While the British Expeditionary Force was marching forward, the performance of the French troops was a complete disaster.

Like the British Expeditionary Force, the French troops that set out from Champagne to attack Reims were also equipped with tanks and air force units, but unlike the first armored division with smaller losses, the tanks equipped by the French troops lost 35% of the battle on the first day, and of the 600 tanks that participated in the battle, more than 40 had problems before they arrived on the battlefield for various reasons, and did not have time to participate in the attack, and among the tanks participating in the battle, 110 were destroyed by the Germans, and nearly 60 were destroyed by the French army because of improper operation. Or some other bizarre reason to quit the fight.

One of the most classic examples, the forty tanks that fought with the 236th Regiment of the French 79th Division, three broke down shortly after setting off - when passing through a small river, two more got stuck in the mud and could not get out, and had to give up on their own initiative - when entering a hill with a small slope, the two tanks collided together due to the improper operation of the tankers, and as a result, they slipped into the ravine next to them, and the four tankers were killed and three were injured -

In the end, only 31 tanks took part in the battle, and two tanks arrived at the front line only when the tankers found that there was no fuel in the tanks, and there was no fuel in the auxiliary tanks.

Of the 31 tanks that took part in the battle, eight were destroyed by the Germans, two of which were hit by the French unit's own artillery.

Roque was speechless when he saw the battle report, and Petain actually had the face to ask on the phone why the tank battle loss rate of the French troops was so high!

Petain's meaning was clear, as he accused Southern Africa of discriminating between the British Expeditionary Force and the French troops in the supply of tanks.

This problem did exist, and the tanks supplied to the British Expeditionary Force in Southern Africa were fortunately more advanced, and the models supplied to the French troops were older.

However, this is definitely not the root cause of the serious attrition of the French tank troops, and the reason why the use of "serious attrition" instead of "heavy casualties" is enough to explain the problem.

If the tank broke down because of the quality, then those tanks that fell into the river, hit a piece, had no oil, and were even blown up by their own people are all "technical problems"?

From another point of view, it may be true, but this "technical problem" is not caused by the tank itself, but by the people who use it.

Tanks are the same as mules and horses, they also need to be carefully maintained when they are used, a tank in the British Expeditionary Force is equipped with an average of four logistics personnel, and the French army has almost no logistics personnel because of the lack of manpower, and only tankmen maintain tanks in peacetime, and tankmen have not been fully trained.

Roque asked Petain directly this question, if it is the responsibility of the Nyasaland military-industrial group, then the Nyasaland military-industrial group is responsible, but it is not the responsibility of the Nyasaland military-industrial group, and this pot of the Nyasaland military-industrial group is not on the back.

Petain was speechless, Foch also had a grim expression, on the first day of the Anglo-French counterattack, the British expeditionary force advanced 35 kilometers to Reims, and successively broke through the defense line of the Sandao Army, and the French troops broke through the first line of defense of the German army at noon, and advanced straight forward by 5 kilometers at the end of the day.

Considering that the main force of the German army was entangled by the Anzac and the Canadian Corps, the French army was too slow to do so, and once the Germans turned their attention back to Reims, the French troops might not be able to complete the task.

"We cannot give the Germans time to breathe, I have ordered the troops to attack overnight, and it is necessary to occupy Reims in the shortest possible time and complete the encirclement of the German troops in the encirclement." Roque continued to increase the balance of victory, and if he could successfully annihilate the enemy in the encirclement, then the war could be over in the first half of 1917.

If not, then the war may drag on until the second half of the year.

Truth be told, if the war drags on until the second half of the year, it will be more beneficial to southern Africa, because every day the war drags on, southern Africa's profits will increase by tens of millions of rand, which is a major positive for southern Africa's thriving industrial capacity.

But Roque is also tired of the world war, Southern Africa has gotten what it wants, compared to the existing excess industrial capacity, after taking Southwest Africa and Tanganyika, Roque has no desire, compared to Southwest Africa, Tanganyika, the two river basins and Cyprus are the head.

Although this addition is actually very fragrant.

In the four years since the outbreak of the World War, the industrial output of Southern Africa has increased by 350% compared to before the outbreak of the World War.

The current industrial output value is actually inflated, and after the end of the world war, once the European orders are lost, the industry in southern Africa will definitely decline to a certain extent, and the Southern African Ministry of Finance predicts that it will fall by about a third.

This is not a problem for Roque, the end of the world war will be followed by the reconstruction of Europe, when the military industrial enterprises will temporarily shrink, but the civilian industry will be greatly improved, and the overall loss is not large.

"The troops are not good at night warfare—" Foch realized as soon as he opened his mouth that the situation of the French troops could not be used to set the British Expeditionary Force, especially the Southern African Expeditionary Force, since Roque said so, then the Southern African Expeditionary Force must have been trained in this regard.

"It's okay, the Germans aren't good at it-" Roque is not worried about this problem, even if most of the troops are not trained to fight at night, the German troops have not received it anyway, and the Anglo-French forces also have the help of tanks, and the advantage in night combat is more obvious.

Surprisingly, when Roque informed Beatin of the decision to attack overnight, Petain disagreed.

Petain convened a meeting overnight to reflect on the performance of the French troops, and demanded that the troops should speed up the next day's battle, if not as fast as the British Expeditionary Force, or at least not be despised by the Germans.

On this point, Petain was also very helpless, although Petain did not want to admit it, but there is also a chain of contempt on the current Western Front, the British Expeditionary Force despised the German army, the German army despised the French army, and then the British despised the Americans together with the Germans and the French -

Of course, this last point cannot be said, although the Americans have not yet been able to capture the fortress of Liège, but the American troops have shown a fearless fighting spirit -

In addition to this, it is true that the US military units cannot find any obvious advantages.

"Our troops are not trained in night operations, and night operations may suffer more serious losses, which is very detrimental to the maintenance of troop morale." This is how Petain replied to Roque.

"If the Germans are given enough time, then the Germans will move their troops overnight, build fortifications, and improve their defenses, and you will suffer even more serious losses when you fight tomorrow." Roque bluntly stated that Petain could have a myriad of reasons, and the Germans had only one.

In order to escape, Roque believed that the Germans in the encirclement would not mind moving overnight.

Roque also believes that no matter how severe Ludendorff's depression is, Ludendorff will definitely not rest tonight.

Just like Roque, who has been in the combat command room since the beginning of the battle.

Petain was silent for a long time on the phone, and Roque knew that Petain would have a hard time making a decision, and whether or not Petain ordered his troops to attack overnight, the British Expeditionary Force was already in action.

During the daytime attack, both the 1st Panzer Division and the 2nd Cavalry Division were exhausted, they needed ample rest, so the night attack was the responsibility of the British Infantry Division.

The commander of these British infantry divisions was Paul Cocker, who had been Chief of Staff of the Southern African Expeditionary Force since the outbreak of the World War, and was finally given the opportunity to take independent command of an army group, which was also based in Yam.

At nine o'clock in the evening, four ordered British infantry divisions, with the cooperation of tank units, continued to advance towards Reims.

The advantages of the machine at this time are undoubtedly revealed, and if it is a mule or horse, then after a day of high-intensity combat, it also needs sufficient rest before it can fight again.

Tanks are not used, as long as the tank is well maintained, the tank can always fight.

Night operations were certainly not as efficient as daytime operations, but under the cover of tanks, the troops were still resolutely advancing towards Reims.

The Germans did not expect the British Expeditionary Force to attack overnight, and in front of the British Expeditionary Force, at least four German infantry divisions were urgently building positions overnight.

However, the German army was seriously short of construction machinery and manpower to build fortifications, so the defense line was quite rudimentary, far inferior to the defensive capability of the Hindenburg Line, which not only lacked heavy machine guns and direct-fire guns, but also did not even have permanent fortifications, and the depth of the trenches was not enough, and the defense line of this level alone could not block the impact of tanks.

When the tank lights appeared in front of the German position, the German troops who were building fortifications could not organize effective resistance at all, they were all hastily transferred to Reims by Ludendorff from the rear reserves, and after a whole day of rapid running, the Germans began to build fortifications after arriving in Reims, and many officers and soldiers even went down all day without water and rice, exhausted and hungry at the same time.

So when the tanks of the British Expeditionary Force appeared, many German troops simply raised their hands and surrendered without resistance.

Don't think how strong the German army's will to fight is, the world war has been fought for four and a half years, the Germans with a relatively strong will to fight have all died, and the remaining elite troops are in the encirclement, in the German army's reserve forces, many soldiers are underage children or old people about fifty years old, don't expect them to burst out with a strong will to fight.

On this night, the British Expeditionary Force advanced another ten kilometers overnight, and after daybreak, the forward troops of the British Expeditionary Force had reached the city of Reims.

The 1st Panzer Division and the 2nd Cavalry Division, which had rested all night, were in good spirits, and they did not attack directly at Reims, but bypassed Reims and continued to advance towards Champagne Chalons.

Roque's order was very clear, to converge with the French troops as quickly as possible to complete the encirclement of the German army, and the German army in Reims would be handed over to the follow-up troops of the British Expeditionary Force to solve.

This is a continuation of Roque's "leapfrog tactic" practiced during the Battle of the Dardanelles.

ps: On Sunday, send a chapter to the brothers early, I hope the brothers are in a good mood, and the bitter fish head can't rest on Sunday -