Expedition to Europe

On June 13, the war situation continued to deteriorate.

In order to prevent Qin Haoge's division from disbanding like Xiang Ankang's division, Qin Zhiyuan ordered Qin Haoge to retreat to Soissons and gave an order to Zhang Tianshou in Soissons that if the German army attacked Soissons and the reinforcements still did not arrive, then Zhang Tianshou and Qin Haoge would withdraw the troops to Compiègne, west of Soissons, to open the passage to Paris.

If the French themselves did not care about the safety of Paris, then there was no need for the Chinese to fight for Paris.

While Qin Haoge was fighting and retreating, the battle in the Champagne-Chalons area resumed. After Xiang Ankang withdrew, the French Second Army replaced Xiang Ankang's position.

The Germans did not stop. They kept attacking and tried to bypass Reims to prepare to encircle the Foreign Legion still stationed in Reims.

This time, even French President Raymond Poincaré sent a telegram directly to Qin Zhiyuan, asking Qin Zhiyuan to defend Reims at all costs.

The Germans have captured Châlons-en-Champagne and are pressing Soissons step by step. If Qin Zhiyuan retreats again, the two German armies that launched the pincer attack will converge, and Paris will be undefended.

Qin Zhiyuan agreed to Raymond Poincaré's request. Qin Zhiyuan can reject Pétain alone, which does not affect Qin Zhiyuan's reputation in France, but Qin Zhiyuan cannot reject everyone. In that case, Qin Zhiyuan will also be rejected by everyone.

In fact, just after Pétain returned to Paris, Qin Zhiyuan received calls from Foch, Poincaré, Clemenceau, and Pershing. These calls were all to comfort Qin Zhiyuan.

The current war situation seems to be getting more and more difficult. Everyone dares not be careless, for fear that the war situation will deteriorate due to poor coordination, and Qin Zhiyuan's Foreign Legion is now an important force in the Allied camp.

The Foreign Legion may not be able to change the form of war, but it can already influence the direction of local war zones.

At this point, Qin Zhiyuan will definitely not withdraw from the war, but even if he is lazy, it will seriously affect the direction of the war.

There are no secrets between the Allies. Just as Haig knew that Pétain would give up rescuing the British army in times of crisis, Paris also knew that the British army would launch the "Channel Plan" in times of crisis.

This is not surprising at all. The outbreak of the world war was originally due to a struggle for interests.

On June 14, the German army continued to advance towards Soissons, and the support promised by Pétain still did not arrive, so Zhang Tianshou and Qin Haoge retreated to Compiègne according to the planned plan and joined Liu Zizheng and Jin Taihe who were about to arrive in Compiègne.

The German army continued to advance until Pierrefonds were stopped by Pershing's two divisions.

Pierrefonds is less than 70 kilometers away from Paris.

On June 15, the German army began to attack Pierrefonds, and on the same day, the German army began to attack Reims.

Opposite Reims, the Bavarian prince deployed nearly 20 divisions, which made Qin Zhiyuan dare not act rashly. Even if Châlons-Champagne and Soissons were lost one after another, Qin Zhiyuan did not dare to send troops to reinforce.

This is also the reason why Qin Zhiyuan was not blamed even though the above two places fell one after another. The Allies could not bear the consequences of Reims being captured.

The Bavarian prince was decisive in killing. If he did not attack, he would not hold back once he started the attack, and directly invested 15 divisions.

Qin Zhiyuan now has six divisions and two regiments of Chinese troops, one division of Annan troops, and two regiments of tank troops.

Qin Zhiyuan's total force is just over 100,000. There are more than 300,000 Germans on the front alone. If the two wings of Reims are added, Qin Zhiyuan may face more than 700,000 Germans at most.

The gap in strength is dizzying.

In order to make up for the gap as much as possible, the Army Department once again gave the Foreign Legion the right to uncontrolled supplies. As long as the Foreign Legion needs supplies, as much as it wants.

So in a very short time, Qin Zhiyuan formed a second armored division in Paris. The backbone of this division was the 11th Division that retreated to Paris, and the division commander was Xiang Ankang, who had not yet recovered from his injuries.

With the second battle report, the 11th Division became the first division-level unit of the Foreign Legion to be commended. This division was also named the "Champagne Division" or the "Victory Division".

In order to commend Xiang Ankang's bravery and tenacity, the Army Department awarded Xiang Ankang himself the Grand Cross Knight.

This is also the second Chinese officer in the Foreign Legion to receive the Grand Cross Knight after Qin Zhiyuan.

Like the unlimited tanks, the equipment of aircraft is no longer restricted. The Air Force Division headquartered in Paris soon had nearly 300 fighters and more than 200 bombers. According to the standard organization, these aircraft are enough to form 6 air force divisions or flight formations, and four bomber divisions or bomber formations.

Because of the expansion of the scale again, Qin Zhiyuan had to split the air force into fighter units and bomber units, led by Bao Deshui and Zhou Hongguang respectively.

On the morning of the 15th, the German army carried out routine bombing before starting the attack. More than ten German artillery divisions set up artillery positions around Reims and bombarded Reims at the same time.

This time, they did not hold back. Qin Zhiyuan immediately ordered the artillery to counterattack.

So the two sides launched the largest and most intense artillery battle since the beginning of the war.

In fact, the scale of this time was not as large as the scale of the German attack on Amifontein and Champagne Champagne some time ago, but at that time, because of the unequal strength of the two sides, it could not be called an artillery battle, but only a one-sided firepower release.

This time it was different. The artillery of the Foreign Legion, assisted by bombers, did not remain silent. They bravely engaged in an artillery battle with the superior artillery of the Germans. Although there was a huge gap in the number of artillery, they fought vigorously and did not lose the upper hand at all.

The artillery battle started at three o'clock in the morning. Because it was still early, the bombers could not be dispatched, so the artillery division could only hold on.

Self-propelled artillery was better. They could change positions after fighting for a while. Fixed artillery was more miserable. Even if they exposed their positions, they could not change positions. They could only hold on.

The absolute gap in numbers could not be made up by courage or technology, especially under the premise that the technical gap was not large.

In just two hours of artillery battle, nearly half of the Second Artillery Division was killed or wounded, and the artillery was damaged more. Fortunately, the location of the ammunition depot was relatively hidden, otherwise once the spare ammunition was ignited and exploded, the casualties would be even more severe.

At five o'clock in the morning, the first wave of bombers came to support under the escort of fighters.

Since the Red Baron was shot down, German planes were rarely seen in the sky of Reims. The few that were seen were only reconnaissance planes. The Germans no longer dared to dispatch on a large scale, fearing that they would run into a new generation of "hunting brigade".

Since the "hunting brigade" led by the Red Baron was annihilated, the Chinese pilots regarded themselves as the new generation of "hunting brigade" and changed their uniforms from military uniforms to jackets specially produced for them by "hunter" clothing.

Well, it looks very handsome!

When the bomber unit appeared over Reims, the situation of the war changed immediately. The bombers of the Foreign Legion were divided into four formations, and dozens of them were dispatched together each time. Almost every time, a German artillery position would be destroyed.

Although there were a large number of anti-aircraft machine guns on the German positions, they could not stop the enthusiasm of the bomber units to continue to advance.

The original text is in the six # 9 @book/bar!

Those anti-aircraft machine guns were also turned into a pile of scrap metal by the diving fighters.

The absence of German fighter planes in the sky does not mean that the "hunting brigade" has nothing to do. Even if there are no bombs on the fighter planes, they can use aircraft machine guns to dive and pose a serious threat to the enemies on the ground.

At 8 a.m., the Germans saw that there was no progress in the artillery battle, so they sent ground troops to attack the positions of the Foreign Legion.

The two divisions of Griffin and Xu Sheng were responsible for defending the front line. These can also be said to be the two most powerful divisions in the Foreign Legion. They have been waiting for three months for business to come to them.

However, this business that came to the door was not easy to do. When the Germans attacked, there were a large number of A7V tanks in their troops, which was a serious threat to the defenders.

The troops of Griffin and Xu Sheng were equipped with FT-17. Compared with the huge A7V, FT-17 was more flexible because it was equipped with a 75mm gun and its firepower was not weak at all. It was a match for the A7V.

In fact, in front of the positions of Griffin and Xu Sheng, there was a Ypres Canal that served as a natural barrier. As long as the defenders did not make major mistakes, it would not be easy for the Germans to break through the Ypres Canal.

Of course, this is based on the premise that the difference in troop strength is not large.

On the south bank of the Ypres Canal, the density of machine guns is astonishing. There is almost a machine gun position every five meters or so, with either an MG08 or two Lewis guns inside.

In the face of such a density of firepower, it is unlikely that the Germans will be able to cross the Ypres Canal.

So the battle of the day ended with the Foreign Legion's effortless response.

That night, the Bavarian prince urgently dispatched troops to detour from the two wings of Reims to the rear of Reims.

So suddenly, the status of Taixi and Miyi Zong was highlighted, which was the key point behind Reims.

Qin Zhiyuan had received relevant early warning information and immediately mobilized troops to prepare for response.

In addition to the infantry, the mobilized troops also included all the tank troops of the two regiments.

While passively defending, Qin Zhiyuan was also thinking about attacking.

Attack is the best defense.

But the Ypres Canal lies between the Foreign Legion and the German troops, which not only hinders the advance of the A7V equipped by the German troops, but also hinders the FT-17 from launching a counterattack.

I don't know how to evaluate this.

That night, Foch called Qin Zhiyuan and informed him of the next phase of the battle plan.

In view of the fact that the German army is pouring into the hinterland of France from Soissons and Champagne-Chalons, the Army Department has mobilized four army groups to prepare for a counterattack.

Some of these troops are now deployed in Italy, and some have just been reorganized. They need more training to enter combat status.

Foch's order to Qin Zhiyuan is to hold on in Reims for at least half a month, waiting for the Army Department to mobilize troops to eliminate all German troops in the two huge salients.

In that case, the war may end within this year.

Of course, this is just a maybe, maybe this is the beginning of the end, and it is more likely that this is just the end of the beginning.