Back to the Republic of China as a commander

In the blink of an eye, the wheel of history came to the end of July, and Wang Zhenyu had returned to Wuhan from Shanghai.Under his intervention, although the old father Wang Longxian was not very happy, he still contributed to the marriage between Wang Zhenpeng and Yuan Jingxue.As for Wang Zhenpeng's job arrangement after marriage, Wang Zhenyu meant to respect his younger brother's own wishes.At this time, the fourth batch of officers of the military observation group was about to leave for Europe. Wang Zhenpeng decided to apply to join the military observation group to go to Europe after repeated consideration.

Since the ships transporting the military observation team to Europe are all ships of the China Ocean Shipping Company under the name of his father-in-law Ye Zuwen, these ships are specially arranged for the business of the observation group, so these ships are much faster than traditional freighters.Those traditional cargo ships often go all the way to get goods, and it takes more than a month to reach Europe, but these ships arrive in Europe in at most [-] days.

Wang Zhenpeng's application was finally approved, and Wang Zhenyu also gave him a privilege, allowing Wang Zhenpeng and his wife Yuan Jingxue to go to Europe together, which can be regarded as a honeymoon.As for Wang Zhenpeng's job position, Wang Zhenyu finally thought for a long time. After all, he was his own brother, and it would be safer to leave him in the Armament Department.

At this time, the officers of the first batch of military observers who had arrived in France for more than a month were hiding in a sanatorium under the Alps, constantly exchanging their practical experience for more than a month.

General Zhao Hengti, the head of the military observation group, was complaining to the deputy head of the group, Bai Chongxi: "I said at the beginning not to send the officers we brought to the front for practice. This battle is bigger than what we have played in China. A lot of them. As a result, we lost 28 outstanding young men in more than a month. This, these people should not be used as small soldiers."

Bai Chongxi replied with a half-smile: "Mr. Zhao, it's for their sake, right? How can we know what the Europeans' war is like if we don't go to the front line? Besides, the French are not polite to us when we are going through all this trouble now." There are too many, how nice it is to call us brothers and sisters every day!" Zhao Hengti was so angry that he vomited blood, and when he came to call, he left the leader of the group to Bai Chongxi as an agent, and he followed the third batch of boats and withdrew. . .

It turns out that as soon as everyone arrived in France, they found that the situation here was very serious. The German army was launching the most violent attack on the French army in the Verdun area, and the worst battle of the whole World War I was going on.The French are sending every young man they can find to the front line to resist the German attack.Under such circumstances, Bai Chongxi disregarded Zhao Hengti's objection and forcibly asked the officers he brought to be divided into groups. Those who should be sent to study logistics should be sent to study logistics, Zhu Zhixin would lead the team, and those who should be sent to the front should be sent to the front by a Frenchman to say hello. Be a soldier, and that's exactly what the French crave.

As a result, a large number of officers aged 21 to [-] who were personally called by Wang Zhenyu were thrown into the trenches of the European War, and like soldiers, they started a bloody fight with the Germans on the opposite side.It's also a good thing that the French are on the defensive side. If they were on the offensive side, wouldn't these poor children be shot by more than half of the German machine guns in one battle?

Now, these young men who already know what happened in the European War have returned to the nursing home prepared by the French for them, where they can recuperate their exhausted bodies, mend their wounded hearts, and discuss and exchange experiences casually.

The first to speak were of course the survivors assigned to the frontline as soldiers. There were more than 40 people in this group, plus more than 100 people from the second batch, a total of 130 and six people were very lucky to sit back. 28 people were killed in this month's battle one after another. As for the death methods, they can be roughly divided into three types: bullet hit, artillery shell hit, and poison gas hit.

Speaking on behalf of this group were Xue Yue and Wei Lihuang. They were the three who performed best in front-line combat practice this time. For this reason, the French even appointed two of them as acting officers to command about a company of the French army. Guard the position.

The first speaker was Xue Yue, named Boling, a 20-year-old Hakka from Shaoguan, Guangdong.This person is usually known in the military observation group for his courage to speak, nicknamed Tiger Boy.Before joining the military observation group, he served in Chen Jiongming's First Division of the Guangdong Army. Later, the Guangdong Army was reorganized. I don't know what kind of luck this kid had. He was actually summoned by Wang Zhenyu himself, and then he became Wang Zhenyu's student.

"I was guarding the position on the side of the Meuse River. Those Germans attacked us across the river, and our task was to hold the position. Fuck him, this is not a war, it is simply a massacre, then It was shot by cannons. It is estimated that there are not so many cannons in Beiyang, and the ears are almost deaf. When the gas bombs come off, wearing a gas mask will save your life. If you are unlucky, your skin will rot if it touches it, and you will die of nausea. .”

Bai Chongxi knocked on the table: "Don't talk about your battlefield experience with me, just get to the point."

Although nicknamed Tiger Boy, Xue Yue was still a little afraid of such a cold-faced tiger like Bai Chongxi. He swallowed quickly and continued: "Then let me talk about this fortification. I think the fortification dug by the French is very reasonable. There are all kinds of holes, and this firepower point is also very well concealed. Generally, unless the shell directly hits the trench, it is very safe. The second is their defense. They pay great attention to the depth of firepower. No blind spots are left, and the fight is quite satisfactory. In fact, I have to say that this kind of battle is not interesting at all. It is just fighting firepower. Both offensive and defensive sides are in solid fortifications. Fighting back and forth will not produce any results. I think so, It should be appropriate to retreat, let the enemy in and fight hard is the kingly way. As for my acting company commander, it is because I organized some people to play a night attack, captured a German police officer and killed him Four or five German soldiers." Speaking of this, Tiger Boy was actually a little embarrassed, and everyone applauded and praised Xue Yue for his courage.Especially the newcomers who came later, they have no chance to feel it at all, and Bai Chongxi doesn't plan to throw everyone to the front line to gain experience with their lives, because now the experience is already there.

Seeing Xue Yue cupping his hands and clasping fists at everyone in the middle, Bai Chongxi said very displeasedly: "Sit back and change to another one."

The next one is Wei Lihuang, whose name is Junru. He is from Hefei, Anhui. The location of the castle is relatively high, otherwise I would be buried in it. However, the company commander of the company I was in was lucky. He was the only officer killed in battle in the whole company. According to the French, this is very unlucky. People took over, so I was elected as acting company commander, hahahaha"

Everyone laughed along, even Bai Chongxi was no exception.

Wei Lihuang also proposed a new concept: "In fact, if positional warfare is fought like the Europeans, then our quartermasters will probably lose their hair. If I were to command, I would use strong fortifications like ancient castles As the point, use the point to radiate the surface. As long as this point is still there, it is not so terrible if the surface is breached. After all, a strong army also needs logistical support. If he leaves my point alone, I will attack him from time to time. Let's see if it's him or me. So I think these European powers are competing for strength when fighting, and they have no rules at all. This is based on their strength. If we are to replace us, we are as big. It is estimated that it will not be a few days. If you grow up, you have to pull up your trousers and go beg for food."

There was another burst of laughter. . .

The group sent to the artillery to study was the safest group. There were twelve people in total, and all of them came back with full arms and legs.

The speech of their representative Chen Cheng aroused Bai Chongxi's great attention: "Here, the cannon is the real king of the army. When I got here, I realized that the cannon we used to play is the level of shooting mahjong. The real artillery It is a technical unit. Only when I saw the artillery of the French did I know how big the gap between us and the great powers was. I used to think that it would be easy to drive people away. Now it seems that we are too naive. For example, the sound test, the general German artillery Finally, it only took 5 minutes for the artillery observers of the French army to accurately judge the position of the German artillery according to the sound, and then give an accurate counterattack. When I was in China, I heard that the artillery of the Fourth Division had twice I did destroy the enemy's artillery position. But these two times have nothing to do with the sound test. One is a coincidence, and the other is a report from the reconnaissance troops. Therefore, the future development direction of our artillery should be to Europe The artillery of the great powers seems to use this war to learn their advanced technology and make our artillery stronger."

Bai Chongxi took the lead and applauded: "Student Chen Cheng, write a report immediately, and I will send it directly to the Wuhan Military Commission. This matter must be taken seriously. He directly determines the life and death of our army."

This report then appeared on Wang Zhenyu's desk. To Chen Cheng's surprise, Wang Zhenyu immediately ordered the establishment of a special artillery headquarters after reading it. Artillery Commander, Lieutenant General.

Zhu Zhixin's group is almost the safest. He led a group of officers away from the front line where the gunfire was raging, and walked among French towns to fully observe how the French mobilized for war and how to raise all kinds of troops. How are materials managed and transported?And they were lucky, because of the war, French girls can have sex now as long as they have bread. . .

To Zhu Zhixin's surprise, Bai Chongxi attached great importance to this, and he did not forget to help them sort out the materials after the meeting.

During Bai Chongxi's half a year in France, his greatest contribution was to organize everyone to compile the "European War Pamphlet".This booklet provided valuable experience for the later Chinese Youth Expeditionary Force. . .