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"This Zi'an, will it be too hasty?"

The threshold of the Wuchang courtyard was about to be flattened by the people who came to Daoxi one after another, because Miao Luo was unable to return to Nanjing, so Yang Qiu simply rested for a while to accompany his wife, but with the telegram sent back by Zhang Xiaozhun, the small study was crowded again.

Yang Qiu hadn't recovered from the excitement of being a father for the first time, hugging the little guy to amuse, every time his fingers tapped on the little guy's nose, it would attract babbling protests, which made him smile and didn't even hear Xiao Anguo's words, until Rui Yao made tea for everyone before taking the child away, and glared at him resentfully before leaving the study. The blow of Miao Luo's birth was so great that even Lu Bicheng sent a telegram "euphemistically" saying that he wanted to buy a house in Nanjing and live in it permanently. Faced with this kind of look, Yang Qiu could only cough lightly twice, and turned his head to ask, "Brother Xiao, what did you just say?" ”

“。”

Jiang Fangzhen laughed the loudest, and Cai Yi, He Xi, and Feng Guozhang, who accompanied them to Hanyang to inspect the training of the reserve division, also pursed their lips. Xiao Anguo slapped his forehead and could only repeat the news that Yue Peng was preparing to participate in the war, and said, "Isn't it too hasty to have only two divisions?" The second batch also arrived in France for some time, and the next three divisions will be able to complete their training by the end of the month, and now they will be pulled out. ”

Although Xiao Anguo's ability is not strong and Cai Yi and others are far away, this remark is still reasonable, first of all, 2 divisions will definitely not be able to obtain the command given in the agreement, you must know that every investment on the Western Front is at least 50 divisions. 2 divisions sprinkled in it and couldn't see it at all. Even Yang Qiu opened his mouth that Britain and France could not give the command of the two divisions, so this investment must definitely join the existing front to cooperate with Britain and France. Constraints in command will inevitably lead to the inability of the troops to fully display their full combat capability, and this alone worries everyone.

Yang Qiu thought about it and quickly grasped the key in his words, and asked, "Are those two divisions?" ”

"It is composed of two heavy artillery brigades, 706 and 705, which are drawn and mixed from each division, and the call codes of the 5th and 8th divisions are used for external radio numbers." Bai Chongxi and Li Zongren both went to the Western Front for training, and Kuang Xukun did not understand military affairs, so Jiang Zuobin temporarily served as Yang Qiu's military secretary and was responsible for handling front-line war reports. Jiang Fangzhen waited for him to finish speaking, and analyzed: "Zi'an (Yue Pengzi) chose a good time, the biggest battles on the Western Front are in Verdun and Compiègne, the former German army has been transferred to full defense, and the French Central Army under the command of Petain is also exhausted and unable to do anything. The British army in Compiègne began to gain the upper hand, and the army of the German Bavarian Prince-Princes now had to retreat sharply to the defensive. Hindenburg began to build a new line of defense after taking over from Falkingham, and it was expected that all German forces would retreat back to this line for major adjustments. By some indications, Hindenburg has given up on the luxury of taking Paris for the time being. However, because of the unstable domestic situation in Russia and the beginning of an active adjustment of forces on the Eastern Front, we suspect that the main war in the first half of next year will be concentrated on the Eastern Front rather than on the Western Front. So Zi'an's idea was to take advantage of this gap period to hone the troops with some sporadic actual combat opportunities. ”

Cai Ye agreed with him, and also said: "Baili's analysis is very reasonable, Zi'an and they also chose a good time at this time, but I am afraid the results will not be optimistic." ”

Yang Qiu walked to the map. After the Battle of Verdun came to an end, Hindenburg began to build a new defensive line, so there would be no major battles on the entire Western Front for half a year, not because the two sides did not want to fight, but because they needed time to accumulate strength, and the main battles before the Battle of Nivelle in April were concentrated near Reims. The scale of these small battles was not large, and the maximum investment was only seven or eight divisions. But the problem is that at the moment the Germans have moved to a full-fledged defense! You must know that the German army is not the Japanese army. Don't think that the German army has played an example of the attacker being less casualty than the defender in repeated offensives, and think that they are the best at attacking, in fact, the most powerful thing for the German army is to defend and counterattack, and the ultimate goal of the German army since Moltke's era is to prevent French and Russian flanking attacks, so they have put a lot of effort into defensive counterattacks. In particular, after the Hindenburg came to power, the German army returned to its best defensive counterattack tactics on the western front, and built tens of thousands of "Hindenburg defense lines" composed of improvised fortresses, which were very powerful because of the short sortie position and more straight and balanced firepower, although they still preferred to use heavy machine guns instead of light machine guns, but the grenadiers and mortars were strengthened a lot, and the defense line composed of improvised fortifications and mainly heavy artillery and Makqin was unbreakable, so the advantage of the Chinese defense forces in the firepower of the Sino-Japanese War was gone. What's more, the Germans have been fighting in this kind of tug-of-war trench warfare for more than two years, and the soldiers are experienced and sophisticated. The combat effectiveness is very terrifying.

The idea of wanting to hone the troops in this kind of skirmish is right, after all, there is no "divine soldier" who can form a suitable battle plan before fighting the opponent, Yue Peng They need to be familiar with the German army's fighting style and weaknesses through a series of actual battles in order to find a way to give full play to the advantages of the Wehrmacht's tactical system, which shows that the front-line commanders are also thinking about how to fight this battle, but it is also very challenging to hone the combat operation. The slightest mistake will definitely lead to a counterattack by the Germans, and even the probability of heavy casualties is very high! Thinking of this, he turned around and instructed Jiang Zuobin: "Send a telegram to the president and the prime minister." The military operation is about to begin, and in order to create a good environment for the soldiers on the front line, it is necessary to tighten press control during this time, and the army must also send people to keep an eye on the nonsensical newspapers 24 hours a day. We also need to be mentally prepared! ”

Everyone nodded.

Although the outside world has no way of knowing how bad Europe is to get to the bottom, it cannot be ruled out that some people will spread rumors, so news control is necessary. Especially the last sentence shows that Yang Qiu is ready for defeat and even major casualties. This is not alarmism, going to a strange country to fight against an unfamiliar opponent, and killing all sides in the first battle when logistics, equipment and supplies are not perfect, this kind of thing can only exist in fantasy. Now it depends on whether Yue Peng and the others can make good use of this winter, and if they can realize the intention of training the troops with small-scale actual combat, and if the casualty ratio is well controlled, then the fighter planes will appear in April next year. Thinking of this, Yang Qiu's gaze quickly turned to Reims, an important strategic node located between Verdun and Paris!

Dirier, a small town on the banks of the Vail 20 kilometers from Reims that is hard to find even on the map, has been turned out by the arrival of an Eastern Combat Engineer Regiment. Taking advantage of the cover of night, brand new Renault trucks rushed to the shore, and the sappers first lowered the tin pontoons and pushed them into the river, and then bolted the pontoons one by one. A moment later, a larger pontoon appeared on the icy river, and the rest of the sappers saw that the pontoon was erected and began to unload the steel structure of the Bailey Bridge brought from China.

Of course, for the river more than 40 meters wide, it was necessary to assemble the four Bailey bridges with pontoons, so the work of the sappers was far from over. But this rapid bridging technique stunned the awakened townsfolk and rushed to the shore with curious eyes. There were also a few veterans in the town who enlisted in the army but returned to their hometowns with disabilities, and their eyes widened as if they couldn't believe that there was such a fast bridge-building speed in the world, so they picked up horse lanterns and surrounded the equally stunned French guides: "Second lieutenant, why do you want to hand over such advanced bridge-building technology to the Chinese?" And shouldn't they be pigtailed and opium smokers? ”

The second lieutenant smiled wryly and spread his hands: "In fact, we don't have this technology. "Oh God." His words aroused a suspicious look, and I really couldn't believe that this fast bridge building technology was actually the Chinese's own! Soon the bridge deck of the first section of the pontoon bridge was set, and the truck continued to drive along the bridge deck to transport the steel structure of the second section of the pontoon bridge over, and a lame veteran looked at the table and was dumbfounded: "From the beginning to the present God, 2 hours!" At this rate, they will be able to open the river tomorrow morning. ”

In their surprise, a Chinese soldier accidentally fell into the river, causing a burst of exclamations, especially the French women in pajamas. Fortunately, he was quickly rescued by his companion and returned to the shore, and when the soldier shyly hid behind the truck to change clothes, several bold French women actually rushed closer, probably wanting to "study and understand" the difference between East and West for themselves. "These crazy women! The husband is fighting on the front line, but he is coquettish here! God, I don't want to be surrounded by more yellow-skinned wild children. A few veterans angrily asked the women to go back, as if to protect their beloved property, but the women would listen to these lame people, and one or two of the Chinese sappers in their nightgowns and deliberately puffed up their towering chests, but the Chinese sappers who whispered in a low voice were a little ashamed, and only dared to sneak a glance at the good points and continue to work.

Compared with the soldiers, Xie Ruyi, who supervised the bridge building and served as the vanguard, and the accompanying French liaison officer were already surrounded by fragrance, and several little widows were busy pouring tea and water, sweating and panting with their sideburns, but the twinkling stars on the shoulders of the men made their eyes straighter. In order to concentrate, Xie Ruyi finally had to ask each soldier to serve ten canned luncheon meat brought from China, and only then did he get a moment to ask the French liaison officer: "How long will it take to reach the German position after crossing the river?" ”

The liaison officer retracted his gaze regretfully, thinking that he should go to the woman's hot bed to spend the night later, but he didn't dare to slack off: "This is the junction of the German Second Army and the Third Army, and they probably don't know that we can build a bridge overnight!" So after crossing the river, you need to walk five kilometers to meet the first line of defense, of course! He raised his voice a little: "If you attack, you will be flanked by at least 3 German artillery positions, and these bitch German artillery reacts very quickly." ”

The liaison officer still seemed to be a little unconvinced that the Eighth Division was preparing to attack from here, and reconfirmed: "General, you are really going to attack tomorrow?" ”

"Yes!"

The answer is simple and crisp...... ()