The abrupt halt of the British offensive gave the landing force a precious respite, and the soldiers deployed on the front line seized the time to strengthen the defensive line, while the engineering units repaired the docks and repaired the trestle at Bonemouth, Chrischa, and Swagg to receive follow-up supplies. In the third step of the "Imperial Eagle" plan, General Kluke's 1st Army was to expand the landing in this area, after which General Heringen's 7th Army was to go ashore at the Dover landing ground controlled by the Hindenburg Army.

In Chentian's view, there is no substantial difference between the British commander replacing Hamilton with Hamilton, and the military thinking of these British generals is quite immature compared with the tactical tactics accumulated by the Chinese for thousands of years, but unfortunately the Chinese, who have been influenced by Confucianism for a long time, have become as docile as sheep.

After three days of good weather, the weather finally came to an end, and from the afternoon of December 28, the wind and snow fell again, this time not only in England, but also in France and Germany. The happiest children are the carefree children, sledding, snowmen, snowball fights, as if they are back to a merry Christmas, and in this winter, whether in Germany or Britain, most civilians do not have to worry about food and clothing.

The snow was falling, and the generals on both sides of the war had mixed feelings in their hearts. Chentian was worried about the soldiers on the front line, it was not enough to hide in the trenches sheltered from the wind on a snowy day, those unsheltered places would soon be piled up with thick snow, and what the officers and soldiers needed most now were tents and stoves. The supplies and equipment unloaded at the landing sites are now scattered and stored at the supply points between the beach and the front line, and the barracks of the defenders of Bonemouth have been fully utilized, which has become the garrison of the German reserves, and the roads leading from the beach to the front line have been reopened, and the railway line, although not seriously damaged, is not yet available to the Germans for transportation because of the lack of locomotives and wagons. Thankfully, the snow and wind did not affect the arrival of the supplies, but the speed of loading and unloading and sailing of the convoy was slightly slower.

Towards evening, the first transport ships appeared off the coast of Bonemouth and soon began to unload their cargo through the piers.

For the British, as well as their new commander-in-chief, General Hamilton, the British soldiers on the front line faced the same problems as the Germans, and to make matters worse, the average British soldier did not carry enough warm clothes and quilts, and many of their positions were improvised in some open fields without villages and shops, and how to shelter from the wind and snow became the most difficult problem. As the heavy snow fell, the logistics of the British army were also affected to a certain extent, and although the railway transportation did not stop because of the heavy snow, the road transportation capacity was greatly reduced.

However, in the heavy snow, General Hamilton still saw a glimmer of hope that at least in such weather conditions, the vast majority of German fighters would not risk taking off.

In fact, not only the German land-based aircraft and carrier-based aircraft, but even airships could not carry out reconnaissance and bombing missions normally (many zeppelins that went to Britain for bombing in history crashed due to bad weather over the English Channel), and the German army's sea and air superiority was largely weakened or even eliminated in places closer to the interior.

Looking at the three German aircraft carriers outside the porthole that were like beasts of prey chained to move back and forth, Chen Tian also had an indescribable helplessness, each season has different bad weather, and the weather forecast at this time is not very accurate to predict the weather conditions in the next few days, and the success of this kind of cross-sea operation is also related to God to a certain extent. Fortunately, the British winter is not as cold as in Russia or Germany, and anyone who has watched "Band of Brothers" will know how troublesome it can be to fight in the cold of winter.

"Prepare more hot soup for the soldiers on the front line, and temporarily transfer the extra blankets from the soldiers who live in the barracks to the soldiers who stay in the trenches. In addition to the front-line trenches, officers and soldiers on other positions are allowed to light fires for warmth, but they need to be prepared for fire prevention and anti-shelling! Since the British army suspended its offensive in the morning, Chen Tian and most of the generals took time to take a nap. When Chen Tian woke up, it was already getting dark, and the guards prepared fragrant meals and hot soup for him, and he didn't feel cold at all in the cabin at this time, but looking at the snow outside the window, Chen Tian naturally thought of the infantry who were sitting or lying in the trenches, they were not only the bravest people, but also the hardest people.

Not long after this order was delivered, the sound of artillery was heard again in the inland direction after nearly 10 hours of calm, and soon a report came from the front that the British had begun shelling German positions again.

"Presumably, the British are hoping to use this weather as cover to launch a large-scale attack!" Chen Tian put down the spoon unhurriedly, and the staff officer standing next to him with a telegram did not have the slightest panic on his face, if everyone was still worried about the next battle before the landing, then after annihilating the beach defenders and easily crushing the first two counterattacks of the British army, from the general to the soldiers, their hearts were much more steady.

It should be because of the more ammunition supply, the British shelling lasted much longer than the previous two, the artillery fire began at dusk and ended until it was completely dark, Chen Tian looked at his watch, and the British army had prepared for artillery fire for a full 2 hours before the attack.

"A telegram was sent from the front with a request for a bombardment of the farthest point at the time of the first shelling!"

Without the airship firing, the battleship's shelling could only be adjusted according to the eyewitness reports of the front-line observers, and the main guns of the dreadnought battleships in Scheer's fleet began to move, and these thick guns were finally aimed in the direction of the beach. After five minutes of preparation, dozens of large-caliber naval guns burst out with an earth-shattering roar, and those extremely deterrent shells were not affected by the wind and snow in the slightest, and they soon set off a bloody storm among the vanguard of the British attack.

After several rounds of volleys from the battlefleet, a dense burst of gunfire was finally heard from the direction of the beach, and the light weapons of both sides began to exchange weapons at close range. As the flotilla full of ammunition began to arrive one after another, the German officers and men did not have to worry about ammunition for a long time, and the artillery units deployed behind the positions unreservedly smashed shells of various sizes at the British infantry. The British attack also involved a certain number of cavalry units, but unfortunately the Scottish knights and their horses were never able to race the bullets, and they all fell in the snow in front of the German position. By the time the British attack failed again, many of the dead had been buried in the snow, and there were like small lumps on the ground.

Whether it was the snowstorm, the new commander or the more intense artillery preparations, none of this brought good fortune to the British troops on the Dorchester-Southampton front. Their attacks rose and fell, but Hamilton soon found himself in the first battle of his tenure with more losses than his predecessor, and the German defence still looked so impenetrable.

Whether it is Chentian, Falkenhayin or Guderian, they all know that the best strategy to break through the trench defense line is to add heavy artillery to aircraft, heavy artillery and tanks, the middle strategy is to attack tank clusters, the next strategy is heavy artillery and infantry, and the next strategy is crowd tactics.

Perhaps from the moment Haig ordered General Cosmo to retreat inland with his main forces to avoid the bombardment of the German fleet, Britain was already doomed to lose the war at home.

George V did not have much time left for General Hamilton, and over the next 24 hours, Hamilton and his staff tried various methods, such as barrage fire and light artillery advancing with the synchronizers, but because the caliber and range of the British artillery were inferior to the German artillery, these tactics all ended in failure, and more and more British officers and soldiers died in front of the German positions, and in some places even began to layer up. For many Canadian, Australian and New Zealand officers and soldiers, they no longer have the opportunity to return to their home countries.

At the height of the fighting, the German defensive line was also under considerable pressure, and the straggler trenches and communication trenches on the first-line positions were badly damaged under artillery fire, and the surviving soldiers inside had to retreat to the second and third lines of defense, and the state of the ground was constantly changing due to the shelling. The tactics of the British infantry were much more flexible, sometimes lying in recesses, sometimes leaping forward sharply, they continued to advance over the dense areas of corpses, and gradually they came to areas where there were few corpses, and in several parts of the battle line, the British infantry even entered the first-line trenches of the German army.

Just when the situation was in favor of the British army, the German tank units showed a compelling momentum to turn the tide, they ignored the fire of the rapid-fire guns and field guns supported by the British army at close range, they used tank guns and machine guns to desperately shoot at the British troops who tried to break through the position, and they even desperately began to crush the enemy infantry that appeared in front of them, and the brutal nature of the war was vividly displayed at this moment. In this battle, Guderian's mixed panzer division alone annihilated twice as many British troops as the entire division.

On the night of December 29, 1914, the exhausted generals and soldiers on both sides finally got a night's rest, and after losing nearly half of their combat effectiveness, Hamilton began to readjust his offensive strategy, and at the same time he continued to draw more troops from other places to the front, he felt that the last few attacks on his troops were closer to victory, and in some areas his troops were forced to withdraw from German positions after being counterattacked by German armored forces. This time Hamilton decided to have his soldiers carry bundles of grenades or zha kits, and since ordinary artillery could not effectively kill German tanks and armored vehicles, then use the soldiers' bodies to blow up a bloody path.

In order to prepare for a new round of attacks, Hamilton drew nearly 200,000 troops from Penzance and Falmouth in southwest England, Portsmouth in south-central England, Brighton in southeast England, Dover and London in eastern England, and the British barracks in these places have basically become empty, and the defenders on the beach defense line have almost been reduced to a minimum, of which Brighton has only 20,000 men, Dover 23,000 men, and London 18,000 men. Most of Haig's cavalry units had been deployed to the middle of the Dorchester-Southampton front.

Hamilton was desperate to prepare for the attack, and the situation was even better than Chen Tian and the German General Staff had expected. At 3 o'clock in the morning of December 30, the landing force of more than 200,000 troops of the Hindenburg Army was all boarded, and at the same time, the Heydrich fleet began to shell the British Dover Line; At 4 a.m., the landing fleet was assembled and set off from Calais, only 33 kilometers from Calais to Dover, and it took the flotilla just over an hour to reach its destination, but the airborne operation had to be postponed because the wind and snow showed no signs of abating, and all paratroopers were on standby at the airfield.

When Heydrich's fleet began shelling Dover, Admiral Hamilton and his command had the idea that it was just a German feint, but when British spies near Calais reported that the Hindenburg Army and the landing fleet had left the harbor, they finally felt that something was wrong, and now that the areas around Brighton, Dover, and London were almost vacuum, and the troops had reached the Dorchester-Southampton front, hundreds of kilometers away, where more than 700,000 British troops and their allies had now been assembledSome of the old fortified guns that had been deployed on the beach lines were also hastily towed to reinforce the offensive fire, including more than 30 150mm cannons, 170mm and 230mm heavy howitzers on the Dover and Brighton lines.

Hamilton's general assault was scheduled for 6 a.m. on December 30.

At 6 a.m., German soldiers near Bonemouth slept in warm British barracks, wrapped in blankets and sat in front-line trenches, while others set up improvised tents out of canvas.

On the side of the German position, there were scattered fires, but on the side of the British army, it was a little quiet and terrifying.

In fact, in the British Dorchester-Southampton front, hundreds of thousands of British troops were silently waiting for their artillery fire to sound, and more than 5,000 cannons were also waiting, but the original attack time had passed, and the superiors did not give the order to open fire.

Towards half-past six, General Hamilton finally made up his mind that his offensive in the southwest of England would continue, whether or not the Germans opened a second landing ground, but he also drew 10 infantry divisions from the Southampton front back to the southeast of England. However, even with the railroad clear, the withdrawal of these troops from the offensive positions and then boarding, transporting, unloading, and assembling is not a short time to complete, and it takes more time to pull the artillery back.

Despite his reluctance, Hamilton had to admit in his heart that he was no better than his predecessor.

At 6:35 a.m., the largest artillery bombardment faced by the Chentian Army after landing finally began, the British shells rained down, and the German first-line trenches, which were already badly damaged, were soon devastated, and the German infantry inside retreated to the second-line positions after receiving the order, and the Germans deployed a total of three trench defenses and one beach defense belt on this defense line.

As it approached 7 o'clock, the English Channel began to brighten, and although the heavy snow reduced visibility, it did not stop Hindenburg and his soldiers from making their way to Britain. If the 5th Army under Prince was a quasi-first-class army with a variety of advanced weapons but a little messy, then the 5th Army under Hindenburg was completed as a standard first-class army. In the more than a month after the end of the Battle of France, Hindenburg carried out a major readjustment within the group army; some generals who had risen to high positions and had mediocre quality were "promoted" to the group army headquarters, and some young and promising officers with outstanding ability were substantially promoted; Hindenburg also set up a highly efficient group army staff department to integrate the equipment of various departments of the group army. As a result, many fancy weapons were unceremoniously kicked out of the 5th Army by Hindenburg and the General Staff, and this drastic reform was successfully implemented with the support of Falkenhain and Chentian.

"Airborne operation canceled! Now let's go straight to the beach! "At 7 o'clock in the morning, General Hindenburg gave the order to attack very firmly. In front of his more than 200,000 elite divisions, less than two divisions of British soldiers were hiding in the defensive line and shivering, and the heavy shelling of Heydrich's fleet with 11 battleships for four hours not only caused great damage to the Dover Line, but also continuously lowered the morale of the British defenders.

Hamilton's crumpled hands trembled after receiving the telegram from General Allenby from Dover, and the troops who were ready to return had just boarded the train, and if all went well, they would not be able to enter the Dover field until noon.

Port Dover, a scenic harbour city; Shakespeare Beach, a place that sounds like it's arty. The terrain near Dover was not as good for landing as Bonnemouth, but now nothing could stop Hindenburg's soldiers from braving the wind and snow to reach the English beaches one by one across the icy waters, and a battle no less massive than the Bonnemouth landing was like a heavy blow to a terminally ill British patient.

Capture Dover and march on London!

This was Germany's greatest project, and it was the aspiration of tens of millions of German people, and on December 30, 1914, Hindenburg did it!

In Chentian's view, although the frontal British offensive was fierce, it was more like the death throes of the British. By the time the shells on the huge battleship ran out, the blood of the British Army was almost all shed in this area. With poorly equipped militias, it was impossible for the British government to stop the German army from advancing into the interior of England.

"Your Highness!"

Hearing Hoffman's familiar voice, Chentian, who had been enjoying the snow on the sea, did not look back.

"Hmm!"

Hoffman walked straight to Chentian's side and whispered, "Urgent cipher, is it...... It's from Berlin! ”

"Berlin?" Chen Tian took the telegram with some surprise, and there was only a short line of text on it:

Cigars rekindled, ready to put out the fire!

Tatsu knew that it was a telegram from Rainey, and that this was the code word they had set before.

Chen Tian silently turned his gaze back to the window, back to the sea in the wind and snow and the blurred British coastline, his battle against England must be over here for the time being.

"Hey, UK, I'm leaving!"

Chen Tian said silently in his heart, he exhaled deeply, and the next step would be the most significant turning point in his life.