"I'm not sure. Wait a minute." Pétain thought for a while and directly gave the order to the front line artillery to bombard the German front line position. The front line troops began to prepare to attack. Then he turned around and said, "This young general is hard for us to understand. I don't understand what he's doing, but this may have something to do with American infighting. After all, he commanded hundreds of thousands of troops in his early twenties. This seems very problematic."
Haig frowned, then asked, "Is he trying to prove himself?"
"Maybe. It's good to succeed, but if it fails, then he's finished. I don't understand it, but now we have to cooperate with the Americans. Otherwise, if we fail and we do nothing, then the two of us will be in trouble. He can see it clearly."
"Who asked us to ask the Americans for help now? They want to ensure that the money we owe them can be repaid." Haig sighed. In more than two years, Britain and France were exhausted.
The artillery fire on the entire western battlefield roared and was deafening. As soon as the entire line of artillery was launched, the Germans were even more unaware of what was happening. They began to endure the artillery fire, and their artillery began to fight back. The artillery battle between the two sides began. As a result, the chaos was not only double the effect, but several times.
The news of the American attack was instantly covered by a great deal of information. The entire front line was in a state of emergency, and the news reached Berlin. Hindenburg hurriedly said goodbye to His Majesty and returned to the front line. He gave the front line an order to stabilize the line. It was a normal order, but it gave Wesley a chance.
Steadying the line was necessary, but Wesley had broken through a section and had enough troops and supplies to continue. He knew that at noon, the First Army broke through three lines in a row and met the Marines.
Wesley, who had received the news from the front line, was only 30 kilometers away from the front line. The ten divisions that followed him were all in place. "Order the Fourth Army to take over the front line and continue to attack. The First Army will retire after the First Army. The Fifth Army will turn to the Second and Third Army. Attack the German positions along the way directly south and connect to the headquarters."
"Marshal Pétain, our army has broken through three German defense lines in a row. At present, I have gathered 30 divisions of troops to go south to the German front line and attack their rear. They are circling around. I hope that friendly forces can attack. You just need to restrain or break through the enemy's first defense line."
"What? So fast?" Pétain's jaw almost fell.
"Yes, the purpose of this campaign is to take back Belgium and push the battlefield directly to the Rhine region of Germany. If we can find a better place to build a defense line, the significance of this war is very obvious."
"Understood."
Pétain put down the phone and hurriedly gave the order. After a morning of preparation, the mission of the British and French troops was very easy. It was to restrain the front-line German troops or break through their positions. Relatively speaking, it did not take much preparation.
However, the speed of the British and French troops was not fast either. They launched an attack and could only temporarily restrain the enemy. On the other hand, the 30 US divisions directly went south and attacked the enemy's flank. This was fatal.
When Hindenburg arrived at the front line, it was already three days later. At this time, the battle was over and the Rhine River had become the new front line for both sides. Hindenburg looked at the busy position in a daze. A group of defeated soldiers were struggling to deploy along the river, while the opposite side was much calmer.
For three days, Wesley had the troops attack alternately, all the way south, collapsing the entire German line of defense. The Germans began to retreat, and the entire western front was in chaos. You are in the middle and I am in the middle, but the American light and firepower is eye-opening.
The three days of rapid advance had allowed the American forces to fight to their heart's content, but the troops were now extremely tired. After all, they were troops who had not experienced war. Wesley could not let them attack again. After crossing the Belgian border, the troops deployed along the Rhine in Germany.
Their northern position was on the border of the Netherlands. As a neutral country, the Netherlands also wanted to make money from both sides. Wesley wanted to take his troops and clean them up, but there were not enough troops. The international situation allowed it. But now Hindenburg wanted to cry but had no tears. After three days of chaos, he could only start to gather his forces again. After all, the Allies had entered Germany.
It was a strange battle, and many people had not figured out what was going on. A meeting was being held in Washington, USA. "Gentlemen, our General Gibson has given us a surprise. He used hundreds of thousands of American soldiers to break the overall situation of the European war. I have to say that he is indeed a genius," the president said.
The president did not agree to let Wesley command the Expeditionary Force this time, but he was under a lot of pressure because Wesley was neither a Republican nor a Democrat. Both parties had spared no effort to rope him in, but Wesley had refused on the pretext that he was a soldier. So this time, instead of killing Wesley, Wesley was asked to leave the army. Wesley did not know this.
Pershing was very happy. He was now acting general, the commander-in-chief of the United States Expeditionary Force, and he was organizing a second echelon of troops, and at the same time he was responsible for delivering supplies to Wesley. "Mr. President, I think it's time to promote Major General Gibson's rank. This battle was really well fought."
William Benson also said, "That's right. This time, he used the Marines and Marines to land behind the First Men. Although it's not the first time in the history of war, he undoubtedly used the most beautiful attack. He directly attacked from the front and back and successfully broke through the last line of defense when the attacking troops were weak."
The praise from the two big shots of the Sea Army made the politicians very uncomfortable. They wanted to pull Wesley out of the army, but it seemed completely impossible. This young man was really a genius in all aspects. After the truth was dissected, look at his brain.
"Very well, I will agree after I get the specific report, but is it necessary to send a second echelon of soldiers now? General Gibson did a good job." The president asked.
"Of course there is a need. I think we should immediately send out the second echelon. This way, we can end the European war next year. This possibility is very obvious. At the same time, we should increase the transportation of materials so that he has more cards to play."
William Benson chimed in, "That's right. He has too few troops. Otherwise, the outcome would definitely be better. Although there are still specific battle reports, it can be seen that he doesn't have enough troops."
Wesley did not have enough troops. Although he was not afraid of the number of enemies, he clearly felt powerless when he used his forces. Because of the terrain, once his soldiers spread out, they could not cause blisters and could only be used in groups. Now that all five corps had entered the defense line, the frontal defense reached hundreds of kilometers, and his command center was only protected by four Marine brigades.