Chapter 237: Confidence

Chapter 237

Xia Fei faced a grim situation, and the initiative of the battle situation was completely in the hands of the German army. Now there is a dilemma between whether to abandon the Shambany Line. If it was abandoned, it would mean that the entire French line of defense would have to retreat. If not to give up, the Germans had many options. First, the French troops attacking the line of Shambany and Reims from the flank, in order to prevent the German attack in this direction, it was necessary to recapture Lavov. This requires troops, and Xia Fei is already trying, sending six infantry divisions before and after, three of which are currently close to Ravov. Second, the Germans could attack Epenaire, and once they occupied this point, they could attack Paris directly, or they could advance westward, cutting off the link between Champani and Paris, and encircling the French heavy group. There was a third option, which was for the Germans to continue southward and sweep through the south of France. Of course, this choice is unlikely, and Xia Fei directly ignored it.

All in all, the situation of the war had reached an extremely dangerous point for the French army, and the French government was already considering abandoning Paris.

To withdraw or not to withdraw, Xia Fei was in a dilemma. Once retreated, the only way to retreat was to cross the Marne, otherwise it would be difficult to organize an effective defensive line. It was at this critical juncture that the British finally said they were ready to launch the Battle of the Somme.

On March 8, the Somme region was bombarded with artillery, an advance campaign that was launched in June in the history of parallel time and space. This time and space were forced to advance. It's very simple, if you don't start it in advance, wait another month or two, and Paris will lose it.

The Anglo-French army, which was confident in the artillery fire, carried out a long period of artillery preparation on the Somme front, which was not a day or two, but seven consecutive days, which is no different from the Battle of the Somme in parallel history.

The key to the significance of the Battle of the Somme was that the Paris Line had to be held, otherwise it would be meaningless.

Whether he can hold Paris or not, Xia Fei is not too sure, so he can only do his best. First, to recapture Ravov, even if it can't be recaptured, it is necessary to buy time for the establishment of a new defensive line. Second, the reinforcement of Epenel was aimed at buying time for the construction of the Marne line. Third, abandon Shambani, withdraw across the Marne, and build a new line of defense. Wait for the Germans to get tired and launch a powerful counterattack.

In a sense, the French and German defenses, which had been in confrontation with the Germans for more than a year, had been breached. That is, the defeat of the French army in the defensive battle was a great blow to the morale of the French army. How to revive morale is also a very important issue.

At 6 o'clock in the morning of the 9th, the French army launched an attack on Lavov, and the three French infantry divisions that arrived in advance, after resting all night, set up positions and prepared artillery fire to recapture Lavov. At this time, Lvov was no worse than the attacking force of the French army. Bob's assault cluster has all arrived. The strength of three infantry divisions and three cavalry divisions, plus tank forces, is simply not something that three French divisions can contend with.

The French army had a big problem with intelligence, and in fact it was not clear to the Second Army how many people there were. Anyway, it's a lot of tanks and cavalry. Frankly speaking, such a military attempt can be described as a stupid act. Well, throughout the course of the First World War, the French army did a lot of stupid things, and there was no shortage of this time.

The problem is, Bob is also faced with a huge dilemma, his troops are running out of ammunition. In particular, the artillery shells required for the tanks were insufficient, with an average of only three shells per tank, and in order to catch up with the tank clusters, the follow-up troops left the baggage troops behind. It is impossible not to say that this was a stupid mistake, of course, the reason for this mistake was that the German artillery fire bombed the roads to the ground, and the tanks drove away without any problems, and the cars could not climb. The reinforcements that caught up were all solved on foot, but fortunately, the three infantry divisions brought 75 caliber artillery, although there were not many shells, only one base.

For this reason, Bob had to choose defense, the absence of shells was a problem, as was the lack of fuel for tanks.

The mistakes of the Germans were caused by inexperience, and the mistakes of the French were caused by the lack of intelligence. Both sides were at fault, and Bob didn't know how many French troops were coming from the opposite side, so he could only build a defensive line on the spot and wait for reinforcements. After all, his task is to occupy and hold Ravov.

The French Schneider 105mm 1909 mountain gun has become the most powerful firepower on this battlefield, and there is no assault cluster of heavy artillery, so it can only be silently endured at this time. Bob used the old method, the tank was used as a fixed turret, and as long as it did not give a direct hit to the 105mm gun, there was basically nothing to threaten the tank.

The fighting began in the morning and lasted for a day. Dusk came, and the French did not capture an inch of position. It was not how fierce the German artillery fire was, but as soon as the French infantry attacked, they were hit by dense fire. The light and heavy machine gun mortars that the Germans were equipped with once again became a nightmare for the French offensive.

The French army paid the price of thousands of casualties, and the assault group commanded by Bob suffered even greater casualties. The time was too short, and there were no too strong fortifications at all, that is, digging a few trenches, and under the bombardment of dozens of heavy artillery of the French army, the casualties were inevitably greater.

As the sky grew darker, the French stopped attacking. The smoke of gunfire on the position had not yet cleared, and the German soldiers were hurrying to repair the fortifications damaged by artillery fire. Bob at this time, waited for his baggage troops.

Almost at the same time, the special operations division led by Zhang Zuolin rushed to Paris on foot. At this time, Paris was in chaos. Refugees fleeing the fighting are everywhere, and the roads have become extremely congested.

Feng Hua, who was waiting on the side of the road in the suburbs of Paris, was extremely excited when he saw his comrades. Waiting here was French Lieutenant General Neville, who was here because he knew the Chinese Expeditionary Force relatively well. The French fought to build a new line of defense between Lavov and Epenel to buy time for the Paris line. Neville was the commander of this line of defense.

Of course, the best hope of the French commander-in-chief Chauffeur was to hold this line, which would protect the flanks of Shambani and choke the road to Paris, becoming a new and relatively solid line of defense.

But there is a problem, Xia Fei can not draw many troops, a total of 12 infantry divisions from Neville, as well as the Chinese Expeditionary Force. The problem is that the Chinese expeditionary force is blocked on the road, and the French government has promised to coordinate this problem, and the Fifth Army, which is blocked in Orleans, has continued to take the train on the road.

When Neville saw Zhang Zuolin, he immediately issued an order: "General Zhang, I want your troops to rush to Epenel immediately, where the French army needs reinforcements." ”

Zhang Zuolin did not immediately agree to him, but said to the liaison officer angrily: "My troops do not have a single heavy artillery, not even a single 75 mountain cannon. How do you let me get reinforcements? It's rare that I'll be able to get to Paris at this time. Also, what about the 150 heavy guns you promised? In the first battle of Verdun, the Germans had thousands of guns above 105mm. ”

Neville raised his hand in time to press down, signaled Zhang Zuolin to calm his anger, and then said very politely: "General Zhang, I have made a detailed report to the commander-in-chief on your difficulties. Just this morning, we delivered the equipment of two heavy artillery brigades to the receiving personnel of your army in Paris. ”

Zhang Zuolin glanced at Feng Hua in surprise, and the buddy nodded with a smile and said, "That's right, Commander Cheng's people got the equipment of two 105mm mountain artillery regiments and two 152.4mm howitzer regiments." However, you don't have much time to get used to the equipment, and you'll have to go to battle right away, so you'd better have a few days. ”

When Zhang Zuolin heard this, he was even more worried. This is not a good phenomenon, which shows that the French are in a hurry, which shows that the battle situation ahead is critical, and the troops are going to fight a tough battle.

"General Zhang, we have also prepared enough cars for your army to move to Epenel in the shortest possible time." Neville made a little addition, and Zhang Zuolin snorted twice before saying, "No, I want to ask the group army headquarters." ”

Neville could only shrug his shoulders helplessly, and frankly speaking, his good opinion of the squadron had greatly increased. The Chinese are not stupid, and they knew at a glance that the French army was in a critical situation, but they still rose to the occasion and rushed to Paris. Instead of looking for a ready-made excuse for train congestion, I took the approach of walking to Paris. This is undoubtedly a move that Neville admires, this is what a professional soldier should do, and with a military order, even if it is a mountain of swords and fires, he must move forward.

Based on this judgment, Neville patiently said that he could wait for Zhang Zuolin to ask for instructions. Neville had a strong hint in his heart that the Chinese would definitely help him on the battlefield.

Zhang Zuolin's telegram soon arrived at the headquarters of the group army and the military headquarters of the Fifth Army, and Leng Yu first went to the headquarters of the group army, saying that he could rush to Paris tomorrow morning. With the consent of the army group, the special operations division can complete any combat mission. Leng Yu has a strong confidence in the troops he has built, which is reflected in the telegram: The special operations division has a huge cost, and if it cannot win the first battle, Yu should be resigned to thank the countrymen.

Taking advantage of Zhang Zuolin's request for instructions, Neville carefully observed this very special force. Soon Neville was subdued, and there was not a single rifle in sight, all of which were automatic weapons. What kind of force is this?

Neville couldn't understand Fang Dashuai's nostalgia for another time and space, where the Bayi Bar was backward. That is, the industrial capacity can't keep up, otherwise according to Fang Jianxiong's concept, there should be no such thing as a rifle.

Soon Neville made a new discovery, the unit was armed with a large number of 70mm infantry guns.

Zhang Zuolin soon came back and brought a call back from the group army. After discussion, Cai and Feng decided to agree to allow the special operations division to enter the battlefield first, but with a requirement, the French army must provide enough armor-piercing shells for 70mm infantry guns.

This small request is equivalent to no request. In order to deal with the German tanks, the French army introduced infantry guns and produced a large number of armor-piercing shells for fighting tanks. The only regret for the French army was that these infantry guns and armor-piercing shells were still in the warehouses of the factory, and before they were officially issued to the troops, the Battle of Verdun broke out. From this side, the efficiency of the French army can be seen. (To be continued.)