The night is deep, black clouds are rolling in, and the Seine River flows quietly in the bleak evening breeze through the skyscrapers of central Paris. The wooden doors are slanted, the windows are dangling, and a few wild cats are rummaging through the wide street full of garbage for all kinds of food, and the street lamps of the buildings without any light around them make it even more lonely and desolate. Occasionally, a night watchdog would pass by, and they would disappear into the darkness, waiting for the footsteps to fade away, and then reoccupy the realm they would not normally have dared to think of.

Since the defeat of the French army on 24 May at the Battle of the Frontier, the citizens of Paris have fled to the south of France to escape the artillery fire from the north. With the relocation of government agencies south to Bordeaux, the declaration of the capital by Gallieni as a war zone, and the tense situation in which the German army remained entrenched near Paris after the Battle of the Marne; The French citizens, who were covered by German artillery fire, fled with their families, lest the heavy shells that the Germans had originally bombed fortifications hit their heads. To this day, except for the hundreds of thousands of residents who insist on refusing to leave a corner southwest of Paris, all the rest of the place is empty; This world-class metropolis is second only to London, but now it has become a dead city, and it is no longer the glamorous scene it once was.

In the underground command room in the center of Paris, an old man wearing a round military hat and two long white beards on his lips was bowing his head and muttering in front of the sand table, it was none other than Gallieni, the commander of the Paris garrison. A light bulb hanging from the ceiling emitted a dull yellow glow that illuminated his emaciated face. Compared with the day when he was in danger before, the old look on Gallieni's face had deepened a lot; Even those blue-green eyes, which are always radiant, have a sense of exhaustion and fatigue at this moment.

A month and a half ago. The unexpected pause of Crook Army Group on the flank of Paris. The perfect flank attack he had planned was instantly in vain. In the midst of the thunderous onslaught that Crook's troops had relieved themselves and launched against him. His seven-and-a-half-division Paris defense force, which had been put together with great difficulty, was attacked almost devastatingly. Had it not been for the British Expeditionary Force on the southern flank and the French 5th Army to cover it, it would have been almost impossible for his remnants, who had suffered more than half of the casualties, to retreat into the fortifications around Paris!

After that, the Germans did not launch a general attack on Paris, but shifted their strategic objectives to northern France, much to the surprise of all French nationals from President Poincaré to the crosshairs. However, after half a century in the army, Gallieni, who was well versed in the art of war and command, clearly understood that this was by no means an expression of compassion from the Germans. Compared to storming one, it already has good fortifications. And in cities that can be supported at any time, it is obviously more important to hold their right wing steady; If the Germans could break through from northern France and repeat the Schlieffen plan, it would be much better than a frontal assault on Paris. Gallieni had a strong premonition in his heart that with Paris so close to the front-line battlefield, it was almost impossible for the Germans to give up the idea of capturing the French capital in one fell swoop; The city he is responsible for garrisoning will sooner or later come to the artillery front!

In view of this, when the Anglo-French forces were engaged in a fierce battle with the Germans in northern France, Gallieri in Paris was doing only one thing, and that was to use all his strength to strengthen the city's defenses. As the number of German troops gathered in front of Paris grew, the atmosphere that hung over the area suddenly became tense; The French high command also began to send troops to Paris. Gallieni also ordered them to build fortifications, day and night. However, the Germans did not give him much time. In the early morning of July 16, when the French soldiers on duty were still sweating on their positions, a reddish-purple-orange man-made "morning glow" rushed out from the German positions in the northeast. And as hour after hour passed quietly, the German artillery fire showed no sign of stopping, and it was still like a thunderbolt!

With a "squeak", the narrow wooden door of the basement was pushed open, and the commander-in-chief of the French army, Xia Fei, who was completely opposite to Gallieni, walked in with a steady footstep. The moss and damp breath that permeated the air made Xia Fei's brows frown slightly; A mouse spread its legs and ran merrily past Xia Fei's feet.

Seeing Xia Fei's figure, a hint of surprise flashed in Gallieni's eyes; After a few moments, a smile appeared on his face, and he pointed to Xia Fei to the only chair in the entire underground room next to him. Xia Fei honestly and unceremoniously pressed his huge body against the seat, and then spoke in his almost always calm and peaceful tone, "How's the situation?" ”

"The German shelling has been going on for almost 70 hours, and the current trend is the same as you can see on the way here, and the suburbs of Paris are still bursting with red sparks all the time. According to the estimates of the front-line troops, the Germans have fired about 500,000 shells at us in previous shelling. Infected by Xia Fei's calm demeanor, the tiredness and depression in Galieni's eyes gradually faded, and he replied softly.

"What about our losses?" Xia Fei paused, then asked again.

"On the position at a depth of 3 kilometers in the foremost, the length of the trench collapsed more than four-fifths, and all the machine-gun bunkers and artillery positions were destroyed; The barbed wire fence was riddled with holes, and the mines planted there should have been detonated by German shells. This group of fortifications on the outskirts of the city has almost no defensive effect. At present, the German artillery fire is spreading to deeper places, and I have ordered all the officers and men in those areas to withdraw to the rear bunkers, so as to avoid the tragic scene of the collapse of the previous anti-artillery bunkers and the burial of a large number of officers and men alive. Speaking of this, Galieni's expression couldn't help but become a little solemn, and he said in a deep voice, "As of three hours ago, there have been huge losses of more than 10,000 people in various units of our army. ”

"I was at the headquarters 30 kilometers away, and I could clearly hear the explosions coming from the direction of Paris, so I felt the need to come to the front line to find out what was going on. Now it seems that the Germans really wanted to take Paris in one fell swoop, intending to break the fighting spirit of the French people. We must not allow them to succeed. Xia Fei's flat voice echoed in the small basement, giving people an inexplicable encouragement and confidence, "Now that the Russians have suffered repeated defeats on the Eastern Front, and the British Reserve Army has been unable to form combat effectiveness, we can only rely on ourselves." I have done everything in my power to meet your needs, and you, Joseph, must thwart this long-planned German offensive and thus sound the clarion call for our future counteroffensive. There are 16 provinces in France that are under the ravages of the Germans, and we must liberate them all! Speaking of the last sentence, Xia Fei's tone also became slightly excited.

Gallieni nodded slowly, his eyes full of determination. For a long time before, due to various reasons, the relationship between the two French giants, Gallerieni and Xia Fei, has been in a state of considerable tension; However, at the time of this national crisis, they had already abandoned their previous dissatisfaction and prejudices against each other, and devoted all their wisdom and energy to fighting against the German army and resisting foreign invasion.

In order to thwart the German attack on Paris, Xia Fei, who was extremely strong in character and regarded his authority in the army as his life, did not hesitate to greatly weaken the military power in his hands this time, and placed 12 regular divisions and newly organized divisions under the command of Gallieni, which was absolutely impossible a month ago. Heavy artillery, newly manufactured in the rear military factories and received from the British, was also distributed to the Gallieni troops on a priority basis. At present, Gallieni already has a sizable heavy artillery force in his hands, which is hidden in the deep positions in the rear. Fearful of the power of the German heavy bombers and the retaliation of their long-barreled heavy train guns, the cannons remained quietly lying in their bunkers, not preparing to launch a counterattack against the German artillery. And when the German artillery bombardment is over and the infantry begins to attack, they will launch a shocking roar of revenge for the French warriors who have spilled more than 200,000 blood in the mountains and rivers!

In addition, the French army also responded to the bombing airships of the German army cruising in the sky. In previous battles, the giant airship with a beige body has always played the role of a pioneer in the German attack, and the ground below it has set off overwhelming waves of fire; No matter how strong the fortifications were, they were as fragile and weak as mud and paper paste, crumbling and shattering in the thunderous explosion. However, the French army had no way to resist this weapon at all, and could only allow it to be humiliated and ravaged in the sky above them, causing a large number of casualties. This time, Schneider Military Industry urgently developed a 75 mm caliber anti-aircraft gun, and immediately produced more than a dozen of them and delivered them to the front line. In ideal cloudless weather, German airships could bombard them with grenades at a rate of fire in excess of 8 rounds per minute, as long as they dared to appear in the airspace below 4,500 meters.

"Boom!" A deafening explosion of anger suddenly sounded, and the sand and rocks fell down, and the rats that were still scurrying around in the basement just now disappeared in an instant. Gallieni looked directly at Xia Fei's green pupils and said softly in a tone that left no room for return: "Bet on my honor and life. As long as there is one man alive, I will fight in Paris to the last breath. A qiē for France! (To be continued......)

PS: There is another chapter in the evening~~~