My Italy - Chapter 658 Battle of Paris

The Kingdom of Abyssinia’s plan was thwarted, allowing Britain to prepare for its attack on East Africa for a while longer.

However, the plan only received a little attention from London. Now London has a more important matter, which is the Battle of Paris.

As early as France abandoned Paris and retreated to the west bank of the Seine, the French military began to formulate plans to retake Paris.

However, due to the heavy losses suffered by the French army in previous battles and the reduction in available population, the French army found that it was simply too difficult to retake Paris, but fortunately it had allies.

As a British Empire that started out as a navy, its army has always been relatively weak (compared to its navy). The previous Boer War made it look like a fool.

But precisely because of this, the British Army worked hard to rectify it, and finally had an army that could take action. In previous battles, the British army performed no worse than the French army, and was even better than the French army in some aspects, so the French asked the British for help.

The British side, of course, fully supports France’s request, because London knows that if the Paris Basin is not recaptured, France may not be able to hold on for long.

Let me say one more thing here, there are three main industrial areas in France, mainly the Paris Basin area headed by Paris, the Mediterranean coastal area headed by Marseille-Fors, and the northeastern area headed by Lille. At present, the industrial areas in the northeast have fallen, and the Paris Basin has become a battlefield. Can we only rely on the smallest Mediterranean coastal area?

In addition, these areas are important grain production bases in France. Although food can be imported from colonies and abroad, if industry is not good, how can France maintain its huge army.

Even if it relies on imports, French foreign exchange will support it for up to one year.

Therefore, taking back Paris is the only reason and belief that France can continue to support the war.

Therefore, the two countries quickly reached an agreement that they needed to take back Paris.

After some discussions, France dispatched 31 divisions with 530,000 people, and Britain dispatched 17 divisions with 280,000 people, forming the main force for launching the Battle of Paris. These troops who are preparing to join the war are all elite troops who have been trained for more than three months. They all fight well and have complete weapons and equipment. In addition, Britain and France have also prepared 13 divisions of approximately 200,000 reserve troops.

As for the selection of the commander of this battle, after the strong request of France, he was nominated by the French Commander-in-Chief Nivel. General Galieni, who had previously served as the commander of the Paris city defense, was appointed as the deputy commander. The deputy commander was the commander of the British Expeditionary Force. Admiral Haig served.

As for the former French army commander-in-chief Joffre, due to successive defeats in previous battles and the fall of Paris, Joffre, as commander-in-chief of the French army, was directly replaced and became a government military adviser. In addition, in view of Joffre’s high prestige in the French army, he was promoted to marshal after dismissing him as commander-in-chief of the army. However, only Xiafei himself knows how this marshal feels.

In addition, Marshal French, the former commander of the British Expeditionary Force, was considered unsuitable for trench warfare because of the previous loss of more than 200,000 British troops. He was transferred back to the country and was replaced by Haig, the former commander of the First Corps of the Expeditionary Force.

After deciding on the two commanders, the next step is the preparation stage. All supplies need to be prepared, especially the most important ammunition.

In previous battles, ammunition consumption in both countries wiped out two-thirds of their stocks. Although there are British and French arsenals working overtime to produce ammunition, according to the estimates of the two countries’ military, it is simply not enough for the battle.

In this case, what should we do?

The British and French armies operated from two aspects. First, they drew from the munitions depots of the colonies that were not at war. Second, they purchased from abroad, mainly the United States.

As for whether to sell it in the United States, there is no need to consider it. Capitalists dare not sell anything as long as it is for profit.

Besides, as a challenger, how could the United States be willing to see Germany, Italy and Austria gain an advantage on the battlefield? (One more thing, I think that whether it is World War I or World War II, the United States is simply impossible and unwilling to see Germany win this war. The reason is very simple. Germany is a competitor, and they are all competing for the new world hegemon. It’s just that the United States The distance is far, and the domestic market is large enough, so he is waiting.)

For the battle plan, Britain and France also mobilized a bunch of outstanding staff officers in the army to formulate it. It finally took a month for the plan to be finalized. In general, the core of this Battle of Paris is to seize various towns around Paris to liberate Paris.

Of course, these towns are not easy to capture. Germany has more than 400,000 people defending the Paris area. The core of their defense is the surrounding places such as Guyville, Bena, Courcoronne, Gautier and other places. These are the fulcrums on the periphery of Paris. As long as these places are defended, Paris will not be breached at all.

And if these places cannot be defended, there is no need for Paris to defend them, because the above locations are lost, and the defenders must evacuate if they do not want to be trapped in the urn. (Looking at World War II, neither Germany nor Britain and the United States encountered fighting in Paris. This is the most important reason.)

According to the British and French plans, the British and French troops launched attacks from the left and right sides respectively. Among them, the target of the British army on the left is the Guerville-Bonteru-Gissault-Tillet line, while the French army attacks from the right, targeting Gautier-Sery-Chercy-Baron. In the end, the two The army and the communists targeted Pontepuan. If the British and French armies can accomplish this task, they will not only be able to liberate Paris, but also encircle more than 400,000 German troops. It can be said that if it is done, it will become a turning point in the war.

However, it is not easy at all, because it is more than 100 kilometers from the starting point of the battle to Ponte Pu’an. Such a long distance can be quite difficult.

But it doesn’t matter. The staff also considered the difficulty of the task and had a backup plan. If the casualties caused by conquering the German positions along the way were too large, Saint-Vie could be the encirclement location, which could also cut off the railway from Paris to Antwerp.

If that doesn’t work, then the encirclement target is Saint-Denis, a suburb outside the city. However, if this is the goal, then the will to drive the German army out of the Paris Basin will not be achieved. France’s desire to use the Paris Basin to restore its health may be largely in vain.

If this is not achieved, then this battle can be declared a failure, because none of its goals have been achieved, and then Britain and France need to seriously consider whether this war is worth it.

As for the worst outcome, Britain and France simply do not think it is possible. Because of Germany’s troop deployment in the Paris area, Britain and France are fully aware of it (the patriotic people of Paris).

As for the two commanders of this battle, they were quite confident in this. They believed that only by conquering Pontepuan could the purpose of the battle be completed. If Shengwei is the target, this is a bad battle. As for the remaining two possibilities, they simply don’t exist. In such a clear situation, they can do the worst and submit their resignation letters.

It was early morning on May 27 at the coalition headquarters in Nemours.

At this moment, in the combat command hall, all the British and French officers were looking at General Gallieni, who was the commander of the coalition forces.

Admiral Gallieni certainly knew what they were waiting for. After looking at the clock hanging on the wall, Gallieni picked up the red phone and said. “I now order the Battle of Paris to officially begin.”

As he put down the phone, he heard the roar of artillery outside. This was the British and French artillery units firing. A total of more than 2,100 cannons made their own roar.

This time, there are more than 800 British and French artillery pieces with a caliber of 100 mm or above, including more than 400 artillery pieces with a caliber of 150 mm and above. Many of these are artillery pieces disassembled directly from battleships. These naval artillery pieces, which have great power and long range, were prepared by Britain and France with great efforts. After all, they had been beaten by German heavy artillery before, so Britain and France had a deep understanding of the justice of caliber.

Artillery shells exploded on the German positions one after another. The deafening explosions continued to explode like firecrackers, and the scattered shrapnel also caused fatal damage.

The wooden piles and barbed wire fences on the position were blown up by the roaring artillery shells, and the mines placed in front of the position were also directly detonated. Even the trenches where they were hiding were blown up section by section.

It can be said that any garrison officer and soldier lived like a year under such intensive artillery fire, and the British and French artillery continued to fire for three days. During these three days, the German troops defending the Paris area also pulled out artillery in an attempt to counterattack. But when the opponent has artillery that is one and a half times ahead of itself, no counterattack is worthwhile.

Therefore, starting from the third day, German artillery only showed its presence occasionally, trying to save the artillery until the moment when it was needed most.

After the artillery exploded for three days, following the whistle of the leading officer, groups of British and French soldiers, led by the officers, launched a charge towards the German positions. They were full of momentum and vowed to take back the city of Paris. beautiful city.

Maybe another chapter?