Back to the Republic of China as a commander

The wheel of history entered May 1917, 5. On this day, the Germans, who emphasized scientific rigor, pointed the muzzles of 15 heavy artillery at the defense line of the Chinese Expeditionary Force in the Verdun area without any hesitation.Waist-high artillery shells were placed next to the emplacements, and the Chinese Expeditionary Army's position was silent. . .

Fighting between Europeans and Chinese is different. Europeans always punch each other, comparing strength and endurance, while Chinese always emphasize evasion and effective attack.And in the war with the Germans, this Chinese general named Chongxibai made me understand this characteristic of the Chinese, they fought the most beautiful battle in the entire European war, although Fuxi, the damn guy, didn't agree at this point. ----Henri Philippe Pétain's "Memoirs of the European War" In fact, it is no big secret that the Germans will attack Verdun. all plans of attack.Then, under the coordination of Marshal Pétain and Marshal Foch, nearly 40 French troops from the two armies were successively transferred to the Ardennes near Verdun for rest and reorganization.Since it is unclear how large the German attack will be, Petain is not in a hurry to add more troops to the Verdun area. After all, there are already almost 50 troops in the area of ​​​​the Squadron, and there are more logistical supplies. The pressure will be heavy.

But after the war broke out on May 5th, Marshal Pétain and Marshal Foch realized that the problem was a bit serious, because this time the scale of the Germans was directly increased.Marshal Hindenburg, the chief of the German General Staff, also contributed the most to this battle. The 15 rested German army (including 60 elites from the Eastern Front), 20 aircraft, and 600 various artillery pieces (heavy artillery pieces above 4000mm) There are 105), and there are German tanks that have just left the factory.In short, the troops and equipment that Germany can concentrate at present have been invested by Marshal Hindenburg in this battle named the Second Battle of Verdun by the German General Staff.

If only this amount of troops and equipment is not enough to make these two well-informed French field marshals feel too much worry and fear in the past three years, according to the usual way, it is nothing more than the German army making a certain breakthrough and then being defeated. Layers of French resistance were blocked, and then French reinforcements came up to drive the Germans back.The final result was hundreds of thousands of deaths and injuries, and then they went back to their homes and found their own mothers.

However, the progress of the Battle of Verdun this time clearly exceeded everyone's expectations. The German army launched a seven-hour fire attack on the first line of defense of the squadron, and then, then, and then it was very easy He broke through the two lines of defense guarded by the squadron in a row, and appeared in front of the third line of defense guarded by the French, Indian, Australian and New Zealand allied forces.The coalition forces caught off guard were defeated by the Germans, and the four divisions were defeated unceremoniously. The soldiers fled to the fourth line of defense with tears in their eyes, and then the commander of the Verdun area, General Nivelle, was angry Cursed: "The group of Chinese are raised by the ****, they must have benefited from the Germans, the [-]-kilometer-deep defense line was broken through in less than three hours, no, damn it, there is no Any resistance, the Germans went straight to my fourth line of defense."

Marshal Hindenburg did not expect the breakthrough to be so easy. Although he had concluded that the squadron was vulnerable in advance, when the German army attacked so quickly, it reached the lowest point the German army could reach in the last Battle of Verdun. When the position was far away, Marshal Hindenburg was stunned for a moment, and then happily ate the bread and milk in front of him.According to the report of the German commander: "The fortifications of the squadron were almost completely destroyed. These guys from Asia obviously did not build their fortifications properly. At the same time, except for the positions in some areas, they are still in the hands of these Chinese. The front lines were easily broken by the Germans, and although there was resistance, it was very sporadic and powerless."

When receiving Nivelle's report, Petain was dumbfounded at the time, while Foch jumped up angrily and cursed: "Fuck, where are these yellow-skinned pigs? There are more than 20 people, even if they stand where they are The Germans didn't finish shooting so quickly!"

After all, Petain was calmer than Fuxi, he quickly calmed down, stopped the staff officer who was about to leave, and said, "Ask Nivelle, how many Chinese soldiers have retreated to the fourth line of defense, and let him no matter what? How to hold the fourth line of defense, reinforcements will arrive within a day, damn it, how did it become like last year?"

Half an hour later, the report sent back by the staff surprised both Petain and Fuxi: "What, no Chinese soldiers have retreated to the fourth line of defense?"

This time, not only Marshal Pétain, but also Marshal Fuxi, who was furious before, calmed down: "It seems that things are not that simple. It is impossible for so many Chinese soldiers to escape from the front line. The damn Germans surrendered, so we can only understand that they deliberately opened the defenses to let the Germans in, what are these guys with long braids trying to do?"

Petain threw away the telegram and said, "Let the air force send a reconnaissance plane. I want to know what happened on the Chinese positions?"

In fact, everything is proceeding according to Jiang Baili's plan. . .

At 1917:5 a.m. on May 15, 24, the German army began its largest shelling since the European War. Heavy artillery shells smashed into the defense line of the Chinese Expeditionary Force without any hesitation.According to German intelligence, there are at least [-] Chinese soldiers from Asia on these targets, all of whom are equipped with British equipment.

It's a pity that this information is a bit outdated. Bai Chongxi played an empty city strategy, and the positions originally guarded by a regiment became a platoon.

Only Zhang Zizhong's Warburg stronghold of the Sixth Division left behind the defenders, which had the highest probability of being attacked by artillery because it was the closest to the German army.

But Zhang Zizhong and his soldiers are hiding in the bunker, even if you blow it up, he will not show up. Since most of the bunkers were built by the French army long ago, and the newly built bunkers are also very strong. The casualties that large-scale shelling can cause are naturally limited.

The two German infantry divisions responsible for attacking this area are much more tragic than the German troops who have successfully broken through in other areas, because what is in front of them is the real hard bones.

On the left flank of the entire battlefield, Bai Chongxi and the troops of the four divisions participating in the assault were waiting for changes in the battlefield situation, and then looked for a gap to carry out strategic counter-insertion.

"Jiansheng, the industrial production capacity of the big powers is really not comparable to ours. If such a fierce firepower is placed in Asia, no one can bear it," Jiang Baili sighed involuntarily.

Bai Chongxi nodded and said: "Now I admire the commander-in-chief more and more. It is said that he has never been to Europe, but his idea is to develop heavy industry and economy. For this reason, he would rather slow down our expansion than unify first. Half of China, now it seems that you can't accept it, the commander-in-chief is indeed farther than we see."

Just as Jiang Baili was about to nod his head, he suddenly laughed: "I reckoned that the beard of that old French man, Fuxi, is going to be raised by your anger. If we do this, not only the French, but also the Germans will probably be unprepared. As soon as they got out of touch, they naturally hid. Should we report the plan to the coalition forces?"

Bai Chongxi shook his head and said: "I don't want it anymore, these Frenchmen are old and stubborn, and if you look at the firepower range of the German army, it is basically the key defensive areas on the defense layout map we reported to the coalition headquarters. Fortunately, I In these areas, it is an empty city plan, otherwise there are not enough soldiers to kill the Germans. Brother Baili, please command three divisions here to support the right wing. I will send you a telegram after I successfully intersperse here, and then you Then tell the French about our plan, their secrecy is not in place at all, no wonder the Germans have been killing them like pigs for the past few years..."

Sure enough, as Jiang Baili analyzed, the German army began to worry about the young Werther after experiencing the initial joy of breaking through easily.You must know that the entire German army from top to bottom, although they estimated that the Chinese were vulnerable, they never thought that they could penetrate the defense line with just one blow.You must know that this place is very familiar to the staff of the German army. Last year, nearly 50 German boys died here.Almost every 100 meters has to be fought repeatedly to succeed, so in the follow-up plan, the follow-up speed of the follow-up troops is designed to be slow.

The vanguard of the German army rushed to the last line of defense in Verdun, which is the fourth line of defense, within three hours. The depth of fifteen kilometers was easily penetrated by the German army. The only fierce battle took place on the third line of defense. The army of about four divisions of the coalition army collapsed after supporting it here.At this time, the follow-up troops of the German army who did not know how to adapt were still entering the first line of defense in an orderly manner. The German staff immediately went crazy, and they began to urge the soldiers to move forward actively.At this time, if Admiral Nivell of the French army dared to organize the army to fight back, the nearly [-] troops of the five infantry divisions of the German vanguard would be killed if they fought continuously for more than three hours without replenishing ammunition and supplies. The French were easily defeated.It's a pity that Admiral Nivell was frightened by the speed of the German assault. He could only care about calling the Chinese assholes, and didn't dare to order a counterattack.

The commanders of the German army obviously also realized the problem of disconnection. They decisively learned the lessons of the Battle of the Marne, and all the troops decisively retreated to the third line of defense, waiting for the follow-up troops to come up.

Marshal Hindenburg saw the report of this situation and could only curse inwardly: "Didn't I say that? The Chinese are vulnerable, why are your follow-up plans still so slow, damn it, this is cheap Frenchman It's..."