The Anglo-French counteroffensive pushed the German troops to a dead end, and if the encirclement was closed, then nearly 350,000 German troops would be surrounded, which meant that on average one out of every ten German troops on the Western Front was surrounded by one in the encirclement, which was a loss that the Germans could not afford.

Therefore, after the Anglo-French counterattack, Ludendorff mobilized reserves to defend Reims, and ordered the encircled troops to approach Reims.

The Anzac Corps and the Canadian Corps, which were ordered to contain the German troops in the encirclement, did not give the German Third Army and the Fifth Army a chance to retreat, and the Third Army and the Fifth Army had just reduced the intensity of their attacks, and General John Monash, who commanded the Anzac Corps, and General Max Lloyd, who commanded the Canadian Corps, realized that the Germans wanted to run, so they launched a counteroffensive against the Germans, and firmly attracted the German troops in the encirclement to the Marne and could not move.

In order to get rid of the entanglement between the Anzac and the Canadian Legion as soon as possible, Ludendorff authorized Hurtier and Otto von Billow to give up part of their forces if necessary, an order that left Hurtier and Otto von Billow in a dilemma, as they did not know which unit to leave behind for defense, which meant that the remaining troops would be wiped out.

In the ever-changing battlefield and the fleeting opportunity, Roque left Hurtier and Otto von Billow with a very short time, and after only one night, Hurtier and Otto von Billow found that they were not faced with the question of which force to leave behind, but the question of whether they could lead the Third Army and the Fifth Army out of the encirclement.

After a night's rest, the 1st Panzer Division and the 2nd Cavalry Division continued to advance.

The Germans did not expect the British Expeditionary Force to be so fast, and sometimes a German unit on the march had just received an order to defend on the spot, and the tank units of the British Expeditionary Force had already rushed over.

In the face of the frenzied attack of the armored forces, the light infantry could not organize an effective defense at all, and near a small town, the 2nd Cavalry Division and a German unit encountered, those German soldiers did not look like soldiers at all, they drove groups of cattle, some still had chickens under their armpits, some held boxes of stationery, some drank while walking, and some ripped off the embroidered silk curtains and wrapped them as trophies, and some were dressed in the costumes of burlesques, Wearing a high hat and staggering, it is almost impossible to walk.

The officers and men of the 2nd Cavalry Division entered the town and were even more surprised to see what they saw, the streets were full of German soldiers looting, some of them were drunk in the cellars, and the officers and men of the 2nd Cavalry Division had to drag people out of the cellars with their feet.

Such an army, even if it defeats them, has no glory at all.

In one resident's house, two soldiers of the 2nd Cavalry Division could not bear to shoot, and four German soldiers committed unspeakable acts against the hostess of the household, and the soldiers of the expeditionary force kicked open the door and rushed in, before the German soldiers even had time to lift their pants.

The German soldiers were killed on the spot as stubborn resistance.

In this town, the 2nd Cavalry Division captured a total of 800 German officers and soldiers, and after the war, the town lost the equivalent of 15 million francs.

At six o'clock in the afternoon, the expeditionary force finally joined up with the French troops and surrounded about 350,000 German regiments.

Roque and Petain were in reserve in succession, preparing to encircle and annihilate the German forces in the encirclement.

Ludendorff was also mobilizing his forces to launch an attack on Reims, hoping to free the encircled German troops.

Reims was still in German hands.

The units of the German army responsible for clearing Reims were the 11th and 12th divisions of the Southern African Expeditionary Force.

The fighting was not fierce, and the 11th and 12th divisions of the Southern African Expeditionary Force were involved in the siege of Constantinople and had very rich experience in street fighting.

The Germans resisted stubbornly with the fortifications and houses in Reims, but they could not stop the advance of the 11th and 12th Divisions, and by the afternoon of the 15th, the 11th and 12th Divisions had occupied 80% of the city of Reims, with less than 2,000 remaining German officers and soldiers in the city.

In the few days when the 11th and 12th Divisions were clearing the remnants of the enemy, the Germans outside the encirclement and the Germans inside the encirclement were launching a frenzied attack on Reims, trying to save the Germans in the encirclement.

The 1st Panzer Division and the 2nd Cavalry Division were responsible for the defense of the perimeter of Reims, tanks and armored vehicles became the fulcrum of the defensive positions, there was also air force assistance in the sky, artillery units provided fire assistance, and the weather also helped, and it was still snowing in April, creating more difficulties for the attacking German troops.

In a house on the outskirts of Reims, about two squads of soldiers of the 2nd Cavalry Division were in charge of the defense, and the soldiers smashed the walls of the house to arrange machine gun positions, and the accurate shooters climbed to the attic to clear the enemy's key targets and were also responsible for observing the enemy's situation.

The riflemen hid behind a curtain to monitor the street, and in the basement there were two doctors and four nurses, and the wounded in the neighborhood were sent here for temporary treatment.

"Correji, did you find anything?" The squad leader, Sergeant George, climbed up the attic and brought freshly fried eggs and hot coffee to the precision shooter Kreji.

"Thanks, everything is fine, except that the damn snow is getting heavier, why is it still snowing now, I'm afraid I still have to wear short sleeves in Port Elizabeth-" Corage crept open from the window, the attic window opened a little low, only a foot above the floor, Corage spread some straw on the floor, and then a blanket, a simple but warm nest.

"Because this is France, you eat first, and I'll keep an eye on it for you." George tossed him a pack of cigarettes and half a bottle of wine, the cigarettes were what Craigie needed, not the wine.

"Come on, I don't want to be punished for drinking." Correji unscrewed the lid and sniffed it, reluctantly returning the bottle to George.

The British Expeditionary Force did not prohibit alcohol, and sometimes even needed it to inspire courage among officers and soldiers, but during the war, it was strictly forbidden for combatants in key positions, such as observers, precision marksmen, tank drivers, and front-line commanders.

The two tankmen who drove the tanks into the river when the French counterattacked caused the tragedy because they had drunk too much alcohol before setting off.

Accidents caused by drinking during the World War were rife, and in the winter that followed, hundreds of soldiers were frozen to death in the snow due to excessive drinking.

"Low-alcohol wine, it's okay to drink a little, it will make your body warmer-" George unscrewed the lid and took a sip lightly, then put his eyes on the eyepiece of the telescope again, and then held his breath.

"What's wrong?" Kereji put down his unfinished coffee and grabbed the sniper rifle next to him.

The scope on a sniper rifle can also be used as a telescope under certain circumstances.

Two hundred meters away on the edge of the forest, through the sniper rifle scope, I could vaguely see someone passing by a big tree.

"Come alive brothers, get ready for battle—" George didn't talk nonsense, put down his binoculars and ran down the stairs.

The whole building was busy in an instant, the soldiers who were resting jumped up, the soldiers at the table drank the last sip of coffee and picked up their rifles, the soldiers in the kitchen were busy putting out the fire, and the soldiers who were baking in front of the fireplace were looking for their boots—

If the Germans launched an attack at this time, then they would definitely be able to completely annihilate the soldiers in the house, and they didn't need to be clever in their tactics, just throw a few grenades through the window, and then set them on fire.

The first to shoot was Corregius in the attic, who carefully tightened the lid of the coffee pot and placed it on the floor beside him, then calmly put the cross in the scope over the head of a German officer, and then pulled the trigger.

Bang!

The German officer fell to the ground, and the bullet hit the German officer's head, and a bloodstained fan-shaped pattern suddenly appeared on the tree next to the German officer.

Kreghi didn't have time to appreciate it, so he put the cross on the head of another German officer and continued to pull the trigger with a blank face.

Bang!

The German officer had already been prepared for this shot and did not hit.

The German officers who escaped were behind a tree, and Kregge lost a second chance to attack, but it didn't matter, Kregie had many targets, and the next target was a machine gun shooter holding the barrel of a Type 15 Maxim machine gun.

The machine gun shooter was busy assembling the heavy machine gun and filling the barrel with cooling water to complete all the preparations before firing.

This time, instead of choosing the head, Correji chose to do less damage, but to grasp the larger chest and abdomen position.

If one German soldier is wounded, the German army must send at least two people to take care of the wounded, which is actually more effective.

Bang!

The German machine gunner who was being targeted fell in response, and the secondary shooter dragged the shooter's body back with a frightened face, and was also knocked down by a shot after moving less than two steps.

Thanks to Lee Enfield, who is incredibly fast in shooting.

In the silence of the snowy night, although more than two hundred meters apart, Kereji still seemed to hear the bitter howl of the wounded Germans.

A German soldier reached out behind a large tree, presumably begging for help from other soldiers.

A backpack strap was thrown out from behind a tree, presumably to pull people away, and the people behind the trees did not dare to show their heads, which had happened countless times, and the accurate marksmen of the expeditionary force were the best at using wounded soldiers to attract more Germans to jump into the trap.

The probability of breaking the rope is actually very low, and the target is the arm of the wounded German.

Just when the wounded Germans had just grabbed the rope, like a drowning man had just grasped a life-saving straw, and hope and joy welled up in his eyes.

Kereji shot again, accurately hitting the arm that had just grabbed the rope.

The power of military weapons is enormous, even for a 7.7 mm Lee Enfield, the huge kinetic energy released by a bullet when it hits the arm is enough to break the hit arm into a crushed fracture.

Looking at the German soldiers struggling on the brink of death in the scope, Kregge is not sad or happy, this is war!

(End of chapter)