.

In the first week, the Germans achieved great success, and they reached the place they captured a year ago. The Arc de Triomphe could already be seen in the nearest place. However, the German General Staff also noticed very keenly that the German army had a very bad posture and did not form a breakthrough. Millions of people were fixed in one pocket, surrounded by gunfire.

After a difficult first week, the French army had obviously recovered from the initial chaos, but at this time the German army was trapped in a fortress named Maridris. This fortress was quite difficult to conquer. It can be said that the strategic intention of the French army at that time was very obvious: relying on the Maridris Fortress to hold the main force of the German army to buy time for themselves.

From the 89th to the 12th, the German army launched here.: The map of the fortress was found, causing heavy losses to the German army. It was not until September 14 that the German army tried to attack the fortress again. Due to the inadequate deployment of the firepower on the flank of the Fifth Light Division, the German army was still driven out by the French army. A small part of the German army was trapped in the city and surrounded, and finally suffered the misfortune of the entire army. Of course, the German army continued to work tirelessly to rescue the siege, and it was not announced to fail again on September 17th.

Let’s take a look at the Germans’ opinions on the failure of Maridris’ siege: including those who were killed, injured and missing, the Germans lost more than 12,000 people in total. This can prove that once they fall into positional warfare, the loss curve will rise sharply.

After the German army failed in its last attack, he drew out his mechanized troops. At the same time, the French army in the east also began to take action. At this time, the German army had already weighed the pros and cons in their minds and formulated a plan: rely on the powerful Rhine Army to launch a decisive battle.

It has to be said that the Germans' thoughts remained in the period of the Franco-Prussian War. The brilliant victory of resolving the battles made their thinking rigid and they could not see the new power brought by new military changes.

------------------------------------The following is excerpted from Rommel's "Soldier Attack"

Attack on September 8, 1901

"After I came back from vacation, I was appointed as the company commander of the 4th Company. The company will participate in the offensive in a few days. I took over the company on a reserve position in the T Valley. After personally reconnaissing the assembly area and the offensive terrain, I conducted drills on the original position in the valley. In this way, the company was confident in carrying out the upcoming hard tasks. What I regret is that my command lasted only a few days, and my qualification was too shallow to serve as the executive company commander.

5; A company of the 12th Grenade Corps took over a position below the tunnel dug by the French army. In several places, we could clearly hear the sound of the enemy's excavation team working continuously. I hope the enemy will not stop digging before attacking. We would rather fight face to face with the enemy than be bombed into the air. Three long days have passed, and the moles under us have stopped digging for no moment during these three days.

8. The man's position opened fire. The number of cannons used in this shelling was equivalent to the barrage shooting when assaulting the central position. French cannons at all calibers immediately counterattacked, including our position. We shrank into a ball in a thin bunker that could accommodate people, and let the shells fly over our heads in a fury. The earth continued to tremble under the attack of the shells, and the turf, fragments and broken branches fell vertically like rain. They fell everywhere. The thick oak trees were uprooted and fell to the ground. At this time, we could no longer hear the French excavators. Could it be that they had finished?"

I ran around the company's position from time to time to see how the soldiers were in our area were in condition. The shock waves caused by the explosion of shells nearby shook me to the ground. I glanced at the enemy from the chest wall. It seemed that countless huge fountains erupted on the ground, those fountains with soil, turf, sandbags and wooden stakes. Trees everywhere fell one after another, and blue and gray smoke enveloped the enemy's rear.

The barrage shooting lasted for 3 hours, and we lie in this boiling pot and survived this inexplicable long period of time. The hand of the watch finally pointed to 10:45. Three attack groups bowed their waists and picked it out of the bunker and gathered at the departure line. Everyone proofreaded the watch. As soon as the shelling stopped, we launched an attack at 11:00 on time.

The engineers and ammunition and equipment delivery teams arrived, and I indicated the targets to each engineer squad leader. These targets were about 225 yards behind the enemy's front line, and I emphasized to them that they had to focus on these targets, and that other troops, who followed us on the second line, would deal with the resistance of those targets. We discussed what to do after the attack was achieved, how to consolidate the results, how to establish connections with other troops, and block some areas, etc.

At the same time, under the accurate bombardment of artillery fire, shells of all kinds and caliber were destroying the enemy's positions. It is hard to imagine what could survive when the infantry rushed over. There were still 0 seconds left! The infantry hid in the crater and prepared to attack. There were still 10 seconds left. The last batch of shells hit us. Before the smoke was gone, the three attack groups quietly stood up from the trenches and headed towards 280.

The targets on the enemy's front rushed forward. The soldiers crossed the smoke and noise on the battlefield like they practiced a few days ago. What a wonderful map drawing!

The soldiers had no time to take care of the piles of French soldiers who had climbed out of the position because of fear, and just pointed at them at our starting position. The attack squads rushed towards the predetermined target, and the follow-up troops led by the First-level Company Chief controlled the prisoners of war on the second line.

I joined the attack team on the right. We walked forward through the enemy trenches and reached our destination within a few seconds. Engineers, trench excavation squads, grenade squads followed us, and so far, no casualties. We did not cheer and shout as usual when we attacked, and unexpectedly seized the French rear position in silence.

These French troops obviously believed that everything was over for them. So they surrendered without any resistance. A French machine gun fired, forcing us to find cover. We moved along the trench to the left and established contact with the central attack group; a few minutes later we contacted our left unit and the adjacent company (2nd Company).

We excitedly consolidated the results of the battle to prepare for defense. In a short period of time, the trenches leading to the enemy were blocked by sandbags, and the bullets and grenade storage points were constructed. French artillery fired violently at the area behind us, so that our connection with the starting position was completely cut off. French machine guns prevented any activities outside our newly occupied positions, and resupply of ammunition became impossible.

The counterattack of the French infantry began, and although our firefield was only 100 yards wide, we easily blocked them. On the position, the fierce grenade battle spread out around the blocked trenches, but the enemies there were as little as elsewhere. The terrain here tilted slightly towards the enemy, so our grenades could throw farther than theirs.

During the attack, five soldiers were injured by a grenade that was accidentally dropped out of the battle. After we occupied the target position, the French firepower killed 3 people and injured 15 people in the entire company. Various supplies became our next problem. The transportation of ammunition, supplies and rations had to be carried out through the open terrain under fire from French machine guns and artillery. We had to dig a traffic trench leading to our departure line and establish contact with the troops on the right.

At my suggestion, the battalion commander decided to let the eight men in the reserve team dig a 100-yard trench between our existing position and the starting position. This work was in charge of me. Our fortifications were only 50 yards away from the French army, so I ordered the materiel to deliver large batches of sandbags and steel shields. I learned something from the French on June 0.

We started working at 10 pm. Under the light of the flares, the French army still tirelessly opened fire at us almost without interruption. In order to complete the excavation in one night, we could not have any delay. I ordered a wall of 16-inch high sandbags at both ends of the trench that did not exist. Building this wall was a regional experience, we formed a long chain of people, and we lie flat on the ground and passed it to the hands of the wall-pile owners. The enemy raised a 50-foot wall of sandbags from both ends to the open ground.

The sandbag was used up. A gap of 200 feet was left. I ordered the soldiers to use their armored shields to fill the gap. After each soldier entered the position, he placed his shield and dug it behind the shield, with the rifle and grenade at hand.

The whole operation went on silently, although the French army fired countless flares and fired with various infantry weapons. Only the rifle fire could hit us but could not penetrate our armored shields. Even so, we used shields to form the straggler lines, which definitely did not give us a feeling of comfort.

By dawn on September 9, we dug a trench foot deep in the street to our original position. During the night digging we found the body of a 1st battalion soldier who had been lying in this unmanned land since June 30.

When I was working hard for a day and was about to rest on hay, the battalion commander and the regiment commander came to check the new positions. They were happy about the progress of the company and the 2nd Company. The predetermined target had been occupied. We captured some officers, 140 soldiers, 16 trench mortars, 2 machine guns. Two excavators and one O-land casualties were diluted. He was the contact officer of our 123rd Grenade Corps. When he was killed, he still had a leave order in his pocket.

Shortly after the attack, I once again gave up command of the 4th Company; in the following weeks I replaced the 2nd Company. Because I knew and mastered the company so well, I felt not at ease when I left the 4th Company. As the commander of the 2nd Company, I stayed in Prince Fort for a while, which was a bulletproof bunker and blocking position of 160 yards behind the front line. It was there that I was promoted to a first-level lieutenant and transferred to a mountain force that was about to be officially put into service.

It is not easy to say goodbye to this combat unit that I have fought for so many days, to so many brave comrades and blood-soaked, to the battlefield of heaven and earth. When I left the forest at the end of September, the battle was the climax.

After that, Longmel left the army and was transferred to the mountain division, and the substitute was an unknown second lieutenant. This was lucky for Longmel. A few days later, when Germany's five hundred thousand Rhine gathered

Devastating blow, together with 3,000 tanks?

On the day of the attack, the Germans charged bravely, and the tank troops crossed several lines of defense, but the speed of the infantry dragged them down. In order to wait for the soldiers, these tanks stopped, which was extremely fatal. The French anti-tank hands hiding in the trenches easily killed the iron turtles.

The chain explosion caused by the sacrificial explosion left the German infantry swarming behind and had nowhere to hide. Most of the soldiers could only fire bullets at the opposite trenches behind the wreckage of the tank in vain. After losing 200,000 people (almost 100,000 people per day), the Rhine Army defeated 100,000 people, but under the fire of the French, there were very few survivors. If Rommel was still there, the possibility of death was very high, so we would not see the wonderful performance of this general during World War II.

It is not difficult to see from this fierce fortress offensive and defensive battle. Even tank warfare is still not omnipotent. As Yomini said, nothing under the sun is perfect. It is not difficult to summarize the five characteristics of tank warfare from the book "Armored Warfare" of Song Bingce General:

1. Surprise attack: This is an indispensable element in tank warfare. If this element is missing, it will be as described in the book "Tank Warfare: Risks and Advantages of Mobile Warfare": the supply line that breaks through the armored forces will gradually be closed by the defensive forces, thus falling into a siege. The failure of the Germans and the success of the Chinese both verified the importance of this point.

Because tank warfare requires the use of the opponent's psychology, "attacking it without preparation and surprise" is the most effective way to make the opponent's local high-level command center fall into a situation where it is helpless. It is precisely because of the "strange" that it will also bring a sense of overwhelming storm to the frontline troops, and thus tank warfare can also be regarded as a very classic psychological warfare.

Surprise attacks involve human psychology, which is a sensory issue, so the judgment of the effect is often extremely inaccurate. This is also the most common problem in tank warfare, because both sides are inevitably in a state of fog. The other party's intention can only be judged by the deployment and mobilization of troops, so it is necessary to truly use tank warfare well.

2 Mobile: Tank warfare, as the name suggests, is that tanks are the main weapon and means of realization. The effect of this feature is often strategic. Just as Sun Tzu said: "It is important to fight (speed), and if it is long, it will be sharp and sharp... If it is long, the army will be weak if it is violent, the country will be ineffective."

Because of the speed, the enemy did not have enough time to withdraw reserves to deal with the breakthrough of the tank cluster. Sun Tzu's Strategy Chapter said: "Therefore, those who are good at fighting have a dangerous situation and a short position." It is also appropriate to use it here.

3 Protection: "Armor Warfare" attaches great importance to protection. The book says: "In mechanized warfare, the protective effect of mobile armor exceeds the static terrain, and the speed of movement from one location to another improves the role of diversion and configuration.... Since mechanization provides unlimited opportunities for raids, there is no clear threatened frontline in regional warfare, so comprehensive protection and local protection will become increasingly important... Protection in defense is basically the same as protection in offense. Since the initiative is in the hands of the enemy, it is extremely important to try your best to maintain a strong reserve team.

"This sentence has basically pointed out the characteristics of protection: it is that it is necessary to have a reserve force, whether it is attack or defense. In the case of defense, this reserve force is called mobile defense. Mobile defense is a relatively active defense method. Unlike simple linear defense, this defense usually concentrates mechanized troops behind the infantry front to prevent the enemy's sudden attack on the infantry front.

4 Infiltration. During World War I, a general named Huthir in Germany claimed to "invent" a tactic of bypassing from both sides and surrounding or attacking from behind when facing a strong stronghold, and named this tactic after himself. In tank warfare, similar infiltration is usually adopted when encountering a strong stronghold to avoid affecting the overall breakthrough speed because of a small stronghold.

Such infiltration was like the German army lost command during the meeting in 1901, and it was unable to maintain its formation. The consequence was that it caused an irreversible "central collapse". Under the tenacious blockade of the French, the German army in the entire protruding was killed by 40% of the killings, the remaining 30% were injured, and the number of casualties reached 70% of the troops).

5 Fire support: This is the experience gained from the fight between the Germans and the French. Although it has an advantage in most equipment, in terms of artillery, the French's 77mm rapid-fire gun, as a company-level suppression vitality of the front line, is significantly stronger than the German's 75mm suppression artillery. This leads to insufficient assault capabilities during the attack, and the tanks and walking soldiers are separated by vitality and lose their collective strength.

After the Germans failed in the offensive, they had to send a signal to Britain and China for help, but soon, they no longer needed these. Not only did Germany not, but the whole world no longer needed them. A creature, ancient and mysterious, began to attack humans, and the wars within humans were forced to concessions with external wars.
Chapter completed!