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Avila Mountain artillery roared, and the German Siegfried Line, a hundred kilometers away, was also bleeding.

The April offensive has been fought so far, and anyone who is not a fool can understand that victory is completely impossible. The pre-war rhetoric of "advancing to Belgium in May and ending the war in October" was shattered in front of a pile of 150,000 cold corpses taller than a hill, and the only thing everyone wants to know is when Nivelle and his loyal lackey Mangran will stop saying this.

In front of the French army headquarters, Major El from Provence took out a cigarette from the pocket of his crumpled military uniform, printed with the "Phoenix" pattern and large characters, and a line of cigarette boxes in small English characters "Made in the Republic of China" below aroused the curiosity of his partners: "Chinese cigarettes? Major El lit a cigarette and pointed to the phoenix on the cigarette case: "The phoenix is exactly the same as what my father saw in the Chinese imperial palace fifteen years ago. This is also what he sent me from Marseille, and everyone will be able to draw it every day from next month, because the Chinese let the fools above us include it in the munitions supply. ”

"These damn Chinese really know how to do business." The partner smiled wryly as he smoked. If China had not joined the Entente, and if there had not been 400,000 troops on the Western Front, no one would have believed that the Phoenix would have flown into the mainstream European market. In fact, there have been a lot more munitions from China lately, from brushes made of bristles to small compasses, from socks on feet to pigskin military boots, silk parachutes equipped with Entente pilots since the beginning of the month to life-saving luncheon meat. Unconsciously, the words "made in the Republic of China" have been quietly included in the ranks of "munitions" by the Entente countries. In fact, he also admires the Chinese, at least the parachutes, mortars, airplanes, submachine guns and light machine guns they provide are very good designs, several of which have become standard equipment in various countries! Of course, now we have to add "Phoenix" brand cigarettes, God knows! When millions of soldiers of the Entente retire from smoking this cigarette, how many loyal buyers will be born.

Of course, El and everyone will not care about these 427 chapters of the Western Front (8), compared with the annual military expenditure of hundreds of billions of francs, it is harmless to spend billions to purchase Chinese "military supplies", and the most important thing is to defeat Germany and drive the enemy out of French territory! So there was one thing he wanted to know: "Tomir. What do you think those guys are doing? ”

"The Avila Valley is not a good target, and although the roads are flat and there is a railway line to take advantage of after crossing the valley, the son of a bitch German mongrel has two divisions deployed there, assisted by at least 100 artillery pieces." Partner shook his head. He took out his pocket watch again and looked at it: "It's less than five hours, if you can't break through before tonight, then the German mongrels will mobilize at least three more infantry divisions to block the front!" ”

"Don't you think there's hope? Didn't Colonel Gran Fanson say the day before yesterday that there was a chance to complete a breakthrough? ”

"Gran Mercyn? That arrogant guy! Although the partner did not say it directly, his rather disdainful tone clearly did not believe Gran Maison's description of the Chinese expeditionary force. But Major El always felt that it was not so simple, he knew Granmeson, he was indeed an arrogant and rude fellow, but such a man admired the offensive tactics of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, which in itself was a strange thing. But just as he was ready to continue talking. A familiar fellow slammed out of the next telegraph room, knocking him staggering a few steps before he steadied himself.

"Buson, don't you damn have eyes?"

"I'm sorry El! God, you won't believe it, the Chinese Chinese broke through the defense line of Mount Avila! The German mongrels of the 53rd and 72nd divisions had been routed, and now they had split their forces into two lines and marched towards Bazangkul and the Aisne River! ”

"What!"

Eyre, who had just stood firm, almost fell on his head again, and his companion's eyes widened and even half of his cigarette fell to the ground. His gaze staggered back and forth between the back of the running communications officer and his pocket watch. In less than 5 hours, it broke through the defense line of Mount Avila, which was easy to defend and difficult to attack, with 2 German divisions and nearly 40,000 people stationed?! Is this the biggest joke in the world? After glancing at each other, the two of them chased after each other almost at the same time. Moments later, when the news spread throughout the French front command. The cheers did not ring, but were filled with expressions of surprise, daze, and doubt.

Mangran stood in front of the map, his cheeks hot and uncomfortable! Yue Peng's plan and admonition are still ringing to this day, and he just sent a telegram to General Nivelle asking for severe punishment of the squadron, and they slapped themselves with a lightning breakthrough! The mobilization of five armies, totaling 1.5 million French troops, 120,000 colonial armies and Russian troops, with nearly 7,000 artillery pieces of various types and as many as 2,800 heavy artillery, used 11 million shells and nearly 500 tanks to hit a few shallow salients, while the Chinese Expeditionary Force had only 22 divisions and 400,000 troops. With artillery less than the size of a French army group and only half of the ammunition reserves, the artillery of the Fourth Army only relied on the help of the artillery of the Fourth Army to break through the defense line of Mount Avila, which was considered easy to defend and difficult to attack! And it only took four and a half hours.

"Colonel Granmesson said that they had fixed the width of the breach line at 5 km, that the 7th Division of the 1st Assault Group was moving across the valley towards the north-east of Moronvilière, and that it was expected to cross the Aisne from Vüzier tomorrow evening. Three days later, he attacked Sedan. The second group of five light infantry divisions is advancing towards Bazangkul, 20 kilometres north-west, and is expected to arrive in three hours. The 10 divisions of the main group are expanding their positions and will attack the main forces of the German First Army at Reniwell and Atini after the interception group arrives at Bazangkul. In addition, they asked to give them the command of the Fourth Army! ”

The officer reported loudly, as if he had been immersed in the joy of breaking through the Hindenburg line, but the long wait was exchanged for an extremely cold muffled snort: "They are happy too soon!" Go and tell them that I have no right to decide on the command of the Fourth Army! Mang Ran gritted his teeth and his eyes were cold, and he wanted the command of the Fourth Army before he broke through the defensive line? These Chinese are just too much! Don't they know that this is France? The German First Army, entrenched in Renivel and Artigny, had 210,000 men and thousands of cannons, and was supported by the Third Army, and Ludendorff must have learned that the position had been broken at this moment, and he would definitely mobilize more fresh troops north of the Aisne River to intercept it! Isn't it in vain to give them an army group before establishing a perfect defense system! Therefore, after his decisive veto, he ordered: "Immediately assemble the troops, with the 10th Army as the main force." I already have a premonition that the enemy's position is in turmoil, and I need to launch a new attack at once and for all to break through this line of defense! ”

Still want to break through? God, don't you see 150,000 corpses? The impulsive El immediately walked out, and it was useless to even pull his partner, and walked up to everyone and said bluntly: "General! We are already out of fresh troops, all the troops are exhausted! I think it is necessary to rest immediately, and even if we choose to attack, we should concentrate in the direction of Mount Pronvila, which has been opened up along the Chinese. ”

"It is precisely because the Chinese have broken through that we need to continue to attack and contain the German 3rd and 7th armies. The Germans must have panicked, this is a good opportunity to end the war! Mang Ran interrupted unceremoniously, his eyes half-narrowed and his eyes stared at Major El: "Major El, your job is to immediately coordinate the attack of the 10th Army, do you need me to tell you what to do?!" Also, let them bring the Russians, they will be a good helper! ”

In the face of the tyrant-like Mangran, Major El finally had to salute and angrily went to convey the order to coordinate the attack.

Although Mangran's decision to continue the offensive and bring the Russian army to help was later considered a very wrong decision, he was right about one thing, because the defense line of Mount Avila was broken through, and the Germans suddenly became nervous. At the same time that the French army was redeploying to continue the offensive, Ludendorff had ordered the remaining seven divisions of the First Army (two more to confront the French Fourth Army at Meronvilier) and one cavalry division to attack the Avila Mountains, and at the same time to draw two divisions from the Third Army to advance to Bazangcourt. While the front-line forces were actively mobilized, a total of three elite infantry divisions in the direction of Ilson and Sedan advanced south of the Aisne, while the Fifth Army, far away in Verdun and Saint-Miel, also drew two divisions to attack Moronvilier to the west. Together with the 3 divisions of the 2nd Army, which had already departed from Cambrai and would arrive in 1 day's time, Ludendorff and his staff gathered 15 infantry divisions and 1 cavalry division to the Bazangkul-Artigny-Moronvilière triangle in just a few hours, with a total strength of more than 350,000 at once! Become a terrifying swarm with 3,000 artillery pieces (including 1,100 mortars), 60,000 horses, 200 planes and 180 tanks, and 4,000 vehicles of all types!

The intelligence brought back by the reconnaissance plane made Yue Peng and Cai Yi a little nervous. The concentration of so many troops in the triangle was somewhat unexpected, which not only showed that the Hindenburg Line did have the advantages of careful deployment and rapid mobilization of reserve forces, but also showed that Ludendorff was a veritable excellent tactician! After feeling the threat of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, he did not hesitate to dispatch troops to take advantage of this situation to solve it. Compared with the desperate mobilization of the German army, Mangran, who was also a front-line commander, never changed his hostile attitude, which not only made the hope of the two of them get the command of the French Fourth Army in vain, but also made everyone worry about the follow-up ammunition supply.

"It's impossible to eat them all!"

Cai Yi pointed to the map, not even wrinkles on his tight cheeks were completely gone, he glanced at Yue Peng and analyzed: "The ability of the German army is slightly stronger than ours when the large corps fights, and our advantage is in brigade and regiment level tactics, so now it depends on whether Shi Xiaolou's 5 light infantry divisions can block the 5 divisions of the German Third Army and the Second Army." As long as they can block it for 2 days, Qiu Wenbin and they can complete the intersperse, use the advantage of the Ena River trench to block the 2 divisions from Sedang Ilson on the opposite side of the river, and then completely surround the main force of the German First Army with Zhang Xiaozhun's main force, if not, they can only let Qiu Wenbin turn around and continue to go north to eat the 2 divisions from Sedang and Ilson, and the main force will encircle and annihilate the 2 divisions of the German Fifth Army to the east, and finally withdraw from Moronvilier. ”

"After waiting so long, I don't want to do it in vain!" Looking at the semi-circular movement trajectory drawn by Cai Yi with the German defense line as the baseline, Yue Peng stomped his foot fiercely...... (To be continued.) !!