The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 488: Chapter 386: France's Great Counterattack

Due to the poor performance of the French Army, as of now, Martin Hughes has dismissed 2 army group commanders, 10 generals, and 38 brigadier generals.

Replacing them are a group of mostly excellent new generals. Among them are some well-known names, such as Felix, Bellamy, and Despreri.

The first to be dismissed was Langrezac, the commander of the French Fifth Army Group.

The Fifth Army Group played a crucial role, but its commander Langrezac publicly defied Cynthia and had a poor relationship with the French General Headquarters.

Moreover, Langrezac did not trust the British Army, and the help of the British would be crucial in the upcoming war.

Therefore, Cynthia decisively dismissed Langrezac and appointed Despreri as the new commander of the Fifth Army Group.

It is worth mentioning that a small incident occurred when Despreri took over as the overall commander of the Fifth Army Group.

At that time, the 18th Army commander called the Fifth Army Group Headquarters, requesting to refuse the next day's task due to the excessive fatigue of the soldiers.

But Despreri's answer was: "I have taken over as the commander of the Fifth Army Group. As long as you are in the Fifth Army Group for one day, you must advance. Either advance or fall dead, there is nothing to discuss, it's that simple."

With that, Despreri hung up the phone, showing his decisive character.

On September 3, 1914, the German Ninth Army led by Crook of the German First Army Group had crossed the Marne River.

Crook believed that a single army could hardly function effectively, so he ordered the Third and Fourth Army to strike southeast regardless of the German High Command's deployment to protect the right wing.

Under Crook's orders, the German soldiers of the First Army Group marched 40 kilometers in one day and collapsed exhausted when they reached their destination.

Under the influence of a fanatic desire to annihilate the French Army, Crook had become irrational and exhausted his soldiers as a result.

More importantly, due to the rapid march of the army, the First Army Group was actually far from its transport vehicles and heavy artillery units, leading to logistical supply problems.

This situation was not unique to the German First Army Group. The German Second and Third Army Groups also faced similar problems, and even the troops of the Third Army Group led by Hausen Foster had not eaten cooked food for five consecutive days, all in pursuit of the defeated French forces.

As for the slightly better-off Fourth and Fifth Army Groups, although they were also attacking, their current progress was minimal, still being blocked outside South Zinc and Verdun Fort.

Attempting to annihilate the French Army in one fell swoop had caused serious deployment issues for the German Army.

In the Paris City Defense Command, Gary Aieni and his chief of staff had also received news of Crook's German First Army Group advancing eastward towards the Marne River from Paris.

From a clear map of the enemy and our own positions, it can be seen that Crook's blind advance had exposed the right flank of the First Army Group in the direction of Paris.

Gary Aieni, who had been waiting for this opportunity for a long time, and chief of staff Clayette Fischer shouted in unison: "They handed over their flanks to us, they handed over their flanks to us!"

At this point, there was still some time before the major battle envisioned by French Commander Cynthia.

Considering the battlefield situation and troop losses, Cynthia did not want to engage in an early battle.

What Cynthia was waiting for was not only the aid of the British, but also the role that the Russian forces on the Eastern Front could play.

However, battlefield opportunities are fleeting, and if not seized, it would be a great pity for generals like Gary Aieni.

Although Gary Aieni was designated as Cynthia's successor, that is, the temporary French commander in the event of an accident to Cynthia.

As the current French commander is still Cynthia, Gary Aieni cannot change any orders issued by Cynthia.

But in order not to miss such a good opportunity, Gary Aieni made a bold decision to take action first and report later, forcing Cynthia to launch this major battle.

At 9 a.m. on September 4, 1914, Gary Aieni issued an order to Monadurai Parker, requesting that the Sixth Army Group be prepared for a counterattack in the afternoon immediately.

Afterwards, Gary Aieni phoned the French General Headquarters to report that the Sixth Army Group had entered a counterattack position and was about to begin the counterattack, hoping that the army groups on the right flank would coordinate their actions.

This was like pushing them onto the stage. After all, the Sixth Army Group was going to act, and if Cynthia did not support this battle, she would have to sit and watch the demise of the Sixth Army Group.

As expected, Flynn would not allow the entire Sixth Army Group to be defeated, and after a round of tense phone conversations, he finally had no choice but to compromise and ordered the right-wing army groups to fully cooperate with the Sixth Army Group in launching this major battle.

He didn't stop there, Flynn decided to expand the planned local operations of the Paris garrison into a full-scale counterattack on the left wing of the entire Allied front lines.

This full-scale counterattack involved all French forces and the British Expeditionary Force. Therefore, the attitude of the British was also very important.

At noon on September 5, in order to win the cooperation of the British forces, Flynn made a request to French Army Minister Millerlan, asking him to exert influence on the British government in the name of the French government, to ensure that British forces would cooperate with the French forces in the major battles, and preferably give Flynn command over the British forces.

Your story source m_v lem|p-yr

In order to persuade the British forces to participate in the battle, in addition to asking the Minister of the Army, Flynn also decided to personally visit the headquarters of the British Expeditionary Force 200 kilometers away to get the agreement of Sir French, the commander of the British Expeditionary Force.

When Flynn met Sir French, he did not have the same politeness as before and spoke passionately and concisely: "The decisive moment has come, Sir French, my orders have been issued. No matter the circumstances, to save France, even if there is only one last battalion left, French forces must enter the battle.

The lives of all French people, French territory, the future of Europe, all depend on this attack."

"I do not believe that British forces would shirk their responsibilities at such a critical moment, and if you do not participate in the battle, history will make a harsh judgment," Flynn spoke fervently. "Marshal, France needs your support, and France requests your support!"

Sir French also agreed with Flynn's views, and after Flynn finished speaking, the British marshal even had tears in his eyes. Unable to express himself clearly in French, Sir French told his translator, "Damn it, I can't speak clearly. Please tell him that whatever the French can do, the British can do. Regarding this war, we are willing to give our all."

Regardless of the British Government's attitude towards muddling through, it was clear that Sir French would not spare any effort in this war.

With the support of Sir French, Flynn breathed a sigh of relief and expressed his gratitude for the support of Britain and Sir French.

As the French General Headquarters was busy preparing for the new offensive with lights on everywhere, at the German Chief of Staff's office in Luxembourg, William II proudly praised, "Today is the 35th day of the war. We have surrounded Lans, and we are only 30 miles away from Paris."

This remark sparked cheers from everyone in the Finance Department, who seemed to already see the scene of Germany standing in the Palace of Versailles after winning the war.

However, Marshal Moltke could not be happy at this moment. But before the war, Moltke strictly followed the rule set by his uncle, Old Mosley, not to interfere with the command of frontline generals.

But according to the information obtained so far, the French had been gathering and mobilizing with premeditation, preparing to launch an attack on the right-wing of the German forces from the direction of Paris.

At this moment, there was also news of 40,000 British soldiers landing in Belgium. Little Maurice Johnson made a prompt decision and ordered the First and Second Group armies to stay on the main front east of Paris.

The First Group Army was between the Waz and Marne Rivers and the Second Group Army was between the Marne and Seine Rivers, keeping a certain distance from Paris to eliminate the threat to the German flank.

Brigadier General Crook did not think highly of Little Maurice Johnson's somewhat conservative orders.

Crook believed that with the smooth progress of the German army and their proximity to Paris, they should not stagnate and waste the opportunity to fight, while also giving the enemy more breathing time.

Crook ordered his forces to continue pursuing the enemy to the Seine River and then turn towards Paris.

This order put the First Group Army in a dangerous situation and gave the French army a new opportunity.

Originally, according to Little Maurice Johnson's order, French aggression might not have found a suitable opportunity.

But now that Crook had delivered the opportunity right to their doorstep, Flynn, who had long been prepared, would not waste such an opportunity.

At the French General Headquarters, Flynn solemnly read the order for a full-scale counterattack and loudly spoke to the officers gathered at the headquarters: "Gentlemen, the previous defeats have ended. Let us fight at the Marne River for France, for every inch of our territory, and fight gloriously at the Marne River!"

The Marne River flows from south to north, then east to west through the Paris Basin. Because it runs parallel to the Ena and Seine Rivers, and is located between the three rivers, the swift current serves as a natural barrier protecting Paris.

In this long-planned full-scale counterattack, the French side deployed the Fifth, Sixth, and Ninth Army Groups and the British Expeditionary Force, totaling 36 infantry divisions and 8 cavalry divisions.

In contrast, the German First and Second Group armies, which were still unaware of their flank's extreme danger, had only 18 infantry divisions and 5 cavalry divisions, about half the strength of the French forces.

On the morning of September 6, the French forces officially launched a full-scale counterattack on the Marne River frontline.

First was the French Sixth Army Group, which launched a furious attack on the German Fourth Reserve Army stationed in the area to the west of the Ulk River. The fearless French forces quickly overwhelmed the outnumbered German Fourth Reserve Army, which then asked for reinforcements from the Commander of the First Group Army, Crook.

Crook urgently dispatched the Second Army to assist, but it was no match for the numerically superior French Sixth Army Group.

Left with no choice, Crook sent the Fourth Army, only then managing to regain the advantage on the battlefield and gradually achieve some victories.

The clash between just the Sixth Army Group and the German First Group Army resulted in over 30,000 casualties in just two days.

Among them, the number of deaths reached more than 10,000, illustrating the cruelty of the Marne River Battle.