My Italy

Chapter 613 Marne River (End)

At this time, a big battle broke out on the Marne River, and the German and French armies formed a strong momentum. The French army needed to defeat the opponent before German reinforcements arrived, and the German army needed to withstand the French attack and wait for reinforcements to arrive.

Therefore, the battle on the Marne River became more and more fierce and bloody. Both sides exerted their strength to prevent the other party from achieving their intentions.

"Boom, boom, boom~"

On both sides of the Marne River, intensive artillery fire filled the ground with craters. At this time, the officers and soldiers of both sides were hiding in the trenches from the artillery fire. At this moment, they were constantly praying for themselves, praying that the artillery shells would not fall around them.

However, apart from bringing inner comfort, such prayers have no practical effect. The cannonballs will land wherever they are supposed to.

Of course, the shelling was short-lived, and more of a battle between soldiers from the two sides.

French soldiers often stepped on the point just after the bombardment ended and launched an attack on the German troops in the position. The defending German troops also rushed back to their positions as soon as the bombardment ended to meet the French attack.

On both sides of the Marne River, bloody battles between soldiers from the two sides continued, and a soldier's life was measured in hours. Why do I say that? Because the subsequent battle was even more bloody. After the second day of battle, the total number of losses counted by both sides was as high as 120,000.

Such heavy casualties were of course caused by high-intensity fighting. During this day, the French army launched more than ten attacks in succession. Often the French army that launched the last offensive was repelled, and the next wave of French soldiers was already on the way to charge.

Although this kind of continuous attack will cause a large number of casualties, it will also put great pressure on the defending German troops, because the high-intensity continuous fighting will make the already tired German officers and soldiers even more uncomfortable.

After repelling a French attack, many German soldiers immediately collapsed in the trenches from exhaustion and fell asleep, unable to be woken up by anyone.

Faced with this situation, the officer skillfully kicked their butts hard to get them to hurry up. If it can't be woken up by kicking it, then it can only be dragged back to the anti-gun cave. After all, the trench is too dangerous.

The French army's continuous high-intensity offensive, although it caused a lot of casualties at the beginning, was much better in terms of effect.

Because the German officers and soldiers were forced to engage in high-intensity combat on the battlefield, their limited energy was consumed. This also caused the firepower on its position to become weaker and weaker, and of course its accuracy became worse and worse.

This situation allowed the French army to seize many front-line positions in succession on the afternoon of the second day. Faced with the French army's uninterrupted offensive, Kruger and Bülow also sent troops to replace the officers and soldiers in the front-line positions that were about to collapse.

This method is simple and effective, but it has little effect on the German First and Second Armies. Because the officers and soldiers of both groups were exhausted, even though the second-line troops called for more rest time, they still did not recover. On the contrary, it was because I was even more exhausted from the previous rest.

Anyone with continuous high-intensity work experience will know that the state of exhaustion cannot be recovered with a good sleep. On the contrary, after one sleep, the whole person will fall into a state of fatigue, which requires two or three days. Only by resting can the body truly recover to its energetic state. The kind of person who can recover in just one sleep is definitely different from ordinary people.

Therefore, the transfer of second-line troops did not affect the French offensive. Their continued offensive gave the Germans no chance to breathe. The two German commanders also received news one after another that front-line positions were lost.

If the sun hadn't set and darkness shrouded the earth, it would have been very possible for the French army to break through the German defense line today.

In fact, the main problem that troubled the German army was that the soldiers were too tired and did not get enough rest. As long as they are given three days to rest, not only will they be able to defeat the French army on the opposite side, they will at least be able to block the French attack with ease.

But it is obvious that the French army will not give this chance. In fact, the French army is also relatively tired. The Fifth Army and the British Expeditionary Force were driven around like dogs. It is impossible to say that I am not tired.

But thanks to their strong force, the Seventh Army took the lead, giving the Fifth Army and the British Expeditionary Force more time to rest and regroup.

It doesn’t have to be back to your best, just better than the Kraut’s.

Obviously, the results of the second day's battle showed that the British and French coalition had the right idea.

On the third day that followed, the British and French forces continued to launch a wave of offensives against the German army. At this time, the German army had an even harder time defending. Most of the first-line positions were lost, and the second-line positions also became shaky. As for the defensive weapon Maxim, the two armies only had 200 troops in their hands.

You must know that at the beginning, the two armies were equipped with more than 800 Maxims, but now the two armies are not even equipped with a quarter.

The main reason for this is the attrition on the battlefield. Regarding the Maxim machine guns on the battlefield, the attacking British and French troops regarded them as a thorn in their side and always tried to eliminate them as soon as they were discovered.

Moreover, in this battle, the French artillery was rarely at a disadvantage. In addition, its artillery number was higher than that of the German army, which also resulted in more artillery that could support front-line troops. The German heavy machine guns did not have much room to survive in front of these directly supported artillery pieces.

Another thing is that at this time, the German army was not yet very good at using machine guns, although it had learned how to use machine guns from its ally Italy. However, you need to try it on the battlefield to know your own experience. Therefore, the Germans are not yet skilled in the tactical use of machine guns, which also makes the machine guns they set up more vulnerable to artillery hits.

After losing most of the machine guns, the German army was in an even more difficult situation. On the third day of fighting, a rare deserter appeared on the German defense lines. Although it was only the escape of more than ten people, it showed that the defensive German army was approaching the pressure limit.

Of course, when it caused huge pressure and casualties on the German army, the casualties of the British and French coalition forces would not be small. However, by virtue of their advantage in internal operations, they can better obtain supplies and supplement their troops.

Needless to say, taking a taxi from Paris to the front line of the Marne River is definitely a great feat.

The British and French forces were well replenished, and the defensive German forces were in urgent need of reinforcements.

For this reason, Kruger and Bülow informed Moltke in the rear of the difficulties they were facing by telegraph.

After getting the specific situation, Xiao Maoqi, on the one hand, dispatched more troops to reinforce them, and on the other hand, he ordered the Transportation Department to ensure that the first batch of reinforcements arrived at the Marne River on time.

So where are the reinforcements mobilized from Germany at this time?

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