Chapter 387: French Counterattack

Due to the poor performance of the French army, Afro has dismissed 2 army commanders, 10 army commanders and 38 division commanders so far.

These positions were replaced by a group of new, mostly excellent generals. Among these people, there are some well-known names, such as Foch, Pétain and Despery.

The first one to be replaced was Lanrezac, commander of the French Fifth Army.

The role of the Fifth Army is crucial, but Lanrezac, commander of the Fifth Army, has repeatedly publicly contradicted Joffre and has a bad relationship with the French General Headquarters.

In addition, Lanrezac did not trust the British army, and in the next war, the help of the British was very important.

Therefore, Joffre decisively dismissed Lanrezac and activated Despery as the new commander of the Fifth Army.

It is worth mentioning that when Despery just took over as the commander-in-chief of the Fifth Army, a small episode occurred.

At that time, the commander of the 18th Army called the Fifth Army Headquarters and asked to refuse the mission the next day because the soldiers were too tired.

But Desperi's answer was: "I have taken over as the commander of the Fifth Army. As long as you are in the Fifth Army, you have to march. Either march or fall down and die. There is nothing to discuss. It's that simple."

With that, Desperi hung up the phone, showing his decisive character.

On September 3, 1914, the Ninth Army of the German First Army led by Krug had crossed the Marne River.

Krug believed that it was difficult for a single army to play a role, so he ignored the German High Command's order to deploy to cover the right wing and ordered the Third and Fourth Armies to continue to attack southeast.

Under Krug's order, the German soldiers of the First Army marched 40 kilometers a day, and when they reached their destination, they were exhausted and collapsed on the ground.

Under the control of the fanatical attempt to destroy the French army in one fell swoop, Krug had become very irrational, and thus exhausted his soldiers.

More importantly, because of the army's rapid march, the First Army was actually far away from its transport convoy and heavy artillery units, and logistical supply problems followed.

This situation is not only in the German First Army. The German Second Army and the Third Army have such problems. Even the troops of the Third Army led by Hausen have not eaten cooked food for five consecutive days, just to chase the defeated French army.

As for the Fourth and Fifth Armies, which are in a slightly better situation, although they are also attacking, they have made little progress and are still blocked outside the Nancy and Verdun fortresses.

In order to annihilate the French army in one fell swoop, the German army's deployment has serious problems.

In the Paris City Defense Command, Gallieni and his chief of staff also received news that Kluk's German First Army was advancing from the east of Paris to the Marne River.

From the clearer enemy and us situation map, it can be seen that Kluk's blind advance exposed the right wing of the First Army in the direction of Paris.

Gallieni and Chief of Staff Clergerie, who had been waiting for this opportunity for a long time, shouted at the same time: "They sent the flank to the door, they sent the flank to the door!"

At this time, there was still some time before the great battle envisioned by French Commander-in-Chief Joffre.

Considering the battlefield situation and the loss of troops, Joffre did not want to fight too early.

What Joffre was waiting for was not only the assistance from the British, but also the role that the Russian army on the Eastern Front could play.

But the opportunity on the battlefield was fleeting. If it was not seized, it would be a pity for a general like Gallieni.

Although Gallieni was designated as Joffre's successor, that is, the temporary commander-in-chief of France after Joffre's accident.

The current French commander-in-chief is still Joffre, and Gallieni cannot change any order issued by Joffre.

But in order not to miss such a good opportunity, Gallieni made a bold decision, that is, to act first and report later, so that Joffre had to launch this great battle.

9 am on September 4, 1914.

Gallieni issued an order to Maunouri, requiring the Sixth Army to immediately prepare for deployment and prepare to launch a counterattack in the afternoon.

Later, Gallieni called the French General Headquarters to report that the Sixth Army had entered the counterattack position and was about to start the counterattack, hoping that the right-wing armies would act together.

This was also equivalent to forcing the duck to the shelf. Anyway, the Sixth Army was going to act. If Joffre did not support this battle, he would just wait for the Sixth Army to be destroyed.

The result was also predictable. Joffre naturally could not let the entire Sixth Army be defeated. After a telephone confrontation, he finally compromised helplessly and ordered the right-wing armies to fully cooperate with the Sixth Army to launch this major battle.

He was not finished yet. Joffre decided to expand the local action envisioned by the Paris defenders to a comprehensive counterattack on the entire left wing of the Allied front.

This comprehensive counterattack included all French troops and the British Expeditionary Force. Therefore, the attitude of the British was also very important.

At noon on September 5, in order to win the cooperation of the British army, Joffre sent a request to Millerand, the French Minister of the Army, asking Millerand to exert influence on Britain in the name of the government to ensure that the British army could cooperate with the French army in the major battle, and it would be best if Joffre had command of the British army.

In order to persuade the British army to participate in the battle, in addition to requesting the Minister of War, Joffre also decided to personally go to the headquarters of the British Expeditionary Force 200 kilometers away to obtain the consent of Sir French of the British Expeditionary Force.

Seeing Sir French, Joffre was not as polite as before. He spoke very impassioned and concisely: "The decisive moment has arrived, Sir French, and my order has been issued. No matter what the situation, in order to save France, even if Even with the last company left, the French army will enter the battle. The lives of all French people, the country of France, and the future of Europe depend on this attack. "

"I don't believe that the British army will shirk its responsibilities at such an urgent moment. If you don't participate in the battle, history will judge you severely." Joffre said impassionedly: "Mr. Marshal, France needs your support. France asks you. support!”

Sir French also very much agreed with Joffre's point of view. After Joffre finished speaking, the British marshal even shed tears because he could no longer express his words in French, so Sir French said to the interpreter beside him. : "Damn it, I can't tell clearly. Please tell him that anything the French can do, the British can do too. We are willing to do our best for this war."

Regardless of whether the British government wanted to fish in troubled waters or not, Sir French obviously would not have any remaining strength in this war.

After receiving the support of Sir French, Joffre breathed a sigh of relief and solemnly expressed his gratitude to Britain and Sir French for their support.

When the French General Headquarters was brightly lit in preparation for a new offensive, in the German General Staff Headquarters in Luxembourg, William II praised smugly: "Today is the 35th day of the war. We have surrounded Reims, which is only a few meters away from Paris. 30 miles.”

These words caused cheers from everyone in the Finance Department, and it seemed that the victory of the war was not far away, and the Germans once again stood in the Palace of Versailles.

But at this time, Marshal Moltke was not happy. However, in the early days of the war, Moltke strictly abided by the rules set by his uncle Lao Maoqi not to interfere with the command of frontline generals.

However, according to the intelligence currently obtained, the French are already gathering and mobilizing in a premeditated manner, preparing to launch an attack on the German right wing from the direction of Paris.

It just so happened that news of the landing of 40,000 British troops from Belgium came. Moltke made a prompt decision and ordered the first and second armies to stay on the front east of Paris. The first army was between the Oise and Marne rivers, and the second army was between the Oise and Marne rivers. The Second Army maintained a certain distance between the Marne and Seine rivers and Paris to relieve the flanking threats faced by the German army.

Crook, the commander of the First Army, disapproved of the rather conservative order issued by Moltke.

Crook believed that the German army was progressing so smoothly and was so close to Paris that it should not stagnate and waste combat opportunities while also giving the enemy more breathing room.

Crook ordered the army to continue the pursuit to the Seine River and then turn towards Paris.

This order placed the First Army in a dangerous situation and allowed the French army to see opportunities again.

Originally, according to Xiao Maoqi's order, the French offensive was likely to not find a suitable opportunity.

But now that Crook has brought the opportunity to his door, Xiafei, who has already been prepared, cannot waste such an opportunity.

At the French General Headquarters, Joffre solemnly read out the order for a comprehensive counterattack, and said loudly to the officers gathered at the General Headquarters: "Gentlemen, the previous defeat is over. Let us fight on the Marne River. , for France, for every inch of our land, fight gloriously on the Marne!"

The Marne River flows from south to north, then from east to west, flowing through the Paris Basin. Because it is parallel to the Aisne and Seine rivers, and is located in the middle of the three rivers, the currents are rapid and form a natural barrier to protect Paris.

In this long-planned comprehensive counterattack, the French dispatched the Fifth, Sixth and Ninth Armies and the British Expeditionary Force, totaling 36 infantry divisions and 8 cavalry divisions.

On the German side, the First and Second Armies, which did not yet know that their flanks were already very dangerous, only had 18 infantry divisions and 5 cavalry divisions in total, and their strength was only about half of the German army.

Early on the morning of September 6, the French army officially began a full-scale counterattack along the Marne River.

First, west of the Ourcq River, the French Sixth Army launched a frantic attack on the German Fourth Reserve Army stationed in this area. The French army charged forward fearlessly and soon defeated the numerically inferior German Fourth Reserve Army. The army could not resist and asked Crook, commander of the First Army, for help.

Crook urgently dispatched the Second Army to support, but it was still no match for the numerically superior French Sixth Army.

Reluctantly, Crook sent the Fourth Army, and then regained the advantage on the battlefield and gradually won some victories.

Just the confrontation between the Sixth Army and the German First Army resulted in more than 30,000 casualties in just two days.

Among them, the death toll was as high as more than 10,000, which is enough to show the cruelty of this Battle of the Marne River.

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