Reborn South Africa as a police officer

Chapter 1014 Locke's Line of Defense

The implication of Murphy's Law is: If there is a chance that things will go bad, no matter how small the possibility is, it will always happen.

This is how the Russian Empire is now.

Perhaps it is no longer appropriate to use the term "Russian Empire", but it doesn't matter, anyway, the current provisional government will not exist for long, and when Ludendorff decides to send someone back to Russia, the fate of the provisional government has already been sealed.

The worst scenario that Rock had envisioned was happening. The reason why Winston agreed to Nivelle's spring offensive was to give the Russian Empire the confidence to continue fighting.

As a result, Nivelle's spring offensive ended with the mutiny of the French army, and the British expeditionary force barely maintained the balance on the western front after paying a heavy price. This result not only did not give enough confidence to the Russian Empire, but accelerated the collapse of the provisional government.

While the British Expeditionary Force was fighting bloody battles, the situation in the Russian Empire was deteriorating, and St. Petersburg was becoming more and more tense. Kerensky had promised to launch an attack in April to cooperate with Nivelle's spring offensive, but after the New Year, Russia About 3.5 soldiers of the empire fled every month, and after Kerensky announced the abolition of the death penalty for deserters, the number of fleeing soldiers increased to nearly a million.

Even under such circumstances, Kerensky still tried his best to mobilize the army and launched an attack on Germany that was close to a "suicide operation".

The victory of the British Expeditionary Force in Belgium still encouraged Kerensky. Although France was in collapse, the British Expeditionary Force performed well and gave Kerensky a certain amount of confidence.

Another reason that prompted Kerensky's attack was the British government's loan of 2000 million pounds a month to the Russian Empire. Government loans, and Russia is required to repay all the loans given to Russia by Britain after the outbreak of the World War.

Kerensky was a good comrade who never thought of reneging on his debts, and no one dared to renege on the British Empire's debts, unless this country was preparing to become a public enemy of the world, so the provisional government had to stay in the Allied Powers and persist in fighting.

On April 4, the same day that the British Expeditionary Force launched a tentative attack on the Liege Fortress, Kerensky mobilized 25 troops and 20 artillery pieces to launch the first offensive in 1300 to the Eastern Front German Army.

The offensive ended with the complete failure of the Russian army. Although the loss of the Russian army was very small, only 1.7 people, which was not worth mentioning compared with the previous casualties of 10 people, the failure of this offensive severely hit the Russian soldiers. morale.

The news of the defeat on the front line came back to St. Petersburg, which became the last straw that broke the camel's back. St. Petersburg fell into chaos again. The provisional government that had just been established for less than two months collapsed. Germany offered a peace condition that did not involve territorial annexation or reparations.

This condition was immediately confirmed by Germany.

No territorial annexation was involved, which would mean that Germany did not need to withdraw from the lands it occupied after the outbreak of the world wars, which were roughly the size of two Frances.

Germany did not expect to receive compensation from the Russian Empire. After the outbreak of World War II, Nicholas II became the captain of the German transport team. The military supplies seized by the German army on the Eastern Front strongly supported the German Army’s operations on the Western Front. The long-term relationship between Germany and Russia makes people have to doubt the true position of the Russian Empire in the world war.

At the end of the Seven Years' War, after Peter III of the Russian Empire came to the throne, he immediately ordered to stop the war with Prussia, and soon formed an alliance with Prussia. of the master".

After Peter III’s wife, Ekaterina, the future Catherine the Great launched a coup to kill Peter III, the Russian Empire continued to run wildly on the road of kneeling and licking, and the entire Russian Empire was “Prussized” until Alexander III ascended the throne Then it gradually stopped.

Now the Russian interim government has proposed an armistice agreement that is most beneficial to Germany, which makes Germany simply overjoyed.

The day after the new Russian government proposed peace talks, Germany and the new Russian government reached an agreement, and the new Russian government announced its withdrawal from the war.

Now it was the turn of the British and French governments to worry, and Lloyd George tried to threaten the new Russian government with loans.

To the surprise of Lloyd George, the new Russian government claimed that it did not recognize all foreign debts owed by the Russian Empire.

Among these foreign debts, the British part alone has as much as 7.5 million pounds.

All the British people, including Lloyd George, Winston, and George V, were mad. Only the British Empire has always relied on others. Who would dare to rely on the British Empire?

Wait, debts aside.

The withdrawal of the Russian Empire from the war means that millions of troops from Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Bulgaria on the Eastern Front will be released, and the pressure on the British and French coalition forces on the Western Front will be instantly reported.

The enemy has 30 seconds to arrive on the battlefield!

Under heavy pressure, Rock and Petain finally had a chance to meet.

Rock was surprised by Petain's old age. There are very few soldiers over the age of 60 in the British Army, and there are even very few soldiers over the age of 40 in the Southern African Army.

Pétain was amazed at Roque's youth, and Pétain tried hard to remember, but couldn't remember what he was doing when he was 30 years old.

Anyway, it's not the French Marshal, and Pétain is not even now.

Nor is it the commander-in-chief of the French army. Pétain did not become the commander-in-chief of the French army until he was 60 years old.

Nor is it the French Minister of War and Minister of Defense. Petain may never have the opportunity to serve as Minister of War and Minister of Defense at the same time in his life.

As for "Count", after the French Revolution, "Count" has become a historical term.

"Lock, Locke, you are so young. When I saw your photo, I thought you deliberately found a photo of you when you were young and gave it to me. Now I am sure that you are younger than the photo— —" Petain was full of admiration, holding Rock's hand and not letting go.

What else could Roque say: "General Petain, nice to meet you, I'm not very photogenic—"

Pétain laughed out loud. His body has fully recovered, and he can't be seen as a 60-year-old man at all. His figure is vigorous, his steps are firm and powerful, and he is full of confidence anytime and anywhere.

This is normal. During the Second World War, Pétain also served as the head of the Vichy French government. At that time, Pétain was already 86 years old.

Pétain's headquarters is made up of tents, which are designed to move at any time. Since the mutiny of the French army, Pétain has traveled to almost all the troops on the front line, and these tents have followed Pétain from place to place.

Compared with Nivelle's luxurious castle, Rock still prefers Pétain's pragmatic spirit. If you don't go to the front line, you don't know what happened on the front line. Nivelle is in his luxurious and outrageous castle. Grasp the situation on the front line, then Nivelle will be the traverser.

The furnishings in the tent are very simple. There are tables and chairs made of iron sheets with the logo of the Fawalt Steel Company on them. There is a camp bed next to the table. The quilts on it are neatly stacked. Hat, these details show that Petain is a very rigorous person, but he is not as picky as Pershing to the degree of cleanliness.

"The Russian Empire withdrew from the war, and then we may have to face the worst situation since the outbreak of the World War—" Petain got straight to the point as soon as he sat down. After the German army on the Eastern Front joined the Western Front, the German army will definitely launch an unprecedented scale. Attack, the French army is not ready yet, Pétain is extremely anxious.

But Petain couldn't show it, after all, Petain couldn't be sure of Rock's determination.

"I have ordered the front-line troops to stop attacking and switch to a defensive state, and build fortifications stronger than the Hindenburg Line. Our line of defense has tanks as the fulcrum, and the air force cooperates in operations. It should be impossible to be invincible in defense. Question.” Rock has made preparations early on. Since the new Russian government withdrew from the war, 200 million British expeditionary forces and 100 million laborers have been digging trenches, and even American troops have participated.

There is not much training time left for the US troops.

With the help of aircraft and tanks, the British Expeditionary Force's line of defense was far stronger than the Hindenburg line.

According to European tradition, the defense line built by the British Expeditionary Force is called the "Locke Line of Defense". The Locke Line of Defense consists of three to four trenches. It is the reserve and artillery positions, and the last line is composed of support troops.

Compared with the German army, the biggest advantage of the British Expeditionary Force is more and more heavy weapons. Do you still remember the news that Rock gave lunch meat to the Canadian Legion when he was hungry? After that, both the British mainland and southern Africa New collections were started, which are now being sent to the Western Front in planes and artillery.

The current British Expeditionary Force has more than 1200 aircraft, nearly 1800 tanks, and nearly 2.1 artillery pieces of various types. If the German army attacks, Rock will give Ludendorff a surprise.

"The situation of the French army is very serious, and we need more help—" Pétain was exhausted, and the French army had not completely recovered from the chaos. Now less than half of the French army can persist in fighting. If an offensive is launched, it will still be a disaster for the French army.

"There are more than 25 U.S. troops in France, and 12 U.S. troops arrive in France every month. The U.S. military can assist the French troops in defense." Rock does not give Americans the opportunity to train, and rapid growth in actual combat is training The most effective way for troops.

"General Pershing—" Petain was not confident about this suggestion. Pershing was indeed a very capable general, but he was also a very stubborn soldier. It was not easy to convince Pershing.

Locke was not worried about this issue. If Rock, the commander-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Force, and Petain, the commander-in-chief of the French army, came forward together, Pershing would have no room to refuse.

(Last night, I fell asleep while writing, and the zero chapter was not published. I repent, I am guilty—please forgive me, brothers——)

(End of this chapter)