Chapter 241

Neville was taken aback by Alain's report, and Epernay's immediate enemy was two corps of the German Fifth Army, with as many as six infantry divisions. There were only two French infantry divisions in Epernay, and how long it could hold was a question mark. The squadron actually had the strength of a division, and it was whimsical to counterattack. Isn't that a joke? Neville was a little angry, but quickly calmed down and called back to ask Alain: "What do the Chinese want to do, you ask clearly and then report." ”

Alan had to turn back and ask, but Zhang Zuolin didn't answer, and it was Wei Yue who was in charge of explaining. When facing Wei Yue, there are few people who don't have psychological pressure, this thing is tall, and he is still rich at 1.9 meters. Alan is not short, close to one meter eight, and when facing Wei Yue, he still has the embarrassment of being overlooked. Among the Chinese, it is really rare to grow so tall.

"Major General Alain, I want to make this clear to you, our army is not used for positional warfare. Our task is to appear in the enemy's weak spots and strike a hard blow. The Germans in front of them were indeed strong, but they also had weaknesses. Our plan was to cross the Marne after dark, to insert from the edge of the Reims Mountains to the German flank, and during the day we could use the reconnaissance of the air force or reconnaissance detachments to understand the disposition of the German troops, to look for weak points of the German army, and by tomorrow night at the latest, we would attack. It may not be too long to fight each time, but we will keep it going forever. Considering that the Germans might send tanks to attack Epernay, our artillery and baggage units would remain to assist in the frontal defense. ”

Alain still does not understand that special operations are still a very foreign concept to the French army. It doesn't matter if you don't understand, just report it to the truth. Neville received this report and did not understand it very well. However, after looking at the map, he thought that the idea was still good, and the Reims mountain range was located at the junction of Reims, Lavov and Epernay. The characteristics of the mountainous area are difficult to deploy large corps. The Chinese division looks like there are only more than 10,000 people, but their equipment should be very advantageous in the mountains. Considering that the Chinese took the initiative to ask for war, Neville decided that he could agree to their request.

After replying to Alain, Neville again telegraphed the General Headquarters of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, hoping that they should rush to Paris as soon as possible. The Fifth Army was able to reach Paris this evening, but the liaison officer reported that they were unwilling to carry out the order to rush to the aid of Epernay and Lavov at once. Instead, he raised the waiting group army headquarters and pointed out that the First Army of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, which had independent command. It is possible to fight with the French army. Dismantling and using is not sensitive.

This attitude of the Chinese, Neville has a headache. But I can't fault it, after all, that's what the contract says. The Chinese Expeditionary Force accepts a separate combat mission in a certain area and cannot be used separately. Now that a division has been used alone, it can be regarded as a very face-saving thing for Neville.

The General Command of the Expeditionary Force soon called Neville back. The speed of the trip to Paris depends on the French government.

Neville completely lost his temper and had to report it truthfully. Xia Fei had no choice but to urge Petain again to launch a counterattack on the German flank by the end of June at the latest. At the same time, Xia Fei handed over one or two heavy artillery divisions to Neville. At its disposal, it is required to hold on to the outskirts of Ravov and Epernay for more than half a month. The focus was on Epernay, a place where the Marne River was the barrier, and the Germans were going to fight against Paris. This 10-kilometer line of defense along the river must be passed. Going somewhere else was unrealistic for the Germans, and traffic was a heavy restriction.

In the development of modern warfare, transportation has become an important factor. There is no road support. A large-scale advance of the German army was unrealistic. Epernay, right stuck on the road to Paris. There is also the Marne River as a barrier. Xia Fei even hoped that he could hold on to Epernay for a long time and wait until the Battle of the Somme had a diversion effect.

If Epernay could hold and Ravov could recapture, then the French troops in the Reims direction would not have to retreat. Although the French army is now preparing to retreat, the most important thing is whether the German army can break through the above two strategic points in the coming week. After the European war entered a protracted war, the characteristic is that the front is long, and the loss of Verdun can be said to be a whole body, so far the French army has been led to a comprehensive retreat in the direction of Verdun, but objectively speaking, if the German army can not capture the Epernay threat to Paris, or clear the French army on the side of Lavov, as long as half a month, the French army can re-purchase a defensive line. At the very least, the second group, which had withdrawn southward, could stabilize itself and reinforce the Marne line by drawing troops from that direction.

With Neville's permission, it was almost three o'clock in the afternoon. Zhang Zuolin ordered the troops to seize the time to rest, each of them to prepare a week's worth of dry rations, and after nightfall, except for mortars of 60 and 81 calibers, no other artillery was brought.

The sky was getting darker, and night finally came. The officers and men of the special operations division, who had rested for several hours, with the help of Alain, found more than a dozen

A local farmer acts as a guide. In fact, in this battle, Zhang Zuolin was very uncertain, after all, he had never stayed in this army. Wei Yue was very arrogant, and strongly asked Zhang Zuolin to stay and not follow the troops. Zhang Zuolin is as good as a stream, after all, he is a layman in special operations. repeatedly explained to Wei Yue that he must pay attention to safety, and he must not take risks, etc.

At eight o'clock in the evening, the special operations division began to cross the river. The pontoon bridge was erected in the afternoon, and the engineering units were busy enough. Two hours later, the troops crossed the Marne along two pontoon bridges. At this time, no one expected that the special operations division's battle would have a far-reaching impact on the entire campaign.

In fact, any active counterattack on the flank, it was all to fool the French. Wei Yue, the acting division commander of the special operations division, never thought of fighting a battle above the regimental level. Wei Yue's plan was really good, and even Zhang Zuolin didn't understand it. In fact, the simple answer is that relying on the Reims Mountains, you can attack Ravov to the north, and you can sneak attack the camp of the German Fifth Army to the south. To the east of the Reims Mountains is an open area between Ravov and Epenaire, where it is located. Because of the existence of the Reims Mountains, the Germans did not have to guard against the large French army coming out of this place. The pattern of warfare in these years has not yet been said of that.

Who would have thought that the Chinese had already trained such a demonic army. In the next month, the German army was moved around as a company, and the German army was not at peace day and night. In the end, the German Fifth Army was forced to transfer the strength of an army to deploy the mountain range that would not have been guarded against.

On the morning of March 11, Neville sent reinforcements to Epernay, an infantry corps, two large-caliber artillery brigades. Together with the two infantry divisions and two heavy artillery divisions that had preceded it, the Epernay Line, although crumbling, was once again solidified.

The squadron that entered the Reims Mountains, there is no news for the time being. Zhang Zuolin, who stayed behind, was amazed by the transportation capacity of the French army, but in just two days, so many reinforcements were transported. This is simply unthinkable in China. Among the reinforcements, the most eye-catching is the howitzer of the caliber of the large-caliber howitzer brigade, and Zhang Zuolin was dumbfounded when he looked at it.

I can't help but say that the luck of the French army is good, and the shit luck has not stepped on so accurately. On the 12th, the Germans began an even more intense offensive. Zhang Zuolin's headquarters, ten kilometers away from Epernay, was awakened early in the morning by the sound of a violent explosion.

The sound was too loud, and I thought that the explosion point was very tight, but when Zhang Zuolin came out of the marching tent, he saw that the explosion point was far away, at least seven or eight kilometers away, but a column of smoke dozens of meters high rose up, which made people's scalps tingle when they looked at it.

Also awakened was the French liaison officer, Major General Alain, who wanted to leave, but the problem was that the main force of the squadron had already been assembled in Paris, and Alain had to stay, because the squadron was assigned as the second echelon of the Marne line, that is, ten kilometers behind Epernay, to build a defensive line about fifty kilometers wide. Once the first line of defense of the French army is overwhelmed, the second line of defense will be engaged. Let's put it this way, Neville's arrangement caused a lot of backlash in the French General Command, but Neville insisted on it, Xia Fei supported, and it was settled. In fact, this arrangement is quite painstaking, Neville is worried that the squadron will not be willing to give his life, so he is placed in the second line of defense, once the French army in front of him can't withstand it, the squadron can't work hard.

This arrangement can be regarded as a disguised compensation for the rest time of the squadron. It looks very interesting, but in fact, Neville really didn't have any good intentions, the first is still a little worried about the combat effectiveness of the squadron, and the second is that the defense of Epernay is very hard. The German offensive was fierce, and according to aerial reconnaissance, the German tank forces and large forces were being sent to Epernay for reinforcements, and the Germans were about to rush to Paris in one go. The reality in front of the French army was that it could no longer draw troops, and it could only be hoped that the French army in Epernay would already be a Chinese expeditionary force, at least for half a month.

The Germans bombarded the French positions with 420 mm heavy artillery, which made Zhang Zuolin, a dirt bun, once again see the cruelty of the European war. Not to be outdone, the French returned fire with 400-mm guns. After six hours of shelling, the Germans began a new round of attacks.

The greatest difficulty faced by the Germans was to build a bridge over the river. After a morning of artillery fighting, the French heavy artillery unit was heavily damaged, the German aircraft raged again, and a French 152.4 heavy artillery regiment was almost completely wiped out.

Ground artillery fire combined with air suppression, and the French army fell into passivity. French aircraft appeared in the course of an artillery battle, and a fierce air battle was fought between the two sides. As a result of the battle, the Germans won a complete victory, the French were shot down fifteen aircraft, and the Germans lost only three.

As a result of this air battle, the French planes did not dare to appear again. The performance of the German aircraft was far stronger than that of the French army, and the two sides still used pistols to shoot at each other at the beginning of the First World War, and within two years, the German aircraft were equipped with machine guns. And the French army, for the time being, has not yet resolved the contradiction between machine guns and aircraft propellers.