"We must separate the German assault clusters, which are too strong in armor with the support of heavy artillery and mobile anti-tank guns, and their combination of firepower, defense, and maneuver can easily tear apart our defenses. Ordinary troops simply could not build an effective defense with a few battle defense guns. The armored units will be destroyed by the tank destroyers accompanying the opposing side. More importantly, the enemy's heavy artillery units, with the efficient support of long-range artillery, we are very optimistic about supporting the trapped troops. In the end, the entire front was torn apart by the Germans, such losses are meaningless, we must wait for the moment. Xia Fei commented when talking about the battlefield situation.

But how easy is it to separate? The Allied forces were unable to launch a counterattack to tear apart the German offensive, and in the previous phase of the engagement, the Allies had also tried to organize a counter-charge to divide the opponent, but they were all destroyed by the German armored iron fist. In desperation, the British, French, and Belgian armies could only cover each other and retreat. And it was decided to adopt the tactic of exchanging space for time in order to gradually wear down the German offensive. The reality was indeed very similar to what the Entente had thought, with the lengthening of supply lines and the increasing destruction of infrastructure by the Entente. The German Army's offensive also became sluggish. In addition, the troops had already entered the hilly areas of northeastern France, and the Germans had to rearrange the route of the march under the fragmentation of the terrain.

IN ALL FAIRNESS, ALTHOUGH GERMAN WAS ADVANCING ALL THE WAY, THE BRITISH AND FRENCH TROOPS WERE MUCH STRONGER THAN THE RUSSIANS AFTER ALL, NOT TO MENTION THAT A LARGE NUMBER OF 75MM RAPID-FIRE GUNS ALONE CAUSED A LOT OF TROUBLE TO THE GERMANS. And the biggest trouble was the unforgettable hatred of the French for the Germans. As Bismarck had predicted, the end of the Franco-Prussian War was nothing more than a preparation for the beginning of the next, even larger war. Almost half a century has not allowed the hour of hatred, the coronation of the Hall of Mirrors of Versailles and the cession of Alsace-Lorraine have made Franco-German feuds! Even the small French forces, which had been scattered, were still looking for opportunities to cause problems for the Germans. This will and determination to resist is chilling. After dealing with nearly 400,000 Allied troops, the Germans also lost about 200,000 troops, and many of these troops were the most elite German assault forces.

Under the dual effect of combat attrition and logistical supply pressure, the spearhead of the German offensive became weaker and weaker, and the German army was originally planned to attack Paris like a machete on the coast after occupying the entire territory of Belgium, but with the weakening of the force and the elongation of the supply line, the Germans no longer had enough troops to launch an attack along the coast. The entire front of the attack was abruptly curtailed, so that the blade of the German scythe leaked out of its own right flank! And the front of the scythe was seen in front of the main French forces on the Marne!

In fact, on the front. In the face of an opponent of a higher level, a head-to-head battle meant high costs and huge attrition, and the Germans were originally outnumbered by the French, but with a long period of fighting. and in the face of the French troops who were waiting for their work. Now the German troops in charge of the assault are fighting with the two French armies in the frontal defense. It is important to know that in the history of the Continent, the losses of both sides in the Battle of Verdun were almost 3 to 2, and every time three Allied soldiers were killed, two German soldiers were buried with them. By the time the Germans reached the Marne, the scythe was already in tatters, and then it ran into the giant shield of the French!

Mackensen and Hindenburg said at the same time that they could not cut it, and asked Kruger behind for heavy artillery support. And Kruger readily said that the heavy artillery was blocked behind, and the engineers were repairing the railway. And said that if Moltke Jr. could solve the transport and road problems, the troops would arrive later! Moltke said with a big stroke of his pen. Can't walk without a road? Don't we still have a large number of half-tracks? Leave the road and quickly assemble to the front!

If the difficulty of war logistics is underestimated in history, then after two years of the quagmire on the Eastern Front, how can the German logistics department estimate what kind of logistical difficulties such a large military operation will bring, but as for the solution? Well, it is impossible to get a cure. But there are ways to deal with it.

This method is to equip a large number of half-tracks to form a motorized rapid reaction force! A unit that does not have enough tanks is not suitable for assault, but it is still possible to follow behind the armored forces to fight the autumn wind, and by transporting a large number of infantry and artillery to the front line, the combat effectiveness of the armored forces will undoubtedly be greatly reduced after a long period of fierce fighting. And the idea of the Germans was to maintain the combat effectiveness of the troops by replenishing them with a certain amount of motorized infantry. So that the French can be crushed in the last line of defense, and if they win one more time, then Paris, the capital of France, is close at hand! Faced with this situation, the French finally wavered, and after some weighing, the French government withdrew from Paris. The fate of the entire Western Front and Europe will be decided at this moment!

The forces of the entire Entente were mobilized, not just France. The Australian and New Zealand units, which were the most combat-ready of the British colonial armies, have been assembled, and even the United States has sent the first formed American army to the front line, although the United States and Germany have not yet declared war, but it does not prevent the American army from participating in the battle! In the face of the scythe of the Germans, the top leaders of the Entente also began to plan for the next battle.

From the intelligence point of view, the German offensive has shown a decline, and the deadly scythe has lost its sharpness after harvesting the lives of a large number of Allied officers and soldiers, but the Germans are also aware of this, and they have begun to shrink the attack surface and turn to a defensive state at the right time to wait for reinforcements and support from the rear. Although the situation of the German armored forces was not good, after repeated war games, the Allied high-level leaders believed that the limited strength of the Entente was strong, and the sharpest blade of the opponent was still more than lucky. At the same time, the Allies were also keenly aware of the large number of German elite infantry divisions and baggage rushing to the front line in a large number of vehicles. Now the question is clear, will the Germans complete the supply and reinforcement first and then push the French out in one wave, or will the Entente side first block the reinforcements of the German Army from the flank, and then give the Germans a hard left hook? This will have a direct bearing on the outcome and direction of the war.

"It's time for our light cavalry to come out. The armored forces of the Germans were pinned down in the first line. The flanks and rear, although strong, lacked mobility. We're going to clean them up with the Germans against us! Crush them with the high-speed performance and powerful firepower of wheeled armored vehicles. Given the stakes of this campaign, I hope that General Pershing's U.S. forces will join us in this important battle. Field Marshal Robert of the British Army at a high-level meeting of the Entente. Eventually, an invitation was sent to the U.S. military, represented by Pershing.

"British and American troops will attack the flanks of the Germans, and their targets will be the weak flanks of Germany. In order to prevent the German armored forces from coming back, the French Army will launch an attack from the front to contain the German armored forces. If all goes well, the Anglo-American forces will succeed in separating at least part of the German army from the whole, and then we will eat the opponent's armored spearhead before continuing the assault. The second phase of the campaign was to attack the German follow-up forces with high-speed maneuver forces, and then cut the opponent in the same way that they had cut our troops. In the end, the top leaders of the Entente formulated such a set of operational plans.

At this time, the two sides on the battlefield are like two giants who have been exhausted from fighting. Although one of them took the initiative and had the advantage, the advantage did not translate into victory. Both sides need to take a good rest to regain their strength and plan for the next phase of the operation. The Germans had a clear understanding of the situation they were facing, although they managed to occupy all of Belgium. Although they wiped out hundreds of thousands of Allied troops, this loss was by no means fatal to Britain and France. The opposing side traded space for time, weakened the combat effectiveness of the German Army by elongating supply lines and layers of blockades, and reached the outskirts of Paris. The decisive battle between the two sides has only really begun. Whether the Germans were replenished and killed France in one fell swoop, or whether the lone German armored spearhead was crushed under the strong shield of the Allies, the outcome of this battle will be known in a matter of days. And at this critical juncture, there was a disagreement in the top echelons of the German Army.

Krueger, Mackensen and other front-line officers insisted that Moltke Jr. put the strategic reserve directly under the army into front-line operations. After several tug-of-war battles near the Marne, Kruger and the others could clearly feel that the opponent's resistance was getting stronger and stronger. Several tentative attacks by the armored forces were repelled by intense anti-aircraft artillery fire. At this point in the battle, the Germans no longer had enough troops to bypass the enemy's fortified area and continue to advance, and there was a serious gap between the pace of the attack, and the advance was bypassed. The people behind couldn't keep up. In order to ensure that the spearhead that is too deep is not broken. It is necessary to completely eat the French heavy army group in front of you.

But I have to say that the deduction more than ten years ago left too deep an impression on Moltke Jr. And in his opinion. The battle was fought almost as it was deduced, and although the Germans did their best to avoid it, the Allied blockade and extended supply lines and destroyed infrastructure eventually tied the Germans like ropes. The crisis of the right flank, which the Germans least wanted to see, had already appeared, and a large number of British troops had already appeared on their own right flank. They were about to attack, and the French in front were pinning down the Germans' proud armor spearhead.

Therefore, there are two aspects to Moltke and others to do, the first is to continue to replenish the front-line troops and prepare for the next frontal attack, and the second is to block the left hook of the British and ensure the safety of their right flank! As long as they can block the full force of the British, then Germany can turn to the frontal French army, even if it slowly accumulates strength! And if it can't be stopped, it will be a catastrophe for the armored troops who fall into the opponent's column, and there will be a strong enemy in front and then chasing the soldiers. How did you let the Germans fight? And the only safety line that could prevent this from happening was the German Army Panzer General Reserve. This is the last hole card left in Moltke's hand!

Thanks to the book friends hukaikaka and zhouyu1976 for their tips, as well as the book friends Harvard Street and Lonely Medusa for their monthly ticket support~~~. (To be continued......)