In the past, the Anglo-French forces did not need to consult the Southern African Expeditionary Force to organize a New Year's offensive, and after the French Ninth Army was transferred from Flanders, the Anglo-French forces wanted to organize a new offensive in Ypres, and they had to get Roque's consent first.

Otherwise, with the little troops in Frenzi's hands, he would not be able to do anything.

By the time Roque returned to France, the Southern African Expeditionary Force had already begun to take over the positions of the French Ninth Army.

The position of the Anglo-French forces was a semicircle formed around Ypres, the northern and northeastern part of Ypres was defended by the Belgian army and the British Expeditionary Force, the southeast and south flanks were taken care of by the Southern African Expeditionary Force, six African divisions in France, five were responsible for frontal defense, the 103rd Division and three divisions of the 201st and 301st were responsible for the slightly weaker southern flank of the German army, and the 2nd Cavalry Division and the 11th Division were in reserve for the whole army.

Roque's headquarters was located in Dunkirk, just 40 kilometers from Ypres, which was now a small town after being famous in World War II for Operation Dynamo, and Roque moved the field hospital in Calais to Dunkirk, where he built a field airfield and logistics base.

Dunkirk is also a short walk from Dover.

"During the New Year's offensive, Marshal Xia Fei and Marshal Frenzi repeatedly asked us to send troops to cooperate with the Anglo-French offensive of the British and French forces, but we only sent artillery units to cooperate with the attack of the coalition forces, and did not exclude other troops, and now some people think that it is because of our lack of cooperation that the New Year's offensive has completely failed, and the shells hoarded for the first artillery division have been exhausted in the New Year's offensive, and if we want to launch an offensive again, we must wait at least half a month later." While Roque was in London, Paul Cocker was the Grand Steward of the Southern African Expeditionary Force.

"Our troops are mainly defensive, and the troops in the eastern position are transferred back as reserves, and the 2nd and 11th Cavalry Divisions are sent to defend." Roque can understand the feelings of some people, killing and wounding hundreds of thousands of people but nothing has been gained, and someone always has to take the blame.

However, it is impossible to find the Southern African Expeditionary Force to take the blame, the reserve is used to fill the pit, where the danger goes, good steel must be used on the blade.

"The 2nd Artillery Division has already boarded Walvis Bay and will arrive in France in a week, and it is necessary for us to set up divisional artillery units, and then concentrate the divisional artillery units on the ground." Paul Cocker actively proposed that after the arrival of the Second Division in France, the Southern African Expeditionary Force would have two artillery divisions, equipped with large-caliber field guns that were urgently needed by the British and French forces, so Xia Fei and Frenzi would definitely be jealous.

In order to ensure the command of the artillery units, it was necessary to separate the artillery divisions and then concentrate them, so that no one could find an excuse.

"Then split up and tell Tang Juan and Wei Zheng that their task is to hold their positions and not to attack without orders." Roque strictly ordered the troops, the world war still has to be fought for several years, and now it is time to start digging trenches.

In another time and space, the Battle of Ypres was fought three times, in 1914, 1915, and 1917.

It is estimated that this time and space will not fight so badly, but it is also necessary to be prepared for a long-term battle, and a complete defense system is indispensable.

Later, Roque met Frenzi in Ypres.

Frenzi has been in frequent contact with London lately, he hopes to get more reinforcements, the British Expeditionary Force suffered heavy losses in the New Year's offensive, and Frenzi's troops are not as many as Roque's troops, and he is really a little embarrassed as the commander-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Force.

Roque didn't want to provoke Frenzi, so he didn't wear the Victoria Cross, but Frenzi still congratulated Roque very graciously, after all, everyone knows how difficult it is to get the highest honor in the United Kingdom.

The same difficulty as obtaining the Victoria Cross is probably the Order of the Garter, the oldest in the world, but the Order of the Garter is also not too difficult for Roque, as long as the Southern African Expeditionary Force can maintain its current performance, then the Order of the Garter is also beckoning to Roque.

"We lost another 30,000 men in the New Year's offensive, but the front did not advance, the War Department is very dissatisfied with our performance, and we have to do something next to restore the trust of the War Department in us." Frenzi has a sense of crisis, and his current situation is similar to that of Xia Fei before the Battle of the Marne.

Before the Battle of the Marne, the French government was debating whether it was necessary to change the commander-in-chief to save the defeat, and the Battle of the Marne saved Chauffeur, and all doubts disappeared, but after the Battle of Ypres and the New Year's Offensive, doubts about Chauffeur reappeared.

The same is true for Frenzi, after coming to France, the performance of the British Expeditionary Force was not outstanding, the British Expeditionary Force had few opportunities to perform in the Battle of the Marne, and the British Expeditionary Force suffered more than half of the casualties in the Battle of Ypres, but it did not achieve the imagined victory, Frenzi is now under great pressure, and Kitchener is considering opening up the Eastern Front, which fully proves Kitchener's disappointment with Franczi.

Before Frenzi left England, Kitchener reminded Frenzi to take care of his strength.

Although there were some problems in between, resulting in the British Expeditionary Force having to fight the Germans to the end, a series of battles showed that Frenzi did not fulfill Kitchener's requirements, and the British Expeditionary Force did not receive the credit it deserved, so it is likely that Frenzi would be dismissed earlier than Xia Fei.

"We'd better do nothing now, the battles at the end of last year and the beginning of this year have shown that an attack on German positions will do nothing but increase our casualties if we are not well prepared, and my advice is to wait—" Roque has no sense of crisis, and even if Roque performs poorly, Ade will not remove Roque from his position as commander-in-chief of the expeditionary force.

After Roque left Southern Africa, Ade invited the old Marshal Hopkins to return to the mountains and serve as the commander-in-chief of Southern Africa, but Hopkins was too old and not in good health to handle the work, and the work of the Ministry of Defense was specifically handled by Derek Dodd.

Neither of them has what it takes to replace Roque, and Martin is even more so far behind.

"Waiting doesn't win the day!" Frenzi was in a hurry, and Roque could feel the anxiety in Frenzi's heart.

"A rash attack will only cost the troops!" Roque adheres to principles, and it is not impossible to attack, but it must be carried out in Roque's way.

The meeting broke up unhappily, and in order to take care of Frenzi's mood, Roque still promised Frenzi that if he found an opportunity, he would order the troops to attack.

The opportunity was not long in coming.

It was the middle of winter in Flanders in January, the ground had already frozen, and the sea water and rain accumulated in the autumn of last year had also turned into ice, and on the 15th, Flanders had a dense fog, the fog was getting thicker and thicker, and the visibility was less than ten meters, and Roque gave the attack order to Don Juan, commander of the 2nd Cavalry Division, and Wei Zheng, commander of the 11th Division, in the early morning of the 15th.

"When will the artillery start attacking?" Wei Zheng also thought that Roque was going to launch a New Year's offensive-level battle.

"There is no artillery." Roque's answer left Wei Zheng dumbfounded.

"How can you attack without artillery?" Wei Zheng has now fallen, and the wars of this era, before any battle is launched, it is necessary to carry out fire strikes for half an hour to an hour.

"Quietly enter the village, don't shoot—" Roque asked the 2nd and 11th Cavalry Divisions to sneak attack the German positions, and the dense fog was the best protective color.

"Old Wei, think about what we did during the military exercises-" Don Juan was under the umbrella, and he had long been accustomed to taking the initiative to attack without artillery cover.

Wei Zheng suddenly realized.

In order to win, the generals of the Ministry of Defense and the executives of the umbrella have done everything they can, sneak attacks are commonplace, and night battles are commonplace, otherwise the southern African soldiers are equipped with so many pistols, just to kill the enemy more effectively in hand-to-hand combat.

No one stipulated that pistols could not be used in hand-to-hand combat, and the Japanese soldiers would not return their bullets before fighting bayonets, but turned off the rifle insurance to prevent accidental injury.

In order to increase the range and lethality, the bullets of the rifle are all pointed bullets, and it is normal for a bullet to penetrate three or four people at close range, while the pistol uses a round-headed bullet, which is difficult to cause penetrating wounds after hitting the target, and the bullet will stay in the target's body, which effectively prevents accidental injuries in hand-to-hand combat.

"The summer fog is clear, the winter fog and snow are clear, and the fog is likely to be followed by heavy snow, I have ordered the other troops to attack at the same time, to maximize the results of the battle as much as possible before the Germans react, and then to stabilize the defense after the heavy snow falls, in order to ensure the suddenness of the battle, your attack has no fire cover, at this time, don't care about any gentleman or not, killing the enemy is the best gentleman." Roque was in danger, the Anglo-French army had just suffered heavy losses in the New Year's offensive and needed time to regain strength, and the Germans could not have imagined that the Southern African Expeditionary Force would attack at this time.

The first sentence of "The Art of War" is that the soldiers are treacherous, strange and complementary, the British and French forces and the German army are fighting head-on, and it is okay for the Southern African Expeditionary Force to occasionally sneak attack.

Just when Roque issued the combat mission, the front-line troops were ready to attack.

In recent years, the Ministry of Defense of Southern Africa has often engaged in some training subjects that the military of this era did not have, such as emergency assembly at night for long-distance training, and immediately after arriving at the combat position, they have to go into combat immediately; these training subjects are very unfamiliar to the European armies in this era, but the armies of southern Africa have become accustomed to it.

The attacking forces of the 11th Division were the 1st Brigade and the 2nd Brigade, and the troops involved in the attack totaled 11,000 men, so many troops had to be prepared for the attack before dawn, and it was simply impossible to do it without a long period of rigorous training.

If the Anglo-French forces were to organize an offensive, it would take a week to mobilize the troops alone.