Expedition to Europe

Ludendorff's defense system, if translated into Chinese, can be summed up in two words: avoid the enemy's sharp edge and lure the enemy deep into the territory.

Don't think this tactic is simple. In France, where there is no room for detours, it was not easy for Ludendorff to come up with this method.

Ludendorff's tactic is called "elastic defense". Nivelle was the first to be defeated by this tactic, followed by Haig, and then the Russian commander-in-chief Breshilov. Now Bastian has been added to this list.

After receiving the message from Colonel Hausen's request for help, Bastian immediately sent reinforcements, and Qin Zhiyuan also ordered Ruan Juncai's troops, which were closer to the 185th and 192nd Regiments, to go to support.

When Qin Zhiyuan ordered Ruan Juncai's 15th Regiment of the Foreign Legion to support the 185th and 192nd Regiments, Qin Zhiyuan felt something was wrong.

Before Qin Zhiyuan could figure out what was wrong, another battle report came in, and Colonel Henry of the 192nd Regiment was killed.

The German attack was extremely fierce.

There was a faint sound of fierce artillery fire in the distance. It was the German artillery firing. They had not fought back when the 17th Army artillery attacked before, just waiting for now to play a role.

Colonel Hausen was in a desperate situation.

Almost in an instant, the Germans emerged from all directions, carpet bombarding, crossfire, and German soldiers charging with sharp bayonets...

The 185th Regiment suffered heavy losses. Hausen's chief of staff was killed in the artillery attack, two of the three battalion commanders died and one was seriously injured. Hausen's left arm was also scratched by shrapnel. Fortunately, Hausen was still conscious. He immediately organized the troops to defend on the spot, resisting the German attack on the one hand, and asking for help from the rear on the other hand, and ordered the troops to move closer to the 192nd Regiment.

The 185th Regiment was still able to organize resistance, but the 192nd Regiment was already in chaos.

Henry, the commander of the 192nd Regiment, was killed in the first round of German artillery fire, the chief of staff of the regiment was seriously injured, one of the three battalion commanders was confirmed to be killed, one was missing, and one had an arm blown off, but he still insisted on commanding the battle.

The situation was urgent, and the battalion commander whose arm was blown off took the initiative to ask Colonel Hausen to lead the team to retreat immediately.

The German attack was extremely fierce, and there was no time for courtesy. Colonel Hausen only had time to offer a military salute before leading the remnants of the 185th and 192nd Regiments to retreat.

In order to advance lightly and quickly, the 185th and 192nd Regiments did not carry heavy weapons. The soldiers had only grenades except rifles. Such sparse firepower density could not stop the Germans, so when all the grenades were thrown, the two sides fell into a brutal hand-to-hand fight.

Hand-to-hand combat is the most brutal way of fighting. After the war, the casualties were often counted, and there was often a one-to-one situation, which shows how tragic the battle was.

The soldiers who were left behind did not have an advantage in numbers, but fortunately they did not lose their courage and all fought to the last moment. Unfortunately, their numbers were too small, and they did not delay the Germans for long. There were too many wounded soldiers in the troops led by Colonel Hausen, and they were caught up by the Germans before they returned to the enemy's frontline positions they had occupied.

So there was another brutal hand-to-hand combat, and this time, almost all the soldiers who stayed behind were wounded.

When the Germans caught up with Colonel Hausen for the third time, the 15th Regiment of the Foreign Legion had already come to rescue.

Most of the Annan people were new recruits. This was their first time on the battlefield. Although there were Chinese veterans to remind them, they still lost their composure when facing the crazy charge of the Germans.

Still couldn't hold on.

The Germans chased all the way to the position of Xiang Ankang's regiment, and then they really encountered a tough opponent.

Xiang Ankang has always been cautious. When setting up the position, he not only had a full range of light and heavy machine guns, but also dragged up two Miss 75.

In order to prevent the front from being broken up by the fleeing soldiers, Xiang Ankang opened a safe passage in the position, and after letting the fleeing soldiers of the 185th Regiment, the 192nd Regiment, and the 15th Regiment of the Foreign Legion pass through, it became the last line of defense on the battlefield.

Faced with the swarming Germans, Xiang Ankang did not panic. He waited until the Germans entered the death zone before he ordered the troops to open fire.

It was another sniper attack that was close to a massacre. The Germans left at least two thousand bodies before they withdrew from the battlefield in a panic.

It was an hour later when the Germans launched another attack. During this hour, Xiang Ankang's regiment replenished enough grenades and bullets, and also established contact with the artillery in the rear, waiting to meet the German attack.

The Germans were not simply attacking from the front at this time, but attacking Xiang Ankang's position from three sides.

From Gaiyu to Saxi, the front line of defense is about six kilometers. If it is defended by four regiments, even if the defenders cannot cover the entire line of defense, at least they can support each other.

But now there is only one regiment of Xiang Ankang, so the Germans can calmly attack the defensive position of Xiang Ankang's troops from three directions.

According to convention, the infantry attack is preceded by fire cover.

The German artillery must have calculated the firing parameters in advance, and the artillery bombardment was extremely accurate. In the one-hour artillery attack, Xiang Ankang's regiment lost nearly one-third of its troops.

In fact, Qin Zhiyuan wanted to withdraw Xiang Ankang's regiment at this time, but Maxim insisted on fighting to measure the combat effectiveness of the German and Chinese troops, so the battle began under extremely unfavorable circumstances for Xiang Ankang's regiment.

This work is organized and uploaded by Liujiu Book Bar~~

After all, Xiang Ankang's regiment was tempered in the Battle of Fer-Antoine de Noire. The soldiers cooperated well with each other, and the tactical actions were skillful. The officers knew what kind of response should be made in various situations.

So the Germans were unlucky.

From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., the Germans launched three attacks. Except for the first artillery bombardment, which yielded a lot of results, the remaining two attacks yielded nothing.

In contrast, each attack resulted in thousands of casualties, and because of the insidiousness of the Xiang Ankang Regiment, the number of wounded far exceeded the number of dead. Even in the second attack, because there were too many wounded soldiers, the infantry was defeated before reaching the death zone formed by the crossfire in order to rescue the wounded.

The Germans were also making progress in the war. Their infantry-artillery coordination became more and more proficient. During the third attack, when the artillery began to extend, the infantry was only about 150 meters away from the Xiang Ankang Regiment's position, which was almost stepping on the explosion point and rushing forward.

It took some effort to repel the Germans' third attack. After a full hour of fierce fighting, the Germans were driven out of the position.

In this battle, the casualties of the Xiang Ankang Regiment increased significantly.

The Germans also learned to be smart. They no longer fought head-on, but used the terrain and features to adopt a wave-like attack. Whenever someone charged, there would be precision shooters who would use the craters and gravel all over the mountains to shoot at the defending soldiers on the positions.

The individual quality of the Germans was actually quite good, especially their precision shooters. I don’t know whether it was because of their superb shooting skills or the bonus of the scope, but the soldiers who were injured or killed on the defensive positions were basically caused by precision shooters.

After repelling the third siege of the Germans, Qin Zhiyuan resolutely withdrew the troops from the front line despite Maxim’s strong opposition.

Qin Zhiyuan saw through it. Almost all the soldiers of this era were the same as Nivelle and Mangin. They ignored life, were stubborn, and would never give up until they achieved their goals.

In order to achieve their goals, they would not hesitate at all, even if they had to sacrifice their own lives. The lives of the soldiers were like grass to them.

It was just a number on paper.