Chapter 877 Preparations before the General Attack
General Staff, Wilhelm Street, Germany.
The sky was just turning light, the lights in the office were still on, and Hindenburg had already gotten up and walked out of the lounge.
Hindenburg didn't want to work day and night like this, but the situation on the battlefield did not allow him to slack off.
The war situation in Italy and Romania was in a stalemate. Although the Eastern Front was winning, the Western Front was in danger and in danger of collapse at any time.
Hindenburg had been highly nervous for several weeks, and it was not until the Western Front stabilized in the "night battle tug-of-war" tactics that he was able to sleep well.
Hindenburg sat down at his desk and the orderly immediately brought him breakfast, a portion of whole wheat bread and a cup of coffee.
Germany's material situation was never optimistic, and even the diet of Hindenburg, the Chief of the General Staff, was restricted.
Hindenburg casually picked up the coffee and asked while flipping through the documents: "What happened last night?"
"Nothing important, Marshal." The staff officer handed a stack of telegrams to Hindenburg:
"We advanced another 3 kilometers on the Eastern Front and captured more than 10,000 Russians. Russian morale is getting worse and worse."
"Also in the Romanian direction, we occupied the Hol Valley and successfully opened a gap in their defense line."
Hindenburg said "hmm", all good news.
Brusilov could not save Russia alone, even though the Russian army was equipped with a large number of horse-drawn machine guns that were very troublesome.
This is related to Russia's internal situation. The Dardanelles has been blocked, and now winter is approaching and the shipping routes are about to be frozen. Russia will soon face another major shortage of supplies.
The soldiers and civilians were starving to death, while the Tsarist nobles were living an extravagant life. The soldiers were certainly unwilling to continue fighting for such a terrible regime.
As for Romania, due to the decrease in Russian support, they gradually lost their confidence and morale in resistance.
Hold on, Hindenburg encouraged himself, it won't be long before the enemies on the Eastern Front collapse, and Germany will then have enough troops and equipment to transfer back to the Western Front to deal with Charles.
Hindenburg's expression turned serious when he thought of the Western Front: "What's the situation on the Western Front?"
"Something unexpected happened on the Western Front," the staff officer replied. "Last night we failed to retake the abandoned positions as planned. Instead, the French captured two positions. However, we have successfully stopped them."
Hindenburg dropped the coffee cup in his hand onto the table with a clang, spilling coffee all over the table and even soaking the documents, but he ignored it and looked at the staff officer in shock: "What did you say? The French army captured two of our positions?"
"Yes, Your Excellency Marshal." The staff officer was a little surprised. It was just two positions with a depth of only three miles. Wasn't it a bit too much for the Marshal to be so surprised?
Hindenburg stood up with a bang: "How did they do it? Why is it like this?"
The staff officer replied tremblingly: "The French army voluntarily gave up a line of defense. After our army occupied it, they were counterattacked by the French army. As a result..."
Hindenburg understood that the French army gave up a line of defense in exchange for the initiative, resulting in a change of offense and defense.
This was Charles's command. It must be Charles. Only he could think of such a clever countermeasure.
"Retreat, retreat immediately!" Hindenburg ordered: "Order all troops to withdraw to the Metz defense line!"
"Retreat to the Metz Line?" The staff was frightened by Hindenburg's order.
The Auvers Line of Defense is at least 50 kilometers away from the Metz Line of Defense. Withdraw 50 kilometers in one go?
Hindenburg did not give his staff time to think and repeated in a stern voice: "Follow the order!"
"Yes, Marshal." The staff officer reacted and hurried to convey the order.
Hindenburg paced anxiously around his desk with his hands behind his back.
Ludendorff, who heard the news, walked into the headquarters while buttoning his shirt. He walked up to Hindenburg and asked, "What happened, Marshal? I heard that you are going to withdraw your troops to the Metz Line?"
Hindenburg walked to the map and pointed to the latest defense map drawn by the staff last night: "Isn't this obvious?"
Ludendorff stared at the map for a while but couldn't see anything.
Hindenburg pressed his finger heavily on the Meuse River defense line, making a crisp "click" sound:
"The flank of the Second Army, General."
"Do you think this is just a matter of two positions three miles deep?"
"They can advance three miles at night, and they may be able to advance 30 miles during the day. Don't forget that they have armored and mechanized forces."
Ludendorff suddenly realized.
Just as the German army broke through and defeated the British Expeditionary Force and appeared in front of the French Meuse River defense flank, the French army would also threaten the Meuse River defense flank after breaking through the German defense line.
Prior to this, the 2nd Army stationed on the Meuse River defense line was safe because its flanks were protected by the layers of defense of the 17th and 18th Armies.
But everything changed after last night's battle.
The French army only advanced three miles at night, which was just preparation for the subsequent all-out attack.
As soon as daybreak comes, the French army will launch a general offensive, and the armored forces will break through the German defense line in one fell swoop, threatening the flank of the 2nd Army.
At the same time, Charles's 1st Armored Army and the US Armored Division on the other side of the Meuse River will also start landing.
Thinking of this, Ludendorff's face turned pale with fright.
"These ignorant fellows," Ludendorff complained, "They actually thought this was a trivial matter and did not report it until now. They should be held responsible for this!"
Ludendorff seemed to have forgotten that it was only after Hindenburg reminded him of this that he realized this.
Commands were passed down one after another:
"All troops withdraw to the Metz line."
"Retreat to the Metz Line!"
"All troops withdraw to the Metz line, immediately!"
…
But it was too late. Before the order reached the front, the French rocket launchers had already exploded on the banks of the Meuse River.
With a whistling sound, the smoke pointed directly at the German position, instantly engulfing it in fire and smoke.
The French offensive had already begun before the rocket launchers had finished firing.
Positioned on the Meuse River was the 2nd Special Artillery Division of the Eastern Army Group, which even had a "Char B1" tank company.
Those were the troops that Charles temporarily transferred from Paris to supplement the troops. The 30 tanks had just rolled off the production line, and the tank crew members were also newly trained.
Amid the harsh noise of their tracks, they led hundreds of "Charle A1" tanks and more than 3,000 French soldiers and pressed forward towards the German defense line.
The German troops defending the line were stunned for a moment.
They only had 37MM anti-tank guns, and the only thing they could deal with was the "Charter A1". Hitting the "Charter B1" was just a scratch.
At the same time, the German artillery and tanks were almost all lost during the retreat, and only their infantry were left.
What can stop these steel monsters?
Flesh and blood?
The German soldiers just fired a few shots symbolically and then set out on the road to escape again.
(End of this chapter)
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