People are indeed different, just like the British Expeditionary Force and the French Army on the Western Front.
When Roque launched his attack in Belgium, the French troops led by Foch were also attacking the German army, which was also part of the Battle of the Somme.
Compared with the British Expeditionary Force, the French army's offensive method was relatively dull, the command system was more rigid, and the performance of the frontline troops was not good enough. Foch's troops relied on relatively strong artillery and huge troops to maintain their position in the face of the enemy.
advantages of the German army.
At the beginning of the Battle of the Somme, the left wing and center of the British Expeditionary Force collapsed, while the right wing led by Foch made a breakthrough. This greatly increased Foch's reputation.
However, as Nivelle and Mangin rose to fame, the performance of the French army led by Foch pales in comparison. In addition, after Haig returned home, the British Expeditionary Force signaled that it would stop attacking, and Foch lost the cooperation of the British troops.
, so during this period, although the small-scale battles between the French army led by Foch and the German troops continued, the French troops made no progress and had no chance to break through the German positions.
This attack organized by Roque was mainly in Belgium. The Somme area where fierce fighting broke out before fell into silence. Foch was very smart. Without the restraint of the British Expeditionary Force, Foch's troops would not take the initiative to attack.
However, Foch was unwilling to be lonely. When the British Expeditionary Force was conquering cities in Belgium, Foch came to Roque's headquarters in Ame, hoping that Roque could launch a new attack in the Somme area.
"Sorry Ferdinand, our main attack direction is Belgium. Attacking on the Somme River is obviously not in our overall interests. We want to defeat the Germans, not die with the Germans." Rock disagreed with the Somme River attack.
A new attack was launched in the area. Haig and Joffre decided to launch the Battle of the Somme in order to relieve the pressure in the direction of Verdun. Apart from this, there was no real clear goal. This seemed to Rock to be nonsense.
It is incredible to say that Haig and Jiafei have no ability to overview the overall situation. The many attacks planned by Jiafei have no clear campaign goals at all. They are mainly to consume Germany's strength, hoping to gradually consume Germany's strength in this way.
The war potential forced Germany to withdraw from the war. At this level, in southern Africa, Haig and Joffre could only serve as group army commanders at best, and were not qualified to serve as army commanders-in-chief.
Compared with Joffre Haig, Roque's purpose was very clear. While eliminating Germany's effective forces, it was necessary to gradually compress the German army's living space and gradually reduce the material supplies the German army obtained from the occupied areas.
It is now September, and although Romania is still holding on, it is completely defeated.
At the end of August, Falkenhayn and Mackensen finally met in Bucharest, the capital of the Kingdom of Romania. The German army held a grand victory parade in Bucharest. The impact of Romania's defeat was not the consumption of the German army or the role of political propaganda, but the
The German army achieved real gains. In the next year and a half, the German army transported 2 million tons of grain, 1 million tons of oil, 200,000 tons of wood, and 100,000 livestock from Romania.
These materials transported by the German army from the Kingdom of Romania strongly supported the German army's operations.
The same is true in Belgium. After the German army occupied Belgium, it is still difficult to estimate how much supplies Belgium lost. What is certain is that the profits made by Leopold II during the years of colonizing the Congo Free State have now become the spoils of war for the German army.
This is fattening the pigs before killing them.
"If we cannot continue to consume the effective strength of the German army, then we will not be able to win this war." Foch partially agreed with Roque's opinion, but he was more influenced by Joffre.
"Then what do you want to do? Break through the German defense lines in the Somme area and create a huge salient in the Somme area. In that case, as long as we cannot defeat the German army in a short period of time, the Somme River will become ours and Germany's."
It is gratifying to be a human flesh and blood mill, consuming the German army's vitality, but what about our losses? Can France bear the losses?" Although Roque can be cruel when he should be, he really doesn't want to be a butcher.
"As long as the Germans can bear it, we can bear it, and we must bear it!" Foch was strong and decisive, but in fact he was bitter in his heart.
On the surface, the French army mobilized more troops than the British, and the Western Front was dominated by French troops.
In fact, France's war potential is far inferior to that of Britain. Britain has colonial support all over the world. More than half of the soldiers of the British Expeditionary Force fighting in France are colonial servants.
After the fall of the First Empire, France lost almost all its overseas colonies. The only remaining overseas colonies now are the French East Indies in East Asia and the sparsely populated French North Africa. The support that these two colonies can provide to France combined is not as good as that in the south.
Africa provides a lot of support to Britain, so France seems to be strong now, but in fact it is a strong external force but a weak leader within.
Sadly, France also had "butcher"-style commanders like Joffre-Nivelle and Mangin. When Roque read the battle report, sometimes he couldn't help but doubt Joffre and Nivelle-Mangin.
Are they German spies who broke into France? Their style of commanding the battle on the battlefield is as if they have a grudge against the French people and want the French to die.
"Okay, if you insist, I will send troops to cooperate with you." Rock gave in appropriately. After all, he is the future commander-in-chief of the coalition forces, and he still has to give him the face he deserves.
"Send armored troops to cooperate in combat?" Foch's eyes suddenly lit up. During this period, armored troops were in the limelight. Almost all newspapers and magazines were discussing the outstanding armored troops, and France had also begun research on tanks.
Roque really wanted to sell the tank to the French, but the French were unwilling to buy it, or they couldn't afford it, so the French contacted the Nyasaland Military Industrial Group, hoping to obtain it from the Nyasaland Military Industrial Group.
With the corresponding technology and production license, tanks were produced locally in France for combat against the German army.
Of course Roque is indispensable. The price of purchasing technology and production licenses is not cheap. Don't think that southern Africa will be free for the French. We are all brothers who settle accounts. Allies belong to allies. Business is business.
"Impossible, the armored forces are progressing smoothly, but the losses are also huge. I will send the Fifth Army to cooperate with you in the fight." Roque will definitely not send tanks to help the French fight. The Fifth Army is mainly composed of Indian troops.
, Roark doesn’t feel bad when he is sent to the battlefield.
"Okay -" Foch didn't feel anything was wrong. Although Roque didn't like the Indian troops, Foch was not qualified to dislike it. At this stage, any combat power is very valuable to France.
Although the combat effectiveness of the Indian troops was weak, France's colonial servant army was not much stronger.
While Foch was planning a new attack, the British Expeditionary Force's offensive in Belgium was still in progress.
On September 5th, a huge fleet consisting of hundreds of ships appeared off the coast of Zeebrugge Port in Belgium.
At five o'clock in the morning, the fleet bombarded the port of Zeebrugge. Half an hour later, the expeditionary force soldiers on the transport ship used landing craft to land in Zeebrugge.
"Take your weapons and leave the beach as quickly as possible. Remember our gathering position. If you cannot arrive smoothly, find troops nearby to cooperate with the attack. Our target is the cannon in the fort -" Huang Hai was on the landing craft.
The captain and company commander are giving final instructions.
When the fleet bombarded the port of Zeebrugge, the forts next to the port also began to fire back. The shells roared past the landing craft with a sharp scream. From time to time, water columns were stirred up by the explosion of shells on the sea next to the landing craft. One landing craft was
The shells hit directly and were instantly engulfed by the fireball. The soldiers on the landing craft jumped into the sea wailing with raging fire. Compared with these unlucky guys, the soldiers who died instantly were more "lucky".
jump jump jump--
A string of bullets hit the steel hull of the landing craft. After a loud clang, they did not penetrate the steel hull.
Horace, who was a new recruit some time ago, is now a veteran. He followed the company commander's request, lowered his head and held his helmet as low as possible, and muttered something.
"Merciful God forgive me——"
The beard on Huang Hai's face is already very large. He can't see his nose and mouth clearly. He has to lift his beard when eating. Now Huang Hai's face is also ugly. His clothes are soaked all over. The muzzle of the light machine gun is used.
The oilcloth was wrapped carefully to prevent sand from getting into the muzzle when jumping off the ship later.
"Get ready, get ready for landing -" the captain gave the order, and the landing craft lowered its front fender.
Whoosh whoosh——
A row of machine gun bullets immediately swept over, and the group of soldiers next to Huang Hai and Horace suffered heavy casualties in an instant.
God bless me, if the string of bullets just missed was a little bit crooked——
"Jump, jump off -" the company commander roared and jumped out of the landing craft first. At this time, the further away from the landing craft, the greater the chance of survival.
Huang Hai didn't talk nonsense. Now Horace no longer needed Huang Hai's reminder. Just as Huang Hai jumped out of the landing craft, Horace also jumped out of the landing craft carrying a bulging special backpack and carrying a spare barrel.
Horace is Huang Hai's assistant. He not only helps Huang Hai get spare barrels, but also helps Huang Hai carry bullets.
When Huang Hai carried a light machine gun, in addition to a spare barrel, he also had four ammunition boxes with a capacity of 75 rounds.
Horace was even more ruthless, carrying eight 75-round ammunition boxes. In addition, he also carried rifles and grenades, and two living human-shaped ammunition depots.
Fortunately, the water next to the landing craft was not deep, just reaching the Yellow Sea and Horace's chest.
Huang Hai stood firm when he jumped in, but Horace staggered and fell into the sea.
Huang Hai pulled Horace up, and the two of them rolled and rushed onto the beach.
It's even more dangerous on the beach, there aren't even any obstacles available.
