At around 3:00 p.m. on August 16, 1914, surrounded by a large group of torpedo boats and tugboats, the "Regent of Louis Port" who had been hit by three torpedoes, drove into William's Military Port with nearly 4,000 tons of sea water. Since the draft was 2.6 meters deeper than the normal full load, it could only temporarily dock at the outer port wharf. When the maintenance personnel blocked the damage of the outer wall of the ship, emptied the sea water in the bottom cabin with a water pump, and then entered the floating dock for thorough repair.

After the arrival of the "Regent of Louisport" in Wilhelmshaven, the main ships of the German mixed fleet crossed the Kiel Canal to return to the port of Kil, the main assembly of the German navy during the war. Although the results of this attack were not as shocking as the Battle of Jutland, they sank a large number of British light combat ships, defeated the British Strait fleet and then threatened the British coast, and used the mine formation to severely damage the British main fleet. These indisputable victory was obviously a powerful counterattack to all the views that the German navy won by luck. The navy soldiers who returned triumphantly received warm welcome from the military and civilians. German Emperor William II appointed his younger brother, Prince Heinrich, to come to express condolences as the royal representative. The highest commander of the navy and Marshal Tirpitz, the Secretary of State of the Navy, personally read the commendation to everyone.

The order and brought the Jin order signed by the German Emperor himself. In the Battle of Jutland, Reinhardt Schell led the Second Battleship Detachment to fight bravely and performed well, successfully restrained the main force of the British fleet and played a key role in the victory of the naval battle; Franz Hippel commanded the main reconnaissance fleet to severely damage the British mobile fleet, blocking the old-style battleship group, and to add icing on the cake in the final stage of the battle; Prince Joachim, the chief of staff of the fleet, not only contributed a sophisticated combat plan, but also judged the situation in the battle stage, calmly responded, and made irreplaceable great achievements... The three were promoted, and Prince Joachim also set a record and became the youngest general in the history of the German naval. Given that he was less than 24 years old, this record could almost be broken by future generations.

As for the German High Seas Fleet's official commander in the Battle of Jutland, Friedrich von Ingnor did not appear in the Port of Kiel, where everyone celebrated victory on the same day. Because of the outstanding achievements of the Battle of Jutland, he had been promoted to Navy Marshal, and he voluntarily applied to step down as commander of the High Seas Fleet and transferred to other positions on the grounds of poor health. The German Emperor has not approved his application, but the Navy has announced the appointment of Reinhardt Schell as deputy commander of the fleet, and he fully assumes his responsibility when the fleet commander is unable to perform his duties.

In addition to the promotion of the military rank, a large number of naval officers and soldiers led by Scher, Hippel and Prince Joachim also received official honors and commendations. A total of 12 people were awarded the Blue Max Medal and 512 people received the Iron Cross Medal. In addition, German battle cruisers, dreadnoughts and new light cruisers, and large torpedo boats showed excellent combat performance in naval battles. Naval shipbuilding engineers and technical supervision officials made an indelible contribution, and 26 people were awarded at the same time.

The Red Eagle Medal at all levels, and Prince Joachim, who has both military merits and shipbuilding contributions, is destined to be a dazzling star that demonstrates the excellent bloodline of the Hohenzollern royal family. He, along with German Emperor William II and Marshal Tirpitz, won the Great Iron Cross, which symbolizes supreme glory. The last time that this level was awarded was traced back to the French-Popular War. The victory over France directly promoted the unification of Germany, which can be compared with it. The strategic significance of the Jutland Naval Battle can be seen.

Entering the ranks of generals and obtaining supreme military merits, Xia Shu seemed to have achieved the dreams of countless German youths. After these two opportunities to seize the right time, the German Navy had reached the initial plan formulated before the war, which hit the arrogant and arrogant British people hard in both military and spiritual aspects. On the one hand, it forced Britain to delay the dispatch of army troops to France, and at the same time greatly encouraged the German people. Knowing that the German fleet was triumphant again, tens of thousands of people from all walks of life went to the two major naval bases of William and Kiel to comfort the soldiers, and congratulatory telegrams also flew to the German Navy General Office and the High Seas Fleet Command like snowflakes. These telegrams were sent to the naval team and some were dedicated to the commander's personal praise. If the ranking was selected by the number of telegrams, Xia Shu was undoubtedly the most popular king of the season.

Among the many enthusiastic and highly praised telegrams, the content sent by Crown Prince William was not outstanding, but the beginning of "To my dear brother" was enough to make Xia Shu look straight at it. The Crown Prince praised the great victory of the German Navy without hesitation and affirmed the "soul role" played by Nakatsu. In the second half of the telegram, he regretted that the combat deployment of the General Staff made him only wait for the enemy to attack in Lorraine during this period, but he felt that the French had lost the courage to attack. If he continued to wait like this, he complained that his legion could only enjoy the news of Germany's victory in the war.

Looking at the war situation in Germany, defeating the British Navy is of course of great positive significance, but it is not enough to allow them to get the key to open the door to victory. Whether they can defeat France quickly is still a key factor in determining the direction of the war. The British Navy suffered consecutive defeats, and even if the intention to turn the tables is not destroyed, they will try to avoid the German main fleet in the near future. In addition to the "Oldenburg" approaching repair, other main ships damaged by the German Navy in the Battle of Jutland are still under maintenance. For the next period of time

During this period, the attempt to break through the North Sea blockade line will be mainly small-scale harassment. The attempt to break through the North Sea blockade is initially scheduled to be launched in mid-September. In other words, Xia Shu will have about a month of relative idleness. With his own historical insights and personal connections, it is necessary to help the land war. What's more, some technical layouts have been carried out several years before the outbreak of the war. Taking advantage of the fact that the military potential of the Allies has not been fully discovered, it is now a great opportunity to try out his skills.

So on the second day after returning to Kiel, Xia Shu agreed on military affairs with Scher, Hippel and others, and temporarily took turns to work with "King" and "Gobon", "Caesar" and "De Fringer". A new light cruiser and large torpedo boats in good condition formed several formations to carry out combat patrols in the North Sea. The submarine forces cooperated with half of the attacking forces in the North Sea. The other half of the forces entered the English Channel and the Atlantic waters to attack the Allied ships. The other ships continued to organize offshore cordons with the Gulf of Helgolan and the Skaglak Strait as the boundaries.

With two famous generals who are both brave and capable, Xia Shu was able to leave Kiel with confidence. He knew that if he went to Berlin first to receive the Iron Cross, he would be bound to travel around on various celebration occasions, so he sent a telegram to the German Emperor, claiming that he would stay on the Western Front for a few days, bringing his confidence and good luck to the army soldiers.

In the face of several consecutive rain and fog weather, Xia Shu took a train to Luxembourg, and then drove from Luxembourg to the border town of Esch. In the second half of the itinerary, this area was well-known to later generations because of the two battles during World War II. However, in 1914, "Adden" only means rugged terrain, dense forests and rich minerals in the Lorraine region.

Esch is located on the banks of the River Seer, and the opposite bank is the central town of Lorraine Brière iron mine. In 1870, this mining area was occupied by the Prussian army. Since the mineral deposits were not discovered at that time, it was not included in the part of the area annexed by Germany. After the war broke out, the German 5th Legion quickly arrived on the banks of the River Seer and occupied some of the mining areas. Then, as Prince William complained in his telegram to Xia Shu, "digging trenches and defending, waiting for the enemy to attack."

At the Military Command, Xia Shu met the emperor's brother William who pretended to be calm and restless. The previous meeting was three weeks ago. Less than a month apart, and meeting again was a completely different situation. Xia Shu won everything through an extremely risky and bold attack, while William and his soldiers were trapped in the serious and gloomy faces of the local residents, eating cabbage soup, potatoes, horseradish and beef with waxy tastes. Although there are wild ducks, salads, fruits, wine, coffee and cigars to supplement, this kind of life is far from what he expected to do on the battlefield and make achievements.

After the greetings, the two quickly turned to the battlefield. After the close cooperation of the Army in the autumn, Crown William believed in Xia Shu's strategic ability. Based on the deployment of the Legion Command and the combat information provided by the staff, Xia Shu also had a relatively practical understanding of the battlefield situation of the German 5th Legion and even the Central Army. Although Crown William was an ambitious person and was quite conceited in military command, most of the staff officers under his command were pragmatic and professional soldiers. The commanders of various corpses, divisions, and brigades also had military qualities that meet the requirements of the war, so the defense lines of the entire legion were clearly defined and echoed each other, and no obvious loopholes were seen.

There is no doubt that the French team had a very strong desire to recover Artsas and Lorraine. After half a month of war, their offensive in Artsas was not smooth, but at least they made an attack attempt. In the Lorraine area, the French army was also cautious in reconnaissance operations. In the Crown Prince William's view, the other party was scared by his reputation, but according to Xia Shu's judgment, the French army mainly had some concerns about the terrain of the Arden Mountains. According to the French Armistice Treaty in 1871, Germany seized the entire Alsas and part of Lorraine. The demarcation of the new border was just like the German faction led by the old Moltke.

As they imagined, Germany was in a favorable position for both offense and defense. In the Arden Mountains of Lorraine, the slope gradually rose from the French side, with streams crisscrossing between mountains and mountains forming a canyon. It took Caesar ten days to march through this mountain area. He portrayed the hidden and dark forests here as a "hometown", with muddy roads and mist rising from peatlands throughout the year. In the past thousand years, many lands were reclaimed, and roads, villages and towns, but most places were still densely forested, with sparse roads, and easy to ambush.
Chapter completed!