In the first half of 1918, it seemed that the war was indeed ending, but the balance of victory was tilted towards the German side.
Almost all battlefields were asking for reinforcements, and Foch, the newly appointed commander-in-chief of the Allied Powers, was very worried.
France has mobilized men over the age of 40 to participate in the war, and the United Kingdom has plans to mobilize men over the age of 50. As for Germany, they have begun to mobilize women for logistics work.
Although Qin Zhiyuan's situation is dangerous, it is not at the end of his rope. The Chinese troops are not injured. This is Qin Zhiyuan's biggest reliance.
It's not that Foch didn't understand Qin Zhiyuan's predicament, but Foch was powerless. Foch didn't have many reserves in his hands, and they would have to use them at the most critical moment.
When requesting for reinforcements failed, Qin Zhiyuan requested that the two divisions of Liu Zizheng and Jin Taihe be transferred to Soissons to ensure the safety of this railway hub.
This request was also rejected by Pétain, whose reason was that Yamin was more important.
Qin Zhiyuan was so angry at Petain's reason that he threw his cup. Yamin was indeed more important than Soissons, but Yamin already had seven divisions to defend him. What did Soissons have?
Two newly formed infantry regiments.
Qin Zhiyuan had no choice but to detach a regiment from Zhang Tianshou's troops, and Zhang Tianshou personally led it to Soissons to strengthen the defense.
At the same time, the last two Annan divisions were sent, one to Corberny and all the way to Champagne Chalons.
As a result, Reims had less than six divisions of infantry and two divisions of artillery, and the headquarters of the air force was in Paris.
Early the next morning, the battle continued, and the scale was even greater than yesterday. The Bavarian prince invested 17 divisions, preparing to complete his victory in one battle.
The battle first started in Corbeni. The Germans attacked Corbeni with five divisions. On the narrow frontal battlefield of Corbeni, there was one division almost every thousand yards.
The tactics of the Prince of Bavaria are still Hutier's storm troop tactics. Unlike Hutier, the Prince of Bavaria has enough storm troops in his hands, and at the same time, there are a large number of a7v in the follow-up troops, which will pose a great threat to Qin Haoge's position.
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Qin Haoge has become more mature after returning from Borneo. Perhaps because he was used to death in Borneo, Qin Haoge is a little indifferent to life. This can be seen from his attitude towards the US military yesterday.
Even when the US military was about to be wiped out, Qin Haoge did not send out a single soldier. It was Qin Zhiyuan who directly gave the order, and Qin Haoge sent out the armored troops.
Zhang Tianshou also has this problem, but it's not as obvious as Qin Haoge's, at least it hasn't shown up yet.
Fortunately, although Qin Haoge became more ruthless, he did not forget the tactics arranged by Qin Zhiyuan. When the Germans started shelling, Qin Haoge ordered his troops to retreat, temporarily avoiding their sharp edge, and waited until part of the German troops' vigor was depleted before launching a counterattack.
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What Qin Haoge didn't expect was that in the first attack, the German army sent out three regiments. Half an hour later, there were three regiments, and half an hour after that, there were three regiments.
Qin Haoge immediately realized that something was wrong. The number of German troops was too large and far exceeded the strength of the defenders. If the previous tactics were used at this time, they would not be able to regain the position.
So Qin Haoge put up a defensive stance on the second line of defense and refused to take a step back.
Corbeni is surrounded by mountains and forests, so it is relatively easy to defend. Although the German storm troops are faster, the terrain limits their speed. The German army's progress is far from as fast as it was at the beginning of the battle. Fierce fighting began in the morning.
By noon, the German army had only advanced 2,000 yards, and all of it was gained at the beginning of the battle. After Qin Haoge's tight defense, the German army's attack speed began to slow down.
When the remnants of the 84th Brigade withdrew yesterday, Qin Haoge's troops witnessed the tragic situation of the US troops.
Although the soldiers have not been to the battlefield in person, they can imagine how tragic it is, so they seem to be competing with the US military to see who is braver. The Chinese soldiers have an extremely strong will to fight. They are also the same as the US military yesterday, inch by inch.
Fighting with the Germans and never retreating.
The weapons of the Chinese troops are obviously better than those of the US troops who only have rifles and bayonets. Often, only one Lewis machine gun is needed to block a mountain pass or a ridge. Although the Germans are extremely bold in their penetration, their progress is limited, because almost every enemy is blocked.
There are fire points hidden behind every tree or stone. These fire points are difficult to clear and become obstacles in the way of the German army's advance.
The Germans tried to use artillery to open the passage, but because of the existence of reverse slopes everywhere, the artillery did not play its due role.
At the same time, due to the rugged mountain roads, the a7v's huge body is difficult to drive, but it is far inferior to the compact and flexible ft17.
Before evening, the Germans stopped attacking because the heavy casualties made it impossible for the Germans to continue.
In order to open up a channel to attack Soissons, the Germans have replaced seven divisions from yesterday to now. Almost every division that has been withdrawn has been judged to be unfit to continue the attack.
Near Chalons in Champagne, the fighting was equally fierce.
After all the British troops and Senegalese crossed the Marne River, Xiang Ankang's first order was to blow up all the bridges on the Marne River. If the Germans wanted to cross the river, they had to make their own rafts because all the ships were burned.
, the Germans could find no ships to exploit.
By the time the Germans completed preparations for the attack, it was already afternoon.
Xiang Ankang had no intention of retreating, so he set up a defense line along the Marne River to resist the German attack, and attacked halfway across the river. It had very good results regardless of whether it was the era of cold weapons or the era of hot weapons.
After all, the Germans had superior artillery. Since the morning, the German artillery bombardment had not stopped. The troops heading toward Ankang suffered heavy casualties, most of which were caused by German artillery.
But Xiang Ankang did not dare to retreat. He had sensed the determination of the Germans from their continuous attacks. If he retreated now, it would probably turn into an avalanche of defeat, and the situation would be irreversible.
In order to ensure that they would not be helpless at the most critical moment, even if the Germans had rushed to the shore, Xiang Ankang retained a regiment of troops and did not send them to the front line. But except for the reserve of one regiment, all troops could still move
All the soldiers were driven to the front line by Xiang Ankang, and even if their blood was shed, it would be shed at the sentry post.
As a result, the battle was extremely fierce. Both the river and the river banks were stained red with blood. The corpses of the Germans covered the water and the corpses of the defenders filled the trenches. There was no time to clean up. The dead companions were taken over and used as sandbags.
Whether they are German, British, Chinese or Senegalese, there is no distinction between high and low at this moment, they are just fighting hard to survive.
During the afternoon battle, in order to drive the British and Senegalese to the battlefield, law enforcement teams were sent to Ankang. All soldiers who refused to carry out the orders would be shot on the spot.
A company of Senegalese troops tried to resist, but was crushed to pieces by tanks. The British commander immediately stated that he would carry out the order, but at the same time reserved the right to complain.
Xiang Ankang has not wavered, even if he complains, it will have to wait until after the war. At least if those complaints threaten Xiang Ankang by then, it means that Xiang Ankang is still alive.
And living is now the greatest luxury.
Because Xiang Ankang knew very well that Qin Zhiyuan also had no reinforcements.
Qin Zhiyuan received Xiang Ankang's request for help, but did not send ground troops to support Xiang Ankang. Instead, he sent bombers to attack the German artillery positions.
The effect of the attack was very obvious. After the bomber force dispatched two batches, the German artillery fire weakened significantly, and the large-scale artillery bombardment in the morning was never organized again.
Compared with the battle on the first day, the battle on the second day was even more brutal. On this day alone, the Chinese army suffered combat attrition of nearly 10,000 people, most of whom were in the Xiang Ankang Division.
Combat attrition does not include lightly wounded personnel, because whether it is Xiang Ankang's troops or Qin Haoge's troops, lightly wounded soldiers never enter the firing line. Only those who are seriously injured and unable to continue fighting can be considered combat attrition.
After reading the battle report in the evening, Qin Zhiyuan's eyes were red. This was certainly due to staying up late, but more importantly, he felt distressed.
The battle attrition of nearly 10,000 people only occurred during the spring offensive launched by Nivele last year, and that was not the troops commanded by Qin Zhiyuan.
That night, Qin Zhiyuan called Pétain. If reinforcements were not provided, Qin Zhiyuan would order the troops in Chalon-Champagne to withdraw from their positions, because even when Qin Zhiyuan was on the phone with Pétain, the Germans still did not stop attacking.
Xiang Ankang and his troops were in a desperate situation. Even if the reserve team entered the position at nightfall, the current position would collapse at any time.
The Germans became even crazier at night. They used all the tools available to cross the river from any water body. Although the soldiers fired desperately, after all, their manpower was limited, and they were unable to defend the increasingly wider position.
Even as a division commander, Xiang Ankang went into battle himself. During the battle, Xiang Ankang was wounded all over his body. The most serious one was on his cheek. A shrapnel cut a deep line on Xiang Ankang's face.
Visible bone wounds.
Petain rejected Qin Zhiyuan's request and ordered the troops to hold their positions.
Petain may have respect for Qin Zhiyuan because of his achievements, but this does not mean that Petain will value all Chinese people.
In fact, in the hearts of a considerable number of French people, Qin Zhiyuan is already a pure Frenchman. When many people talk about Qin Zhiyuan, they do not realize that Qin Zhiyuan is actually a Chinese.
After hanging up the phone, Qin Zhiyuan immediately ordered Xiang Ankang to withdraw from the position.
Qin Zhiyuan didn't want to bargain with Petain.
No matter who it is, as long as they know how much sacrifice they have made to Ankang's troops and what kind of results they have achieved, they will not ask for more, because no matter what they ask for, it will be demanding.
At midnight, the Ankang Division withdrew its position and retreated to the Boulogne base camp in trucks. The number of trucks was sufficient because there were half as many passengers as when they came.
The soldiers who died in the battle had no time to clean up, and their bodies were left in place. Presumably the Germans would not let their bodies be exposed in the wilderness, because these soldiers who died in the battle deserved respect, both in terms of courage and ability.
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In the early morning, the convoy arrived at Welty, 25 kilometers away from Chalons in Champagne, and the troops had a simple rest.
Xiang Ankang knelt down and cried loudly when he saw the final statistics. Of the 16,000 troops, only 370 were left intact.
