Chapter 288

Before coming here, Pétain's idea was to stabilize the entire new line of defense as soon as possible. The western battlefield was a little better. The British and French forces took the initiative to retreat. Although the organization was not very good, there were not many German troops on that line.

It is difficult to pose a threat to the huge British and French coalition forces. This is not the case in the Northeast battlefield. Now it seems that the Chinese and French troops add up to nearly one million. In fact, it seems that the only ones who can immediately enter the battle are the Chinese. It is not that the French army cannot enter the battle, but

According to Pétain's experience, without more than a month to rest and recuperate, the French army, which had lost its fighting spirit, was simply unable to carry out a counterattack, and its defense was barely adequate.

Another thing is that this counterattack plan does not seem very reliable. The counterattack of the Chinese Expeditionary Force is really good, and the fighting spirit is commendable. The problem is that once the counterattack fails, Petain really has nothing to take immediately.

The troops that took action. And at this time, the only one who remained in the blocking position was the Chinese Army. They failed to counterattack and were chased by the German army. The current 600,000 French troops are still in a state of chaos. This battle

How to fight?

Pétain now needs the support of the Chinese army, and it is not easy to dampen the Chinese people's enthusiasm for counterattack. After careful consideration, he asked implicitly: "The distance from Saint-Dizier to Arcy-sur-Aube is only a day's journey."

.The German armies can easily get closer to each other. Once this happens, it will be much more difficult to repel or encircle them. There is another question, how to ensure that the German reinforcements cannot be reinforced in time?"

As soon as these words came out, the three Chinese generals exchanged glances with each other, and Cai E explained: "We have considered these issues. The current German army closest to the Aube River, at Champagne Beach, has a strength of about eight German divisions.

Sommersu is the only way between the two places. The two tank brigades belonging to our army will quickly pass through the German defense line after the battle begins and penetrate directly into Sommersu behind the German army. The reason why we plan to counterattack is,

There are five reasons. First, the German army pursued a long distance and encountered repeated interceptions by our army. The troops were very tired. Second, the German army was attacking and had no preparation for defense. Counterattacks at this time can have an unexpected effect. Third, our army

The time to counterattack was chosen at zero point. After the artillery fire was prepared, the infantry launched a swift assault to shake the German defense line. The tank troops launched an assault in the early morning and rushed through the weak points of the German army. Fourth, a brigade of our special operations division, after the zero point battle started,

We will launch night harassment and sabotage attacks, blow up bridges and roads, and delay the German reinforcements moving south. Fifth, and the most critical point, our Second and Seventh Armies will launch a counterattack twenty-four hours in advance to attract the German troops.

Attention. Create the illusion that the focus of our counterattack is on Saint-Dizier, and at the same time send a division of troops to quickly penetrate here, Fort Brenner, to block the possible convergence of the two German arrows."

After hearing this, Pétain fell into deep thought again. There is no doubt that this is a careful counterattack plan, which should have been brewing for a long time. In other words, while they were still blocking the German army, the Chinese were already formulating a counterattack plan.

What a surprising discovery. The offensive spirit and thorough organization of this army are admirable.

"Frankly speaking, my purpose here is to hope that the Chinese army can hold on to the current defense line and buy time for the French army to reorganize the defense line. This counterattack plan can be implemented in principle. But there are two points I want to emphasize. The first point

, I can order Troyes to send the equipment you need right now. In addition, the three newly formed heavy artillery brigades of the French army can be at your disposal. Second, after the counterattack begins, once it encounters a tenacious blockade by the German army, the progress will be unfavorable.

I hope you can take the initiative to stop counterattacks, defend on the spot, and buy time for the reconstruction of the entire eastern battlefield defense line." Pétain said his true thoughts, which can be said to be no different from what the Chinese Expeditionary Force command had thought in advance. The French Army

At this time, the Chinese team will definitely be asked to persist in blocking.

The expeditionary force fighting in a foreign land faced many difficulties. First, it had to face the discrimination of white people and show its prestige as a Chinese. Secondly, it had to fight under the extremely poor command of the French army and how to protect itself from being used as cannon fodder.

What Pétain meant was not to value the expeditionary force more, but whether the expeditionary force could maintain its combat effectiveness at this moment, which meant that the new line of defense could be constructed calmly. In general, Pétain's tactical thinking was still to defend conservatively.

One set. Not much better than other French generals. The difference is that other French generals' ideas of attacking are not in line with the current strength of the French army.

"Okay, we will counterattack according to your request. Once any abnormal situation occurs, we will give up the attack immediately."

Pétain was very busy, leaving his adjutant and translator behind, and hurried back. He was going to formally take office. In Pétain's view, it was difficult for the Chinese to launch a partial counterattack. But under the current premise of the full retreat of the Allied forces,

Under the circumstances, a local counterattack is valuable, and a counterattack is indeed needed to boost the morale of the military. This is the main reason why Pétain agreed to the Chinese Expeditionary Force's counterattack.

June 25, 1917. The Seventh Army of the Chinese Expeditionary Force deployed in Stanville took advantage of the darkness to quietly move to the flank of the German attack force in Saint-Dizier. At three o'clock in the morning, the silent darkness was suddenly interrupted by neat artillery fire.

Light up. China is far away

The conscripting army concentrated a heavy artillery brigade, two corps-affiliated heavy artillery regiments, and six division-affiliated heavy artillery battalions to violently bombard the German defense lines. In order to cooperate with this counterattack, Pétain personally ordered that the nearby French army's three infantry divisions and two

Heavy Artillery Brigade, commanded by the Seventh Army.

In fact, this is not a line of defense, because the German army was attacking before. When the Chinese ** team launched a counterattack, the German army's strength in Saint-Dizier was six infantry divisions. After continuous attacks, the actual strength was about five

division. The strength of the Chinese Expeditionary Force here is equivalent to that of the German army. With the addition of three French infantry divisions, the strength advantage is not very obvious, but the counterattack of the Chinese Expeditionary Force clearly exceeded the expectations of the German army.

Because they were on the offensive side, the German defense line seemed a bit simple. After being bombarded, the German army responded quickly. The attacking troops turned to defense on the spot and requested reinforcements from the German troops in Baledik behind them. There were four German troops stationed in Baledik.

The infantry division was resting and reorganizing. These four divisions had been pursued all the way from Verdun, and they were also tired divisions.

The German army does not like to fight with the Chinese ***. The reason is very simple. It is not just a matter of fighting will. The main reason is that the tactics of the Chinese *** are very annoying, the equipment is not bad, and the civil engineering ability is outstanding.

At five o'clock in the morning, just after dawn, the three infantry divisions under the Seventh Army began an infantry assault. They attacked the defense lines of two German divisions about five kilometers in front. This was the first time that the German army encountered a Chinese ** team in an upright manner.

Attack, the last time the Chinese ** team attacked, the time was chosen at night.

General Galieni, who led his troops to cooperate with the Chinese *** Team, was very interested in the Chinese *** Team's tactics and took the initiative to come to the forward command post of the Seventh Army to observe the Chinese *** Team's attack tactics. His troops were

He didn't care that it was a reserve force. Because he was unwilling to accept the command of the Chinese, Gallieni did not stay in his command post.

From this observation, Gallieni saw the difference. The Chinese soldiers did not seem very brave. They had no intention of charging as a group. The attacking troops rushed forward in skirmish formation. The Chinese soldiers who launched the attack were very

Paying attention to team tactics, their machine gunners kept laying low, and the sound of mortars kept ringing. This seemingly heroic attack tactic can only be understood when you witness it with your own eyes.

Attack mode.

The tenacious German army did not seem to cause much trouble to the Chinese ** team. Three hours later, the German army began to retreat, and the first line of defense changed hands. This efficiency was really high.

Baledik's German army encountered big trouble during the reinforcement process, and the roads were badly damaged. Last night, a small Chinese team penetrated in and blew up all the bridges. Many road sections were blown up one by one by the police.

Not to mention the pits, the Chinese also laid a lot of landmines, and there were a few gunshots on both sides of the road from time to time, and several soldiers fell down. These were Chinese snipers, hiding in the corners, hit and run.

At noon on the 25th, the German reinforcements had only gone three kilometers away, and only the last line of defense in Saint-Dizier was struggling to support. Fortunately, five divisions of reinforcements came from Champagne Beach,

The journey went smoothly. A division of reinforcements from the left Lutheran army encountered a tenacious blockade at Brennerburg and was forced to retreat.

As expected, the Chinese ***'s counterattack in Saint-Dizier attracted the attention of the German command. The German commander in charge was Crown Prince William, who judged that the Chinese ***'s counterattack was a mistake.

This move was probably a counterattack by the French army forcing the Chinese troops, otherwise it would not have been a counterattack of this magnitude.

After Crown Prince William issued the reinforcement order, he did not forget to send a telegram to Ludendorff, who was entering Reims, and told him about the situation. When Ludendorff received the telegram, he was discussing with Bob how to proceed.

A major detour.

After occupying Paris, Bob's assault group did not continue to move eastward, not because they didn't want to, but because they couldn't. The performance of this kind of tank now is too bad. Although it has been improved, the failure rate is still very high. After completing the French army's attack on Reims

After the encirclement and annihilation mission of fifteen infantry divisions, only one hundred tanks in Bob's hands were still operational. It would take at least a month to regain combat effectiveness. Therefore, Bob also saw the telegram sent by Crown Prince William. After reading

After that, he fell into deep thought. Ludendorff's initial judgment was the same as that of Crown Prince William. If it weren't for the stupidity of the French army and transferred the Chinese Expeditionary Force, then Bob's assault group would not have been able to complete the mission so smoothly. Paris

It won't be taken easily either.

Under the huge victory, Kaiser Wilhelm II was already imagining France's surrender. At this moment, the Chinese counterattacked. The Chinese, who had been blocking the attack, counterattacked. This is a strange thing if it is not forced.

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Chapter completed!