At this time, the French army was ready to look at the German army on the Marne and was ready to move.

And for the threat of the French army, the German side was not unfelt. General Moltke Jr., Chief of the General Staff, had long seen the danger.

Moltke Jr. had already received a telegram from Kruger that he was going to take the First Army to the interior, and Moltke Jr. was deeply disturbed by this telegram, so he gave Kruger an order to approve its move to the southeast, and on the other hand, he asked the First Army to form an echelon, follow behind the Second Army, and cover the flanks of the two armies.

Faced with Moltke's orders from the younger, Kruger, who led the First Army, was not willing to accept it, he came down to his troops and continued the pursuit in the direction of the Marne, and crossed the Marne the next day.

Faced with Kruger's refusal to carry out his orders, Moltke Jr. was furious, and he immediately rebuked Kruger for either carrying out the order or he would take him to court-martial.

In the face of Moltke's strict orders, some drifted and could only accept orders from Kruger. In any country, a general who refuses to accept orders will not end well, especially in the German army, where obedience to orders is the norm.

Therefore, Kruger could only postpone the crossing of the Marne, and after assembling the First Army, he moved closer to Bülow's Second Army.

At this time, the actions of the German First Army made the French army uncomfortable as they prepared to attack.

Because of the First Army's actions at this time, the flanks were rapidly reduced, and after its forces were concentrated, it would be difficult for the French to counterattack.

However, by this time, the French army's order to attack had already been conveyed to the divisions, and now all units were assembling, and the officers were also cheering up the soldiers, and at the same time the supplies and ammunition were being replenished.

At this time, the French army was already in a state of being ready to shoot and had to fire. If you say that you will not launch an offensive and let them withdraw across the Seine again, how can this be possible, and their little morale will not be completely lost.

So at this time, the French army had to attack the German army, and of course the French army still had an advantage in terms of troops. It had the Fifth and Seventh armies on the Marne, in addition to the five divisions of the British Expeditionary Force, and two reserve armies specially drawn from the rear by Xia Fei, with a total strength of 700,000 men. And their target, the German First and Second Army Groups, had only 500,000 troops, and in terms of strength, the French army had the advantage.

In addition to the superiority of troops, the French artillery also has an advantage, although its main equipment 75 mm rapid-fire guns are worse than the German army's 105 and 150 mm howitzers in actual combat, but in terms of numbers, the French army occupies an absolute advantage, and its equipment is equipped with thousands of guns, while the German army has only more than 600 guns. The main thing was a continuous high-intensity march, which left a lot of artillery behind.

So on 29 November, the French launched a tidal attack on the Germans on the Marne.

In fact, when the French army was mobilized on a large scale, the German side was aware of it. After all, how could the movement of these 700,000 troops be completely concealed.

As early as two days before the French offensive, the German General Staff issued a warning to the 1st and 2nd Armies, asking them to pay attention to a large-scale French counterattack.

In fact, after attacking northern France, Moltke felt that something was wrong, because the German army on the right flank was overwhelming along the way, but it did not destroy many French troops.

And according to the Schlieffen plan, the French army should be dragged to the German-French border at this time, but due to the counterattack of the right flank, the French army was driven back into the country. At this time, it was impossible to fully implement the Schlieffen plan, and the fighters that surrounded and annihilated the main force of the French army also slipped away.

Since the main forces of the French army still existed, the search for the position of the main forces of the French army, as well as the prevention of the counterattack of the French army, became the most important business of the General Staff.

And Xia Fei put on a posture of attacking on the Marne, and naturally could not hide the eyes of the Germans.

So when the French attacked the Germans on the Marne, they found that the Germans had already built fortifications waiting for their arrival.

Thus a general battle unfolded on both sides of the Marne.

"Attack!"

A French officer drew his command knife and shouted for the soldiers to attack. At this time, the French artillery fire had just subsided, and the smoke of the battlefield had not yet dissipated, and the French army could not wait to launch an offensive.

Of course, as a valiant commander, he certainly did not let the soldiers charge and hide behind himself, so he rushed out first.

And such a heroic act of this officer only moved his subordinates deeply, so they also rushed out of the trenches and rushed towards the enemy's position.

And from the sky over the Marne, it can be found that the attacking French officers and soldiers are like a tide, attacking the German positions.

In the face of the attacking French army, the German officers and soldiers hiding in hastily built trenches certainly did not let the French army get their wish.

Gunfire rang out in the middle of the position, constantly knocking down the charging French officers and soldiers. However, the French army seemed to want to be humiliated, turning a blind eye to the situation of their comrades who were constantly falling, and instead accelerated to the position despite the casualties.

In fact, the French army was able to endure casualties, in addition to its bravery, and the reason for the decline in the accuracy of the German army's shooting. The officers and men of the German First and Second Armies, from the beginning of the attack on Belgium, have been fighting on high-intensity marches, and they have been going on for more than a month now.

The body of iron will not be able to stand it, so exhaustion is also the norm. And in this state, the original 10% shooting level can play 60% is excellent.

The situation of the German position was soon discovered by the French commander, and in the face of this situation, he immediately ordered to increase his forces and try to break through the German position at one time.

Following the orders of the French commander, more French officers and men rushed out of the trenches, shouting and rushing towards the German positions, trying to keep up with the first wave of attacking troops.

At this time, with the French charging regardless of casualties, its forward was already only two hundred meters away from the position.

Seeing that the French army was menacing, the German troops in the position no longer concealed it, and hurriedly moved out the weapons of mass destruction. That's the defensive weapon, the Maxim machine gun.

"Da Da Da"

The fire of the Maxim heavy machine gun, like a scythe, swept the charging French soldiers down. The rate of fire of 600 rounds per minute is enough for a Maxim heavy machine gun to take over a battle line two or three hundred meters wide.

The blockade of the Maxim heavy machine guns made it difficult for even the bravest French troops to break through, seeing that their soldiers could not break through in front of the enemy's heavy fire.

As the supreme commander of the battle, Admiral Gallerien angrily threw his binoculars on the ground, and he took the telephone and called the artillery position.

"I'm Gallieni, and the artillery immediately fired at the machine guns of the Germans. Leave the Germans alone, your priority targets are enemy machine guns, which are actually damn artillery. ”

With his strict orders, the French artillery, regardless of the risk of injuring their own men, also joined the shelling. And their target was the heavy machine gun on the German position that was blocking the French charge.

In the face of the French artillery threat, the firepower on the German positions was rapidly reduced. Civil fortifications did not allow machine-gun positions to hold back shelling, and even 75-mm shells could still pose a lethal threat. So at the time of enemy shelling, the machine guns on the positions had to be transferred. Not to mention that the enemy's artillery is completely aimed at the machine gun, and it will not be transferred at this time.

The firepower of the German positions was greatly reduced, so that the French soldiers, who had been suppressed, immediately rushed again.

Armed with rifles with bayonets, they launched a final charge into the position.

"Not good, order the troops to reinforce the front-line positions, the enemy must be kept out of the battlefield."

At this time, the German commander Kruger also saw that the situation at the front was not good, and immediately ordered the troops of the second line position to go for reinforcements. As for the artillery support, it was already counterattacking the French artillery, which was only concerned with bombarding the position.

For a time, around the front-line positions, the German and French armies used all their strength as soon as they came up. The two sides continued to throw in troops, turning the front-line positions into Shura fields, and the corpses of the two armies that had fallen were everywhere, and the soil of the positions was dyed bright red. The officers and soldiers of the two sides who did not fall were engaged in a tragic battle in which either you died or I died.

In the end, the Germans won the final victory by virtue of their better familiarity with the position and the proximity of reinforcements. However, the Germans, who drove the French away, did not feel good, because on the first day, the First and Second Armies lost more than 30,000 men, of which more than 15,000 were killed in battle alone.

As for the attacking Franco-British forces, the casualties were even higher, with more than 18,000 killed and missing, and 45,000 wounded and carried.

For this reason, many surviving officers and soldiers on both sides called today's battle Bloody Friday.

However, these officers and soldiers did not know that this first day of fighting was nothing, and the next battle would be even more tragic.

Of course, for the officers and men of the 1st and 2nd groups on the defensive, the fierce offensive of the French army on this day made them feel uneasy. For the next battle, many people's inner notions of victory have been shaken.

As for the two commanders, Kruger and Bilow, in addition to preparing for the next battle, they also reported today's battle to the chief of the General Staff in the rear, General Moltke Jr., of course, in addition to the battle, the words of requesting reinforcements were also revealed in the telegram.

Moltke Jr. and the officers of the General Staff were shocked by these two requests for help, and they were now trying to reinforce the First and Second Armies.

At this time, the 3rd and 4th armies also sent telegrams, and they exchanged fire with the French 4th and 9th armies. However, they were in a much better situation than the First and Second Armies, because the other side did not put so much pressure on them.

At this time, Mowkie discovered that the French army had launched an attack on the entire right flank of the German army.

At this time, for Moltke Jr., reinforcements are a necessary choice, and they must not retreat unless they have to.

Because Moltke knew very well that if he retreated, it would mean that France could not be quickly defeated, and then Germany would be caught in a terrible two-front battle.

As a result, finding reinforcements for the 1st and 2nd armies became a top priority.

After an intense search by the officers of the General Staff, 100,000 troops were finally found for the First and Second Armies.

One of the reserve corps, consisting of four mobilized divisions, is now in Aachen, with the remainder drawn from Belgium and other units.

And the core of this reinforcement is the reserve army that is still in Aachen.

At this time, Aachen was more than 400 kilometers from the Marne, and if this reserve army wanted to arrive within three days, it was absolutely impossible to rely on it, and it was necessary to get on the means of transportation all the way. From Aachen to Shonny, it is better to say that with the full efforts of the German engineers, this section of the railway is already usable. If properly arranged, then it would take only a day and a half for a reserve army to arrive.

The journey from Shoni to the Marne is more than 80 kilometers, and there is no railway, so you have to use other means of transportation.

At this time, there was only one means of transportation that could be used by the German army, and that was the Fiat 75 truck, which was constantly transported by the army.

At this point, Moltke Jr. immediately ordered. "Immediately send a telegram to the armies of the right flank, asking them to gather their trucks in Shoni and ask for at least half of them."

At this time, the Germans still had more than 9,000 trucks in their hands, and more than 6,000 were allocated to the right flank, and at this moment Moltke asked for half, which was 3,000 trucks with a load of three tons, which was definitely more powerful than taxis, and could definitely transport 100,000 reinforcements and their equipment.

At this moment, the first large-scale motorized troops were inadvertently launched by the Germans.