Expedition to Europe

In early August, the encirclement and annihilation of the German army finally ended, with about 60,000 German soldiers killed and 300,000 German soldiers surrendered, of which the Foreign Legion took in 20,000 German prisoners of war.

This result made Patton and Mangin dissatisfied and helpless. In order to attack the German soldiers who were resisting stubbornly, the US army suffered 70,000 casualties and the French army suffered 40,000 casualties, but their results were less than one-third of the Foreign Legion.

The Foreign Legion suffered almost no casualties, which was a jaw-dropping result.

In mid-August, Crown Prince William disappeared from the surveillance of the French Ministry of the Interior.

No one could tell how Crown Prince William disappeared from the Ministry of the Interior. A 12-member team responsible for monitoring Crown Prince William was investigated, but no problems were found, so they had to take off their uniforms and go home.

These people soon found an enviable and easy job at United Petroleum, which was said to be in the New Baku Corridor, where they commanded colonial laborers and lived a life comparable to that of the German Emperor.

At the end of August, Crown Prince William appeared in Berlin. After receiving cheers from hundreds of thousands of people, Crown Prince William led a political reform group that would transform Germany into a constitutional monarchy like the United Kingdom.

During this time in France, Crown Prince William changed a lot.

Perhaps it was the sudden change in his identity that finally gave Crown Prince William time to pay attention to the lives of ordinary people.

Crown Prince William received elite education since he was a child. Although this kind of education cannot be said to be raised in the deep palace without knowing the sufferings of the world, it is also far from the lives of ordinary people. Crown Prince William's time is all occupied by learning, and he has no time to pay attention to the lives of ordinary people.

After growing up, as a crown prince, he is even more busy with affairs. There are endless national affairs to deal with every day, and he has no mood to pay attention to ordinary people.

During this time in France, Crown Prince William finally had no national affairs to worry about, and finally no endless meetings and dinners. Crown Prince William finally had time to turn his attention to those ordinary people-the cornerstones of the country.

In fact, just half a year ago, Crown Prince William always believed that the elite class was the cornerstone of the country, and ordinary people were just accessories. They were the tools for the elite class to realize their will.

This is the thought that Crown Prince William has been indoctrinated with since he grew up, and it is also the consensus of all those who claim to be the "elite class" at this time. Crown Prince William once thought so.

I don't know when Crown Prince William's thoughts began to change.

Perhaps it was after he met Qin Zhiyuan, at least Crown Prince William thought so.

Putting down his status and actively integrating into the lives of ordinary people brought great reputation to Crown Prince William.

In the eyes of 1 million German prisoners of war, Crown Prince William was humble and kind, noble but not proud. He was willing to listen to the voices of the grassroots soldiers and help the soldiers improve their own environment. If there was someone who could bring Germany out of the quagmire, then that person must be Crown Prince William.

Just after Ludendorff was attacked, the voice of peace in Germany was unprecedentedly high. The Germans began to release goodwill through neutral parties such as the Netherlands and the Vatican, seeking the possibility of negotiations with the Allies.

Germany's transformation caught Britain, France, and the United States off guard and took it for granted. They knew that Germany would definitely lose, but they didn't expect that this day would come so soon, and it was the Germans who took the initiative to admit defeat.

Just earlier, Karl I of Austria-Hungary once again sought peace with the Allies. He had done so last winter, but because of poor operation, he became a laughing stock. Now, Karl I had to seek peace again.

On June 5, the Austrians launched another attack. The fighting power of the Italians had been so weak that it was intolerable. They were soon driven across the Piave River. If it were not for the British and French coalition forces to stop the Austrians, the Austrians could have fought to Rome in one go.

After the British and French coalition forces joined, the Austrians lost again. They were driven back to the starting point the next day and then retreated step by step.

As of the 25th, the Austrians had 142,000 casualties and tens of thousands of prisoners.

This was a devastating blow to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, because the Austro-Hungarian Empire had no more soldiers, and some of those captured were even captured for the second time.

You know, when the Allies released these prisoners of war, they all promised not to join the war again.

But now they have broken their promise, so they will suffer long-term labor as punishment.

Not only did the Germans lose confidence in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but the Austro-Hungarian Empire itself also began to fall apart. Hungary wanted to be independent as a country. This was a sign of division. Karl I tried his best to save his empire. In order to maintain the situation, Karl I announced that the empire would be transformed into a federation. All ethnic groups could have their own national committees, even small ethnic groups like Ruthenia.

Karl I's efforts failed again. His ideas not only failed to unite the already fragmented people's hearts, but also fostered the ambitions of more people. Many countries declared autonomy, and those non-Austrian troops, such as those composed of Croatians, Czechs, and Magyars, were disbanded. The soldiers threw away their rifles without bullets and chose to return home.

It seems that the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is just around the corner.

Such an Austro-Hungarian Empire did not have any trump cards, so the Allies did not give Karl I the peace he wanted, and Karl I's country was collapsing.

The peace signal released by the Germans made everyone have to pay attention, because Germany still had combat effectiveness.

Only Pershing was not impressed by Germany's goodwill. By August, the number of American soldiers in France had reached 1 million. These people were strong and energetic young men who were eager to make achievements and would certainly not agree to end the war when they had the upper hand.

So the war continued. Pershing assembled 1 million American soldiers and prepared to attack the Saint-Mihiel salient on the German defense line with the cooperation of 110,000 French troops and 3,000 artillery.

At this point in the war, French soldiers no longer wanted to fight. They hated war from the bottom of their hearts. Even if they went to the battlefield, French soldiers only undertook auxiliary work such as artillery, and rarely rushed to the front line to fight.

During the World War, the French artillery made great progress.

Before the war, the French took a detour. They were fascinated by the excellent performance of the Miss 75 and refused any transformation.

At the beginning of the World War, France had only 300 medium and large caliber artillery. By 1918, France had 6,000.

After Ludendorff was assassinated, the command of the German army returned to Hindenburg.

Hindenburg once again stepped out from behind the scenes to preside over the already shaky war situation.

Although the German army suffered heavy casualties at this time, it still had 100 divisions available for combat, but their defense line was very long, and because it was too scattered, it seriously affected the combat effectiveness of the German army.

Shortly after Hindenburg came to the fore, he issued his first order, ordering the troops to abandon about 200 square miles of French land with a depth of 13 miles - the entire St. Michael salient.

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This disappointed Pershing very much. Pershing had originally planned to attack St. Michael on September 7, but had to postpone it because the French artillery moved slowly. If the French artillery could arrive in time, Pershing was confident that he could fight a battle that would make the US military proud.

Compared with the current strength of the US military and their achievements, this is really a bit unequal.

On September 12, the U.S. Army captured the St. Michael salient within one day, but this did not bring any joy to Pershing, because the German army voluntarily gave up here, and the U.S. Army only captured about 6,000 German prisoners of war.

These soldiers also surrendered voluntarily, and they did not even fire a shot, which made the victory of the U.S. Army look like being given alms.

So Pershing continued to attack. This time, Pershing's target was the highlands near the Meuse River and the Argonne Forest. This bone was not easy to chew. The Germans built a solid defense line here, which was as strong as the Hindenburg Line.

Although the opponent had a geographical advantage, Pershing decided to be strong, so he asked the troops to complete the offensive preparations within half a month.

Just as the sentence was preparing to attack the Argonne Forest, Haig was also preparing to launch an attack.

Haig now had four army groups and the help of the French army. Since the outbreak of the World War, Haig had never felt that the power in his hands was so strong, so Haig decided to do something.

Haig chose the Hindenburg Line as his target of attack.

There is no way. Since Hindenburg came to power, all the salients outside the Hindenburg Line have been abandoned by the German army. The German army has been guarding the Hindenburg Line, waiting for the peace that all parties are working hard to promote.

Except for the Americans.

At this point in the world war, even if the Germans admit defeat, they are already an undisputed world power. No one dares to ignore them. From this point of view, the Germans have succeeded.

Both the British and the French want to end the war because Germany no longer wants to challenge the colonial systems of Britain and France. There is a consensus that the Germans must give up their new navy. Although those brand-new naval surface warships have made almost no contribution in the world war, their threats are obvious to all.

Perhaps deep in the hearts of the French, there is still a fantasy of dismembering Germany, but in the hearts of the British, they only want to maintain the balance of the European continent, neither allowing Germany to be strong enough to challenge Britain, nor allowing France to dominate alone.

This balance is really hard to grasp.

Qin Zhiyuan's Foreign Legion can finally take a break. Through a secret talk with Crown Prince William, Qin Zhiyuan has already got what he wanted, and there is no need to continue to waste the precious lives of the soldiers to take risks.

In other words, Qin Zhiyuan is not short of money now. As long as there are no trade barriers, Qin Zhiyuan can buy anything he wants with money.

As for trade barriers, the French were the dominant force when this thing appeared, and it is really hard to imagine that it would be used to restrict a Frenchman.

Almost from mid-July, the Foreign Legion withdrew to Paris and Corsica in batches, and some of them returned to the Far East and went to Lanfang to become part of the Lanfang National Defense Force.

Well, Lanfang, the place that Qin Zhiyuan has not set foot on, will become the home of the Foreign Legion for a long time in the future.