On June 9, the Schlieffen plan to destroy France entered its worst day. In the German General Headquarters in Meziers, there was an indescribable aura of anticipation, longing, heaviness, and gloom. Little Moltke, the chief of the General Staff wearing a pointed steel helmet and a straight military uniform, was sitting quietly in his command room like a piece of dead wood at the moment, and his old face was full of worry like water.

Time has passed, and the French army on the battlefield has not been wiped out.

On the Paris front, Crook unsurprisingly defeated the French Sixth Army, which launched a counteroffensive on his right flank. The French army of six divisions lost more than half of its fierce German offensive, and Gallieni's attack on Crook's flank was a complete failure. The Germans advanced more than 25 kilometers head-on to Paris, reaching Lani, the last gateway to the northeast of Paris and only 15 kilometers from the center of Paris. At this distance, the Germans were not only able to climb to the top of the buildings on the outskirts of Paris, but also to easily deliver shells to the heart of the French capital after the arrival of their own heavy artillery units.

However, while Crook hit the main force to crush the threat from the right flank, his relatively weak front was also pushed back by the Anglo-French forces for a long distance. At present, the German First Army has been driven back to the north of the Marne, and the fierce offensive and the will to fight to the death of the British and French troops have shocked the only German army who was aware of the danger of Crook before the Battle of the Marne. Immediately after repulsing the Germans, the British Expeditionary Force moved west along the Marne River to join forces with the French Sixth Army, which was on the verge of collapse. Together, they created a strong line of defense near Rani to prevent Crook from continuing to advance.

Because he knew that his troops were inferior to the German army. Plus the British have already lost too many troops in consecutive days of fighting. French wisely ordered his troops to take refuge in the trenches for defense. It is not known whether this order was done out of wisdom or fear, but fear was wise in certain circumstances: with the fighting qualities of the British army, which were far superior to the French reservists, when Crook's troops again launched a victorious pursuit of the French army, they were met head-on by the British expeditionary force. In the face of the accurate rifle fire of the British soldiers, the number of casualties of the German troops soared sharply compared to the previous days, which made Crook angry. With another unit that had just arrived in Paris being rushed to the front by Gallieri by taxi (as is the case with history), the French defensive line at Lani became more solid, and the German offensive against the French Sixth Army came to a standstill.

In the middle battlefield, the actual situation also deviated greatly from the original plan of the German high command. The rapid advance of the Fourth Army lasted only one day. Immediately, under the obstruction of French reinforcements, he gradually slowed down his advance. At present, they have advanced less than 25 kilometers in four days of fighting, pressing the French Third Army into the upper Marne area; In the plan drawn up by the German High Command, they should now be located 15 kilometers further south, further compressing the strategic space of the French army. Judging by the current pace of advance and casualties, Moltke Jr. estimated that the Fourth Army would be able to advance further south at most; As for wanting to realize the "sickle" that swept through the heart of France in the middle battlefield, approaching Bar on the Seine and encircling the main force of the French army on the Marne front from the flank, Moltke thought that he could not do it!

As the other main force of the German army to break through in the center, Qingying's Fifth Army was progressing smoothly. After breaking through the French defenses in one fell swoop, they rushed south, but the French responded with far more speed and determination than the Germans expected. The two French armies on the Alsace front retreated in great stride overnight. It directly disrupted the overall layout of the German army to gather and annihilate it. At present, the French First Army had disengaged with the German army, and the Second Army had also withdrawn to the southwest in a fierce battle with the Qing Ying. The German encirclement was like a water bag with a lot of holes, and a large number of French troops escaped from these key crossings at any given moment.

Although the armored units and heavy artillery clusters of the two armies of Crook and Bilow have not yet joined the battle, and all the cards of the German army have not yet been fully displayed in this battle, Moltke, who is good at reaching the core of the problem through appearances, can already faintly feel that even if these troops arrive on the battlefield, it will be difficult to fundamentally turn the entire tide of the battle. In the attack in the middle, the German Fourth Army, commanded by the Duke of Württemberg, had a large amount of heavy artillery firepower and an almost overwhelming advantage in numbers, but their advance was still unsatisfactory. Of course, this was due to the fact that the Fourth Army's offensive area was located in the upper reaches of the Marne and the terrain was rugged, but the French army's will to fight rather than retreat and the solid defense of the trenches were the main reasons!

Is the quick battle on the Western Front going to fail?

Since the end of the border battle on May 23, this thought has faintly come to Moltke's mind: because except for the Fifth Army of Qingying, no other troops have formed a real encirclement and annihilation of the French army. However, what seemed to be a good situation at the time blindfolded him, and he subconsciously thought that a large number of captives would come later, and dispelled this suspicion. And to this day, this nightmare situation that he least wanted to see before the outbreak of war could not be more obvious before his eyes. At present, the German army once again tried to encircle and annihilate the French army in large numbers, but failed with the stubborn defense of the French army in the center and the decisive retreat of its right flank troops; Their only gain was the annexation of French cities, populations, resources, and territory—things that the German right flank had already gained several times more than it did now. Their loss would have weakened France's war potential, but it was not enough of a lethal factor to force France out of the war for the world's second largest colonial empire!

"Once the French begin to dig trenches and hold on, then the front on the Western Front will no longer be a sack that we can easily pierce. Trenches can effectively resist artillery fire, and barbed wire and various firearms will become almost insurmountable obstacles for infantry; Even if we have armor that is not afraid of bullets, we are extremely vulnerable in the face of a dense salvo of cannons......" Moltke's lips twitched, muttering like a dream, and his face was full of bitterness and sadness. Ten days earlier, when Qing Ying had come to Luxembourg City to formulate a new battle plan, he had spoken these words to him. Now, all of this has been fulfilled.

Barring no major surprises, the war is about to turn into a protracted war until one side collapses – a vision that Moltke himself had many years ago, but when it does come, the bottomless drain on people and wealth will still make every great power shudder. Moltke did not understand why, after suffering the previous defeat, these French still had the same morale and determination as the victors, and threw themselves into every offensive or defensive battle? He reaped another success of his own, but it was by no means a complete victory!

"Your Excellency, Crown Prince Ruprecht has sent a telegram that his troops have crossed the Moselle and joined up with the Fifth Army to encircle a French army of about 20,000 men in Nancy!" Feng? Lieutenant General Stein walked briskly into the headquarters, holding a telegram in his hand, smiling, and obviously in a good mood.

Hearing the news conveyed by his deputy, Moltke's state of mind did not get any consolation. For even with optimistic estimates, the encircled French army would not exceed two divisions at most; This loss was barely enough for even the British expeditionary force, let alone the French. A smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and he spoke in a slightly hoarse voice: "In my name, I call back General Rupprecht, congratulate him on his victory in battle, and urge him to annihilate all this force, and never allow a single Frenchman to escape the encirclement." ”

Hearing little Moltke's words without any please, Stein couldn't help but be slightly stunned, and said, "Your Excellency, what's wrong with you?" Although we were not able to encircle all the French forces on the Alsatian front, we undoubtedly opened the situation on the southern front. They are retreating westwards under the pursuit and oppression of our troops......"

Before he could finish speaking, Moltke suddenly snapped up and roared loudly: "Hell, don't say this word in front of me again!" Half a month ago, you reported that the French were retreating in a hurry on all fronts, and that it would take less than ten days to completely end the war on the Western Front, but what about the current results? The French have launched a counteroffensive and are fighting us to the death on the Marne! If Crook hadn't stopped his advance on June 3, he would have been beaten back to the north of the Aisne River 60 kilometers later! ”

Stein seemed to have been struck by lightning, and he froze in place for a long time, speechless.

"There is no encirclement, no annihilation, not even a prisoner captured, who can tell me what is so exciting about this kind of battle? Even if we had made a breakthrough on the Alsace front today, would we have been able to win the war? It will not be long before the French will still be present at the front of our march and fend off our attack, as evidenced by their counter-offensive on the Marne! Moltke Jr. took a deep breath and said, "The last thing I want to see is here." (To be continued......)

PS: Thanks to the book friend zhouyu1976 for the reward and Garfield 81's evaluation vote ~~~~ for subscribing to the ongoing tragedy