At the end of mid-September, on the banks of the Tyran River, only more than fifty kilometers away from Paris, French soldiers dug trenches forty or fifty meters away from the river bank under the scorching sun. The soft soil is conducive to excavation and absorbing the power of shell explosions. However, whether it is Algerian infantry wearing sandy uniforms, gray leggings, or French local soldiers wearing blue tops and red pants, they all have tense faces and cannot see any sense of excitement.

This long river position extends from Mie at the north end to Elm at the south end, with a total length of more than ten kilometers. From the map, this temporary defense line is like a gate entering Paris from the northeast. As long as you guard this gate, the German troops rushing from Amiens will either focus on attacking and stop, or take a detour, lengthen the supply line, and expose the flanks to the French team. No matter how the German commander chooses, the French will win valuable time to consolidate the Paris defense line.

In order to defend the riverside defense line connecting Mii, Beauve and Elm, the French almost took out all their belongings. When the railway hub was bombed by the German army, a motorized transport team composed of various civilian vehicles started a race at the same time. It took only more than 30 hours to transport more than 10,000 French officers and soldiers from around Paris to the banks of the Tyran River.

The enthusiasm of the people of Paris to support the front is admirable, but at the same time, the German team heading south from Amiens was also racing against time. Before the French officers and soldiers dug the trenches along the river to a deep and wide enough, the advance troops led by Grientz had approached the River Tyran. The outpost came and the French officers and soldiers stopped their work and picked up their weapons to prepare for battle.

The railway line from Amiens to Paris passed through the city of Beauvais, and the French army's defense focus was therefore placed here. However, the German army's march route avoided the city. The French troops deployed to the north of Beauvais suddenly discovered that the gray wave of the Germans appeared in sight.

The German team had not yet approached the river bank, and only two loud bangs heard, and the two nearby short bridges turned into flying debris in the violent explosion.

The orders of the French General Command were strictly enforced, and during the flood season, people drowned in the Tyran River. However, after the flood season, the river water usually only reaches the thigh of the adults. Even if the French destroyed all the bridges on the river, it was not enough to resist the German team's advance.

The gray teams were approaching, and followed by a truck's uphill sound, mixed with indescribable metal friction and dull footsteps. The secret weapons of the Germans, and those tracked chariots equipped with artillery and machine guns, although not impeccable, their attacks were always accompanied by the follow-up of a large number of German infantry, and French soldiers were often knocked down by German bullets before they even approached them.

As soon as the Germans entered the range, the French artillery deployed in the woods behind opened fire impatiently. The shells roared into the distance. When they fell, the orderly German troops suddenly scattered. If they thought the Germans were defeated or the offensive was curbed, it would be a big mistake. The Germans rushed towards the French positions on the riverbank like provoked bees. The chariots quickly rolled their tracks and raised rolling sand and dust. They were like charge cavalry, and they were much stronger than the cavalry. The shells landed nearby had almost no blocking effect on them.

The German infantry following behind the chariot were storming. At this time, looking down from the air, you will find that the thousands of German troops were clearly arranged in three waves. Each wave was not a single horizontal line, but formed a loose and orderly battle queue, with waves separated by three or four hundred meters, which was not easy to suffer great losses in the face of enemy artillery fire like a uniform array.

The French troops located in the woods on the east bank of the river took the lead in receiving the enemy. The Dutchkash machine gun made a coherent roar. With combat experience in the Belgium and France border areas, such fierce machine gun fire could kill thousands of German infantry without artillery support in a very short time. After approaching the French position, the German tanks equipped with rotating turrets and short-barrel chariot guns began to clear the French machine gun fire points one by one. Within five minutes, the French machine guns in the woods were completely silent. In front of the German tanks, the rifles in the hands of French soldiers were tantamount to expensive fire sticks.

Next, the German chariots did not rush into the woods directly, but covered their infantry outside the woods with artillery fire and machine guns to launch an attack on the French troops in the woods. The battles that took place in the woods were exactly the same as close fighting in the trenches. The German naval infantry equipped with pistols, light machine guns and grenades continued the melee style of rushing and fighting. The French soldiers here either ended their rest and returned to the front line, or set foot on the battlefield for the first time. They had never experienced such a battle, and were expelled from the woods in a blink of an eye.

Seeing that the vanguard troops on their side crossed the river in panic and retreated, the French troops building trenches on the west bank of the river were in a mess, and the soldiers were shooting at the other side without any hesitation. The officers thought that the German army would launch a crossing battle in the river section opposite the woods in front, and hurriedly mobilized combat troops here, leaving the troops in other locations along the river defense line empty.

After occupying the east bank of the Tyran River, the German troops that advanced from the direction of Amiens were not in a hurry to cross this shallow and narrow river, but instead stayed in the woodland and open areas behind the river bank under French artillery fire. Soon, two biplane single-seat German planes flew from the north, one of which took the initiative to lure the French fighter planes moving nearby, and the other hovered over the French river bank positions for a while, causing French soldiers to shoot into the air. After a while, the gray-painted plane continued to lower its height and then landed on the open space far from the river bank. Before the French artillery destroyed it, the pilots on the plane had a brief verbal exchange with the infantry officers on the ground, and then took off, which stunned the French on the other side.

With the guidance of the pilot, the German army's crossing river operations found the weakness of the French army. Some of the chariots marched upstream along the river bank for several kilometers. Although only hundreds of soldiers followed them across the Tyran River at the first time, they easily tore open the French defense line and established a bridgehead. Then, the chariots and infantry crossing the river were divided into two parts, some of which stayed on the river bank to cover the subsequent troops across the river, and the rest formed an elite rapid assault force. They used the propulsion speed of the chariots to intersect and occupy the road intersection behind the French army, and acted as if they were to encircle and annihilate the French troops. The French, who were dispersed and uneven, were indeed deceived. Some local troops immediately gave up their river bank positions and retreated. The river defense line, which was more than ten kilometers wide, was suddenly full of loopholes.

Such an easy merit was sent to the front, and the experienced Grientz would not miss it. He immediately commanded the advance troops to cross the river at the same time in three areas. Although he encountered the tenacious resistance of some French officers and soldiers, within an hour, twelve naval chariots and more than 4,000 German infantry broke through the Tyran River, which was defended by more than 10,000 French officers and soldiers, and the French retreated on the entire line.

Two hours later, Grienz personally led his troops to follow the French defeated troops into the city of Beauvey. The French army had several times the strength of the German offensive troops, and even voluntarily gave up the capital of Oates and handed over the last door leading to Paris to the Germans.

"I can't believe my ears. The allies I sincerely love for forty million French people will abandon us at the critical moment when life and death are on the front line... Sorry, abandonment may be an inappropriate wording. Please don't care about the nonsense I say in extreme grief."

At the French General Headquarters in the small town of Barr, Xia Fei, who had always shown his image of resoluteness, seemed to be hit hard by someone, his eyes were red and his hands were trembling. The British generals standing opposite him also lost all their arrogance, and they all seemed to have done something wrong, with their eyes facing the ground.

Sir French, commander of the British Expeditionary Force and the Marshal of the Field Army, said: "Sorry, I am very sorry. We have done our best. I hope you can understand our situation. And I can assure you that the British team who continues to stay in France will fight with the French team to the end, and I will take a plane back to London as soon as possible to state the interests of the cabinet members, hoping that they can take back this decision."

Hearing this remark, the French generals were all indifferent. The alliance between Britain and France was a coalition of rights and interests, in order to curb the aggressive ambitions of the German Empire. The feud, prejudice and conflict of interests between Britain and France were not erased by a deal. The military cooperation between the two sides was full of doubts and suspicion at the beginning. Thanks to the efforts of a few knowledgeable people in the British and French army, the staff of the two countries formulated a detailed and feasible joint combat plan. This plan ensured that the British and French armies maintained close cooperation at the beginning of the war. Unlike Germany and Austro-Hungary, the two sides were not even clear about the other party’s real strategic deployment, let alone strategic coordination.

After a moment of silence, Xia Fei looked at French and said, "In the past week, we have launched a counterattack against the German army with unprecedented determination and courage. Now hundreds of thousands of soldiers have died in blood on the banks of the Marne River. However, this battle that is destined to be recorded in history... We may have lost!"

"As long as the battle is not over, we have hope of victory." French responded, "So far, 33,000 British people have been bravely injured on the battlefield of the Marne River, and more than 8,000 people have sacrificed their lives. I feel sad and proud of this."

Xia Fei sighed deeply: "But I have no reserve force to reinforce the front line of the Marne River. After your troops withdraw from the position, the only thing I can do is to let the participating troops withdraw from the battle in an orderly manner, and then redeploy them to the Paris defense line. I hope we can block the German attack under the city of Paris, and the Russian team forces Emperor Franz to withdraw from the war and attack France from the eastern front with all their might."

"There will be that day." French stretched out his right hand to Xiafei, "Let's see you in Paris!"

Xia Fei nodded slightly, and the hands of the two commanders were tightly held together.
Chapter completed!