"Blue is better than blue, that's what we're talking about." Su Xin smiled, "The Germans don't seem to have ironclad chariots like ours, I'd love to see how they look when they see us." ”

Xiao Yi smiled and didn't speak again, but focused on the work.

After completing all the preparations, Xiao Yat looked at the table again, and the hands on the watch showed the current time: 6:20.

"Get out of the way!" Su Xin let out a snort, started the tank and drove forward along the lane marked with the line belt last night, stabbing and smoking.

It was just dawn and visibility was only about 400 yards, but as planes flew low and covered by the noise of the propellers from time to time, the pilots of Britannia could still see the torrent of steel rushing forward in a trapezoidal array on the endless plains in front of the forest.

At the forefront of the advancing tank ranks were 20 "Land Cruisers", which formed the top of the trapezoid, and on their flanks were the single-turret double-gun tanks of the [***] team, and on the outside of them, the diamond-shaped tanks of the British [***] team. Behind these tanks were teams of British infantry carrying heavy equipment on their backs.

In order to reach the sudden surname of the attack, the British commander Julian. General Bean canceled the routine barrage of barrage fire that preceded the British attack, and as a result, the Germans suffered a completely unexpected attack. When the earth-shattering tank group quickly approached the trenches of the German front, the Germans did not react at all.

The tank quickly rushed to the front of the trench, and when Xiao Yat saw the wide and deep trench in the distance from the observation window, he couldn't help but be taken aback, and immediately ordered to stop advancing.

Because the width and depth of the trench in front of them were completely different from the information they had received before.

As a result of Haig's irresponsible use of the tank as a new weapon in Flanders, the Germans had sensed the potential threat of the tank and dug the trench wider, up to 12 feet wide, to stop the tank's advance.

Now Xiao Yat understands what the British are doing with those bundles of firewood that the British tied behind his tank.

Groups of British infantry stepped forward quickly, untied the bundles of firewood tied behind the tanks and threw them into the deep German trenches, and soon filled in the trenches and built bridges that were convenient for the tanks to pass through.

Xiao Yat looked through the observation window and saw two German machine gunners wearing nail helmets not far away who were desperately wielding a heavy machine gun and shooting a stream of fire at his side.

The bullet hit the solid tank armor with a screeching clang, and without waiting for his "Land Cruiser" to fire, a two-turret tank had already run over the German machine-gun position, and the two German machine gunners immediately abandoned the machine guns and fled, but then the British infantryman's guns rang out, and the two Germans froze, then shook and fell into the trench.

Xiao Yi observed the situation around him, and instead of what he imagined the fierce resistance of the Germans might be, what he saw was just the opposite, the Germans at the outpost were completely stunned by the torrent of steel rushing up, many of them just fired their guns and fled, and many more chose to lay down their arms and surrender.

Xiao Yi's "Land Cruiser" burst into the German line without firing a shot, and more tanks poured in, and the Germans quickly recovered after a short panic, and the excellent combat qualities of the Prussian soldiers can be said to have played a crucial role in this moment.

Seeing the steel monster rushing up, the Germans began to fire flat with artillery, and with one shell after another falling into the assault tank team, Xiao Yi knew that the real battle had begun.

With the roar of German artillery, there were clusters of fire in the tank troops, Xiao Yi saw a large-caliber shell hit a British diamond-shaped tank, a huge flame instantly surrounded the tank, and several British soldiers covered in fire got out of the tank and rolled on the ground.

Realizing that his tank was rushing too fast, Xiao Yat chose a suitable position for shooting and stopped, and the "Land Cruiser" was like an angry lion, with a main turret and four auxiliary turrets firing at the same time, firing at the surrounding German troops.

As more tanks stopped and began firing, groups of German soldiers were knocked to the ground, more German soldiers turned and ran, and the German artillery fire became messy and inaccurate.

Seeing the tragic situation of the German army retreating and fleeing, Xiao Yi somehow had a feeling of being in a dream.

By nightfall, the British Third Army and the First Division of the Chinese Expeditionary Force had infiltrated 12,000 yards on a six-mile front. The operation was an indisputable victory - the British and Chinese captured the German trenches at an unusually small cost of less than 6,000 casualties. 112 tanks were destroyed by German artillery fire, another 170 tanks broke down or capsized in the trenches, and the British and Chinese captured a total of 17,500 German prisoners. By 7 p.m., night had fallen, and the assault forces had occupied a wide area of their salient and driven the Germans out completely, with the British flag flying over the town of Khambu along with the Chinese five-color flag. With no tank support, these lost German positions were almost impossible to attack.

When the news of the victory came, General Haig's first reaction was not to believe it was true.

As the supreme commander of the British army on the Western Front, General Haig rarely won battles on the battlefield, and he habitually gave contempt to his Chinese allies, and in the eyes of many, his understanding of China remained at the level of the beginning of the last century. So when the news of Cambrai's victory came, he was completely overwhelmed by the expansion of his gains at Cambrai. Neither the British nor the Chinese could continue to advance due to the absence of more reserves (the follow-up units of the Chinese army were still at sea and had not yet arrived).

However, Haig was extremely greedy for the victory he had already won, and despite being warned by his staff about the possibility of a German comeback, he was resolutely unwilling to give up the territory he had already captured. However, if the British and Chinese troops remained where they were, they would be dangerously exposed to a possible German attack on three fronts, and with the unusual weather, an unexpectedly early entry into cold and stormy weather, the time they could have spent on combat would soon be over. At this critical moment, as the supreme commander, Haig always showed hesitation.

Julian. General Bing and General Chen, the de facto commander of the squadron, were very annoyed by Haig's performance, and they repeatedly sent people urging Haige to send reinforcements, but Haig replied with some embarrassment that they should not expect any more reserves, that he had no more troops to send, and that the British needed to support the demoralized Italian army of Caporetto.

The decision to transfer to Italy the only five combat-ready divisions in the hands of the British command was a decision based on imperfect intelligence or erroneous judgment, and in fact at a previous meeting of the Allied bloc, the staff of Austria-Hungary and Germany had already deliberated on the gradual reduction of operations on the Italian front as the winter storm approached.

Both Bin and Chen were aware that they were now in the difficult position of fighting a major battle with the Germans in a situation of declining strength and without the support of a fresh army.

But at this time, the people in the rear did not understand the actual situation at the front, and the people were tormented by the news of the defeat for too long, and the success of the Cambrai assault operation undoubtedly gave people a glimmer of hope.

In order to celebrate the victory at Cambrai, all the church bells in London rang in unison to celebrate the victory (this was the only time in the Great War), and in Paris, the major theaters staged plays related to China to express their gratitude and reverence for the contribution of the Chinese [***] team, and the British Prime Minister and the French President sent congratulatory messages to Yuan Shikai, the emperor of the Chinese Empire, "Congratulations on the great military achievements of the Chinese [***] team and their contribution to the just cause of the Entente." ”

Unbeknownst to all, Cambrai's victory was only temporary. Although the battle of Cambrai, compared to the Battle of the Somme and the Battle of Flanders, showed that the concentrated use of tanks could break the stalemate on the battlefield, it is regrettable that the British did not choose to go down the right path in the end, and their enemies got the most out of this battle.

The German Supreme Commander Ludendorff initially reacted somewhat panickedly to the German rout, but he recovered quickly, and Ludendorff, after fully understanding the situation at the front, told his subordinates, "This new weapon is annoying enough, but it is not yet a decision." Hindenburg also had a more sober assessment of tanks, saying to the panicked German Kaiser Wilhelm II: "The British and Chinese offensive at Cambrai revealed for the first time the possibility of a massive surprise attack using tanks, which were able to quickly cross our undamaged trenches and obstacles, which could not but have a significant effect on our defensive troops." The infantry felt practically powerless against the side armor of the tank. As soon as these motor vehicles break through our trench line, the defending troops will feel threatened in their rear and leave their posts. The Chinese used such tactics to defeat Yue himself before. This can be said to be a very successful combat experience, and for us, we can use the same approach against our enemy. ”

Hindenburg's words gave great confidence to the novelty-loving "German Peacock" Wilhelm II, who, after concluding his conversation with Hindenburg, immediately ordered the start of work on the development of German tanks. And this decision had a huge impact on the subsequent battle situation.

After carefully analyzing the situation on the battlefield, Ludendorff ordered reinforcements to rush to this defense area. The Germans lost no time in getting reinforcements from their Fourth Army in Flanders. Other reserve armies also set off from the calming eastern route through Germany's efficient domestic rail network. Strengthened by reinforcements, the Germans emboldened themselves to attack the positions of the British and Chinese, and fierce battles ensued in succession in various theaters, with the two sides entangled, and the battle soon turned into isolated, often melee skirmishes. The Medium [***] team continued to be the vanguard of the battle, as it had been at the beginning of the battle. The Chinese soldiers showed extraordinary strength and bravery in the battle, and they held their positions inch by inch, and resolutely refused to give up until the last moment. Unlike the heroic battles of the Chinese army, the British soldiers were demoralized, and the British Third Army was incapacitated due to the lack of reserves, and could only be supported by the cover of the squadron and a very small number of Canadian and Indian troops, while the German army, which had replenished its strength, was able to fight effectively. In a dense and large-scale German counterattack that followed, the Germans recaptured some of the places lost on the first day of the battle. After a week of fierce fighting, the British left their eastern allies and fled alone, and the Chinese could not afford to retreat, reducing their possession of the salient to half.

Due to the irresponsible retreat of the British army, the [***] squadron suffered great losses, and the commander of the squadron, Crown Prince Yuan Keding, went to the British command headquarters and scolded all the British people he saw, and the spit even sprayed on General Haig's face, which made Haig angry. But even this was to no avail, and Haig still refused to send reinforcements to the British and Chinese troops defending the Cambrai salient before the arrival of the American troops - this was not a personal vendetta against Haig's communiqué, and in fact he did not have any troops to send, because his soldiers always died surprisingly quickly, and the London side was reluctant to send additional troops to his hands that had been so hard to form a new unit in the country, Lloyd. George feared that once they were in Haig's hands, they would disappear like snowflakes in flames, and the defeat suffered by the Chinese [***] team indirectly confirmed His Excellency the Prime Minister's fears.

In the ensuing period, successive storms prevented all military operations on both sides. The fighting over the past few weeks had resulted in 53,000 British casualties and 12,000 Chinese casualties, with the Germans losing roughly the same number of personnel as the British. More than 16,000 German troops were captured, the British army was about 9,000 prisoners, and the Chinese army was about 3,000 prisoners. About a hundred British and Chinese tanks were destroyed in the battle (the Germans had already discovered that some of their guns could destroy those terrible tanks with flat fire), and almost the same number of tanks fell into German hands, including 10 new heavy Land Cruisers.

When news of the massive German counteroffensive and the subsequent retreat of the British and Chinese troops reached the rear, the joy of London and Paris suddenly turned to depression. Details of the battle soon spread. Many people learned from this information that after the Germans had moved up, the British soldiers saw their cavalry being killed in large numbers and their infantry under attack, because the terrain they were in was actually unable to provide effective cover for holding and fighting, or for a safe retreat. Tanks also played a large role in the defense, but when they lacked fuel, they became a living target for German artillery once they became fixed gun forts for the defense of trenches. The Germans destroyed them one by one with artillery. The Germans, who were good at machinery, even put the captured British and Chinese tanks into battle after simple modifications and repairs, and these tanks also played a great role in the battle, and the British faced their own tanks, and behaved in panic and collapsed like the Germans.

The German attack was met with strong resistance from the Chinese army, but due to the lack of effective support from the British army, the Chinese army with a lack of ammunition was in an increasingly difficult situation, and the change in this difficult situation was the arrival of the American army, the first batch of American troops to assist the Chinese army to withstand the German attack and stabilize the front, but the American army also suffered a lot of casualties, the American army lost nearly 4,000 people in the first day of the battle, with the support of the American army, the British army and the Chinese army finally stabilized their position, and the German army also lost the sharpness of the beginning after the continuous attack, In order to avoid further casualties, Ludendorff decisively gave the order to stop the attack. Then the storm returned to the area, which turned into a swamp and a place of flooding, and the military operations of both sides ceased completely.

The result of the tank battle of Cambrai, the losses of the two warring sides can be said to be roughly equal, no one took too much advantage, the most important result of the battle of Cambrai is that both warring sides are aware of the importance of the tank. The tactical deployment of tanks in Cambrai showed that the appropriate use of a sufficient number of mobile armored vehicles is capable of transforming the combat situation. When the setbacks of the British army at Cambrai came to an end, as was often done at the end of many previous campaigns, the British launched a court-martial. As usual, the court concluded that all the consequences of the calamity were the fault of the junior officers and sergeants. All the actions of the generals are, of course, beyond reproach. The relevant battle records reveal that before the Germans began to counterattack, many junior officers in the British army were deeply aware of the imminent enemy counterattack and made suggestions to their superiors more than once, but the warnings of the British [***] officers were ignored by the superior commanders without exception. In contrast, the situation of the Chinese army was slightly better, because of the relationship between the French and German armies, the senior generals and junior officers and men of the Chinese army did not underestimate the combat effectiveness of the German army, so the Chinese army was able to react relatively quickly at the beginning of the German counterattack, thus avoiding a rout like the British army.

The lessons of this battle were clearly summed up more profoundly by the Germans, who had already begun rapid and large-scale tank production on the basis of captured Chinese tanks while the British were still squabbling over the budget for 4,000 tanks to order from the United States. And the Germans' use of these tanks made them almost win the war.

(To be continued)