The plan of the Kingdom of Abyssinia was foiled, which meant that the British attack on East Africa had to be prepared for a while longer.
However, the plan only received a little attention from London. Now London has a more important matter, which is the Battle of Paris.
As early as France abandoned Paris and retreated to the west bank of the Seine, the French military began to make plans to retake Paris.
However, due to the heavy losses suffered by the French army in previous battles and the reduction in available population, the French army found that it was too difficult to retake Paris. Fortunately, it had allies.
As a British Empire that started out as a navy, its army has always been relatively weak (compared to its navy). The previous Boer War made it make a fool of itself.
However, it is precisely because of this that the British Army worked hard to reorganize it and finally had an army that could take action. In previous battles, the British Army performed no worse than the French Army, and was even better than the French Army in some aspects.
So France asked Britain for help.
The British side, of course, fully supports France's request, because London knows that if the Paris Basin is not recaptured, France may not be able to hold on for long.
One more thing to say here is that there are three main industrial areas in France, mainly the Paris Basin area headed by Paris, the Mediterranean coastal area headed by Marseille-Fors, and the northeastern area headed by Lille. At present, the industrial areas in the northeast have
After the fall, the Paris Basin turned into a battlefield. Can we only rely on the smallest Mediterranean coastal area?
In addition, these areas are important grain production bases in France. Although food can be imported from colonies and abroad, if industry is not good, how can France maintain its huge army.
Even if it relies on imports, France's foreign exchange can only support it for one year at most.
Therefore, taking back Paris is the only reason and belief that France can continue to support the war.
Therefore, the two countries quickly reached an agreement that they needed to take back Paris.
After some discussions, France dispatched 31 divisions with 530,000 people, and Britain dispatched 17 divisions with 280,000 people, forming the main force for launching the Battle of Paris. These troops preparing to participate in the war fought well and had complete weapons and equipment.
It is an elite division that has been trained for more than three months. In addition, Britain and France have also prepared 13 divisions with a reserve force of about 200,000.
As for the selection of the commander of this battle, after the strong request from France, he was nominated by the French Commander-in-Chief Nivel. General Galieni, who had previously served as the commander of the Paris city defense, served as the deputy commander.
Admiral Haig is in charge.
As for the former French army commander-in-chief Joffre, due to successive defeats in previous battles and the fall of Paris, Joffre, as the commander-in-chief of the French army, was directly replaced and became a government military adviser. In addition, given that Joffre was in the French army
He had a high prestige, and after he was dismissed as Army Commander-in-Chief, he was promoted to marshal. However, only Xiafei himself knew what it was like to be a marshal.
In addition, Marshal French, the former commander of the British Expeditionary Force, was considered unsuitable for trench warfare because of the previous loss of more than 200,000 British troops and was transferred back to the country. He was replaced by Haig, the former commander of the First Corps of the Expeditionary Force.
After deciding on the two commanders, the next step is the preparation stage. All supplies need to be prepared, especially the most important ammunition.
In the previous battles, the ammunition consumption of the two countries wiped out two-thirds of their inventories. Although the British and French arsenals were working overtime to produce ammunition, according to the estimates of the two countries' military, it was simply not enough for the battle.
In this case, what should we do?
The British and French armies operated in two ways. One was to draw military supplies from the colonial munitions depots that were not at war, and the other was to purchase them from abroad, mainly the United States.
As for whether the United States should sell it or not, that doesn't matter. Capitalists don't dare to sell anything as long as it's for profit.
Besides, as a challenger, how could the United States be willing to see Germany, Italy and Austria gain an advantage on the battlefield? (One more thing, I think that whether it was World War I or World War II, the United States would not be able or willing to see Germany.
Win this war. The reason is very simple. Germany is a competitor. They are both competing for the new world hegemon. It’s just that the United States is far away and the domestic market is large enough. He is waiting.)
For the battle plan, Britain and France also mobilized a bunch of outstanding staff officers in the army to formulate it. It finally took a month to finalize the plan. In general, the core of the Battle of Paris was to capture various towns around Paris.
Thus the purpose of liberating Paris.
Of course, these towns are not easy to capture. Germany has more than 400,000 people defending the Paris area. The core of their defense is the surrounding places such as Guyville, Beine, Courcouronne, Gautier, etc. These are all
The fulcrum outside Paris, as long as these places are defended, Paris will not be breached at all.
And if these places cannot be defended, there is no need to defend Paris, because the above locations are lost, and the defenders must evacuate if they do not want to be trapped in the urn. (Look at World War II, neither Germany nor Britain and the United States encountered fighting in Paris. This is the most important thing.
reason.)
According to the British and French plans, the British and French armies launched attacks from the left and right. The British army on the left targeted the Guyville-Bonterru-Gissault-Tilet line, while the French army attacked from the right, targeting Gautier.
Ye-Serry-Chercy-Baron are the goals, and ultimately both armies share the goal of conquering Pontepuan. If the British and French armies can accomplish this task, they will not only be able to liberate Paris, but also encircle more than 400,000 German troops.
It can be said that if it is done, it will become a turning point in the war.
However, it is not easy at all, because it is more than 100 kilometers from the starting point of the battle to Ponte Pu'an. Such a long distance is quite difficult.
But it doesn't matter. The staff also considered the difficulty of the task and had a backup plan. If the casualties caused by conquering the German positions all the way were too great, Saint-Vie could be the encirclement location, which could also cut off the railway from Paris to Antwerp.
If that doesn't work, then the encirclement target is Saint-Denis, a suburb outside the city. However, if this is the target, then it will lose its will to drive the German army out of the Paris Basin. France wants to use the Paris Basin to restore its health.
You may lose most of it.
If this is not achieved, then the battle can be declared a failure, because none of its goals have been achieved, and Britain and France need to seriously consider whether the war is worth it.
Regarding the worst outcome, Britain and France did not think it was possible at all. Because the deployment of German troops in the Paris area was clear to both Britain and France (the patriotic people of Paris).
As for the two commanders of this battle, they were quite confident in this. They believed that only by conquering Pontepuan could the purpose of the battle be completed. If Saint-Vie was the target, this would be a poor battle.
.As for the remaining two possibilities, they simply don't exist. In such a clear situation, the worst they can do is submit a letter of resignation.
It was early morning on May 27 at the coalition headquarters in Nemours.
At this moment, in the combat command hall, all the British and French officers were looking at General Gallieni, the commander of the coalition forces.
Admiral Gallieni certainly knew what they were waiting for. After looking at the clock hanging on the wall, Gallieni picked up the red phone and said, "I now order that the Battle of Paris officially begins."
As he put down the phone, he heard the roar of artillery outside. This was the British and French artillery units firing. A total of more than 2,100 cannons made their own roar.
This time, there are more than 800 British and French artillery pieces with a caliber of 100 mm or above, including more than 400 artillery pieces with a caliber of 150 mm and above. Many of these artillery pieces are directly disassembled from battleships. These have great power.
The naval artillery with a long range was prepared by Britain and France with great efforts. After all, they had been defeated by German heavy artillery before, so Britain and France had a deep understanding of the justice of caliber.
Artillery shells exploded on the German positions one after another. The deafening explosions continued to explode like firecrackers, and the scattered shrapnel also caused fatal damage.
The wooden piles and barbed wire fences on the position were blown up by the roaring artillery shells, and the mines placed in front of the position were also directly detonated. Even the trenches where they were hiding were blown up section by section.
It can be said that any garrison officer and soldier lived like a year under such intensive artillery fire, and the British and French artillery kept firing for three days. During these three days, the German troops defending the Paris area also pulled out their artillery in an attempt to counterattack. However,
When the opponent has artillery that is one and a half times ahead of you, no counterattack is worthwhile.
Therefore, starting from the third day, German artillery only showed its presence occasionally, trying to save the artillery until the moment when it was most needed.
After the artillery exploded for three days, following the whistle of the leading officer, groups of British and French soldiers, led by the officers, launched a charge towards the German positions. They were full of momentum and vowed to take back the city of Paris.
