After two days of relentless and costless attacks, the U.S.
military finally recaptured the positions that had been previously taken by the German Army.
This greatly excited General Pershing and a group of U.S.
military officers, who immediately reported the good news.
France, Compiègne Forest, on the special train of Marshal Foch, Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Powers.
Upon receiving the news of the Americans’ victory, Marshal Foch carefully examined the report for a while, then nodded slightly and said: “Although the US military’s combat power is not good, with a veteran like Pershing, they won’t suffer too much loss.” Marshal Pétain, Commander-in-Chief of the French Army, took the telegram, glanced at it quickly, and looked somewhat disdainful.
“Hmph, they’re just bullying people by relying on their numerical and firepower advantages.
In my opinion, if the German Army had similar troop strength and logistics support to the US Army, the Americans would definitely have lost World War I.
Even if Pershing came, it wouldn’t have mattered.” Marshal Foch did not argue with Pétain about this issue, because it was pointless.
A truly fair duel only exists in the knightly duels that people fantasize about.
War is not child’s play.
If we have the advantage in manpower and firepower, why not use it?
Not only should we use them, but we should also try every means to create favorable conditions for defeating the enemy with superior numbers and firepower.
In his view, as long as the Americans continue to fight like this, they will definitely be the ones to win in the end.
The Germans ‘ counterattack was nothing more than a last-ditch effort.
When the German Empire still existed, they were no match for them.
Now that the German Empire had collapsed, what could an army with no foundation, like a floating duckweed, possibly use to fight them?
Compared to the fighting on the front lines, Marshal Foch was more interested in the upcoming armistice negotiations.
A few days ago, the Germans were quite tough, but with this good news, I believe their attitude should soften.
Foch was not interested in the fighting at the front, but Pétain was.
He was particularly interested in the commander of this German Army.
It is said that the other party is the crown prince of Germany.
If this battle was indeed commanded by the other party, then this kid must not be allowed to live!
With that in mind, he dialed the number of an old friend and asked him to do something for him.
Buckingham Palace, England.
King George V also received the battle report from the front lines.
Hearing that his nephew had suffered a setback at the front, he took a look at the report with great interest.
The battle reports, embellished by the Americans, exaggerated the German Army’s casualties while concealing their own.
Even so, it can still be deduced from this battle report that the German Army suffered only minor losses and was not fundamentally damaged.
Haha, that’s interesting.
Even with General Pershing personally taking action and paying such a price, he still couldn’t severely damage the German Army.
It seems my nephew really does have some talent.
“Your Majesty, the Germans have too much territory, especially since they have seized a large amount of land on the Eastern European battlefield.
If they surrender, we must make them give up this land.” His thoughts were interrupted by the voice of Prime Minister Lloyd George.
At this time, King George V was meeting with cabinet ministers to hear their reports on the details of the postwar treaty drafting.
King George V nodded, signaling him to continue.
” Germany’s domestic situation is currently unclear, and the workers’ revolution is in full swing.
If the German Army at the front does not return to suppress it as soon as possible, they may actually succeed.
Once Germany turns red, it will inevitably form an alliance with the Soviet Union in the east, which will be a disaster for the whole of Western Europe.” Therefore, I believe we should coerce the German Army into signing the surrender document as soon as possible so that they can withdraw and return home to suppress the revolution.
Furthermore, to prevent Germany from aligning itself with the Soviet Union after the war, we should support a country that leans towards us between the two nations, thus separating them.
That country is— Poland!
…
Washington, White House.
When President Wilson received this good news, his stern face finally softened: “Pershing fought a good battle; he finally regained the face he had lost!” After reading the telegram, War Secretary Newton Baker said with some regret: “However, the cost was quite high.
Our army suffered more than 100,000 casualties in this battle.
Including the casualties in the previous month and a half, the number of casualties in this campaign has exceeded 250,000.” “This is the price of war!” President Wilson sighed; in fact, he had previously opposed the United States entering the war.
Watching from across the ocean as Central Powers and Allied Powers exhaust each other and fight to the death is highly advantageous for the Americans.
Before World War I, the United States owed a lot of money to European countries due to the previous economic crisis.
Its domestic industry had also developed too rapidly, resulting in a large number of unsold industrial products and serious overproduction.
At that time, American products were cheap imitations of European products, especially those from Germany.
They were of low quality, had a bad reputation, and were very unpopular with consumers.
However, with the outbreak of World War I, the industries of European countries suffered heavy losses, and many factories that originally produced civilian products were forced to transform to produce military products, resulting in an extreme shortage of civilian supplies, which had to be purchased from the Americans.
As the fighting went on, the Americans went from being debtors with huge debts to creditors, while European countries ended up owing them huge debts.
This kind of good fortune—where others fight wars while you make a fortune—is rare and hard to come by; it’s the first time Americans have encountered this since the founding of the nation.
He originally intended to continue watching from the sidelines, reaping the benefits without lifting a finger.
But between 1916 and 1917, some unpleasant things happened between them and the Germans.
First, the Germans ‘ unrestricted submarine warfare seriously affected American interests.
Although the official reason for the Americans’ outburst was that some cruise ships and civilian vessels were sunk by German Army submarines, resulting in the deaths of hundreds or thousands of innocent people.
However, the reason why Americans strongly opposed the German Army’s unrestricted submarine warfare was that it seriously affected American foreign trade, especially trade with European countries, particularly with belligerent nations such as Allied Powers.
Destroying someone’s path to wealth is like killing their parents; the Germans ‘ actions were hindering Americans from making money, so the Americans were naturally very unhappy.
The second event that caused a sharp deterioration in relations between the two sides was the interception and deciphering of a cable by British intelligence, which revealed that Germany was secretly courting Mexico and encouraging it to wage war against the United States.
Although this incident was likely a staged act by the British to drag the Americans into it.
At that time, relations between the United States and Mexico were indeed very tense.
The previous year, the Americans had brazenly invaded Mexico under the pretext of helping Mexico quell a rebellion, which aroused widespread anger and hatred towards the Americans throughout Mexico.
So it’s possible that Germany really did do that, after all, their emperor was that idiot Wilhelm II!
After the Zimmerman Telegraph Affair broke out, the Americans, who had been watching from the sidelines, were finally dragged into the war.
In retrospect, participating in this war was indeed not a wise move.
But now that we’re here, we must strive to secure the greatest possible benefit for ourselves.
“Telegraph the French that I am prepared to personally travel to Paris to attend the post-war peace summit!”