At noon, on the banks of the Somme, General Huttier and his staff looked up at the city on the other side of the river. www.biquge.info In just half a day, the relentless fighting of Amiens had turned historic Amiens into a bleak state of rubble, and the Germans were clearly not going to be saddened by this, and the casualties of their own troops were to the horror of these Marine officers. According to the preliminary estimates reported by the various departments, in the process of conquering the French outlying positions, the 1st Marine Brigade suffered more than 400 casualties, and when it reached the Amiens Line, the number of casualties exceeded 2,000, and then the number of casualties of the 1st and 2nd Marine Brigades soared to 4,000 after the forced crossing of the Somme River and the assault on the main city of Amiens. That is, from dawn to the present, the combat attrition of the German 1st Marine Division was about seven thousand, and the attrition rate was close to a quarter!

At the same time as the rapid offensive results were paid, the commander of the 1st Marine Division, General Huttier, hardly said a word except for orders, and his steely and resolute expression made it difficult to grasp his true thoughts, and Natsuki was accustomed to thinking silently during the battle, and the collective silence of the two generals made the atmosphere of the division headquarters quite solemn, and many staff officers were gloomy, and the junior officers and sergeants saw this situation, and they all thought that the prospects for this battle had reached a point where they could not be optimistic.

In Natsuki's view, this does not mean that the Marine Corps could not withstand the intensity of land operations on the Western Front, and it can only be said that the land battlefield during World War I did not live up to the notoriety of meat grinders.

The two naval infantry brigades on front-line assault missions had experienced large combat attrition, and some battalions and companies had completely lost their combat effectiveness, but when the commander of the 1st Marine Brigade called for the second time to confirm the combat order, Natsuki's reply was still simple and crisp: continue the attack. Not only because the 3rd Marine Brigade is fully equipped and ready to go, but also because the tank unit still retains a strong strength. During the battle, only 4 of the 30 Hubert-13s were destroyed by the French, although 11 were injured or mechanically damaged to varying degrees, and with the help of the professional maintenance team at the Friedrich shipyard, it would not be long before they could be put back into battle.

Outside a clinic on the east bank of the Somme, wounded German soldiers who had just finished field treatment sat in the shade of a roadside tree, waiting for a hospital vehicle to take them to a rear hospital. Among them, Hans-Feerrich appeared very ordinary, and as the effect of the anesthetic wore off, he frowned incessantly, but did not snort in his mouth.

On the road in front of them, from time to time, there were groups of neatly groomed naval infantry, and when they saw these comrades who were rushing to the battlefield, the eyes of the wounded were very complicated, and they were not only envious of their health and integrity, but also worried about their fate.

Suddenly seeing a familiar face, Fellrich shouted, "Hey, Dart! ”

The tall soldier with a rifle on his back turned his head, and his eyebrows suddenly raised: "Oh ho, isn't this the invincible forward of the 1st Brigade, Hans?" Your legs are ......"

"Two holes from a French machine gun." Fellrich replied disapprovingly, his right thigh was wrapped in thick gauze, and the medic had already stitched up the wound for him - thankfully, the two machine-gun bullets that had been fired into the thigh had passed through the thigh, without injuring the muscles and bones, and he should be able to regain his normal ability to move after healing.

"With your dexterous steps, you didn't dodge?" The tall soldier said jokingly. Among the three Marine Brigades, the 3rd Marine Brigade was the latest to be formed, and although there is no difference in personnel allocation, the weapons and equipment are inferior, and there are currently two infantry regiments in the brigade using the Type 1888 cavalry rifles that have been eliminated by the front-line troops. Due to the short barrel, the firing performance of this mounted gun was somewhat different from that of the Mauser 98AZ carbine. This kind of disparity is basically negligible in medium- and close-range combat, and it is more of a psychological hint to the officers and men that they are different from each other. In fact, in 1913-1914, the whole of Germany was expanding its armaments, and even if export orders were not counted, rifles made at the Mauser factory were in short supply.

Fellrich pursed his lips, not knowing what to answer.

The tall soldier did not leave the group, and he drifted away, speaking in a louder voice.

"Alright! Let us avenge you! Wishing you a speedy recovery! ”

"Thank you!" "Good luck to you," replied Fellrich! When the war is over, let's play a good game! ”

The tall soldier smiled and waved his hand.

Just after noon, units of the 1st Naval Infantry Regiment were gathering around Amiens Cathedral to recuperate. Dimir Hook sat on the front steps of the church with a Madsen light machine gun, and here his carnage-hardened mind found a moment of peace. For the past half day, he was not sure how many French soldiers he had shot, but it was almost certain that he had never killed such a god in his ancestors, and his combat squad had been reduced from 11 to 4 at the time of departure. Since the original squad leader was killed in battle, the platoon commander assigned him to take over the squad temporarily.

In a short time, the quartermaster of the unit appeared at the corner of the street in an ammunition truck, and the naval infantry, who were sitting or lying down, got up one after another and followed the officers to collect the ammunition. Many people seem to think that the more bullets and grenades, the better the chances of surviving on the battlefield, and the platoon that received the ammunition first, the soldiers have bulging bullet bags and five or six long-handled grenades hanging from their belts. For the first time, Hook took the soldiers to collect ammunition as acting squad leader, and other infantry squads often received two or three hundred pistol rounds, four or five hundred rifle rounds, and twenty or thirty grenades, but when Hook arrived, he only reported six hundred rifle rounds and six grenades. The quartermaster, with his bushy mustache, glanced at him with a strange gaze and asked his assistant to carry half a box of rifle bullets and grenades he had requested.

Hook did not explain, nor did he bother to explain. He chose the youngest of the remaining three riflemen to be his ammunition man, told him to fill all the empty magazines, and then issued the other two forty rifle rounds and three grenades each, and asked them to follow him closely no matter what happened. Although the riflemen did not know why, they also knew that Hook was thinking about them, and he agreed to do so.

After distributing the ammunition, the company and platoon officers immediately summoned the soldiers in formation and assigned them a new combat mission. The main combat forces of the German 1st and 2nd Marine Brigades had now crossed the Somme, occupied the central city of Amiens, and then launched an attack on the remnants of the French army defending the western corner of the city. The 1st Brigade fought hard and suffered the most casualties, so the 2nd Brigade took the lead in attacking, the 1st Brigade reinforced it, and if necessary, the headquarters of the 3rd Brigade entering the city would be brought into battle.

Hooke's infantry company, with the young Second Lieutenant Fick as acting company commander, announced to the assembled group of more than 70 naval infantrymen: "The French have been defeated by us, and our next task is to clean up the French soldiers hiding in an elementary school and surrounding houses." Keep in mind that under international neutrality laws, enemy civilians are protected, except those who wear civilian clothing but are armed with weapons, and in the course of fighting, we must first protect ourselves from harm, and then we must comply with the so-called neutrality laws, I hope you will understand. ”

The words are very vague, but the meaning behind them is not difficult to understand. Hook had also heard earlier that some French soldiers had taken off their uniforms and disguised themselves as civilians to shoot cold guns on the side of the road, and that some French civilians had joined the volunteer fighting forces, and the military had issued them weapons but not uniforms. Because of these rumors, the German soldiers were always careful not to be attacked by enemy fighters when passing through French towns and villages, but from Durant to Amiens, Hooke and his companions had never encountered such a situation.

"After the capture of Amiens, we will advance to Paris. The main French forces are being firmly anchored in the Marne by our land, and we are likely to be the first force to enter Paris in this war, when the Marines will win the honorary title of 'Royal'. For victory, for honor, for the Motherland, forward! ”

The German officers and men were full of ambition to win this victory, and the situation of the French defenders was naturally not optimistic. Philippe Pétain moved his division headquarters to the small town of Salle, about six kilometers from the center of Amiens, where he calmly commanded the battle at the front, but many battalions had been broken up in the fierce battle, and communication was intermittent. Judging from the existing battle reports, the German troops engaged in the attack were about one and a half to two divisions in size, covered by heavy artillery and aircraft, and supported by a certain number of tanks, while the French 6th Infantry Division suffered more than half of the casualties, and it seemed that there was no choice to retreat.

In a telegram, Pétain's superior commander, General Ferdinand Foch, commander of the 9th Army, granted Petain the right to make his own decisions according to the situation of the battle, that is, to allow him to lead his troops to retreat, but Petain had other considerations. From the perspective of the overall situation, the French army still had the courage to invest heavily in the counterattack on the Marne, although it had not yet repelled the German army, but at least it had restrained their aggressive attack.

"Connected to the army group headquarters!"

Looking at the phone in the communications officer's hand, Petain pondered his words a little and picked up the phone: "Hello, sir, I'm Philippe Pétain of the 6th Infantry Division, and my troops and I are still in Amiens, and the battle is still going on...... The situation is not very good, the enemy has crossed the Somme and occupied more than half of the city, but our soldiers have not been crushed, the will to fight is still strong, General Pettit and General Clermont have each sent a regiment to move towards me, which is expected to arrive in the afternoon, and my soldiers and I wish to defend the honour of France at Amiens, as the brothers of the other army groups have done at the Marne......"

The voice on the other side of the phone was silent for a few moments, and then told Petain that the fighting on the Marne had become fierce to the point where every inch of land was contested, that both sides had thrown the last battalion of reserves into battle, that all the troops of the 9th Army that could be transferred had been transferred to the Marne front, and that he could not send even a single soldier to Amiens. However, he was trying to negotiate with the British Expeditionary Force Command to see if the British could transfer an artillery squadron armed with 18-pounder field guns (83.8 mm), which had landed the day before, to Amiens for battle.

"Well, the counteroffensive will start at dusk, and until then, our troops will hold the last line anyway!" Petain assured categorically.

(End of chapter)