Early December

Exeter County, southwest of the UK

There are many huge ocean freighters parked in the harbor. On the dock, 13 large cruise ships have come up one after another. Countless imperial soldiers armed with steel helmets on their heads, backpacks on their backs, and armed with rifles, and looked at the strange British port city in front of them with a blank expression.

Exeter County is a remote city in southwestern England mainly consisting of fishery and agriculture and animal husbandry. The urban population is about 110,000, and the buildings are mainly 2 to 3-story high-top British-style buildings.

The latest building here also has a history of hundreds of years. The St. John's Church in the center of the city can be traced back to 342 years ago, and traces of historical vicissitudes are revealed everywhere.

In the past, Exeter was a quiet and peaceful city with a slow pace of life. Now Exeter is bustling and thriving, with crowds everywhere in the streets and alleys, most of which are soldiers from the Ocean Empire, and it has become a military city.

In the suburbs of the city

There were more than a dozen military camps distributed far and near, with soldiers training everywhere on the hills and plains of all sizes, military trucks filled with supplies on the roads and four-wheeled carriages filled with milk and wine from the British locals, making a busy scene.

Four divisions under the Second Expedition Army were stationed here, namely the 202nd Division of Sumatra (Ma Chen Division), the 204th Division (Balibaban Division), the 111th Division (Chaozhou Division) and the 107th Division (Wisconsin Division). In addition, there are armored wolf cavalry divisions (305th Division) assigned to the Second Army, with a total of more than 116,000 officers and soldiers.

After the outbreak of the world war

In order to adapt to the reality of the rapid expansion of the Royal Army's scale, the Army Staff Headquarters implemented military reforms, and the numbers of all Army divisions were compiled in three digits, which was no exception.

The local army division starts with 1, the 111th Division (Chaozhou Division) is the 11th Infantry Division from the local area, and the 107th Division (Wisconsin Division) is the 7th Infantry Division from the local area.

Here

The numbers of the three numbers of overseas state military advisors are also very particular. They all start with 2, and the second digit represents where they come from. The expert can clearly see it.

For example, the 204th Division (Balipan Division), 0 represents Borneo, and the 4th Division behind represents the 4th Division of Borneo.

For example; 2 represents Shangri-La, the 221st Division is the 1st Division from Shangri-La. The 223rd Division is the 3rd Division from Shangri-La.

3 represents the Luzon Islands, and the 233rd Division is the 3rd Division from the Luzon Islands, and so on.

All the three characters start with armored divisions and artillery divisions. For example, the 301st Division is the Army Honored Great Red First Division, the 302nd Division is the Armored Dragoon Division, and the 317th Division is the 7th Artillery Division, which comes from the Empire Australia.

The Royal Guards are not listed here, they are sorted separately

Near St. John's Church in the center of the city, there is a three-story stone building. The overall style is in the early Norman style, cold, thick and sturdy, and there are windows and doors with stone arches. At the door are fully armed soldiers wearing heavy machine guns on duty. This is the location of the Second Expeditionary Army Command.

In the largest office on the second floor, more than 20 staff officers were busy, some were making phone calls, some were revising combat maps, and some were drafting manuscripts. They were all busy doing something.

The stairs were heard in the corridor, and a lieutenant general carrying two Venus stars on his shoulders walked in big strides. He was about 40 years old, with a stern expression on his face covering the cold frost. He followed a group of generals and came in.

This person is Lieutenant General Wu Shixun (Pefu), the commander of the Second Army. He is a new generation of popular general in the empire. He is famous for his decisive killing and bravery, and he looks in a bad mood at this moment.

He came to the military staff, and the staff officers had already stood up in unison, raised their hands and saluted, "Hello, sir."

"Speak something and rest." Lieutenant General Wu Shixun looked around everyone with a stern expression. His eyes were as aggressive as a knife, making people unable to help but feel cold behind them.

"Mayor Mason came to me again just now, what did he say?

The old problem is the issue of harassing local women.

A certain bauble was caught while having an affair with our officer, which caused an uproar among the British. This was a very shameless thing and a humiliating the image of the army.

Please, please don’t look for women everywhere like male dogs in heat, and don’t harass those serious women.

This problem has been repeatedly banned and has reached a point where it must be dealt with strictly.

The Imperial Army did not prohibit officers and soldiers from visiting places of love, nor did they prohibit fall in love with white women, but there was also a certain degree that we came here not on vacation, but on war.

The army resumed training in Exeter and was about to go to the battlefield soon. It is possible that we will never come to this ghost place again. France or Germany are the places we should stay.

Reiterate it again

Don’t harm the female families of British soldiers, and don’t seduce local white women, because you can’t give them the future, and it will cause big trouble.

When soldiers go to the battlefield, they just tie their heads to their belts. You can't give these women happiness or what they want, so the military headquarters and each division must strictly restrain them.

When the war is won, I don’t care what you want to play, but it won’t work now.

The General Staff immediately planned a disciplinary notice and issued it to each division to implement it together, if there is..."

Lieutenant General Wu Shixun issued an order with a serious expression. Major General Han Haiping, the chief of staff standing beside him, looked strange and a little helpless. Some generals and schoolmen next to him wanted to laugh but didn't dare, so they were very hard-working.

The Imperial Army is a strong army with a long history, well-trained, well-equipped and strong combat power, but the discipline is just that, it is not as good as the top and the bottom.

In previous wars

There are many things to do in burning, killing, robbing, and it is not uncommon to capture local women. In essence, this is a well-trained feudal colonial army and a powerful fist for the empire to expand outward.

In Borneo, Luzon Islands, Africa and North America, with the victory of the imperial army's rapid advance, there were also some small flaws of discord that accompanied them all the time.

For example, the Americans have always accused the Ocean Empire of capturing hundreds of thousands of young white women after the Wool War. The two sides fought a lot of lawsuits, but there was no further information.

The Imperial military protected the baby and explained it as a marriage and love behavior of young people. They denied the existence of compulsive behavior and flatly denied the US accusations.

The biggest source of this is still the above. After hearing the relevant report, Emperor Li Fushou just frowned and said, "The war caused great psychological trauma to the young men, and it is not surprising that there is no need to demand, so let's not take the example!"

His Majesty's protection is almost well known.

After Lieutenant General Wu Shixun announced the order angrily, he turned around and left.

Chief of Staff Major General Han Haiping saw that everyone was being trained was at a loss, so he waved his hand and drove him away. "Why are you still standing there? I will immediately follow the instructions of the military throne and send the orders to the divisions for execution. You are also idle, right? Let me go back and arrest the training. I will land in France next week. It's a mule or a horse to take it out for a walk, hurry up."

After the Chief of Staff said this, everyone scattered and went to work separately.

Major General Han Haiping visited various departments for more than 10 minutes and came to the front office of the corridor, which was the military commander's office. He pushed the door open and entered.

"Hahaha... Military throne, are you angry with these little bastards again?" Major General Han Haiping closed the door, walked forward a few steps, took out a pack of big golden dragons from his pocket and shook the cigarette out.

Lieutenant General Wu Shixun glanced at him, smoked a cigarette and held it in his mouth, then lit it with the match that came out, and spit out a long mouthful of smoke and dragon and said, "The battlefield situation is severe, and my shoulders are under a lot of pressure. Whenever I see these little bastards not caring about love, the flames will rush out."

"The Second Army has more than 10,000 officers at all levels, thousands of soldiers, and many foreign language soldiers. Where can I ban them if I want? As long as the children perform well on the battlefield, this is a small problem." Major General Han Haiping comforted.

Lieutenant General Wu Shixun sighed, took a muffled breath and said, "A few days ago, the general held a military meeting in London. This battle plan is for our First Army, Second Army and Fourth Army to use all 335,000 people in the direction of the Somme River.

With the Imperial Expeditionary Force as the main force, trying to create a big gap in the Somme River and break through the German defense line in an all-round way, this is an absolute tough battle.

In July, the Germans invested a new wave of reserve troops. In order to facilitate command, the 2nd Army was divided into the 1st Army commanded by General Fritz von Bilo and the 2nd Army commanded by General Galvitz.

It also lengthened its depth in defense, built a supplementary defense area, and enhanced its defense power to 40 elite German divisions, with a total of more than 790,000 people.

From the end of July to mid-September, the British and French coalition forces were basically hovering in place. Although the troops were strengthened to 51 divisions and the aircraft increased to 1,100, it still could not effectively open up the situation.

The slow and stalemate of the battle has turned into a war of attrition.

Starting from September 22, the 10th Army of General Michelle of France and the 5th Army of General Gaff of Britain were respectively put into battle, and the frontal range of the battlefield was expanded to a 50-kilometer-wide front line. Due to the tenacious resistance of the German army, the advancement was only between 100 and 150 meters per day and night.

As of now

The British and French coalition forces have revealed more than 800,000 casualties, which is far more than that in my opinion. The Germans have suffered 500,000 or 600,000 casualties. It is a perfect battlefield for hell!

It is very difficult to open up the situation in such a harsh battlefield."

Major General Han Haiping nodded in agreement, sat on the stool next to him, and said in a serious tone;

"It has been five and a half months since the Battle of Somme, and the fight against both sides was exhausted and the casualties were extremely heavy.

As a new force, the Imperial Expeditionary Force should play a role in breaking the deadlock when it is committed to the battlefield at this critical moment.

The Allies have high expectations for this, and the pressure is indeed great!

The Western Front War is extremely cruel, and if you are not careful, you will make a big mistake. Now we have only about 300,000 troops gathered in the UK. We should stab it in like a sharp blade. Once we are entangled, the consequences will be unimaginable.
Chapter completed!