Back to the Republic of China as a commander

Attacking is always easier than retreating, at least for the two German commanders Hindenburg and Ludendorff who are currently organizing the retreat of the German army.

On May 5, in the face of the 18 approaching French troops commanded by the commander-in-chief of the French army, Pétain, Ludendorff finally persuaded the vacillating Marshal Hindenburg to organize the withdrawal of 50 German troops across the board. In addition to the German army of one division, the German army of about four other divisions stationed in the area around Lorraine was asked by Ludendorff not to attack Metz, but to go to the Luxembourg area to defend. The German General Staff will mobilize a lot of materials to support them. Luxembourg, guaranteeing the security of the German hinterland.In fact, this order is very correct, because if the German army lacking heavy equipment dares to attack Metz, it is estimated that it will be hit by a hundred 45mm caliber cannons captured by the Chinese Expeditionary Force that were dismantled from German naval ships. The annihilation of the army caused Ludendorff the most headache. In Metz, a total of 210 special shells for the [-] cannons were stored. . .

To say that Wu Peifu is China's Ludendorff is actually a bit of an exaggeration. In comparison, Ludendorff's retreat is much more professional than Wu Peifu's.Whether it was in Shanhaiguan or Hesheng Bridge in history, Wu Peifu's retreat was more like a personal escape.

When Jiang Baili saw the situation of the Germans, he immediately knew that the original plan could not be carried out, so Bai Chongxi was tricked by Jiang Baili a little.Jiang Baili gave up the original plan to rely on the first and second line positions to carry out the blocking, but changed to continuous harassment, in short, to slow down the retreat speed of the German army.This was Jiang Baili's decision after he received Bai Chongxi's secret telegram. According to Jiang Baili's own statement: "Our ultimate goal is to buy time for the main force of the French army to arrive. Since Commander Bai has decided to fight the German army in the Lorraine area, How can we do without our French chef?"

On the night of May 5th, Marshal Pétain arrived in Verdun and received a secret message from the Chinese European Expeditionary Force. A mobile battle, it is estimated that the battle will be very fierce. At this time, what they need is the follow-up of the French army to become the key hammer to determine the victory or defeat of this battle.Petain took a look at the map and was taken aback. He suddenly remembered the enviable young Chinese general who was only in his 18s in his impression. This young man's courage is not ordinary!After pondering over and over again, Marshal Pétain suddenly thought of a question, do we need to inform Marshal Foch, chief of the French army's general staff, to participate in such a bold battle?The Chinese plan can be said to be even bolder than last year's Battle of the Somme. Once the 20 German troops are wiped out under such circumstances, the balance of victory and defeat in the war will basically fall to the French side, and they will lose all at once. It is not impossible for Germany, which has lost so many elites, to continue its offensive.But is it really possible to do this?Is the German army really that easy to defeat? Although they occupied Metz, is the combat effectiveness of the Chinese army directly proportional to the personal ability of their wise coach?All these made Marshal Pétain involuntarily fall into contemplation. . .

The German army didn't know that the French marshal was hesitating whether to destroy himself. They were meticulously implementing the retreat plan, although the plan was not being implemented smoothly.The damned Chinese actually used engineers to lay mines on the main line, while the German soldiers were brave but not stupid. The kind of feat of asking soldiers to clear mines with their bodies obviously would not happen to the German army , which made the German retreat process had to be slowed down.

Ludendorff looked at the marching team more than ten kilometers long and the distant sky. He suddenly had a premonition that there was a monster waiting for him in the distance. After thinking for a while, he went to Marshal Hindenburg: "Your Excellency Marshal, I suggest you fly back to Berlin immediately, the German Empire now needs you to preside over the formation of a new line of defense in the Luxembourg area, I now believe His Majesty's words, the ** from the East really appeared in Europe, I think we all underestimated The combat effectiveness of the squadron."

Marshal Hindenburg looked at Ludendorff with a serious face in surprise: "No, my friend, I think you are probably too nervous now. In fact, the Chinese just took advantage of our loopholes and occupied Metz. Then happened to capture our Crown Prince. It's nothing, now all we have to do is to march towards Metz and take back His Royal Highness. Really, no shit, Marshal Vadsi told me all about his experience in China , Those Chinese soldiers generally use spears and broadswords, and they dare to die if they drink a bowl of water, and more importantly, they like to abuse their compatriots.”

Ludendorff was taken aback when he heard Hindenburg's words. It seemed that there might be something really wrong with His Excellency the Marshal. He tried to say: "Your Excellency the Marshal, that happened more than ten years ago. It was our emperor who helped the Qing Dynasty to establish a modern German army. In addition, in Warburg, we paid 8000 of the bravest German soldiers but failed to take this place. The tenacity of the Chinese soldiers is beyond your imagination. Yes, they may really be the ones His Majesty described, and it may be us Germans who wake them up. So I hope that I will clean up the mess here in Verdun, while you fly to Berlin, the Reich You are more needed here, my marshal."

Marshal Hindenburg was indeed not sober at the moment, he once again rejected Ludendorff's suggestion, and then chattered to himself: "No, I can't, I won't go back to Berlin, I lost the crown prince , I'm going to rescue him, otherwise how do you want me to face His Majesty the Kaiser? In short, I won't leave, I want to rescue His Highness the Crown Prince..."

Ludendorff was completely dumbfounded at this moment. He really didn't expect Marshal Hindenburg to lose his composure like this. It seemed that even if he really went back to Berlin, there was nothing he could do.Ludendorff couldn't help but let out a long sigh. The current situation is really terrible. It's really too bad that an interspersed action by the Chinese changed everything.

Ludendorff left Field Marshal Hindenburg who was still blaming himself there, and issued new orders to the accompanying staff officers, leaving two German divisions to defend on the starting position of this battle.Ludendorff's wishful thinking was to sacrifice the German troops of these two divisions in exchange for the time for the entire army to retreat, because according to the information of the German army, Metz's squadron had a total of about 10 people in four divisions, and he himself There are a full 40 troops. As long as they can stop the French army that is following them, then the Chinese would not dare to come out to stop such an army. At that time, they tried to communicate with the Chinese and exchange the crown prince with some equipment. Then just abandon the Lorraine area and retreat to Luxembourg to continue the defense, so that at least the balance of the entire Western Front will not be broken.As for the responsibility for the loss of Lorraine and Alsace, it is naturally his own responsibility.As for the three understaffed German divisions currently in Alsace, Ludendorff has ordered these [-] German troops to enter the Austro-Hungarian Empire and then return to Germany by way. This is really a disgusting and frustrating order.But when he thought of the heavy artillery in the hands of the Chinese, Ludendorff still couldn't help shivering. The power of that thing was too great.

Ludendorff's plan should be no problem, but I don't know if the nearly [-] German troops of the two divisions can really block the French army on the original line of defense without the support of reinforcements, artillery and supplies. It was too chaotic for both sides. The Allied Forces seemed to have the upper hand, but faced with the retreating German Army, they couldn’t say anything. This is what Marshal Foch said most vividly when he analyzed the battle situation for Prime Minister Clemenceau in Paris. In a word.Prime Minister Clemenceau sighed and booed for a long time after hearing this sentence. Before coming to the Ministry of War, the iron-handed prime minister thought that the war could end here, but Marshal Foch analyzed it, and he realized that it was just It's nothing but joy, let's go home to wash and sleep!

At this time, the clouds of war began to cover the sky over China. Wu Peifu, who was supported by the Southern Arms, personally commanded the Zhili Ace Third Division and Feng Yuxiang's No.11 Division and other Zhili troops moved closer to Baoding.And Duan Qirui also transferred the Seventh Division and Fifteen Brigades of the Frontier Defense Army stationed in Suiyuan, Chahar and other areas for formation and training back to the Beijing area, and appointed his cronies Xu Shuzheng and Duan Zhigui as the commanders of the East Route Army and the West Route Army. Commander, and then opened his posture, ready to fight.

However, in the south, not many people in Wuhan or Nanjing paid attention to the progress of this war, because the good news from Europe made the entire southern China region pay close attention to the European war in Europe.When everyone met in the morning and finished work at night, they would consciously or unconsciously inquire about news about Europe. As long as any news about the war was published in any newspaper or magazine, it would be sold out immediately.This kind of enthusiasm is almost comparable to the grandeur of the Chinese team participating in the World Cup in later generations, but in comparison, Wang Zhenyu, who is a die-hard fan of later generations, still feels that the Chinese European Expeditionary Force commanded by Bai Chongxi is better than the performance of the Chinese Football Association men's football team. There are many men, and many excellent ones.

The men's football team of the Chinese Football Association is more like a group of eunuchs kept in captivity by Lafayette. They come out to cheat some money for a scene, and then live brazenly and continue to disgust all mankind.Far away, in fact, it is not that no one in Wuhan is paying attention to the upcoming war in the north. After all, Wu Peifu and the others intervene and challenge Duan Qirui. Unceremoniously, all of them were thrown to Marshal Wu, and the youth army began to change their equipment, and the old equipment was rotated to the security forces.

Wang Zhenyu stood in front of Wenlu's window, and outside the window was the vast East Lake.Looking up at the northern sky, Wang Zhenyu sighed in an inaudible voice: "All history has changed..."