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Volume 3 The Road to Rise Chapter 591 Turning Point

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    In another part of the city, a small detachment of the French army (five people in total) occupied an apartment building in the center of the city and resisted tenaciously.  The soldiers laid a large number of mines near the building, installed machine guns in the windows, and opened the partition walls in the basement to facilitate communication.  This tenacious fortress was later proudly called the "Hero Building" by the French (only one wall remains to this day, with scenes of soldiers resisting the German attack carved on it, and gills carved in the upper right corner to indicate their occupation.  Lasted 58 days).  Since the Germans could not see any signs of the end of the battle, they began to dispatch heavy armored units, including large-caliber mortars, into the city.  However, the British naval artillery force on the east bank of the Loire River near the English Channel placed the German army under its artillery fire?  The French defense forces in the city still used the ruins to fight.  Since the city was filled with piles of rubble and abandoned buildings several meters high, the German tank troops were useless.  In addition, the French army used snipers for the first time in the battle. They very successfully used the ruins as bunkers, causing heavy casualties to the German army.  The most successful sniper, Bell, had killed three enemies by March 1st.  Another sniper also set a record of killing the enemy.  For both Joffre and Hindenburg, the Battle of Orleans was a critical battle related to success or failure.  The Allied command shifted its strategic focus from Bordeaux to the Loire and English Channel areas and mobilized all air power in the country to support Orleans.  At the end of March and early April, the Allies transferred 6 infantry divisions and 1 tank brigade to the Orleans area.  The German army transferred additional troops, including an artillery battalion and an engineer battalion that had been trained in sieges.  The commanders of both armies are under tremendous pressure.  The German commander Hills suffered from eye muscle spasm, while the French commander also suffered from eczema in the basement headquarters where he was not exposed to sunlight, so much so that he had to completely bandage his hands.  The Battle of Orleans continued.  It was like a nail driven into the mouth of the big crocodile of the Allies, making the Allies feel extremely angry.  However, it gave the people of the Allied Powers the hope of victory and was called the "City of Hope." Although both sides consumed a lot of money in the city of Orleans, this city evolved into the final spiritual contest between the Allied Powers and the Central Powers.  Throughout the entire month of Ming Dynasty, Orleans had been engaged in fierce street fighting.  The Germans fought house by house, finding their way through the ruins on the ground and underground, so it was also called the "Rat War" and even joked that "even if we occupied the kitchen, we still had to fight in the living room." Yan Xiafei said,  This French "City of Hope" must not be allowed to fall into the hands of the Germans.  He personally ordered the French troops in the city to defend the city under any circumstances.  Every house with even one French soldier in it must become an impenetrable fortress for the enemy.  For William II, Orleans' spiritual value had exceeded its strategic value.  It must be captured.  When the new Chief of Staff of the Sixth Army, General Hindenburg, carefully pointed out to him the danger faced by the long Loire-English Front on the northern flank of the Second Army, he suggested that the Second Army should shrink its defenses.  William II sternly replied: "Wherever the German soldiers are, they must defend them!" After three months of bloody fighting until the beginning of June, the Allied forces finally slowly advanced to the outer defense line of Bordeaux, the capital of France. However, in Louvre  Near the banks of the Orl¨¦ans section of the Vaal River.  The German-Austrian forces still made slow progress, although they occupied the entire city.  The remaining French troops were divided into two long and narrow pockets, and the Germans never completely captured Orleans.  The fighting near the highlands in the west of the city and the fighting in the factory areas in the northern city are still very fierce.  Among them, the fighting in France's factory districts, arsenals, tractor factories and railway stations is known to the world.  While French soldiers were engaged in gun battles with the Germans, workers in the factory were repairing damaged tanks and other weapons on the side, and sometimes even repairing weapons directly on the battlefield.  The tanks were driven by factory worker volunteers.  These tanks are often driven directly from the arsenal production line to the front line of combat, without even having time to be painted and equipped with shooting sights.  The Allies left a large number of sealed "copycat" weapons in Orleans, which gave the French army a lot of help and provided a solid foundation for the French army to hold on to the city of Orleans.     June.  On Japan, the German army launched a strong attack on a front of 5 kilometers wide with 5 infantry divisions, 2 armored divisions and 2 paratrooper battalions.  The battle formation is highly dense.  Within a day, the German and French armies fought for every inch of land and every house.  Both sides fought extremely fierce battles, with heavy casualties on both sides.  Although the German army has advanced some distance, the troops are exhausted from the high-intensity combat and their offensive has become exhausted.  The attack was forced to stop the next day.  Repair troops.  The losses of the French army were equally serious. The Third Army lost many soldiers and was on the verge of canceling its designation.  In fighting from March to June, the Allies fought on the Loire andIn the battle of Erliang, about 10,000 people were lost, more than 4 tanks, many artillery pieces, and more than 10 aircraft.  For the first time, the losses of the Allied Powers were less than those of the Central Powers. They lost 650,000 people, 4 tanks, and recessed artillery.  and 4-port aircraft.  In order to defeat the Orleans defenders, the Allies had to use chemical weapons again and dropped poison gas bombs on the remaining Orleans troops.  The French army was caught off guard and the German army broke through the train station and the high ground west of the city.  The remaining 30,000 French troops retreated to the arsenal, the last important place, and saw that the German army was about to capture the last stronghold.  The French commander issued an order to commit suicide, and 30,000 French soldiers detonated a large number of explosives in the arsenal.  Caused a violent explosion.  The thick smoke generated by the explosion instantly filled the entire Ota Nong Ao.  Cheers with the troops of Yu State.  They finally defeated the Allied Powers. However, as for the Allied Powers, Joffre tightly blocked the news and told the entire army that the explosion was a German arsenal and continued to inspire the Allied Powers to fight.  At the same time, Xiafei's counterattack plan has been completed, and all preparations have been completed.  On July 2, 1999, the Allies concentrated their efforts.  Forty thousand troops.  Starting from the English Channel in the east, to Limoges in the northeast, and then to the Montour gang in the southeast, the front kilometer long ran through the entire French land and launched a comprehensive counterattack against the Allied forces.  The main direction of attack was set on the southern line of the Monto Gang's Italian, Turkish, Greek, and Bulgarian coalition forces.  On the Western Front, the purpose was to suppress the Allied Powers in large groups and to contain the Allied Powers.  The Allied Powers used deceitful tactics twice in a row, but this time they were used by the Allied Powers in turn, and the Allies fell into the same trap.  Regarding the Allied Counterattack, the Allied High Command judged that the Allied Powers would definitely fight with the German-Austrian Allied Forces, the main force of the Allied Powers, so the Allied Powers strengthened their forces in the direction of Orleans.  On July 3, the Allied Powers concentrated aircraft, tanks and armored vehicles. Under the fierce bombardment of four cannons, they first launched a fierce attack on the Italian army on the eastern front of the Monto Gang.  For the first time, the Italian command felt the anger of the Allied Powers, especially the anger of the British, and was extremely angry that Italy cheated their check of trillions of dragon coins.  Starting from the early morning of the 3rd.  It lasted until dawn the next day. After hours of indiscriminate bombing, the six blockades of the Italian army were completely destroyed?  It¡¯s dawn.  Under the cover of tanks and armored vehicles, individual divisions of the Allied American and British forces broke through the Italian army's defense line in one breath, tearing a 40-kilometer-wide hole in the Allied blockade of Bordeaux.  T¨¹rkiye hurriedly mobilized troops to reinforce the Italian front, but fell into the trap of the Allies.  The U.S. troops facing Turkey quickly launched a fierce attack on the Turkish defense line. The fierce battle continued until noon. Due to the external deployment of troops, Turkey's position was breached by the U.S. military?  The Turkish army that was reinforcing Italy on the way was counterattacked by the U.S. and British coalition forces who turned back in the Golai Mountains. The Turkish army was completely defeated.  At this time, the air forces of both sides were fighting fiercely over the Monto Gang. After more than two days of fierce fighting, the Allies defeated the Italian and Turkish air forces with an absolute numerical advantage.  In the face of absolute advantage.  The Southern Front composed of Italy, T¨¹rkiye and other countries was defeated by the Allied forces.  Starting from the 7th, there will be three battles between the Monto Gang, Kailus, and Carmo.  The Allies concentrated their superior forces to carry out the main decisive battle against the Allied forces.  The Italian army was defeated first and was overwhelmed by the British army.  Immediately afterwards, T¨¹rkiye was unable to support itself. Two battles at Grolay and the Loire resulted in the loss of all the Turkish elite and had to retreat.  The coalition forces of Bulgaria, Greece, Syria and other countries were already weak in strength. Faced with the impact of the entire Allied army group, they soon collapsed.  In this way, after the Allied Counterattack on the Loire River.  On the ninth day of the battle, the Allied forces on the southern front were repulsed first and fell into disarray.  The Allied forces pursued the victory and captured more than 10,000 Allied troops, the vast majority of whom were Turkish and Italian troops.  The Allies on the southern front originally had a total force of 10,000 people. However, they were beaten hard by divisions by the main force of the Allied Powers. When they retreated to Lyon, only less than 10,000 people were killed. The number of troops who were wiped out, captured and missing along the way was as high as 10,000.  Among them, the Italian and Turkish empires were severely weakened.  The armies of Syria, Egypt and other countries were completely wiped out, and Bulgaria and Greece also lost most of their troops. The Southern Allied countries only had defensive capabilities.  No more strength to fight back.  The misjudgment of the Allied High Command had a huge impact on the German-Austrian Allied Forces on the Western Front.  The collapse of the Allied Powers on the Southern Front opened the left wing of the German-Austrian Allied Forces.  The main force of the Allied Powers bypassed the Loire River and advanced westward, intending to completely surround the German-Austrian Allied Forces in France, eliminate the main force of the Allied Powers in one fell swoop, and end the war.  Hindenburg immediately convened an emergency meeting to discuss how to deal with the deterioration of the war situation.  However, at this time, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had nothing to doTo save the war.  German officers believed that the Allied forces, which once numbered tens of thousands, now had an absolute numerical advantage. In addition, the Allied forces on the southern front were defeated and retreated to the Lyon line.  The flanks of the German-Austrian forces on the Western Front have been opened. If they do not retreat in time, they will be surrounded.  However, there are also many officers who believe that now that the Orleans Front has been opened, the German-Austrian Allied Forces can march straight in and invade France's capital Bordeaux in one fell swoop, ending France's life.  While the Allied headquarters were still arguing, the Allied forces had captured the German and Austrian defensive positions southwest and southeast of Limoges and continued to move toward Orleans.  Due to the urgency of the situation, Hindenburg finally gritted his teeth and gave up on the nearby French capital of Bordeaux, and ordered the army to retreat to the defense lines of Verdun and the Marne River.  However, how could the Allies allow the Allied forces to retreat easily?  On the old day of July 2017, Joffre continued to call on the Allied forces to carry out the war to the end and completely eliminate the invading Allied forces.  At the same time, Joffre sent planes to disperse a large number of leaflets in the occupied areas. At the same time, French citizens took up arms to resist and welcome the Allied forces to regain their lost territory.  On July 1st, the Allied Powers concentrated one division and launched a full-scale attack on the main force of the German-Austrian Allied Forces on the Orleans front, intending to contain the Allied Powers and buy time for the Allied Powers to encircle them on the right wing.  However, the German-Austrian Allied Forces were also well aware of their situation at this time, and in the end they had to reluctantly leave a large number of troops to contain the Allied forces and buy time for the main force to retreat?  In this way, the brilliant results the Allies had just achieved were all accomplished in less than half a year: starting with the general evacuation on July 1st.  Until the rainy season came in mid-month, the two countries' more than 10 million troops returned to Verdun with less than 10,000 people, not to mention the casualties of more than 10,000 people. In the later stage, a large number of heavy weapons and supplies were also lost.  Abandonment gave the Allies a large amount of loot.  A year ago, the rainy season in France saved the Allied forces. A year later, the same rainy season in France saved the Allied forces again.  What a coincidence of history?  God is fair sometimes!     one.  After many months of counterattack, the Allied Powers suffered heavy losses, but the Allied Powers were not much better. If it were not for the capture of a large number of weapons from the Allied Powers, the Allied Powers would have suffered heavy losses just like the Central Powers.  Because the number of new recruits in the Allied forces was too large, many unnecessary casualties were caused when the Allied forces fought desperately and fought back.  In this way, by mid-August, the Allied Powers had lost tens of thousands of people in this major counterattack, but compared to the Allies, the Allied Powers were still victorious.  At this point, the Allied Powers' manpower advantage has been fully demonstrated. At this time, the Allied Powers' total military strength has dropped to about 10,000, while the Allied Powers have reached 40,000 troops?  Moreover, as for the Allied Powers, Britain began to recruit young men into the army from India and Africa.  The United States continues its nationwide mobilization, and the number of Allied troops is increasing every day. On the contrary, the Allies have reached their population limit and are unable to recruit more troops?  The end of the Battle of Orleans-Loire declared a huge defeat for the Allies. From then on, the war situation in Europe changed significantly.  An irreversible situation has emerged on the European battlefield under China's control. At this time, even if China switches to fully supplying weapons and equipment to the Allies, the Allies will not have enough troops to fight the Allies.  Of course, if China participates in the war on the Allied side, it will be a different matter.  The Supreme High Command of the Allied Powers did not stop its offensive because of the arrival of the rainy season. Jiafei just ordered the Allied Powers¡¯ troops to rest and reorganize, while the High Command was planning the next counterattack plan.  Considering that the Verdun area is easy to defend and difficult to attack, the rainy season will have a great impact on attacking forces such as tanks and aircraft. Forcibly attacking Verdun will pay a huge price, but success cannot be guaranteed.  Because the Allies defended here for 4 years without tanks, which shows the defense capabilities here.  Therefore, the Allied High Command believes that when offensive weapons cannot be used, the Allied Powers should open another battlefield, continue to attack the east and west, and directly attack the German mainland.  achieve strategic goals.  Swallow the year and the month.  After a series of preparations, the Allied forces launched the Somme Counterattack on August 8.  The purpose is to break through the German defenses so that they can enter the German homeland and fight. At the same time, the main German force in the direction of Verdun is bound to return to support and reduce the attack pressure of the Allied Powers.  At that time, the front line ran from south to north, crossing the Somme River several kilometers east of Amiens.  The German army built what was known as the "strongest" defense line in the area, including 6 positions and some intermediate positions.  The main position has tunnel fortifications, and there are multiple layers of barbed wire in front of the position.  The defenders were the German 2nd Army, with a frontal defense of one kilometer wide. Its front line consisted of 1 division and 4 reserve divisions.  Later, some of the troops withdrawn from Verdun also went into battle.  Finally, the strength increased to one division.  The British, French and American sides originally planned to use the French army as the main attack, but due to the previousIn several major battles, the French army suffered huge casualties, so it was mainly dominated by the American and British troops.  The initial input of troops was 10 divisions (which increased to 2 divisions during the battle). Among them, the British army had 3 divisions, with the 4th Army Group as the main force and the 3rd Army Group as the supplement. On the north bank of the Somme River, north of Carnot  Attack, with a frontal front of 10,000 kilometers; the U.S. 5th, 6th, and 7th Army Groups led a division across the Somme River to attack on the right side of the British army, with a frontal front of 10,000 kilometers.  British and American artillery and air force were superior.  Adopt a tactic of attacking limited targets one after another in an attempt to achieve a breakthrough by consuming German troops.  In order to coordinate the actions of the two armies, it is stipulated that the arrival line of each attack cannot be crossed by itself.  Starting from the 8th of March, the British and American troops carried out artillery preparations throughout the day. At dawn on the 10th, the infantry stepped on the muddy ground to attack with the support of artillery fire.  That day, both the American army and the British army in the main direction of attack broke through the first German position, but the British left wing made no progress.  The British troops advanced in dense formations and were severely damaged by German machine gun and artillery fire, resulting in nearly 60,000 casualties on the first day.  On the same day, the British right wing and the American army occupied the second German position.  The German army took advantage of the lull in the opponent's attack to quickly mobilize troops, strengthen defense in depth, and launch counterattacks in some areas.  The British and American troops launched another offensive in mid-to-late October. The American troops on the south bank occupied the fifth position but failed to achieve a breakthrough in the battle.  On the 3rd of the last month, five British divisions and one American division launched their third offensive. As of that day, they had only advanced one kilometer in depth towards the Germans.  The Second Battle of the Somme was the second largest battle in World War I after the Battle of the Loire.  Both sides suffered about 40,000 casualties, including more than 10,000 British troops, more than 10,000 Americans, and 10,000 German troops.  The British and American troops did not achieve their goal of breaking through the German defense line, but they further weakened the German army, causing the German army to fall into a vicious cycle of irremediable troop shortages?
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