Chapter 384: Australasian Expeditionary Force

So far, the strategic goals of Germany and France have been very clear.

Both the German and French armies pursue offensiveism. Under the influence of this military thought, the two countries have adopted a large-scale offensive approach in their operations.

It's just that the directions of the two countries are just opposite. Germany goes west, passes through Belgium, and bypasses Paris. France goes east, takes Lorraine, and goes straight to the Rhine.

In order to achieve their respective strategic goals, the old enemies of France and Germany started from August 20th and fought four battles in Alsace and Lorraine for four days, namely the Battle of Lonning, the Battle of the Ardennes, the Battle of Charleroi, and the Battle of Mons.

These four battles are collectively referred to as border battles. Both France and Germany have invested hundreds of thousands of combat troops. In just four days, a total of 100,000 casualties have been incurred.

Although the death toll was only more than 10,000, the number of people who were seriously injured and lost their combat effectiveness on both sides of Germany and France totaled more than 40,000.

Because in these border battles, both Germany and France used a large number of artillery and heavy machine guns.

Such heavy weapons caused huge casualties to the other side, especially heavy machine guns, which at least caused serious injuries as long as they were strafed.

This also made the railway trunk lines of Germany and France have to undertake a large number of tasks of transporting wounded soldiers to the country while transporting troops to the border.

Fortunately, the railway construction in Western Europe and Germany is still very developed. After expedited transportation, the transportation environment in Germany and France can also keep up.

When millions of troops gathered at the German-French border and started fighting frantically, the disadvantages of French military uniforms were highlighted.

The French military uniforms with blue tops and red pants usually look very individual, but on the battlefield on the German-French border, such colorful French military uniforms are undoubtedly a death warrant for French soldiers.

The blue and red French military uniforms are almost impossible to disguise in the border area, which makes the French army look very conspicuous in the eyes of German soldiers.

Conservative estimates show that such special-colored French military uniforms have increased the death rate of the French army by at least 30% and the injury rate by 40%.

Logically speaking, the combat effectiveness of the well-equipped French and German armies is not that exaggerated, at least the casualty ratio will not reach 2:1.

But the reality is that under the French army's conspicuous uniforms, the casualty ratio of French soldiers and German soldiers is basically around 2:1, and even 3:1 in serious cases.

Of course, in addition to the French's conspicuous uniforms, the current war is mainly France's attack and Germany's defense is also the main reason.

There is also such an episode on the German-French border.

In a dense forest on the German-French border, a team of French soldiers are patrolling in the forest.

This area has not yet been visited by the German army, so the patrol of the French soldiers is also very casual, and even more often just a formality.

Because in the west not far from this area, the French army has already entered more than 20 kilometers.

These are considered to be French troops in the rear, and they think they will never see the German army.

The patrol in front is very normal, but when the patrolling French army walked deeper into the dense forest, they suddenly heard the sound of a German minor tune from a distance.

Logically speaking, after hearing a tune in a different language, especially in a war zone, the French soldiers should at least be alert and ready to fire at the enemy at any time.

But this group of French soldiers actually asked for the other side's password first, which made the German soldiers who had not discovered the French army alert instantly.

The German soldiers were not so outrageous. After hearing the other side speak fluent French, they did not say a word and directly fired with machine guns.

The group of French soldiers realized that the other side was their enemy and quickly launched a counterattack.

But the cautious German and French armies faced different situations. The German army was wearing gray uniforms and hiding in the dense forest, which was not so easy to find.

But the French army was different. The French army's uniforms were too conspicuous. Even with the cover of the dense forest, it could not hide the personality of the French uniforms at all.

This also made the hidden French army easy to be discovered by the German army, and the French army had lost the initiative.

Because the encounter was very sudden, the armies of both sides used heavy machine guns and rifles to fire randomly, and also threw grenades and other weapons crazily.

Some who were closer and had no way to hide rushed forward to engage in hand-to-hand combat with rifle butts and bayonets.

However, the combat quality of the French army, from marksmanship to hand-to-hand combat skills, was basically inferior to that of the German army.

In addition, the French army lacked training on mountains, so in this mountainous area, this patrol team was quickly wiped out by the Germans.

Although the subsequent French reinforcements came quickly, the French reinforcements also suffered heavy losses under the bombardment of German artillery and had to withdraw from this mountainous area.

Although the German army's intention to sneak attack was discovered, the German army took advantage of this opportunity to enter the French border.

Taking advantage of the chaos of the French army, the German army took the opportunity to attack border cities such as Neufchateau, Virton, Montmedy, and Longwy, trying to open a huge gap on the French border.

The French army that reacted also resisted very tenaciously. They charged very neatly, and of course, they fell down neatly under the muzzle of the gun.

Large numbers of French soldiers charged towards the German army, and then turned into corpses one after another, piling up.

Soon, piles of corpses accumulated one after another on the edge of these towns. These piles of corpses provided good cover for those who came later, and at the same time, a large number of corpses continued to accumulate on them.

The strong French soon realized that the spirit of heroic resistance alone could not resist the German artillery at all. Although the French army had an overall advantage in numbers, it still failed quickly in the face of the soldiers' individual combat capabilities and advantages in uniforms.

After losing a large number of corpses and weapons and ammunition, the French army hastily evacuated, leaving a mess in the border area.

At this point in the war, General Lanrezac had realized that deploying the main force in the central region was not the right choice.

General Lanrezac tried to suggest Commander-in-Chief Joffre to mobilize the main force of the French army in the central region to the border between the north and Belgium to prevent the German army from moving south from Belgium at any time and threatening the Paris area.

But at this time, Joffre naturally could not agree with Lanrezac's opinion. General Lanrezac had no choice but to make his own decision and move the elite troops back, ready to turn the army north to meet the enemy at any time.

Fortunately, Joffre's order was changed in time.

On the second day after General Lanrezac withdrew his troops, Joffre sent an order to let Lanrezac's Fifth Army go north with all its strength and station on the northern border with Belgium.

The Fifth Army had more than 400,000 soldiers. Under Lanrezac's leadership, they marched 120 kilometers in three days and finally arrived at the border between France and Belgium.

At this time, the Second Army led by German General Pirov also crossed the Sambre River near Charleroi, approached the French border with three armies, and finally fought fiercely with Lanrezac's Fifth Army.

It is worth mentioning that the artillery equipped by the French Fifth Army is the M1897-75mm artillery, which is the famous Miss France.

The artillery equipped by the German army is the GA1902-75mm artillery jointly developed by Germany and Australasia.

This artillery was improved based on Miss France, and the firing rate was improved compared to Miss France, reaching 20 rounds per minute.

This also led to the exaggerated artillery bombardment of both sides. The army's attack lasted from day to night and from night to day.

The artillery bombardment never stopped, as if you couldn't use up my logistics supply, I would use up your logistics supply.

Thanks to the French army's fearless spirit, at the beginning of the encounter, General Lanrezac drove the German army back more than ten kilometers.

The artillery between the two sides even bombed Charleroi and the border area, causing the buildings to collapse, the pipes to burst, and the fortifications to be damaged.

Because the artillery firing speed of both sides was very fast, the speed at which the armies of both sides consumed artillery shells was also very exaggerated.

Under the high-intensity bombardment of the two armies, the German and French armies consumed at least 200,000 artillery shells on average every day, which was a huge pressure on the logistics of both sides.

With the increasingly fierce German offensive and the arrival of German reinforcements, most of Belgium had been occupied by the Germans, and the French border area was also somewhat overwhelmed.

As early as the beginning of the war, the French requested assistance from Australasia and Britain.

Soon, the British Expeditionary Force arrived near Mons and joined the French Fifth Army to resist the German Corps in the north.

As for Australasia, Arthur also expressed that he would firmly fulfill his promise and send at least 150,000 combat troops to Europe within three months.

In order to support the ally France, which suffered heavy casualties, Arthur decided to send an expeditionary force to France as soon as possible.

In fact, after occupying Germany's Pacific colonies, the Australasia army fell into a state of having nothing to do.

Because it is located in the distant Oceania, Australasia has not fought many battles, and most of the enemies are only weak countries like Portugal and the Netherlands.

And this war is the best training opportunity for Australasia.

It can not only train the combat strength of soldiers, but also train the command ability of middle and high-level commanders, so that soldiers and officers can keep pace and make progress together.

Even though the surface combat capability of the Australasia army is not weak, an army that has not experienced many wars cannot be called an elite army.

Only by letting soldiers and commanders experience multiple wars and make progress together can they remain fearless in the face of danger and better improve the combat capability of the army.

In addition to the 300,000 colonial troops, Arthur chose the more elite 4th Division of Australasia as the main force to be sent to Europe first this time.

The 4th Division is the latest army to be formed among the conventional troops. It has been trained for several years. It is time to let this army see blood so that it can grow better.

As for the more elite 123rd Division and Guards Division, their combat mission to Europe was ranked behind.

After all, Australasia also needs to be guarded, and coupled with the problem of colonies, it is still necessary to keep a sufficient number of combat troops in the country.

After all, after all 300,000 colonial troops were sent to Europe, there were only more than 100,000 troops in Australasia.

These troops have to guard the entire Australasia, including the colonies, and the actual task is still very heavy.

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