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The border battle was defeated, the French army lost more than 100,000 people, the remaining departments were also retreating rampantly, and millions of German troops were entering France, driving straight into Paris, the capital of France. The situation in France is at once critical!

At the French General Headquarters, countless staff officers came and went, marking the latest battle situation on the map, and at the same time issuing orders one by one to the troops on the front. The commander-in-chief of the French army, General Chauffeur, stood in front of the map hanging on the wall, his face gloomy as if he could drip water. The attack of several French army groups was completely crushed by the German army, and the German army entered France from Belgium and penetrated directly into the flank of the French army, which made the French army shake the whole line and had to retreat, otherwise, there would be a danger of being surrounded and annihilated by the German army!

"Your Excellency, General Ruff has called for reinforcements, the Germans are pursuing the 3rd Army." A staff officer reported to Xia Fei!

"Sue him, now there are no reinforcements for him, our army is mobilizing, and the 3rd Army must withdraw to Verdun in three days to build a new defensive line!" General Xia Fei ordered. It was now impossible to keep the Germans out of the French border, and the French had to retreat in order to avoid further losses. Retreat all the way to the Marne area, rely on the Marne to build a defensive line to resist the attack of the German army, and wait for the arrival of the follow-up troops of the French army before attempting to launch a counterattack!

"Yes, General!" The staff officer immediately went to give the order!

"Your Excellency, the troops on the front line are retreating too quickly, there is already a gap in the central region, if the Germans seize the opportunity and launch a fierce attack, the retreat will most likely turn into a rout!" A staff officer built yì road.

"Is there any way to fix this?" General Xia Fei's brows furrowed. Right now. What France needs is time, the mobilization of the army has not yet gone out, and it will take time for the troops on the front line to withdraw and rebuild the defensive line. And the Germans, who are also desperately attacking, will not give France enough time. If the troops on the front line cannot be withdrawn in time, he will not have enough troops to defend Paris!

"Your Excellency, Commander, we need an army to resist the German offensive, even if it is to temporarily contain their offensive, to buy time for the retreat of the front-line army!" Staff officer built yì road.

General Xia Fei nodded. Then he ordered: "Send a telegram to General Ferdinand Foch and ask him to go to the left flank to organize troops to resist the German attack." Sue him, I can only give him three divisions of the army, and he can gather the scattered troops. However, he had to withstand the German attack for more than five days! ”

"Yes, Your Excellency, Commander!" The staff officer nodded. There is no doubt that this task is an extremely difficult one. Now that the German army has an absolute advantage, all the French troops are retreating, and at this time to resist the German attack is a life of death!

"Your Excellency, Commander. The President, please go to the Élysée Palace right away! A guard came in and reported.

"Okay, get ready for the car, I'll go see the president right away!" General Xia Fei said. He knew that the defeat at the front had attracted the attention of the president and the cabinet. Now going to the Elysee Palace, there is no doubt that he will be questioned by the president and the cabinet, and if the answer is not satisfactory to the president and the cabinet, he may be the commander-in-chief!

10 a.m. General Chauffy arrived at the Élysée Palace, where President Falier was waiting for him in his office. Also in the office were Prime Minister Joseph Cayo, Foreign Minister Giustan de Servi, and Army Minister Adolfo Messimi.

"General Chauffy, we have suffered a crushing defeat at the border, the Germans are marching in, and now, especially the millions of German troops moving south from Belgium, are closing in on Paris. I wonder, is the army sure to withstand the German offensive? President Farier asked, his face full of concern. Originally, he thought that with the fortifications built by the French army in the northeastern border area, he could resist the German attack, but he did not expect that the French counterattack had failed, and the German army had broken through the French defense. In addition, the main force of the German army also made a detour through Belgium and approached Paris directly, which made the French government panic, and everyone was full of doubts about whether they could hold Paris.

"Your Excellency, I have ordered the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Armies to retreat to the line of Verdun and Sedan against the German offensive. In addition, the 1st and 2nd armies retreated to the south line of the Marne, fending off the German 1st, 2nd, and 3rd armies moving south from Belgium. General Xia Fei said.

"So, will we be able to hold the Marne line?" Prime Minister Joseph Cayo asked.

"It was very difficult, the Germans had nearly 800,000 troops, and we had less than 500,000. I need more troops. General Xia Fei said with some bitterness. The main forces of the French army were in the northeast, and there were no extra troops in the north. In addition, the general mobilization of France is not yet complete, and there are still too many forces that have not yet been assembled!

"Your Excellency Messimi, how many troops do we have in our hands?" President Fallier asked.

"Your Excellency, there are still 200,000 people in the Paris area, and if we can hold out for half a month, we will be able to organize another 300,000 people!" This was stated by the Minister of War Adolf Messimi.

"General Xia Fei, I will give you all the 200,000 troops in the Paris area, no matter what, you must hold the Marne, once the Marne is lost, Paris will be finished!" President Fallier said.

"Yes, Your Excellency. However, although there are 200,000 more troops, the number of troops is still insufficient. If I can, I hope the government will step in and get the British allies to send more expeditionary forces! "General Xia Fei built yì said.

President Fallier nodded, then said, "I will speak to Prime Minister Asquith personally." Also, Your Excellency Selvi, you have contacted the Ambassadors to Russia and the United States and asked them to fulfil their obligations. Especially Russia, if Russia can launch a large-scale offensive on the Eastern Front and contain the main forces of the German army, it will be very beneficial to us! ”

"Yes, Your Excellency the President, I will immediately send a telegram to the ambassadors to Russia and the United States!" Foreign Minister Giustan de Servi said.

After leaving the Elysée Palace, General Xia Fei breathed a sigh of relief, he knew that this time he had barely passed. However, the crisis was not over, and if the German offensive could not be stopped at the Marne, then he would be completely finished. After returning to the headquarters, General Chauffy organized the French army in the Paris area into the 6th Army and drove to the Marne line. As for the defense of Paris, it was handed over to the troops formed later. As long as they can resist the German attack on the Marne, the French army can use this time to organize more troops, continuously invest in the front line of defense, and fight with the German army. Although, even if it fights for attrition, it can't fight Germany, but after all, France is not fighting alone, and it has the support of its allies!

After General Chauffy left the presidential office, the meeting of President Falier and others continued.

"Your Excellency, Paris is already very dangerous, and it is difficult to say whether the army will be able to withstand the German attack. Therefore, I propose to withdraw some of the government departments to Bordeaux now, just in case! Prime Minister Joseph Kayo built yì said.

"Will the evacuation of Paris at this time have a bad impact on the operations on the front?" President Fallier frowned.

"Your Excellency, the withdrawal of the government to Bordeaux is to better lead France against the Germans. At that time, even if we don't be able to hold Paris, we will be able to continue fighting. If the government had not been able to evacuate Paris and be captured by the Germans, the whole of France would have been completely finished! Foreign Minister Giustan de Servi also said.

"Okay, the government can withdraw to Bordeaux first, but I will hold on to Paris, unless Paris is broken by the Germans, I will never leave here!" President Fallier said firmly. In his opinion, this war was provoked entirely because of him, and if he had not stubbornly sent troops into Morocco, Germany would not have sent warships to Morocco-for-tat, and if the German warships were not sunk, there would be no excuse to provoke this war.

"Yes, Your Excellency!" Prime Minister Joseph Cayo and others had no choice but to stop persuading.

On the evening of August 10, the British Prime Minister's Office was still brightly lit, British Prime Minister Asquith was holding an emergency cabinet meeting, and the French army suffered a crushing defeat at the border, which made Britain also very nervous. As early as half a month ago, the first batch of 100,000 British expeditionary forces had entered France to fight and participated in the border battle. In the war, it also suffered a lot of losses and is now in retreat.

"Gentlemen, the door of France has been opened by the Germans, and the Germans are making a long march towards Paris, and if Paris is captured by the Germans, the French will probably lose their fighting spirit and surrender to the Germans once again, as they did forty years ago. Today, the French ambassador to the United Kingdom has made a formal request to us that Britain will be able to send more troops to help France. Prime Minister Asquith said.

The British cabinet ministers attending the meeting all frowned, the war situation in France was really bad, it had only been half a month since the war began, and the French capital had already been threatened by Yanzhòng, and the French army did not have enough troops to resist the German attack, and everything was terrible.

"Your Excellency, Prime Minister, we should rescue France and help the French hold Paris. If the French are defeated and surrendered, millions of German troops will probably attack us! Sir Edward Grey, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, said. If France fails, the root will not be able to defeat Germany with the strength of Britain alone!