Throughout February, the British Expeditionary Force and the French troops on the Western Front were busy repairing fortifications.

Compared with last year's line of defense, this year's line of defense has improved again, on the surface, there is no human figure on the entire line of defense, everyone is hiding in pillboxes and trenches, the number of machine guns is more numerous and denser than last year, the machine gunners are more trained, the shooting hole division is also more scientific, each machine gun has four or five people in charge, and the bunkers are full of bullet boxes.

Accurate shooters did not dare to attack easily, the "no man's land" between the positions of the two sides became a real death zone, no one knew how many mines were laid, and sometimes they could not figure it out.

The defensive position of the British Expeditionary Force was based on tanks, and more than 3,000 tanks were involved in the defense of about 150 miles of defense, and the most important defensive areas had fortifications built specifically for tanks every fifty meters or so, which could not only be used for defense, but also to launch a countercharge against the attacking German army.

At Roque's behest, the Nyasaland Military Industrial Group has once again raised the credit line of Britain and France, and now Britain and France do not need to pay in advance, they can load and transport the weapons and ammunition that have just been produced, Walvis Bay may be the busiest port in the world, there are nearly 100 cargo ships and cruise ships entering and leaving the port every day, and the railway between Walvis Bay and Johannesburg has become the busiest railway in the world, and a train enters the Walvis Bay railway station every five minutes.

By March, the British Expeditionary Force had stockpiled 4.5 million shells in France, 3 billion rounds of ammunition, 250,000 tons of various supplies, the number of bullets was enough to kill humans on Earth twice, the logistics warehouses in Dunkirk and Yamin were piled up with all kinds of supplies, Winston sent another 500,000 men to France after the New Year, all of these 500,000 people were made up of British people in Britain proper, and Roque organized them into a new army group, and appointed Paul Cocker as commander of the army. As a mobile unit, it is on standby with the Anzac and the Canadian Corps.

After March, more and more information about the "Michael Plan" increased, and Ludendorff made a desperate bet to transfer all German troops from Romania and Austria-Hungary back to replenish the Western Front, which was a decisive battle that would determine the fate of the empire, and perhaps affect the direction of the world for decades to come, and everyone dared not be careless.

The phone calls between Petain and Roque became more and more frequent, and when the British Expeditionary Force was strong, the French troops were not idle, but Petain had to face more difficulties than Roque, and Roque revised his previous promise to Petain, if Ludendorff chose the French position as a breakthrough, then Roque would give Petain no more than ten divisions of support, and vice versa.

Previously, Roque and Petain had discussed six divisions.

Foch also placed his headquarters in Alang, because Alang was located in the center of the all-day front, with American troops on the left flank, French troops on the right, and the British Expeditionary Force in the center was strong, and they had not lost even a single major battle under Roque's command.

On March 10, on the eve of the German offensive, Roque ordered the bomber forces to be dispatched again, this time not at military installations in Germany, but at the concentration points of German troops in France, and now it became increasingly clear that Ludendorff had two most likely options for a breakthrough, one was Sherman Dydam, where Nivelle launched the spring offensive; The other is Verdun, one of the most famous flesh mills of the World Wars.

"German forces are massing in the direction of Sherman-Dydam and Verdun, where Ludendorff is likely to attack, where Henry is under-manned, and where the British expeditionary force is to be prepared to support in the event of a battle." Foch wore it almost every day in Roque's headquarters, and often spent most of the day in the operations command room with Roque.

Compared with the increasingly powerful British Expeditionary Force, the strength of the French troops was weakening, and after a winter of recuperation, the number of French troops did not increase but decreased, and Petain reorganized the French troops in the past winter, transferred those units that had been fighting on the front line since the outbreak of the world war to the second line in rotation, and redistributed the new recruits and veterans after being disorganized.

Like the British Expeditionary Force, the French army was equipped with a large number of tanks and aircraft, most of which were purchased from southern Africa and some of which were produced in mainland France.

As early as the beginning of last year, France got the relevant technology of tanks and aircraft, but it was not until last year that tanks and planes were successfully put into production, which is still a relatively primitive tank and aircraft, and the future tanks and aircraft will be more advanced, so it is not easy to imitate copycats.

"It is still difficult to say that with the railway network, the German army can quickly mobilize troops, and it is necessary to win the cooperation of the American troops, whether the German army takes the initiative to attack the expeditionary force or Henry's troops, the American troops must launch an attack on the fortress of Liège to form an effective containment of the German army." Roque now knew why the Americans were able to kill on another plane.

Leaving aside the geographical superiority of the United States, the war potential of the United States is outstanding among all countries in the world.

A fact that cannot be ignored is that while the total population of the United States is larger, the population structure is still relatively young, the nutritional status of Americans is also relatively good, a considerable number of US troops are educated, they are physically strong, quick thinking, and relatively quick to accept new things, and the US government's organizational ability is also good, and now Belgium has nearly one million US troops, and they are enough to pose a huge threat to the fortress of Liège.

The strength of the United States is also reflected in its industrial capacity, after the US military entered the war, the British government and the French government finally handed over some military orders to American factories to complete.

What makes Roque very unhappy is that these orders are completed by the American factory as quickly as possible, and the product quality is still very good, and the price is quite low.

This made Roque puzzled, not knowing what kind of medicine was sold in the Americans' gourds.

One thing must be certain, even if the price given by the Americans is low, no matter how good the quality of American products is, after the world war, the enterprises in southern Africa are still the first choice of the British government, after all, the quality of the products in southern Africa is also good, and the price can actually be reduced, and southern Africa is now the son of Britain, and the United States is the rebel son who has divided and separated the property.

There is a difference between intimacy and sparseness~~

"The Fortress of the Sun is too far from Paris—" Foch feared that the distant water would not quench his thirst, not to mention the question of whether the Americans would be able to attack the fortress of the following day.

"But the Liege Fortress is very close to Germany, and beyond the Liege Fortress is Germany itself, and Ludendorff does not dare to let it go." Roque is still relatively confident, the reason why the Germans can still hold on now is because the war has not yet burned to Germany itself-

This is also not right, the air force of the expeditionary force has launched many air raids on the German mainland, and the flames of war have already burned to the German mainland, and it should be said that the Allied soldiers have not really set foot in the German mainland.

After the outbreak of the world war, Germany was not at peace, the prime minister had changed several, the chief of the general staff had changed several, the Junker aristocracy in Germany was not satisfied with the current situation in Germany, the German bourgeoisie was not satisfied with the current situation in Germany, and the German people were also dissatisfied with the current standard of living.

Today's Germany is like cooking oil on fire, and even a tiny spark will completely detonate the whole of Germany.

"I'm going to convince General Pershing." Foch was conscientious, and as commander-in-chief of the coalition forces, it was Foch's job.

On March 15, the air force reconnaissance unit discovered that there was also a build-up of German mobile units in Arras.

Through last year's battle, Ludendorff should have deeply realized that the German army may not be able to break through Arras at all, and continue to invest more troops in Arras, which can only cause greater casualties to the German army.

However, Ludendorff can't use common sense to speculate at the moment that last year's Roque's staff judged that the Germans would collapse this spring, but the Germans not only did not collapse, but regrouped and prepared to launch a new offensive.

On March 19, Ludendorff finally showed his fangs, and the place he chose to attack was not Sherman Dydam, nor Verdun, nor Arras, but Reims, 140 kilometers away.

Reims is an important city in northeastern France and the transportation center of the northeastern railway network.

The key point is that Reims is only 120 kilometers away from Paris, and Ludendorff has been suspicious before, and has almost mobilized the troops of the German front line, and has put on an aggressive posture in Shermandedam and Verdun, and the attention of the French army has been attracted to Shermandaunt and Verdun, but Lance has been ignored.

If the Germans could form an effective breakthrough at Reims, then Paris would be exposed to the Germans.

Ludendorff finally learned to be obedient, and no longer fought hard with the British and French forces on the frontal battlefield, but chose the weak link to break through and attack directly on Paris.

On the morning of March 19, when the fog was thick, Ludendorff mobilized all the German troops he could mobilize, a total of 69 divisions, and with the cooperation of 6,400 guns, launched a fierce attack on Reims.

The French defenders at Reims had only four divisions, and Petain did not anticipate a German attack in Reims, with the nearest reinforcements fifteen kilometers away.

Without waiting for reinforcements to arrive, the Germans broke through the Reims Line.

ps: Counting the zero point update, this seems to be today's second update - tickets!

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