldiers operating the infantry cannons

He seemed very calm and not panicked. Aman was in a good position and could clearly see the general situation on the position several kilometers away. When the German tanks approached five or six hundred meters away, the Chinese soldiers' infantry cannons began to fire.

One, two, three, Armand counted silently. This time the German army dispatched thirty tanks. Before they could reach the position, all of them were shot down by infantry artillery. Without the cover of the tanks, the power of the Chinese machine guns

The greatly increased and intensive firepower made it difficult for the German troops to advance. The thrilling fierce battle lasted for about forty minutes. The German troops could not bear the casualties and retreated.

The position temporarily returned to calm, and Amon was completely dumbfounded. Why did the French army have such a difficult time facing the German attack against the same opponent?

At sunset, calm returned to the battlefield, and the two sides who had been fighting fiercely for a day ceased their activities.

In the headquarters of the German Fifth Army, August frowned slightly after learning that the attack in the direction of Aviz had failed. Today's battle was a bit unusual. The opponents were obviously much more difficult to deal with than before. Especially when they were dealing with tanks.

He seemed to have grown a lot. When August saw Ludendorff appear, he stepped forward and said, "How's it going? Where are General Bob's commandos?"

Ludendorff said with a face: "Your Majesty the Crown Prince, the defenders of Aviz are Chinese."

"I understand, the Chinese have 21 infantry divisions, plus other attached troops, more than 300,000 people. In other words, the French army on the opposite side has been reinforced by the Chinese Expeditionary Force. So what? Decision

The key to this battle is Bob's commando team." August remained confident and raised his head slightly as he spoke.

"Your Excellency, if the opponent is the Chinese People's Liberation Army, I have two suggestions. The first is to increase the strength of the troops, and the second is to give up the offense and switch to defense." In fact, Ludendorff has the right to make suggestions directly to Chief of General Staff Hindenburg.

, passing August is a kind of respect for the crown prince. August knew this very well, but what he didn’t understand was why he had to switch to defense when he heard that the Chinese army was coming up? So he was very

He looked at Ludendorff in confusion and said, "Why?"

"The Chinese have twenty-one divisions and the French have five divisions. The total number of combat troops is at least 400,000. Our army, however, only has eighteen divisions. Including General Bob's commando, the strength is also at a disadvantage.

Downwind, the fighter plane has been lost, and the emergence of the Chinese has made the plan to capture Paris impossible. If the attack continues and Pétain's Second Army launches a counterattack from south to north, our army will be passive." Luden.

Dolph gave his reasons, but August was still a little unwilling. Paris was right in front of him. "What if General Bob succeeds in his attack?" August asked again.

Ludendorff said lightly: "It's impossible. If the Chinese army is in Saint-Martin and Dablois, this assault can be ended early. The reason is very simple. Bob's tactics are all based on his Chinese

Brothers learned it. Chinese people must be on guard."

August was silent for a moment and said, "Is there no other way?"

Ludendorff hesitated and said: "Yes, the last way is to concentrate our forces to attack Epernay and use a small number of troops to contain the Chinese. This is the only chance. If the French can be defeated, the Chinese will only retreat.

"

"Then deploy overnight and notify General Bob by telegram to withdraw overnight and deploy directly to the Aviz front line."

While the German army was making adjustments, Nivelle received another telegram from Lieutenant General Gallieni asking for reinforcements. In the fierce battle on the 16th, the French army suffered heavy casualties. Of the five infantry divisions in his hands, less than three could now continue to fight.

It is really difficult to defend a front line with a frontal width of about fifteen kilometers.

Nivell was still in Saint-Martin and Dablois, so he directly showed the forwarded telegram to Cai E. Nivell could only keep his dissatisfaction with Gallieni in his heart. The same opponents, the same five

In the infantry division, the French army's artillery support was far stronger than that of the Chinese Army. They fought all day without saying a word. Gallieni called for reinforcements almost every day.

"If it can be confirmed that the German army did not attack Saint-Martin-d'Ablois, a military region can be dispatched for reinforcements." Cai E hesitated for a moment, asked Zhang Xiaohuai's opinion with his eyes, and gave a vague answer.

The problem is that the French army's intelligence work is obviously not keeping up. The intelligence about Bob's attack was only realized after the Chinese reminded them. This commando is now approaching, and aerial reconnaissance has seen hundreds of vehicles.

The tanks almost scared Nivelle to death. If the Chinese hadn't discovered it early and stopped here in advance, there would have been a big problem.

On the map, the pocket formations set up by the Chinese are waiting for the German assault group. According to the plan, after eating this German army, the Chinese Expeditionary Force immediately launched a counterattack, and at the same time the Second Army also launched a counterattack. This goal can really be achieved.

, the war situation will develop in a wonderful direction. Nivell really didn't want to miss this opportunity. After much hesitation, Nivell turned around and left. He called Gallieni back and told him that it would take two days at the earliest before he could have the chance.

Reinforcements.

In Etoges, the roundabout group was restricted by roads, and its marching speed was not as fast as expected. The terrain along the Marne River was really not suitable for large-scale movements of the armored group, and the narrow roads depleted Bob's troops.

suffering.

At this time, Bob did not know that at his next target, Monmor and Luci, the Chinese had placed four infantry corps with their wings spread out, waiting for him to get in. With this,

At the same time, a Chinese team was quietly moving towards Welty to pierce his pockets.

Bob was very surprised when he received the telegram from Ludendorff. However, Ludendorff explained it and Bob did not question it too much. If Saint-Martin and Dablois are the heavy military groups of the Chinese Expeditionary Force,

Even if Bob beats someone to death, he won't dig in.

Bob immediately ordered a U-turn and returned the same way. Due to Ludendorff's genius judgment, the battle situation took an unexpected change. No one on the Allied side expected that the German army suddenly changed.

On March 18, the German army continued to bombard the Epernay defense line with fierce artillery fire. Uncharacteristically, the German army's artillery continued for a whole day without launching an infantry attack. Nivelle did not notice that the German army was adjusting at all. Gallieni

No. It was normal for the European War to prepare for a day of artillery fire. The situation on the expeditionary force was much better. Although the German artillery shells also rained down a little, unexpectedly there were no such large-caliber cannons.

The French army's positions ate a lot of these 420MM artillery shells.

The only surprise was that the aerial reconnaissance could not take off, and it rained unexpectedly. This light rain undoubtedly helped the German army. Interestingly, the French army was very lucky and even wished it would rain harder.

On March 19, the Somme was hit hard again. When attacking the German second line of defense, the British and French forces paid a price of more than 30,000 casualties, but made no progress at all. The Germans pushed them back to the first line of defense.

.

On the same day, for the Allied forces, a shocking bad news came. Epernay was lost. In the early morning of the 19th, the German army unexpectedly did not make any artillery preparations. Five infantry regiments quietly sneaked in the darkness before dawn.

Approaching the French position three hundred meters away and hiding.

At five o'clock in the morning, the German army bombarded the French front-line positions with fierce artillery fire. Thirty minutes later, lurking troops launched a surprise attack. The French army was caught off guard, and in less than an hour, the first line of defense was penetrated by the German army.

Gallieni reacted and tried his best to suppress it, regardless of artillery casualties. The German bombers and heavy artillery teamed up to severely damage the French heavy artillery unit, causing heavy casualties on both sides. The most terrible thing was that when Gallieni was put into reserve, he was
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