Viewed from the air, the city of Amiens is separated by the town of Moreuil, more than a dozen kilometres apart, by a verdant link centred around the meandering river, the river of Alf, the main tributary of the Somme. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 Irrigated by the river, the vegetation on both sides of the river grows exceptionally luxuriantly, thus forming this continuous forest belt. Closer to the town of Moleuil, the woodland cover expanded, hence the French name "Moreuil Forest".

On the day of the German capture of Amiens, the 1st Marine Division drew an advance unit from the 2nd and 3rd Naval Infantry Brigades to carry out battles along the Somme River in an attempt to capture Moleil upstream and Pichini downstream as outposts to consolidate the Amiens front. Against this backdrop, more than 600 German officers and men of the 3rd Light Infantry Battalion of the 11th Naval Infantry Regiment traveled up the Alf River and advanced to the northern edge of the Moreil Forest just before dusk. According to the original plan, they were to march overnight after a short rest in order to capture the town of Moreuil before dawn - the results of the aerial reconnaissance of the naval air force showed that the French defensive positions were mainly deployed along the main stream of the Somme, and that only a few towns such as Moleuil were stationed along the Alf River, so that the capture of Moleuil by means of a quick surprise attack had a high chance of success.

From dusk onwards, the French fought a counterattack at Amiens, where the sound of gunfire could be carried over a limited distance, but as night fell, the flames of light in the direction of Amiens could be clearly seen from ten kilometers away. In 1914, the telegraph has long become a part of people's daily life, but at this time the most common telegram is the wired telegraph transmitted through the line, the birth of radio communication technology is only 21 years, the naval ships of the great powers have widely used radio communication, and for the consideration of cost, weight and efficiency, the armies of various countries still use wired telegraph, telephone, carrier pigeons, and manual transmission as the main means of communication. It was not complicated to lay a telephone line on the march, but it took some time, and the commander of the advance force, Major von Vacano, had no way of knowing the latest situation in Amiens, nor was he sure whether his troops should continue to advance towards Moreuil or withdraw quickly, so he waited for a signal corps from his superiors to send a signal corps, and ordered his soldiers to stand by and set up a guard post within a radius of several kilometers.

Major von Waccano, 47, is a veteran Marine commander who had previously served as a Marine officer on a warship and later trained indigenous soldiers in the colonies, spending five years in East Africa and four years in Western Samoa. However, Major Vacano, who held the title of nobility, often received "flawed" evaluations from his superiors, and words such as "pretentious" and "contemptuous of superiors" appeared especially in the comments, and as a result, he was still a middle and junior officer in the navy for more than 20 years, but this did not prevent him from gaining the trust and love of his soldiers.

The Navy Men of the 3rd Light Infantry Battalion should be glad to have such a well-informed, humorous, and sympathetic officer as Major Wacano. Most of them were recruits who had joined the army in 1913, naïve and ignorant, had never seen much of the world, and the junior officers and non-commissioned officers were also very young, and although they had received further training in the newly established naval infantry section at the Naval Academy or the Noncommissioned Officer School, they still lacked the experience to deal with problems and deal with troubles.

Like most units in the 3rd Marine Brigade, this naval infantry battalion was armed with the inferior M1888 rifle. Fortunately, their machine gun firepower was sufficient to compensate for the range of the short cavalry guns, and the battalion was armed with a total of 4 MG08 and 24 Madsen light machine guns, which a French division formed as a reserve unit had less machine guns.

After a day of fierce fighting, the officers and men of the 1st and 2nd Marine Brigades withstood the tempering of the fires of war, and although some fell, some withdrew, and some were always immersed in tension or fear, most of them still learned useful experience from it, and grew in spirit, will, and fighting skills, and from early in the morning, the 3rd Marine Brigade, as an offensive reserve, listened to the symphony of war in the back. On the way to the forest of Moleuil, Major von Vacano's battalion fought the French - they were met by a group of French soldiers who had broken down from Amiens. During the battle, which lasted more than an hour, several soldiers on each side suffered gunshot wounds, and the exhausted French voluntarily gave up resistance and became prisoners of the German naval infantry.

This small victory was heartening to the soldiers under Major Vacano, but the officers saw the drawbacks of the troops' serious lack of combat experience. From nightfall until the silence came, no new orders were sent from the higher command, and there was no news of the communications troops dispatched, and the young officers were generally anxious, but Major Vacano was very calm, and he asked the soldiers to set up their tents and take turns sleeping. The disadvantage of camping in this woodland is that there are many damp insects, and the advantage is that there is no need to dig trenches as much as in the open area, and the soldiers can use the natural environment as a shooting bunker, and then connect the dots to form a coherent front.

As midnight approached, the guards stationed in the north suddenly reported that a large force of French troops was coming along the river. Although the exact number of the enemy cannot be determined, the number of troops must have outnumbered their own.

Major von Vacano calmly gathered the officers together and asked them to tell them that the great crowd of French troops who had retreated from Amiens were trying to make their way to the town of Moreuil, and that the enemy was demoralized and demoralized, and that it was now a great opportunity to earn military merit from them, and that the soldiers could safely bring the enemy closer before fighting.

In this dim starlight, the visibility in the forest does not exceed 50 meters, once the battle starts, the inexperienced soldiers only listen to the sound of guns and do not see the enemy, it is easy to put the guns indiscriminately because of nervousness, especially the machine gunners, the fingers stay on the trigger for a little longer, dozens of bullets will go out, and in the case of far away from the main force, in addition to the ammunition carried by the soldiers, there is only a small amount of supplies carried by the battalion baggage team with mules and horses, if the bullets are exhausted in vain, the favorable situation may also become unfavorable.

In order to prevent the French from taking advantage of their numerical superiority to outflank them, Major von Vacano extended the line on either side to the edge of the forest and to the banks of the Alf River, and deployed one MG-08 and two Madsen on each flank of the line. As a result, the width of the battle line increased to almost a kilometer, and each soldier had to defend an average of two meters wide frontage. In fact, Major von Vacano also drew two platoons of troops as combat reserves, which increased the defensive pressure on the soldiers, and once the French broke through a certain section of the defensive line, they could immediately organize a battlefield counter-assault to drive the French troops out of their positions, and also to guard against the French attacking from behind.

By the time Major Vacano had been deployed, the "great French rout" had arrived. There was a rustle of footsteps in the woodland, and it sounded like a group of nocturnal beasts approaching, and it was difficult to tell the distance if it was near or far. Listen quietly, occasionally coughing, but you can't hear people's conversations, let alone discern the language spoken by the other person.

Major von Vacano was prostrate at the forefront of the position, and the dense trees made the telescope almost useless. He held a 1-inch single-shot flare gun, which could also be used to fire flares in addition to colored flares, and in this case the chamber was filled with a phosphorescent flare. This kind of flares continue to emit light for a short time and have a limited illumination range, but they have the advantages of being easy to carry and use, and are especially suitable for marine troops.

Guessing that the enemy was only a hundred meters away from his position, Major von Vacano fired the first flare, and the incandescent light illuminated the dense crowd of French soldiers, their signature blue shirts and red pants still striking at night. The soldiers in the front row took a defensive posture with their rifles, and most of the soldiers walking behind them carried their rifles behind their backs, some supporting their wounded companions, and some moving forward with their hands hanging down and heavy steps.

Seeing the mental outlook of the French officers and soldiers, Major von Vacanau knew that there was a chance of victory, and his tense heartstrings suddenly relaxed a lot. After the flares were lit, the two MG08s deployed in the middle of the battle line took the lead, and a series of bullets swept towards the densely populated area of the French army, instantly splashing blood and killing people like mowing grass.

German soldiers opened fire on Madsen light machine guns, short rifles, and even pistols. The light of the first flare quickly dimmed, and the woodland was filled with flashing muzzle flames, and the dense sound of gunfire was mixed with the wails of those who had been shot. At this time, the German officers and men, who had occupied the firing positions in advance, undoubtedly had a huge advantage, and they opened fire indiscriminately, and the bullets from the French either flew over their heads or burrowed into the trunks of dirt trees, and there was little real threat. By the time another flare lit up the woodland in front of them, there was not a single French soldier standing in sight, those with their backs facing the sky, those who were prostrate and unmoving, and those who were twitching and struggling, and at a cursory glance there were two or three hundred people.

The German soldiers were nervous and excited to reload and shoot repeatedly, and most of them had forgotten to save ammunition if the officers had not stopped drinking in time.

As the gunfire died down, Major von Vacano, who rolled into half a megaphone with one hand and shouted in standard French: "Surrender!" French! You have no way out! ”

Someone on the opposite side immediately replied in a loud voice: "The French soldiers will never surrender to the German invaders!" ”

"Then you are dead!" Major Vacano deceived, "Wait for the cannon to be blown into pulp!" ”

The French on the opposite side responded with rifles, and some German soldiers returned fire without waiting for the officer's order, while most of the officers faithfully carried out Major von Vacano's orders, not fighting with their opponents, and only ordered to shoot when the French attacked. Suddenly, the roar of MG08 was heard from the left flank of the line, at the edge of the forest, followed by the shouting of the Madsen machine gun industry in its characteristic rhythm, and the riflemen entered the battle, flares were flickering, apparently some French soldiers trying to bypass the forest from the field.

(End of chapter)