Chapter 239: General Direction

Zhang Zuolin, who was born with a beard, wants to be ruthless, but he is extremely careful in fighting. Neville asked the special operations division to move forward as fast as possible, but Zhang Zuolin didn't buy it at all. The vanguard regiment was in front, 10 kilometers away from the brigade, and another battalion was released, which was 2 kilometers away from the vanguard regiment, and a vanguard regiment, with battalions, companies, platoons, and squads, was pulled out to a length of 10 kilometers.

It should be that in the sphere of influence of the French army, the marching speed is quite fast, maintaining about 20 kilometers per hour. Epernay was more than 130 kilometers from Paris, and at this pace of marching, with a break in between, the whole army could reach it in one day. There are still two French infantry divisions in front, so you can't lose Epernay in a day, right?

Zhang Zuolin's judgment should be right, but he did not expect that now the German army is taking advantage of the momentum of the pursuit of victory. On the contrary, the morale of the French army was low and they were inferior in strength. There is no danger to defend in the area of Epernay, and there is no way to be optimistic about the development of the war situation. Otherwise, Neville would have been so generous, and the special operations division would have set off as much as possible. By the time the special operations division set out from Paris, the Germans had already begun artillery preparations.

The Battle of Verdun, which lasted for ten months in history, is no longer possible in this time and space. After Petain took the initiative to retreat, more than 30,000 French troops who remained surrendered, and the German army was in full swing.

Pétain's voluntary retreat, judging from the results, broke Ludendorff's plan to encircle and annihilate the French Second Army and preserved the vitality of the French army. But it also led the door to Paris to open, and the flanks of Shambani were exposed, and the French army could be said to be exhausted.

At this juncture, the small place of Epernay becomes extremely important. Once the breakthrough was here, the Germans could drive straight in. Make a beeline for Paris. At this time, the French army was still in a hurry to adjust and build a new defense line, and what was needed most was time. As a master of strategy and tactics, Ludendorff was well aware of this, and naturally did not give the French army too much time.

When the Germans began to prepare for artillery fire, the two French divisions guarding Epernay, and even the French general headquarters, had not yet figured out who the enemy was. In fact, it was an army of the elite German Fifth Army that appeared in Epernay, followed by the main forces of the Fifth Army. And the commander, Crown Prince William, has already arrived at the front line of command.

The great inertia of history has emerged, and the conquest of Paris, as the capital of France, will bring great prestige to Crown Prince William. So Ludendorff pushed the crown prince to the front line at this time.

The battle has come to this point. It can be said that the German army can fight as much as it wants, and the French army can only passively accept it. The key to this result was the assault cluster commanded by Bob. Although this was only an attempt, and the attack range of the assault cluster was not even a hundred kilometers, the effect was enormous.

While the Germans were preparing for artillery fire at Epernay, French reinforcements also arrived at Ravov, with a total of six infantry divisions. Just as the French army was preparing to launch a battle to recapture Lavov. Neville's emergency front commander demanded that the French defend on the spot, abandon the plan to recapture Lavov, and block the road to Reims.

Neville's decision was painful to make. But there was no other way for him. There are only so many troops in hand, six infantry divisions of Ravov, two of Epenai, and the others have recently been in Shambani. It is still retreating. The Battle of the Somme had begun, and the holding of Paris had become the first priority. This is for Neville, who is an attacking man. It really hurts to give up the offense. In other words, whether Paris can hold on or not depends on the defensive battle of Lvov and Epernay.

It should be said that Neville's order was timely, and Bob waited for his logistics troops and subsequent tanks, with three hundred and fifty moving tanks on hand, and the full strength of three infantry divisions and three cavalry divisions. A counterattack was being planned, and the plan was to defend with infantry, and after repelling the attack of the French army, the tank and cavalry units would immediately launch a counterattack.

Once this plan succeeded, defeating the six French infantry divisions in front of him, Shambani's French army would be too late to withdraw even if they wanted to, and Bob would be stabbed through the eyes and smacked up.

In the European war in March 1916, the most important thing for the French army was time. It will take time to regroup the Second Army, it will take time to rebuild the line of defense in Paris, and it will take time whether the Battle of the Somme will be effective.

It was clear that Ludendorff was not going to give the French time. At one point, it can be seen from the arrival of Crown Prince Wilhelm on the front line of Epernay that all the Germans had to do was to break through to Epernay as fast as possible, and then rush into Paris like a torrent. After completing Project Iron Fist, Ludendorff launched Project Torrent. The core of this plan was to use the German Fifth Group under the command of Wilhelm as the main attacking force and fight all the way to Paris.

Sun Zhen, the commander of the vanguard company, was not a student soldier in Wuhan, he joined the League in 1906, and after graduating from the Shaanxi Army High School, he was influenced by the popular Fang Dashuai, and ran from Xi'an to Wuhan to ask to join the revolutionary army at that time, because he was learning

Sheng, was sent to Wuhu by the officer in charge of recruitment, passed the Lu University examination, and was fortunate to catch the last train of the first phase of Lu University.

There may not be many people who know Sun Zhen, but Sun Zhen's nephew Sun Yuanliang's son Qin Han must have many people who know.

As the captain and company commander of the vanguard company, Sun Zhen was very careful. I have been working hard to maintain the advance speed of the vanguard company and not let it go too fast. This made the French drivers who drove very dissatisfied, Sun Zhen sat in the front of a car, and kept asking the driver to drive a little slower, the French driver and the liaison officer responsible for leading the way were very dissatisfied.

Sun Zhen was also very dissatisfied, and the order given above was to maintain a speed of twenty kilometers per hour and not make the whole army out of touch on the march. The Frenchman didn't mean to slow down at all.

It will definitely not work if it goes on like this, Sun Zhen secretly scolded in his heart: Immortals are boarded. With a roll of his eyes, he thought of a trick. Suddenly, he said to the liaison officer next to him, "Stop, I want to urinate." ”

The driver had to stop, Sun Zhen didn't hurry to delay the time after he came down, the French were in a hurry, he was not in a hurry. His car was the rear car of the whole company, and he waited until the car of the vanguard battalion appeared in his sight before Sun Zhen got into the car.

Continuing on the road, the French liaison official was half dead, and he didn't know what to scold, and Sun Zhen knew that it was not a good word. I didn't get angry with him, and pretended not to see it. But soon something was wrong, the driver drove the car and flew up, and then looked at the car in front, there was no shadow, Sun Zhen's three cars were loaded and walked, and as soon as the speed in front of him became faster, the entire vanguard company was out of touch. You have to keep up quickly. Sun Zhen's face turned cold, so he took out his pistol and put it on the head of the liaison officer of the French army. The driver braked in fright, and the face of the French liaison officer turned white with fright.

"What are you going to do?" The liaison officer asked angrily, and Sun Zhen said lightly: "Sue the driver, keep the speed of twenty kilometers per hour, otherwise I don't mind letting you be killed by the Germans." ”

The special operations division is a group of bold guys, and Sun Zhen has been in the special operations division for almost a year, and he can be regarded as being taken badly.

At gunpoint, the stunned liaison officer had no choice but to give in, and the speed of the vanguard company slowed down amid the constant cursing.

When the special operations division rushed to the front line, thousands of miles away in Beijing, Fang Dashuai did not eat and sleep well for several days. The changes in the situation of the war in Europe were beyond his knowledge of history. Verdun was actually captured, and it was a group of fortresses.

This historical change made Fang Jianxiong feel uneasy and anxious. The 21 infantry divisions and chariot troops of the expeditionary force are all Fang Jianxiong's family capital, although it is said that they will use the opportunity to participate in the war to arm the army, but if these 21 divisions are really smashed in Europe, Fang Jianxiong really wants to cry without tears.

According to the original plan, the expeditionary force waited for the battles of Verdun and the Somme to start for some time before taking the stage. This made it possible to stagger the most brutal period of the Verdun meat grinder, as well as the initial phase of the Battle of the Somme.

Unexpectedly, history was distorted, the early release of the tank, and a small mistake by Fang Dashuai (gave Bob that little book, which mentioned the blitzkrieg). Fang Jianxiong still underestimated the power of tanks and Bob's understanding of blitzkrieg, and after tasting the sweetness on the Eastern Front, he had the support of Ludendorff, a bull, so he achieved such a beautiful result.

Holding the latest telegram from the group army in his hand, Fang Jianxiong fell into deep thought.

It was noon on a spring day, and the branches in the courtyard were bursting with tender green, and it was quiet within a radius of 100 meters with Fang Jianxiong's study as the core. The people below have to walk with three points of caution, for fear of disturbing the big handsome.

Fang Jianxiong had been staring at a huge map on the wall, as if he wanted to see something? Europe's geographical location and the balance of power between countries determine that this is a protracted tug-of-war. I don't know if it's a good thing to release the light tank that is equivalent to parallel time and space after World War I in advance.

According to the information sent back from Europe, Fang Jianxiong was extremely uneasy about whether Paris could be held. If Paris is not defended, the expeditionary force is likely to be used as a backstop. Foreigners are very skilled in doing such things, and Cai Ye must be reminded in time.

Of course, Fang Jianxiong did not question Cai Yi's execution of the orders of the French General Headquarters. I thought in my heart, so I made my thoughts clear to Cai Ye, first of all, I had to strengthen the investigation and fully understand the progress of the battle situation. On the French battlefield thousands of miles away, the test is still the command ability of Cai Yi and Zhang Xiaohuai, and what Fang Jianxiong can remind is only a general direction.

Thinking out of his mind, Fang Jianxiong didn't notice that the door behind him pushed open, and a slender figure came in.

The person who came in did not make a sound, but clasped his hands, and stood quietly three steps away, silently watching the man's back. Fang Jianxiong stared at the map and said to himself: "You can't make it a refueling tactic, the group army must be concentrated to have strength." Someone, record the message. ”

After speaking, he turned around and looked at the Tingting girl who picked up the pen and paper, Fang Jianxiong was stunned and said, "Why are you?" ”