The sky is clear and the clouds are flying. The scorching midday sun of summer shines brightly, releasing its own light and heat to the whole land of France. On the vast plain of Paris, the barracks are lined with chess, the trenches are winding, and countless gray people are surging in the middle, like waves of the sea rushing and rushing in it.

In a suburban villa with barbed wire and soldiers, Qing Ying was standing in front of a huge sand table, analyzing the battle situation with Sickert. From time to time, staff officers come and go to bring the latest battlefield information to their colleagues who are working intensively in the headquarters. The rapid and pleasant ticking sound of the telegraph made Qingying regain the feeling of being in the barracks in a short period of time.

After returning to Berlin for more than half a month of rest and then returning to the headquarters of the 5th Army, the situation on the Western Front had already changed like a sea of vicissitudes compared to when he left. With the opening of the race to the sea, the overall strategic direction of the German army once again tilted sharply towards the right flank; A large number of troops originally deployed in the center and on the left flank were transferred from the whole division and marched to the north of France to engage in fierce battles with the Anglo-French forces. The 5th Army of the Qing Dynasty was also mobilized as a whole under the orders of the General Staff, moving from the port position on the left flank after the Battle of the Marne to the current suburbs of Paris to fill the gap in the battlefield formed by the right flank troops rushing to the sea.

Due to the long front that had to be responsible, this army group, which had once advanced on the French battlefield, could only dig trenches to defend when it reached its new position. In addition, the logistics technicians under the 5th Army also began to quickly get busy, repairing the bombed-out railway bridges in France and erecting enough munitions warehouses. According to the secret instructions given by the General Staff. The Germans were going to launch a large-scale offensive on Paris in the coming month. determine the war situation on the Western Front in one fell swoop; Therefore. The 5th Army, which had been assembled in advance, had to turn the Paris front into a barracks that could fully accommodate large army groups before the end of the battle to the sea.

Under Sickert's well-organized command of dispatch, the German army undoubtedly fulfilled this task brilliantly. The rush of the railway from Compiègne to Martan meant that German trains could run directly from the rear base to an area less than 40 kilometers from the first line, which undoubtedly greatly eased the pressure on the logistics troops to rely almost entirely on mule-drawn supplies for the First World War. The rugged and narrow wilderness roads were also smoothed and open by the Germans. It was enough for horse-drawn carts and field artillery to pass the guò.

On July 3, the first units subordinate to the 3rd Army began to be transferred from the right flank back to the Paris front. As the German advance in northern France slowed down, the German high command devoted more energy to the upcoming assault on Paris: it was clearly better for Germany to greatly improve its international standing than to seize the northern French lands, as it had done in 1871. Although Germany's land power ranking was already above that of France, the enormous impact of the occupation of the capital of an army power was enough to make those countries that were still wavering on the scales of war make choices in favor of the Allies. A large number of troops began to return to the front of Paris in a steady stream, and with the help of Sickert's achievements during this period, the preparation of men, equipment, and various war materials was quickly completed.

As of the current July 15th. The Germans had already gathered the forces of 6 corps near the front line of about 25 kilometers from the Paris front. Except for the 3rd Army of Hausen, which was fully involved in the first round of the offensive. There was also the military strength of part of the 5th Army of the Qing Dynasty. Such a terrifying density of troops was not reached even when the German army attacked the fortress of Liège in the Battle of Emmisi. As for the 4th Army of the Duke of Württemberg, which was originally between Qingying and Hausen, it was forced to stay in the northern battlefield of France as in history, and was now engaged in a fierce struggle with the British Expeditionary Force. Since there could not be too many troops in front of Paris at the same time, Moltke Jr. deliberately let the 4th Army continue to lean on the sea, sweeping along the English Channel towards northern France, in order to force the Allied high command to transfer the troops originally used to defend Paris to northern France and engage the German army there. In fact, this echoes the historical battles of Verdun and the Somme.

According to the reconnaissance sent back by the air force, the French did not seem to have any intention of abandoning Paris. They had cut down all the trees on the outskirts of the city, blown up a building that would be in the way of artillery fire, and with the help of the citizens of Paris, they continued to build trenches. Since the German army on this plane was still under the city of Paris after the Battle of the Marne, the French army did their best to build and strengthen the fortifications under the threat of thorns in their backs. Moltke Jr., who had already experienced the power of defense, felt that attacking Paris would be a bloody meat grinder with huge casualties; Therefore, in addition to the first six armies to attack, the entire German 1st and 2nd armies were to serve as reserves for this campaign. If it were necessary, even the 6th and 7th Armies, which were currently stretched out on the left flank, would have troops taking turns to fight.

With hurried footsteps and a gentle breeze, a young adjutant strode in from the door with a black paper clip in his hand. He pulled out a telegraph page from his folder and handed it to Qing Ying, then turned and walked out. Qingying took it in her hand and read it hastily, and her face showed a look of surprise.

"Your Highness, has something happened?" Sickert looked up from the sand table and asked Qingying suspiciously.

"The General Staff in Mezières has just sent news that the Imperial Army has once again won a brilliant victory on the Eastern Front no less than the previous two East Prussian battles. The reorganized Russian 2nd Army and another corps were wiped out in formation, and more than 120,000 prisoners and 300 artillery pieces became trophies for our army. At present, Lodz is less than 15 kilometers away from our troops, and Warsaw is also close at hand; It is expected that in less than two months, Germany will be able to incorporate all of the Polish plains into her territory in one fell swoop. Qingying smiled slightly, and said loudly to Sikert and the officers around him in an octave raised tone.

Hearing Qingying's words, the command center burst into bursts of excited cheers. Although the victory of the Eastern Front was not directly related to them, both sides were under the same black, white, red and iron cross; The more news of victory came from the Eastern Front, the more the situation on the battlefield and the outcome of the war would be tilted in favor of the Allies. And judging from the information that has been transmitted back so far, the commander-in-chief who was ordered to return to service in the face of danger has obviously created a remarkable achievement: the complete destruction of the enemy's army group and army, which is something that cannot be done on the battlefield of the Western Front in any case, even if the opponent is Russian, such a record is enough to boast about!

Sickert took the message from Qingying and began to read it carefully. After a while, the muscles of his thin cheeks jumped suddenly: for in addition to this telegram, the telegram contained the latest instructions from the German General Staff on the battlefields of the Western Front. In view of the fact that the personnel and material reserves of the Paris front were basically complete, Moltke Jr. decided to launch artillery preparations for the general attack on Paris on July 16, that is, in the early hours of tomorrow. This process will last a full five days, for which the German high command has already prepared a million shells.

His heart was slightly cold, and he turned his head to look at the young man beside him, but saw that the other party's eyes were peaceful, and nodded to him slightly. Sickert's heart moved, and he immediately understood the reason why Qingying did not make the news public. If the whole army had been informed, it would have been possible for this information to be leaked through some accident or espionage channel; And if only the artillery units are notified, it will undoubtedly reduce the hidden dangers in this regard. Anyway, this time the shelling will last for several days, and it doesn't matter if the infantry knows about it a few days later.

"Hans, our artillery is all in place, right?" Qingying turned her gaze back to the sand table and said to Sickert in a normal voice.

Sickert snorted and said, "The 112 heavy artillery batteries, including 12 giant train guns and 6 super heavy self-propelled howitzers, have been assembled in their respective temporary positions; It only takes half a night for them to deploy from their current location to the frontline positions where they will launch an artillery strike in the early hours of the morning. In order to enable the nearly 40 heavy artillery batteries transferred from other armies to exert their due might, I spent a long time on the selection of the location of the artillery positions. Thirteen giant bombing airships were also on standby at the base in Compiègne in the rear, and could fly to the front line of the battlefield in less than two hours. Speaking of this, Sickert's words also carried a hint of sigh and expectation, and said: "Coupled with the cannons collected by the 3rd Army and the airships responsible for supporting them, the first batch of troops of our army responsible for the attack will hardly be weaker than the entire High Seas Fleet in front of Paris!" If the French do not wake up, we will have to wipe out the city of the arts, along with their ambitions to resist. ”

"Very well, you go and send the relevant troops. Each artillery company should clearly demarcate its own attack area as much as possible, and the firing of artillery with a caliber of 150 mm or more must be observed from the air and corrected by the deviation number. Qingying was silent for a moment, and then said, "Although we have a relatively abundant number of shells this time, this firepower preparation is only the beginning of the battle, and there will be a huge amount of consumption in the subsequent battles, so it is best for us to avoid indiscriminate blind fire covering the target." (To be continued......)

PS: Thank you for the monthly pass support of PT Cat, Xinghong Wenjian and ruoliuc123~~~

The author was on a business trip before, and he couldn't update it for many days, and he felt sinful This week's weekend, I'll use a double change to talk about it, um.