Chapter 242 is extremely helpless

The Germans' shells fell like money, and the dense artillery fire shrouded the entire front in gunsmoke. The French, who were inferior in strength and firepower, could not stop the Germans from building pontoon bridges, and even the heavy artillery units did not fire to stop them.

There was also disagreement at the top of the French army about whether the Battle of the Somme needed to be launched. Petain was in opposition, and neither was Neville. At least after the Germans revealed their intentions at the Battle of Verdun, Neville was the holder of the opinion strongly suggesting that troops be drawn from the Somme front. The problem was that Xia Fei did not listen to this opinion, and after the loss of Verdun, the French army was unable to launch a counterattack when the German army was not firmly established.

Of some historical evaluations of the commander-in-chief of the French army, the word that comes up the most is "sluggishness".

At the beginning of 1916, Xia Fei took the word "sluggishness" to the extreme. First of all, in terms of strategy, Xia Fei stubbornly adhered to his offensive strategy and insisted on launching the Battle of the Somme. This was followed by the Verdun frontline, which repeatedly asked Petain to counterattack. This method of persisting in the offensive in disregard of the superior strength and firepower of the German army seems to be inexplicable by sluggishness.

After another day of fierce fighting, the Germans successfully crossed the Marne, established a bridgehead on the other side of the river, and increased the number of pontoon bridges on the river. Although the French artillery tried their best to intervene in this move of the German army, the effect was not obvious. When night came, the French commander ordered to stop the shelling.

The German engineering units, not resting because of the onset of darkness, accelerated the construction of pontoon bridges and strengthened them. When the French front conveyed this message to the headquarters, Lieutenant General Neville waited for the main force of the Chinese expeditionary force.

When Cai Ye saw this Frenchman again, his first feeling was that he was much more haggard. Unfavorable situation on the battlefield. Countless worries and anxieties were added to this French lieutenant general.

Neville did not put up a commander's shelf, but took the initiative to go to the Paris railway station and wait for the leadership of the First Army of the Chinese Expeditionary Force. "General Cai, General Zhang, hard work." Neville was polite, and there was still a smile on his face. In the face of such a French lieutenant general, Cai Ye and Zhang Xiaohuai were a little cautious in their hearts.

The arrogance of foreign devils, that is traditional. In recent times, Britain and France have looked very interesting, and they have simply given equipment or something. One thing is for sure. This is definitely not a good thing.

"General Neville has worked hard!" Cai and Zhang politely replied, and Neville couldn't wait for the adjutant to open the map, pointed to the section about ten kilometers behind Epernay and said: "The defense line of the squadron is in this section, and the front width is about fifty kilometers. ”

Cai Yi smiled and raised his hand to interrupt Neville's words and said, "General Neville, can you listen to our thoughts first." ”

This gesture is not very polite. But at this time, Neville couldn't care about these things, although he was unhappy in his heart, he still nodded. Cai Yi raised his hand and pointed to the map and said: "Tonight, our special operations division launched a night attack on the German army, with the purpose of severely damaging the logistics supply of the German army. We judged that at most a week, there would be difficulties in the logistical supply of the German army. ”

Neville was thoughtful when a French staff officer hurried in. The report was whispered: "General Gallerien of Epernay has called, and the German sappers are rushing to repair several pontoon bridges at night. It is estimated that tomorrow we will return to the military operation of the re-dà. ”

The interpreter promptly informed Cai and Zhang of this information, and Neville disagreed and handed the telegram to the two Chinese generals opposite, without exploring the meaning of the matter. Cai Ye and Zhang Xiaohuai took the telegram. After seeing the two of them, they looked at each other, and their faces became solemn.

"Two, go ahead and talk about your thoughts." Neville could see that the two men's faces were wrong, and the ease on their faces was gone. The squadron rushed to Paris. It was indeed a lot easier for him, there were more than 30 of them. It was almost impossible for the Germans to shake the line again.

"General Neville, we agree that this intelligence is important, which means that a large number of German tanks have arrived in Epernay. The defenders of Epernay must be reminded that they were ready to deal with the German tanks. Cai Ye said in a hurry, this is not a joke, once the German army breaks through Epernay, any plan of the Chinese expeditionary force will be in vain.

Obviously, this construction did not attract Nivelle's attention, but after a little hesitation, Nivelle continued: "Let's talk about your plan. ”

Cai Ye and Zhang Xiaohuai showed helpless expressions, before going abroad, Fang Jianxiong repeatedly said that when they arrived in France, they must pay attention to one point, the command system of the French army is known for its clumsiness, but a group of senior commanders are still very conceited. To ensure the safety of the expeditionary force, we must put it in the first place at all times, and we must not use people as cannon fodder.

It's a pity that Fang Dashuai can't count the place, but he didn't expect that Verdun was lost, and Paris was in danger.

Obviously, it is impossible to convince Neville,

Both of them looked at each other a little helplessly. If Epernay is lost, the expeditionary force's plans will be in vain.

"Our plan is to build on the premise that the Epernay line is solid, and the French army will hold out for a week. Then the First Army of our expeditionary force launched a counterattack. Our counterattack plan consisted of two tank brigades as assault arrows, advancing left and right in parallel, striving to encircle and annihilate one or two infantry corps of the German army in the course of the counterattack. Contain the German threat to Paris. Cai Ye continued his previous words, of course, this is only a general meaning. rushed to Neville's attitude, seeing that Epernay was about to lose, and fought back.

Nivelle said, "I personally agree with the idea of this battle plan, but you'd better come up with a detailed plan so that I can report to Commander-in-Chief Xia Fei." ”

There must be a detailed plan, and the two of them have deduced countless times with a group of staff officers in the past few days, and most of the results are to launch a counterattack when the German army is exhausted, and it is possible to repel the German army. Of course, there are some variables in this, at least according to the intelligence and aerial reconnaissance provided by the French army at present, the German army has completed the assembly of 16 infantry divisions under the German Fifth Army on the front line of Epernay. That is, a larger-scale German attack is just around the corner, how does Nevelle judge? The French had only five infantry divisions at Epernay, two of which were still fighting for many days. With a three-fold difference in strength, even without the Germans fighting a large number of tanks, it would be difficult for Epernay to hold on. Where did Nevelle get his faith? The Verdun fortress group was lost, and the Meuse defense line failed to stop the German army, could it be that the Marne defense line, which was undermanned, could it be? Sometimes looking at the arrangement of the French army, the two of them are really helpless, the long line of defense, the average use of troops, and the lack of reserves. With so many questions, who are the commanders of the French army?

It should be said that Neville was very polite to the squadron, although this politeness was based on the premise of hoping that the squadron would work hard. But you can't do it blindly, according to the French army's method, the Chinese expeditionary force is killed by heavy artillery in the trenches. Of course, Cai Zhang will not do this kind of stupid thing.

What to do? After exchanging glances tacitly again, Cai Ye spoke: "General Nivel, it's better to do this, our army can rush to Epernay overnight and build a simple defense line on the original defensive line, and a width of ten kilometers on the front is enough." If there is a crisis in the Epernay line, we can reinforce it in time. If reinforcements are not available, we will launch a counterattack and retake Epernay. "How do you say that, it's very flexible, you can hit or run. Of course, the form of the table xiàn is positive, and the conspiracy in which it is in a position of freedom is hidden.

Zhang Xiaohuai knew very well what Cai Yi meant, saying that it was to build a defensive line in the back, which was actually a red heart, two preparations, if the French army was defeated too quickly and the counterattack was unsuccessful, then take the initiative to retreat, and never be entangled with the French heavy army group, what kind of positional war to fight. Anyway, these 300,000 people will be an important weight at that time, and the French army will not be able to do anything. If the Germans paid a huge price and captured Epernay, then a resolute counterattack was launched to recapture Epernay.

Neville didn't expect the Chinese to be so insidious, nodded in approval: "Yes, if you are a qiē shun lì, when will your army launch a counterattack?" This guy is still thinking about this, Cai Zhang felt bitter in his heart, but said with a smile on his face: "Ten days, within ten days at the latest, our army will launch a counterattack." In order to achieve the effect of counterattack, the heavy artillery assigned to our army must be in place in time. There are also tanks, which must also be all in place, otherwise our counterattack will be an empty word. ”

He asked for equipment again, Nivelle was not disgusted by this, he was unhappy that the French government fooled people from thousands of miles away, and gave them the equipment they promised, which was to work hard, not to travel. Of course, Nevelle would not attack the French government, but he also did not have the power to allocate heavy artillery and tanks. After all, these things are not cheap goods like infantry guns and armor-piercing shells.

"Okay, I'll go and urge the government to deliver your equipment as much as possible. When will your army depart? "Nivelle said politely, more than 300,000 people still carry heavy artillery troops, and it is really not a matter of one or two days to move more than 100 kilometers away.

"The Fifth Army, the vanguard of our army, can set off overnight, and then the armies will set off in turn, and in a maximum of five days, all of them will be in place." Cai Ye still left room for him, and Neville frowned slightly when he heard this, not very satisfied. He immediately said: "Within two days, we must arrive." The French government will provide sufficient means of transport. ”

Cai Zhang looked at each other and nodded, and the matter was settled.

As night fell, the headquarters of the German Fifth Army was located in Condé-on-Marne. After days of fighting, the German Fifth Army successfully captured Aron and established a strong bridgehead here. To be precise, a hole had been carved out of the French line. For this result, the commander-in-chief of the German army, Crown Prince Wilhelm, was very satisfied. After this battle, he can sleep well, and now he is going to meet Bob, the commander of the armored forces, and discuss the battle with the armored forces of tomorrow.