Ren Chao nodded slightly, this point Ren Chao is naturally very clear, if the Huaxia Empire can be invested in the European war, after the war is over, Huaxia, as a participating country, will definitely achieve great benefits in Europe. This is not only seen by Ren Chao and others, but also by the Germans. Originally, the Germans did not agree with the participation of the Chinese in the European War, because now Germany has regarded Europe as its own territory, and the Germans naturally do not want the Chinese to meddle in European affairs after the end of the war. However, not long ago, the Anglo-French forces suddenly launched the Battle of the Somme in Europe, and the situation on the front line was critical for the German-Austrian allies, and Germany and Austria had to ask for help from the Chinese Empire. Of course, the reason is not only because of the Battle of the Somme, but also because the naval forces of the Entente have absolute superiority and control the sea in the European theater. If they want to break Britain's maritime hegemony, Germany and Austria will sooner or later turn to the Chinese Empire. More importantly, the United States, another powerful country, is also actively planning to enter the war, although both the Allied and Entente are actively seeking the support of the United States, and the United States has always declared neutrality, but all signs have shown that the United States has gradually fallen to the side of the Entente, so Germany and Austria hope to defeat the British and French forces and occupy the initiative on the battlefield before the United States enters the war. Combining these factors, Germany and Austria were forced to ask for support from the Chinese Empire.

Ren Chao got up and walked to a huge sand table, there were seven large sand tables in the entire command hall, and now the sand table that Ren Chao looked at was a European battlefield, looking at the small flags on the sand table, Ren Chao couldn't help frowning.

Yang Jichang pointed to the sand table and introduced, "The British and French forces are in order to break through the German defenses in order to switch to mobile warfare, and at the same time reduce the pressure on the French army from the German army in the Verdun direction. So the initiative was launched for this Battle of the Somme. ”

Ren Chao nodded slightly, and Yang Jichang continued, "At that time, the battle line was from south to north, crossing the Somme River more than 50 kilometers east of Amiens. The Germans built what they called the "strongest" defensive line in the area. Including three lines of positions and some intermediate positions. The main positions had tunnel fortifications, and in front of the positions there were several layers of barbed wire. The defenders are the German 2nd Army, the defensive front is 58 kilometers wide, its first line is 9 divisions, 4 divisions in reserve, and the German side is currently actively deploying troops to support the Somme front, and the troops participating in the battle have exceeded 50 divisions, and the strength is still further increasing. The British and French originally planned to use the French army as the main attack, but because the Battle of Verdun used a large number of French troops, the British army was the main attack. The initial force was 39 divisions, including 25 British divisions. With the 4th Army as the main force and the 3rd Army as the auxiliary, the offensive was to be carried out in the area north of Karno on the north bank of the Somme, 25 km from the front; The 6th division of the French 14th Army, across the Somme, attacked on the right side of the British army, 15 kilometers from the front. The British and French artillery and air forces were superior. The tactics of attacking limited targets one by one were adopted in an attempt to achieve a breakthrough by exhausting the German forces. With the development of the war, the British and French forces are also constantly increasing troops to the front, and the British and French forces on the Somme River line have exceeded 70 divisions, and the British and French are still continuing to increase their troops. ”

Yang Jichang paused. Seeing that Ren Chao did not speak, he continued to introduce, "From June 24, the British and French armies carried out seven days of artillery preparations. At 7:30 a.m. on 1 July, the infantry launched an attack with artillery support. On that day, both the French and the British in the direction of the main attack broke through the first line of German positions, but the British left flank made no progress. The British advanced in dense formation and were severely wounded by German machine-gun and artillery fire, suffering nearly 60,000 casualties on the first day. The British right flank and the French occupied the second line of German positions. The Germans took advantage of the interlude in the opposing offensive. Quickly mobilize forces, strengthen defenses in depth, and carry out counterattacks on some areas. The British and French attacked again in mid to late July. The French on the south bank occupied the third line of positions, but failed to develop into a breakthrough in the campaign. The 32 divisions of the British army and the 26 divisions of the French army launched the third attack, and as of the 12th, they had only advanced 2~4 kilometers into the depth of the German army. In this battle, the British engaged in tank combat on a large scale for the first time, with a total of more than 100 tanks in the battle, and the speed of the infantry attack increased as a result, and several points of the third line of positions were captured that day. ”

Ren Chao nodded lightly, since the Chinese army first engaged in tank combat during the Battle of Vladivostok, the tank has been sought after by all countries. At that time, China had not yet declared war on Britain and France, so Britain and France and other countries had purchased tanks from China. Of course, Ren Chao already knew at that time that the Chinese Empire would have to face the two enemies of Britain and France sooner or later, so he only sold a small number of light tanks to Britain and France, while for his future allies, Germany and Austria, Ren Chao showed due generosity and sold hundreds of light tanks and medium tanks to Germany and Austria. However, after knowing the great power of tanks, the British also accelerated the research of tanks, developed their own tanks a few months earlier than in history, and soon put them into production, and now the British and French forces have begun to equip a large number of tanks one after another.

"It is not difficult to see from this battle that the tactics of carrying out multiple surprise attacks to break through the defensive positions of the position in a narrow area of the front have not achieved much effect, and it is very likely to consume a huge number of troops. The huge losses of the Anglo-French forces are a good proof of this. Therefore, tanks and other types of heavy equipment for positional breakthroughs will become the mainstream of future land battlefields. Ren Chao nodded and said.

"What His Majesty said is extremely true, or His Majesty has a prescient name, my Chinese Empire developed the king of land warfare with tanks early, and at present, a large number of troops have been equipped, so far even if Britain, France, Germany and Austria combined, there are not as many tanks as our Huaxia Country!" Yang Jichang said proudly.

Although Ren Chao had sold hundreds of tanks to Britain, France, Germany, Austria and other countries, because the Chinese Empire had long developed tanks and the factories were in full production, the Chinese Empire had produced nearly 2,000 tanks in the past two years. Not only was the Chinese Imperial Army equipped with a large number of tanks, but even the troops of Korea and other subject countries were also equipped with a small number of tanks. Although the tank production of the Chinese Empire is still somewhat insufficient so far, Ren Chao does not have to worry about this problem at all, because in addition to his own production, Ren Chao can also exchange the guò system for huàn tanks, as long as it is a variety of new tanks that have been successfully researched, Ren Chao can use the guò system to exchange huàn. Therefore, the Chinese Imperial Army was able to form a large number of tank troops in a short period of time, and such an advantage was incomparable with other countries. (To be continued......)

PS: Thank you very much for the generous reward of the book friend "Shenma are all cups".