715 Providence

War is so cruel, the winner wins everything, and the loser has nothing.

However, there are accidents in everything, and sometimes a good performance on the battlefield does not necessarily lead to the glory it deserves, and the commander of the 105th Division, Ford Lu, who has already participated in the war, has been very depressed these days.

"We need more artillery to fight together, and without artillery we can't defeat the enemy." Ford Lew was at a loss, and the thought of the overwhelming artillery fire of the Fifth Army was filled with nightmares.

In the previous battles, most of the damage of the 105th Division was caused by the artillery of the German Fifth Army, which was also due to the fact that the 105th Division's trenches were dug better, otherwise the losses would have been more serious.

Even if there was no artillery to cooperate with the operation, the 105th Division also performed quite well in the battle, the one-to-one exchange ratio is the best record played by the Allied troops since the outbreak of the world war, although this record has yet to be confirmed, and the 105th Division took the initiative to withdraw from the battle, strictly speaking, it was a failure, but the media of the Entente still can't wait to publicize, the battle of the 105th Division is the biggest victory of the Entente after the outbreak of the world war.

Of course, during the propaganda, almost all the media deliberately downplayed the colonial nature of the 105th Division, and no newspaper mentioned that almost all the soldiers of the 105th Division were African.

"Impossible, not to mention the artillery, we don't have enough bullets, and we don't know when we will be able to send them over-" Chief of Staff Hausman looked depressed, the 105th Division not only did not receive awards, but even could not supply bullets, and the War Department even questioned why the 105th Division's bullets were consumed so quickly.

When the 105th Division came to France, at least the soldiers' rifles were still carried, but there were not many bullets carried, and now the War Department urgently needed to replenish them.

This is the consequence of equipping too many automatic weapons, the general-purpose machine gun and the rate of fire are about the same as Makqin, about 600 rounds per minute, after a battle, a general-purpose machine gun can shoot at least a dozen boxes of bullets, although the machine guns of the 105th Division are not equipped with the squad level like the Northern Rhodesia Division and the First Cavalry Division, compared to other British troops, the 105th Division is equipped with a relatively large number of machine guns, in the last battle, in just four hours, the participating troops of the 105th Division consumed 1500 boxes of ammunition,

Consumption, does not mean to fight out, when the troops withdraw from the battle, the unfinished bullets are abandoned on the position, the British Empire's army does not have the tradition of millet plus rifle a bullet to destroy an enemy, when the bullet is enough, how many are needed.

"It doesn't matter if the bullets come a few days late, we only have three brigades, one has been disabled, and we can't fight until the replenishment arrives." Ford Lew was not in a hurry, and after the 105th Division withdrew from the battle, he rested and recuperated in Dele, far from the front line, and Dele was in the rear of Paris, very safe.

This is really not the 105th Division, five divisions of the British Expeditionary Force are also in Delew, although the British newspapers are touting the British troops for their excellent performance on the battlefield, this is the case, after the battles of Mons and Lecato, the British Expeditionary Force has been retreating, until after the Marne, a battalion of the Second Army ran 55 miles in one day and one night, and this speed can go to the Olympics for triathlon.

Unlike the Olympic athletes, the soldiers had to carry more than 70 pounds of equipment with them when they retreated, which translates to almost 32 kilograms.

"There are no supplementary troops sent in a short period of time-" The expression on Hausman's face was even more depressed, the 105th Division was different from the British Expeditionary Force, the additional troops of the British Expeditionary Force only needed to cross the channel to reach France, and the additional troops of the 105th Division had to travel all the way from southern Africa by boat, at least half a month.

"Isn't that right? If you don't have supplies, you can't fight, and if you don't replenish the troops, you won't be able to replenish the troops, and it would be even more perfect if the weather could be a little better, don't you say, this French date palm is quite delicious, and we can also grow some in southern Africa. "Ford Lew is very comfortable, after the 105th Division arrives in France, all the logistics materials need to be paid by France, and Ford Lew is now drinking champagne with dates, and the treatment is also very good.

Dates are a specialty of French North Africa, champagne is a local specialty of France, and although the wine produced in Cape Town claims to be the champagne of southern Africa, it feels more authentic to be a champagne produced in France, but this is definitely not recognized by Forte Lew.

"Is it that the mango is not fragrant or the grapefruit is not sweet? North Africa is a mango species that does not survive, so it can only grow sand dates, and only when there is a bag in the braincase can it be planted in southern Africa. Haussman didn't speak Sichuan, that's probably what he meant.

"The chocolates are really good, you can buy some and send them back." Ford Luha laughed, harder than the champagne French, more than the fruit of France, the treasure land of southern Africa is really not a blind blow, the underground deposits can be dug for hundreds of years, as long as you can think of the fruits, they are all native products of southern Africa.

The "special" here means that the yield is particularly high.

"It's not the same in our southern Africa." Haussmann looked disdainful, although Europe prides itself on being the "center of the civilized world", but there are no luxury goods, no fashionable clothing, no high-end cars, and the common people can't even eat their stomachs, and they don't know what to be proud of.

After the outbreak of the world war, the participating countries have begun to manage the military, and now there is no problem for the time being, the materials are quite abundant, and the price is estimated to be higher next year, and then British families will also start to eat potatoes with salted fish, and France will not be much better.

At this time, you can see the geographical advantages of southern Africa, although it is a little far away from Europe, but it is not disturbed by the war, and it has laid a good foundation for agricultural industry, or the British overseas territory can sell to Europe no matter what goods it produces, and there is no need to worry about anti-dumping investigations, so after the world war, it is really uncertain where the center of the "civilized world" is.

"What else can you do? We can't come to France in vain. "Ford Lew was in a good mood, or everyone in the British Expeditionary Force was in a good mood, anyway, it was the French and the Germans who were killed and killed on the battlefield.

"Have you forgotten what the Lord said? There is nothing else in France, there are still quite a lot of crafts-" Haussmann's expression was ambiguous, and Ford Lew suddenly realized.

"Yes, yes, that's it, I want to get some handicrafts to go back, there are still a few paintings missing in my study, and I also need a vase to decorate in the living room, preferably a vase from the Qing Kingdom." France, one of the world's top three powers, is worth so much in the eyes of Ford Lew.

The top three in the world here do not include the United States, the strength of the United States has not yet been demonstrated, and without enough orders, American companies will not blindly expand, unlike southern African companies.

Although the United States also has some orders, but compared with another time and space, more orders are in southern Africa, especially in terms of military supplies, Britain's purchase orders are in southern Africa, France's purchase list is more to southern Africa, but the United States gets more orders from Germany, so in this time and space, the United States will still participate in the war, but compared with another time and space, the harvest will definitely be greatly reduced.

Haussmann did not speak, his eyes fell on the one-man tall vase at the door, the white vase was painted with a green shirt maid standing by the window with a fan half-hidden face, the fan was embroidered with a colorful and lifelike butterfly, Haussmann knew that these vases were fired, but he did not know whether these patterns were painted before the firing, or after the firing was completed.

Although the 105th barracks were a makeshift camp on the outskirts of Deloit, as commanders of the 105th Division, Ford Lew and Haussmann lived in a castle-turned-inn.

I have to say that these families in Europe who don't know how many generations have been passed down are indeed well-informed, and any inconspicuous ornament of a castle is estimated to be eligible to enter the museum in southern Africa.

There is no need to envy them, after all, people have accumulated I don't know how many years, although southern Africa started relatively late, but now the opportunity has come, in Dele, the officers and soldiers of the 105th Division cannot be too presumptuous, but if it hits Germany, or in the German occupation zone, the 105th Division does not have to scruples.

Anyway, no matter what damage is caused, it can be pushed on the Germans, the only thing to worry about is skin color, the chromosome of Africans is still very powerful, but now France has also recruited more servant troops from the colonies, even if there is a fatality, it can still rely on the French colonial servant army.

Later, Ford Lew and Haussmann went to the British Expeditionary Force Command to attend a dinner held by the Headquarters, the world war did not affect the mood of the expeditionary force generals to have fun, just like the dignitaries in Paris, the officers and soldiers on the front line were fighting bravely, and the dignitaries and nobles of Paris were also fighting in the wine pond and meat forest, even if the battle line was getting closer and closer to Paris, it still did not affect the bright lights of Paris at night.

Entering September, the performance of the Anglo-French coalition on the battlefield did not improve, Crook's First Army crossed the Marne River on September 3 and continued to advance, Paris became more and more dangerous, but the French government had a problem at this time, the former Prime Minister Louis Baldou resigned after the outbreak of the war, and the new prime minister came to power and then found that the job of prime minister was not easy to do, and if he did not do well, he would be used as a scapegoat, so he resigned after only three days, and the current Prime Minister Gaston Dumerg did not know how long he could do it, and sooner or later he would resign.

In contrast to France, which was too busy to take care of itself, Germany was once again overshadowed by the halo of the protagonist, and in East Prussia, a Russian officer was killed in a battle, and in him, the Germans discovered the battle plan of the two Russian armies.

A subsequent Russian telegram confirmed the authenticity of the battle plan, which was not a smoke bomb released by the Russian army, but really a battle plan of two army groups, and no one could explain why an important battle plan was carried by a front-line commander.

It can only be said that it is providential.

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