The Emperor's Offensive was almost an enhanced version of Schlieffen's strategy in history, adding a massive steel blade to the otherwise sluggish scythe. This time the Germans concentrated almost all the front-line forces that could be mobilized. Five army groups are waiting for each other. When the order for the general attack was given on February 10, 1919, under the roar of thousands of heavy guns, more than a million German troops crossed the Derby border and began to attack Belgium! And at the forefront are 6 armored divisions and an independent armored brigade directly under the jurisdiction of Mackensen and Hindenburg!

Unlike the French, the Germans' superiority in the number of heavy guns and gunnery allowed the German Army to be very sharp in its shelling, allowing it to prepare for artillery fire in the shortest possible time. As a rule, the German preparation time for shelling was calculated in hours, and to accomplish the same task, the French needed to count in days! In addition to heavy artillery, infantry, and tanks on the ground, the Luftwaffe was also required to seize air supremacy on the battlefield in order to provide battlefield support to the army and cover clumsy airships to carry out air strikes on individual targets. This was a very creative strategy, but unfortunately, the air force ground attack in World War I can only be described as a tragedy. The intimidation effect brought by high-altitude horizontal bombing is greater than that of actual combat, and the British and French air forces must not sit idly by and watch the Germans dominate the sky! Before the ground forces of the two sides collided, thousands of planes on both sides had already begun to engage in a battle with machine guns circling in the air. From time to time, planes dragging black smoke fell on the battlefield. They will be the first to be sent to the altar of war in this battle!

The German armored forces finally showed the world what is the power of the armored charge, which was different from that on the Eastern Front. The Russian army was generally low in combat effectiveness, and the Germans had limited armor power, and when the first wave alone saw a torrent of steel of about a thousand vehicles and tanks of all kinds rushing down Belgium's extensive communications network. The French have finally learned what it means to be unstoppable!

The French were not without weapons capable of effectively destroying German tanks. Known as the Heavy Cuirassiers, the Dragon Tank Destroyers had a 75MML40 cannon capable enough to destroy any battlefield that came their way, but they were used as mobile firepower points to engage in attacks on German lines, and although the results were high, they were also very costly. After two years of attrition, it was already difficult for the French to maintain a large number of professional anti-tank heavy armor forces, which were replaced by a variety of Renault light tanks. AND THE 37MM CANNON PREPARED ABOVE WAS CLEARLY NO MATCH FOR THE GERMAN BOBCAT TANK.

The Germans attacked like a wall. The French commanders again previously tried to defend themselves by fortified areas and important support points, as a result of which these areas were either washed away by the Germans' long-range heavy artillery and a torrent of steel, or simply bypassed. The Germans don't care about the gains and losses of one city or one place. Their armored forces have only one mission, which is to quickly shred through the opponent's defenses, and then hold the opponent as much as possible to prevent the opponent from retreating. Then cooperate with the follow-up army to eat the British and French in one bite.

As in history. The first hard walnut that the Germans had to gnaw on was the fortress of Liège. However, compared to history, this fortress is even more difficult to gnaw! "THE ENTENTE ACTUALLY PLACED 343MM NAVAL GUNS IN THE FORTRESS?! It's horrible! "The Scorching Sun Fortress of this plane has a total of 17 batteries of various sizes, supplemented by a large number of bunkers and trench systems, and the circumference of the entire fortress is more than 90 kilometers.

The fortress has changed. The Germans were smarter than they were, facing such a strong fortress that had to be breached. The Germans decided to destroy it with siege artillery at the very beginning! THE MOST POWERFUL WEAPON IS THE 420MM CALIBER OF THE GREAT BESAR SIEGE GUN, JUST LIKE IN HISTORY! This is a long-hidden weapon of mass destruction for the Germans, but sadly, these expensive and incomparably precious artillery pieces have not shown their power as they did in history! BECAUSE THE BRITISH INSTALLED THE 343MM NAVAL GUNS INSIDE WITH A LONGER RANGE! And the tragic Big Besa artillery position was discovered by the British Royal Air Force, so the outcome was naturally very obvious, and the artillery group that had just entered the position to prepare for shooting was directly blown to pieces by the 13.5-inch naval gun with guns! The majestic Big Besha didn't even fire a single shell!

What a cheat! Moltke almost didn't sit on the ground when he heard the news! He couldn't imagine the catastrophic consequences of holding off the Germans for a long time. "Are you sure that the other side only has a 13.5-inch level of naval guns and no larger calibers?" Moltke asked, shuddering, lighting his pipe. "There should be no more, the Liege Fortress was actually completed in 1913, and before that, the British 15-inch naval guns should not have been successfully developed, and there was no information about new artillery later." A staff officer said.

"Okay, bring over the Navy's 15-inch train gun and blow it up for me!" After hearing the staff officer's assurances, Moltke Jr. immediately regained his spirits. After the Kaiser expressed his support for the army's battle plan to take France in one go, Tirpitz immediately expressed his full support, and the German army was not ambiguous. By the way, there are also artillery crews and logistics personnel who are also coming.

Seeing the War Department's proposal, the Minister of the Navy, who had just patted his chest and promised his full cooperation, was silent, and after using various technical problems to no avail, the Army finally got some naval guns from the Navy, and most of these naval guns were replaced by capital ships. Because of the serious wear and tear of the chamber of the long-term engagement, it is not suitable to use it for armor-piercing shells, but it is still okay to use high-explosive shells with reduced charge, and among these guns are several 15-inch 45L main guns replaced by Bismarck-class battleships. Then these heavy guns were put on the train in case of emergency, Moltke could not have imagined that he would use these guns, but he did not expect to use them so soon!

Mobilize heavy artillery, adjust artillery, and flatten the Solar Fortress. Four days elapsed between Moltke's order to transfer heavy artillery to the time the fortress of Liège succumbed to the power of 15-inch naval guns. In these four days, although the German Army made a small fall here at the fortress of Liège, the progress in other directions was not bad. Unlike in history, when the Germans launched this Schlieffen-like offensive, the main forces of the Allies were concentrated in the northeast, so at the beginning of the offensive, large-scale clashes broke out between the two sides, and in the border area, the battle between a division of Mackensen and an independent armored brigade and the French 1st Cuirassiers Division was the pinnacle since the outbreak of World War I.

The 1st French Cuirassier Division had a fully formed Dragon heavy tank destroyer battalion and two Reynolds tank battalions, as well as annexes. This French elite panzer division really inflicted certain losses and problems on the Germans in a defensive state at the beginning. The heavy armor on the front of the Dragon tank destroyer left the Bobcat without any idea at long range. THE 75MM CANNON CAN EASILY TAKE OUT OPPONENTS. After losing nearly a dozen tanks of various types in the first wave of attack, Mackensen decisively gave up the frontal attack and adopted a flank roundabout way, outflanking the French armored forces with the advantage of maneuverability, and the Renault tank on the flank was naturally not the opponent of the Bobcat tank, and the 37MM gun had no idea about the frontal armor of the Bobcat.

Under the cover of heavy artillery and infantry, the two armored battalions of the French Panzer Division were quickly cannibalized, while the threat of the flanks, the bulky Dragon heavy tank destroyers had to leave the preset positions and move to the flanks, hoping to block the opposing pincer offensive. But alas, on the way to the transfer, the whereabouts of this armored unit were discovered by German reconnaissance aircraft, and then it was ambushed by the "self-propelled anti-tank guns" hidden by the Germans in the front.

"Actually, it's good for anti-aircraft artillery to hit tanks." Afterwards, Mackenson looked at the results of the half-track vehicle-mounted anti-aircraft gun and said with satisfaction. The Dragon heavy tank destroyer has finally met its nemesis! A HALF-TRACK WITH AN ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUN OF 88MML45. These armored Rhino self-propelled anti-aircraft vehicles were originally intended for mobile air defense, but later they were used to clear fixed fire points and fire readiness after reaching the Eastern Front. Later, when he came to the Western Front, he made a cameo appearance as a tank destroyer! In essence, this thing is also a product of high mobility, strong firepower, and low protection, but the passability is better and the firepower is stronger, and of course, the cost is much more expensive.

With the defeat of the 1st French Dragoon Division and the collapse of the fortress of Liège, the Germans never touched a hard walnut again. Under the cover of heavy artillery, the Germans drove straight in, occupying all of Belgium and breaking into mainland France in less than 10 days. It has to be said that after thorough preparations, the German Army played at the highest level, with armored units, infantry and mechanized artillery advancing rapidly with the support of transport vehicles that had been hoarded for a long time, and the sharp armored scythes harvested the scattered local armored forces and continued to attack in depth. The then divided British and French armies were eaten by most of the Germans who arrived in one bite.

In just half a month, the Allied army lost about 400,000 people, and the result was only to delay the German offensive, and a large amount of supplies, ammunition and vehicles were captured by the Germans. Although the Allies had destroyed Belgium's transportation system as much as possible before leaving, the Germans were able to continue their offensive with captured supplies. However, at this time, after entering the territory of France, the Germans suddenly found that the road had become very congested, as if walking into a loophole, a large number of men and troops were crowded on both sides of the road and could not maneuver, although there were a large number of trucks, but because of the damage to the road and the problem of scheduling, the logistics and supply situation of the whole army began to deteriorate.

Thanks to the book friends zhouyu1976 and hukaikaka for their tips ~~~~~. (To be continued......)