Expedition to Europe

At the end of August, all preparations were basically completed, and Qin Zhiyuan launched another attack on Reims.

This attack was different from the previous ones. Qin Zhiyuan no longer took one step at a time, but decided to launch a large-scale assault.

Some time ago, the armored forces had to install communication devices and could not participate in the battle. Now the modification has been basically completed, and Qin Zhiyuan finally has a reliable assault force in his hands.

The tank troops with communication devices installed are absolutely different in combat effectiveness from the troops without communication devices. If the tanks without communication devices are compared to fists, then the tanks with communication devices installed are meteor hammers.

When the attack was about to be launched, the number of tanks in Chen Kangjian's hands had increased to 470, which was the largest tank force on the planet...

It was not the largest either. In the past few days, the British were also preparing for an attack in Flanders. The British also prepared an armored force of 500 tanks to launch an attack in the direction of Clairken.

The British tank forces developed very quickly, but they have been taking detours and running wildly on the road of diamond tanks. From the initial "little wanderers" to the current Mark IV, they are all big guys.

In the previous battle, although Qin Zhiyuan had large tanks, he had always deliberately held back and did not let go, so the tank troops only undertook auxiliary combat tasks and did not burst out all combat power.

Qin Zhiyuan wanted to see how much combat power Chen Kangjian could exert in the tank troops if he let go now.

After several replenishments, the artillery troops are powerful, with nearly 600 heavy artillery with a caliber of more than 120 mm. These are not only owned by the Foreign Legion, but also equipped by Bastien's troops, but now they are all under the command of Qin Zhiyuan.

The first stage of the battle looked no different from the past, with long firepower preparations, endless bombardment, and seemingly endless death and darkness...

Compared to the wins and losses in Reims, the Germans seemed to be at a disadvantage in Flanders, so more fighters were transferred to Flanders to help the Bavarian army resist the British attack.

This gave the air force in the Reims area an opportunity, and even fighters dared to dive and use machine guns to strafe the German positions. The bomber unit seized the opportunity and dispatched several times, destroying a German artillery position and two ammunition depots.

The bomber unit is now very skilled, with about 40 all-Chinese bomber crews participating in the battle, as well as more than 50 Chinese fighter pilots. So far, a total of four pilots have won the title of "Ace", and Bao Deshui's record has reached 11, which can be regarded as a leader in the entire Allied Air Force.

At 10 o'clock in the morning, the tank unit left the starting position and divided into four echelons to attack the German army.

This time, the attack was not accompanied by infantry, only armored vehicles and trucks responsible for logistics support followed, and everything had to be solved by the tankers themselves.

In the past battles facing "elastic defense", the tank troops would always strictly control the attack distance regardless of whether they had spare power or not, and immediately stop attacking and build defensive positions after achieving certain results. This time was obviously different. After breaking through the first German army defense line, the tank troops did not stop as the Germans expected, but continued to attack the German hinterland in the horrified eyes of the German soldiers.

Advancing is the main thing now. Along the way, even if German soldiers are found, as long as there is no threat, the tankers will not stop to eliminate them, but continue to move forward. Their mission is to disrupt the German deployment, penetrate the German hinterland, and turn Reims upside down.

After the tank troops were dispatched, the infantry also went out immediately. This time Qin Zhiyuan spent a lot of money. Not only Liu Zizheng's division and Ge Lifu's division were all dispatched, but also Wu Yuanting's division and Nguyen Juncai's division were all dispatched. At the same time, there were also six divisions under Bastien.

From May to now, Qin Zhiyuan and his men have been fighting for three consecutive months. Now it is time to reap the fruits again. In addition to the four newly formed divisions added later, Qin Zhiyuan has almost dispatched all his troops to get enough military merits.

At this time, the German command was already in chaos.

In the long-term confrontation, Hutier was already exhausted. He had fully felt the difficulty of Qin Zhiyuan. Although he tried his best to support, he still felt stretched. However, Hutier did not lose confidence. He still believed that he could withstand Qin Zhiyuan's attack. Even if he could not defeat Qin Zhiyuan, he could at least maintain the current situation.

Of course, this must be based on the premise that Berlin will give him enough support.

Ludendorff did give Hutier trust. Although Germany is in a bad situation now, Ludendorff still tries his best to provide Hutier with enough support, from soldiers to weapons.

Since the weather cleared, Hutier expected Qin Zhiyuan to launch an attack. In order to increase the depth, Hutier extended his position to Betney behind Reims, which was more than ten kilometers away from the German frontier position. Including Reims, the vast area between them was now full of German bunkers, anti-tank trenches and barbed wire, waiting for Qin Zhiyuan's troops to attack.

If calculated according to the previous progress, if Qin Zhiyuan's troops wanted to break through the ten-kilometer defense position, the war might last until 1918. When thinking of the difficult winter, Hutier was full of confidence.

Reality is always unsatisfactory. As soon as Qin Zhiyuan launched the attack this time, Hutier found that the situation was not good.

The first line of defense was defended according to the original plan, and the German army would return to the second line of defense to prepare for a counterattack. But unexpectedly, Qin Zhiyuan's tank troops did not stop and broke through the second line of defense, which was not well prepared, in less than half an hour.

Although the second line of defense was nominally a line of defense, the defenders were not prepared for defense. In the exercise subjects of the defenders, they were to launch a counterattack at any time, so the line of defense existed in name only.

The third line of defense was broken immediately after, and it seemed that because the tankmen were more skilled, it only took about 20 minutes this time.

The location of the third line of defense was Saint Brick, which was about six kilometers away from Gaiyu and was already in the hinterland of the German army. If the depth of the previous position was followed, when Qin Zhiyuan's tank troops hit here, they had already penetrated the German defense position.

At this time, it was less than 3 hours since the beginning of the war.

The attack speed of the tank troops shocked Hutier. Hutier's headquarters was in Brimont, which was only about eight kilometers away from Saint-Bric. If Hutier did not do anything, Qin Zhiyuan's tank troops would be able to reach the entrance of Hutier's headquarters before dark.

More than three months ago, Nivelle mobilized 120 French divisions, but failed to achieve this tactical goal. Now Qin Zhiyuan only took three hours, and it seemed that he was infinitely close to this strategic goal.

Hutier issued five orders in ten minutes, mobilizing the mobile troops far away in Kofule to enter the field immediately and enter the German positions on the line from Betney to Curcy, and resist the front of the tank troops at all costs.

After giving the order, Hutier suddenly remembered a problem. Kofule was six kilometers away from Betney, and Saint-Bric was only five kilometers away from Betney, which means that the tank troops would reach Betney before Kofule's infantry troops.

Five kilometers...

A world away!

Hutier was not an ordinary person after all. He stared at Betney for five minutes, then ordered Kofuler's troops to stop advancing and set up defense behind the Xupu River. Later, this order was changed to set up defense behind the Aisne River.

The Xupu River is 15 kilometers away from Reims, and the Aisne River is 35 kilometers away from Reims.

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Hutier's order was equivalent to admitting that his 18th Army had been defeated in the confrontation with Qin Zhiyuan's 17th Army.

According to the German army's habits, the 18th Army might be disbanded after this battle, and Hutier himself would have an uncertain future.

Compared with Hutier who was packing up and preparing to retreat, almost everyone in Qin Zhiyuan's joint combat command was in a state of excitement.

It was really exciting. From the first moment the battle began, this excitement enveloped everyone in the command center. The combat staff would even trip over themselves because of excitement when reporting the battle situation, and the transceivers in the radio room would almost review every telegram because the numbers on it were incredible.

"At 10:35, the 2nd Armored Regiment broke through the German Gaiyu position and continued to attack forward..."

"At 11:45, the 1st Armored Regiment broke through the German second line of defense and continued to attack in the direction of Tiruva..."

"The Xu Sheng Regiment attacked the German second line of defense. It is estimated that 3,500 Germans were killed. It is currently continuing to attack in the direction of Reims..."

"The 279th Regiment of the 35th Division entered the second line of defense to accommodate prisoners of war. Preliminary statistics show that there are more than 40,000 prisoners. The 280th and 285th Regiments continue to attack in the direction of Tiruva..."

Attack, attack, all the news is attack, all the troops are moving forward, and the troops of ten divisions are moving forward on a battlefield as wide as five kilometers. They have a clear division of labor and each has its own responsibilities. The German army on the opposite side is vulnerable.

"Qin, we are going to win..." Bastien's mouth was covered with blisters, his eyes were red, and his expression was weird. He couldn't tell whether he wanted to cry or laugh.

"Bastien... we have already won!" Maxim pursed his lips and looked at Qin Zhiyuan with an unbelievable and sighing look.

Two months ago, Qin Zhiyuan won that shocking victory in Fer-en-Tadnois. If Maxim's impression of Qin Zhiyuan was not deep enough at that time, then now, Maxim finally experienced it all. Now Maxim can be sure without a doubt that Qin Zhiyuan is the top one among the active generals of the French army, the one and only one.

"Don't rush to send a telegram, let's see how much we can gain." Qin Zhiyuan was not in a hurry, anyway, the meat was rotten and it was still in the pot.

"I'll get the champagne, it's worth a drink." Bastien seemed to want to get drunk.

"General, it's ready." Pierre pointed to the corner of the room, where four or five large boxes were piled up.

"The First Armored Regiment captured Courcy, and they are less than two kilometers away from Brimont..." Bastien's chief of staff Armstrong stumbled over and shouted in a hoarse and high-pitched voice.

Almost instantly, everyone's eyes turned to Qin Zhiyuan, with a look that could not explain the meaning.

Brimont, that was the target of Nivelle's spring offensive. At that time, Nivelle tried to surround Brimont, but failed miserably, which eventually led to a mutiny and a major earthquake in French politics.

Now, Brimont is right in front of Qin Zhiyuan, and it seems to be within reach.