Rise of Australia

Chapter 387

Because of the ineffectiveness of the French army, so far, A Fei has abolished 2 army commanders, 10 army commanders and 38 division commanders.

These posts were replaced by a group of brand new generals, most of whom were relatively good.There are also some more famous names in this group, such as Foch, Pétain and Despery.

The first of them to be replaced was Lang Rezak, commander of the French Fifth Army.

The role of the Fifth Army is crucial, but the commander of the Fifth Army, Lang Rezac, has publicly contradicted Joffre many times, and the relationship with the French General Command is not good.

In addition, Lang Rezak did not trust the British army, and in the ensuing war, the help of the British was very important.

Therefore, Joffre decisively dismissed Lang Rezac's post and activated Despery as the new commander of the Fifth Army.

It is worth mentioning that when Despery just took over as the commander-in-chief of the Fifth Army, there was an episode.

At that time, the commander of the 18th Army called the headquarters of the Fifth Army and asked to refuse the next day's mission because the soldiers were too tired.

But the answer given by Despery is: "I have taken over as the commander of the Fifth Army. As long as you are in the Fifth Army for a day, you have to march. You can either march or fall down and die. There is nothing to discuss, that is So simple."

With that said, Despery hung up the phone, showing a decisive character.

On September 1914, 9, the Ninth Army of the German First Army led by Crook had crossed the Marne River.

Crook believed that it would be difficult for a single army to play a role, so he ignored the order of the German High Command to deploy and cover the right wing, and ordered the third and fourth armies to continue their assault to the southeast.

Under Crook's order, the German soldiers of the First Army marched 40 kilometers a day in a hurry. When they reached the destination, they were exhausted and fell limply to the ground.

Crook had grown irrational in his frantic attempt to annihilate the French army at one blow, and had worn out his men in doing so.

More importantly, due to the rapid march of the army, the First Army was actually far away from the transport convoy and heavy artillery units to which it belonged, and logistical supply problems followed.

This status quo does not only exist in the German First Army.The German Second Army and the Third Army had such problems. Even the troops of the Third Army led by Howson had not eaten cooked food for five consecutive days, just to chase the defeated French army.

As for the fourth and fifth armies, which are in better condition, although they are also attacking, they have made little progress so far and are still blocked outside the fortresses of Nancy and Verdun.

The German army's credit for annihilating the French army in one fell swoop caused serious problems in the deployment of the German army.

In the Paris city defense command, Gallieni and his chief of staff also got the news that Crook's German First Army was advancing from the east of Paris to the Marne.

It can be seen from the relatively clear map of the enemy's situation that Crook advanced blindly and exposed the right wing of the First Army to the direction of Paris.

Gallieni, who had been waiting for this opportunity for a long time, and Chief of Staff Craigeri and others shouted at the same time: "They brought the flanks to the door, they sent the flanks to the door!"

At this time, there is still some time before the general battle envisioned by the French commander-in-chief Joffre.

Considering the shape of the battlefield and the loss of troops, Joffre didn't really want to start the battle prematurely.

What Joffre was waiting for was not only the aid from the British, but also the role that the Russian Army on the Eastern Front could play.

But the opportunity on the battlefield is fleeting. If you don't grasp it, it will be a pity for a general like Gallieni.

Although Gallieni was designated as Joffre's successor, that is, the interim commander-in-chief of France after Joffre's accident.

The current French commander-in-chief is still Joffre, and Gallieni cannot change any orders issued by Joffre.

But in order not to miss such a good opportunity, Gallieni made a bold decision, that is to cut first and play later, so that Xia Fei had to launch this big battle.

August 1914, 9 at 4 am.

Gallieni issued an order to Monuri, asking the Sixth Army to prepare for deployment immediately and prepare to launch a counterattack in the afternoon.

Subsequently, Gallieni called and reported to the French General Headquarters, saying that the Sixth Army had entered a counter-offensive position and was about to start a counter-offensive, hoping that the right-wing armies would take joint action.

This is also equivalent to rushing ducks to the shelves. Anyway, the Sixth Army is about to move. If Xiafei does not support this battle, then just sit and wait for the Sixth Army to be destroyed.

The result was also predictable, Xia Fei could not allow the entire Sixth Army to be defeated, after a phone call, he finally compromised and ordered all the right-wing armies to fully cooperate with the Sixth Army to launch this big battle.

Before he finished, Joffre decided to expand the partial action envisaged by the Paris defenders to a full-scale counter-offensive on the left wing of the entire Allied front.

This general counter-offensive included all French troops and the British Expeditionary Force, so the attitude of the British was also very important.

At noon on September 9, Joffre sent a request to the French Minister of War, Millerand, in order to fight for the coordinated operations of the British army, requesting that Millerand exert influence on Britain in the name of the government to ensure that the British army can cooperate with the French army in the Great War. Combat, it is best to let Joffre have command of the British army.

In order to persuade the British army to join the battle, in addition to asking the Minister of War, Joffre also decided to go to the headquarters of the British Expeditionary Force 200 kilometers away in person to obtain the consent of Sir French, the British Expeditionary Force.

Joffre, who saw Sir French, was not as polite as before, and spoke very impassioned, succinctly: "The decisive moment has come, Sir French, and my order has been issued. No matter what the situation is, in order to save France, even if It is the last company left, and the French army will enter the battle. The life of the French people, the French land, and the future of Europe depend on this attack."

"I don't believe that the British army will shirk his responsibility at such an urgent moment. If you don't participate in the battle, history will judge harshly." Joffre said impassionedly: "Mr. Marshal, France needs your support, France begs you support!"

Sir French also agreed with Joffre's point of view very much. After Joffre finished speaking, the British Marshal even shed tears, because French could not express his words clearly, so Sir French said to the translator beside him : "Damn it, I can't explain. Tell him, what the French can do, the English can do. We're willing to do everything we can about this war."

Regardless of whether the British government's attitude is to fish in troubled waters or not, Sir French obviously will not have spare power in this war.

With the support of Sir French, Joffre breathed a sigh of relief, and solemnly expressed his gratitude to Britain and Sir French for their support.

When the French general headquarters was brightly lit in preparation for a new offensive, in the German staff headquarters in Luxembourg, William II smugly praised: “Today is the 35th day of the war. 30 miles."

This remark caused cheers from everyone in the Finance Department. It seemed that the victory of the war was not far away, and the Germans stood again at the Palace of Versailles.

But Marshal Moltke was not happy at this time.But in the early stage of the war, Moltke strictly abided by the rules set by his uncle Lao Maoqi not to interfere with the command of frontline generals.

However, according to the information obtained so far, the French are already gathering and mobilizing in a premeditated manner, preparing to attack the right wing of the German army from the direction of Paris.

Coincidentally at this time, there was news of the landing of 4 British troops from Belgium. Moltke made a decisive decision and ordered the first and second armies to stay on the front of the east of Paris. The first army was between the Oise River and the Marne River. The Second Army maintained a certain distance between the Marne and the Seine, and between Paris, to relieve the flank threat faced by the German army.

Crook, the commander of the First Army, disagreed with the rather conservative order issued by Xiao Maoqi.

Crook believes that the German army is progressing so smoothly and is so close to Paris, it should not stand still, wasting opportunities for combat, and at the same time give the enemy more breathing room.

Crook ordered the army to continue the pursuit to the Seine before turning to Paris.

This order put the First Army in a dangerous situation, and it also allowed the French army to see an opportunity again.

Originally, according to Little Mao Qi's order, the French offensive might not find a suitable opportunity.

But right now Crook has already presented the opportunity to his door, and Xia Fei, who has already prepared for it, naturally cannot waste such an opportunity.

At the French General Headquarters, Joffre solemnly read out the order for a general counteroffensive, and said loudly to the officers gathered at the General Headquarters: "Gentlemen, the previous rout is over. Let us fight on the Marne River." , for France, for every inch of our land, fight gloriously at the Marne!"

The Marne River flows from south to north, then turns from east to west, and flows through the Paris Basin.Because it is parallel to the Aisne River and the Seine River, and it is in the middle of the three rivers, the water flow is turbulent, which is a natural barrier to protect Paris.

In this long-planned comprehensive counterattack, the French side dispatched the Fifth, Sixth and Ninth Armies and the British Expeditionary Force, a total of 36 infantry divisions and 8 cavalry divisions.

On the German side, the first and second armies, which did not know that their flanks were already very dangerous, had only 18 infantry divisions and 5 cavalry divisions in total, and their strength was only about half that of the German army.

In the early morning of September 9, the French army officially began a comprehensive counter-offensive on the front line of the Marne River.

First of all, to the west of the Urk River, the French Sixth Army launched a frenzied attack on the German Fourth Reserve Army stationed in this area. The army couldn't resist, and asked the commander of the first army, Crook, for help.

Crook urgently dispatched the Second Army to support it, but it was still no match for the French Sixth Army, which had a superior number.

Reluctantly, Crook dispatched the Fourth Army again, and only then did he regain the advantage on the battlefield and gradually gained some victories.

In the confrontation between the Sixth Army and the German First Army alone, more than 3 people were killed or injured in just two days.

Among them, the death toll was as high as more than 1, which is enough to show the cruelty of the Battle of the Marne.

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(End of this chapter)