Just like those "heavy cavalry" and "longbowmen" who have disappeared into the long river of history because they cannot keep up with the times, grenadiers also belong to the class of troops that have been eliminated by history.

However, although the arms have been eliminated, the name has been retained, just like the cavalry divisions in southern Africa, although the name is still "cavalry division", in fact, the cavalry's war horses have been quietly replaced with tanks and armored vehicles, and helicopters may be equipped in the future, and there is no need to fight on horseback again.

As the guard unit of Crown Prince Wilhelm, the 1st Grenadier Regiment is undoubtedly composed of all elite soldiers, and the equipment is certainly the best in the German army, the A7V tanks produced by Germany have not appeared on the battlefield since they were short-lived in the battle at Fort Thierry, but the 1st Grenadier Regiment is equipped with 15 A7V tanks, which is enough to prove the status of the 1st Grenadier Regiment in the German army.

In addition to the A7V tanks, the 1st Grenadier Regiment was armed with a large number of direct-fire guns and anti-tank rifles, and the Elizabethan 2nd Infantry Regiment launched a tentative attack on Douai after arriving in Douai, and after losing four tanks, Zhou Li immediately stopped engaging ground forces and called for help from the air force.

According to the European chivalric tradition, it is necessary to show that the chariot and horse are upright and defeat the enemy, in order to conform to those ethereal chivalry.

Zhou Li is not white, so he doesn't care about those knightly traditions, the First Grenadier Regiment has built strong fortifications in Douai, and at this time to go to the ground attack is to find death, since there is a more labor-saving way to also solve the enemy, why drive his soldiers to attack a strong fortress?

It doesn't make sense at all.

The bomber unit of the expeditionary force was indeed powerful, and less than half an hour after Zhou Li's telegram was sent, the bombers of the expeditionary force swarmed under the protection of the fighters.

In fact, after the Second Battle of the Marne, the combat effectiveness of the German army on the Western Front was really not worth mentioning, although it was not to say that it would collapse at the first touch, it was completely unable to resist the crazy attack of the expeditionary force.

Since the beginning of the counterattack, the bomber units have become idle, they were all asked to stop on the runway, ready to provide support to the troops in need, but from the beginning of the counterattack to the present, the bomber units have not found an opportunity to attack, and now that the troops finally ask for help, one can imagine how ecstatic the commanders and pilots of the bomber units were.

There were more than 60 bombers in the first wave to support, and I heard that there were still four flying groups lining up behind them, and if the first wave of bombers could not complete the mission, then the follow-up troops that were waiting for them would be able to leave immediately.

Still like the previous bombing, the bombers of the expeditionary force used high-explosive bombs, incendiary bombs, and poison gas bombs in turn, which had the best effect and could give the enemy the greatest amount of damage.

Now Douai is only two or three square kilometers in size, and more than 60 bombers are wreaking havoc in turn, and Douai is immediately enveloped in a sea of fire.

As for the A7Vs equipped by the 1st Grenadier Regiment, they were taken care of by the ground support aircraft, with an average of three ground support aircraft against one A7V, and almost all of the A7Vs were completely destroyed without firing a single shot.

Asymmetrical warfare, the result is so cruel.

In previous wars, even if the enemy could not be defeated, at least after showing enough courage, he could still win a chance to surrender with dignity.

According to post-war statistics, no more than 100 German soldiers survived in the entire Douai, and the First Grenadier Regiment, which the German army had worked hard to form at great expense, was easily wiped out in this way, and did not cause any waves on the Western Front, where the war broke out in full swing.

That night, Elizabeth's 2nd Infantry Regiment was temporarily stationed outside the city of Douai, and did not even enter the city.

There is no way to enter, Douai has been blown up and burned and has become a ruin, the whole city is now filled with a disgusting smell of barbecue, and there is still poisonous gas in the air that has not completely dissipated, at this time whoever dares to enter the city is looking for death.

The German army on this day, losing more than half a million men on the Western Front, reached Berlin, and Wilhelm II lamented that this day was a "disaster day" for the German army.

However, the disaster was not over, on the second day of the British and French counterattack, the sailors in the port of Kiel rioted, and the soldiers expressed strong dissatisfaction with the disastrous logistics supply, demanding to improve the logistics supply, raise the food standard, increase the allowance for officers and soldiers, punish the relevant responsible persons, and so on.

It should be noted here that in Germany, the salary of the Navy is higher than that of the Army.

Before the outbreak of the world war, the Kaiser took the initiative to provoke an arms race in order to compete with Britain, and nearly half of Germany's national strength was invested in the construction of warships, so that the army could not guarantee even the most basic weapon updates in the critical years before the outbreak of the world war because of lack of funds, which must have affected the performance of the German army on the battlefield before the outbreak of the world war.

As a result, after the outbreak of the world war, the German Navy did not have the courage to fight the British Royal Navy at all, and hid in the military port and did not even dare to go out, sitting and watching the British Grand Fleet calmly blockade the German coastline.

In the second year of the outbreak of the World War, the German front-line troops had already begun to eat chaff, and the Navy was still a big fish and meat every day, hiding in the harbor to live freely.

Even Kaiser Wilhelm II could not stand the performance of the German Navy, and it was only then that the German Navy was forced to leave the port and engage the British Royal Navy in the Battle of Jutland.

Strictly speaking, the German Navy did not lose in the Battle of Jutland, and even the losses of the British Royal Navy were greater than those of the German Navy.

However, after the Battle of Jutland, the German Navy completely lost the courage to fight the British Royal Navy, and since then it has shrunk into the military port and has become the world's most powerful fleet.

At this time, the German Navy still enjoyed the highest standard of logistical supply.

However, it was this naval force, which had always enjoyed the highest standard of logistics supply and had high hopes from all over Germany, that broke out in rebellion at the most difficult time for Germany, and at this time, the German Army, which had been stretched thin due to lack of funds, was still fighting on the Western Front.

This is unacceptable.

The sailors' riots in Kiel were just the beginning, and in the next few days Germany slid into the abyss at an unprecedented rate, and the workers went on strike, they toiled in the factories but could not even fill their stomachs, and this life had been going on for years, and it had only now erupted, and the German workers were resilient enough.

Since the British Navy blockaded the German coastline, Germany began to distribute supplies, and in the first year of the world war, the merchants racked their brains to organize the shelves to fill the shelves, and then there were fewer and fewer goods on the shelves, because no matter how hard the merchants tried, they could not keep up with the speed of the depreciation of the mark.

Citizens also began to march in the streets, with civilians in Berlin receiving less food a week than prisoners in British concentration camps, German men dying on the front lines, women working and caring for their families, and after a long day's work, they had to wait in line for hours to receive the daily distribution, even though they were physically and mentally exhausted, and some fell asleep in line.

Unlike Germany, which was collapsing, the expeditionary force's counteroffensive was immense.

At the outbreak of the world war, France had less than 400 heavy artillery pieces in the country.

Now the number of French heavy artillery has surged to 6,000 pieces, in addition to a large number of light artillery, that is, the "Miss Seventy-Five" that the French had high hopes for.

After the start of the counteroffensive, the French artillery fired 400,000 shells on the first day, and even this intensity of shelling was still dwarfed by the British Expeditionary Force, and on June 1 and 2, the Canadian Corps alone fired 940,000 shells, an average of 12,000 tons per day.

In Belgium, closer to the English Channel, Pershing mobilized 1 million American troops, 3,000 artillery pieces, and 700 aircraft to launch a general assault on the fortress of the scorching sun.

In order to withstand the attack of American troops, the Germans had already lost nearly 300,000 men in the fortress of Liège.

Now the Germans finally couldn't stand it, and with the overwhelming artillery fire, the swarming American troops flooded the last two German fortresses in the Scorching Sun Fortress, and then the American troops could take one step further and set foot on German territory.

Even in this situation, Ludendorff was not willing to admit defeat, and he demanded in a letter from the German commander that all troops must hold the line and that no one should retreat under any circumstances.

In order to stop the advance of the Allied forces, Ludendorff did everything he could to form troops to support the front, many of these new troops were drawn from arsenals and mines in the rear, these units were not rigorously trained, many were temporarily called up with only a rifle, and some soldiers did not even have rifles.

Ludendorff's behavior completely destroyed the German army's will to fight, the newly formed units refused to carry out the order, and the troops who still insisted on fighting at the front called these recruits "traitors", because these recruits were not willing to go to the battlefield, and their behavior in the rear seriously affected the morale and logistics of the front-line troops.

By 5 June, the forward units of the British Expeditionary Force had advanced to Lorraine, which had been German territory since the Prussian War.

Not all attacks were smooth sailing, and the French troops encountered greater difficulties than the British expeditionary force in their advance.

The German troops did not have much to do in the face of the British Expeditionary Force, but in the face of the French troops, the performance of the German troops was much better, although the French troops also had planes and tanks to help the battle, but the German army that fought and retreated did not completely collapse, in some areas, the German army even had the spare strength to organize a counteroffensive, and the post-war statistics showed that the losses of the French army were not less than those of the German army.