When the Germans launched their attack, Qin Zhiyuan was restless in the headquarters.
This is no longer Brimont's headquarters, but a basement in Reims Town.
That's right, it's a town.
Reims now only covers an area of about two or three square kilometers. Calling it a town is an exaggeration, but strictly speaking it should be a village.
The reason why Qin Zhiyuan was restless was not because he didn't believe in his troops or because he was worried about the upcoming war, but because of Misha's condition.
The Spanish flu finally reached Reims. Misha was fine in the morning, but started to have cold symptoms in the afternoon, and then fell into a coma after being sent to a field hospital.
Fortunately, the doctor injected Misha with penicillin in time. Otherwise, Misha would have suffered an accident by now.
This is not an exaggeration at all. Recently, more than a dozen cases of similar symptoms have appeared in Reims. The process was the same every time. They were suddenly infected and died a few hours later.
Qin Zhiyuan was not surprised by this, because compared to the Spanish Flu in history, the situation in Reims was already pretty good. After all, there was plenty of penicillin here.
As for areas without penicillin, such as German camps, Qin Zhiyuan could imagine what a miserable situation it would be.
It is true that more than a dozen people died in the Foreign Legion, but compared to the number of cases, this proportion is very low, about one in a thousand.
If calculated according to this probability, about 10,000 people in the German camp should be infected, and the death toll should be about 2,000 to 2,000.
Compared to the 500,000 German troops, this number was not large, but it was enough to cause panic in the German camp.
In fact, compared to Qin Zhiyuan's estimate, the number of German soldiers infected with influenza is much higher. The Germans are now suffering from long-term malnutrition and have extremely low resistance to the virus. At present, there are nearly 30,000 German soldiers in the Reims area.
6,000 people have died from influenza infection.
Just when Qin Zhiyuan was gloating about his misfortune, Pierre, who was ordered to go to the field hospital, walked in with a depressed look on his face.
How about Qin Zhiyuan's concern about the situation in field hospitals?
It’s not good. Six more people died of illness today. Including the damn cold some time ago, we have lost 295 people. Pierre shook his head and sighed, sitting on the sofa and smacking his forehead.
You know what I'm asking. Qin Zhiyuan is dissatisfied.
Of course Qin Zhiyuan knew the total number of deaths due to illness since April, but he was asking about Misha's condition.
Misha is fine, and his vital signs are stable now. Pierre rolled his eyes and answered, and then he was very unhappy when he saw Qin Zhiyuan's relieved look: Qin, I think your concern for Misha has gone beyond the work relationship, and you should reflect on yourself.
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After all, Pierre is Qin Zhiyuan's uncle. For the sake of his sister's happiness, Pierre must always remind Qin Zhiyuan.
It's you who should reflect, you think too much. Qin Zhiyuan finally felt a little relaxed.
To be honest, Qin Zhiyuan doesn't like the feeling of leaving his destiny to God at all, although he did pray devoutly just now.
What should I reflect on? Is it because I didn’t work hard enough to marry Misha? Of course, Pierre refused to reflect on it, because he didn’t think he was at all wrong.
Your thoughts are so dirty. It’s hard to imagine how Father Foch could raise a son like you. Qin Zhiyuan despises you.
Foch was a devout Catholic. If not, Foch might not have agreed to marry Julie to Qin Zhiyuan.
Review and guide the entanglement between Qin Zhiyuan and the Knights Templar.
Hey, hey, hey, let’s talk about our business, don’t drag the old man into it, okay? Pierre was even more dissatisfied.
If you have time to fool around here, why not go and count the supplies in the warehouse. Qin Zhiyuan finds something for Pierre to do.
Geng did his job very well and did not need my help. Pierre did not move.
Geng Xinmin, who is in charge of the logistics work of the Foreign Legion, has indeed done a good job. He now has to ensure the daily supply of nearly 100,000 people and maintain a delicate balance between daily consumption and inventory.
Since the siege of Reims, Paris has begun to use transport planes to airdrop supplies, a variety of canned drinks, and even fresh fruits. There is no need to airdrop ammunition. Before the siege, Qin Zhiyuan had already accumulated enough ammunition for two months.
Then you will formulate an attack plan, launching from the eastern front and attacking in the direction of Belu Forest. Qin Zhiyuan is only responsible for the general direction.
Attack God, there are 500,000 Germans around us now, let's defend first. Pierre disagreed.
Blindly defending is not our style. Our creed is to attack. Only in attack can we destroy more enemies. Go quickly. Qin Zhiyuan insisted.
Okay, okay. We want to attack Pierre. Qin Zhiyuan couldn't convince him, so he mumbled and went to the staff headquarters to do his job.
Qin Zhiyuan is right, blindly defending is not in line with the style of the Foreign Legion. Only by letting go and attacking can you show your full potential.
On the southwest defense line, the battle was fierce.
The starting point of the German attack was about one kilometer away from the forward position of the Foreign Legion. The reason why the starting point was set up so far was because of the strong firepower of the defenders.
Even at a distance of one kilometer, the Germans still had no sense of security. Whether it was the Foreign Legion's mg08 or Miss 75, they could easily cover the starting point of the German army.
Of course, at this distance, the accuracy of Miss 75 is guaranteed, but the accuracy of mg08 is questionable.
Therefore, the machine gunners of the Foreign Legion did not conduct harassment shooting, which would be of no use.
The A7V tank is three meters high. Its huge body stands in the wilderness, like a series of siege vehicles built for war in the Middle Ages. It has become the most conspicuous target on the battlefield.
Almost as soon as the A7V appeared on the battlefield, it attracted harassing shooting from Miss 75.
It's not considered harassment, because even a kilometer away, a dozen A7Vs were destroyed, or malfunctioned and couldn't move forward.
At this time, tanks were still in their infancy, and it was not surprising that even the Germans, who were famous for their precision manufacturing, would have problems of one kind or another in the tanks they built.
After the attack started, the closer the tank got to the Foreign Legion's position, the more serious the tank losses became.
On the Foreign Legion's position, the density of artillery is very high. There is a Miss 75 almost every 10 meters along the four-kilometer defense line. Coupled with the 75mm tank gun on the FT17, the firepower density is astonishingly high.
The A7V is indeed huge. The 18 crew members ensure that there are enough manpower to operate the tank. There are enough machine guns on the front, rear, left and right, and it is also equipped with a 75mm tank gun.
But with just over a hundred tanks, the damage caused to the Foreign Legion's positions was extremely limited.
The Foreign Legion often conducts exercises. The tank crews have to practice fixed-point shooting, and the artillerymen have to practice anti-tank. They have to try their best to hit the joints of the tanks with the shells.
The ft17 tank has a welded turret. Although the front armor is thicker, if a shot hits the joint between the turret and the body, it can still hit the target with one shot.
At the same time, the most critical thing is that the Foreign Legion is equipped with armor-piercing projectiles, which are the kind of armor-piercing projectiles that evolved from naval artillery shells and are specially used for anti-armor.
During the San Michael offensive three months ago, the Germans used A7V. After Qin Zhiyuan learned the news, he immediately asked the old Renault organization to produce 75mm armor-piercing bullets, which can be used not only for 75 Miss, but also for tanks.
gun.
The French military production capacity is still good. In two months, the Foreign Legion stockpiled more than 30,000 rounds of armor-piercing bullets. Even if ten rounds of armor-piercing bullets are used to destroy a tank, these armor-piercing bullets are enough to destroy all the tanks in the world.
What's more, in actual combat, it takes at most two or three rounds to destroy a tank. In many cases, it even takes one shot. The huge A7V has no ability to resist.
Armor-piercing bullets do not just penetrate the tank armor, but after penetrating the tank armor, the warhead penetrates directly into the vehicle body and explodes, relying on the fragments of the warhead to kill the enemy.
The A7V uses a gasoline engine. Because it has a large number of machine gun positions and artillery, it also stores more bullets and shells. As a result, when the warhead of an armor-piercing projectile explodes inside the car body, it often causes the explosion of gasoline and shells.
So on the charge of a7v, some unlucky guy will turn into a big brilliant firework.
The result of targeted defense is massacre.
The Germans used the A7V in the attack because they wanted to rely on the impact of the A7V to form a breakthrough. However, in actual combat, the most important role the A7V played was to provide some cover for the infantry, and they were destroyed on the way to the Foreign Legion position.
This result was unexpected for both the offensive and defensive sides.
The Germans did not expect that they would have to rely on the infantry to solve the problem in the end. The defenders were even more surprised. They still had many means of dealing with tanks that they had not used, so they lost their use.
Then use traditional means to solve the problem.
Without the protection of tanks, the infantry had nothing to rely on, and they launched a tragic charge.
The human wave tactic proved useless in last year's battles in front of positions defended by numerous machine guns.
It cannot be said that it was useless, at least it proved the courage of the German army and added military exploits to the Foreign Legion.
When the battle ended, both Qin Zhiyuan and Bavaria Rupprecht were surprised.
The difference is that Qin Zhiyuan felt that winning was too easy, while Ruprecht finally knew why Crown Prince William's army was wiped out.
So the seemingly massive first siege of Reims ended hastily.
Before finding an effective breakthrough method, Ruprecht will not launch the next attack, which will only waste the precious lives of the soldiers in vain.
Although the Foreign Legion's defense is as solid as a mountain, it does not have much offensive capability. Once it leaves the well-equipped defensive position, the weapons of the Foreign Legion cannot exert its defensive effect.
Starting from late June, the war fell into silence, and both warring parties needed to take a breather, regroup their forces, and prepare for the next phase of the offensive.
But the delay of time is not good for the Germans, because every day, the balance of power between the two sides will change, towards the side that is unfavorable to Germany.
