The breakthrough of the German Fifth Army in the Verdun area undoubtedly drove a new wedge into the already shaky French front.

For the French commander-in-chief, Xia Fei, the danger in the middle could not be ignored. If this German force was allowed to break through at the Maas, the left and right flanks of the French army would be at risk of being surrounded by flanks; Whichever direction the Germans choose to attack from, they will form an arc of encirclement with their frontal advancing troops, posing a great threat to the French army. At that time, the French army can only choose to retreat with the whole army again, and the current morale and military spirit can no longer bear this catastrophic situation!

After cursing the mediocre general Lüf and the despicable German Crown Prince countless times, Xia Fei was forced to temporarily transfer a half army that was preparing to reinforce the left flank to the center of the battlefield to resist the German breakthrough in this area. With the reinforcements of this new force, Saraj's retreat trend was finally eased. However, at a time when the French army was overstretched, the strengthening of the center meant the weakening of the left flank: the French Fifth Army, which had lost the support of this one and a half armies, was forced to retreat ahead of schedule, and the door to Paris was completely opened to the Germans.

The French government is panicking. Although the defense of Paris had been strengthened by Galieni's deployment, no one was confident that they would be able to thwart the almost unstoppable German attack under the capital. Millerand, the new Minister of War who succeeded Messimi, refused to take responsibility for allowing the Government to stay in Paris for an additional day after reporting to President Poincaré on the "distressing circumstances" of the withdrawal of the Fifth Army across the Seine. In the agonal, 43 years ago, in the war that was so painful to the French, the French Provisional Government was besieged by the Germans for holding Paris; In the end, not only did they have to catch rats in the sewers to satisfy their hunger. It has left the whole of France in a state of paralysis without the command of the brain. So it was decided. The whole government had to move to Bordeaux as a whole. in order to maintain control over the French ministries.

Late at night on May 31, what Poincaré called a "hateful moment" finally arrived. In the midst of the cloudy darkness, the French ministers and parliamentarians sneakily boarded the train to Bordeaux, which was undoubtedly a great shame and shame for them. The next morning, when the citizens of Paris awoke to find that the government offices that had been crowded yesterday were now empty, and only a few pages of statements were scattered on the walls to conceal their cowardice. After a while, the voice of the government mouthpiece sounded on the radio: "...... France's task now is to stay the course. 'Fight to the death' with the Germans. Britain will continue to cut off the enemy from the rest of the world at sea, and the Russians will 'go ahead and smash the Germans into the heart of Berlin!' In order to give the French resistance the greatest 'momentum and strength', the government, at the request of the military, has moved 'temporarily' to a place where it can always maintain its links with the whole country. In fact, the news of the defeat of the Russian army in the Battle of Tannenberg has reached Paris, and "going straight to Berlin" is already a fool's dream. And in order not to make the resistance of the French military and civilians completely hopeless, this news was directly suppressed by the French government.

Shortly after the government's announcement, the commander of the Paris garrison, Gallieni, also drafted a concise and ambitious circular aimed at dispelling rumours that Paris had been declared an undefended city. Prepare the population for developments. Contrary to the government's rhetoric, Gallieni's statement was a direct expression of the army's determination to fight to the death in Paris. Yet Rao is so. The people of Paris are still deeply distressed and haunted by the government's escape in the middle of the night. In addition to the sarcasm and ridicule of the government as much as they could, a large number of Parisians also joined in the flight out of fear: for a time the train stations were overcrowded, and every train to the south was crowded with French people.

At this moment, the only thing that could make France happy was that the commander of the garrison of Paris, Gallieni, finally had in his hands the strength of the three armies that he had asked for before taking office. After a week of full mobilization and build-up, the French army entrenched near Paris had swelled into a formidable cluster with one active division, four reserve divisions, and a Moroccan brigade – a nearly doubling of the number of troops in Gallieni's hands by the transfer of the Sixth Army to the command of the Paris Military Region. In addition, an elite Algerian light infantry division is also on the train to Paris, which is expected to arrive soon, and Xia Fei has promised to put this force under the command of Gallieni. A unit that could be called an army group took shape near Paris.

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The stars are dotted and the moon rises tomorrow, and Luxembourg City, the capital of Luxembourg, is bathed in clear moonlight, which seems quiet and quiet. The breeze is light, the summer insects whisper, and the fresh air at night is filled with the fragrance of earth and grass.

In the magnificent and solemn town hall building, the chief of the General Staff of the German Army, Helmut, who had just spent the 65th spring and autumn of his life? Feng? Moltke, at the moment, was standing quietly by a window, looking out at the black and blue sky in the distance. The clear night sky was cloudless, and the moonlight shone brightly. However, for some reason, Moltke always had a lingering cloud in his heart, like a gray shadow in the sun, always following him step by step.

On 30 May, as the German campaign on the Western Front reached its climax, the German High Command moved from Koblenz-on-Rhine to Luxembourg, just 15 kilometers from the French border. This small country, with a total population of less than one-fifth of the strength of the German army on the Western Front, surrendered without a fight half a month ago. Moltke's command had entered a territory hostile to him, and this hostility, if not from official attitudes, was the real feeling of the local population when their homes were occupied by outsiders. Due to its geographical proximity to France and its ideological and emotional reasons, Luxembourg became the center of all kinds of rumors from the Entente. There were whispers of 500,000 Russian troops, a number that had plummeted to 80,000 in just one day, that had landed in Scotland via Norway and was crossing the English Channel to support the French and British. The High Command was busy synthesizing about signs of landing somewhere along the strait coast. The recent landing of a division of the British Expeditionary Force at Ostend has made the news that Luxembourg has been rendered into a Russian army of great deterrence and strength, making the Germans' fears all the more plausible.

Moltke Jr. was deeply disturbed. In addition to the specter of the Russians that might appear in front of him, what worried him even more was the situation of the five large armies on the right flank and in the center. This "melancholy Julius? Caesar" does not rejoice in the advance of the victorious army, but worries about the difficulties on the journey, which is completely in line with his character. According to the plan, the Germans had to defeat the French between the 36th and 40th days after mobilization, and it was already the thirtieth day. Moltke Jr. was still apprehensive despite the constant reports of the commanders of his right-wing armies that the French and British armies had been "crumbled" and "defeated" in response to the retreat of the British and French armies. He noticed a suspicious circumstance, and that was the absence of the usual signs of a rout or disorganized retreat: why were there so few prisoners?

By May 30, the Germans had captured less than 100,000 French prisoners in the border campaign, of which the Fifth Army of Qingying alone had contributed more than 50,000 men. In other words, although the German right flank was overwhelming in Belgium and France, they did not really defeat or destroy the vitality of the French army, but only fought a frontal battle. When Moltke was not yet chief of the General Staff, he often heard his old boss Schlieffen say, "If a victory on the battlefield does not lead to a breakthrough or encirclement of the enemy, then this victory is nothing." Although the enemy is repulsed, they will still reappear elsewhere and resume the fight they had temporarily abandoned. The battle will continue......"

"Tuk-tuk." There was a sudden knock on the door, which was very clear in the lonely night. Little Moltke slowly turned around, but saw that it was his deputy Feng? Lieutenant General Stein took a telegram and walked in quickly. Little Moltke tried to calm the turmoil in his heart, and said, "Herman, it's so late, is there anything else that I need to decide?" ”

"Your Excellency, the commander of the First Army, Crook, has just sent a telegram: they have asked the High Command to allow them to no longer take Paris as the target of attack from the next day, but to turn to the southeast, and cooperate with the Second Army to intercept the retreat of the French Fifth Army to the south." Stein handed the telegram in his hand to Moltke and said softly, "This matter is very important, and I must come to ask your opinion." ”

Hearing Stein's words, Moltke's eyes suddenly froze. He snatched the telegram from his hand, and began to read it under the lamp. The night breeze blows, and the bells chime; As time passed, Moltke's face changed: anticipation, fear, hesitation, apprehension...... In the end, it was combined into a face with extremely complex expressions.

According to the reports sent back by the reconnaissance units, the retreat of the French Fifth Army, which was on the far left, had shifted from due south to southwest, which coincided with the intended route of the German First Army. In order to be able to eat the French army group in one fell swoop, Crook decided to pass through the "sleeve flick" from the east of Paris to intercept the retreat of the French army. For a moment, the room could hear the needles dropping, and only the ticking of the table clock could be heard. (To be continued......)

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