Chapter 383: Battle of Mulhouse
Before the war began, French Commander-in-Chief Joffre was still very confident in the combat capabilities of the French army.
According to Offensive Plan No. 17, France will use a total of nearly 1.6 million combat troops in this offensive.
Although due to various reasons, less than half of the troops actually put into combat may be less than half, but Xiafei still firmly believes that it is not difficult to complete the core task of Operation Plan No. 17, which is to recapture Alsace and Lorraine.
In order to urge the French army to complete its combat missions, Joffre often traveled by car from the headquarters in Le Francois to inspect combat troops.
It is worth mentioning that the reason why Xiafei can freely shuttle between various combat units and the headquarters without slacking off on military affairs is largely due to Xiafei’s exclusive driver, a driver who has won the French Grand Prix three times. rider.
It has been more than ten years since the development of automobiles. European countries like France have also established competitions to compare automobile speeds.
The winner will not only receive various prizes such as cars, but also gain the favor of those in power and be hired as their exclusive driver.
After all, the current driving training system and traffic regulations are not so standardized. A driver with good skills can not only avoid various dangers encountered while driving, but also be able to respond quickly when danger comes, so as not to be in a hurry.
The previous assassination of Archduke Ferdinand was partly due to the unskilled driver.
If the vehicle could be started quickly when the killer approached, Archduke Ferdinand would not necessarily have no chance of survival.
The reason why Archduke Ferdinand's driver did not start the vehicle quickly was because he was reversing.
If a more skilled driver were behind the wheel, among other things, Archduke Ferdinand and his wife's chances of survival would have been higher.
Thanks to the superb driving skills of the dedicated driver, it only takes more than an hour for Xiafei to travel between the headquarters and the troop station.
Before the final start of the battle, Xiafei arrived in a special car to understand the situation of the First Army and supervise the upcoming attack.
The commander of the First Army was Dubai, a general who did not much approve of the attack.
The reason why Xiafei frequently went to the First Army was to win the approval of General Dubai and stop the First Army, which had a more important mission, from slipping up.
The day before Operation Plan No. 17 was launched, it was late in the morning and late at night.
Dubai, commander of the French First Army, was discussing the combat plan with French Commander-in-Chief Joffre.
Dubai still had some doubts about the attack, and asked Xiafei hesitantly: "Your Excellency, Commander-in-Chief, is there really no problem with such a large-scale attack like ours?"
Xiafei took a serious look at his subordinates, patted Dubai's shoulder hard, pointed at Dubai's military uniform and said: "General, please understand what you are wearing. We are glorious French soldiers, Our mission is to protect this beautiful land and all the people under our feet. If we cannot regain our homeland of Alsace and Lorraine, what shame do we have to continue to wear this military uniform?”
"Your Majesty General, please remember one sentence. Only attacking is in line with the thinking of French soldiers. Only advocating war will not insult the souls of soldiers." At the end of the conversation, Xiafei glanced at Dubai meaningfully, then sat down Get on a special car and leave.
After an epiphany after talking with Xiafei, the commander of the First Group Army Dibai organized the Seventh Army the next day, consisting of four infantry divisions, a cavalry division, five mountain battalions and an artillery division, totaling 45,000 people. The Alsace detachment, led by General Bono, commander of the Seventh Army, served as the vanguard of the offensive.
Dubai assigned the task to the vanguard army. They would first attack from Belfort and attack with all their strength the important town of Mulhouse on the German border, 40 kilometers opposite.
Speaking of Mulhouse, this is an important town on the German border and a relatively important strategic location in this area.
After capturing this area, you can capture the junction of the southern Alsace railways. In the past, you could go to Belfort and south to Basel in Switzerland.
To the north is Kolmar, and to the east you can cross the railway bridge and cross the Rhine.
With such an extremely important strategic location, Mulhouse is destined to be the main target of the French army's attack, and this town will also usher in the flames of war.
Guarding this town was a reinforced German regiment.
In order to capture this town, after the operation began, General Bono, commander of the Seventh Army, ordered the commander of the advance guard division to attack Atkirch at night before the Germans were discovered.
This city is located 20 kilometers in front of Muloz and is also the bridgehead of Muloz.
After the capture of Atkirch, Muloz was like a naked beauty, waiting for the arrival of the French army.
The entire vanguard division was divided into three parts and surrounded the entire Atkirch in a roundabout way. Taking advantage of the darkness, the soldiers of the vanguard division successfully broke into the city center of Atkirch before the German sentries were aware of it.
After the French soldiers opened fire, the German sentry reacted, but by then it was too late.
One can imagine the gap in combat effectiveness between the French soldiers who attacked in the dark and the German soldiers who responded hastily.
Although the combat effectiveness of a single German soldier was higher than that of a French soldier, the French army was more fully prepared at this time. The German soldiers rushed to the battle, and it was the French soldiers who had the advantage.
It is worth mentioning that it is not known which side used the weapons. In short, bayonets, gun butts, sabers, wooden clubs and other weapons held by soldiers can be seen everywhere on the battlefield. These weapons can inadvertently cause huge damage. .
The battle lasted for six hours. In the end, after suffering many casualties, the remnants of the German army abandoned the city and fled eastward.
Before dawn, General Bonnot led his troops to Mulhouse, trying to take over Mulhouse in one go before the German troops stationed there were ready.
Like Atkirch before, the occupation of Mulhouse did not take too much time.
The French army not only had advance preparations, but also had several times the number of German troops stationed there.
The Seventh Army took nearly 10,000 casualties and successfully captured Mulhouse, and held a two-hour military parade in the city.
When the French army in blue tops and red pants and the artillery army with red, white and blue flags and tricolor flowers on their artillery passed through the city, the military band played the "Marseillaise" and "March of the Sambre and the Meuse", and the French people and the French army in Mulhouse cheered loudly and couldn't help but shed excited tears.
Finally, after decades, they set foot on this French homeland again. Although it was just a city, it greatly strengthened the determination of the French to recover their homeland and the determination of the French soldiers to win the war.
On the second day after the French army conquered Mulhouse, the commendation of the French commander-in-chief Joffre had already arrived at the troops smoothly.
Joffre affectionately called General Bonnot and the Alsace detachment he commanded the pioneers of revenge and the heroes of the whole of France.
Even when the results of the French army's conquest of Mulhouse were spread to France, the whole of France was in cheers and excitement.
But the excited French deliberately ignored the fact that the French army had paid more than 10,000 casualties for this town so far.
In the war, the battle loss ratio between the French army and the German army reached 2 to 1, which also meant that Germany's casualties were only about 5,000.
The French cheers did not last long, and the German reinforcements arrived immediately.
Inside Germany, the Germans did not expect this attack, but they reacted very quickly.
On the second day after French Commander-in-Chief Joffre ordered the First and Second Armies to concentrate their forces to attack Germany, German reinforcements had already arrived at the German-French border and reoccupied Mulhouse after a whole day of fierce fighting.
This small town, which cost the French army tens of thousands of casualties, finally returned to the rule of the Germans.
After this war, the French casualties for Mulhouse alone reached nearly 30,000.
Although the German casualties also exceeded 10,000, such a loss ratio and the results achieved were obviously unacceptable to France.
In the French headquarters, Joffre, who had just commended the vanguard army, felt that he had been slapped in the face, but the previous results had been reported back to France. If it was reported at this time that Mulhouse had returned to the hands of the Germans, the angry French would probably directly blame the French army.
In order to avoid this situation, Joffre quickly issued an order for the First and Second Armies to continue to attack with all their strength, and the determination to recover Alsace and Lorraine remained unchanged.
In order to cope with the German reinforcements, Joffre mobilized four divisions to reorganize the Alsace detachment to replace the Seventh Army, which had suffered too many casualties, and took on the task of attacking the Alsace region again.
The commander of this new Alsace force was the retired one-armed general Po.
Even though the French headquarters obtained new intelligence to confirm that the deployment of the German army was not as Joffre expected, Joffre still did not believe that the main direction of Germany's attack was from Belgium to Paris.
Joffre still insisted on attacking the German army from the Alsace direction, which would not only recover Alsace and Lorraine and boost morale, but also attract more German troops in this area, so that the German army could not mobilize this part of the troops to strengthen its right wing, that is, the Belgian region.
Starting from the early morning of August 15, nearly 600,000 troops from the First and Second Armies launched a general attack on the German army in the Alsace region.
The German General Staff had long anticipated the direction and route of France's attack, and arranged barbed wire, trenches, fortresses and other defensive fortifications on this route in advance.
When the French army saw the well-deployed German defensive positions, their hearts collapsed.
But there was no way, the combat missions ordered by the superiors had to be completed.
When a large number of French troops rushed towards the German army on the opposite side at the order of the commander, these French soldiers who were previously influenced by patriotic enthusiasm finally understood the cruelty of war and the sufferings experienced by their comrades before.
The German army on the opposite side was different now. Because of the previous sneak attack, the Germans had already been prepared this time, and various weapons including heavy machine guns and artillery emerged in an endless stream.
Although the French First and Second Armies mobilized nearly 600,000 troops, they faced the German Sixth Army commanded by Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria and the German Seventh Army commanded by Hellingen.
The German Sixth Army consisted of five armies and three cavalry divisions, while the Seventh Army commanded by Hellingen had three armies and one division.
The two armies together had a total of 350,000 troops and 1,200 artillery pieces, and were uniformly controlled by the commander of the Sixth Army, Rupprecht.
Because of the relatively unified management, the German army burst out with extremely powerful combat effectiveness, and also made the French army understand what the world's number one army is.
On the first day of the battle between the two armies, the French army suffered more than 20,000 casualties, which directly caused the commander of the First Army, Dubai, to quickly order a temporary suspension of the offensive.
There was no way. According to the current consumption progress, his First Army might even disappear in half a month.
As for the German army, Ruprecht's task was to attract more French troops here so that the main force of the German army on the right wing, that is, the Belgian region, could proceed smoothly.
Seeing that the French army chose to stretch the front line and fight on a small scale, Ruprecht was more willing to do so.
After ensuring that the French army would not withdraw, Prince Ruprecht also chose to gradually retreat, lure the enemy deep into the area, and completely attract the main force of the French army to this area.
It was also because of the gradual retreat of the German army that on August 18, the First and Second Armies, which had restored some of their morale, occupied Sarrebourg and Salanburg, and then reoccupied Mulhouse.
Now, the bull that Joffre had once boasted to the French people finally came true, and the French offensive became more and more successful.
In a very good mood, Joffre also praised the contributions of the Alsace troops and the First and Second Armies, and allowed all the wounded to return to France to recuperate and replace the wounded with new troops.
But at the same time, Joffre also realized his previous strategic mistakes. Judging from the current progress of the war, the Germans do want to attack France from the Belgian region.
Because the extremely important Alsace and Lorraine regions are not facing the main force of the German army.
It can be seen from the continuous defeat of the German army that the number of this army is not large, which is completely inconsistent with the reality that the total number of German troops is greater than the total number of French troops.
However, although he recognized his mistakes in strategic planning, Joffre also firmly believed that as long as the French army can successfully break through the middle of the German army and insert into the core of Germany from Alsace and Lorraine.
Even if the German army successfully entered the northern border of France from Belgium, the French army can also achieve outflanking, encircling and annihilating the real main force of the German army.
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