Chapter 485: The Battle of the Marne (Seeking Monthly Votes!)

Because of Spain's interference, the countries of Europe in this world did not value airplanes as much as airships.

However, this also resulted in European nations equipping themselves with sizable airship fleets, and these airships played a fairly significant role in this war.

The first is their reconnaissance function. Floating high in the sky, airships could easily observe enemy movements, a capability that was simply impossible to possess in past wars.

Next is the transport capacity of airships, which was also quite important for the frontline battlefield. A small airship could transport several tons of cargo, and a large airship could even transport over ten tons of supplies.

More importantly, supplies transported by airship only needed to be airdropped, completely disregarding terrain limitations, allowing them to be delivered to mountains, jungles, and any other area.

If one used trains, they could only be transported to train stations. Although automobiles were a bit more flexible, driving on mountainous terrain without roads would significantly increase the speed and failure rate of the vehicles, which is the main problem automobiles currently face.

Airships did not have such worries. After all, airships floated in mid-air and had no obstacles in their way.

These supply-transporting airships only needed to be careful of enemy airship attacks to transport supplies to the front lines without any danger or obstruction.

It was precisely because of the role airships played in the war that the airship fleets of France and Germany also broke out into multiple battles during the early stages of the war.

Unlike the combat methods of ground troops, the combat method of airships in the sky mainly relied on machine guns mounted on the airships, using bullets to blow up enemy airships.

As long as one could hit an enemy airship, even if it did not explode, the airship would basically fall.

Ordinary bullets could cause massive damage to an airship, which is the reason why current airships were not equipped with small-caliber artillery; there was simply no need for it.

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

For France, it was unfortunate, because their Plan 17 offensive fell right into the trap of the German Schlieffen Plan; Germany had already guessed the movements of the French army before the war broke out.

For France, it was fortunate, because the core of the German Schlieffen Plan had long since undergone revisions; the northern border of France was indeed defenseless, but a significant portion of the German troops had also been diverted, which greatly reduced Germany's hope of capturing Paris.

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

The discussions of the French government also shifted from using Albania to win over Italy to how to hold onto Paris.

The French army urgently needed a reliable figure to serve as the Paris Garrison Commander to stabilize military morale and protect the French capital as much as possible.

French President Armand Fallières searched through the list of high-ranking French generals and finally decided to appoint General Gallieni, the commander of the 14th Army Corps who had lost the competition for French Chief of General Staff to Joffre a year ago, as the Commander-in-Chief of the Paris Garrison.

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

As a veteran who participated in the Franco-Prussian War, Gallieni had participated in colonial wars many times during this period, making him one of the few French generals with extensive combat experience.

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

General Gallieni was born in 1849 and was already 63 years old this year, which could be considered advanced in age. Coupled with the multiple injuries sustained during his military career, his current physical condition was worrying.

If not for this war, General Gallieni might have retired within a few years to enjoy his few remaining leisure hours.

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

Although he agreed to take over the position of Commander-in-Chief of the Paris Garrison, General Gallieni also put forward his own requirements.

Because of the Plan 17 of French Chief of General Staff Joffre, of France's nearly 2 million troops, 1. million were deployed on the Alsace and Lorraine front lines.

There were fewer than 400, 00 French troops north of Paris, and after experiencing long-term combat, the currently available force was not even 300, 00.

Even these 300, 00 troops were distributed in various places north of Paris; the garrison around Paris consisted only of a few local divisions and one elite division transferred back from the African colonies, adding up to only the strength of one army corps.

It was completely impossible to defend Paris with one army corps. The first order General Gallieni issued was to demand that the French military scrape together an army group for him—an army group composed of three regular active-duty corps, not a ragtag force of recruits or colonial troops.

At this time, because the German army was about to strike, the people in Paris were in a state of panic. The French government was even discussing a temporary relocation of the capital, moving the seat of government from Paris to Orléans further south.

Facing the only general capable of shouldering the heavy responsibility, the French government and military did not hesitate at all and immediately agreed to his request.

As the largest city and capital of France, the defensive strength of Paris was not weak. The interior of Paris had 14 forts, and the exterior had 25 forts, all built with reinforced concrete.

Each fort had 20 cannons; the defensive forts of Paris alone possessed as many as 780 artillery pieces, which was the reason General Gallieni was confident in holding Paris.

Of course, defending Paris could certainly not rely on the forts of Paris; these forts would only be used in a last-ditch effort.

To hold Paris, the front line had to be expanded to dozens or even hundreds of kilometers outside of Paris; only by doing so could the safety and stability within Paris be ensured.

In the conversation between General Gallieni and his Chief of Staff, General Hirschauer, one could also see General Gallieni's thoughts.

General Hirschauer swore to General Gallieni that the forts around Paris would defend the city, and that no matter how many troops Germany had, it was absolutely impossible to capture Paris.

And the old General Gallieni's reply was: "No matter how sturdy the city of Paris is, how does it compare to the Liège Fortress in Belgium?

If we only pin our hopes on the fortresses of Paris, even if we can drag it out for a longer time, the final result will be the same as the Liège Fortress in Belgium.

To hold Paris, relying solely on 39 forts is completely insufficient. We also need to establish a large number of defensive strongholds on the outskirts of Paris to use these strongholds to slow down the speed of the German army's advance."

Subsequently, with the support of the French government, General Gallieni mobilized 100, 00 Parisian citizens, letting them take tools to the outskirts of Paris to dig trenches and build fortifications with a total length of 100 kilometers, and required these tasks to be completed within 20 days.

France at this time was not the France of World War II; the determination of the Parisian citizens to defend their home and country was still very strong, and they were willing to obey the orders of the old General Gallieni, each bringing their own tools to contribute to the country.

With the help of these Parisian citizens, the French army quickly constructed a solid defensive line on the outskirts of Paris. Because there was only a 20-day construction period, France did not have time to build reinforced concrete fortifications and could only use the simplest logs and earth as protective layers, while digging defensive moats in front of the fortifications, placing stakes inside, and setting up barbed wire and other obstacles on both sides.

While the Parisian citizens were digging trenches, General Gallieni ordered engineers to plant explosives on the bridges near the rivers around Paris, blowing up all hundreds of nearby bridges.

Paris was built on the Seine, and there were rivers like the Marne and the Oise in the surrounding area. After destroying these bridges, if the German army wanted to attack Paris again, they would have to build pontoon bridges over these rivers.

This could also be considered an opportunity for the French army, as it could at least delay the speed of the German army's advance.

It is worth mentioning that by this time, French Chief of General Staff Joffre still did not think that defending Paris was an important matter.

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

Even if they could not threaten Germany's Ruhr region, they could completely move north along the Rhine and outflank the eastern part of Belgium.

By then, the French army would counter-encircle these German troops who had invaded French territory; wouldn't the results achieved be greater than defending Paris?