The defeat of the German front has been revealed, many places have stopped attacking, and even in the southern Corette Forest area, the French army launched a large-scale counterattack, the quality of the German army in this place is very poor, many of them have just been transferred from Russia, lack of experience in dealing with tanks, and the French army used a large number of tanks in this offensive, resulting in the collapse of the German front, batch after batch withdrawal from the battlefield, hasty retreat, the French army recovered many places.

The General Staff was in a hurry, and all the reserves and reserves were sent to the battlefield, which could only slightly stabilize the entire Western Front battlefield.

At this time, the Berlin regiment received an order: to act as the arrowhead of the Sixth Army, together with the 68th and 69th Divisions of the Sixth Army and the 3rd Guards Cavalry Division, to break through the enemy lines and capture Reims.

Soon after receiving this order, more than 40,000 people of the 68th, 69th, and 3rd Guards Cavalry Divisions of the Sixth Army had already joined the Berlin Regiment and assembled in the defensive area of the original 67th Division, ready to attack at any time.

But the order of the General Staff was abruptly changed, ordering the attacking troops to stop the offensive, leaving everyone puzzled.

Soon, however, they welcomed the high-ranking personnel of the command led by Hindenburg, Ludendorff, and Crown Prince Victor at the front-line combat headquarters.

"Even if we conquer Reims, we can't change the whole situation of the war, and we can't use the only little strength to conquer Reims." Hindenburg spoke first before Victor, since Hindenburg's great victory on the Eastern Front, and then became Chief of the General Staff, Quartermaster Ludendorff and he wore the same pants as him, plus the dissatisfaction of the noble generals with Kaiser Wilhelm, Kaiser Wilhelm lost power, making Hindenburg in power, under one person, above ten thousand.

"Then don't fight?" The commander of the 3rd Guards Cavalry Division asked, he should have asked, he was the highest-ranking commander in this battle, and he was the commander of front-line operations, and this battle was mainly commanded by him.

"No!" Hindenburg's eyes were like torches, fierce and resolute: "We attack Fort Thierry!" ”

"Château Thierry, halfway between Paris and Reims?" Someone asked in surprise.

"Yes." Ludendorff nodded and said: "We don't fight Reims City, but from the north of Reims City to tear up the enemy's defense line and go straight to Fort Thierry, although Fort Thierry has two French defense lines like Reims City, but its defensive strength is far less than that of Reims City, so it is better to fight Reims City than to fight Fort Thierry, Fort Tieri can threaten Paris, and it can also make the soldiers of the French front-line troops think that the rear road is intercepted, and the military spirit will inevitably be chaotic." ”

More than a dozen people in the command room gasped in unison, still feeling cold in the hot summer.

Hitler looked at the map of France hanging on the wall of the headquarters, the cornfield where they were located was located in the north of Reims, just enough to bypass Reims and attack Fort Thierry, only more than 40 kilometers, all the way flat, there were no rivers and mountains!

A stroke of genius!

This plan is really shocking, the Battle of Reims has been going on for more than ten days, the Entente and Germany have been fighting for this area endlessly, almost all the troops have been sent, according to the people of the Military Intelligence Bureau, the Entente still has more than two dozen reserve divisions, but half of these two dozen reserve divisions are in the Amiens area of France, and half are in the Marne area south of Reims to prepare for a counteroffensive.

The French never thought of committing a reserve division in the central Reims area, after all, the Germans had spent more than ten days in this area, and still did not capture Reims, and the French believed that the Reims area was safe.

In the command room, a smart person put forward an opinion: "Fort Thierry, as a barrier to Paris, was built into a fortress by the French, and there are many guards and troops, how to capture it?" ”

"So this attack should be fast and sudden! Conquer Fort Tieri without the enemy ready! The sonorous voice of Hindenburg echoed through the command.

Unifying the operational thinking and subdividing the offensive tasks of the various units, the task force for this mission began to move in the early morning of the second day.

"Phew! Offensive! ”

A whistle sounded, the task force was overhead in the warm morning sun, and the whole army attacked, and the tanks of the Berlin regiment were at the forefront of the whole army, and they were to face the tightly defended lines of the French army.

"Knock Knock Knock ......"

French artillery fire, French artillery is deadly to infantry, but for Imperial tanks, as long as they do not fall on the tank, and heavy artillery bombardment nearby, it is completely unthreatening.

Dozens of Fokker fighters made a loud propeller noise and strafed the enemy's positions, and some of the fighters scattered and flew towards the rear of the enemy troops, and these fighters were looking for trouble with the enemy artillery.

The tank soon drove to the front of the French line, and as soon as it reached the effective range of the rifles, the French opened fire, and the bullets clanged on the steel plates, but to no avail, unless the French 100-millimeter cannon hit the German H-tank, the soldiers in the tank could be injured.

The infantry guns on the front line also pose a greater threat to the H-tank, and the armor protection on the top of the H-tank is so thin that only a 35 mm infantry gun is needed to penetrate it.

"Be careful! British Tank No. 4! ”

The German tankmen at the forefront found a number of British No. 4 tanks on enemy positions, and British No. 4 tanks were upgraded after British No. 1 tanks, which were the most tanks put into the battlefield except for No. 1 tanks, and the production was extremely large, the same was two 57 mm rapid-fire guns, but there was one more machine gun, a total of 5 machine guns, weighing 27 tons. Compared with the original one, the improved No. 4 has increased its speed, which was originally five kilometers per hour, and can now reach a maximum speed of 20 kilometers on a flat road.

In addition, the armor was much thicker, but still not as thick as the German tank armor.

Compared with the German H-type tank, the advantage is that the firepower is stronger, after all, the H-type tank has only one gun and four machine guns, while the British tank No. 4 has two guns and five machine guns.

On the line of defense on the front line of Reims, the commander of the second battalion, Manstein, saw the British No. 4 tank and said to the liaison officer: "Order all the combat vehicles of our battalion to be commanded by the company commanders, and give priority to the fire of one of the enemy's tanks, and destroy them one by one." ”

The British had a total of 1,000 tanks, but these 1,000 tanks were scattered throughout the Western Front, serving as infantry support weapons and mobile fire fortresses, and Manstein had only about 30 tanks in front of them.

"Boom!" The British No. 4 tank opened fire, just hitting the German H-tank, the tank made a huge vibration, and the armor in front became concave, fortunately it was not pierced, otherwise the personnel in the tank would have died.

"Fire!" Not to be outdone, the German H-type tank fired back, under the command of Manstein, a No. 4 tank was set on fire by several German tanks, and was hit several times in an instant, with the crisp sound of the gun, the No. 4 tank could not move, constantly emitting white smoke, and turned into a pile of useless scrap metal.

The first tank duel in the history of mankind begins!

"The tanks opened fire while rushing, and at my command, they quickly assaulted the enemy's trenches and provided cover for the infantry in the rear."

This was the order of the 3rd battalion of Rommel, and the command ideas of Rommel and Manstein were completely different, and Manstein's thinking was to give priority to the destruction of a threatening enemy and to annihilate the enemy's living forces. Rommel, on the other hand, took advantage of the tank's rapid assault and mobile fortress to drive the tank into the enemy's trench, tear through the enemy's defense, and support the infantry in the rear. Rommel believed that the infantry in the rear had anti-tank weapons anyway, and should not be too careful with British tanks.

Both of them had the right thinking, which also caused such a scene on the battlefield: Manstein's second battalion stopped advancing in front of the enemy's position and opened fire to attack the enemy's tanks and firing points, while Rommel's third battalion rushed to the enemy's trench forcefully and needlessly, looking like the second battalion was covering the charge of the third battalion.

After Rommel lost two tanks, the tanks of the third battalion finally rushed into the enemy's trench, and one artillery piece and four Maxim machine guns mercilessly killed the enemy on the trench to provide support for the infantry behind.

At this time, at the rear of the battlefield, the cavalry division led by Ludendorff personally saw the tanks of Rommel's third battalion rushing into the enemy's trenches, and did not hesitate to lead the cavalry division to attack.

In this battle, Rommel's role is a little greater than that of Manstein, this is because of the cavalry division, the tank battalion breaks through the enemy's death fire line, and after rushing into the trenches, it can effectively provide fire support for the follow-up infantry, plus the follow-up troops are cavalry divisions, as long as the cavalry division does not have the threat of the enemy's machine guns, it can quickly assault the enemy's battle line.

It was a perfect fit.

The reason for the difference in the tactics of Rommel and Manstein is the difference in their personalities, Rommel is a bold man, brave and fierce, and takes the lead, so his tactics are more dangerous.

Manstein is a man who plans and then acts, does not do things that he is not sure of, always accumulates strength, thinks far-sightedly, and only seeks the strongest and most fatal blow.

In this comparison, Rommel is suitable to be a front-line commander, while Manstein is suitable to maneuver in the rear.

When the cavalry division rushed into the French trenches, Ludendorff found Hitler and said to him: "The Berlin regiment and the cavalry division together quickly pursue the fleeing enemy, and also storm the second line of the Reims line, otherwise it will be difficult to wait for the enemy to be prepared." ”

After receiving this order, Hitler quickly reorganized the strength in his hands, the Berlin regiment had a total of 30 tanks, almost half of the tanks could not fight, some of the lost tanks were destroyed, some were mechanical problems and were being repaired, the soldiers were very fast, and Hitler did not wait for the maintenance of the tanks, and directly ordered all the soldiers of the Berlin regiment to follow the cavalry division to attack the enemy's second Reims line.

As long as the second line of defense of Reims is broken, it is a flat avenue, and up to Fort Thierry, the enemy has no more resistance!

The French trench line north of Reims had only two trenches, and on the Western Front it was actually three trenches, but the French trenches had been broken through by the Germans before, and these were newly dug trenches, and only two had time to be dug.