Chapter 286

The news from Europe was getting worse and worse, and although Fang Jianxiong was highly concerned, he was no longer willing to read the telegram and directly asked people to read it to him. "The Soissons line was broken through, and the Germans concentrated at least fifty infantry divisions for a powerful counterattack." Jiang Fangzhen mentioned this, it was really a black line. I don't know what is on the minds of the French military leaders?

Fang Jianxiong snorted, clasped his hands and continued to look at the map, Jiang Fangzhen said again: "The French spring offensive is a mistake in itself. Songpa called to say that the soldiers of the French 2nd Army in the direction of Verdun were rioting and refused to attack the German positions. ”

Fang Jianxiong still didn't speak, continued to look at the map with his hands crossed, and smoked two cigarettes in a row, before sighing: "Paris is estimated to be unable to hold it." As soon as these words came out, Jiang Fangzhen showed a surprised expression and said, "How can you see it? The French army was in the direction of Reims, and there were still thirty divisions, and the Soissons defense line was broken through, and the French army was fully equipped to defend at all levels. ”

Fang Jianxiong shook his head and said, "It's over, let Songpa and Runnong retreat north, don't go back to Epernai." ”

As soon as the words fell, the sound of footsteps came, Yang Yongtai was happy, and strode in and said: "Fu Shuai, good news, Yin Changheng's vanguard has arrived in Lhasa, and the Tibetan soldiers have not resisted. ”

Yin Changheng led the army into Tibet, Fang Jianxiong has been paying attention. At the end of February, due to a sudden change in the weather and heavy snow blocking the mountain, the original plan was postponed, and it was not until the warm spring snow in early April that Yin Changheng sent troops. Prior to this, Yin Changheng trained the troops in a targeted manner, recruited a large number of people from the local government, and repaired the roads in Xikang in advance.

After sending troops, Yin Changheng's subordinates have not been resisted, and it is a small group of people who collude with Britain after all. Because the road is difficult, the army is not moving fast, look at the time. It's been two months, it's not easy!

"Call back to General Yin: Yingyi has coveted the Tibetan border for a long time, Brother Shuoquan, and the current priority is to stabilize the political situation in Dìngla and Sa, win the power of the government, and curb the restless forces. Brother can be flexible and can follow the example of Cullen. Fang Jianxiong said very implicitly, Yin Changheng is a smart person.

"Telegraphed to Hu Jingyi and tried his best to ensure the supply of Yin's department. The government should encourage trade between Sichuan and Tibet. Merchants who enter Tibet can be exempted from certain taxes, and the government can also set up border markets to encourage merchants to settle in. (Author's note: It's a bit sensitive, and I was going to write it in detail.) After hesitating again and again, I struggled for a long time and decided to give up. ）

The direction of the European battle was as Fang Jianxiong expected, after the German army broke through the Suissons line, an assault group composed of tanks, cars, cavalry, and a large number of pack horses, assisted by engineers, suddenly rushed to Fort Thierry. The French army was deployed in a corps in Villecotre. The Germans did not expect this at all, and the French command did not expect it at all, to suddenly kill such an assault force, and at a very steady speed of twenty kilometers per hour. Rapid advancement.

The French army had a brigade of troops stationed in Fort Thierry, whose mission in peacetime was to maintain road safety and order. The brigade was not at all combat-ready, as a result of which it was penetrated by a conical assault of several hundred tanks. The German cavalry that followed was left with only the work of capturing prisoners.

Soissons was breached. The long line of defense of the Anglo-French army was equivalent to being cut off by the waist. The loss of Fort Thierry meant that the road from Reims to Paris was cut off. The French army in Reims had as many as thirty infantry divisions, and one guy was left behind the Germans.

At this time, the fatality of Nivelle's order for the Chinese expeditionary force to reinforce the French Second Army was completely exposed. He doesn't have enough reserves on his hands. The Germans were still attacking fiercely in the direction of Reims, and about ten divisions of German infantry were rushing along the road towards Fort Delier. Once the two sides converge, the French forces in Reims, Saint-Meneurde, Verdun and other places will form a situation of flanking from the front and rear. In particular, the French Second Army and the Chinese Expeditionary Force could not withdraw to Paris, and the back route was cut off, so they could only withdraw to the north of France.

Faced with such a situation, the French command immediately fell into confusion, and the problem of unresponsiveness came into play again. It was not until 5 June that Nivelle ordered the First French Army of Reims to withdraw to Champagne Beach and the Second Army to Baledique. The Chinese expeditionary force was ordered to go on the defensive, and it was necessary to hold Saint-Meneold and Lavove to ensure the retreat of the French First and Second Armies to the north.

The French shit luck broke out again, and a sudden rainstorm made the roads extremely muddy. The French blocking force that remained behind in the Reims Line won favorable conditions. At the same time, the water level of the Meuse River rose, and the German counterattack troops attacking from Verdun were violently suppressed by the artillery units of the Chinese Expeditionary Force on the other side of the Meuse River.

Pétain was still interesting enough, leaving some of the heavy artillery in his hand that was not easy to take away, and the massive military supplies prepared for the attack were also handed over to the Chinese expeditionary force. This is a cheap Chinese expeditionary force, a total of 7 heavy artillery regiments of equipment, (including 3 105 heavy artillery regiments, three 155 heavy artillery regiments, and one 210 heavy artillery regiment. ）

The German counterattack forces advanced too fast and were hit hard by the artillery deployed by the Chinese Expeditionary Force on the north bank of the Meuse. The three infantry regiments in front of the assault were directly disabled. The Germans were forced to temporarily suspend the counterattack, and after it became clear that the opponent was the Chinese Expeditionary Force, Ludendorff quickly made adjustments and ordered the Germans to concentrate on the Reims direction and take a defensive position in the Verdun direction.

According to intelligence, after the Battle of Epernay, the Chinese Expeditionary Force has been resting in Epernay, and this time it appeared as a strategic reserve. Unexpectedly, Nevelle put the Chinese expeditionary force in Verdun, ready to be used to recapture the Verdun fortress group.

Upon discovering this, Ludendorff was ecstatic. If he was most worried about it before, it was probably the Chinese Expeditionary Force as a strategic reserve. There are more than 300,000 people, and they have good skills in fighting wars, and they have a good way to deal with tanks. Seriously, Bob's tank assault group, if it hits the main force of the Chinese expeditionary force head-on, it will be the worst outcome.

Unexpectedly, Nivelle actually took such a stinky move, so what's polite? Since it is an attack, it is natural to focus on the opponent's weak points and rush violently.

Nivelle used all the troops he could muster, a total of ten infantry divisions, to flank the north and south of Fort Thierry in an effort to retake this strategic location. Unfortunately, Nevelle's movements were still slow, and the German ten divisions arrived first, and under the command of Bob, they first concentrated their forces to defeat the four French divisions in the direction of Reims in one day, and then turned around and led with tanks, and it also took only one day for the French army to be routed. At this time, Nivelle was powerless to return to the sky, and although God gave him face, he still could not recapture Fort Thierry, so he could only retreat in full.

At this point in the battle, it was too late for Neville to regret it. One can only hope that the squadron can hold Ravouf and St. Meneurde.

By this time it was already June 12, and the Chinese Expeditionary Force, with less than four corps, was defending the line from Lavove to Saint-Meneurde. The Germans were very face-saving, and all the shells and bombs were dropped in the direction of Reims. On June 13, the defeated troops of the French First Army appeared in the sight of the soldiers of the Chinese Expeditionary Force in Lavov. The vast number of French soldiers retreated along the kilometer to Champagne Beach in despair.

Seventy-two hours later, the fifteen infantry divisions of the French army in Reims were surrounded, and the Chinese expeditionary force abandoned Lavove and Saint-Meneourd after completing its mission, and voluntarily retreated.

Thanks to the erection of sufficient pontoon bridges over the Marne in advance, the French First Army was able to retreat quickly, and it was fatal that all the heavy equipment was lost. On 18 June, the Germans reached the southern outskirts of Paris and met no resistance.

On 20 June, the Germans marched into Paris.

June 21, Troyes. A squadron with a five-color flag retreated along the highway, and Cai Yi and others, who arrived first, waited by the side of the road, looking at the team that was retreating, and the roots of their teeth hurt for a while.

There are a lot of French troops who have withdrawn to Troyes these days, and the defeated soldiers of the French 1st, 2nd, and 3rd armies have withdrawn here, and the difference with the squadron ** is that the largest caliber artillery carried by the withdrawn French army is 105 howitzers.

And when this squadron was withdrawn, it was still dragging twelve 210 caliber howitzers, 155 and 105 caliber howitzers, and it was even more vast and could not see the end. Cheng Zhixuan, who was riding on horseback, saw the bosses of the group army, turned over and dismounted, and ran over to report: "Report, all the artillery units directly under the group army have arrived, a total of five heavy artillery brigades. ”

It turned out that there were only two heavy artillery brigades directly under this group army, a 105 heavy artillery brigade and a mixed heavy artillery brigade of 155 and 210. Now that it has become five heavy artillery brigades, it is no wonder that Cheng Zhixuan has a smile on his face. All along, the artillery units directly under the group army had more people and less artillery. This time Pétain's Second Army retreated first, leaving the artillery behind. I didn't expect Cheng Zhixuan to bring it all back.

It seemed that hearing the rumbling cannon sound in the distance, Cai Ye was not happy at all. With the loss of Paris and the Chinese Expeditionary Force in charge, this is not a good errand. "What is the situation with the First Army?" Cai asked heavily.

"There is no situation, the Germans have chased to the Orb River, and it is already the end of the crossbow. I still had more than a thousand shells in my hand, and I fired them all on the north bank of the Orb River, and then the Germans retreated. The 1st Army did not engage the Germans in the line of defense on the Orb River. ”

Cheng Zhixuan was talking, Liu Mingzhao ran over and said, "Commander-in-chief, the commander of the First Army Gui is calling." ”

Cai Ye took the telegram and read it quickly, and after breathing a sigh of relief, he handed it to Zhang Xiaohuai and said, "Runnong, take a look." ”

Zhang Xiaohuai took the telegram and read it, and said thoughtfully: "This, we have to look at the news of the Second Army." According to the telegram, the Germans did not seem to have any intention of pursuing the Orb River. Also, the meaning of the French command also needs to be taken care of, right? ”

Cai Ye spat out a mouthful of turbid air and said, "Shit, what kind of shit is this." Forget it, no matter how much, let Gui Danqi take it down. There's no reason for us to strike back on our own. ”

Zhang Xiaohuai hesitated for a moment and said, "Songpo, it's better to be cautious, right?" ”