Long live Joachim

Chapter 24: From Amiens to Paris (middle) Under the bright sunshine, white tethered balloons float over Paris, and the Seine River flows quietly through the city, bringing a thousand years of vitality and energy to this world-renowned romantic capital. Nowadays, most of Europe is suffering from the ravages of war and gunpowder, and large areas of land in eastern France have been trampled by the German army's iron hooves. However, Parisians are not hiding in corners like mice shivering. They still walk on the streets, paying attention to every message posted on bulletin boards, listening to the passionate language of speakers, and supporting the Third French Republic in resisting the military invasion of the Second German Empire in every way they can. At noon, on a tethered balloon located in the northeast corner of Paris, lookout personnel noticed a group of black spots appearing on the horizon. Through the telescope, they quickly realized that these were nine large planes they had never seen before, and the gray livery of the wilderness clearly revealed their camp. The French lookout quickly sounded the enemy attack alarm. In this era when the concept of air defense was just emerging, there were no cries of air defense sirens, no specialized air defense shelters for military and civilian use, and no strict air defense evacuation system. By the time the police patrolling the streets used sharp whistles to notify citizens to leave densely populated areas such as streets and squares as soon as possible, the dull roar of the German Junker VI bomber group could already be heard in the city. To support the Anglo French coalition in the battle on the front line of the Marne River, the French army concentrated more than half of their military aircraft around Paris and established three large-scale flying camps. The lookout personnel noticed that German planes were approaching, and the first phone call reached the command center of the flying camp. The response of the French flying unit was also very rapid, with six fighter jets taking off to counterattack within five minutes. However, the fighter jets equipped by the French army at this time were still in their early stages of combat capability, with a wide variety of models and varying performance. Some had light machine guns mounted above the pilot's cockpit, while others were operated by the co pilot. These French fighter jets charged towards the German fleet in a defensive posture, but the pilots were soon surprised to find that the oncoming German bombers were unbelievably large. Their wingspan was four to five times that of a regular aircraft, and the height of their fuselage and wings exceeded one floor. Their propellers and engines were located in the middle of the wings on both sides, allowing the crew on board to fire straight ahead without obstruction. As early as the design and manufacturing stage, the Junker VI was endowed with powerful defense capabilities. They are equipped with four MG08s, with machine guns on the nose and back covering the upper hemisphere of the aircraft. The shooter seat in the middle of the fuselage extends to the wing roots on both sides and is equipped with a specially designed rotating gun rack. The firepower covers most of the left and right hemispheres of the aircraft. As a result, the overall defense blind spot of the aircraft is relatively small, and two to three machine guns can be deployed simultaneously to deal with targets in most directions. When flying in formation, they can coordinate with each other and jointly defend against the enemy. French pilots quickly learned this, and their fighter jets were strafed by concentrated firepower as soon as they approached the German fleet. Two fighter jets were hit in critical areas and fell to the ground on the spot. The remaining French fighter jets had to avoid the front and attempted to launch an attack from the side and rear, but still managed to hit a hard nail. After killing the French fighter jets that came to intercept, nine Junkers VI planes could have driven straight in and dropped bombs on the center of Paris, but they targeted one of the six railway hubs in Paris, Paris East Railway Station. These massive German bombers dropped 90 light bombs and 54 medium bombs in level flight at an altitude of six to seven hundred meters. Despite a direct hit rate of less than 20%, they turned Paris East Railway Station into a sea of fire in just a few minutes. During this process, the French ground forces were helpless because they were not equipped with specialized anti-aircraft guns, but instead used field guns and Hachikas machine guns for emergency response. The former had extremely poor hit efficiency, while the latter had limited air-to-air range. Compared to others, the German military is in a leading position in this regard. As early as the Franco Prussian War, the Prussian army developed the "balloon gun" capable of shooting in the air to counter the manned hot air balloons of the French army. In 1906, the German Aihalt Arms Company (predecessor of the Rhine Arms Company) developed a gun specifically designed to attack aircraft and airships based on the characteristics of the air balloon gun. The gun was mounted on a car and the high and low firing ranges were adjusted using a control handwheel, making it highly combat capable. The maximum range of the 50mm and 65mm caliber anti-aircraft guns reached 4200 meters and 5200 meters, respectively. After the bombing of Paris East Railway Station ended, the German Navy's Junker VI fleet shot down five French fighter jets on their way back, without causing any damage to themselves, setting a record for the highest battle damage ratio between bombers and fighter jets. In addition to sending long-range bombers, the German Navy dispatched attack aircraft stationed in Arras to bomb other railway hubs and bridges in northeastern France, and attacked French military trains parked at train stations and in operation. Without effective resistance, German naval pilots paralyzed the railway transportation system in northeastern France with astonishing efficiency. Railway transportation is undoubtedly the primary tool for the French military to deploy troops, but it is not the only means of mobility. Previously, in order to support the front line of the Marne River, the Paris government issued a conscription order and recruited thousands of taxis, trucks, buses, and other types of motor vehicles to voluntarily transport troops and supplies for the army. This unique and massive transport unit can transport 6000 soldiers from Paris to the Marne River every day, becoming an important support for the French army to maintain the Marne River front. This time, this special transport line was laid eastward to the banks of the Tyrant River, transporting French soldiers from around Paris to the front lines of Mie, Beauvais, and Elm to block German attacks from the direction of Amiens. On the evening of the second day after the German army captured Amiens, in the small town of Bar on the banks of the Seine, within the French headquarters, the news of Paris being heavily bombed by the German army had already left Xiafei and his generals in a state of panic. When they heard that the German troops who captured Amiens and killed Paris along the way belonged to the Marine Corps, they were all shocked. According to the pilot's report, the German troops heading south from Amiens had a size of approximately 20000 to 30000 people, with dozens of indestructible steel tanks and columns loaded with heavy artillery, which is consistent with the description of the 6th Infantry Division Commander Philip Bedan General Clergy, the Chief of Staff of the French Army, reluctantly said. Xiafei furrowed his brow, pondered for a long time, and decided to blow up all the bridges on the Tyrant River to prevent the German army from using the French railway trunk to transport soldiers and supplies. He also ordered General Ferdinand Foch, commander of the 9th Army Group, to send all the troops that could be collected to the Tyrant River to intercept this fierce German Marine Corps. The headquarters of the British Expeditionary Force was now located across the street from the French General Headquarters. In a rudimentary conference room, the Commander of the British Expeditionary Force, Field Marshal Sir John French, the Chief of Staff Archibald Murray, Deputy Chief of Staff Henry Wilson, and the newly arrived special messenger from London - Colonel Mc Donough of the Army Intelligence Department - sat solemnly around the table. Even if it is true that the German Navy has formed a 100000 strong Marine Corps using naval marines and fortress defense forces, and is preparing to use this force to land on the island of Great Britain, according to military common sense, the Germans cannot fight this cross sea landing battle while maintaining the east-west front at the same time - the British people are scared by this rumor. After all, the British Grand Fleet has been defeated by the German Navy, and submarines and torpedo boats alone cannot defend the coastline, but the Germans can assemble half of the main fleet. Inviting the French fleet to assist in defending the British mainland, without considering whether they can resist the German Navy, the dignity of the empire that never sets does not allow this situation to occur, so... Sir French shook his head helplessly. The question is whether the French army can fill the vacancies left by us in a timely manner if we transfer two to three divisions of troops, "Wilson asked anxiously. As they knew, France had deployed sixty divisions on the front line of the Marne River, and the French headquarters had reached a point where it was impossible to move an infantry division in any other direction. The more than ten thousand troops sent to the banks of the Tyrant River were actually pieced together by a battalion or a company. However, the letter brought by Colonel Mc Donough was almost a military directive - His Majesty the King and Lord Kitchener's attitude was very firm. Britain's psychological defense needed these 30000 British soldiers, and in their view, the departure or retention of 30000 soldiers may not be significant on the Marne River battlefield, where both sides had invested two million troops. Our choice may lead to the collapse of the entire coalition front, with the battlefield shifting to Paris. If the French cannot hold Paris... "Murray looked anxiously at his colleagues, as the relationship between France and Britain was on a cold note. If France was defeated, Britain would either continue to fight against the thriving German Empire or bow down and surrender its rich colonial interests. French people should do their utmost to defend their capital, "sighed French, looking up After a moment of silence, General Murray asked in a low voice, 'Then whose troops should be sent back to England?' After the Second Battle of Flanders, based on the urgent needs of the Battle of Marne, Britain sent additional combat troops to France. At this time, a total of five infantry divisions, one marine brigade, and one cavalry brigade fought alongside the French army, while only the fully equipped British 6th Infantry Division remained on British soil. The British expeditionary force that arrived in France was organized into two regiments, commanded by Sir Douglas Haig and Sir James Gleason respectively. Sir Haig's 1st Corps had the strongest combat capability and had fought in southern Belgium. After experiencing the hardships of border battles, they finally joined the meat grinder style Marne River battlefield. Three elite infantry divisions suffered heavy casualties and it was time to withdraw them from the front line for rest. But regarding the cruelty on the front lines of the war, the ferocity of the German army, and the losses suffered by the troops themselves, it is likely to have a negative impact on the British military and civilians. In contrast, Sir Grierson's 2nd Corps suffered fewer casualties, and except for the 1st Cavalry Brigade, the rest of the troops have not truly undergone the test of purgatory.