When Kitchener found Frenzi, Xia Fei was at the headquarters of the commander-in-chief of the Fifth Army, Langle Zack.

The Fifth Army had been in retreat since Mons, had now crossed the Marne, and continued to retreat.

Xia Fei demanded that the Fifth Army stop retreating and immediately launch a counteroffensive against the German First Army.

"Our troops do not have the ability to launch an immediate counteroffensive, the troops need to rest after a long journey, many soldiers have lost their rifles in the retreat, the artillery has no shells, the horses are exhausted to death, to launch an attack on the German army, at least 100,000 new recruits are needed, and the gap between our strength and the German army is too great." Langle Zack can't do it, he and Xia Fei are old friends, so he dares to question Xia Fei's decision.

"Reinforcements are arriving, 32 trains arrived in Paris yesterday, in addition to replenishing the Sixth Army, the Eighth Army was newly formed, but it will take time to form a fighting force, and your troops will buy more time for the newly formed troops." Xia Fei also racked his brains in order to organize the defense line, and France was still very strong during this period.

"It was a bad decision to spend well-trained soldiers on the battlefield and buy time for those fledgling newbies!" Ronlezak insisted that everyone knows which recruits simply won't be able to adapt to the battlefield environment in a few months.

The first thing to do is to live for a few months.

"Don't complain to me, the Germans are just as tired, if you refuse to carry out my orders, I will shoot you!" Xia Fei blurted out that he was also facing a huge crisis now, and if Paris fell, Xia Fei would almost certainly be removed from office.

Langle Zack stopped talking, and looked at Xia Fei in disbelief.

Thinking of the dismissal of General Gallieni before, Langle Zack could only carry out Xia Fei's orders.

Since the outbreak of the World War, Xia Fei has replaced two of the five army commanders, appointed seven new army commanders, twenty new division commanders, and two new cavalry division commanders, Ferdinand Foch, who performed well in Nancy, was appointed commander of the newly formed Ninth Army, and Henri Philippe Petain under Ronkzak was promoted to division commander, both of whom were late bloomers, and when the world war broke out, Foch was 62 years old and Petain was 57 years old.

In any case, Langlezak's troops began a counteroffensive, but first withstood the German attack.

At a time when there were many contradictions within the French army, there were also problems in the command system of the German army.

After the outbreak of the World War, the headquarters of the German army was transferred from Berlin to Koblenz, and then to Luxembourg, although it was closer to France, but Moltke Jr. was still too far from the front line to know what was happening at the front.

Kaiser Wilhelm II was also in Luxembourg, and Moltke did not dare to leave the Kaiser, fearing that if he was not by the Kaiser's side, the Kaiser would issue some bad orders that would affect the situation of the war.

In order to put maximum pressure on the French army, Moltke Jr. ordered Crook's First Army and Billow's Second Army to march side by side, protect each other's flanks, and attack Paris in a roundabout way.

Crook did not carry out Moltke's orders, and he stubbornly believed that he should first concentrate his forces to annihilate Langlezak's Fifth Army, and then return to defend Paris.

In fact, on the 4th of September, this opportunity had already appeared, and Langlezak had received an order from Xia Fei to stop retreating and organize a defensive line on the spot, at which point if Billot's Second Army moved closer to Crook's First Army, then the French Fifth Army could be encircled.

Considering the state of communications and communications at this time, once the troops are surrounded, even if an army group is surrounded, then it is almost possible to pronounce the death sentence of the troops.

It's a pity that Moltke is as stubborn as Xia Fei and doesn't take Crook's advice.

Billow did not cooperate with the First Army's attack as Crook had imagined, but continued to make a detour to Paris according to Moltke's orders.

As a result, the First Army was farther and farther away from the Second Army, and the gap between the two armies was getting bigger and bigger.

On the 5th of September, Crook's troops launched an offensive against Langlezak's troops.

The Fifth Army had barely time to build fortifications before it was under overwhelming German attack, and the battle quickly turned into a dog-tooth scuffle, with troops fighting in every wood, town, and meadow on a twenty-kilometre-long front.

Both armies were exhausted, but they still showed great courage and will, and the French army as a whole was still on the defensive, but in Guise, the commander of the First Army, Louis despere, did an excellent job, leading his troops to launch a counter-offensive at night, breaking through the German lines and successfully leading the counteroffensive of the Fifth Army.

The Germans also had their own heroes, and the Prussian 1st Infantry Guards Regiment, which had been routed in battle, organized a counteroffensive under the leadership of Prince Aitel Friedrich of Prussia, the second son of Wilhelm II, who showed great courage at this time and led the Prussian 1st Infantry Guards Regiment to stabilize the line and launch a counteroffensive against the French army, trying to ensure that the front of the 1st Army was not broken.

At the beginning of the Battle of the Marne, the British Expeditionary Force had not yet entered the war.

On the sixth, the 105th Division received an order to return to the front and establish defensive positions in the open area north of Paris, which was the gap between the German First and Second Armies.

"I have a very bad feeling that if the Second Army moves closer to the First Army, then what will happen?" Ford Lew had a beautiful meal before leaving, and he didn't know when the next meal would be.

"What else could happen? We will be crushed to pieces by two army groups. Haussmann's kettle was full of wine, as many officers and soldiers did, and they needed alcohol to anesthetize their minds, otherwise they would not have the courage to turn around and charge the enemy.

"Good thing we finally have artillery—" Ford Lew rode on his horse, and he now misses his Tiger buggy immensely.

In order to return the 105th Division to the battlefield, Xia Fei equipped the 105th Division with an artillery unit equipped with Miss 75, although there were only 24 Miss 75, but it was better than nothing.

"It's a pity we don't have enough shells—" Haussmann regretted, France could now produce 10,000 shells a day, but the front needed 50,000.

In order to solve the problem of artillery shells, France made efforts to organize production on the one hand, and on the other hand increased purchases from southern Africa, and Colonel House finally received a part of the long-awaited order, although it was only artillery shells, but it was better than nothing.

"Kit, tell Lindh to control the speed of the troops, and don't rush headlong into the German encirclement." Forte Lew had his lieutenant remind the forward troops to pay attention to the speed, the 105th Division was set out overnight, and the troops at this time had little ability to fight in the dark, so Louis Despére won the nickname "Desperately Frankie" only when attacking at night.

Soon, the nickname would spread throughout the Entente.

"Don't worry, Linde isn't that stupid." Hausman still trusts Linde very much, and the Chinese have always had excellent grades.

However, during the world war, there were too many accidents of all kinds, the 105th Division was a guest army after all, and it was not familiar with the terrain of France, and Ford Lew's worries were still very necessary.

"We should follow the main road all the way and set up a defensive line at the fifth bridge to stop the German advance." Linde's chief of staff, Rich, was also Chinese, and he graduated from the Nyasaland Army Academy the year before and was an excellent staff officer.

"How many bridges did we cross? Two or three? "Linde's head is as big as a bucket, there are many rivers in France, and there are many bridges around Paris, and no one can be mistakenly about the bridges on the big rivers, but there are trestle bridges on some small rivers, and Linde really doesn't know whether they are bridges or not.

"Three!" The commander of the first battalion, Franklin, said that his name looked like a foreigner, he was also Chinese.

"Two of them are right, the creek we passed just now is not a river at all." Quartermaster Charles corrected, he was white British.

"I think it's two, but I'm not sure what you say." Captain Frank, who was wearing a French uniform, was a guide assigned by the French command, and he was a standard Frenchman, so he didn't expect it and couldn't figure it out.

"Aren't you particularly French? How can you be sure? "Linde is crazy, this oolong is a bit big.

"It's true that I'm French, but I've been serving in Morocco until I was transferred back to fight when the war broke out." Frank had good reason, and it was impossible for a native of Paris to know everything around Paris, let alone a colonial officer.

"Three-" Rich chose to support Franklin, one less bridge doesn't matter, one more bridge can be serious.

On a front that marches hand in hand, the salient is the most dangerous, and will be besieged by the enemy's superior forces, and the British Expeditionary Force is very unified in its thinking, and on the premise of preserving itself, it is necessary to strike at the enemy as much as possible, and the emphasis is on preserving itself.

"Then move on, keep in formation, keep speed, and reach the predetermined position before dawn, no sooner or later—" Linde clapped his hand and waved his hand to order the troops to move on.

Countless soldiers hiding in the dark got up and continued to move forward, most of these soldiers were Africans, and they were indeed very suitable for moving in the dark, if it weren't for the iron gray uniforms on their bodies that were more conspicuous, even if they ran in front of the German nose, it was estimated that the Germans would not find them.

Before dawn, Linde's troops had not yet found the next bridge, but instead caught up with a baggage force, which made Linde speechless, this baggage force was the baggage unit of the 105th Division.

According to common sense, when the troops are marching, the baggage troops should be at the rear of the troops.

So this shows that the 105th Division, which set off overnight, ran all night, and was actually going around in circles in the same place-

This result is simply unacceptable to everyone.