On May 24, a military vehicle from the rear drove into the fortress of Longwei, which was occupied by the Germans, and brought Qingying a first- and second-class Iron Cross awarded to him by the German General Staff.

In order to be able to command more effectively the more than 1.5 million troops on the Western Front, Moltke Jr. has moved his command base from the General Staff building in Berlin to Koblenz on the Rhine since May 14, less than 170 kilometers away from Longvi in a straight line. And Emperor William, because he wanted to witness the second Battle of Sedan, also followed Moltke to the military camp at the front. When the news of the victory of the Fifth Army in the border battle and the annihilation of 1670,000 French troops reached Koblenz, William was even more ecstatic and let off his excitement in his villa.

In 1870, Wilhelm I and Marshal Moltke defeated the French army at the city of Sedan, and the foundation of German unity was laid in World War I. And today, forty-three years later, the German army is also gathering its main force in France, and the emperor's holy name is still Wilhelm, and the name of the chief of the general staff is still Moltke! Everything is like a reincarnation of history and fate, how can such auspicious circumstances not make William excited and happy? Feeling the blessing of the Emperor's ancestor and Frederick the Great's heroic spirit, William was now ambitious and infinitely confident; At this moment, an extremely magnificent and vast battle map had been spread out in front of his eyes.

On the left flank of the Western Front, the German Sixth and Seventh Armies, with a total strength of just over 200,000 troops, were like a strong and solid steel gate under the unified command of Bavarian Crown Prince Ruprecht, firmly blocking the French army's march. In the face of repeated attacks by more than 550,000 troops of the French First and Second Armies, the German defenses on all major roads were impregnable. On the contrary, the French troops who were about to commit the crime were beaten all over the field. Bleeding and drifting. From the 19th. The Germans even launched an offensive in some areas; For a time, the roar of heavy artillery roared and stirred, and the German troops, who were unwilling to be suppressed, with the support of heavy firepower, launched a fierce fight to the death against the French invaders, who had an absolute advantage in numbers.

In Belgium, the German right flank cluster, which had gathered three large armies, did not have a single enemy in front of them that could slightly block their advance. Since the German occupation of Brussels, the Belgian army has been hastily pieced together, and the Belgian officers and soldiers who have marched on the waves of passion and the clouds of fantasy have long been frightened by the real brutality of these days. He only knew that he had fled backwards and was unable to put up any effective resistance. In contrast, the destruction of various infrastructure facilities in the country by the Belgian army was more uncomfortable for the German army: every time they withdrew from a place, they would destroy all the roads, bridges, railroad tracks, tunnels, telephone lines, communication stations and other facilities, which caused the German army's logistics and communications to suffer a lot of pressure and difficulties. The Germans had to expend great efforts to repair the roads damaged by the Belgians and to re-erect telephone lines in order to maintain communication with the Koblenz command in the rear.

As of May 19, there were only more than 10,000 remnants left in the entire territory of Belgium, and they were cowering in the northwest of Belgium near the English Channel; After leaving two infantry brigades to wipe out the remnants of the Belgian army, the three units of Crook, Bülo, and Hausen once again lined up in three blades on the blood scythe of death, and swept towards the territory of France. And the troops they are facing at this moment. It was the French Fifth Army, which broke into the triangle between the Sambur and Maas rivers, and the British Expeditionary Force, which was deployed on the Mons Canal on the Franco-Belgian border.

According to the original plan of the French command. Together with the Third and Fourth Armies, the Fifth Army was to burst out of the Ardennes Forest and smash the "revolving doorway" of the German army in the middle with a thunderous force. However, due to the rapid advance of the German army in Belgium, the French flank was under much greater pressure than expected, and the French commander-in-chief Xia Fei had to be forced to withdraw the Fifth Army from the offensive sequence in the mountains of Argentina and other mountains, and instead spread out to the north to meet the German army sweeping from Belgium. However, Xia Fei finally remembered his plan to break through in the middle lane, and always wanted to achieve a breakthrough in the middle lane; The Fifth Army, which had been deployed northward against its original purpose of operation, became the best target for him to weaken his forces and strengthen the center. Under Xia Fei's command, the strength of the French Fifth Army, which originally had nearly 300,000 troops, was sharply reduced; By 15 May, the commander of the Fifth Army, General Langlezak, found that his command had only 12 divisions and 215,000 men.

Langlezak was anxious about this situation. As another wise commander of the French army, Langlezak clearly understood what a difficult situation he would face: since the German army entered Belgium, the French army had clearly detected the number of German troops in 30 divisions, which was more than twice the current Fifth Army; However, the British Expeditionary Force fortified on the Mons Canal in Belgium had only 5 divisions and 80,000 troops, and it was impossible to extricate the French army from the unfavorable situation of being strong and weak. On more than one occasion, Langlezak sent telegrams to Xiafei, and even drove directly to Vitrile Le François, more than 140 kilometers away, to explain to Xiafei in person the absolute necessity of strengthening the Fifth Army. In Langlezak's plan, the Fifth Army should be strengthened by two and a half armies on the present basis; Even if this condition cannot be met, then at least his troops should be restored to the formation they were in ten days ago.

Although Langlezak was known in the French army for his "sharp intellect" and won the trust of Xiafei, his actions greatly annoyed Xiafei. Xia Fei's ideal group army commander is "as brave as a lion and obedient as a loyal dog", and he should go all out to carry out the orders of the headquarters without hesitation, instead of pointing fingers at the orders of the headquarters or even revising or altering them just according to his own situation. In addition, Xia Fei himself is an imperial commander-in-chief, and he is extremely disgusted with things that damage his majesty, and what Lang Le Zac did is undoubtedly a great refutation of the authority and face of this commander-in-chief, which also deepens Xia Fei's resistance and disgust towards Lang Le Zack's request to strengthen the strength of the Fifth Army. In the last meeting with Langlezak, Xia Fei, who finally couldn't bear it, directly showdown with this subordinate: the French army's plan to break through the Ardennes Forest in the middle has been planned for a long time, and it must not be changed, and Langlezak will either obey the order or resign and leave.

Under the pressure of Xia Fei, Lang Lezak finally chose to give in. While the French army in the center was attacking in the Ardennes forest, Ronlezak marched with his already weakened army into the southern border of Belgium, stretching from north to south along Charleroi, Metai and Give. At this time, Hausen's Third Army was coming from the east, approaching Giwe and Meitai; Bülo's Second Army swept from the north, with its troops at Charleroi; Crook's First Army, on the other hand, galloped further north towards the British troops, which had only one and a half armies on his left flank. Although Langlezak could not see the panorama of the German army of more than 800,000 troops rushing from Belgium like a tidal wave, he knew that his own forces were at a great disadvantage compared to the approaching German army, and the dogmatism of "attacking wherever he encountered the enemy" had died in his heart.

In order to avoid annihilation in the coming battle, Langlezak made what was considered an absolute taboo in the French army, but it was the only right choice at the moment - digging trenches to defend himself. "The French Army, which has now resumed its traditions; Except for attack, he knows no laws. The French officers and men who advocated a desperate attack not only found it difficult to accept this cowardly act contrary to the "impulse" in terms of subjective emotion, but they were also at a loss in terms of objective skills in digging trenches - the French army had indeed learned the essence of their "Field Regulations" in depth, and knew no laws other than attack, and had no skills or experience in how to defend at all. At last, they dug only a few straight and narrow trenches, high enough to bury themselves in them; And its vital artillery did not carry out effective concealment, because in peacetime they did not conduct any training in this area at all.

In the early morning of May 19, the German Second Army under the command of Bülow crashed into the French positions at Charleroi like a tsunami wave. Because the previous advance was too smooth, the German army could not help but have a sense of impetuousness against the enemy; After sporadic artillery fire preparations, they rushed towards the French positions as usual, but they were greeted by a dense fire of rifles. Although the number of machine guns equipped by the French army was only a fraction of that of the Germans, the lethality of the trenches and barbed wire against the infantry was still reflected; After a day of fierce fighting, the Germans were also beaten to the ground, and their results were quite limited.

Seeing this, the commander of the German Second Army, Bilow, was greatly surprised. The French also learned to dig trenches and hold on, which was really surprising to him. However, due to the low mobility and frequent breakdowns, the armored units of their group armies have long been left behind by the infantry and cannot participate in this breakthrough battle at the first time. After scouting with airships, Billo found that the trenches dug by the French were rather poor, which made him dispel his worries and choose to crush them directly with heavy fire.

On the afternoon of the 19th, the German Second Army immediately launched a three-hour thunderous bombardment of Charleroi. At the same time, some Gotha bombers also flew slowly from the sky, dropping their own four aerial bombs on the ground, which were more powerful than 283 mm high-explosive bombs. At dusk, Hausen's Third Army also launched an attack in the east, and the explosion of heavy shells was as powerful as thunder in a storm. (To be continued......)

PS: Thank you for the monthly ticket support of book friends Bashui and Shaojiang and the reward of the book on February 30~~~ Yesterday the author made a mistake in the chapter number, the previous chapter should be 336 chapters, and it has been corrected since then