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As the German army rolled south from Belgium, Paris appeared in front of the German army like a huge breakwater. Paris is not only the heart of France, but also the largest fortress in the world. No one could have imagined that right here, a large-scale and tragic battle involving a total of 3.5 million troops from Germany, Britain and France would be staged.

Since the start of the war in 1908, the Germans have often been invincible throughout August, with the battles of Liège, Ardennes, and Sambre...... All the great battles ended in a crushing defeat for the Anglo-French forces. The Germans rushed towards Paris, striking at any Entente forces they encountered. At this time, Kaiser Wilhelm II was in ecstasy, and the German people were in ecstasy. The German newspapers were trumpeting the great German victory on the Western Front, and the German army was portrayed as the guardians of civilization, advancing on the hostile countries that dared to destroy Germany, occupying their homeland and destroying their armies.

Moltke the Younger, Deputy Chief of the German General Staff, kept a clear head about the victory of the German army. During a meeting with Kaiser Wilhelm II with the German Chief of Staff Schlieffen, he expressed his opinion: "If the German army has achieved an unprecedented victory, then where are our prisoners of war? Where are the weapons and military materiel of Britain and France that we have captured? So far, we have captured about 20,000 British and French prisoners of war in Lorraine, and only 10,000 or 20,000 in other places combined, which is not logical. ”

After being poured a basin of cold water on his head, Wilhelm II's ecstatic mood suddenly fell, and he asked Moltke in confusion: "Helmut, what do you mean by this?" ”

German Chief of Staff Schlieffent: "Your Majesty, I think he meant. The British and French troops were retreating massively in an organized manner! ”

"I think it's the same thing, the British and French troops will retreat somewhere. And then a decisive battle with our army. This is not a good thing for our German team. The British and French ** teams retreated to their base camps, and the logistics were abundant, while we, if the battle line was too long, the supply of supplies and ammunition would probably be delayed. ”

The smile on Wilhelm II's face disappeared and he said: "So." Was the Germans sure of victory? ”

Schlieffen said: "Your Majesty, rest assured, as long as we strengthen the right flank, we will take Paris." The battle on the Western Front will definitely be won. According to my original plan, weaken the left flank of our army and lure the right flank of the French army to attack from the fortified trenches. Then the right flank of our army went around and attacked from behind. ”

The forces of the Anglo-French Entente. A full-scale retreat along the line of Arras and Verdun. The Germans marched in, and the Parisians, who were already threatened, panicked, and in eight days more than 500,000 people abandoned everything and fled the capital.

But at this time, the French chief of staff Xia Fei, who was responsible for the defeat, believed that the defeat of France was due to the incompetence of the French commanders, and he removed a large number of French officers on the way back. Some generals who had shown weakness and incompetence were dismissed, and famous generals such as Fuxi, Pétain, and Despere were promoted vigorously. The only thing to be thankful for is. Chauffeur painfully realized that it was a complete mistake to attack Germany, and that France should be on the defensive. He ordered the French Third, Fourth, and Fifth Armies to begin a major retreat. In the process of escaping, Xia Fei also ordered the creation of a new army group, the Sixth Army, for a mobile offensive. In addition, he is very calm, eats two good meals a day, and goes to bed at 10 o'clock every night has never changed.

Xia Fei also avoided answering the phone. His orders were given by the adjutant by telephone, and the adjutant also answered all incoming calls, thus giving him a chance to think. Sometimes an important minister asked him to answer the phone in person, and he tried to excuse himself. He neither answered nor commented except to listen; In fact, he almost never expressed any attitude. He was equally distrustful of any letter, telegram, or formal memorandum, like a cunning hillbilly who suspiciously refused to sign any written word. According to one contemporary, Xia Fei's immediate reaction was to "turn it inside out, checking every detail, often lest it fall into a trap or a trap."

So, in the hot weather, thousands of French troops began to trek south, and the exhausted French troops began to flee for their lives. The British Expeditionary Force also ran wildly with the French army, retreating 305 kilometers after thirteen days.

Xia Fei originally planned to flee to the Somme and wait for the opportunity to counterattack, but the Germans soon caught up with the Somme, and the French had to abandon the counterattack and continue to retreat.

On 2 September, the Germans approached Paris, and the French government moved to Bordeaux to be on the safe side, causing a political crisis.

Paris is critical, French Minister of War Adolf. Messimi ordered Xia Fei to immediately send an army of at least three corps to the trench camp in Paris to defend it, if our army was forced to retreat.

Messimi is ignorant of the actual situation, as Xia Fei has a habit of hiding unfavorable news from the government. Xia Fei refused to carry out Messimi's order to send three armies, insisting that he needed every soldier to stop the German advance. He promised to send troops, but only if Paris was immediately threatened.

Xia Fei also suggested to Messimi, suggesting that France declare Paris an undefended city, surrender without fighting the German army, and then lure the German army to Paris, put the capital in a military zone, and then close the door and fight the dogs.

Messimi's categorical opposition to this proposal saved France from disaster. By August 31, the government was planning to move to Bordeaux, and the defense of Paris was handed over to the retired veteran Gallieni, who was given almost absolute power by the French government. He suggested that more troops were needed to defend Paris, and the French government ordered Chauffeur to put the newly formed Sixth Army under the command of Gallieny, but Chauffy replied: "The Germans will not be able to reach Paris in a few days." ”

In fact, on September 3, 1908, 300,000 people of the German First Army had arrived 15 kilometers from Paris, and the German ** team could clearly see the Eiffel Tower standing on the Champ de Mars in Paris in the suburbs!

Fortunately, French veterans Gallieni and Chauffeur are two completely different people, an imaginative strategist whose boundless energy makes his age and declining health unrecognizable. Earlier, he had served as governor of Madagascar, where Xia Fei was only his subordinate.

Gallieni faced Paris, a city half deserted. Not discouraged, he delivered a speech of courage and confidence to the panicked millions of citizens: "Members of the great government of the French Republic, have left Paris. To give a new mobilization to national defense. I was ordered to defend Paris and resist the German invaders. I will carry out this responsibility with my life to the end. ”

Privately, however, Gallieri said to himself: "The government has moved to Bordeaux, leaving me alone here with the people, who until now have been deceived by the deceitful communiqué." ”

Anyway, within a few hours. A small French army of soldiers began to construct trenches and barricades, as well as reinforce the surrounding batteries. Back in 1870, during the siege of Paris, the hungry ate animals from the zoo and animals at home for fun. Gallieni's stadium tracks and parks in Paris are filled with cows, sheep, pigs, goats and horses, and he has cracked down on hoarding.

Gallieni issued a proclamation telling the citizens: "It is not only necessary to make Paris free of food. And you should eat the same bread as you do now. ”

Paris at that time immediately imposed martial law. The supply of wine was placed under strict supervision, and arrangements were made for the relocation of any machinery or equipment that might be used against the enemy. Not only under the Eiffel Tower, but also under the eighty bridges spanning the Seine, Oise and Marne, there were buried **, ready to detonate at any time and die with the Germans.

Gallieni was a battle-hardened veteran who was knocked unconscious by the Germans when the French were knocked out. I'm not content to just defend Paris. A scout of the military airship returned late on 3 September to report to him that the German column was changing the route of their march.

Early the next morning. As soon as it was dawn, both aerial and cavalry reconnaissance confirmed that the Germans had indeed revised their plan to attack Paris from the front, and had moved to the southeastern suburbs outside the capital.

It turned out that when the five German armies were approaching Paris, the intermittent radio contact with the German General Staff was abruptly cut off. With the exception of the First and Second Armies, which were advancing together, none of the commanders knew exactly where the other armies were.

The commander of the German First Army, which lacked operational intelligence, had only a vague idea of where he was confronting the Entente. Unbeknownst to him, the French Sixth Army was closing in on his right flank, but he accepted the advice of the commander of the German Second Army, Bilow, to carry out a combined inward rotation sweep to attack the French Fifth Army. When Kluke and Bülow advanced in front of Paris and to the east, rather than behind and in front of Paris, the Schlieffen plan was misretorted. This transfer also shortened the right flank of the German army by eighty miles.

After a brief study of the map, Gallieni saw that the Germans had made a mistake, and that the new German course provided a great opportunity for a flank attack, and he excitedly took off his hat and shouted to the adjutant with a fluttering eyebrow: "I can't believe that the Germans have made such a mistake, it's so good that I can't believe it's true!" ”

Gallieni immediately sent a messenger to his old subordinate Xia Fei to tell him the good news and ask him to send an army to assist him in his counter-attack. Xia Fei was uncommittal.

Gallieni was furious and ran to Xia Fei's army station in his own car, but Xia Fei was still indifferent. Xia Fei has his own counteroffensive plan, but Xia Fei wants to wait a little longer so that reinforcements can arrive. And it will take a while to get his Fifth Army ready and for the British to cooperate

Gallieni was desperate at Xia Fei's indecision, and slapped Xia Fei's military hat: "If you hesitate like this, you will harm France!" How can you be a good commander of the French army with such an incompetent character? ”

Xia Fei was furious, and shouted at Gallieni with a red face: "Don't think I'm still your subordinate! I am already the Chief of the General Staff of the French Army, your superior, and you should follow my orders! And not pointing fingers at me! ”

Gallieri shook his head and drove away from the French barracks and drove directly to the British garrison of Melun, hoping to win the support of the British Expeditionary Force.

The commander of the British Expeditionary Force, John Brown. Sir French was not in command, not even his chief of staff.

Several British staff officers, anxious and distressed by the month's defeat, met with the French veteran Galieni.

Gallieni did not look like a military officer, with an untidy uniform, a fluffy mustache, black buttoned boots and yellow leggings, and a squinted eye from a pair of nose-clipping glasses.

When he tried to win the support of the British, he spoke loudly, his English was not standard, and the glasses on his nose fluttered unsecurely.

A staff officer of the British Expeditionary Force looked at Gallieni's ugly appearance and laughed at the bad old man in front of him, saying: "If the British had known that the French were so incompetent militarily, Britain would not have entered the war." Together with France, we will fight against the Germans! ”

Gallieni was about to say something, but the annoyed British staff officer said, "You annoying old man, go back to sleep." If it had been before, the British ** official would never have talked to a harlequin character like you. ”

Gallieni was furious, lifted his collar, and shouted to the British officials: "**, you incompetent waste! When Lao Tzu was the governor of Madagascar, you were still wearing open crotch pants. Who is your Chief of Staff? Call him to me. If you miss the plane, your head will be used as a football by the Germans. ”

They were arguing, and the Chief of Staff of the British Expeditionary Force, Archibald Brown. Murray is back. As if he had met a savior, Gallerini ran over and quickly stated his battle plan.

Unexpectedly, the Chief of Staff of the British Expeditionary Force, Archibald. Murray was also very disgusted with Gallieni's plan to attack the right flank of the German army, he thought to himself, the weak left flank and center wing of the German army were all over the ground to find teeth and embarrassed, the British and French troops suffered more than 300,000 casualties in a month, and the British Second Army on the way to retreat was pursued by the German First Army led by Commander Crucker, a battle that invested 40,000 British troops, and nearly 8,000 people died, which was a great loss in the eyes of the British army, and Gallerien actually ran to encourage the British army to attack the right flank of the German army, it was crazy, If this is a good opportunity, why don't the French themselves go? Obviously, the British army was asked to be a substitute for the dead. Thinking so, the Chief of Staff of the British Expeditionary Force, Archibald. Murray tactfully rejected Gallieni, replying: "In the command of the British Expeditionary Force, John . . In Sir French's absence, I cannot make a decision in any event. ”

Gallieni listened to Archibald. Murray's words, looking at his appearance, seemed to be very sincere, so he said, "I can wait here for John. Sir French returns. ”

Unexpectedly, on that day, Gallerien waited in vain for the British commander to return, wasting three precious hours. When he left, he received nothing but a promise to call later, and then Gallerieni called the British, who said that they would continue their retreat the next day.

Because the chief of the French General Staff, Chauffeur, sent a telegram to the British commander Archibald. "In the current situation, my intention is to retreat behind the Seine," Murray said. If the Germans continue to move south-southeast, you may agree that your British forces may be most effective on the right bank of the river between the Marne and the Seine. ”

When Gallieni knew the truth, a mouthful of old blood was about to spurt out of his chest, but the old general held back, he knew that once he gave up, then Paris would be finished! France is finished!! The whole of Europe is finished!! (To be continued......) u