Northeast of Reims, Bazangkur.

The winds rustled the woods, and the foul smell of a million gas bombs wafted through the jungle. Ouyang Nan was wearing a thick gas mask, and the sky above his head was dark and there was no starlight, and only the continuous sound of artillery and explosions in the distance could tell everyone that he was already in the depths of the most terrifying battlefield in the world.

From Gui Jun to Chasseur, and then from Chaser to Deputy Company Commander of the Reconnaissance Battalion of the First Field Division of the National Defense Army, he sniped accurately 47 times, and failed to count the results 23 times, and as a veteran who was only 23 years old but had been a soldier for six years, he handed over a satisfactory test paper. It's a pity that he practiced hunting skills hard but neglected cultural learning, which led to the failure of the promotion assessment. It is precisely because of this that even if he knew that Qiu Wenbin, who had brought him back then, was in Reims, he did not dare to visit him for fear of being scolded, and he was ready to wait for the Baoding Army Non-commissioned Officer School after returning to China after the battle.

The sharp soldiers in front stopped, Ouyang Nan clenched his fists and signaled everyone to stop, and then walked forward quickly, approaching and finding that it was a destroyed air force Haidongqing fighter/reconnaissance plane. The wings and tail were completely broken in the fall, and the dense bullet holes in the fuselage showed how fierce the strangulation in the air was! The four flag-badges on the nose tell everyone that this is a pilot who almost became an ace, but now he is lying in the cabin covered in blood, and his feet have been cut off by the cabin planks when they hit the ground, but even if he is not cut off, he will probably not survive.

Ouyang Nan asked everyone to carefully carry the pilot out of the cabin and take off the identity plate around his neck. It was impossible for the reconnaissance company to bring the remains back to the troops, and even they themselves had to make a detour of hundreds of kilometers from the mountains of Lorraine to get here, so they had to bury the pilots in the woods that they could not name. A small grave bag and the wreckage of an airplane are his tombstones. The scouts said goodbye to the body and continued to move forward, and along the way they saw many wrecks of British, French, German and other aircraft, indicating that a very tragic air battle had been fought over this forest. Searching the cabin is a necessary job for the scouts, useful maps and loot are taken away, and the rest is left in place to be cleaned up after the battle.

Before they were about to get out of the woods, Ouyang Nan and his comrades untied the kettle to moisten their throats. No one dared to drink it all at once, because the Germans had recently destroyed the water sources in the controlled areas, and many places were poisoned. They saw with their own eyes that more than a dozen French refugees had died of poisoning after drinking poisoned well water.

After checking the equipment again, the reconnaissance companies scattered in platoons and rushed to their respective areas for reconnaissance. Ouyang Nan and the third platoon acted together, and the task was to reconnoiter a valley southeast of Bazangkul. This is the junction of the German 1st and 3rd armies, and the open terrain is not a strategic location. But because it is the relationship between the joint department, the command needs the information here. The night became the best cover for the scouts, Ouyang Nan held the butt of the gun tightly against the shoulder socket, and his right eye was always attached to the scope to advance. This is his habit, although this will be much narrower, but when he is protected by his comrades, if he finds a threat, he can kill the opponent as soon as possible.

The town next to the valley was as quiet as if it were dead, and being 20 kilometers from the battlefield did not bring it peace. Instead, a large number of barbed wire and trenches were deployed on the periphery of the town. The reconnaissance company chose to infiltrate from the north to the south, which had the advantage of avoiding the main front in the south, which the enemy was most concerned about, and because it could avoid dangerous mine belts.

The comrades-in-arms used pliers to cut short the wires, and then crawled along the gap opened, and when a reinforced bunker that was renovated with a building appeared with a bright light, Ouyang Nan quickly found cover and aimed at the gate. The assault squad that was specifically responsible for tongue grabbing rushed forward like a civet cat. "Boom." At the same time as the wooden door was kicked open, several commandos pounced fiercely, and the three German soldiers stationed inside were knocked unconscious by the butts of their guns as soon as they opened their sleepy eyes.

"Why are there only three of them?" Ouyang Nan immediately sensed that something was wrong after entering the bunker. It stands to reason that such a bunker needs at least one heavy machine gun platoon to be stationed, and even if it is far from the front line, there should be an infantry squad, after all, this is the combination of two armies, and this combination often becomes the focus of the enemy's assault in war, so why only three people? "Wake up, get the translator!" The scout quickly brought a German-speaking expatriate into the bunker, probably for the first time in this kind of guiding mission, and the guy's feet were still trembling slightly.

The soldier opened the kettle and poured the last remaining cold water on the head of an officer, and the sergeant officer suddenly opened his eyes, but his mouth was covered as soon as he tried to scream. Sen Han's dagger made him obediently shut his mouth. His eyes were full of horror and he looked at these yellow-skinned and black-eyed soldiers. The translator finally managed to stabilize his emotions and communicate with him, and after a while, this guy explained the whole situation. It turned out that due to the continuous assault of the French army, the German Third Army was also uncomfortable, and Ludendorff had to pull up the Hessian 17th Reserve Division of the First Army, including the first army stationed here, to assist in the defense. Of course. As a master tactician, Ludendorff would not allow such a large gap to exist for long, just in case he had already drawn two divisions from Cambrai after the British breakthrough was routed, and was expected to arrive in two days.

This is important news!

But the question is how to send it out? There was a war going on in the south, and no matter how capable the reconnaissance company was, it was impossible to pass through the midst of the nearly a million opposing troops, and the only way was to use the radio, but the radio they were carrying broke down on the way, so they had to seize a German radio first. The Germans in the town had a radio station, but there was about one company stationed in the whole town, so if you wanted to take the radio station, you had to kill this company first!

"Let him mark the radio and the defensive position! Tell him that if he cooperates, he can return home alive in accordance with the Hague agreement. ”

Facing the dagger dangling in Ouyang Nan's hand, the officer was also very nervous. After three years of fighting, both the soldiers and the junior officers were tired of it, and no one knew if they would be able to return alive, so when he heard that prisoners of war could be guaranteed according to the Hague agreement, this guy simply told the location of the other troops. But just after saying that, he breathed a sigh of relief, Ouyang Nan's dagger slashed his throat.

"You." The blood that rushed out frightened the translator's face like dirt, but the scouts around him didn't seem to see it, Ouyang Nan wiped the knife as if he had done a very easy thing, and said lightly: "We have few people, it is impossible to leave safely with the prisoners!" After finishing speaking, he immediately arranged for someone to notify the brother troops to come, and began to deploy the offensive mission according to the defense sketch drawn by the German ** officer.

*********

"Zi'an."

In the headquarters of the Reims Expeditionary Force, Cai Ye pushed open the door and saw Yue Peng moving a chair and placing it in front of the map, staring with his arms crossed, and the cigarette between his fingers had long been extinguished. He didn't even notice when he walked in. After walking in, he said again: "Zi'an, Wang Zhengting has sent a telegram." ”

After Hu Weide returned to China and became vice premier, Wang Zhengting became the new ambassador to France, and also shouldered the important task of coordinating the coordination between the Republic of China and the countries of the Entente. So every telegram is to ask about morale and military matters. Yue Peng thought it would be the same this time, and waved his hand indifferently: "Tell him that the 12.7mm bullets are still too few, and he is trying to find a way to get some trucks and shells." By the way, there is not enough gasoline either. ”

His self-talk made Cai Yi laugh dumbly, and shook the telegram in front of him: "Don't think about the truck, this time we have caused a big disaster for the commander-in-chief!" Mangran stabbed you for your refusal to send troops to Soissons. Nivelle and the French government are now pressuring the country to remove you from your post and investigate you, and we must send troops to support you within 5 days! Wang Zhengting meant that even if he sent a few divisions to deal with it, it would be fine. ”

"Deal with the fart! Let Li Zongren send a telegram back to Mangran, Lao Tzu won't give him a single soldier! Yue Peng huffed and crumpled the telegram into a ball. Can you go to that quagmire in Soissons? Mangran and Niveller have gone completely insane! For the sake of the star on his shoulder, he completely disregarded the life and death of the soldiers, if he was not afraid that the casualty figures would seriously affect the morale of the front-line soldiers, he would have the idea of letting the reporter take a look.

Cai Yi was also full of bitterness, he knew how heavy the burden on Yue Peng's shoulders was. There are 22 divisions, the last 3 of which will also arrive in August, and a total of more than 500,000 soldiers in 25 divisions will suffer tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of casualties. As long as there is a little sense of responsibility, the generals are probably not willing to fill the quagmire of Siegfried! But the problem is that if no action is taken, there may be a crisis in the newly improved Sino-French and Sino-British relations, and even Yang Qiu's diplomatic victory in Russia will be overshadowed. So he persuaded: "It's not okay if you don't fight." In my opinion, it is better to use the mountain of Avila west of Prong as a breakthrough point, and follow the gap opened by the French Fourth Army to the Moronvillier to the northeast and plunge into the Aisne, and then choose the opportunity to move. ”

Although Yue Peng was angry, he had not yet reached the point of ignoring the overall situation. It is not difficult to break through Mount Vila, but what to do after reaching the Aisne River? In the case that the French Fourth Army was afraid that it would not be able to cooperate, once the assault force and the follow-up troops were cut off, they would have to face the strangulation of an entire German elite army! But he could also feel how reluctant Cai Ye was when he said this, but in the absence of a clear breakthrough goal, this was probably the only choice!

"I'm going to call everyone for a meeting." Cai Ye patted him on the shoulder and sighed and walked out, and as soon as he walked to the door, he almost bumped into Bai Chongxi, who came to the Western Front for internship: "Chief of Staff, telegram from the reconnaissance company of the 201st Division (composed of 1 Brigade and two reserve brigades, and the 1st Division Reconnaissance Battalion is incorporated into it). ”

Cai Ye, who was sighing just now, jumped up suddenly after getting the telegram: "Quick! Call all officers above the regimental level! I don't care where they are. The command must be rushed within an hour! ”

Soon after the officers who had been on standby for a long time arrived from all directions, Yue Peng's sonorous voice sounded in the war room: "Liaison with the heavy artillery units of the Fourth Group Army to assist." Abandoning the average artillery tactics, all aimed at the German line on the west side of the Avila Mountains, extending the width by 2 km. Abandon layers of suppression, and the heavy artillery directly targets the second line of defense! All light artillery assumes the tactical cover of the first line of barrage, and the heavy artillery expands to the two flanks of the breakthrough point after completing the mission, blocking its reinforcements!

The air team is responsible for sky reconnaissance and interdiction missions.

The 88th Armored Brigade (Xue Yue) was incorporated into the breakthrough cluster. After completing the breakthrough, go straight to Meronviller, don't fight along the way, put on a straight posture, and arrive at the parallel along the Aisne River and turn westward! The second group of five infantry divisions attacked Bazangkul to the southwest, blocking the connection between the two German armies! The main third group attacked the 1st Army of Rennie Weld in a straight line! Secretariat, telegram to the French command. ”…… (Your support on this site is my biggest motivation.) )