My Italy

Compared with Italy's small fight in the Alps, the offensive of its ally Germany is much larger. After defeating Belgium and the British Expeditionary Force, the revolving door plan had entered a critical moment.

When one million German troops crossed the Belgian-French border from Belgium and attacked France, the French army was extremely frightened. At this time, no one mentioned Operation Plan No. 17 to attack Germany anymore. The top priority now was to block the German offensive.

As a result, the French army organized several battles in succession, such as the Battle of the Ardennes.

In this battle, the French General Staff believed that since Germany was attacking Belgium, there must be weak forces in the Ardennes region in the central area. Then the French army's attack there would have a great chance to prevent the German army from continuing to advance into the interior of France.

As a result, French Commander-in-Chief Joffre ordered Ruf's Third Army to march to the southern Ardennes, drive the German Fifth Army there back to the area from Metz to Thionville, and then encircle it, and at the same time recapture Brière. Iron ore area. In addition, the French Fourth Army attacks from the northern Ardennes, and its mission is to encircle and annihilate the German Fourth Army. If these two armies are defeated, the left and right wings of the German army will be divided.

From a strategic and tactical point of view, the French army has done a good job of cutting off the left and right wings of the German army. Then the revolving door will not be able to rotate and will be defeated by the French army one by one.

Unfortunately, the French army misestimated the strength of the German army. According to the French army's estimate, the two German armies should have six armies.

The French army's estimate was correct, but their news was delayed because the German army had four reserve armies joining the two armies. As a result, the troops originally prepared to fight six German armies were forced to fight against ten enemy armies. The number of people, weapons, and firepower are all superior to the boss. It would be a miracle to win.

It was obvious that the French army failed to create a miracle. After being beaten violently by the German army, the French Third Army retreated to Verdun, while the French Fourth Army retreated to Sedan and Sternay.

Subsequently, the British, French and Belgian armies were defeated in the Battle of Mons and the Battle of the Sambre River. At this time, the three armies on the French left had all been defeated, while the two armies on the right were still struggling to hold on in Lorraine. At this time, the five German armies on the right and center were like a sickle, cutting from Belgium to France.

At this time, in order to prevent the British and French troops from gaining a foothold and to reorganize their defense lines in order to gain a breathing space, Kruger's First Army and Bülow's Second Army marched all the way to pursue the equally exhausted British and French troops.

Faced with the German army struggling to pursue them, the British and French armies could only continue to send troops to carry out arduous and dangerous blocking.

In fact, this is more like making the British and French troops continue to lose blood, because it is not easy to block the rear in this case. When a tired and panicked soldier hears you asking him to be responsible for the interception, it is good that he does not aim his weapon at you.

Facing the millions of German troops attacking from the right wing, Joffre, as the commander-in-chief of the French army, certainly had no shirk in his duty. He then issued General Order No. 2, transferring troops from Lorraine to form a new 7th Army and deploying it on the path of the German right wing.

At the same time, the three armies on the left that are retreating should also try their best to maintain a complete front, with rearguard units to carry out short and fierce counterattacks to block or at least hinder the enemy's advance, and be ready to restart the offensive.

We can see from Joffre's order that the French commander-in-chief still had the idea of ​​attacking.

Of course, this idea is not obvious yet, because facing the sweeping attitude of the German army, Paris, the French capital, has fallen into panic.

Some people in the government were calling Joffre an idiot and a fool, and some threatened to skin Army Minister Mehimi. However, in the end, Army Minister Mehimi stepped down and was replaced by Millerand. At the same time, General Michel, the commander of the Paris city defense, was also dismissed from his post, and his replacement was General Gallieni.

One more thing to say here is that Gallieni took office after the government promised to allocate three armies to his command. Yes, this new Paris city defense commander has such a personality.

Of course, it's not just that. The core force of the new Seventh Army, led by General Maunouri, mobilized Lorraine troops, arrived in Paris by train, and then headed for the front.

At this time, the German right wing opened a 75-mile-wide strip and marched toward Paris in a mighty manner. At the forefront was the First Army led by General Kruger. The First Army was the end of the right wing of the Schlieffen Plan and the curved tip of the sickle. It had the longest marching distance and the heaviest task.

Of course, considering the heavy tasks and goals of the First Army, it also has the largest number of troops, equipment and transport vehicles.

Kruger's First Army had been pursuing the French Fifth Army. There were some sporadic battles during the pursuit, and this battle ended quickly with a crushing attack by the German army. The French Fifth Army could be said to be running wildly all the way.

When Moltke, who was far behind, learned that the distance between the First Army and the Second Army was too large, he ordered Kluck to slow down his advance to ensure effective cover and coordination with the Second Army. But at this time, General Kluck was eager to fight. He ordered the German army to accelerate their advance and never give the French army a chance to breathe.

When the leading troops of the First Army were only fifteen kilometers away from Paris and the Eiffel Tower could be vaguely seen, he still ordered the troops to march southeast and continue to pursue the French Fifth Army.

In the face of the menacing German army, France was in panic. People in Paris went to banks to withdraw their deposits and rushed to the train station, starting a large-scale exodus. The French government and parliament also moved from Paris to Bordeaux in panic.

There is a reason for France's panic. Since the German army invaded France, the French army has organized several large-scale resistances under the guidance of "Plan 17". However, the Battle of the Ardennes, the Battle of the Sambre, and The Battle of Mons ended with the defeat of the French army. At this time, the German offensive seemed to be invincible. The French people no longer have much hope in the French army.

No matter what the results of the past battles were, the enemy was now strong, and guarding the capital was an urgent matter. During the crisis, the French General Staff appointed the mature and steady veteran Gallielli to take charge of the defense of Paris. Galilei was ordered to do so at the critical moment. While he was building fortifications around Paris, he was on standby; at the same time, he was paying close attention to the latest movements of the German army and looking for fighter opportunities.

When he discovered that the German First Army showed no signs of launching an attack on Paris, but instead continued to advance southeast of Paris alone, he was ecstatic: "They have brought the flank to the door!"

His judgment was confirmed by British and French pilots the next day. In other words, the German army at this time had been dazzled by victory, and its impatience and rashness caused a big hole in its front.

Gallieri identified this rare fighter opportunity. He hoped that the French army could seize this advantageous fighter opportunity and deal a fatal blow to the arrogant German army.

Xiafei, who has always been famous for his calmness, calmness and resoluteness, has been sizing up the situation and looking for opportunities to counterattack, but he did not show much interest in Gallieri's request at this time. Fighter planes are fleeting, and the meager strength of Gallieri's Sixth Army cannot confront the well-equipped 200,000 German troops alone. More importantly, the attack must be approved by the General Staff.

While waiting anxiously, Galieri called Joffre again, reiterated his views, and asked the General Staff to issue a counterattack order. During the call, Joffre also realized the importance of seizing fighter planes to organize a counterattack, and he agreed that Gallieri could launch an attack on the enemy north of the Marne River.

After putting down the phone, Joffre said to the officers present: "Gentlemen, let us fight on the Marne River!"

At this time a big battle was about to break out on the Marne River.