Looking down from the air, the city of Amiens, which is more than ten kilometers apart, is connected to the town of Molei by a colorful emerald green bond. This bond is centered on a winding river. It is the main tributary of the Somme River, the River of Alf. It is irrigated by the river water, and the vegetation on both sides of the river bank is particularly lush, thus forming this stretched wood belt. When it comes to a place closer to the town of Molei, the forest cover area has expanded, so it is called the "Molei Forest" by the French.

On the day the German army captured Amiens, the 1st Marine Division drew an advance force from the 2nd and 3rd Naval Infantry Brigades to carry out combat along the Somme River, trying to occupy the upstream Molei and Pichini as a frontier for consolidating the Amiens front. Against this background, more than 600 German officers and soldiers from the 3rd Light Infantry Battalion of the 11th Naval Infantry Regiment went upstream along the Alf River and advanced to the northern edge of the Molei Forest before dusk. According to the original plan, they had to march overnight after a short rest in order to capture the town of Molei before dawn. The results of the aerial reconnaissance of the Naval Air Force of the Town of Molei show that the French defensive positions were mainly deployed along the main stream of the Somme River. Only a few towns including Molei were stationed along the river of Alf, and there was a high chance of success in capturing the town of Molei by rapid raids.

From dusk, the French army launched a counterattack in Amiens. The transmission distance of gunfire was limited, but with the arrival of night, the leaping light in the direction of Amiens could be clearly seen ten kilometers away. In 1914, telegraphs had long become part of people's daily life, but the most common telegraphs were wired telegraphs transmitted through lines. Radio communication technology was only 21 years old. Naval ships of powerful countries had generally used radio communication, and for cost, weight and efficiency, etc.

In view of the matter, the army of various countries still uses wired telegraphs, telephones, carrier pigeons, and manual transmission as the main communication methods. It is not complicated to lay telephone lines during the march, but it takes a certain amount of time. Major Van Varcano, the commander of this advance force, could not know the latest situation in Amiens, and was not sure whether his troops should continue to advance towards Molei or withdraw quickly. So while he was waiting for the superiors to send communication soldiers, he ordered the soldiers to wait for the battle and deployed a warning post within a radius of several kilometers.

Major Von Varcano, 47, is a veteran land commander. He was a Marine Corps officer on warships and later trained indigenous soldiers in the colonies. He spent five years in East Africa and four years in Western Samoa. However, Major Varcano, who has the title of aristocratic, often gets "flaws" from his superiors, and words such as "pretentious" and "despise the chief" appear in comments many times. As a result, he worked in the Navy for more than 20 years and was still a middle-level officer, but this did not prevent him from gaining the trust and love of the soldiers.

With the knowledgeable, humorous and compassionate commanders like Major Vacano, the naval soldiers in the 3rd Light Infantry Battalion should be grateful. Most of them were recruits who joined the army in 1913, innocent and ignorant, and had never seen any big world. The low-level officers and non-commissioned officers were also very young. Although they had received further studies in the Naval Academy or the NCO School, they still lacked the experience of dealing with problems and dealing with troubles.

Like most units of the 3rd Marine Brigade, this naval infantry battalion is equipped with a poor performance m1888 short cavalry. Fortunately, their machine gun firepower is sufficient to make up for the range defect of the short cavalry. The battalion is equipped with a total of 4 mg08 and 24 Madson light machine guns. You should know that a French division formed by a reserve force has a machine gun that is not as good as this.

After a day of fierce fighting, the officers and soldiers of the 1st and 2nd Marine Brigade were tempered by the fire of war. Although some fell, some were injured and withdrawn, and some were always immersed in tension or fear, most of them still drew useful experiences from it and grew up in spirit, will and combat skills. Since the early morning, the 3rd Marine Brigade, as an offensive reserve, has been listening to the symphony of the war behind. On the way to the Forest of Moleil, Major Von Varcano's battalion fought a battle with the French. They encountered a group of French soldiers who had collapsed from Amiens. During the battle lasted for more than an hour, several soldiers on both sides were gunshot wounds. The exhausted French voluntarily gave up their resistance and became prisoners of German naval infantry.

This small victory made Major Vacano's soldiers excited, but the officers saw the drawbacks of the troops' serious lack of practical experience. From the arrival of night until everything was quiet, the superior command did not send new orders, and the communication soldiers sent were speechless. Young officers generally showed anxiety, but Major Vacano was very calm. He asked the soldiers to set up camp tents and take turns to sleep. The disadvantage of camping in this woodland is that there are many wet insects, and the advantage is that there is no need to dig trenches as much as they were in the open area. The soldiers can use the natural environment as a shooting bunker, and then connect them to pieces to form a coherent front.

As midnight approached, the guards deployed in the north suddenly reported: a large number of French troops came along the river. Although the specific number of enemies could not be determined, the troops must have exceeded that of their own.

Major von Vacano calmly summoned the officers and asked them to tell the soldiers that a large group of French teams retreated from Amiens tried to go from here to the town of Molei. The enemy was depressed and the morale was disintegrating. Now it was a great opportunity to earn military merit from them. The soldiers could feel at ease to put the enemy closer and then fight.

Under this dim starlight, the visibility in the forest is no more than 50 meters. Once the battle starts, inexperienced soldiers only hear the sound of guns and cannons and do not see the enemy. It is easy to fire guns because of tension. Especially machine gunners, their fingers stay on the trigger for a little longer, and dozens of bullets will go out. When they are far away from the main force, in addition to the ammunition carried by the soldiers, only a small amount of supplies carried by the battalion's baggage team with mules and horses. If they use up all the bullets in vain, the favorable situation may also become unfavorable.

In order to prevent the French army from taking advantage of their numerical advantage to carry out roundabout encirclement, Major Vacano extended both sides of the front line to the edge of the forest and the riverside of Alf, and deployed a mg-08 and two Madsen on the flanks of the front line. Since then, the width of the front line has increased to nearly one kilometer, and each soldier needs to defend an average of two meters wide front. In fact, Major Vacano also drew two platoons of troops as combat reserves. Although this increased the defensive pressure of the soldiers, once the French army broke through a certain section of the defense line, they could immediately organize a battlefield counterattack, expel the French army from the position, and also be wary of the French army launching an attack from behind.

When Major Vacano was fully deployed, the "large group of French defeated soldiers" also arrived. Ruddy footsteps came from the woods, sounding like a group of night-walking beasts approaching, as if they were close or far, it was difficult to distinguish the distance. Listen quietly, and occasionally coughing, but you could never hear people's conversations, and you could not tell the words in the other party's mouth.

Major Van Varcano crawled at the forefront of the position, and the dense trees made the telescope almost useless. He held a 1-inch caliber single signal gun in his hand. In addition to colored signal flares, it can also be used to fire flares. At this time, the chamber was equipped with a phosphorescence flare. This flares lasted for a short time and had a limited lighting range, but it had the advantages of easy carrying and use, which was especially suitable for the land warfare forces.

It is estimated that the enemy is only more than a hundred meters away from his position. Major Vacano fired the first flare. The incandescent light shone out the dense French soldiers. Their signature blue tops and red pants were still very eye-catching at night. The soldiers walking in the front row held rifles and pretended to be alert. Most of the soldiers walking behind carried the rifles behind them. Some supported their injured companions, while others moved forward with their hands hanging down and their steps heavily.

Seeing the spirit of the French officers and soldiers, Major Vacano knew that there was hope for victory, and his tense heartstrings suddenly relaxed a lot. After the light flashed, two mg08s deployed in the middle of the front line took the lead in showing their power, and a series of bullets swept towards the dense crowd of French soldiers, instantly splattering blood, killing people like mowing grass.

The Maderson light machine gun, short cavalry and even pistols in the hands of the German soldiers opened fire. The light of the first flare quickly dimmed, and flashing muzzle flames were everywhere in the woodland, and the dense gunfire sounds were mixed with the wailing of the shots. At this time, the German officers and soldiers who occupied the shooting positions in advance undoubtedly had a huge advantage. They opened fire at will. The bullets fired by the French either flew over their heads or drilled into the trunk of the mud tree, with almost no substantial threat. When another flare shone on the woodland ahead, there were no standing French soldiers in their sight, those who were facing the sky, those who were crawling, and those who were twitching and struggling. At a rough look, there were at least two or three hundred people.

The German soldiers used raindrops to hit the other party with a stick. The German soldiers reloaded and shot repeatedly nervously and excitedly. If the officers hadn't stopped drinking in time, most of them would have forgotten to save ammunition.

As the gunshots subsided, Major von Vacano rolled into half a loudspeaker with one hand and shouted in standard French: "Surrender! French! You have no way out!"

Someone from the opposite side immediately replied loudly: "The French soldiers will never surrender to the German invaders!"

"Then you are dead!" Major Varcano said deceivingly, "Wait for being bombarded into meat paste by cannons!"
Chapter completed!