At this time, the battle broke out on the Marne River, and the German and French armies were in a head-to-head situation. The French army needed to defeat the opponent before German reinforcements arrived, while the German army needed to withstand the French attack and wait for the arrival of reinforcements.
Therefore, the battle on the Marne River became increasingly fierce and bloody, with both sides exploding their strength to prevent the other party from achieving its intentions.
"Boom, boom, boom~"
On both sides of the Marne River, intensive artillery fire filled the ground with bomb craters. At this time, officers and soldiers of both sides were hiding in the trenches from the artillery fire. At this moment, they were constantly praying for themselves, praying that the shells would not fall around them.
However, apart from bringing inner comfort, such prayers have no practical effect. The cannonballs will land wherever they are supposed to.
Of course, the shelling was short-lived, and more of a battle between soldiers from the two sides.
French soldiers often stepped on the spot immediately after the shelling ended and launched an attack on the German troops in their positions. The defending German troops also rushed back to their positions as soon as the shelling ended to meet the French attack.
On both sides of the Marne River, bloody fights between soldiers from the two sides continued. The life of a soldier was measured in hours. Why do I say this because the subsequent battles were even more bloody. After the second day of battle, the losses calculated by both sides were
The total number of people is as high as 120,000.
Such heavy casualties were of course caused by high-intensity fighting. During this day, the French army launched more than ten attacks in succession. Often the French army that launched the last offensive was repulsed, and the next wave of French troops
The soldiers were already on the way to charge.
Although this kind of continuous attack will cause a large number of casualties, it will also put great pressure on the defending German troops, because the high-intensity continuous fighting will make the already exhausted German officers and soldiers even more uncomfortable.
After repelling a French attack, many German soldiers immediately collapsed in the trenches from exhaustion and fell asleep, unable to be woken up by anyone.
Faced with this situation, the officer skillfully kicked their butts hard to get them up quickly. If they couldn't wake up even after kicking them, they could only drag them back to the anti-gun holes. After all, the trenches were too dangerous.
The French army's continuous high-intensity offensive, although it caused a lot of casualties at the beginning, was much better in terms of effect.
Because the German officers and soldiers were forced to engage in high-intensity combat on their positions, which consumed their little energy. This also caused the firepower on their positions to become weaker and weaker, and of course, their accuracy became worse and worse.
This situation allowed the French army to seize many front-line positions in the afternoon of the next day. Faced with the French army's uninterrupted offensive, Kruger and Billot also sent troops to replace the officers and soldiers of the front-line positions that were about to collapse.
This method is simple and effective, but it has little effect on the German First and Second Group Armies. Because the officers and soldiers of the two groups are exhausted, although the second-line troops are calling for more rest time, they still have not recovered. On the contrary
It was because I was even more tired from the previous rest.
Anyone with continuous high-intensity work experience will know that the state of exhaustion cannot be restored after a good sleep. On the contrary, after one sleep, the whole person will fall into a state of fatigue, which requires two or three days.
Only through rest can the body truly recover to a state of full energy. The kind of person who can recover after just one sleep is definitely different from ordinary people.
Therefore, the transfer of second-line troops did not affect the French offensive. Their continuous offensive did not give the Germans a chance to breathe. And the two German commanders also received news one after another that the first-line positions were lost.
If the sun hadn't set and darkness shrouded the earth, it would have been very possible for the French army to break through the German defense line today.
In fact, the main problem that troubled the German army was that the soldiers were too tired and did not get enough rest. As long as they were given three days of rest, not only would they be able to defeat the French army on the opposite side, they would at least be able to block the French attack with ease.
But it is obvious that the French army will not give this chance. In fact, the French army is also relatively tired. The Fifth Army and the British Expeditionary Force were driven around like dogs before. It is impossible to say that they are not tired.
But thanks to their strong force, the Seventh Army took the lead, giving the Fifth Army and the British Expeditionary Force more time to rest and regroup.
It doesn't have to be back to the best condition, it just needs to be in better condition than the German guy.
Obviously, the results of the second day's battle showed that the British and French forces had the right idea.
On the third day that followed, the British and French allied forces continued to launch a wave of offensives against the German army. At this time, the German army had an even harder time defending. Most of the first-line positions were lost, and the second-line positions also became shaky. As for the defensive weapon Maxim, the two group armies had
Only two hundred can't be reached.
You must know that at the beginning, the two armies were equipped with more than 800 Maxims, but now the two armies are not even equipped with a quarter.
The main reason for this is the consumption on the battlefield. Regarding the Maxim machine guns on the battlefield, the attacking British and French troops regarded them as a thorn in their side and always tried to eliminate them as soon as they were discovered.
Moreover, in this battle, the French artillery was rarely at a disadvantage. In addition, its artillery quantity was higher than that of the German army, which also resulted in more artillery that could support the front-line troops. The German heavy machine guns were basically useless in front of these directly supporting artillery.
Not much living space.
There is another thing. At this time, the German army was not very good at using machine guns. Although they got the method of using machine guns from their ally Italy. But you need to try it on the battlefield to know your own experience, so in the tactical use of machine guns
The Germans were not yet very skilled at this, which also made the machine guns they set up more vulnerable to artillery hits.
After losing most of their machine guns, the German army was in an even more difficult situation. On the third day of fighting, a rare deserter appeared on the German defense line. Although only a dozen people escaped, it showed that the defensive German army was approaching the pressure limit.
.
Of course, when it caused huge pressure and casualties to the German army, the casualties of the British and French forces would not be small. However, by virtue of their advantage in internal operations, they could better obtain supplies and supplement their troops.
Not to mention, taking a taxi from Paris to the front line of the Marne River is definitely a great feat.
The British and French allied forces were well supplemented, and the defensive German troops were also in urgent need of reinforcements.
For this reason, Kruger and Bülow informed Moltke in the rear of the difficulties they were facing by telegraph.
After learning the specific situation, Xiao Maoqi on the one hand mobilized more troops to reinforce them, and on the other hand ordered the Transportation Department to ensure that the first batch of reinforcements arrived at the Marne River on time.
So where are the reinforcements mobilized from Germany at this time?
