"Quick! Move fast! We must dig the trenches before the Germans arrive, or you will have to wait to fight the Germans with bayonets, believe me, it will not be fun-" At night, the officers and men of the 1st Anzac Consolidated Division were digging trenches, and they had just arrived at Fort Thierry, less than 60 kilometers from Paris, by a small river in the darkness of the night.

The Anzac Corps only received the order to set off on the afternoon of the 19th, and the reorganized 1st Division set off in a hurry, when the railway was already paralyzed, the roads were full of civilians fleeing the war, cars, carriages, and ox carts were crowded together, and the reorganized 1st Division did not even have time to carry heavy weapons, and the troops only carried general-purpose machine guns, and there was a serious shortage of ammunition.

The 1st Integrated Division mobilized almost all of the Anzac's trucks and, with the help of the French military police and police, made its way to Fort Thierry by road.

The vicinity of Château Thierry is a series of hills, which are not suitable for building fortifications, but the integrated 1st Division has no choice, and with Paris in the background, the integrated 1st Division must fight on its back.

Just when the first division was being reorganized and building fortifications, the explosion of artillery shells was faintly heard in the distance, and the distant sky was bright and dark like a cloud containing thunderstorms, which was the attacking German troops and the defending French troops fighting to the death, the German army was eager to capture Paris and completely discourage the French will to fight, and the French troops were maintaining the last glory of France, as long as Paris had not fallen, then France could hold on.

"General, the 2nd and 4th Divisions are not following, they are still 30 kilometers away from here, and they may not be able to reach it before dawn." Wayne Stilwell, chief of staff of the 1st Integrated Division, had an ugly expression, which meant that after dawn, the 1st Integrated Division could be alone.

"Where are we now? Is this Château de Thierry? "Henry Gardner was not worried about the 2nd and 4th Divisions, and it was normal for them to march at night and run the wrong way.

"Yes, this is Château Thierry!" Wayne Stilwell finally gave a definite answer.

"Then no problem, urge the troops to hurry up and build fortifications, and the Germans are coming-" Henry Gardner's expression was also ugly, and within Henry Gardner's line of sight, there were already sporadic French routs.

Compared with the defenders of the French army, there were too many attacking German troops, Ludendorff used the tactic of rotation, every two divisions formed an attack front, each attack would not exceed four hours, more than four hours, the attacking troops had to be rotated, and now the German salient has poured into two army groups, namely the Third Army and the Fifth Army led by Otto von Billow and Huttier,

Under the frantic attack of the German army, the French army, which was already seriously undermanned, collapsed on all fronts.

Leaving behind the strong fortifications, the French army did not perform as well as it could in the field, the troops could not organize an effective defense, and even if there were officers who temporarily gathered troops to resist, they quickly collapsed under the ferocious attack of the Germans.

The Germans learned the lessons of the previous battles and attacked all night without rest, some French units had been running for a day in a row, they were tired and hungry, some threw away their weapons, some threw away their overcoats, and some lost their boots, and everyone was embarrassed, not even beggars.

"How's the situation at the front?" Henry Gardner grabbed a fleeing French soldier who was bleeding from his head with bandages on his arms and looked like he had not had time to treat his wounds.

Wayne Stilwell asked the guards to call the doctor for a simple treatment of the wounded French soldier.

The French soldiers panicked, and their voices trembled: "The Germans are extremely numerous, overwhelming, the front line has collapsed, we are all finished - please let go of me, I want to go home -"

"Damn, you dare to run away!" Henry Gardner draws his pistol.

"I don't want to do this either-" The French soldier cried, his body trembling violently: "-I don't want to run away either, but I can't find my squad leader, the platoon commander has already died, the company commander has also died, no one told me what to do, I have done what I should do-"

Since the outbreak of the World War, the casualties among the officers of the French army have been particularly heavy, and at the time of the outbreak of the World War, there is not one in ten officers, and one in ten soldiers.

"Let him go, Henry, we don't have time to waste here." Wayne Stilwell didn't dare to let Henry shoot, and the French army in front of him was more and more routed, and if it was not handled well, it might cause a mutiny.

"Let the gendarmes guide them away from our lines, not allowing them to affect our lines, immediately mount the machine guns, the Germans may arrive at any moment - mortars, mortars! Order the mortars to fire flares, the machine gunners to get ready, the riflemen to keep the grenades handy, and your sapper shovels ready—" Henry Gardner was hoarse, and the French army was gaining more and more in sight, and some of them could not cross the only bridge in time, and simply jumped into the river and swam over.

"Sappers, where are the sappers? Blow up that damn bridge, blow up all the bridges—" Henry Gardner ordered to blow up the bridge, or the bridge would be used by the Germans.

Immediately, sappers rushed over with boxes of explosives, and then clashed with the routs who were crossing the bridge.

"Damn, our people haven't crossed the river yet, and you're going to blow up the bridge, you're all butchers!"

"Bastard, is that how you treat your allies?"

"This bridge is the property of the French government, if you dare to blow up the bridge, then you have to wait for compensation!"

The routs who had just crossed the bridge surrounded the engineering regiment that was planting explosives, and the sappers were speechless.

"Heavy get ready to shoot!" Henry Gardner's eyes are on fire, this is already burning his eyebrows, and he still has to pay compensation?

Henry Gardner was tempted to turn around and go back to Australia, and let these damned Frenchmen go to the Germans for reparations.

Da Da -

The Heavy didn't hesitate, and the chain of tracer bullets stood out in the night sky.

The French troops besieging the sappers immediately slipped away, but were stopped by the gendarmes of the reorganized 1st Division.

"You can't go, stay and help us build the fortifications." The gendarmes are arresting strong men, and there can be one more.

"Sir, we fought with the Germans all day, and now we need to rest—"

"It's not our job to build fortifications—"

"Let's go, gentlemen, all right—"

The French soldiers, who had come to their senses, finally realized who was in charge.

"We ran all night to help you, and we didn't let you insult casually!"

"Hurry up and repair the fortifications, or we won't be able to withstand the Germans, so you can wait in Paris to see the Germans enter the city."

"What the hell is less-"

The gendarmes of the Anzac Corps were also grumpy, and the sappers had already loaded the explosives and were putting them on the line, and the German troops finally appeared in the distance.

"The Germans are coming!"

I don't know who shouted, the French soldiers who were begging just now instantly went berserk, and someone suddenly pushed away the gendarmes who were blocking the front and were about to flee.

"Clear the field, prepare for battle, prepare for battle!" The officers of the Anzac Corps are trying to organize the defense.

The French soldiers, who had become frightened birds, rushed to the wolves.

German soldiers in the distance spotted the French rout gathered by the river and were advancing towards the river.

The German soldiers were not fast, but they were very even, and their feet were firm, and they appeared in small formations, shooting at the fleeing French soldiers unhurriedly, as if they were playing a game of hunting.

Tom Tom Tom –

The mortars fired flares illuminated the night sky as bright as day, and the German soldiers finally found the position of the integrated 1st Division on the river bank, the brown mud turned out and was still very conspicuous on the white snow, the Germans did not rush to attack, they lurked on the other side of the river and waited for follow-up reinforcements.

Or rather, waiting for heavy weapons.

"General, should we have a counteroffensive?" Wayne Stilwell wanted to give the Germans a dismount.

Henry Gardner looked at Wayne with strange eyes, who gave you the confidence that made you want to give the Germans a dismount?

Left the defensive position and attacked the Germans -

Looking for death!

"I'm just saying—" Wayne Stilwell laughed awkwardly, it would be irresponsible for the Chief of Staff to give such advice.

The fuse finally detonated the explosives.

Boom –

The stone bridge was blown to pieces in the sight of officers and soldiers on both sides of the river.

There was obvious commotion on the other side of the river, how cold the river was in March-

Tsk, whoever swims knows it.

There were more and more German troops on the other side of the river, and they were hiding behind the embankment on the other side of the river, just in the dead end of the machine gunners of the 1st Division.

"Send a telegram to the headquarters, we need support, we need mortars, we need bombers, don't care what it is, give us some help!" Henry Gardner had a clear blister of blood on his mouth, and he could sense the danger approaching, but he didn't know how to deal with it.

The position should be placed on the other side of the river -

But it's too late to regret it at this time.

German soldiers were faintly observing on the embankment on the opposite bank, which was a precursor to the German attack.

"Prepare for battle!" Henry Gardner's voice was desolate than a wolf's howl.

Buzz –

The sound of an airplane engine was suddenly heard in the distance, and when Henry Gardner looked up in surprise, the cheers of the officers and men of the integrated 1st Division on the position were already one after another.

Six ground support planes flew over quickly, continuously diving across the river, bombs flew down with a scream, and the violent explosion was the most beautiful music, and each explosion was accompanied by a large cloud of gunpowder smoke and the stumps and severed arms of the German troops, which was the most beautiful picture in the eyes of the officers and men of the first reorganized division.

Because of the support of the air force, the German offensive was delayed for a full three hours.

By the time the Germans began to attack, the 2nd and 4th Divisions finally arrived.