Chapter 248

In the war of the big industrial countries, the soldier's plain is no longer a decisive factor. The soldiers of the Wehrmacht experienced a direct decisive battle with a large industrial country and saw what war in the era of industrialization was.

The Germans rained down shells, the positions were like the end of the world, and the only thing they could do was endure the feeling of almost suffocation in the smoke of gunfire. That is, these two armies are veterans, and they know that running around under such artillery fire is looking for death, so they can only hold their heads in their hands and hide in the anti-artillery holes and wait for the German artillery bombardment to end.

It's not that the artillery of the expeditionary force doesn't want to fight back, isn't it just a little bit of family background, and they are reluctant.

The shelling stopped, and the officers gritted their teeth and shoved their buttocks with their leather shoes. The stunned soldiers who were shocked by the shelling drilled out of their holes, and the surviving officers ran around to check whether the holes had been blown up, and organized people to dig them up to rescue their brothers. The soldiers, who had recovered slightly, went to their positions and saw the German tanks lined up in the distance.

Zhang Jingyao's battalion was on the front line of the position, and after he got out, his heart was tumbling and he wanted to retch, and a mouthful of blood spurted out directly. The shelling just now was so hard that a heavy shell almost hit the anti-artillery hole directly, and Zhang Jingyao was so shocked that he almost fainted. Breathing a sigh of relief, as soon as he raised his eyes to see this scene, Zhang Jingyao shouted in a hoarse voice: "Tank, quick, push out the infantry guns." "Infantry guns one by one, pulled out of the anti-artillery holes.

The soldiers who operated the infantry guns were the most dangerous, they could not hide in the trenches, they could only follow a slope, push the guns up, set up the guns in the pre-set bunkers, and prepare to hit the tanks. In fact, most of these bunkers have been destroyed, and many of the cannons have not been covered at all. The tanks of the Germans were also not ornaments.

As the battalion commander, Zhang Jingyao did not dare to retreat at this time, and personally rushed out of the trench and went into a temporary bunker piled up with sandbags, where an infantry cannon was erected. "The order is not to be in a hurry to open fire, and wait for the German tanks to fight after 500 meters."

Liaison officer Armand witnessed the bloody battle between the squadron and the Germans. Also against the German tanks, the Chinese appeared quite calm. Although the infantry guns were constantly hit by German tanks, the soldiers operating the infantry guns appeared calm and did not panic. Armand is in a good position, and he can clearly see the general situation on the position several kilometers away. When the German tanks approached five or six hundred meters, the infantry guns of the Chinese soldiers began to fire.

One, two, three. Armand silently counted, this time the Germans dispatched thirty tanks, and before they could rush to the position, all of them were knocked out by infantry artillery. Without the cover of tanks, the power of the Chinese's machine guns increased greatly, and the Germans under intensive fire were difficult to advance, and the thrilling fierce battle lasted about forty minutes. The Germans could not bear the casualties and retreated.

There was calm again on the battlefield for the time being, and Armand was completely dumbfounded. The same opponent, why the French army in the face of the German attack. Is it so struggling?

At sunset, calm was restored on the battlefield, and the two sides who had been fighting fiercely for a day died down.

Inside the headquarters of the German Fifth Army. August frowned slightly when he learned that the attack in the direction of Aviz had failed. Today's battle was a bit unusual. The opponent is obviously much more difficult to deal with than before. Especially since they seemed to have grown a lot against tanks, and when August saw Ludendorff appear, he stepped forward and said, "How is it?" Where is General Bob's commando? ”

Ludendorff said with a colorful face: "Your Excellency, the defenders of Aviz are Chinese. ”

"I understand that the Chinese have twenty-one infantry divisions, plus other subsidiary troops, more than three hundred thousand people. That is, the French army on the opposite side was reinforced by the Chinese expeditionary force. So what? The key to this battle is Bob's commando. August's confidence remained, and as he spoke, he raised his head slightly.

"Your Excellency, if the opponent is a squadron, I have two Jianyi, the first is to increase the troops, and the second is to give up the offensive and go on the defensive." In fact, Ludendorff had the right to propose directly to the Chief of the General Staff Hindenburg to build a yì, pass guò August, as a sign of respect for the crown prince. August knew this very well, but what he didn't understand was, why did he have to go on defense when he heard that the squadron was coming? So he looked at Ludendorff in confusion and said, "Why? ”

"The Chinese have twenty-one divisions, the French have five. Combined, there are at least 400,000 troops capable of fighting. And our army, with only eighteen divisions, plus General Bob's commando, is also at a disadvantage in terms of strength. The fighters had been lost, and the appearance of the Chinese made the capture of Paris an impossible plan. If the attack continues, Petain's Second Army will launch a counterattack from the south to the north, and our army will be on the passive. "Ludendorff gave his reasons, August was still a little unwilling, Paris is just around the corner." What if General Bob succeeds? August asked again.

Ludendorff said lightly: "It's impossible, the ** squadron is in St. Martin and Dab."

In the case of Lowa, the assault could have ended early. The reason is simple, Bob's tactics were all learned from his Chinese brothers. Chinese, definitely guard against it. ”

August was silent for a moment and said, "Is there no other way?" ”

Ludendorff hesitated for a moment and said, "Yes, the last way, concentrate forces to attack Epernay and contain the Chinese with a small number of troops." This is the only chance, if the French can be routed, the Chinese will only retreat. ”

"Then deploy overnight, and the telegram informs General Bob to withdraw overnight and deploy directly to the front line of Aviz."

When the German army was making adjustments, Nivelle received a telegram from Lieutenant General Gallieni asking for help, and in the fierce battle on the 16th, the French suffered huge casualties, and less than three of the five infantry divisions in his hands could now hold on to the battle. It was too difficult to defend a front with a width of about 15 kilometers.

Neville was still in Saint-Martin and Dablois, and directly showed the telegram to Cai Yi. Nivelle's dissatisfaction with Gallieni can only be kept in his heart. The same opponent, the same five infantry divisions, the French artillery support was much stronger than the squadron. People fought for a day without saying a word. Gallieni called for reinforcements almost every day.

"If it can be determined that the Germans have no intention of attacking Saint-Martin and Da Blois, they can send reinforcements from a military district." Cai Ye hesitated for a moment, and after seeking Zhang Xiaohuai's opinion with his eyes, he gave a vague answer.

The problem is that the intelligence work of the French army is obviously a little out of place. The intelligence of Bob's attack was only realized after the Chinese reminded him. This assault team, which is now approaching, has been seen by aerial reconnaissance. Hundreds of tanks almost scared Neville to death, if the Chinese hadn't discovered it early and stood here in advance, there would have been a big problem.

On the map, the pocket formations set up by the Chinese are waiting for the assault clusters of the German army. According to the plan, after eating this German army, the Chinese expeditionary force immediately launched a counterattack, and at the same time the Second Army also launched a counterattack. If this can really be achieved, the progress of the battle will go in a wonderful direction. Neville really didn't want to miss this opportunity, and after much hesitation, Neville turned and left. He called back and told him that it would take two days at the earliest for him to have reinforcements.

On Ettogge, the roundabout cluster was limited by the road, and the march was not as fast as expected. The terrain along the Marne was not suitable for large-scale movement of armored clusters, and the narrow roads made Bob's troops suffer.

At this time, Bob did not know that the next target on his continued advance, Monmore and Lucy, the Chinese had placed four infantry corps here, with their wings open, waiting for him to drill in. At the same time, a squadron is quietly moving towards Welty, which is going to tie the pocket.

When he received the telegram from Ludendorff, Bob was surprised. However, Ludendorff explained, and Bob did not question it too much. If Saint-Martin and Dablois were the heavy forces of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, Bob would not have killed anyone.

Bob immediately ordered a U-turn and went back the way he came. The tide of the battle took an unexpected turn because of Ludendorff's genius judgment. No one on the side of the Entente could have expected that the German army would suddenly undergo a transformation.

On March 18, the Germans continued to bombard the Epernay Line with heavy artillery fire on the battlefield, and the German artillery bombardment went on uncharacteristically for a whole day, without launching an infantry attack. Nivelle did not notice the Germans adjusting, and neither did Gallieni. European artillery fire is ready to fight for a day, and it is normal. The situation on the side of the expeditionary force was much better, although the German shells also rained a little, but unexpectedly there were no large-caliber cannons, but the French positions ate a lot of such shells.

The only accident was that the aerial reconnaissance could not take off, and the weather unexpectedly rained lightly. This light rain undoubtedly helped the Germans, and interestingly, the French were very happy, and even hoped that the rain would be heavier.

On March 19, the Somme side suffered another heavy loss, and when attacking the second line of German defense, the British and French forces paid the price of more than 30,000 casualties, but did not make any progress, and the Germans returned to the first line of defense.

On the same day, a shocking bad news came for the coalition forces. Epernay is lost. In the early morning of the 19th, the Germans unexpectedly did not make any artillery preparations, and five infantry regiments quietly sneaked in the pre-dawn darkness, approaching 300 meters of the French position and hiding.

At five o'clock in the morning, the Germans bombarded the French front-line positions with heavy artillery fire, and thirty minutes later the lurking troops launched a surprise attack. The French were caught off guard, and in less than an hour, the first line of defense was broken through by the Germans.

Gallieni, who reacted, did not hesitate to suffer artillery casualties and desperately suppressed. German bombers and heavy artillery combined to inflict heavy damage on the French heavy artillery units, causing heavy casualties on both sides. The most terrible thing is that when Gallieni was put into reserve, it was detected by German aircraft, and the Germans blocked the French reinforcements with heavy artillery fire, and one of Gallieni's infantry divisions was disabled.