On June 13, the war situation continued to worsen.
In order to prevent Qin Haoge's division from trying to disband like Xiang Ankang's division, Qin Zhiyuan ordered Qin Haoge to retreat to Soissons. At the same time, he gave an order to Zhang Tianshou of Soissons. If the German army attacked Soissons and reinforcements still had not arrived,
Then Zhang Tianshou and Qin Haoge will withdraw their troops to Compiègne, west of Soissons, to clear the way to Paris.
If the French themselves don't care about the safety of Paris, then there is no need for the Chinese to fight for Paris.
While Qin Haoge was fighting and retreating, the fighting in the Chalon area of Champagne resumed. After withdrawing from Xiang Ankang, the French Second Army took Xiang Ankang's position.
The Germans did not stop. They kept attacking and tried to circle back to the rear of Reims, preparing to surround the Foreign Legion still stationed in Reims.
This time, even French President Raymond Poingarais sent a telegram directly to Qin Zhiyuan, demanding that Qin Zhiyuan must defend Reims at all costs.
The Germans have captured Chalon de Champagne and are closing in on Soissons step by step. If Qin Zhiyuan retreats again, the two German armies launching a pincer offensive will converge, and Paris will be undefendable.
Qin Zhiyuan agreed to Raymond's request to attack Ngalay. Qin Zhiyuan could reject Petain alone, which would not affect Qin Zhiyuan's reputation in France, but Qin Zhiyuan could not reject everyone. In that case, Qin Zhiyuan would also
Rejected by everyone.
In fact, just after Pétain returned to Paris, Qin Zhiyuan received calls one after another from Foch, Engar, Clemenceau, Pershing and others. Without exception, these calls were all to appease Qin Zhiyuan.
The current war situation seems to be getting more and more difficult, and no one dares to be careless, lest the war situation deteriorates due to poor coordination, and Qin Zhiyuan's Foreign Legion is now an important force in the Allied camp.
The Foreign Legion may not be able to change the shape of war, but it can already influence the direction of local war zones.
At this point, Qin Zhiyuan will definitely not withdraw from the war, but even if he is slacking off, it will seriously affect the direction of the war.
There are no secrets between the Allies. Just as Haig knew that Pétain would give up rescuing the British army in a critical moment, Paris also knew that the British army would launch the Channel Plan in a critical moment.
This is not surprising at all. The outbreak of the world war was originally due to a struggle for interests.
On June 14, the German army continued to advance towards Soissons, but the support promised by Pétain still did not arrive, so Zhang Tianshou and Qin Haoge retreated to Compiègne as planned, and joined Liu Zizheng and Jin Taihe who were about to arrive in Compiègne.
The Germans continued to advance until they were stopped by Pershing's two divisions at Pierrefonds.
Pierrefonds is less than 70 kilometers from Paris.
On June 15, the German army began to attack Pierrefonds, and on the same day, the German army began to attack Reims.
Opposite Reims, the Bavarian prince deployed nearly 20 divisions, which made Qin Zhiyuan dare not act rashly. Even if Champagne Chalons and Soissons were lost one after another, Qin Zhiyuan did not dare to divide his troops for reinforcements.
This is also the reason why Qin Zhiyuan was not severely criticized despite the fall of the two places mentioned above. The Allies could not bear the consequences of Reims being captured.
The Bavarian prince was decisive in his attack and would not attack until he started. Once the attack started, he would not hold back and directly invest 15 divisions.
Qin Zhiyuan still has six divisions and two regiments of Chinese troops, one division of Annan troops, and two regiments of tank troops.
Qin Zhiyuan's total military strength is just over 100,000, and there are more than 300,000 Germans on the front alone. If Reims' two wings are included, Qin Zhiyuan may face more than 700,000 Germans at most.
The difference in strength is so huge that it's dizzying.
In order to make up for the gap as much as possible, the War Department once again gave the Foreign Legion uncontrolled rights to supply materials. As long as the materials needed by the Foreign Legion were as much as they needed.
So in a very short period of time, Qin Zhiyuan formed a second armored division in Paris. The backbone of this division was the 11th Division that had withdrawn to Paris. The division commander was Xiang Ankang, who had not yet recovered from his injuries.
As the second battle report was issued, the 11th Division became the first division-level unit of the Foreign Legion to be commended. This division was also named the Champagne Division, also called the Victory Division.
In recognition of Xiang Ankang's bravery and tenacity, the Ministry of War awarded Xiang Ankang the Knight of the Grand Cross.
This is also the second Chinese officer in the Foreign Legion to receive the Knight of the Grand Cross after Qin Zhiyuan.
Like unlimited tanks, aircraft equipment was no longer restricted. The Air Force Division headquartered in Paris soon had nearly 300 fighters and more than 200 bombers. Calculated according to the standard establishment, these aircraft were enough to organize
into six air force divisions or flying formations, and four bomber divisions or bomber formations.
Because the scale expanded again, Qin Zhiyuan had to split the air force into a fighter force and a bomber force, led by Bao Deshui and Zhou Hongguang respectively.
On the morning of the 15th, the German army carried out routine bombing before starting its offensive. More than ten German artillery divisions set up artillery positions around Reims and bombed Reims indiscriminately.
This time, he no longer held back, and Qin Zhiyuan immediately ordered the artillery to carry out counterattacks.
As a result, the two sides launched the largest and most intense artillery battle since the beginning of the war.
In fact, the scale of this time was not as large as the German army's previous attacks on Armiefontein and Champagne Chalon. However, due to the unequal strength of the two sides at that time, it could not be called an artillery battle. It could only be said to be a unilateral release of firepower.
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This time it was different. The artillerymen of the Foreign Legion, who were assisted by bombers, did not remain silent. They bravely launched an artillery battle with the superior artillery of the Germans. Although there was a huge gap in the number of artillery pieces, they fought vigorously and did not lose at all.
The artillery battle started at three o'clock in the morning. Because it was too early, the bombers could not be dispatched, so the artillery division had to carry it out.
Self-propelled artillery is better, they can change places after a while, but fixed artillery is worse. Even if their position is exposed, they cannot change their position, so they can only hold on.
The absolute gap in quantity cannot be made up by courage or technology, especially if the technology gap is not large.
In just two hours of artillery battle, the Second Artillery Division suffered nearly half casualties and more artillery damage. Fortunately, the location of the ammunition depot was relatively hidden, otherwise once the spare ammunition was ignited and exploded, the casualties would be even more severe.
At five o'clock in the morning, the first wave of bombers came to support under the escort of fighter jets.
Since the Red Baron was shot down, German aircraft have rarely been seen in the skies of Reims, and the few that have been are just reconnaissance aircraft. The Germans no longer dare to dispatch large-scale aircraft for fear of running into a new generation of hunting brigade.
Since the annihilation of the hunting brigade led by the Red Baron, the Chinese pilots have regarded themselves as a new generation of hunting brigade, and have changed their clothing from military uniforms to hunter clothing jackets specially produced for them.
Well, he looks handsome
When the bomber force appeared over Reims, the situation of the battle suddenly changed. The Foreign Legion bombers were divided into four formations, and dozens of them were dispatched together each time, destroying a German artillery position almost every time.
Although there were a large number of anti-aircraft machine guns on the German positions, they could not stop the enthusiasm of the bomber troops to advance.
Those anti-aircraft machine guns were also beaten into a pile of scrap metal by the swooping fighter planes.
The absence of German fighter jets in the sky does not mean that the hunting brigade has nothing to do. Even if there are no bombs on the fighter jets, they can still use aircraft machine guns to dive, posing a serious threat to the enemies on the ground.
By 8 a.m., the Germans saw that the artillery battle was making no further progress, so they sent ground troops to attack the Foreign Legion's positions.
Responsible for the front line of defense are the two divisions of Ge Lifu and Xu Sheng. These can also be said to be the two divisions with the strongest combat effectiveness in the Foreign Legion. They have been waiting for three months, just waiting for business to come to them.
However, this door-to-door business is not easy to do. When the German army attacked, they had a large number of A7V tanks in their troops, which was a serious threat to the defenders.
Both Ge Lifu and Xu Sheng's troops are equipped with FT17. Compared with the huge A7V, the FT17 is more flexible because it is equipped with a 75mm gun and its firepower is not weak at all. It can compete with the A7V.
In fact, there is a Ypres Canal that acts as a natural barrier in front of the positions of Greif and Xu Sheng. As long as the defenders do not make major mistakes, it will not be easy for the Germans to break through the Ypres Canal.
Of course, this depends on the premise that the gap in military strength is not large.
On the south bank of the Ypres Canal, the density of machine guns is astonishing. Almost every five meters or so, there is a machine gun position, and there is either an mg08 or two Lewis.
Faced with such density of firepower, it was impossible for the Germans to cross the Ypres Canal.
So the day's battle ended with the Foreign Legion's ability to respond with ease.
That night, the Bavarian prince urgently dispatched troops to detour from the two wings of Reims to the rear of Reims.
So suddenly, the status of Taixi and Mi Yizong became prominent, which was the key point behind Lance.
Qin Zhiyuan has received relevant early warning information and immediately mobilized troops to prepare for response.
In addition to the infantry, the mobilized troops also included all tank troops of the two regiments.
While passively defending, Qin Zhiyuan was also thinking about attacking.
Attack is the best defense.
However, the Ypres Canal lies between the Foreign Legion and the German troops, which not only hinders the advance of the A7V equipped by the German troops, but also hinders the FT17 from launching a counterattack.
I don't know how to evaluate this.
That night, Foch called Qin Zhiyuan to inform Qin Zhiyuan of the next phase of the battle plan.
In view of the fact that German troops are pouring into the hinterland of France from Soissons and Champagne-Challons, the War Department has mobilized four armies to prepare for a counterattack.
Some of these troops are currently deployed in Italy, and some have just been reorganized. They need more training to enter combat status.
Foch's order to Qin Zhiyuan was to stay in Reims for at least half a month, waiting for the War Department to mobilize troops to eliminate all German troops in the two huge protrusions.
In that case, the war may end within this year.
Of course this is just maybe, maybe this is the beginning of the end, more likely this is just the end of the beginning.
