The bells are ringing softly and the lights are shining. At the field command post of the German First Army, three officers were gathered in front of a hanging combat map. As Colonel Hench spoke, Crook's face gradually became solemn.

"In other words, the French have gathered at least 5 divisions in Paris at the moment?" Crook stared at the battle map on the wall, his face stunned, and said in a tone full of disbelief.

Hench nodded: "According to the information I provided just now, the current garrison of the French in Paris will not be lower than this number. In fact, today eight more trains with nearly one hundred and fifty carriages have entered Paris, and if these trains were all special troop carriers, then the French would have to add one more division to their strength! In addition, the British Expeditionary Force is also a force that cannot be ignored. Although they fled from Belgium to the vicinity of Paris, our army did not destroy them in formation; On the contrary, they have been receiving a steady stream of reinforcements from their homeland through the ports of northern France! Even a conservative estimate would have been that the British army would not have outnumbered the French garrison in Paris, and in the present situation, the British must have thrown all the troops they could into the most intense French battlefields. ”

"But in the previous battle, the French and the British had retreated hastily to the rear, and did not dare to attack our troops at all. Even if they still have a fairly strong force, they have already lost their fighting spirit after running for more than ten days in a row, and it is impossible for them to have the strength to launch a fierce counterattack. Crook was silent for a moment, then spoke. Historically, the reason why Crook did not carry out Moltke Jr.'s order to go on the defensive in the first place. In addition to the underestimation of the flank threat from the direction of Paris. More importantly, there was a lack of awareness of the French army's extraordinary will to fight. Ten days in a row, with a total distance of more than 150 kilometers. It stands to reason that the French should have been demoralized and about to collapse, so how could they still have the determination to turn to the counteroffensive?

Kuhl suddenly said softly: "Your Excellency, it is very likely that the French will have the willpower to fight back. ”

"Huh?" Crook looked at his chief of staff in astonishment, his eyes full of surprise and puzzlement. "Yesterday evening," said Kuhl, "I received a report from the front-line troops that a French unit near Fort Thierry was singing their national anthem, Marseillaise, during their retreat. From this point of view. It is likely that the morale of the French was far from broken, and their retreat was most likely premeditated. ”

Crook was stunned for a moment, and then said angrily: "How come I don't know anything about such important news? When Kuhl heard this, his kind face was slightly surprised: "Your Excellency, when I received this news, all orders for new operations had already been issued. In addition, at that time, I did not know that the French had amassed more than five divisions in Paris, let alone the strength and specific location of the British Expeditionary Force, so I held back and did not let this report, which was only an inference, affect the planned actions of the entire group army. If it weren't for Colonel Hench, who brought the latest intelligence from the High Command. There's no way I'm aware of that. (Major General Kuhl withheld the news when he heard the news, because he was preaching defeat in a triumphant theme.) It won't end well. ）

Crook took a deep breath and quickly calmed down his brain, which had received a lot of new information in a short period of time. As a veteran of the German army who participated in the Franco-Prussian War, Crook was by no means a stubborn and dumb man, otherwise he would not have been able to assume the position of commander of the First Army, which was crucial in Schlieffen's plan. He had realized that if the information of the high command was accurate, then his own department was indeed in a rather disadvantageous situation. In order to block as much as possible the retreat of the French Fifth Army to the southwest, Crook had already thrown all the main forces into the front line, and at present the troops remaining on the right flank of the First Army had only one reserve division and one brigade; And in the event of a counterattack by the defenders of Paris to the west and the British expeditionary force to the southwest, it would be almost impossible for his right flank to be preserved!

"However, today is the 32nd day of mobilization, and we have only one week left to complete the Schlieffen plan. If our troops had chosen to go on the defensive, the strategy of engulfing France from the right flank would have been a complete failure. Crook was silent for a long time, and said, "Therefore, no matter how great the French threat to our flank, and no matter when the French will launch a counterattack, our army must continue to advance." ”

"Your Excellency, you need not worry about this at all. Chief of Staff Moltke had revised Schlieffen's plan according to the current situation, and it was no longer the troops on the right flank that had completed the breakthrough, but the Fourth and Fifth Armies in the center. We will rush into the heart of France through the Verdun gap opened by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and then form two large encirclements that will include all the French troops! Hench smiled slightly and said, "After that, the battle plan will be delivered to your hands by plane - this is the latest plan planned by the General Staff for three days." Although Marshal Schlieffen is a genius, how can we, as juniors, only copy his classic works? ”

Hearing this, Crook's eyes were full of surprise. From Moltke's order to halt the march, to a strategy against France that was completely different from Schlieffen's plan; Tonight, he had already received too much surprise and surprise. He stared at Hench's face for a moment, and finally said slowly, "Please tell Chief of Staff Moltke that the First Army will obey his orders." ”

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A bright morning light appeared in the far east sky, shining brightly; Then the glow of the sun shines brightly, reflecting the meandering Marne River as white as jade, sparkling.

As the assembly alarm bell sounded, a German soldier in a gray military uniform armed with a rifle emerged from the tents dotted around. After a night's rest, their spirits recovered somewhat, but the toil and exhaustion from the depths of their bodies could not be eliminated by seven or eight hours of sleep.

Since May 11, the German First Army has been on a high-intensity march. On the road, riddled with bomb craters and blocked by blown tree trunks, they walked from under Liège to the banks of the Marne, a stone's throw from Paris. Especially in the past four days, in order to pursue the French Fifth Army fleeing south, the German army has advanced an average of 40 kilometers per day; Such a fast speed not only left the heavy artillery troops and supplies far behind, but also exhausted them. At this time, the German army, to some extent, was already in the same situation as the Russian Second Army, which was completely annihilated in the Battle of Tannenberg; However, the field officers on the front did not pay enough attention to this phenomenon, and only drove the infantry forward and forward.

"Masala, how many kilometers do you think we will go today?" In the midst of the surging crowd, a German second lieutenant poked his friend with his elbow and said in a voice full of exhaustion and weariness, "During the march yesterday and the day before yesterday, my soldiers closed their eyes and sang as they walked, so that they did not fall asleep during the march!" I swear I wouldn't want to go even a meter further than Paris if it weren't for Paris in sight. ”

The officer who was called Massala snorted and said weakly: "Horner, don't say it's you, even if it's the entire First Army, how many people haven't survived the pain like this?" The spirits, which require our consent to drink, have long since been drunk by the soldiers to the bottom of the bottle; Because it is only in this drunken state that their tired nerves are weakened and they are able to move on! They staggered, dusty, ragged, and skinny on the march, like ...... Like a walking scarecrow. But once you're in Paris, everything will be fine. ”

A short time later, Horner arrived at the rendezvous point with a platoon of his own soldiers. A strong smell of sweat that people have not taken a bath for more than ten days permeates the air, making people smell suffocating. Looking up, the soldiers were as sloppy and tired as Masala had just described; It was only with the strong conviction of the capture of Paris that they were able to continue to push forward. Seeing the arrival of a familiar figure in a captain's uniform, Horner's heart was numb; Today, how far did Shangfeng arrange the marching distance of his company?

"The whole army immediately set out with me to build a field trench in area No. 2736, three kilometers from here, and entrenched itself in that area. Today we are no longer marching long distances. The captain's company commander's loud voice sounded, and there was a faint hint of relief and happiness in his words. Although the senior officers lacked an emotional understanding of the exhausted state of the soldiers, as junior officers who accompanied the infantry in their movements, they could not have been more clear!

Hearing the captain's words, Horner's eyes widened suddenly; His lips were furrowed, and his face was full of astonishment. Masala next to him also had an expression of disbelief, and when he cast his inquiring and expectant eyes on Captain Lu, the other party immediately returned the smile with an affirmative and happy smile. Although he could not enter Paris in the first place (in order to maintain morale, Crook did not disclose the situation of the turn to the officers and soldiers at the bottom), Massala was clearly willing to end the current hellish march first than the extreme physical exhaustion. As for the somewhat unusual defensive mission, Masala didn't bother to care about it at all; At the moment, there is nothing more than a day of rest in the same place that he desires!

A moment later, a tsunami-like cheer flooded his ears. (To be continued......)

PS: Thank you for the eternal F4U, zhouyu1976 and Blood Soul 1937 tips ~~~ The four update tickets can only be seen and not eaten