Between Laon and Reims is a vast plain, with forests and hills, but not at high altitude, with rivers, but not wide or deep, which is very conducive to the deployment of mechanized troops.

The defensive positions of the German army were also built temporarily, and did not form a complete position in depth, after breaking through the first line of defense, the first armored division was in front of a flat river, only sporadic German troops used the terrain and features to stubbornly resist the defense, the main forces of the German army were still attacking Paris, Ludendorff did not realize that the front-line troops were in great danger.

After breaking through the German lines, the 1st Panzer Division met with stubborn German resistance in a small town.

The 1st Panzer Division took full advantage of the tanks' maneuverability, bypassing the town and leaving only a small number of troops to surround the town, and the large force continued to advance towards Reims.

"We can't get entangled with the Germans on the road, it's our task to join the French troops as quickly as possible, and the Germans in the town are left to the follow-up troops, as long as they dare to leave the town, they will be wiped out." Hank resolutely carried out the order, and the British Expeditionary Force used the same tactics as the German army, where speed was everything.

"Sir, our speed is too fast, the troops need to rest—" The commander of the armored forces was looking at the map, and if the map was not wrong, the armored forces had advanced 25 kilometers towards Reims since the offensive began, and by this time only two and a half hours had passed before the offensive began.

Although theoretically, the "light cavalry" tank can reach a speed of 20 kilometers per hour in the field, but the speed in actual combat will definitely not reach such a fast, after all, the field environment is more complex than the training ground, and accidents may be encountered at any time, and they have to face the sniper of the German army, and running 25 kilometers in two and a half hours is already a god speed.

In fact, in the plan of the staff officers of the command, the task of the expeditionary force on the first day was 25 kilometers, and even the staff officers of the command did not expect that the speed of the armored forces would be so fast.

This was the first time that the British Expeditionary Force had used tank units on a large-scale offensive on the battlefield, and it took time for both infantry units and staff officers to get used to the speed of tank troops.

"Then take a break, do you need to refuel?" Hank handed his water bottle to the commander of the armored unit, the kettle was filled with wine instead of water, and as in previous attacks, the officers and soldiers set out with their water bottles full of wine, and they needed alcohol to face the brutal battle.

"Thank you, no-" The commander of the armored forces politely refused, pointing to the external fuel tank attached to the back of the "light cavalry" without speaking.

In order to increase the attack distance, the expeditionary force, whether it is a tank or an airplane, is accustomed to using auxiliary fuel tanks, and the German troops who are short of fuel are different, the fuel of the expeditionary force is supplied by Port Elizabeth, the price is low, the quality is good, there is no need to worry about the problem of insufficient fuel, and the infantry units often use oil to fuel when lighting fires in the field, which is unimaginable in the German troops.

When the troops stopped to rest, the tankers and maintenance personnel were busy overhauling the tanks, the diesel engines produced in southern Africa were still quite reliable, and after the attack began, only a few dozen tanks broke down, and most of the tanks held out until now.

"My name is Chen Xie, it's nice to meet you-" The captain who jumped off the tank took the initiative to introduce himself, most of the officers and soldiers of the First Armored Division are of Chinese descent, this is really not Roque's deliberate partiality, the First Armored Division is composed of elite officers and soldiers drawn from various units, and the officers and men of Chinese descent of the Southern African Expeditionary Force perform the best, which is recognized by everyone.

"My name is Hank, Yankee, but I'm a Southern African citizen now." Hank is very enthusiastic about Chen Xie, and there is no bloody racial discrimination, according to the ratio of Chinese and white in the British Expeditionary Force, if you want to discriminate, it is also Chinese who discriminate against whites.

Interestingly, discrimination often occurs in white-majority countries, including in southern Africa.

But after the Chinese made up the majority of southern Africa, the discrimination disappeared in southern Africa, and most whites were able to restrain themselves, and those who could not restrain themselves were in prison.

"Welcome, Yankee!" Chen Xie laughed and joked, joking also depends on the object, since Hank doesn't care about his "Yankee" identity, then Chen Xie doesn't have to deliberately avoid it.

Hank shook his head and smiled bitterly, and casually found a rock to sit down and rest, unlike the tankers who sat in the tanks, the infantry had run 25 kilometers so far, even if the tanks didn't need to rest, the infantry units also needed to rest.

At this moment, looking at the infantry officers and soldiers who were still alive just now, they were all staggering, only the cooking soldiers were trying to make a fire, and the big iron buckets had been set up, ready to make coffee for everyone to drink.

When the fuel is sufficient, it is not too simple to make a fire, collect some branches from the woods, pour gasoline on it and the fire will ignite immediately, several tankers rub their hands together and grin around the stove to keep warm, the infantry do not need it, they are sweating profusely at this moment, there is smoke in their hair, some people untie their coats to breathe, they are immediately stopped by the officers, this kind of weather is not a joke.

No, it's not the weather, it's the command's request that since the Spanish flu - no, the American flu epidemic, the expeditionary force has paid enough attention to colds, and no one wants to be quarantined because of a cold.

It is precisely because of the command's attention to colds that among all the troops on the Western Front, the impact of the British expeditionary force's hand cold is the slightest, and what Roque knows is that nearly 10,000 people in the US military units have lost their combat effectiveness due to colds, and nearly 1,000 people have died because of colds.

The French army units were also seriously affected by the cold, and in the troops stationed in Paris, there were already entire companies of officers and men who had lost their combat effectiveness due to the cold and had to be hospitalized, and the statistics of the French War Department showed that nearly 3,000 officers and soldiers had died of the flu since the outbreak began, and this situation was difficult for the French to accept.

For soldiers, it is normal to die on the battlefield, but dying in a hospital bed because of a small cold is very devastating.

Although it has now been confirmed that the pandemic originated in the United States, the French army has killed more people than the US military, and in order to prevent the impact of the pandemic, the French government has urgently ordered medical supplies from southern Africa, and masks are a top priority.

"Do you smoke?" Hank took out his cigarette.

"No, thank you—" Unlike the cigarette Hank smoked, Chen Xie smoked an antique pipe, and from the mottled degree of the pipe, it could be seen that it should have a story.

"Nice pipe!" Hank complimented casually.

"Like it? Five rand sold to you. "Chen Xie is generous, the pipe is inlaid with a very large gem, and it should be worth far more than five rands.

"Five rands, you might as well grab it-" Hank was not fooled, as the war went on, there were more and more pipes, pocket watches, rings, necklaces, and so on, and things made purely of gold were worth a little money, and the price of gems was constantly decreasing.

"Haha-" Before Chen Xie could speak, a fierce gunfire suddenly sounded not far away.

"Prepare for battle-" Hank threw away the cigarette in his mouth and picked up his rifle, Chen Xie jumped into the tank as fast as he could, the maintenance personnel were packing up their things, the coffee in the tin bucket was just steaming, several soldiers were a little hesitant, reason told them that they should destroy the enemy first, but the temptation of coffee was not small.

"Don't be stunned, kill the enemy first and then come back for coffee-" Hank probably didn't know the allusion to "warm wine and cut Huaxiong", otherwise he would probably say "Wine and pour it, and come when you go".

The battle broke out very suddenly, and ended just as suddenly, not by a large German force, but by an encounter triggered by dozens of German soldiers.

For the officers and men of the 2nd Cavalry Division, encounters of this magnitude were commonplace.

Without Hank's command, the officers and men of the Second Cavalry Division had a clear division of labor, the machine gunners began to suppress the fire after setting up the machine guns, the riflemen knew that they were outflanked without organization, and the precision shooters played a great role, and before the machine guns were set up, nearly half of the German soldiers were knocked down by the precision shooters one by one, Chen Xie jumped into the tank and began to warm up the car, and the tank did not move, and the battle was over.

At this time, the coffee is not yet cooked.

Of a total of 35 Germans, 21 were killed on the spot, four were seriously wounded, and the rest obediently raised their hands and surrendered.

German-speaking soldiers went over for interrogation on the spot, and soon information came back.

"These soldiers are from the German 113th Division, they are the rearguard of the Michael Plan, the 113th Division is organizing a defensive line two kilometers away, they don't seem to expect us to be so fast-" Hank briefed Chen Xie.

Chen Xie sat on the stone just now, holding the hot coffee in his hand thoughtfully.

"Don't think about it, let's be faster, and we can go as far as we can today." Hank knew the truth of the speed of soldiers, and when the German 113th Division dug the trenches, then the 1st Panzer Division and the 2nd Cavalry Division would have to work hard to break through the defense line of the German 113th Division.

"Can you still run?" Chen Xie was worried about the physical strength of the infantry, and the machine was good at this, as long as there was oil and no failure, the mechanical unit could keep moving forward.

"No problem, my 50km field training results are excellent." Hank is full of confidence, and unlike the European troops that lack training, the southern African army has always attached great importance to the training of the troops, and the 50-kilometer field training is unheard of for the European troops, and it is commonplace for the southern African army.

"Alright, get in the car—let's continue our journey—" Chen Xie drank the coffee from his cup in one gulp, jumped on the tank and shouted to the other tankers to act.

Although the first day of the mission was only 25 kilometers, no one said that they could not exceed the task.

n.