The artillery preparation of the US army can be described as extravagant, and the posture of being a fool of many people not only pulled all the US artillery up, but also let the French artillery come with ten regiments of 210 caliber artillery. The French army's most powerful 400-caliber cannon was also brought by the American army. Anyway, this consumption was paid for by the US military, and the French army was happy to cooperate.

How to say it, the nouveau riche is the nouveau riche, and the US Army is really not comparable to the Navy, and there were not even a few 105 howitzers before. If history had not been messed up, the 155 howitzers of the US imperialism would have had to be imported into the French Schneider M1917.

With the support of the French artillery, the artillery preparation was carried out for two days, and during the preparation of the US artillery, the staff of the Chinese Expeditionary Force raised some doubts, believing that there was no need for such a long period of artillery preparation, and in addition, there were many water systems in eastern France, and if it rained a little when the attack was launched, the shelling guide was soft, and the hundreds of tanks equipped by the US army would have to be blinded.

When preparing for the war, this was denied by the staff officers of the US army. Regardless of the fact that the top level of the US military attaches great importance to the combat experience of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, the US troops below are very unconvinced.

Compared with the defeat of Britain and France in the Battle of the Somme, the American army is still trivial. All in all, the U.S. military learns from any experience, and learns whatever it thinks is useful. The French attach importance to artillery fire, the US military follows, the Chinese attach importance to the tactics of group assault, infantry and tank coordination, the US military also learns from the past, and finally makes a strange combination.

As everyone knows, the Chinese Expeditionary Force attaches great importance to the coordination of infantry and Tan, because the country is poor and cannot afford large-scale mechanization. Limited armored forces were often used intensively, and gaps had to be opened with infantry before an armored assault could be carried out.

After two days of artillery preparation, the American forces began to attack. More than 500 tanks were in front, and the barrage was a trick of the French, and the infantry accompanied the tanks was also a trick of the French. However, the U.S. military has improved a little, and it will not be so easy to get out of touch.

The American offensive went smoothly and met little resistance, capturing Baledik in two days. After interrogating the captured German prisoners, it was learned that the German troops on this line of defense were not many, adding up to only three infantry divisions. The Germans stationed at Baledik had only one infantry brigade.

After the victory in the first battle, the confidence of the American army was greatly increased, and it was learned that the main force of the German army had withdrawn from the eastern Baledik defense line half a month earlier, and the entire Entente became nervous. The British and French armies, in particular, were even more nervous. The armies of these two countries. It can be regarded as being frightened by the Germans, and it is a bit of a frightened bird.

Britain and France agreed that the Germans were preparing a large-scale offensive against Britain and France, otherwise there would be no way to explain why the main German army was not in the eastern theater. It is likely that the main German forces have reached the western flank of Paris and are preparing to attack.

Britain and France demanded that the American troops continue to attack forward, threatening the right flank of the German army. to mitigate a possible large-scale attack by Britain and France. At the same time, the British and French armies stepped up preparations for war and reorganized their defensive lines. Among them, the French army is the most fucked-up, and the officers and soldiers at the grassroots level are unwilling to take the initiative to attack, and only accept defensive warfare.

Europe at the beginning of June. The temperature at noon was close to thirty degrees, and the U.S. forces continued to advance at the behest of their allies. On the road of the march, the American troops in the middle were very long. Pershing is still very deep, when drawing up battle plans. The main force of the US army in the center was 15 divisions, with 300 tanks. Slowly pressed in the direction of Verdun. Pershing did not seek victory, but he wanted to be invincible and put enough pressure on the German army. Five U.S. divisions on the right were to open to Nancy to the east, and ten U.S. divisions on the left were more cautious, and their task was to cross the Orb River and press Champagne Beach.

Such a deployment can be said to be even, and there is no big problem. The American army, which won the first battle, after roughly eliminating the strength of two German divisions, was in high morale and advanced very quickly, not noticing the retreat of the German army and not panicking.

France is located on a large plain, there are many water systems around Paris, when the French army retreated, the expeditionary force covering the retreat destroyed the bridges and roads enough, and it seems that the German army did not have very good results in recovering these aspects, and the advance of the American army brought a lot of trouble.

It should be emphasized that the U.S. military was so fierce in the previous artillery preparations that it once again destroyed a piece of the road, and some flat ground land was loosened for I don't know how many times. Catch a damn rain that doesn't rain too much and turn the roads into a very muddy one, and the American tanks advance like snails. It's not that it's difficult for tanks to march on the existing roads, the key is that the U.S. military is equipped with a large number of artillery, and it needs cars for traction and logistics, and this road state is too bad.

In this way, the infantry of the American army marched a little faster than tanks and artillery. The American troops, who had not suffered losses, were completely unaware that their current formation was not good, with infantry in front, tanks and artillery lagging behind for nearly ten kilometers.

There was a difference in the speed of the American advance, and the American troops in the center formed a salient after a three-day march. At the same time, in the jungle on the other side of the Meuse, more than 500 German tanks were quietly waiting.

On 5 June, the American forces on the left were met with strong resistance from the Germans as they approached the periphery of Champagne Beach. The Germans built a strong defensive line in this generation, and when the American troops collided head-on, they were hit hard by German artillery, and about a battalion of their vanguard was heavily damaged.

Soon the aerial reconnaissance had the result, and the Germans had built a defensive line of about twenty kilometers on the front, deploying at least ten divisions. At this time, the Entente countries were relieved, and once again verified that the main direction of the German army should be the western theater.

Champagne Beach is an important place, cutting off the connection between Reims and Verdun to the north and Epernay to the west. The Germans were deployed in this place, and there were no problems at all. After coming to this conclusion, both Britain and France believed that the German army would inevitably launch a fierce attack on the western theater in the near future. At the critical moment, an aerial reconnaissance of the French army "luckily" photographed a large number of "tanks" hidden by the German army in a certain forest in the western battlefield, as well as a large number of "artillery" units of the German army.

The French commander-in-chief, Pétain, judged that the Germans were preparing a major attack aimed at cutting off the sea passage between Britain and France, and were on the verge of attacking. Pétain was glad that he had not been attacked by Pershing before, because at this moment in the western theater, the British and French armies combined were one million and had enough depth. At the same time, it was considered the best opportunity for a defensive counterattack.

Petain immediately made a decision to transfer the French Second Army from Orleans to the western theater, and at the same time asked the American troops to continue the attack, creating the illusion that the Entente ** team was taking the east as the main direction of attack, giving the Germans a false impression that their tactical deception had succeeded. As long as the Germans launched an attack in the western theater, the Anglo-French army could use strong fortifications to consume the German army and then launch a full-scale counterattack. At that time, with the 1 million troops of the US army in the east and the Chinese expeditionary force, it will be possible to completely cut off the connection between the east and west of the German army, and even if it cannot destroy many German troops, it will be able to force the German army to retreat in the entire direction and recover Paris by taking advantage of the situation.

Pershing was tactically inclined to attack, and although he was a little unimpressed by Petain's instructions, he decided to cooperate. But before that, Pershing had to deal with the Chinese Expeditionary Force, and it was not a good idea to be in charge of this offensive.

Pershing personally rushed from Baledik to Troyes, where a change of guard was underway, and the main forces of the Chinese expeditionary force were changing guards with the French army. The temptation to regain Paris was too great, and Petain did not hesitate to choose to throw the main force of the Chinese expeditionary force into the eastern battlefield and transfer the French army from the east to the western battlefield.

Petain's caution certainly could not be concealed from Pershing and the goblin commanders of the Chinese Expeditionary Force. So after the meeting, Pershing unceremoniously said to Cai Ye and others: "General Petain seems to see the hope of recovering Paris, so he asks the Chinese and American armies to invest huge forces to launch an attack and cut off the connection between the east and west of the German army." In order to accomplish this strategic vision, the Chinese and American forces must at least recapture Saint-Meneurde. ”

Pershing was clearly trying to sow discord between China and France, but this intention clearly did not succeed. Because the three commanders of the Chinese Expeditionary Force were not optimistic about the offensive campaign in the east.

"General Pershing, we believe that the first task of the Sino-US coalition forces at present is to level the front. The American troops in the center were too protruding, and before the German defense line at Champagne Beach could form a breakthrough, the American troops stopped advancing. Cai Ye bluntly put forward the views of the Chinese side, to which Pershing's face was calm and disapproving. For a long time, the British and French armies have looked down on the US military, especially the US Army, which is a group of rookie troops in the eyes of the British and French armies. If the eastern battlefield had not been for the existence of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, Britain and France would not have been able to rest assured that the US military would support the overall situation.

Pershing has a strong ** to prove that the combat effectiveness of the US army is not bad at all, and to prove that the US army can also fight. But now it seems that the attack of the squadron is not strong, and it does not have the strength that they show on the battlefield.

"General Cai, I think your army is too cautious. Britain and France had received accurate information on the Western Front, and the Germans were preparing for a fierce offensive. The French Air Force found at least three hundred German tanks and six or seven hundred large-caliber artillery pieces. Although Pershing did not directly say that the Chinese expeditionary force was afraid of fighting the German army, in fact this meaning had already come out.

In this regard, Zhang Xiaohuai sneered very unhappily: "General Pershing, our opponent is the German army that has experienced a hundred battles. On the Eastern Front, they once ate nearly two million Russian troops in one go. It relied on a completely new tactic, which we have studied to a certain extent, and we believe that it is absolutely impossible to cross the Marne lightly. Even if they want to cross, they must fight steadily and steadily, and do not give the Germans a chance to counterattack. ”