Standing next to the car door, Gallieni said to the panic and restless French soldiers in front of him: "French soldiers, I am Joseph Simon Gallieni. As the chief of the Paris military, I order you to go to the infantry trench on the front line immediately!"

The French soldiers carrying rifles looked at each other. They obviously did not expect to encounter Gallienni, who was praised by many as the "Savior of Paris" and the "Second Commander-in-Chief of the French Army, in such a bad night, in such a bad night. The veteran was unquestionably suppressed the panic caused by the German shelling on these French soldiers. They turned around one after another, some took off their rifles from their shoulders, and some were empty-handed. Under the command of the elderly non-commissioned officer, the soldiers lined up in a simple marching column and headed along the road to the raging town.

Gallienni frowned and sat back into the car. At this time, the adjutant asked him carefully: "Where are we going now?"

Gallieni did not answer this question, but muttered to himself: "Is it a coincidence that the 3rd Army Command and the 4th Corps Command were all destroyed by German cannons?"

His adjutant should say: "It's probably just that the telephone line was just blown up."

Gallieni shook his head: "If this is caused by accident, it can only be said that God has decided to abandon France."

The adjutant widened his eyes: "You mean..."

Gallieni lowered his head and thought: "Continue to drive forward!"

Looking at the burning town in sight, the driver probably felt that he had heard it wrong, and looked at Gallieni's adjutant in confusion, and got a positive sign from him, then drove forward silently. Not far away, hundreds of French soldiers came along the road like fleeing civilians. Each of them moved forward at their own speed, some threw away all the objects, some carried their rifles, some were five or six people side by side, and some were swaying slowly alone. The depressed expression of these French people was not entirely due to the terrible artillery attacks of the Germans. For half a week, almost all French troops were constantly digging fortifications, the soldiers lacked sleep, and food supplies were sometimes good and sometimes bad, so they had reached the point of exhaustion.

Since the team of soldiers who had just turned around and returned to the front line did not have enough influence on their companions around them, Galieni had to slow down the driver, poked out half of his body from the window, and shouted at the dejected French soldiers: "Go back to the front line! Hold the position and defend Paris!"

Perhaps it was Gallieni's general cap that acted as a deterrent, perhaps it was the pistol and strict battlefield regulations in his hand that made the soldiers feel fearful. These people turned their heads and headed to the front line with the rumbling cannons, but a few minutes later, someone suddenly shouted: "German cavalry! They are surrounding us!"

Suddenly, the soldiers fled everywhere in panic. At least a few officers among them knew that they would not be distracted from the cavalry, so they shouted loudly, asking the soldiers to stop and prepare for battle. About sixty or seventy soldiers followed their calls to assemble along the way, put on bayonets, and lined up, but there were no German cavalry nearby, and they didn't even see the shadow of a war horse.

Galieni's driver drove the car to the soldiers. The white-haired Paris military commander was about to get off the car when a bullet suddenly flew from the distance and hit the tent that was only ten centimeters away from his head. Galieni's adjutant was shocked. The French soldiers around him were searching around with rifles, but the eyes around him were lit and dark, and it was impossible to tell whether anyone was deliberately attacking.

"It seems that some Germans have sneaked into our defense zone!"

Gallieni said calmly, and his doubts also found a reasonable answer. As for how the Germans got in and how many of them were, these seem unimportant now. The key is that they are trying to destroy the French military's communication and command system and create chaos among French soldiers. Although this method is despised by orthodox professional soldiers, William II's army burned, killed, looted, and many towns and villages were razed to the ground. The principles of civilization did not apply to this army from hell.

As long as the German shooter disguised as a French soldier is still nearby, it is very dangerous to continue staying in the car. Gallieni quickly opened the door and got out of the car, threw the eye-catching general cap with a big red bottom and gold pattern in the car, stuffed his eyes into his chest pocket, and said to the infantry officer beside him: "Sir Lieutenant, if you and your soldiers can help me find the 3rd Army Command as soon as possible, you will be awarded the medal for making important contributions to the defense of Paris."

Although the task was a bit arduous, Gallieni's way of inspiring obviously made the young jurist very energetic. He quickly made a division of labor arrangements and ordered some soldiers to return to inquire about the information about the Army Command. He took the remaining soldiers to escort Gallieni and his adjutant to Scheller. The closer to the burning town, the worse the situation along the way, because he did not expect that the Germans would cover the areas farther away from the frontier positions at the beginning of the shelling. The French troops camped in the town and around him not only suffered major casualties, but also suffered a very heavy blow. If the Germans broke through the frontier positions at this time and rushed over, they might not even be able to organize a decent resistance.

Along the way, the accompanying officers and soldiers drove the dispersed troops back to the front under the banner of Gallieni. Although this had a significant effect, it also brought considerable hidden dangers to Gallieni's personal safety. Gallieni was not concerned about this. He was concerned about whether the steel defense line he built could withstand the Germans' heavy punch. After almost an hour of tossing, the group finally found the 3rd Army Command, which was temporarily placed in a shelter.

In the first few weeks of the war, the 3rd French Army was led by General Lu Fu. To be fair, although the commander had no excellence and no bad mistakes, he unfortunately became a scapegoat for a series of failures in the French army. The 3rd Army was taken over by General Sarai, the former commander of the 4th Corps.

Seeing General Saray and his staff busy in the simple but safe temporary command center, a big rock in Galieni's heart finally fell. He didn't bother to drink a sip of water and hurriedly asked Saray about the situation of the front lines. Although Saray's headquarters could not contact all the troops, he was at least in contact with the 4th and 5th main corps.

"There are two telephone lines and telegraph lines to Paris, and they are all interrupted at present; we have two ordinary telephone lines and a temporary telephone line for field battles with the 4th Corps. The two open lines are broken, and the hidden lines are still open." Saray said with a little thanks. He told Gallieni that because the front positions only deploy a small number of guards, and the main combat troops are on standby in infantry trenches and shelters. So far, the loss of soldiers from the front divisions has not been very large and should be able to withstand the German ground attack. However, the coverage range of German heavy artillery made Saray and his staff worried. If they continue to bombard the rear of the French positions with heavy artillery when the German tanks and infantry units launch a charge, they will have a very adverse impact on the tactical mobilization of French forces.

After listening to Sarai's explanation, Galieni said nothing. He should remember that before the outbreak of the war, an officer named Philippe Bettan emphasized the value of heavy artillery in military newspapers and some internal occasions. However, such minority remarks were completely obscured in the wave of offensive supremacy, so that the French team put the bet of defeating their opponents on the 1897 75mm field rapid-fire cannon. Although this kind of artillery has its own uniqueness, it is just an oversized shotgun with an astonishing lethality but a very limited range of action. The number of German heavy artillery was seven times that of French troops. The light howitzers were equipped to the level of the infantry division, and the heavy howitzers were equipped to the level of the infantry army. The artillery group belonging to the legion has heavy cannons with a range of more than 10 kilometers. The large number of artillery also gave German commanders more tactical choices.

The fierce artillery of the German army finally stopped at about six o'clock in the morning. In the early autumn morning, a thin layer of fog appeared in the fields. The long-term artillery produced a large amount of smoke and dust, which made the vision of the frontier positions very bad. Worried that the German infantry might launch an attack at any time, the artillery bombardment had just ended, and many French soldiers in the defense zone heard a series of orders issued by the officers:

"Everyone is on standby!"

"Prepare to set off!"

"Enter the position!"

In the dim light of morning mist, the French soldiers passed through the traffic trench to the designated place according to the battle sequence. However, after only half an hour, the Germans began to shoot again, and the artillery fire was still very fierce, and firepower was covered in the rear of the front-line positions. The French officers and soldiers who had just arrived at the front line were going to have a dispute with Liu, and suddenly they heard someone shouting: "The Germans are coming!"

On the frontier positions, many French soldiers hurriedly poked their heads, trying to find the enemy's traces and fire at them. The machine guns were clattering, and the machine guns were roaring. The sound of hundreds of rifles shooting was like a rainstorm, and countless bullets drilled into the dust. If there were German infantry there, they would definitely have suffered many casualties.

This time, the German storm artillery fire lasted for only a quarter of an hour. The sudden rhythm made the experienced and quick commander like Galieni feel threatened. He believed that the scale of the attack must be quite large. As soon as the telephone line to Paris was connected, he ordered two infantry divisions, which were arranged as reserve forces, to go to Villeparisi to defend this crucial military stronghold in any case.
Chapter completed!