The sky is like ink, and the full moon is in the sky.

In the command post of the German Fifth Army, Qing Ying was standing in front of the map with a solemn face; The wall clock on the wall had already pointed past two o'clock in the morning, and there was still not the slightest trace of fatigue on his face. Under the fierce stimulation of the tense situation of the French army at hand, Qingying had long since lost any sleep; The refreshing aroma of coffee fills the room, adding a bit of a heavy atmosphere to the command post.

"I have just received a call from the town of Atiso at the foot of the Ardennes, and the 37th Infantry Regiment has been killed and wounded by the second round of French attacks, and the mortars are almost out of ammunition, and the number of heavy machine guns is very small. Lieutenant Colonel Felix begs His Highness to give him immediate reinforcements with weapons and troops, or to let him withdraw from his position immediately! An adjutant hurried in through the door and reported loudly to Qingying.

Qingying shook his head slightly, and said softly in a calm but undisobedient tone: "Tell Felix that the 47th Infantry Regiment, ten kilometers south of him, will not be able to form a complete defensive line until sunrise, so he must hold out alone for another hour and a half. If he retreats before then, he won't have to come back to see me! The adjutant gave a military salute to Qingying, turned around and ran briskly outside.

Qing Ying silently stared at the map in front of him, and a hint of anger quietly revealed in his eyes.

On 17 May, just as the southern flank of the German Fifth Army was advancing north of Lorraine, a large number of main French forces suddenly appeared in the Ardennes. And the sudden attack of this French army undoubtedly gave the entire command personnel of the German Fifth Army a thunderbolt like a thunderbolt.

According to reports from German reconnaissance units, 60,000 French troops rushed out of the Ardennes Mountains. It contained more than 15,000 cavalry and a large number of field artillery units. Its lineup is all elite units of the French army. And the German troops left nearby had only two infantry brigades. The total number of people is less than 12,000, and they are at an absolute disadvantage in terms of troops. In addition, in order to improve the assault capability of the German troops on the southern flank, the heavy artillery units belonging to these two brigades were transferred to the assault corps on the southern front; At the moment they are all left with only a handful of 75-mm infantry guns, and these guns are far from being able to match the large number of French regiments equipped with 75 misses, both qualitatively and quantitatively!

When Qingying learned the news, he had received systematic command training, and it didn't take long for him to understand the whole ins and outs of the whole thing. And Qingying, who figured out what was going on, also knew the ultimate purpose of this French army. The French who finished their work in one battle. The spearhead will definitely be on Theonville. Because it was not only the headquarters of the German Fifth Army, but also the rear center supply depot for the 240,000 German army; Once Tionville was destroyed by the French, the entire German Fifth Army would be in chaos without a fight in three days!

The inexplicable shadow that had been lingering in Qing Ying's heart for several days finally showed its true face: while Qing Ying was trying to complete the battle on the southern flank, the French also suddenly unleashed their thunderous blows on the north side where the Germans had neglected to guard against it. And the behavior of the main force of the French army gathering under the city of Visorand, which had puzzled Qing Ying before, was also revealed with the breakthrough of the French army on the northern flank: this force was the bloody bait that Lu Fu saw through Qing Ying's intention to outflank and asked Qing Ying to transfer the main force to the south!

In fact, this action of the French army is a variant and remake of the German "sickle" blitzkrieg during World War II: both of them passed through the Ardennes by surprise, and both concentrated superior forces to penetrate the enemy's vital henchmen, but this time the scale was relatively small. And the offensive and defensive objects have undergone a fundamental reversal.

When I thought of myself as a traverser, I was hit to the point by this tactic that had been engraved in my mind for a long time. Qingying had a strong feeling of resentment and unwillingness in her heart. What made him even more angry was the incompetence of the air reconnaissance team. Since the vast majority of the strength of the French Third Army was now used as bait on the southern front, the French army that suddenly came out of the Ardennes could only be the French troops stationed at the Longwe base and deployed along the Ardennes Mountains; With such a large number of troop movements, their aerial reconnaissance had not detected anything unusual in the previous days, and the French swaggered across the Ardennes jungle, and their vanguard rushed to a distance of less than twenty kilometers from the outskirts of the Tionville base. If it weren't for the red pants worn by the French soldiers who exposed their whereabouts in advance, the consequences of the whole German army being caught off guard were simply unimaginable!

Although Qing Ying was extremely angry and puzzled by how the French army had avoided their aerial reconnaissance, it was useless to pay attention to this at this time. He immediately ordered the remaining troops scattered at the foot of the Ardennes to assemble immediately and defend at all vital points. And after the initial shock and anger, Qingying gradually calmed down from frustration and shame; After some careful analysis, he suddenly found that the current battle situation was not as bad as he imagined.

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On the northern flank, the Germans, although in a serious crisis due to the superior chess of Lüff and the unexplained gross negligence of the reconnaissance troops, did not reach the point of exhaustion.

Due to Sickert's somewhat steady persuasion, Qing Ying took back an infantry regiment that had been sent to the Southern Wing Regiment in advance, and is currently stationed near Tionville. In this way, counting the three infantry regiments stationed at the headquarters, the two infantry brigades deployed in the foothills of the Ardennes, and some scattered reserve troops, the number of troops in Qingying's hands that could be used to resist the main force of the French army in the north could also reach 20,000. Although these units were far from being able to match the main forces of the German southern flank in terms of training and firepower, they were barely able to take on defensive tasks.

At this time, a considerable part of the French army that came out of the Ardennes were cavalry, and although these troops could fly thousands of miles like the wind, they were not very good at attacking fortifications. As long as the German troops were deep in the ditch and high in the fortification, and blocked the forward positions with machine gun fire, they may not be able to fight with the French troops! In the case that the French Third Army has been fully dispatched and there is no follow-up, the target of this French army must be Tionville, the general logistics base of the German Fifth Army, and this just gives Qing Ying the opportunity to play a defensive battle.

In the south, in Lorraine, the Germans had a glorious future. Tactically, the 80,000 French troops in front could not withstand an assault corps with a large number of tanks, heavy artillery, and giant bombing airships; The collapse of the defensive line constructed by two French infantry divisions in a single day is undoubtedly a testament to the army's astonishing assault capabilities. Strategically, in order to lure the Qing Ying into taking the bait, more than 90,000 French troops were deep in the encirclement of the southern flank of the German army, huddled together near the city of Visolang. As long as the German army continued to advance according to the plan, it would only take five days to achieve a decisive victory on this small battlefield and complete the outflanking and encirclement planned by the Qing Ying. And at the moment, the French have nothing to stop this powerful commando team with a large number of technical weapons!

Therefore, in this situation, Qingying made an extremely bold decision. In the vicinity of the Ardennes foothills, the German divisions began to shrink their defenses, concentrating their forces on the periphery of the base of Tionville, which the French were bound to capture. In the northern battlefield of Lorraine, the southern flank of the Fifth Army still advanced rapidly according to the original plan, breaking through the 80,000 French troops coming from the front in one fell swoop, and completing the encirclement of the main French army in the pocket. The core purpose of Qingying's choice was still to weaken France's war potential. For France, whose total population was only 60% of that of Germany, each division was a rare asset of their combat power; If it can eat the main force of the French army in a structured way, it will be a major blow that will be difficult for France to bear. In order to achieve this goal, Qingying would rather put her nest in an extremely dangerous situation; As long as the southern flank can eat the main force of the French army, then even if his rear nest is wiped out, he will not hesitate!

Under Qingying's orders, Felix's 37th Infantry Regiment, which bore the brunt of the attack, became a blocking force to buy time; The German units in the rear began to rapidly assemble and dig fortifications with all their might, waving shovels. In order to strengthen the defenses of the outer area of Tionville as much as possible, Qingying even sent the guard battalion assigned to him by William to work in the dark and deep trenches with ordinary German infantry. The German civilians in the city were also mobilized by the golden Mark, and went to the perimeter to strengthen the defenses day and night.

Under the bright lights and the bright moonlight, countless German officers and soldiers were swinging shovels near Tionville overnight, fighting overtime with the dirt and sand and gravel beneath them. With the rustling sound of the waves, a load of sand was picked out of the trench by the German soldiers; They were either walled into earthen walls before the trenches, or tamped in the bottom areas of critical cores such as machine-gun pillboxes and barbed wire fixing posts as reinforcement for fortifications. cement pouring, masonry; Mines are buried, iron fences are laid...... On a front of more than 10 kilometers, there were three regiments and one battalion of German defenders and thousands of German civilians. A small military band shuttled back and forth on the hot battlefield, playing high-pitched hymns that inspired people's patriotism, such as "Germany is above all else" and "I wish you to always wear a wreath of victory". Everywhere they went, the people who were working cheered enthusiastically. (To be continued......)

PS: Very, very, very much thank you Kaede. The 10,000 starting point coins of the language are rewarded, and the author has never received such love (moved to tears)

It's too late for the third watch today. Tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, I will give up my rest time and work hard to grit my teeth and complete the three watches, in order to talk about the gratitude of my heart.

I also hope that you can use a small subscription to support all the rest time that the author of the slow hand stream will dedicate to it, thank you very much.