Reborn South Africa as a police officer

Chapter 974 New Nightmare

Whether Foch is a butcher remains to be verified, but there is no doubt about the relationship between Foch and Xiafei. It is precisely because of the close relationship with Xiafei that after Xiafei fell from power, Foch was also implicated. He was dismissed and returned to the rear. Responsible for coordinating with the British Expeditionary Force.

It is precisely because of this work that Foch gained the trust of the British Expeditionary Force, which qualified him to serve as the future commander-in-chief of the coalition forces.

Therefore, the saying that blessings come from misfortunes, and misfortunes depend on blessings is also applicable in France.

Although Roque doesn't like Joffre, Roque and Foch have a good relationship. In Ypres, Roque and Foch cooperated very happily.

Relatively speaking, Joseph Gallieni's funeral was very unpleasant. As the Minister of War, few people came to Joseph Gallieni's funeral, which is really hard to accept.

The French still don’t know how much Joseph Gallieni has contributed to France. They only saw that Joseph Gallieni recommended Joffre and protected Joffre many times. They thought that Joseph Gallieni She wears the same pair of pants as Xiafei.

In fact, when the World War broke out, there was no one in France who was suitable to be the commander-in-chief except Joffre. Joseph Gallieni was originally one of the candidates, but Joseph Gallieni was old and his health was not good. Leading France to victory, Joseph Gallieni recommended the younger and more energetic Joffre.

Roque doesn't want to comment on France's personnel affairs. This is France's internal affairs. Roque has no right to interfere. What Roque cares about is the British Expeditionary Force. The Battle of the Somme is imminent. Looking at it now, if it is the same as in another time and space, the British After the Battle of the Somme, the Expeditionary Force will be severely damaged, and even if Haig steps down, it will not be able to make up for the mistakes he made.

If possible, Roque really wanted to organize the outbreak of the Battle of the Somme, but it was useless. No matter what Roque did, it was useless. The western front was still dominated by French troops. Britain could not afford the loss of France. Haig Not willing to be lonely, urgently needing victory to prove themselves, the British cabinet has not yet despaired of Haig, although more and more people do not trust Haig.

In March, the situation took a turn for the worse. After the failure of the Battle of Lake Narach, Nicholas II dismissed the Minister of War Alexei Polivanov for no reason. Sandra's idea, Alexandra has always disliked Alexei Polivanov, although Polivanov performed well as Minister of War, his drastic reforms restored Russia to a certain extent The losses suffered by the empire after the war.

Another reason why Polivanov was dismissed was Rasputin. This reason is also related to southern Africa. The reason is ridiculous.

Last year, the Russian Empire and the United Kingdom reached a loan agreement, and the United Kingdom decided to provide the Russian Empire with 2000 million pounds a month to help the Russian Empire continue to fight.

This money is a life-saving straw for the current Russian Empire, and if used reasonably, it can play a huge role.

It is a pity that Nicholas II appointed himself as the commander-in-chief of the army, and St. Petersburg was controlled by Rasputin. luxury cars.

Last month, ten Lord cars were sent to St. Petersburg, four of which belonged to Rasputin, who was rumored to be hoping to evade the police in a safe and fast Lord car.

After knowing this, Polivanov tried to intervene in this matter, but he did not expect to be dismissed by Nicholas II.

Because four cars relieved the Minister of War, which only happened in the Russian Empire.

The new Minister of War of the Russian Empire is Alexey Brusinov. He is one of the best soldiers in Russia, but he has a group of pig teammates. After Brusinov took over as the Minister of War, Nikolai II ordered Brusinov to continue the offensive against the Germans at Lake Narach.

Brusinov mobilized for the campaign, but his generals Efter and Kuropatkin disagreed. They did not want to launch an attack on the German army. The chief of staff, General Alekseev, firmly supported Brusinov. He is Brusinov's old superior and has rich practical experience.

Under the impetus of General Alekseyev, preparations for the battle were very difficult. Before the Russian Imperial troops completed their combat preparations, the German army launched a counterattack under the command of Hindenburg and Ludendorff. It took only one day. , the German army regained the position that the Russian Imperial forces took a week to capture in the previous Narach Lake Battle, and the Russian Empire's counterattack was forced to stop. In the two Narach Lake Battles, the Russian Empire lost 10 people. This does not include the 1.2 who were frozen to death. In contrast, the German army lost only [-].

Roque returned to Cyprus after attending the funeral of Joseph Gallieni. Throughout March and April, the British Expeditionary Force was making preparations for the Battle of the Somme, and large numbers of troops were transferred to the Western Front. Artillery and other military Materials are piled up like a mountain, and the importance of artillery has become more and more obvious since the world war has progressed. All participating countries regard artillery as the most important means of attacking the enemy.

Compared with artillery, Haig paid less attention to machine guns. Up to now, Haig still insists that only cavalry can play a decisive role in the battle, and machine guns are dispensable, "the help to the battle is extremely limited."

To make matters worse, on May [-]th, a batch of shells sent to the front line of the Somme had problems. The quality of the shells was substandard. Haig believed that these shells were produced by the arsenal in Nyasaland, but Kitchener believed that they were not. Because the weapons and ammunition produced in Nyasaland have never had large-scale quality problems, Winston has an ambiguous attitude on this issue. If these shells are not produced in Nyasaland's arsenal, then they are produced in the British arsenal , and Winston's current position is the Minister of Military Supplies. If there is a quality problem with the locally produced shells, Winston cannot be blamed.

"[-]% of these shells are produced by British arsenals. When Lloyd George was the Minister of Munitions, he asked the local arsenals to increase production and increase efficiency. However, the local arsenals did not have enough qualified workers, and the newly recruited workers were inexperienced. So there is a high probability of problems.” Sidney Milner is a new generation of British kings, and the quality of the shells is not Winston’s responsibility, but the former Secretary of Munitions, Lloyd George.

"That's right, it's all because of Lloyd George!" Rock pushed the boat along, as long as it wasn't the responsibility of Nyasaland Arsenal, of course Winston couldn't be blamed, Lloyd George was the best scapegoat.

"The Prime Minister asked Haig to inspect all the shells to ensure that the quality of the shells is qualified. This work will take a long time and is estimated to affect the preparations for the Battle of the Somme." Sidney Milner gloated, he didn't care about the French life and death.

Rock can't help but care, the German attack in Verdun has never stopped, the Dead Man's Mountain was finally captured by the Germans, the French army dropped ten thousand corpses on the position, the Dead Man's Mountain finally lived up to its name, and the German army who occupied the Dead Man's Mountain wanted the corpses The smell of decay, everyone got a double portion of tobacco.

After Fort Duvermont, Fort Vaux fell one after another. Charles Mangin commanded the troops to counterattack. The French and German troops fought brutal hand-to-hand combat between the fortresses. The soldiers whose thighs were sawed off seemed to have lost their sense of pain. They didn't care about their injuries at all. When their arms or legs were sawed off, they didn't cry out for pain or cry. Instead, they asked the doctor for cigarettes and asked about the situation on the front line.

After the cessation of rotation tactics, the demoralized French army was defeated. After nearly three days of hand-to-hand combat, the French army was driven out of Fort Vaux. 5500 French troops were killed, including 130 officers, 1.2 French troops were wounded, and 1000 were captured. , Charles Mangin was dismissed, but did not leave the front, and went to Joffre's headquarters as a staff officer.

In mid-May, in order to delay the preparations of the British Expeditionary Force, the German army launched an attack on Vimy Ridge.

Haig, who was bent on attacking, was unprepared, and Vimy Ridge was occupied by the Germans.

Vimy Ridge has extremely high strategic value. Controlling Vimy Ridge can control the plains west of Artois. In the second Battle of Artois, the French army paid a huge price to conquer Vimy Ridge. In order to reinforce Verdun, the Vimy Ridge position was transferred to the British Expeditionary Force. Unexpectedly, the British Expeditionary Force lost Vimy Ridge in May.

On May 5, the situation in Verdun became more and more tense, and Joffre had to discuss with Haig, hoping to advance the time for launching the Battle of the Somme.

Joffre and Haig were preparing to launch the Battle of the Somme in August.

Haig did not agree to launch the Battle of the Somme in advance. The British Expeditionary Force was not yet ready, and Haig did not know how many of the existing artillery shells had problems. If this hidden danger was not ruled out, it would definitely affect the British Expeditionary Force's offensive.

On May 5, French Prime Minister Aristide Briand personally approached Haig, hoping that Haig would launch the Battle of the Somme in advance.

Haig still disagreed, insisting that preparations for the campaign would not be complete until two months later.

Aristide Briand pleaded with Haig in an almost begging tone. As far as the current situation in France is concerned, if the pressure on Verdun cannot be relieved, France may not exist in two months.

Haig had no choice but to order the shelling of the German positions that afternoon.

The nightmare of Verdun is not over yet, and a new nightmare is coming again.

Just as Haig finally launched the Battle of the Somme, the Fifth Battle of Isonzo broke out on the Italian side.

In the first four battles of the Isonzo River, the Kingdom of Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire won and lost each other, and the battle line was miraculously maintained at the place where the first Battle of the Isonzo River broke out. The tens of thousands of casualties in the first four battles are mourned.

(The new Q group is below——)

(End of this chapter)