Expedition to Europe

The war continued on the third day.

The British front was deteriorating. Not only was Gough's front untenable, but after Byng abandoned Folkestone, Byng's troops also began to flee.

The Third Army held out for two days in Folkestone, but finally couldn't hold on.

The Third Army caused heavy casualties to the Germans, and they also suffered heavy casualties. When both the left and right wings of Folkestone began to retreat, Folkestone had actually become a huge salient. Although it looked indestructible, the British actually used trains to transport wounded and dead bodies to the rear every day.

For the Germans, the biggest progress came from Hutier.

In the two days of fighting, Hutier's troops advanced 15 miles. If it weren't for the German soldiers' looting of supplies, Hutier's troops would have made greater progress.

Compared with the well-supplied British, the Germans were really a bit shabby.

The German soldiers looted almost everything they could see, including cows, chickens, candlesticks, curtains, etc. As long as they could be used, the German soldiers would take them all. If the French residents had not seen it with their own eyes, it would be hard to imagine that the polite Germans would be so mean.

The impact of war on human nature was so great that even some things that could not be taken away, such as unfinished wine, were destroyed by the German soldiers. They smashed all the bottles or simply burned them all.

This unscrupulous day did not last long. After crossing the Somme River, Hutier's troops entered the site of the Battle of the Somme the year before. Everything here had been completely destroyed the year before, and the entire area of ​​hundreds of square kilometers was reduced to ruins.

Perhaps because the war was not over yet, the French did not have time to restore the previous prosperity here, which objectively formed an effect similar to the "scorched earth policy".

Hutier faced a major choice, whether to continue moving forward or turn to other directions.

Before the offensive began, both Bilo and Demawitz had clear combat objectives, only Hutier did not.

Ludendorff's order to Hutier was to advance, but the specific position to advance to was not clearly marked.

In yesterday's battle, because Hutier's troops were progressing smoothly, Ludendorff sent six divisions of reinforcements to Hutier's troops. This did not mean that Hutier was in trouble, but because Hutier was progressing smoothly.

In Ludendorff's plan, the principle of reinforcement is to facilitate the offensive. Only troops that are progressing smoothly will receive support, and troops that encounter obstacles can only rely on their own efforts to overcome them.

When the offensive began on the third day, Ludendorff's order to Hutier was to continue the offensive, and still did not give a specific tactical goal.

Perhaps in Ludendorff's mind, as long as he attacked, there would be unexpected benefits waiting for him, so all the troops had to do was to move forward.

If Ludendorff looked at the map at this time, he would find that Yamin was not far ahead of the German army. If the German army exerted its strength, it would arrive there within two days. Amin is the transportation center of northwest France, where all railways and roads pass. If Amin is occupied, the German army will take the initiative, and it will be convenient and fast to attack in any direction around it.

Unfortunately, Ludendorff was not in the mood to look at the map, and his energy was also involved in the complicated political situation at home. Although he was in France, Ludendorff always paid attention to the political situation in Germany.

So Hutier ordered the troops to continue the attack, and the German soldiers happily emptied all their backpacks and prepared to continue the adventure.

In order to grab as many things as possible, the German soldiers did not even carry food and water.

The experience of the previous two days told the German soldiers that there were delicious steaks and champagne waiting for them in front.

No one expected what kind of predicament the Germans who entered the old war zone of the Somme River would face.

Like Hutier, Qin Zhiyuan also faced a difficult choice.

On the second night, Pétain called Qin Zhiyuan and asked Qin Zhiyuan to withdraw troops to the Laon area to fill the vacancy caused by the transfer of the Fifth Army.

When Qin Zhiyuan sent troops to reinforce Yamin, Bastien's troops were also drawn to the Arras area to reinforce the retreating British.

Bastien and Qin Zhiyuan won the Battle of Ferentardnoy and the Battle of Reims together, and now have rich combat experience. Therefore, Bastien did not go directly to Arras, but built a defense line about ten miles behind Arras to prepare for the German attack.

Just like dominoes, if a card falls, it will definitely trigger a chain reaction.

Because the British front collapsed, Bastien had to fill the hole.

After Bastien filled the hole, his defense line also had a gap, and Qin Zhiyuan's troops were needed to fill the hole.

Qin Zhiyuan wanted to ignore Pétain's order, but he couldn't let Bastien's defense line have a gap, so he had to send troops again.

So two infantry divisions composed of Annamites led by Nguyen Juncai and Fan Wenxiong were sent out.

The reason why the Annan troops were sent out was because Qin Zhiyuan had already sensed the crisis. Now, among the defense lines Qin Zhiyuan was responsible for, the front-line positions seemed to have no problems, but the reserve force had reached a dangerous level. If the Germans launched an attack now, Qin Zhiyuan's position would be at great risk.

Fortunately, the Germans' attack focus was still on the northern line, and Ludendorff's sights had not yet been cast on Qin Zhiyuan.

But Qin Zhiyuan did not dare to be careless. On the one hand, he ordered the reserve troops in Corsica to speed up, and on the other hand, he also informed Pétain of the current status of his own troops.

By the next day, the French had provided the British with 20 divisions of support troops, which far exceeded Foch's original promise. The British should be grateful for this.

In fact, the British did not. Even Haig believed that Foch had the ability to provide more support but did not take action, and therefore felt resentful.

Fortunately, the new Royal Chief of Staff Wilson said a lot of good things for Foch.

Wilson knew French and was an admirer of France. Before the World War, Wilson went to France for pre-war coordination work, and he and Foch had overlapped in work, so he developed an admiration for Foch and was called "Foch's pet dog".

On April 2, Foch, Pétain, and Clemenceau held a meeting in Foch's special train in the Forest of Compiègne to discuss how to better coordinate operations with the British. On the same day, Haig and his generals also held a meeting in Durand, not far from Compiègne, to discuss how to deal with the German attack.

For some reason, Gough did not attend the meeting, which may be a signal, because the British army was defeated, and someone must be responsible for it.

When Clemenceau learned that the British were also in the meeting, Clemenceau expressed his desire to participate, and Haig readily agreed, so even Raymond Poongarais went. The French President, the French Prime Minister, the French Commander-in-Chief, and the French Chief of Staff gathered at the British General Headquarters to attend the first joint meeting in a practical sense.

The British did not expect that the French leaders would come so well. Lloyd George did not have time to attend the meeting. In addition to Haig, the British senior officials who attended the meeting also included War Secretary Milner and Wilson.

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Because of the difference in status, this meeting seemed a bit unequal. When the French spoke, the British always seemed a little unconfident.

At the meeting, Haig expressed his willingness to cooperate for the first time. In answering Clemenceau's question, Haig vowed to defend Amin to the death and never retreat.

Milner made a new suggestion, suggesting that Foch serve as the military coordinator in the Amin region.

Wilson disagreed. He believed that Foch should be given a higher position, such as "Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces".

All the French responded enthusiastically to Wilson's proposal, which made Haig look quite disappointed.

Haig understood the benefits of setting up a "Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces", which would make logistics more unified and orderly, and at the same time, the allocation of troops would be more reasonable, especially under the premise that the British army was in a difficult situation at present. Haig needed more reinforcements, but if Haig was made the "Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces", the French generals would not necessarily obey Haig's dispatch, especially some "domineering generals" who had won consecutive victories. Haig had no advantage in terms of military performance alone.

Soldiers, after all, still have to rely on their performance.

Foch served as the commander-in-chief of the Allied Forces, and Pétain naturally became the commander-in-chief of the French Army, but what was unexpected was that the first meeting between Pétain and Haig was very unpleasant.

Haig finally learned the order given by the cabinet to the French Army. If the German army continued to attack, the French army would retreat to the direction of Paris to protect Paris.

This order had actually been issued to Foch a long time ago, but Foch tried to maintain the connection between the British and French armies, gave Haig enough help, and did not really execute the cabinet's order.

Pétain had just taken office when he detonated this powder keg.

Haig was indignant at the order of the French cabinet, and then ordered Goff's troops to move north.

This led to serious consequences. When the fourth day began, a gap as wide as 30 kilometers appeared between the British and French armies. If the Germans could seize this opportunity, they could smoothly cut off the British and French armies and then defeat them one by one.

Don't doubt that if the Germans faced either Britain or France alone, the Germans would have the ability to win the battle.

The World War lasted for four years. Even the French, who claimed to have the world's "No. 1 Army", had to admit the combat effectiveness of the German troops. From the perspective of the army, Germany was indeed a world power.

The withdrawal of the British troops to the north dealt a heavy blow to Foch, who had just taken office. How to fill the gap between them became the focus of Foch's current work, and it was a focus that needed to be solved urgently.

The current French army has more than 100 divisions in France, and there are also many troops stationed abroad. There are French troops in North Africa, Italy, and even Egypt.

Almost all the troops are exhausted. Some of them have just changed their guards and have not yet recovered enough combat effectiveness. Some have just been supplemented with a large number of new recruits, and the status of these troops is even worse.

Foch does not have enough power now.

But there is no way.

In Orleans behind Paris, there is another unit with strong strength, whether in terms of number, equipment level, training level, or fighting will.

On the evening of April 4, Foch called Pershing and asked the US military to join the war.