On September 24, 1914, near the city of Mo, less than 50 kilometers away from Paris, a large wave of gray waves slowly moved from west to east. This seemed to be an endless team, infantry, cavalry, chariots, cannons, and baggage sandwiched in it. The sound of footsteps, horse hooves, and wheels gathered together, and it sounded like it was in the next downpour.

Just two days ago, as the German Marines approached Paris from Amiens and the British Expeditionary Force retreated three infantry divisions to Britain, the extremely fierce Battle of the Marine River ended with the active retreat of the British and French troops. On the front line that was more than 200 kilometers wide, the total force invested by the warring sides exceeded 2 million, which became the largest battle in human history. From September 12 to 21, the German army and the British and French coalition fought hundreds of battles on the banks of the Marine River. In some important areas, both sides continued to change their offensive and defensive roles, and the front-line troops repeatedly rushed. During the days when the battle was most stalemate, thousands of soldiers were injured and killed every hour. During the entire battle, more than 500,000 soldiers were killed, injured or captured on both sides. The originally inconspicuous River of Marine became synonymous with purgatory on earth.

In order to win this difficult victory, all the German elites were released and fought many tough battles with their prestigious steel will. However, Cluke's 1st Legion, Bilo's 2nd Legion, and Hausen's 3rd Legion also paid a heavy price for this. The main forces that had the best training level and had to retreat to the rear for rest since the war began. The situation of the other four participating corps was slightly better. Through the rotation of the troops, Albresit's 4th Legion, William's 5th Legion, and Ruprecht's 6th Legion gradually reached the forefront of the front line. After discovering the retreat of the British and French coalition forces on the entire line, these three legions took advantage of the situation to pursue and defeated the French defenders at the place where the Cluke's corps were initially frustrated, and won a great victory that scared the French people and was praised in Germany.

Although three French infantry divisions were lost at Fort Thierry, the Allied Team did not collapse at all. Relying on the time when the defenders fought to the death, the exhausted British and French troops retreated from the Marne front to the outskirts of Paris, preparing to continue to fight against the Germans on the Paris defense line.

As early as mid-to-late August, with the defeat of the border battle, the French government decided to put hard armor on Paris. Under the command of the famous general Gallieni, the French army reached Merren in a radius of about twenty miles around Paris, Damaltan and Pontoise in the north, Lessir and Greater Nousi in the east, and Lessir in the Greater Nouisi, and to the experience of the Balkan War and the Russo-Japanese War, Gallieni asked the troops to dig deep and narrow trenches, with earth logs covered with logs, with barbed wire and wide openings on both sides, and a series of fortifications such as pickets were erected at the bottom of the cave, and mercilessly carried out the task of building fortifications to those who had objections or were undecided,

The weak and incompetent or incompetent, never wasted time or mercy on them, but removed all incompetent people like Xia Fei, and all the residents of the suburbs of Paris, "even the oldest and incompetent," were forced to take pickaxes and shovels to join labor. Although the progress of building the defense line was lagging behind the plan, especially after the Battle of the Marne, the French team stationed in Paris was weakened to a minimum, and all the engineering troops were transferred, and Gallieni tried every means to build fortifications. It was with its efforts that when hundreds of thousands of British and French troops retreated from the front line like low tide waves, most of them were able to rest and gather in the fortifications.

"The Paris defense line is not indestructible, but the Germans can't take it down without the price of 300,000 to 400,000 people." At the Supreme Military Conference in France, Gallieni reported to the sad generals the results of his work day and night.

Although many people are worried that the heavy artillery of the Germans would turn the sacred capital of France into rubble, and the lessons of the French-Prussian War show that if there is no strong reinforcements, the trap of the lonely city cannot escape the misfortune of failure, after a fierce debate, the Supreme Military Conference decided to defend Paris to the death. After all, in the eyes of most people, after the Battle of the Marne River, the German team was frustrated, and its main force needed at least half a month to rest before it could invest in a large-scale attack. This means that the French team still has time to consolidate and strengthen the Paris defense line and stick to it with the spirit of defending the capital to the death, until the huge Russian team defeated the Austro-Hungarian Empire, threatened Germany's hinterland from the eastern front, and completely reversed the situation of the war.

Those who felt that the German army was unable to attack Paris quickly probably underestimated the endurance of the German soldiers and the ambitions of the German senior leaders. At the unanimous request of the German emperor and the crown prince, Chief of General Staff Moltke decided to immediately attack Paris with the 4th, 5th and 6th third legions. In addition to more than 500,000 exhausted but highly motivated soldiers, the German army had a very favorable condition for attacking Paris, that is, technical weapons represented by chariots and cannons.

Nearly half of the naval chariot troops transferred to the German Army were assigned to the 5th Army. They formed four chariot companies, including 22 Hubert-14 "heavy chariots" with 45mm front armor. Although they moved slowly, they could withstand the frontal shooting of machine guns or even small-caliber rapid-fire cannons without additional hangs, ignoring various shrapnel killings. They were equipped with a 37mm rapid-fire cannon and two mg08 water-cooled heavy machine guns. The number of ammunition carried on the vehicle was three times that of Hubert-13. The actual combat effectiveness on the battlefield was as good as a movable small fortress. During the Battle of the Marne River, Crown William won the honorary number of "Germany 1st Royal Iron Cavalry Battalion" for this army, and he regarded it as the core weapon to destroy cities and villages.

Hubert's chariot was a secret weapon of the German army's recent war, while the Krupp cannon was a military symbol of Prussian-Germany. With the ongoing of the Marne Battle, in order to deal with the British and French coalition forces a heavy blow, the German army gathered a large number of artillery on the front line of the Marne River. The heavy artillery that played a key role in the conquering Liege and Namur Fortress were also transferred.

Mo Cheng, guarded by the French defenders, soon became a touchstone for the German army to inspire the morale and deter the opponent. On the front of the attack less than ten kilometers wide, the German army gathered nearly 2,000 artillery pieces, of which more than 600 were heavy or super heavy artillery pieces with a caliber of more than 150 mm.

In the early morning of September 25, a large-scale German artillery bombardment began. The huge explosion sounded endlessly and was airtight, which surprised the French officers and soldiers who were squatting in the trenches or staying in the city. Although they had experienced German artillery bombardment before, they had never been so violent. The terrible explosion was so loud that people could not hear each other's voices even when they shouted face to face. The terrifying artillery fire reflected the white sky into the color of dusk, and the earth was trembling and shaking constantly. The choking smell of strong explosives came to their noses. People were like being stuffed in an invisible large jar, dizzy, chest tightness and shortness of breath, and they felt that they might suffocate at any time...

The German artillery's rapid bombardment of the French frontier positions lasted for forty minutes. Then, the artillery fire began to extend into the city, and the German infantry of the four divisions, with the support of the chariot troops, launched an attack on the French defenders with only two division numbers, which were actually only more than 11,000. Stimulated by the competitive and bloodthirsty war hormones, the German soldiers in gray uniforms rushed forward like a tide. Even the officers who were usually steady and noble in their daily behavior were part of this group of fanatics. They led the way across the impossible front line, shouted the slogan of "Long Live" and rushed into the French position with a destructive momentum.

Although German artillery fire almost destroyed everything on the surface, some French soldiers survived tenaciously like rats, but a considerable number of them had been stunned by the terrible shelling and many had lost their combat effectiveness due to injuries. In fact, German soldiers were not good at bay warfare than French colleagues, but when they gritted their teeth and jumped into the trenches with bright bayonets, the French infantry either retreated in panic or threw down their weapons. This loss of fighting belief seemed to be an invisible plague spreading rapidly on the position. The German troops seized Mocheng's outer positions without much effort, and then attacked the city in one go.

By noon, the entire Mocheng had become the spoils of the 5th German Legion.

In the afternoon, Crown Prince William visited the city with great enthusiasm. Not long ago, it was a prosperous town. Due to the bombardment of German heavy artillery, it has now become a pile of lifeless rubble. The infantry of the 5th Legion passed by one by one, and couldn't wait to rush forward to participate in the battle.

"Around me are happy smiling faces, and they cheered and shouted at my car, making it difficult for the car to move forward. This was an irresistible advance, and the pulse of a victorious team was beating. Apart from 'advance, chasing the enemy!', the army did not know any other laws." The crown prince of the German Empire wrote in a letter to his younger brother, "I saw a group of officers working vigorously, remembering something desperately, listening to the phone, and the usual solemn and responsible expression on their faces contained a hint of tiredness, but also a calm and satisfied feeling. The bright sunshine shone on me, sweeping away the doubts for many days, making me feel full of confidence, and making me feel the strongest desire for the future."

The news of the 5th Legion's capture of Mocheng quickly reached Berlin. When people learned that the main German army was only more than forty kilometers away from Paris, they couldn't help but be excited.
Chapter completed!