On the battlefield of the Somme, under orders, countless soldiers, armed with weapons in their hands, leaned over and rushed towards the German lines. The gray military uniforms were worn on the soldiers who did not know how many thousands of people in the road, and the whole land was gray.

Of course, this is only so far, with the strength of the Germans on the defensive line and the continuous fall of soldiers on the battlefield, if someone is sitting in an airplane looking down from the sky, you can clearly see that this battlefield is turning a little bit blood, as if a gray paper is gradually penetrating by blood...

In fact, there were indeed quite a few planes flying over the battlefield at this time, but the pilots on the planes obviously didn't have the time to pay attention to the movements below, because these rangers in the air were also very busy.

For a long time in the past, because the performance of its own aircraft was inferior to the German Fokker aircraft, the flight units of the Entente countries paid a great price on the battlefield, and even came up with a very famous term in history—————— Fokker disaster...

In this catastrophe, due to the huge gap between them, the Allied flying forces were shot down almost in pieces. Although it was not without good pilots who had shot down German planes with their 'quasi' fighters, it was a very small minority, and because none of the German planes had landed on the Allied positions, the Allies had no way to find out what was going on...

Until...

It was not until Yan Shao provided the Entente with new aircraft and techniques that he had these techniques after surgery. It cannot be said that it is much more than the Germans, at least to the point of being on a level with them. The planes of the Allied countries, which had adopted new techniques, were directly upgraded from 'quasi' combat strength to fighter planes, and the situation on the battlefield with flying units was greatly improved.

That being said. But the Germans are not vegetarians after all, not to mention that after such a long time of fighting, the experienced pilots of the Entente countries have basically fallen to the ground, and although they have accumulated some experience in the remaining time, they cannot be compared with the Germans.

Therefore, although the current equipment is equipped with new aircraft that are not inferior to those of the other side, in fact, the air situation is always that the Entente side will be inferior...

However, this has nothing to do with the generals in charge of the command in the rear, including the Germans. The generals who participated in the battle this time actually paid more attention to the battle situation on the ground than to the air, and in the eyes of the people of this era, the battle in the air could not affect the entire battle situation. Only the ground can...

If the ground loses, no matter how beautiful the air forces are, it is useless.

In a way, this is entirely true, even in the afterlife. The end of the ground battle is also the end of the whole war. After all, air forces can't land without land—————— except for aircraft carriers. However, aircraft carriers should also be considered 'land' from a certain point of view.

What's more, even if it's an aircraft carrier, doesn't it need a port to dock ...

Even nuclear-powered ships need time for overhaul...

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Venturing into a position that was close to the battlefield, Fu Xi stared intently at the situation on the battlefield. Fu Xi really hoped that after a long period of artillery bombardment, the British troops on the battlefield could easily break through the German positions.

Unfortunately, what happened next disappointed him, even under extremely heavy shelling, the Germans still retained a strong resistance in the position. Under the guns of the heavily equipped Makqin, countless soldiers soon fell to the ground. It is true that there were many soldiers in the British attack, but unfortunately few of them were able to approach the German positions alive.

Not surprising either. The multi-day shelling was indeed very powerful, but it was also equivalent to giving the Germans time to send reinforcements—————— such a long time, even if the Germans were brainless, they could react in time. And as long as the Germans reacted, the British would have completely lost the opportunity to break through...

Therefore, in the eyes of Cai Yi, Liu Guangyuan and others who were waiting for news in the rear headquarters, what followed was an extremely tragic war of attrition...

Meanwhile, Fosse and Douglas? Haig gritted his teeth with hatred as he looked at the casualties on the front line. Under the machine guns of the Germans, the soldiers of the Entente were suffering casualties in patches, and it was not long before a rough calculation was made, and I am afraid that at least thousands of Allied officers and soldiers had been lying on the battlefield.

"It seems that this battle is indeed not so easy to fight..."Looking at the telegram that had just arrived, Liu Guangyuan couldn't help but shake his head. According to the telegram, the Entente may have paid the price of three or four thousand casualties, and received very little results...

No...

Apart from pushing the front forward a little towards the German positions, I'm afraid it really didn't come of it at all...

"I don't know how many people the British will lose at the end of this day..."Saying that, Liu Guangyuan couldn't help but sigh. Although he didn't know much about the situation on the front line, even if he just looked at the information in his hand, Liu Guangyuan could more or less imagine it.

"This is not something we can manage..."Cai Yi shook his head, and then looked at Liu Guangyuan. Guangyuan, you can go to the front line later, see how the situation is, we and Xia Fei and they agreed to officially participate in the war in three days, maybe it is nothing in peacetime, but this time the British have suffered such a big loss, if it reaches a point that they can't bear, I'm sure that after three days, the British will definitely propose to let us go too, if there is no preparation at all, even if we have some secret weapons, I'm afraid we will have to pay a lot of price..."

According to common sense, Cai Ye and Xia Fei agreed to join the war after 3 days, but out of etiquette and other relationships, usually the other party will delay some time, for example, the agreed agreement is 3 days later, then the other party may postpone the time to 5 days or even longer...

But this time the losses of the British were too great, and they had already suffered thousands of casualties not long after the beginning. Cai Ye is sure that Haig's side may have already put his mind on the expeditionary force, and it is only because of the agreement with Cai Ye that there is nothing to do, but as long as the time of 3 days arrives. Haig would definitely have proposed that the expeditionary force be in charge for a while.

Although nominally the expeditionary force was of the same level as the British and the French, in fact the number of expeditionary forces in Europe was still smaller, and the overall national strength was a little worse than that of Britain and France. So the position of the expeditionary force in Europe has always been half a body worse than that of these two countries ...

In addition, some of the supplies of the expeditionary force in Europe also relied on the support of the Entente, so many times it is still necessary to look at the face of the Entente. Even though they are nominally equal, sometimes they still have to obey orders...

Although Cai Ye felt a little helpless about this, there was not much he could do...

That's why he asked Liu Guangyuan to go to the front line to see what the actual situation was. Although they have seen some from the information just now, there is still a big gap compared with the actual situation, and this part of the gap is definitely not something that can be figured out by the brain alone. Only real experience can be done.

Liu Guangyuan obviously understood the seriousness of the matter, so he didn't shirk or rub it off, but said it straightforwardly. "Yes. I'm going..."Saying that, Liu Guangyuan picked up his hat from the table and put it on, and after straightening up, he nodded to Cai Ye and several other people in the headquarters, and walked out of the headquarters with his adjutant and guards.

And his adjutant and guard. It is closely followed behind the body. Inseparable...

Standing in the center of the command headquarters, looking at the back of Liu Guangyuan and their departure, Cai Yi sighed softly, and then focused on business.

For the Entente to break through the position of the Germans, this Cai Ye really did not have much confidence.

Even for those tanks, Cai Ye is not particularly confident. After all, he had never seen this thing in use, and after it was shipped to Europe, it had undergone some necessary repairs. Even the warehouse door has never come out.

These things are so mysterious, and Cai Ye has never seen the scene when they are powerful. Coupled with the complexity of the battlefield on the Somme, to be honest, Cai Ye really doesn't have much bottom in his heart, and many times he even just sees this new equipment as a powerful supplement.

It is precisely because of this that Cai Ye will let Liu Guangyuan go to the front line to see what the actual situation is...

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In fact, like Cai Yi, Liu Guangyuan doesn't particularly trust tanks.

No matter how much this equipment plays a role in the test field, the battlefield and the test field are different after all, after all, the environment of the battlefield is far more complex than that on the test field...

What's more, the tankmen who came with them also made it very clear that the reliability of this kind of thing is not particularly reliable, and it is not even as reliable as ordinary cars. Even in normal times, it is possible to break down due to some accidents, not to mention the complex battlefield environment.

Even if these tanks were not given a chance by the Germans on the way, how many tanks could be able to set foot on the German positions, to be honest, even the tank crews themselves did not know.

In this way, it would be a strange thing to have Liu Guangyuan have confidence in them...

That's why Liu Guangyuan ran over in such a hurry, the purpose was to know what the actual situation was on the battlefield of Ludao, and when the expeditionary force appeared, he would also arrange it according to the actual situation to reduce the casualties of the troops as much as possible...

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Although the Germans resisted very stubbornly and also caused great losses to Britain and France, many times the Allies were still able to have a certain advantage in terms of artillery fire. In addition, it is the time when the two sides are fighting, and the German artillery group is busy providing fire support to the forward positions, or striking more meaningful targets, such as the enemy's artillery positions, etc., so Liu Guangyuan is very unimpeded on the way to the headquarters...

Even some of the guards guarding the gate of the headquarters hurriedly hid aside to let Liu Guangyuan in when they saw Liu Guangyuan.

"Ryu, you're here too..."

Hearing that someone had entered the headquarters, despite the sound of gunfire outside, Fu Xi was still very keenly aware of Liu Guangyuan's arrival. After seeing that the person who came in was Liu Guangyuan, Fu Xi suddenly smiled at Liu Guangyuan and smiled.

For the Chinese, Fuxi still has a little more respect, after all, if it were not for the expeditionary force's hard work at Verdun, they would not have been able to swagger and shell the enemy's positions here on the Somme. What's more, Liu Guangyuan's status is also very high, only one level less than Fuxi. Fu Xi's tone naturally seemed more polite.

In fact, it wasn't just him, after seeing Liu Guangyuan walking in from outside, Haige also bowed slightly to Liu Guangyuan—————— Liu Guangyuan and Haige had also seen each other for a few years in the past. Although it can't be said that they are very pleasant with each other, at least there are no irreconcilable contradictions, so there is no trouble getting along.

After walking to Fu Xi and Haig's side, Liu Guangyuan exchanged pleasantries with the two of them for a while, and then spoke directly.

"Dare to be two generals, what is the situation on the front line, and what reliable methods do the two generals have?"

Heard Liu Guangyuan say this. Fuxi shook his head after a deep groan, but Haig was silent.

It's not that they're incompetent, it's just that the technology of this era has too many restrictions on tactics and so on. So even they couldn't find a better solution. This clumsy tactic can only be used to solve difficult problems—————— which is actually a practice that contemporaries often do in the army...

Seeing that Fuxi and Haig didn't seem to have much to do, Liu Guangyuan couldn't help but shake his head slightly, and then left the two of them and walked to the right position and looked at the battle situation on the front line.

It's just that Liu Guangyuan just took a look. I was already shocked by the situation outside.

On the side of the Entente. A large number of soldiers in gray uniforms were carrying their own weapons, and under the command of the officers, they were fearless to rush to the German positions. However, in the face of German crossfire, no matter how many Allied soldiers came, they could not set foot on the German positions...

Just as Liu Guangyuan stood there and watched, I am afraid that the attacking forces of the Entente have already paid the price of four or five hundred people, if they continue alone...

Gasping and pondering the numbers he had just come up with, Liu Guangyuan suddenly felt a little terrifying. It's just that after trying to think of other methods, Liu Guangyuan had to admit it. There really wasn't much to do this time, even if there were. I'm afraid there will be a lot to pay for the overall strategy ...

And compared to strategic purposes, tactical purposes are undoubtedly the lighter side ...

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Despite the fierce machine-gun fire of the Germans, the British still flocked to the Allied positions like a tidal wave under the order, but unfortunately this huge wave of sea water was never able to break the Germans, even if some soldiers took the opportunity to board the German positions, they would be quickly driven out...

And Liu Guangyuan, Fu Xi and Haig, were standing there watching the Allied countries' efforts in this battle. I don't know how long it has been, Haig looked at Liu Guangyuan, and a strange light flashed in his eyes.

"General Liu, I don't know how long it will take for your army to complete the preparations, and I wonder if Lu Dao can go into battle in advance?"

This is also Haig's thoughts after seeing the casualties, after finding that his own losses are very large, Haig changed his thinking, for example, find some cannon fodder as a substitute for the dead, and remove all the British boys on the battlefield—————— in Haig's view, every British young man is very important, and it is easy to attract retribution to drive so many young men to the battlefield...

For Haig, the expeditionary force is obviously such a substitute for the dead and cannon fodder, if the expeditionary force can go up to replace the British army, then their casualties can definitely be reduced a lot, naturally, the casualties on Cai's side will also be aggravated, but...

I'm afraid this doesn't have much to do with Haig...

After all, at such a critical moment, the most important thing is your own people, not a group of so-called foreigners...

Hearing Haig's words, Liu Guangyuan quickly figured out his thoughts, and after calculating in his heart, Liu Guangyuan shook his head slightly. "I'm afraid it's not good, after all, it always takes some training to go to the battlefield, and most of the troops sent there this time are old, weak, sick and disabled, which can be seen. The training of the troops is only a few days away, and there is no need to be in such a hurry..."

Hearing Liu Guangyuan say this, Fuxi on the side also looked over.

Although this matter was promised by Xia Fei himself, but after all, Xia Fei is the commander-in-chief of the French army, and from a certain point of view, he can be regarded as the head of the French Army.

What's more, the current Xiafei has not been removed from all substantive rights because of the defeat of the Somme, as in history, and only a French marshal remains. At that time, Xia Fei was really down. But now Xia Fei has entered a new stage due to the victories of Verdun and the Marne, which is the highest period of life...

For now, Haig urged the expeditionary force to enter the battle as soon as possible. Fu Xi's psychology is naturally a little unhappy, not to mention that he is not unaware of the thoughts of the British.

"Do you want to put the Chinese in line first, and when they are disabled, it's our turn, just take it down and let us keep an eye on it ourselves..."

Although he knew that this was not necessarily all Hager's thoughts, Fuxi's face still tensed.

"In that case, there is no need to force it. It just so happens that your army is not responsible for the first five days, so we will wait for the situation of your army..."

Just as Fu Xi spoke, another charge was launched on the battlefield. The charging soldiers rushed to the enemy positions with their weapons held high, but despite the heavy losses, most of the soldiers were unable to rush to the German positions, even if a few were able to rush forward. You can imagine what the end result will be...

Noticed this scene. Whether it was Liu Guangyuan or Fu Xi and the others, they all sighed...

Not only sighing about the unhappiness of the war, but also sighing at the huge number of casualties on the battlefield.

Although the battle report has not yet come down, they can fully imagine the casualties of the Entente troops after today—————— which is also one of the reasons why Haig will encourage Liu Guangyuan.

It's just that even though Haig and the others have thought about it, they still haven't thought of certain things, such as how the casualties this time will be so big...

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Perhaps because Yan Shao's arrival made the Entente's luck a little worse, and after a long and fierce battle, the first day of fighting was finally over. And when conducting a preliminary roll call. Haig, Fuxi, and Cai Yi, who arrived later, were shocked to find casualties on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. The casualties of the Entente reached more than 70,000.

Of course, this is only about casualties.

Casualty, which refers to the number of injured and killed, is a relatively simple question that can be understood literally.

On the first day, the British paid more than 70,000 casualties—————— which were pure casualties, not counting the escapees, more than 140,000 people fled on the Allied side and more than 130,000 on the German side.

This is not surprising, the Battle of the Somme itself was a very brutal battle, and it is normal for someone to choose to escape, after all, not everyone can withstand such a brutal battle, let alone Rambo or something...

The problem is that it is only the first day of the battle, and even if there are already soldiers who can't stand such a battle on the first day, there are very few people who will choose to flee, and if you really want to start a large-scale escape, you still have to wait until the battle has been going on for a while...

It is precisely because of this that after seeing the casualties, Haig and the others were so surprised.

After all, there are more than 70,000 people, which is definitely not a small number, and the troops they gathered at the Somme this time are only 30 divisions, which is still the number after the British and French and Chinese expeditionary forces combined.

Even if calculated at the level of the expeditionary force's A division, more than 70,000 people are already equivalent to the number of three A divisions. The loss of three Armor Divisions on the first day is definitely not a price that any country can afford, and most importantly, this is only the first day...

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More than 70,000 people were lost on the first day, and thinking of this, Haig couldn't help but glance at Cai Yi.

If this continued, it was not impossible that all British forces on the Somme would be wiped out, and even Haig's eagerness for cannon fodder would have increased.

It's just that in the face of Haig's eager eyes, Cai Ye didn't mean to express it at all, but turned his back and chatted happily with Fuxi, obviously not planning to say anything to Haig.

It's not surprising, after all, Haig is going to let them be cannon fodder, cannon fodder? Cai Ye obviously can't let his subordinates be cannon fodder, this is simply not even a door.

However, Haig was a little persevering, seeing Cai Yi pretending to ignore himself, Haig simply stood directly in front of him, and then said straightforwardly. "General Cai, our losses today are really too great, I'm afraid we still need some rest and recuperation, I wonder if your army can take on tomorrow's battle?"

I was having a good time, but I was suddenly interrupted. Cai Ye and Fu Xi both looked a little displeased.

However, Haig's words were heard clearly by Fuxi, and he could guess what he was thinking clearly, so Fuxi did not get involved. Instead, he stood aside and wanted to see how Cai Ye responded.

I saw Cai Yi bow his head and muttered for a while, and then looked at Haig and said sincerely. "I'm sorry, General Haig, but there are too many recruits in our army, and it takes a little bit of time to train, so I really can't do this..."

"It doesn't matter if you're training or something, it's a day or two short. It's impossible to make your army get a leap forward just because of these two days..."Seeing Cai Ye using this as an excuse, Haig said with some displeasure.

This is indeed the case. Although training is usually a good way to improve combat effectiveness, I am afraid that one or two days may not be able to improve much, and if the military situation is urgent, it is a matter of course to sacrifice such a day or two.

Yet listened to Haig's words. Cai Ye shook his head and said. "Although it's only for a day or two. And maybe your words are also correct, general, this little time does not allow the soldier to get much promotion, but......... Even if it's just for a day or two, maybe dozens or even hundreds of soldiers can survive the war, and I'm pretty satisfied, so I'm sorry I can't agree to your request..."

Cai Ye did not come out with his agreement with Xia Fei. Because if this kind of agreement is taken out too many times, don't say Haig. I'm afraid that even the French like Fuxi are going to turn their faces, as a smart person, Cai Ye is of course very aware of this, and at the same time knows that although he didn't mention it, it doesn't mean that the agreement is gone.

For the weak, it is the same whether there is an agreement or not, the difference is only whether he is facing the strong or not.

But although Cai's expeditionary force is inferior to the British, and the Nationalist government behind him is also a little different from the British, this does not mean that he is easy to bully. So even though he didn't mention it, the agreement still existed.

And considering the friendly relations between France and China, it is impossible for Fuxi to be non-existent.

So as soon as Cai's words fell, Fu Xi interjected before Haig turned his face. "General Cai's words also have some truth, and they also made an agreement with us that they would only participate three days after the official start of the war, and now it has only been a day, so let's be patient for two days..."

Seeing that Fuxi was also involved, although Haig was a little angry, he could only choose to give up helplessly.

Just looking at Cai Yi's calm expression, Haig's heart became angry. Because he couldn't accept that it didn't take long for a weak country that had been bullied by them to have such a status in front of them, which Haig absolutely couldn't bear...

However, in order to win this war, he had to endure.

After all, the Germans were not easy to deal with, and if they wanted to win with as few losses as possible, they would have to enlist more support. Moreover, the situation in Russia is not very good now, and there are already people in Britain and France who have begun to assess what they will do if Russia collapses or is in alliance with Germany...

It is not surprising that, after a great deal of sacrifice, the Gallipoli Strait has not been opened. In this case, Russia's communication with the outside world can only be done through some ports that are not very good. And, of course, the Trans-Siberian Railway, which is being expanded. It's just that this transportation method is really a drop in the bucket for the massive materials that Russia needs, and the materials that are transported to Russia through these channels every day are even more drops...

Even the plan of the all-important Central Asian Railway and the Dilan Railway, after the Central Asian Railway was repaired to Dilan, due to material and other reasons, the Russians could only choose to give up, passively waiting for the Nationalist government to build the railway to Dilan, and then connect with the Russians' Central Asian Railway—————— this railway was originally very important to the Russians, because it was equivalent to the second pipeline in addition to the Trans-Siberian Railway, but now after working hard to reach Dilan, the Russians can only choose to give up, This shows the embarrassment of the Russians in terms of material ...

However, although the Russians gave up, Yan Shao had no intention of giving up, after all, this was very important to his future plans, so until now, the railway is still under construction, and it is very close to Dihua...

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In fact, not only Britain and France, but also China were assessing what they would do in the event of a collapse of Russia or an affair with Germany, and the final conclusion was to maintain friendship with Britain and France, because if Russia chose to fornicate with Germany, they would have to face all the pressure of the Central Powers on the Western Front.

Thinking about the fact that the Allies are fighting on two fronts now, and still being able to fight with them to a draw, what would happen to the situation without Russia's containment, I really shudder to think about it...

Therefore, friendship with Britain and France is necessary, otherwise, it is really unknown whether this war can be won—————— when the United States has not yet entered the war.

And for China, this war must be won, after all, they have already paid a lot in this war, if they fail to get some benefits, the national government will face huge domestic pressure, this pressure Yan Shao may be able to bear, but I am afraid that others will...

It is necessary to find at least a few ministers or even people at the level of prime ministers to come out and take the blame, and with this defeat, I am afraid that the National Socialist Party will have to give up some rights. You must know that the Kuomintang is the dominant party in the country at the moment, and letting them give up their rights is tantamount to letting those with vested interests distribute their interests to others, which is absolutely impossible, so now they have only one possibility, and that is to win this war...

After the end of the first day of fighting, the British launched two extremely heavy attacks on the German positions. It's a pity that the attack was fierce, the casualties were heavy, and even the troops had already taken the positions of the Germans, but in the end they were not able to take it ...

And after paying a terrible price, Britain also entered a state of having to rest first, and after some negotiations, the next rotation was naturally the Chinese Expeditionary Force, which had been watching the play on the side... (To be continued......)