Chapter 457: Suicide Squad

Although the Germans could not bear the high cost of war, the General Headquarters of the Allied Powers also found a huge problem.

Although the 10 million troops on the Western Front were very large, they caused a two-fold difference and advantage in numbers to the German army.

But the consumption of these 10 million troops was a serious problem. Even with the continuous transportation of railways in Belgium and France, many troops still faced the problem of shortage of supplies.

In addition to the insufficient transportation capacity, the logistics supply of these 10 million troops almost entirely depended on Britain, France and the United States. Italy had very little supply, and the excess supplies in Australasia were all given to Russia.

Because of the distance problem of the United States, the only countries that really bear the logistics supply of 10 million troops are Britain and France.

Although Britain and France have the most colonies in the world, it is definitely not easy for Britain and France to bear the logistics supply of up to 10 million troops.

Especially under the premise that the British still maintain a huge navy, such consumption has made the British Empire a little bit overwhelmed.

If the Americans had not joined in, assumed part of the material supply, and continuously recovered blood for the Allies, I am afraid that the Allies would be the first to fail on the Western Front.

So far, the Allies have organized an army of up to 10 million on the Western Front, which is a historical record and the largest number of soldiers on a single front in human history.

If it were not for the gathering of the strength of the six major powers, especially the economically developed Britain, France and the United States to provide materials for this army, such a large number of troops would be impossible to support.

The current war is a competition of patience among countries to see who will be the first to fail in this war.

After the setback of the raid on the southern front, the Germans did not lose heart at all. Instead, under the planning of Chief of Staff Hindenburg, they decided to launch a new offensive in September 1917.

Because they had just raided the southern front, the German General Staff expected that the enemy would be prepared. The Verdun Fortress on the central front was a sky-falling fortress, and the German army could not conquer it in a short time.

Therefore, after thinking about it, the German General Staff decided to place the raid on the northern front, that is, the Belgian area dominated by the British.

The offensive from Ludong to Fujiang was named Operation Jochi, and the target was the British position between Ipres and Labasi.

Starting from September 9, 1917, the German army launched an overwhelming attack in this area.

Millions of German troops showed a fighting spirit of death, and soon gained a certain advantage, beating the British back step by step.

When the commander-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Force, Haig, saw this, he quickly ordered the British tanks and aircraft that had been prepared for a long time to go out one after another, intending to repel the German attack.

At this time, the cruelest scene of the war appeared.

Because the German artillery and machine guns could not do anything to these British tanks, the German army made an unexpected move.

One by one, German soldiers carrying explosive packs rushed out of the position and bravely rushed towards the Allied tanks.

Although many German soldiers were intercepted, a few Germans still managed to rush to the tanks and were buried in the fireworks with the tanks.

This crazy move of the German soldiers shocked the Allied General Headquarters directly, and even amazed the commanders-in-chief of the armies of various countries, and even forgot to give orders to the army.

They have seen armies with strong fighting will, but these generals were shocked by such behavior of facing death and even exchanging their lives for tanks.

In this way, more than half of the dozens of tanks dispatched by the British were destroyed by the Germans, and more than ten of them were completely useless for a while.

The British did not dare to gamble. If the German soldiers still took this desperate way to exchange for British tanks, it would definitely be a loss for Britain.

After all, the British carefully prepared for a long time to manufacture these dozens of tanks. Even if hundreds of German soldiers could only successfully blow up a tank, it would be a loss for the British.

After all, there are millions of German soldiers, but there are only dozens of British tanks, and each one is a big treasure of the British military.

In fact, there is another important reason why British tanks were so easily blown up by the Germans, that is, the British tanks moved very slowly, and their speed on the battlefield was not even faster than that of an adult running at full speed.

In this case, without any defense, those German soldiers could easily rush to the vicinity of the tanks and use the explosive packs in their hands to give the British tanks a fatal blow.

At this time, the iron sheets of the tanks were still very thin, and the power of an explosive pack was enough to destroy a tank, or at least completely make the tank lose its combat effectiveness.

The British Expeditionary Force Commander-in-Chief Haig's face was not good at this time. He made a prompt decision and asked the messenger to send a message to all the troops: Order all troops not to retreat a step, even if they fight to the last person, they must defend the front line.

In order to prevent accidents, Haig immediately ordered all the supervisors to go to the front line. Once they were found retreating, whether they were British or natives, they would all be killed.

At the same time, more than 300,000 reserve troops in the rear were also mobilized by Haig, ready to support the front line at any time.

It is no exaggeration to say that the German army is currently the most powerful army in the world. The only army that is more powerful than the German army is the German army that is ready to die.

After Haig gave up using tanks to defend the position, the German army rushed to the British position like a tide. They were like indestructible cockroaches. When one fell, more people rushed up.

Even though the barrels of the British machine guns were already red, they could not stop the Germans from advancing.

Under such an exaggerated offensive by the Germans, the British position was soon repelled more than ten kilometers, and the raid like the southern front seemed to be staged again.

In order to prevent Britain from losing face in front of the whole world like Italy, Haig frequently patrolled the front lines of various army groups and directly made a harsh statement that if they took a step back, they would be dismissed and investigated!

In addition, Haig mobilized all the reserve troops and directly joined the front-line defense areas with weaker defense.

With the help of air force planes, they finally managed to hold their positions with difficulty.

At the end of September 1917, the German offensive finally ended, and the British Expeditionary Force was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief.

Although the German offensive lasted only 20 days, the pressure on the British Expeditionary Force was enormous, and it almost led to the collapse of the entire British Expeditionary Force.

During these 20 days, the British Expeditionary Force suffered 600,000 casualties, and the death toll even exceeded 200,000.

The Germans were also miserable, and they also paid at least 400,000 casualties and 100,000 deaths.

Although the Germans suffered fewer casualties, the British held their positions and did not let the Germans succeed in their sneak attack.

After the offensive, the Germans retreated to their positions, as if the previous raid had never happened.

But the Allies were not easy to bully, and such a raid was not something that Germany could launch or end whenever it wanted.

In order to teach Germany a lesson, after discussion at the Allied General Headquarters, it was decided to launch the Second Battle of the Marne River along the Marne River to completely expel the German army from southern France and completely eliminate the danger to Paris.

The participants of the Second Battle of the Marne included the Australasian Expeditionary Force, the Italian Army, the Balkan Allied Forces, the American Expeditionary Force and part of the French Army.

The total number of these troops was as high as 1.5 million, while the number of German troops was about 1 million.

In order to ensure the numerical advantage, after the battle was launched, Italy also needed to support 200,000 combat troops to the front line, and a French army group was waiting for orders at any time, that is, it had nearly 500,000 reserve troops.

The scale of this offensive was luxurious, because Australasian was the main attacker and had the command of the battle.

Therefore, under the order of General Thomas, the Second Battle of the Marne used an offensive combining tanks, aircraft, artillery and infantry, and the Germans had a deep understanding of the most advanced offensive at present.

A total of more than 200 tanks were deployed in this battle, of which more than 100 were from Australasian, and there were tanks from France and Italy.

This has to sigh at the advancement of technology by war. In fact, as early as two years ago, European countries were studying weapons similar to tanks.

But only Britain and France have truly succeeded in research. Italy only urgently copied the British tank after the British tank was unveiled. Not only are the performance and data far behind the British tank, but the probability of breaking down is also higher.

The breaking down rate of British tanks is as high as 60%, while Italian tanks are more powerful, with a breaking down rate of nearly 90%.

This time, Italy dispatched a total of eight tanks, seven of which broke down on the road, and only one successfully drove to the front line.

However, before the battle lasted for long, this Italian tank faced mechanical failure again, and the turret was stuck, which was equivalent to losing its combat effectiveness.

The high breaking down rate of tanks in World War I is inevitable, even for the tanks in Australasia.

The Allies dispatched a total of 200 tanks, but only less than 80 were finally put into combat, with a breaking down rate of 60%.

However, today's tanks are still a killer on the battlefield. If a certain number of tanks can be used, they can cause great damage to the enemy.

Nearly 80 tanks made it difficult for the German army to attack. It was difficult to hit such a mobile target with artillery, and machine guns could basically not cause any damage.

At this time, the Germans remembered to use the trick of the suicide squad before, but the Allies had already been prepared. They used machine guns and artillery to form a powerful firepower network, and hundreds of planes hovering in the sky, resolutely preventing any German soldiers from getting close to the tanks.

More importantly, the Australian tanks were in the lead. The tanks of Australasian had better movement speed and armor protection. The Germans' one-for-one operation of exploding explosive packs also failed on the Australasian tanks.

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