Just as Ludendorff was holding the time and turning the tide in East Prussia, the seven German armies on the Western Front were also like loose horses, galloping their strongest voice on the vast French plain.

Since the end of the border battle, the German army groups on the right flank and in the center have swept from Belgium to France like a cold scythe in the hands of death. The Germans were devastated and devastated along the way; Everywhere he went, there was no enemy in front of him. Except for the Lorraine front, which had not yet been breached, all the battlefields of the French army were like glacial avalanches, rolling and rolling backwards in an almost irretrievable situation.

On the right flank, the three armies led by Crook, Bülo and Hausen broke through the resistance of the Anglo-French forces on the Belgian border, and then smashed a 120-kilometer-wide rift into the heart of France, and the front of the troops was directed towards Paris, the capital of France, 200 kilometers away. The French Fifth Army, defeated in the Battle of Charleroi on the border, was now retreating in great strides under the leadership of the new commander: they withdrew first to the south of the Sambre River, and then to Giez, a few dozen kilometers away; The soldiers were discouraged and depressed, and there was a stark difference between them and the high spirits of three weeks ago. As for the British Expeditionary Force, they had a tradition of excellent retreat: in just three days, they had galloped back more than 80 kilometres, from the Mons Canal to Noahau, on the River Oise. The frightened British commander French urged London three times a day, and asked the mainland to send reinforcements to France as soon as possible in a very urgent tone; However, the British Army, which implemented the volunteer system, simply did not have enough reservists, so where did it go in a hurry to provide French with a heavy army group that was enough to save the defeat?

In the middle, the German attack was also a threat. Due to the limited number of troops that can be deployed on the right flank. The Germans also deployed their strong forces in the center of the "revolving door axis": the Fourth Army under the command of the Duke of Württemberg and the Fifth Army under the command of Qing Ying were deployed around Luxembourg. The total strength is close to 500,000. In the previous campaign. Both armies each defeated the main French forces in front of them, and marched forward on the 22nd and 23rd, respectively. Although the forces of the Duke of Württemberg did not eat the main force of the French army that they were fighting against them, they captured Sedan on the Maas on the 26th, and once again occupied the city, which had represented the supreme glory of the German Empire since 1870. When a large number of German lancers in gray military uniforms leaped their heads and rumbled through the city of Sedang, which was already full of the tricolor iron cross of the German Empire, everything was like a recreation of the peak scene of the day! Looking at the scene of the German officers and soldiers showing off their might, the French people in the city of Sedang were all sad and depressed, choked and speechless; Some of the seniors who experienced the disaster 43 years ago were even more mournful. Weeping like rain. In this case, France will slide to the bottom of the abyss of hell; And this time, what kind of ruthless slaughter will they face from their long-cherished enemies?

In the face of this serious collapse situation, Xia Fei, who had been led by the nose by the German army from the beginning, finally issued some correct orders. On the way to the right flank of the German army, the French army was to form a new Sixth Army, whose forces would be mobilized on the Lorraine front, which had never been breached; This unit will be combined with the units that have been conscripted after the general mobilization order has been issued, and will become a large army capable of "relaunching the offensive in the future." While the Sixth Army was being organized, the French troops on the retreating left flank were to make every effort to maintain a continuous front, with "short and fierce counterattacks" by the rearguard units in order to delay the German advance. But. The idea of an offensive was still ingrained in Xia Fei's mind, and he hoped that his troops would be regrouped on June 2. And throw yourself into the counteroffensive on all fronts.

From the 23rd, the words that echoed in the ears of the French regiments and battalions were "fighting while retreating". They had to hold off the German onslaught like a frenzied wave, buy time to build up their troops, and build a full and strong front in the meantime. In the retreat, these French troops played to the level they deserved, and adopted the emergency skills they had learned from previous defeats; Although they were still unable to resist the surging German offensive, the resistance of the German advance was greatly increased compared to the early stage of the war.

In addition, the will of the French army to resist gradually became stronger in the retreat. They are no longer fighting blindly on foreign soil, and the land under their feet is already their homeland and homeland. The mountains and rivers they passed, the grass and the trees; The huts, fields, and villages they saw were all the crystallization and wealth of the French people who had worked hard with their own hands. In the impassioned melody of the Marseillaise, the French officers and soldiers persisted in resisting with fearless courage; They dug trenches during the day to defend themselves against the German attack, and retreated back at night. For several days, the French army was defeated but not chaotic, retreated but not broken, and its bravery in the rearguard battle made the German troops admire.

However, this alone could not change the extremely unfavorable situation in which the French front was on the verge of collapse.

As the French Fifth Army retreated south from the Sambre River, the gateway to Paris, the capital of France, suddenly opened: there was not a single strong French force in this 200-kilometer-long stretch! At present, there was only 80,000 British expeditionary forces of four infantry divisions and one cavalry division in front of Paris; They had just galloped all the way from Mons to Noahau, and they were no match for the Germans, who were outnumbered and outnumbered. And near Paris, there were only two reserve infantry divisions that had just been mobilized; And these reserve units, because they were despised by the regular army many times before the war, never received enough military funds to maintain the necessary training, and the vast majority of them are not even proficient in the use of rifles!

What made the French Minister of War even more angry was that the commander-in-chief Xia Fei had no intention of defending Paris, and he regarded this thousand-year-old capital of France as a geographical name that could be sacrificed at will like other cities! Chauffy sent a general to Paris with the intention of gaining command of the two reserve divisions to move north to support the three native divisions, the only French army between the British and the Channel. At this time, Crook's army of 320,000 was sweeping towards Paris. When Messimi reported the situation to Poincaré, the president of the French Republic was furious. It is important to know that Paris is not only a geographical title, but also a spiritual symbol of the French people and the most important railway junction in France: if Paris falls to the Germans, then at least half of the war will be lost!

However, both Poincaré and Messimi know that at this juncture, the government must not fall out with the commander-in-chief. Although they all agreed that the defense of Paris was absolutely necessary, the tragedy of Empress Eugénie's indiscriminate intervention in Marshal MacMahon's march into Sedan in 1870 and the destruction of the entire army was still etched in the minds of the French leadership. Desperate, Messimi currently has only one option - to go to Gallieni.

As a veteran of the Franco-Prussian War, Gallerini was awarded the highest military rank for his contribution to the expansion of the French colonial empire in the decades leading up to it, and became almost the most prestigious general in the French army. However, due to his frail health, he lost the 1911 competition for commander-in-chief to Xia Fei, who was once his subordinate, and has been in an idle position in Paris ever since. It was the most dangerous moment in France since 1870, and Messimi asked him to come out and take over the mess.

For Galieni, the siege of Paris was already an unshirkable duty. However, he had no army at his disposal that could be used to achieve this goal. The facts of the fortress of Liège have proved that pure fortifications alone could not withstand the German attack with huge airships and heavy siege guns; In order for Paris not to suffer the same fate as Liège and Namur, it was necessary to control the surrounding area thirty kilometers away. And to do this, the strength of at least one army group is needed. Gallieni told Messimi that if he could have an army group of three active legions under his command, he would accept the appointment of the commander of the city defense of Paris and would be able to "hold Paris absolutely".

Messimi felt bitter when he heard this, he couldn't even dig up the strength of a division from Xia Fei's hands now, let alone the lineup of at least 7 divisions of the three active legions. However, Gallieni's assurances somewhat restored his confidence, and in order to persuade Xia Fei to send troops to defend the capital, without provoking the arbitrary and majestic commander-in-chief, Messimi spent one night writing a personal letter to Xia Fei, which was then sent to the front line of the general headquarters. He firmly believed that the words and sentences he had stayed up all night thinking about would make Xia Fei change his mind.

At noon, Xia Fei's reply telegram was sent back to Paris. In his telegram, he had agreed that the French Army's newly formed reserve regiments and colonial units arriving by ship from overseas during this period could be taken into possession of by the War Office at its discretion for the purpose of defending the capital. Although Xia Fei was not allowed to draw troops from the active legion, he was able to back down to this point, which already made Messimi and Poincaré overjoyed. Based on this, Messimi immediately detained the two reserve divisions that Xia Fei had originally planned to transfer around Paris as the first new force to defend Paris. At the age of 64, Gallieni was immediately appointed commander of the defense of the city of Paris.

At the same time, a glimmer of hope shines from the dim skies of the French. (To be continued......)

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