As the dawn of a new day approached, Hurtier and his staff officers once again ascended the north tower of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Amiens. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Exactly 24 hours have passed since the Battle of Amiens, and this short day is a significant start for Huttier, for Natsuki, and for every ordinary officer and soldier of the German 1st Marine Division. In the face of the defenders of Amiens with three lines of defense, it took them only 12 hours to overcome all the French defenses and completely occupy the city of Amiens. Then, the 1st Marine Division perfectly demonstrated the advantage of the rapid transition between attack and defense of the German field troops, and thwarted the French counterattack with almost no suspense, killing more than 7,500 French troops and capturing more than 3,200 people.

While the French defenders were killed and wounded in large numbers, the German 1st Marine Division also suffered more than 10,000 casualties in a single day, but despite this, this combat unit still maintained a strong combat effectiveness. As soon as the curtain came down on the offensive and defensive battle of Amiens, the clarion call was sounded for the advance on Paris. Including the restored combat vehicles, 16 Hubert-13s were ready for departure, the 3rd Marine Brigade had one and a half infantry regiments, and the 1st and 2nd Marine Brigades had 2-3 infantry battalions each to form an advance force of about 6,000 men.

This formidable advance force was commanded by Commodore Wilhelm Grienz, commander of the 3rd Marine Brigade, who had risen through the ranks of the fleet marines and had the typical characteristics of a German naval officer: strong, determined, and quick-witted. After the formation of the Marine Corps, he successively served as battalion commander and regiment commander, and was quickly promoted to the rank of general by virtue of his excellent command ability and rich command experience.

"See you in Paris in five days!"

From the tower of Amiens Cathedral, General Grienz looked at Paris with the senior officers of the division, and his farewell speech was full of pride. According to the operational plan drawn up by the General Staff of the Marine Division, the advance troops should advance to Paris at an average march speed of 20 kilometers per day, and it would only take five days to reach the city of Paris in terms of mileage alone. That is, the five-day period is possible only in the most optimistic scenario.

"This blow is like a sword stabbing the heart of the French, no matter how fierce the battle is on other battlefields, just like human instinct, the French army will fight desperately without reservation." Houthier's words were undoubtedly a reminder to Grienz that he should not underestimate the strength of the French on this trip.

Khutil, who had always advocated the offensive, became cautious, and this change in mentality was naturally influenced by the casualties of the troops. There is nothing wrong with prudence in itself, but the situation is special, and Huthier's attitude will play a hint role in General Grienz's decision--in order to prevent Grienz from being timid and looking ahead and looking backwards, so as to delay the fighter, Natsuki deliberately sang the "counter-tune":

"Fortunately, the main forces of the French army have been thrown into the Marne battlefield, and the entire northeastern region of France is like an egg, after breaking the eggshell, there is basically no resistance to the egg white. If nothing else, we don't need to break through any of the enemy's defenses before approaching the outskirts of Paris. ”

The title of commander of the 1st Marine Division was personally appointed by the Kaiser, but after all, he came from a military aristocratic family and knew the secrets behind his power, so he categorically did not argue with his chief of staff on this issue, but only gave Grientz a greeting of "I hope I succeed immediately."

Huthier didn't know that Natsuki's optimism was not only a positive attitude, but also an accurate grasp of the elements of war. In the entire northeastern part of France, including the mobilized reserve forces, the British and French armies had a total combat personnel of more than 200,000, and only a quarter of the troops needed to be concentrated in one place could completely contain the offensive of the German marines, and even use the superiority of troops to fight a war of annihilation. The point was that these Entente forces were scattered within a radius of several hundred kilometers, and it was only possible to assemble them quickly by rail. That is to say, as long as the railway network in northeastern France is destroyed and paralyzed, the movement of the Allied troops can be limited - and to achieve this goal, Natsuki has already made a move: the range and bomb load of the Zeppelin are more than enough, and when the weather conditions are good, it can carry out destructive bombing of the enemy's railway stations and railway junctions, and although the war on the Marne is tight, he still tries to get a squadron of airship troops from the German Army to bomb the railway facilities in and around Paris; The German Navy was equipped with fewer airships than the army, and it was not able to send an airship air force to assist in the operation, but the naval air force had advanced aircraft technology, well-trained flight personnel, and had the only Junkers-VI long-range bomber in the armies of the great powers at this time.

The German Navy was armed with 11 Junkers-VIs before the outbreak of the war, and in August received four more from the Junkers, creating a squadron of long-range bombers unique in Europe.

After the departure from Amiens, the German advance force led by Grientz advanced rapidly along the railway line in northeastern France, and the scattered troops left behind by the French 6th Infantry Division and the Friendly Neighborhood Defense Force were like dead leaves, which only served to slow down the opponent slightly. At this time, in the small city of Baar, more than 50 kilometers south of Paris, the generals of the French General Headquarters obviously did not expect that the German troops that had captured Amiens would be able to attack Paris so quickly, and at breakfast that day, they were still arguing about whether to give the 9th Army an order to destroy the railway facilities, and this important and intact double-track railway line was falling into the hands of the Germans section by section - the German engineers only needed to repair the railroad tracks from Durant to the city of Amiens. to let their military columns gallop across the vast and fertile Paris Basin!

Onward, onward, onwards to Paris!

Spurred on by this alluring objective, Brigadier General Grientz and his high-spirited soldiers could not stop on their feet, and just after noon they reached the small town of Adivillere, 20 kilometers south of Amiens, where they encountered a rearguard unit of the French 6th Infantry Division. More than 400 French officers and men had fortified their positions against the woodland, and they had seven Hatch Cars, four Type 1897 field guns, and a relatively large supply of ammunition, and an armored train with artillery and machine guns parked on the railway line in the rear. The French intended to hold out here until reinforcements arrived, but the direct support of armored trains did not make their defenses impregnable. Under the cover of one tank team, two battalions of German naval infantry attacked from the front, attracting the attention of the French army, while another team of tanks and two battalions of naval infantry quickly detoured from the flank to launch a strong attack on the French armored train.

The earliest armored trains appeared in the middle of the 19th century during the American Civil War, and later in the Franco-Prussian War, the Boer War and the Russo-Japanese War. Before the outbreak of the First World War, the French had developed locomotive technology, but they were not as keen on developing and manufacturing new armored trains as Tsarist Russia and Austria-Hungary, and the French armored train that arrived at the Amiens front but failed to enter the battle was the old equipment of the last century, it carried 2 120 mm caliber Type 1878 cannons, 4 37 mm caliber Hatch Chase machine guns and 6 Hatch Chase machine guns, at first glance it looked like a mobile steel fortress, vulnerable to the small-caliber tank guns of the German tanks, As the locomotive exploded with a bullet in the nose, hot steam filled the four-car armored train, and the French soldiers fled into the woods.

The roundabout troops solved the French armored train, and the German troops engaged in the frontal attack began to advance rapidly, and they captured the French positions in a wave of offensives, which were so fierce that many French officers and soldiers did not even have a chance to escape, and the entire army finally only a few dozen people escaped, and the casualties of the German attacking troops added up to less than two hundred!

Adivelaire's victory boosted the confidence of Grienz's naval infantry, who rested near the town and devoured lunch. The 100-kilometer journey from Amiens to Paris is a flat stretch with few barriers. Heading south along the main railway line, there is only one city on the way, Beauvais. It is the capital of the Oise province of Picardy and is half the size of Amiens in terms of city size and permanent population. In fact, according to Natsuki's optimistic estimate, as long as the marines advance to Beauvais, the French top brass will be shocked by this sharp blade that pierces the heart, whether they directly transfer troops from the Marne front line or transfer the reinforcements originally sent to the Marne to Paris, it will be enough to change the course of the Battle of the Marne.

Soon after, a naval reconnaissance plane landed, and the pilot brought the exciting news of the German officers and men: except for the small French troops that had previously broken down, there was not even a single group of French soldiers on the roads, in the fields, in the villages and towns within a radius of twenty kilometers!

In accordance with the divisional plan, Grientz left a battalion to construct a ring position in Adi Velère, in order to turn it into a defensive stronghold and stockpile on the marching route, and ordered the battalion officers to take over the defense as soon as the follow-up troops arrived, and then to pursue the advance force as soon as possible.

(End of chapter)