On the afternoon of September 28, in Ville-Parisi, east of Paris, the headquarters of the 4th Corps, which belonged to the 3rd French Army, welcomed a tall, lanky, wrinkled-faced, unsmiling veteran: Joseph-Simon Gallieni, who was known as the "Conqueror of Madagascar". www.biquge.info As the military governor of Paris appointed by the French Cabinet, Gallieri was in charge of the defense of the entire Paris area, and presided over the construction of the Greater Paris Defense Line - although the defeat at the Battle of the Marne filled the French government and army with an atmosphere of defeat, everyone who saw the fortifications of Paris with their own eyes praised this strong defensive line built in just one month, and in the unfavorable situation of the German army's advance step by step, there was nothing like artillery fortifications, trenches, barbed wire, The trenches were more reassuring and could give people a glimpse of the hope of defeating the Germans.

In recognition of the important efforts made by Gallieni in the most chaotic situation, the Greater Paris Line was called the "Galleriene Line", and the trench dug in front of the main line of defense, with an estimated total length of 140 kilometers, was named the "Galleriene Trench".

After entering the headquarters of the 4th Corps, Gallieni congratulated the generals here for their first victory in the "Battle of Paris" of the French army, which severely thwarted the attack of the German ace regiments.

A glimmer of joy had just appeared on the faces of the senior officers of the 4th Corps, and Gallerieni turned sharply to point out the omissions in their defensive disposition, which he had apparently discovered while patrolling the defensive line -- some of the problems were indeed human negligence, and some of the problems were known but not taken seriously by the officers.

"Gentlemen, we are dealing with a huge army with the Prussian army as its skeleton, with a heavy artillery group capable of destroying any fortress, and demonstrating this terrible ability to the world in Liège, Namur, Verdun. Not only that, but the Germans also invented and equipped tracked combat vehicles with armor plates all over their bodies, and our machine guns had to be at close range to destroy or damage them. According to my estimates, within 24 hours the German army will launch a massive artillery bombardment of Villeparisi, and the lessons of the Battle of Meaux have taught us that no amount of deep trenches can survive the saturation bombardment of heavy artillery, and the only effective way is for our soldiers to hide two kilometers away from the forward positions when the enemy launches the bombardment, and wait for the German tanks and infantry to attack, and then quickly return to the forward positions. ”

With that, Gallieni coldly swept the faces of every officer present, and the words had already been made so clear that these professional officers who had come from regular military academies and had fought against the German army in the last war or more than a month before understood what they needed to strengthen their defenses - time was of the essence!

Gallieni straightened his thin and thin body and nodded encouragingly to the officers: "Whether or not we can hold Villeparisi is directly related to the victory or defeat of the Battle of Paris, everyone, we have no way back, we must crush the German army's attack here!" ”

One by one, the officers straightened their postures and watched Gallieni leave with respectful eyes.

From the age of 21, Gallieni's military career spanned 45 years. After graduating from the non-commissioned officer school of Saint-Cyr, he took part in the Battle of Sedan with the rank of second lieutenant and was wounded and captured in battle. After his release, Gallieni went to serve in the colonies, and although the French staff school considered serving in the colonies to be nothing more than a light tour, he achieved with astonishing perseverance the achievements of his colleagues: in 1880 he led an expedition into the Upper Niger Basin, for which he was awarded a gold medal; from 1882 to 1885 participated in the colonial war against Martinique; In 1886, the Mandingo revolt in the Ivory Coast region was defeated, resulting in the other side ceding the right bank of the Niger River; In 1896, he became Governor of Madagascar, deposed the monarchy of Queen Lanavarona II, established a military junta, and ruled it effectively, developing the region's economy and improving transportation.

The conquest of Madagascar made Gallieni famous, for which he received the highest military rank. He was a tireless learner, whether it was the Russian language, the history of heavy artillery, or the comparison of the administration of colonial powers, and he was also fluent in German, English, and Italian. In the 1911 competition for commander-in-chief of the French army, he was Xia Fei's number one rival, and finally lost due to old age and infirmity, and later suffered from prostatitis, his health deteriorated, and the death of his wife also had a great impact on him. Four months before the outbreak of the war, Gallieri chose to retire, until the French army suffered a defeat in the border battle, the German army invaded France and attacked Paris, he was urgently recalled by the Minister of War Messimi to serve as the military governor of Paris, in charge of the military affairs of the entire Paris area. Not only did he single-handedly lead the construction of the Greater Paris Line, but he also keenly captured the opening of the German right flank sweeping across the far suburbs of Paris, and then persuaded Xia Fei to seize the opportunity to launch the Battle of the Marne, which almost turned the tide on the Western Front.

From the Alsace-Lorraine offensive to the border battles, from the defense of the Maas to the counterattack on the Marne, the French army suffered one defeat after another, and Joseph Chauffy, as the commander-in-chief of the French army, had an unshirkable responsibility, and his skeptics seized on his reticent, conservative and sluggish style to make a fuss about him, criticizing him as an incompetent "slow general", and those who opposed Chauffeur, as well as those who had previously surrounded Galliene, were calling for Chauffeur to be replaced by Gallieni. Like the choices made by the British royal family and government in times of crisis, the French government also defined the Battle of the Marne as "a defeat with its head held high", making the French military and civilians feel that the defeat was due only to bad luck, not to the incompetence of the generals and the cowardice of the officers and men. Under these circumstances, the French cabinet decided to slow down the replacement of the commander-in-chief of the army, but Xia Fei, whose military command ability and strategic vision were questionable, was obviously not suitable to command the Battle of Paris, so they asked Gallieri to command the Allied forces assembled around Paris as the military governor of Paris - including 5 French army groups and British expeditionary force units, a total of 49 infantry divisions, 4 cavalry divisions, 43 field artillery battalions, 6 heavy artillery battalions and 4 newly formed anti-aircraft artillery battalions, with a combat strength of more than 800,000. More than 300,000 auxiliaries were placed under the control of the Paris City Defense Command, making Gallerien the most important military commander in the Entente camp at this time.

As Gallieni had predicted, the French pilots detected the build-up of a large number of German artillery units in positions east of Villeparisi. At dawn on 29 September, a German force of 30,000 men launched an offensive at Mithriemori, north of Ville-Parisi, and fought fiercely for half a day, failing to break through the French line there. At noon, the French pilots returned from east of Villeparisi with news that shocked the generals of the French 4th Corps: the Germans had deployed at least 2,000 artillery pieces in the area of Claisuy, six kilometers away, and more than 200,000 German infantry had been assembled for the attack!

After being reinforced by reinforcements sent by Gallieni, the French troops stationed in Villeparisi had only four divisions of more than 50,000 people, although they had 740 artillery pieces, but less than 150 75-mm field guns and howitzers and cannons with a caliber of more than 75 mm.

While the French army was doing its best to defend, the hour of terror was quietly approaching. At three o'clock in the morning on September 30, the German army launched a stormy artillery bombardment of Villeparisi, and the sound of artillery fire made the French officers and soldiers feel that the end of the world was coming, and the power of the shell explosion was so violent that the world collapsed and the earth was torn apart, and everything was trembling. All kinds of loud sounds rang out in one piece, and these different sounds converged into a storm that could not be heard even if a command was given with a shouting microphone a few paces away, and no animal could move beyond the trenches, and in the concealment several kilometers from the forward position, the lit candles were immediately extinguished, and people had to pray in the dark.

Gallieri was not in Paris that night, but in Montreuil, twelve kilometers from Villeparisi, where the command of the 2nd Army provided him with a soft and comfortable bed, but the sound of German artillery woke him from his sleep. The voice, though muffled, was persistent, and he immediately realized that it was a devastating force. Inferking from the light and sound of the artillery fire alone, it should be the French defense line of Villeparisi that was subjected to massive German shelling, and he immediately got out of bed and called the headquarters of the 4th Corps to see if they had been shelled, but the telephone line could not be connected, and he asked the operator for the headquarters of the 3rd Army, but he could not be contacted.

The fall of Meaux had already caused the Gallieni City Defense Command to mourn, and if Villeparisi had lost again, the German heavy cannons would have been able to reach the outskirts of Paris -- although German airships and planes had attacked Paris several times, and important French government agencies and hundreds of thousands of old and infirm women and children had withdrawn from the city, the Battle of Paris had just begun, and the German shells were bound to cause a catastrophic panic among the anxious French soldiers and civilians. So Gallieni grabbed his military hat and put on his coat and drove overnight to Schelle, the headquarters of the 3rd Army, which was only five kilometers from Villeparisi, where he could get a clearer picture of Villeparisi.

With no street lights and no starlight, Gallieni's car drove straight east along the flat road, two or three kilometers away from Scheler, and he was surprised to see groups of French soldiers approaching him, while the small city of Scheler, not far ahead, was actually in a sea of fire at this time, and the German shells continued to fall into the city, as well as on the surrounding fields and roads.

Gallieni was in a hurry, he pushed the car door, drew his gun, and shouted at the oncoming group of French soldiers: "Which unit are you from?" Who allowed you to retreat? ”

Seeing the general-like Gallieni, the group of French soldiers stopped, and an elderly non-commissioned officer stepped forward nervously and saluted: "Sir, we belong to the 137th Infantry Regiment and were ordered to garrison Scheler, just twenty minutes ago, we were heavily shelled by the Germans, the officers we knew were either killed or missing, the telephone lines were all cut off, we had to leave Scherer to avoid the shelling, and we had no intention of retreating." ”

(End of chapter)