Iron Cross Fire

After visiting the streets of Berlin, the German side handed over a newly mobilized army group to Kuster's command.

He was asked to report to the war headquarters or staff headquarters, and William II would also go with him, where several generals would discuss tactics against France.

Kuster's pace was always fast, without any hesitation or delay, and he ran to the war headquarters outside the city in a few hours. A few minutes later, Kaiser Wilhelm also arrived on the scene.

There were not many generals in the headquarters. There were only Falkenhayn, Hindenburg, Ludendorff and a few people he didn't know. When Kuster asked, he learned that the commander-in-chief of the group army and the officers who were far away from Berlin could not return. to Berlin, so they could not attend the meeting and could only carry out the plan decided after the meeting.

The emperor coughed a few times, and everyone understood. A map showing the border between Germany and France was hung horizontally on the board. There were several graffiti-like arrows on it, which should be the direction of the attack.

"General Kuster, do you think this attack is acceptable?"

Kaiser Wilhelm slapped his hand on the map and asked somewhat proudly. Then he stepped back to the right so that Kuster could see the map clearly. The others also stepped aside and looked at him.

Kuster stepped forward, pointed the direction of each arrow with his finger, and drew back and forth on the complex terrain. After reading about it, he put his left hand on his chin and started thinking seriously.

The German offensive and its success were now less than 4 kilometers away from Paris, and the outline of the city of Paris could be seen in the German trenches. Other areas were more successful, as the Allies concentrated their main forces around Paris, leaving the remaining fronts empty.

To the north, Germany crossed the Aisne River, successfully rushed to the sea, and entered the Normandy region.

At the same time, some troops also crossed the Seine River south of Paris, but they failed because they were very close to the Île-de-France.

The Paris defenders used the criss-crossing rivers and trenches to build trenches and backup positions behind each river channel.

The main force of the attack shifted from the right wing to the left wing, that is, the army in the Lorraine-Alsace area.

After breaking through the defense of Verdun, the void in Paris' defense had leaked out. They marched on Champagne, then bypassed the Marne from the south and attacked directly east of Paris.

But the result was the same as on the northern front. The French army dug many trenches. They were unable to move here and could only bombard the opposite side with artillery every day.

The current war situation is like this, but there is still one variable to worry about-the Alps to the south.

Austria-Hungary was controlling the important pass of the Isonzo River. After the end of the Eastern Front battlefield, a large number of troops were liberated. Therefore, except for a small number of Austrian troops who went to the Balkans to support Bulgaria, the rest were all sent to the Alps.

It seems that the Italian attack is very large, and they have more than a million people to participate in the battle.

However, because of this, in the narrow Alpine area, Italy's command stack is extremely serious. When a battle starts in one place, Austria-Hungary may send one or two divisions of the same group army, while Italy will send several divisions, and there are also They were not part of a group army, which made Italy's fight extremely chaotic. Each unit could not tell where the friendly forces were and where the enemy forces were.

It can only be said that they did not have rich fighting experience and caused a lot of trouble in the early stages of the war. Italy, which had just joined the war, paid a huge price.

However, as the number of battles increased, the casualty gap between Italy and Austria-Hungary became smaller and smaller, but it was still far behind.

In short, with the barrier of Austria-Hungary and the preparations of the German garrison north of the Alps, Italy's threat to the Western European battlefield has become less and less.

After a brief thought, Kuster walked up to the crowd and gradually elicited his opinions by asking questions:

"My generals, may I ask, what is our intention in seizing Paris?"

"Of course to achieve political victory and speed up France's surrender."

None of the generals present answered. Only Kaiser Wilhelm stood up and said:

"As long as we take Paris and the defenders inside, we can sit at the negotiating table with the French."

"Mr. William, my thoughts are different from yours."

William was a little disappointed by Kuster's words, but then he let him express his thoughts.

"The war on the Eastern Front has just ended, and we can learn a lot from it. Did we capture Petersburg before signing the treaty? We only captured important Russian towns such as Kiev and Moscow, and we were able to let the Russians come on their own. Sign."

As he spoke, Kuster spread his arms and walked back and forth. During this period, he kept waving, adding a sense of power to his debate.

"But by that time, Russia had already lost more than half of its land, and there was no need to fight anymore."

Falkenhayn asked with some doubts, but when he was halfway through speaking, his eyes suddenly widened and the words on his lips were stuck:

"You mean, we can use this trick when we fight France?"

"Absolutely, and attacking France is much easier than attacking Russia. For example, Russia's strategic depth is like a bottomless quagmire. Once you enter, you will be entangled and unable to extricate yourself; France is like a rooster. You only need to stab him in the abdomen, and the excessive blood loss will be enough to make him fall to the ground.

In short, no matter what, just hit the Frenchman in the belly. "

Upon hearing Kuster's remarks, Falkenhayn quickly stood up from his chair and walked straight to the map to observe. After a long time, he said as if talking to himself:

"Nearly a million of the main forces of Britain and France gathered at one point in Paris... The newly assembled British troops crossed the English Channel with the intention of attacking our rear, but were sunk in the sea; the south also said that the enemy troops they encountered Franche-Comté was taken with very little resistance..."

Falkenhayn thought silently, and suddenly he had an idea. He straightened up and looked at Kuster, and suddenly felt the possibility of success in his heart.

Warm reminder: The website is about to be revised, which may cause the loss of reading progress. Please save the "Bookshelf" and "Reading History" in time (it is recommended to take screenshots to save). We apologize for the inconvenience caused to you!