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Text Chapter 872 The French Army was defeated

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    On March 30, the German army's long-awaited siege weapon finally arrived at the Liege Fortress.  This giant siege weapon is a giant mortar named "Big Bell Tower".  The "Big Bell Tower" cannon is 7 meters long, weighs 42 tons, and has a caliber of 42! mm. Each shell weighs 1 ton. It can penetrate hard reinforced concrete buildings and is extremely powerful.  In order to transport it to the front line, it had to be transported by train to the end of the railway line, then a special road was laid, and then 36 strong horses were used to drag it to the German positions near Liege.  At that time, the German army only had 5 such guns, and Moltke immediately allocated 4 to Ludendorff.  At the same time, the heavy artillery of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was also in place. The M11 super heavy artillery was made for Skoda.

    To the great relief of the German and Austrian armies and the consternation of the Belgian army, the 12-door Grand Bell Tower and the M.  The Type 11 super heavy artillery tore the so-called weak reinforced concrete defense line into pieces in just four days.

    At 18:30 in the afternoon, Ludendorff ordered the "Grand Bell Tower" to fire first at the Freiron Fort, the strongest of the forts in Liege.  The gunners filled the shells, retreated to the protective trench 300 meters away from the cannon, plugged their ears with earplugs, and then fired the cannon.  Just hearing a loud roar that shook the earth, a giant cannonball shot straight up to an altitude of 3,000 meters, and then landed in a parabola shape just meters in front of the Freiron Fort.  Immediately, a large crater dozens of meters square was blasted out of the ground, and sand and dust splashed all over the sky.  The astonishing power of the "Big Bertha" cannon not only frightened the Belgian defenders, but also stunned the attacking German troops.  After that, the "Plump Besha" fired continuously, and the German observers in the airship continued to correct the coordinates of the bombardment. Finally, the eighth shell hit the top of the Fleron fort.  The giant shell penetrated the roof of the fort, went straight into the central tunnel and exploded. The inside of the fort was immediately filled with fireworks, and the Belgian defenders were blown to pieces.  The other three German cannons also calibrated their coordinates and fired one after another. Fort Freiron was shaking like it was sitting on the crater of a volcano. Reinforced concrete, broken limbs, guns and supplies were flying everywhere, and the fire was glowing red.  half the sky.  When everything quieted down, the German infantry rushed up. The large Freylon Fort had been reduced to rubble, and no defenders survived.

    "Haha! The Belgian fortress finally couldn't withstand it!" Seeing the fortress of Liege fortress blown into ruins, Ludendorff showed a victorious smile on his face. The depression on his face for several days was finally gone.  And empty!

    "Congratulations! Germany has such heavy artillery. There are no fortresses or fortresses that can resist the advance of the German army!" General Zhao Bowen also sighed.  He was also shocked by the power of the Big Bell Tower's heavy artillery. As China's deputy chief of staff, he was also very clear about the assembly of the Imperial Army.  The Chinese Army is also equipped with some heavy artillery, but the main ones are 210mm heavy artillery and 305mm heavy artillery, which were removed and modified from retired naval warships.  Compared with the German Big Bert heavy artillery, there is still a big gap.  However, the 'Empire-class' battleships being built by the Navy will also be equipped with 406mm naval guns. If converted into train guns, the power will definitely not be worse than the German Big Bert!

    July 31: The "Grand Bert Tower" cannon destroyed two forts of the Belgian defenders in the same manner. The remaining forts still resisted and refused to surrender.  Ludendorff ordered the four "Grand Bell Tower" cannons to be divided into two groups to sweep the remaining forts along both sides of the Maas River.  As a result, earth-shaking loud noises continued on the battlefield every day, and the forts collapsed one after another, turning into huge iron furnaces and crematoriums.  By August 1, 11 of the 12 forts had been destroyed, leaving only the Ronson fort held by Lieutenant General Girard Lehmann.  Ludendorff once again went to persuade him to surrender, but Lieutenant General Gilad Lehmann still refused.  So four "Big Bell Tower" cannons fired a salvo at the Longsen Fort. The fort immediately burst into flames, and the ammunition depot in the fort was also ignited. A chain explosion occurred, and the top cover of the fort was lifted dozens of meters away.  , the entire fort was completely destroyed.  The German troops rushed forward and saw burnt corpses and broken guns everywhere. The scene was horrific.  What is surprising is that Lieutenant General Gilad Lehmann himself was not killed, but was knocked unconscious.  The German army escorted him to Amy. Lieutenant General Gilad Lehmann handed over his saber to him and said: "I was captured after losing consciousness. Please be sure to explain this in the report." Amy  He admired Li Man as a loyal soldier and returned the sword to him, and then said: "Your military honor has not been damaged at all. Please keep this saber!"

    The Battle of Liege finally ended with the German victory, but the German army suffered heavy casualties in front of the fortress, with losses exceeding 40,000 people.  After that, the German army came to Brussels. King Abel of Belgium saw that there was no way to save the day, so he had to retreat to Antwerp. The German army easily took control of Belgium's complete railway network.  Taking advantage of the convenient railway, millions of German troops marched straight to the French border, and the door to northern France was opened!

    On August 3, French Commander-in-Chief Joffre issued an order instructing General Luv¡¯s 3rd Army and General Decarry¡¯s 4th Army toPreparing to attack the Ardennes area, the 5th Army attacked north of the Sobul River.  !

    In Lorraine, on the morning of August 5, the French 1st Army and the 2nd Army were severely beaten when attacking the German defense lines at Sarbourg and Moranges.  Against machine gun positions equipped with heavy artillery, barbed wire and hidden bunkers, the shortcomings of a large-scale charge were immediately exposed.  The French army's assault tactics were based on the assumption that the infantry unit would sprint forward for 2 seconds and advance 50 meters before the opponent had time to hold the gun, aim, and shoot.  But what he practiced so hard in drills proved to be a fool's errand on the battlefield.  German machine guns only needed a BH¡ä bell to fire.

    Despite the setback, the two French generals ordered their troops to advance.  The German counterattack began, and the fierce artillery fire shattered the French army.  The French 2nd Army was forced to retreat, leaving the 1st Army's right wing without cover.  Xiafei had no choice but to order the 1st Army to retreat with him.  The next day, the heavy artillery of the German 6th Army roared like thousands of horses galloping, day and night.  The French army retreated to the Charme Gap between the French defense areas of Toul and Erbinal.

    On August 8, the German 67th Army launched a majestic attack on the Charme Gap, and in the following days fell into a fierce battle with the French 1st and 2nd Army.  The failure of the Lorraine attack did not discourage Xiafei. On the contrary, he saw that the fierce counterattack of the German 6th Army had plunged the German left wing into a quagmire of fierce fighting. This was a good time for him to attack the German center, so he  The order was given to attack in the Ardennes.  While the French 3rd and 4th Armies entered the mountainous area, the French 5th Army crossed the Sambre River to attack the enemy's right flank.

    The terrain of the Ardennes area was not suitable for attack. It was densely wooded and crisscrossed by streams. However, it was still selected as a breakthrough point by the French. They believed that the German troops here were the weakest.

    The German troops guarding here are the 5th Army led by Crown Prince William and the 4th Army led by the Duke of W¨¹rttemberg.  According to the plan, the German 4th Army will attack Navchato through the northern part of the Ardennes region, and the 5th Army will attack Verton and the two French fortresses Longwy and Montmedy through the southern part of the mountainous area. Crown Prince William's headquarters is located in Thion.  Vail.

    Confronting Crown Prince William was the French 3rd Army commanded by Rueuf.  Rueuf's task was to drive the German troops back from Metz to Thionville and surround them there, while at the same time recovering the Bri¨¨re area during the advance.  While he is encircling the right wing of the German center, the neighboring 4th Army will encircle the left wing of the German center.  The two French armies would come out of the center and cut off the arm of the German right wing from the shoulder.

    On August 7, large-scale fighting began.  In Virton and Tantini, in Rossignol and Naftosya, on every battlefield the cannon roared.

    Before the attack, the French soldiers had bayonets installed on their guns, and countless flags were flying in the wind.  The drum and trumpet band of the regiment played "La Marseillaise" passionately.  The officers wearing white gloves marched 20 steps ahead of the band, stepping on the syllables of the trumpets, marching neatly and quickly, with a massive and spectacular momentum, just like a National Day military parade.  When the French infantry advanced, their advance guard's pace was neat and their formation was neat. Even when they fell under the sound of gunfire, they were very neat.  Each of them is like a rabbit, unable to get up again after falling down, but they are always brave and are not afraid of this.  The officers of the vanguard strutted in front of the team. The vanguard fell down in small groups, and then followed up in small groups. They kept falling and kept advancing. The position of the subsequent troops who fell to death was never higher than the first.  One fell 50 meters in front of the position.

    In Rossignol, France.  The civilian division was surrounded by the 6th Army of the German 5th Army. After six hours of fighting, there was not much left of the division and the division commander was killed.  In Werton, the battlefield after the fierce battle was an incredible scene. Thousands of dead people were still standing, leaning on a 60-degree slope formed by batches of corpses.

    On August 8, it became clear that the French offensive had failed. The French army did not "split the German army in half." The French army summoned up the courage they were proud of, waved their sabers, shouted "Forward", and marched towards the trenches.  The German troops who stood firm and used machine guns and artillery launched attacks again and again, but the opponent's terrifying firepower defeated their courage. The French army began to fully withdraw from the Ardennes area. The 3rd Army retreated to Verdun, and the 4th Army withdrew to Verdun.  Sterne and Sedan.

    The battle on the German-French border is over. The French army suffered more than 140,000 casualties in these four days, while the German casualties were minimal.  The German-French border is full of broken walls, and the streets and alleys exude the stench of blood, medicine, horse manure and corpses.  Among the corpses, dazzling fragments of French army field regulations with the words "The French army should use offense as the only law from now on, only attack can produce positive results" can be seen scattered.  The frontier had been breached, the gates of France were thrown open, and the various branches of the French army were retreating.  On August 10, the entire battle situation became clear, and the German army began to advance forward with a long drive.
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