Ludendorff was a lonely man, and his life was filled with only one thing: work, work, and work.
After learning that his beloved youngest son had died in the war, Ludendorff often left the German headquarters alone. Some people once heard Ludendorff crying.
The past 1916 was a cruel year for Ludendorff. His eldest son was killed in battle in the English Channel. The troops he commanded made no progress in France. Voices questioning Ludendorff also began to appear in Germany.
The halo that Dendorff had built up through his glorious victories on the Eastern Front had dimmed.
When the time came to 1917, Ludendorff's depression showed no signs of improvement. It was good news that the German army broke through the Reims defense line, but Erich's death in battle gave Ludendorff the heaviest blow. For Ludendorff,
It is said that Erich's death in battle made the German victory on the front line meaningless. Ludendorff lost his spiritual support and his wife also suffered an emotional breakdown. Ludendorff believed that his career had lost the best heir.
In order to get Ludendorff out of his haze as soon as possible, Hindenburg took the initiative to arrange a doctor for Ludendorff. The doctor was Dr. Hochheim, whom Ludendorff knew.
Postdoctoral fellow Hochheim wrote in his memoirs: He was always working, working, working, which overtired himself mentally and physically. He had no entertainment, no relaxation, and spent all his meal time in the car, gobbling down food, and not doing anything.
Give yourself any respite, don't laugh, don't look at nature, don't look at art, don't listen to the rustle of the forest, don't splash the water in the creek.
After learning about his situation, Ludendorff sat silently for a long time. Later he asked Dr. Hochheim: You are right. I have been like this for a long time. What should I do?
Dr. Hochheim tried his best to persuade Ludendorff to move the headquarters from Avina, which only had a narrow barracks, to Spa, Belgium, where the environment was relatively comfortable. He also suggested that Ludendorff take more walks, take deep breaths, change his living habits, and rest as much as possible.
,sleep more.
Ludendorff really wanted to change, and he followed Dr. Hochheim's instructions seriously, sometimes even a little urgently.
Dr. Hochheim's method had an effect, and Ludendorff's spirit showed signs of recovery. Spa was indeed more comfortable than Avina, but Spa was also further away from the French front than Avina, which made Ludendorff more comfortable.
Dendorff was unable to understand the changes on the front line in time and could not make correct responses in time, which laid the greatest foreshadowing for the German army's subsequent failure.
Just when Ludendorff's mental condition was having problems, the German offensive on the Marne River continued.
With the help of tanks and aircraft, the British and French forces established a solid position. The German army did not have an advantage at this time, and it lost the suddenness of the battle. Pétain worked hard to organize the defense line and transferred more troops to the Marne River.
Although Louis Desprey lost Reims, he was not dismissed because of it. Pétain gave Louis Desprey the greatest degree of trust. Another person who gradually gained Pétain's trust was Charles Mangin.
Once upon a time, Mangin was a direct descendant of Joffre and Nivelle, a "butcher" known for his disregard for the lives of soldiers. This was not entirely Mangin's problem. When the World War broke out, there were many "butchers" in the French army.
Others cannot survive. Mangin cannot change the current situation of the French army and can only try to adapt.
Regardless of the life of a model soldier, Manjing is a decisive person. He is very resolute in carrying out his mission and will not be interfered by objective conditions. No matter what difficulties he faces, Manjing has the determination to face them. This is actually rare.
With such qualities, when the French army is facing a desperate situation, someone needs to take the initiative to stand up and turn the tide.
At this time, the lives of soldiers really didn't matter. After the outbreak of the world war, France had already lost 2 million people in battle. As long as it could win, even if another 2 million people died in the battle, the Paris MPs would not flinch.
A very intriguing fact is that during the World War, many immediate family members of generals who served in the army died in battle, but very few immediate family members of congressmen served.
Now on the Marne River, Louis Desprey and Charles Mangin commanded an army group respectively, cooperating with the Anzac and Canadian Corps, and finally blocked the German troops less than 50 kilometers away from Paris.
On April 5th, Paris was bombed. Several powerful bombs exploded in Paris. Panic in Paris further intensified. People thought it was a German plane that attacked Paris. The Air Force was blamed because this meant that the Air Force lost Paris.
Air supremacy.
"It's impossible. No German bombers can break through the air force's defense lines. What's more, there is no evidence that Germany has bombers. The Germans don't even have bombers. How could they bomb Paris?" Roque responded to Foch's inquiry.
"Then how do you explain the bombs falling in Paris? The MPs do not have enough confidence in our air force." Foch had no choice. You cannot ask the MPs to understand the situation like military experts.
If you don't understand the situation, then at the very least, don't express your opinions casually. If you don't investigate, you have no right to speak. These congressmen are not seeking truth from facts at all.
"There are many reasons. The German army has a super cannon with a range of more than 80 kilometers. It is not surprising at all to use it to attack Paris. In addition, it may be that the ammunition stored in Paris exploded, or there was an explosion in the kitchen of a certain restaurant, or it was
Something like a gas station. In short, there are many reasons for the explosion. We need to analyze the specific situation." Rock found a lot of reasons casually. Congressmen are a group of creatures that Rock hates most. They don't accomplish enough.
More than enough failure.
If one day in the future, Roque becomes the leader of Southern Africa, he will definitely gradually reduce the status of parliament and return most of the power belonging to parliament to the government.
Rock agreed very much with the statement "the truth is in the hands of the few". Since this statement is correct, then "the minority obeys the majority" is wrong.
Even if "the minority obeys the majority" is correct, Rock has a way to deal with it. After all, in southern Africa now, Chinese have become the majority, and whites are the minority. Unless whites are willing to unite with Africans, but in that case——
hehe!
"Now is not the time for us to shirk our responsibilities. Now we are discussing how to solve the problem." Foch had a headache. He knew that Roque was right, but the congressmen would not believe it.
"As long as we drive the German troops out of the Marne River, the threat from Paris will naturally be lifted." Roque knew the core of the problem, but it would take time to solve it.
Just as Paris was being attacked, the positions of the Canadian First Army in Charly-sur-Marne were violently attacked by the Germans.
After capturing Vimy Ridge, the Canadian Expeditionary Force became famous in one battle, and no one dared to look down upon this force that had no sense of existence before.
The soldiers of the Canadian Legion are young and full of impact. They are strong and well-equipped with weapons. They have no fear in the face of German attacks. Since the Canadian Legion entered combat mode, the First Army has repelled German attacks many times in a row.
The reorganization of the First Division by the Anzac Army bought enough time for the Canadian Army. After the First Battle of the Marne, the French government had the foresight not to dismantle the fortifications built by the French army. These fortifications are now being reused.
The deficiencies were identified and re-reinforced, and more machine gun positions and artillery bunkers were added to further strengthen the position's defense capabilities.
At the forefront of the entire defense line, Smith and his comrades were fighting hard.
This is a re-fortified bunker. There are two heavy machine guns in the bunker, with the shooting holes facing different directions. A squad of soldiers is responsible for the defense, and six people operate one heavy machine gun.
In order to guard against German poison gas attacks, officers and soldiers on the front line were required to wear gas masks, regardless of whether the Germans used poison gas bombs or not. They could only take them off when eating.
The small bunker was filled with smoke. A dozen soldiers wearing gas masks were busy. Although the heavy machine guns used smokeless gunpowder, this "smokeless" was also relative. The gases released by the heavy machine guns when shooting were still there.
It was unbearable. The ground inside the bunker was filled with bullet casings. When walking, you could not leave your feet off the ground. As long as people moved, the bullet casings on the ground would be kicked up and rattled.
"Faraday, throw out these empty ammunition boxes and bring a few more boxes of bullets -" Smith, the squad leader, is the highest commander in the bunker. He and deputy squad leader Champlin each command a heavy machine gun.
In the past few days, the Germans had been attacking like crazy, putting great pressure on Smith and his comrades.
"Yes - sir -" Private Faraday was originally a rifleman in the squad, but now the rifle was carried on Champlin's shoulder. Although there was no chance of using it, he was still required to keep the gun close to his body.
"William, the officer at four o'clock, kill him!" When Champlin commanded the heavy machine gun, he did not forget to remind William, the precision shooter, that German officers and machine gunners are the focus of precision shooters.
William did not speak. In order to ensure unobstructed vision, William was the only person in the entire bunker who did not wear a gas mask.
After hearing Champlin's reminder, William raised the Lee Enfield equipped with a scope to take aim, but before he could fire, William jumped up from the ground and began to take off his clothes, yelling: "Fuck you, Todd.
You bitch, you're going to burn me to death——"
Todd was a heavy machine gun shooter and was suppressing the German heavy machine gun. The hot bullet casing was thrown out of the ejection hole and just fell into William's collar.
Fortunately, Todd used a burst fire, and only two or three bullet casings fell into William's collar. If it had been a long burst, William would have almost received a Medal of Contribution.
"Who told you to be blind? Don't bother me -" Todd's temper is also bad. Now Todd wants to smoke a cigarette, but he can't take off the gas mask, so Todd is also holding back a fire in his heart.
