Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 486 Battle of the Marne (Seeking monthly votes!)
Because of Spain's interference, European countries around the world did not attach as much importance to airplanes as they did to airships.

However, this also led to European countries equipping themselves with large-scale airship forces, which played a fairly good role in this war.

The first function is reconnaissance. With the airship hovering in mid-air, it's easy to observe the enemy's movements, a capability that was simply unavailable in previous wars.

Secondly, the transport capacity of airships is also quite important for the front lines. A small airship can transport several tons of cargo, while a large airship can even transport more than ten tons of supplies.

More importantly, supplies transported by airships can be airdropped without any terrain restrictions, allowing them to reach mountains, jungles, and any other area.

If using trains, transport can only be done to the train station. While cars offer more freedom, their speed and failure rate increase significantly when driving in mountainous terrain without roads, which is currently a major problem facing automobiles.

Airships don't have this problem. Since they float in mid-air, there are no obstructions.

These supply airships only need to be wary of enemy airship attacks to transport supplies to the front lines without any danger or hindrance.

Because of the role airships played in the war, French and German airship forces clashed in several battles in the early stages of the war.

Unlike ground troops, airships primarily rely on machine guns mounted on them to shoot down enemy airships.

If an enemy airship is hit, it will almost certainly crash even if it doesn't explode.

Ordinary bullets can cause enormous damage to airships, which is why current airships are not equipped with small-caliber cannons—there is simply no need for them.

With the help of the airship forces of both countries, the German and French armies eventually discovered each other's intentions.

This was unfortunate for France, because their Operation 17 played right into Germany's Schlieffen Plan, which had anticipated the movements of the French army even before the war broke out.

Fortunately for France, the core of the German Schlieffen Plan had already been modified, and while the northern border of France was indeed poorly defended, a significant portion of the German troops had also been redeployed, which greatly reduced Germany's hopes of capturing Paris.

Although the superior German army invaded French territory, the French army was fully prepared, and at least they still had hope of defending Paris.

The French government's discussions shifted from using Albania to win over Italy to how to hold onto Paris.

The French army urgently needs a reliable figure to serve as the commander of the Paris garrison, to stabilize morale and, as far as possible, protect the French capital.

French President Armand Farrier searched extensively through the list of high-ranking French generals before finally deciding to appoint General Gallieri, who had lost the competition for French Chief of the General Staff to Joffre a year earlier, as the commander of the Paris garrison.

Speaking of this general who once competed with Joffre for the position of Chief of the French General Staff, he has a rather illustrious resume.

As a veteran who participated in the Franco-Prussian War, Gallieri participated in many colonial wars during this period, making him one of the few generals in the French military who had experienced multiple wars.

One of the reasons he lost the election for Chief of the General Staff to Joffre was precisely because of his age.

General Gallieri was born in 1849 and is 63 years old this year, which is considered advanced age. In addition, he has been injured many times during his military career, and his current health condition is worrying.

Without this war, General Gallieni might have retired within a few years and enjoyed his few remaining leisure time.

But now, he had to take on a great responsibility, assuming the position of Commander-in-Chief of the Paris Garrison, so that France would not see its capital fall in less than two months after the outbreak of war.

Although he agreed to take over as commander-in-chief of the Paris garrison, General Gallieri also made his own demands.

Because of French Chief of the General Staff Joffre's Plan 17, 200 million of France's nearly 160 million troops were deployed to the front lines in Alsace and Lorraine.

The French army north of Paris numbered less than 40, and after a long period of fighting, the number of troops available for deployment was now less than 30.

These 30 troops were scattered throughout the area north of Paris, while the garrison around Paris consisted of only a few local divisions and an elite division transferred from the African colonies, totaling only about one corps.

It was impossible to defend Paris with just one army. General Gallieri’s first order was to have the French military assemble an army group, consisting of three regular active-duty corps, rather than a cannon fodder force cobbled together from recruits or colonial troops.

At this time, Paris was in a state of panic due to the impending German invasion. The French government was even discussing temporarily relocating the capital, moving the government seat from Paris to Orléans further south.

Faced with General Gallieri, the only one capable of taking on such a great responsibility, the French government and military did not hesitate at all and immediately agreed to his request.

As France's largest city and capital, Paris possesses considerable defensive capabilities. It has 14 internal gun emplacements and 25 external gun emplacements, all constructed of reinforced concrete.

Each fortress had 20 cannons, and the defensive fortresses of Paris alone had as many as 780 cannons, which was why General Gallieri was confident in holding Paris.

Of course, defending Paris cannot rely on Paris's fortified positions; those are only used in a last-ditch effort.

To hold Paris, the front line had to be extended dozens or even hundreds of kilometers beyond the city to ensure safety and stability within Paris.

General Gallieni's thoughts can also be gleaned from the conversation between General Gallieni and his chief of staff, General Ilschaue.

General Ilschauer assured General Gallieri that the fortifications around Paris would defend the city, and that no matter how many troops Germany had, it would be absolutely impossible for them to conquer Paris.

General Gallieri replied: "No matter how fortified Paris is, how can it compare to the Liège fortress in Belgium?"

If we pin our hopes on the fortresses of Paris, even if we can hold out for longer, the final outcome will be the same as that of the fortresses of Liège in Belgium.

To hold Paris, 39 forts alone are far from enough. We also need to establish numerous defensive strongholds around Paris to slow down the German advance.

Subsequently, with the support of the French government, General Gallieri mobilized 10 Parisians to dig trenches around the city and build a defensive fortification with a total length of 100 kilometers, and demanded that these tasks be completed within 20 days.

France at this time was not the France of World War II. The citizens of Paris were still very determined to defend their country, and they were willing to follow the orders of General Gallieri and contribute their tools to the country.

With the help of these Parisian citizens, the French army quickly constructed a strong defensive position on the outskirts of Paris. Due to the limited construction period of only 20 days, the French did not have time to build reinforced concrete fortifications. They could only use the simplest logs piled up as a protective layer, and dug protective trenches in front of the fortifications, placing pointed stakes inside and setting up obstacles such as barbed wire on both sides.

While Parisians were digging trenches, General Gallieri ordered engineers to plant explosives on bridges along the river near Paris, destroying hundreds of bridges in the vicinity.

Paris was built on the Seine River, and was surrounded by other rivers such as the Marne and the Oise. After these bridges were destroyed, the German army would have to build pontoon bridges across these rivers if they wanted to attack Paris.

This was also an opportunity for the French army, at least it could slow down the German army's advance.

It is worth mentioning that even at this point, French Chief of the General Staff Joffre still did not consider defending Paris to be an important matter.

He always felt that Plan 17 was the most important thing. Even if it meant paying the price of Paris, as long as they could capture Alsace-Lorraine and extend their forces into the German interior, the war would eventually end.

Even if it cannot threaten the Ruhr region of Germany, it can still travel north along the Rhine River and bypass it to eastern Belgium.

At that time, the French army would encircle and annihilate the German troops who had invaded French territory. Wouldn't the results be greater than those of defending Paris? When General Béran, Joffre's deputy, learned that Gallieny had requested three corps to defend Paris, he directly stated: "The government's request to send three corps to defend Paris is completely self-defeating. It is very likely to have a great impact on the front line."

What's so important about Paris? Isn't Plan 17 the most important thing for the war on the front lines?

Joffre criticized Gallieri's ideas more than once, and he also complained to his subordinates on many occasions that the government was becoming an obstacle for him.

In fact, General Gallieri and Joffre had completely different ideas at this time.

French Chief of the General Staff Joffre advocated preserving manpower to ensure that the French army could launch a counter-offensive against Germany at any time, and to determine the outcome of the war through a key battle, rather than through the amount of land acquired.

In contrast, General Gallieri believed that Paris held an irreplaceable and special place in the hearts of the French people, serving as a symbol of the French nation and people.

Only by holding Paris can the French people's confidence and hope in winning the war be preserved. Once France falls, the French people's hope for the war will be greatly diminished, which will lead to a wavering of morale among the troops at the front, and this is the most detrimental thing to the front lines.

Under General Gallieri's persuasion, Joffre finally agreed to the request to detach three corps to form the Paris Garrison Army Group.

Of course, this new Paris Guard Army Group could not be drawn directly from the front lines. Instead, one corps was drawn from each of the rear-area army groups to form a new army group, namely the French 6th Army Group.

At the same time that the French 6th Army was being formed, German troops were already very close to Paris.

Germany sent airships to Paris in an attempt to drop leaflets there.

At this time, France, thanks to the support of Spain, had a sufficient number of airships. The large number of French airships hindered the advance of German airships and prevented Germany from dropping leaflets into Paris.

Having secured an entire army group, General Gallieri finally breathed a sigh of relief. He now had more confidence in holding Paris, but for now, he needed to wait for the German army to reveal its weaknesses to have a better chance of victory.

The good news is that after waiting for several days, General Gallieri finally got what he considered his opportunity.

The German First and Second Armies, advancing from the Belgian border into France, were pushing too fast, causing the distance between the two armies to shrink and exposing their flanks.

The German First Army, led by Kluke, was the first to show weakness. His Ninth Army successfully crossed the Marne River and led the entire army group southward.

As instructed by the German High Command, the First Army was to cover the right flank of the Second Army, temporarily slowing its advance and awaiting the arrival of its comrades.

However, General Kluke, commander-in-chief of the First Army, believed that it would be difficult for the 9th Corps to be effective if it broke through the Marne River. Therefore, disregarding the orders of the German High Command, he ordered the 3rd and 4th Corps to continue their attack to the southeast.

Under Kluke's orders, German soldiers of the First Army marched 40 kilometers at breakneck speed and crossed the Marne River in a rush.

It was perfectly normal for Kluke to have his own ideas. The German High Command had no idea about the specific situation at the front; he was the only commander of the frontline troops, and he had the right to issue orders that contradicted the opinions of the High Command based on the specific situation at the front.

After all, Krok's orders had already enabled the First Army to achieve significant victories. Krok had no idea that his orders would cause any problems; he believed that once the First Army crossed the Marne, it would soon reach Paris, the heart of France.

In fact, it wasn't just Kluge's 1st Army that had similar problems; the German 2nd Army and later the 3rd Army also faced similar issues.

Because of Joffre's troop deployment, the French northern border was severely understaffed.

This led to the fact that the German three army groups' attack on France proceeded very smoothly. Although they encountered resistance from the French army, this resistance was weak and ineffective.

The three German army groups achieved tremendous victories, occupying large swathes of French territory and even approaching the French capital, Paris.

Under such circumstances, it's quite normal for the commanders of the three army groups to become a little overconfident. After all, these victories were achieved under their command. Although the high command's offensive plan also played a significant role, who can deny their own contributions?

Having already achieved tremendous success, Kluke lost his sense of the battlefield situation. Furthermore, the capture of Paris would be a huge achievement for Germany, so Kluke no longer cared about anything else; he only hoped that his 1st Army would be the first to set foot in Paris, and not be beaten to it by other armies.

When the French army discovered by airship that the German 1st Army had moved far away from the following 2nd and 3rd Armies, General Gallieri, commander of the Paris Garrison, was immediately excited, realizing that this was a very good opportunity.

Without the slightest hesitation, General Gallieri immediately contacted French Chief of the General Staff Joffre, requesting Joffre's cooperation in his offensive and a major counter-offensive by the entire French army.

Joffre was very hesitant at this point. Operation 17 was not progressing well, and the French troops on the Alsace and Lorraine front were suffering considerable losses.

Joffre did not want to launch a counterattack at this moment, because even if he achieved some success, it would all go to Paris and have nothing to do with him.

On the other hand, Joffre also wanted to bring in his ally Russia to launch a larger-scale counter-offensive in cooperation with the Russian army, ideally forcing Germany to switch from offense to defense.

In this way, the French army could regain the initiative, and the subsequent offensive would be more successful.

Compared to Joffre's many considerations, General Gallieri didn't care about so much.

The openings revealed by the 1st Army were fleeting, and if they weren't seized, the German army would be prepared even if France launched a major counter-offensive.

In order to force Joffre to launch an attack, General Gallieri decided to come directly by force, compelling Joffre to cooperate with his offensive.

After waiting for Joffre for several hours, General Gallieri decided to stop waiting and directly called the various corps of the Paris Garrison Army Group, ordering them to launch an immediate attack on the German forces on the Marne.

After making these calls, Gallieri then called the French General Staff, informing them that the 6th Army had launched an offensive and requesting Joffre's cooperation.

General Gallieri's attitude was quite clear: he was giving Joffre two choices.

They could either cooperate fully with General Gallieri's counterattack and strive to achieve significant results.

They could either allow the 6th Army to attack the German forces on its own, which would likely result in the complete annihilation of the 6th Army.

After all, the German army wasn't stupid either; once France launched its counter-offensive, German reinforcements would arrive in a short time.

Unless the number of French troops launching a counter-offensive far exceeds the number of German reinforcements that follow, these French troops launching a counter-offensive are simply lambs to the slaughter.

"***, ****!" Joffre berated Gallieri for his recklessness in his staff headquarters. He was forcing the entire French army to its doom for his plan!

But there was no other way; the 6th Army had already launched an offensive, and without any support, the soldiers of the 6th Army would likely die in vain.

Despite his reluctance, Joffre issued orders for the French army to launch a major counter-offensive, sparing no effort to keep the German troops who had invaded French territory in place.

Thus began the Battle of the Marne, a massive campaign in which France finally won a victory after the outbreak of war.

(End of this chapter)