Chapter 292: Paris Military Parade (2)
The sound of hard-soled military boots stepping on the ground is like a war drum, constantly beating people's hearts. The neat footsteps are like a neat one. Thousands of people seem to condense into one person, and people can feel the trembling of the earth. Coupled with the resolute and indifferent faces of the German soldiers, people feel that they are not facing a group of flesh and blood people, but a group of war machines that have lost their own thoughts.
The uniform leather boots stepping on the ground of the square are like stepping on the heart of backward and corrupt France.
Goose step is a way of marching in a team, mainly used by soldiers in parades and other ceremonial occasions. At the same time, it is also a display of the strength of an army and an important means to boost military prestige and morale. Its history is almost as long as the army.
In the 1790s, when the military genius Napoleon was in power in the First French Republic, France's military strength was at its peak, invincible and invincible.
According to convention, after a victory, the whole country must celebrate and show its glory, and a military parade is naturally indispensable. It is said that at the military parade, the French cavalry and artillery columns looked majestic and fierce against the backdrop of tall horses and steel artillery vehicles. In addition, the deafening cheers and shouts of the audience made the proud emperor Napoleon feel excited.
After the cavalry and artillery columns passed, the infantry columns followed. However, since hundreds of foot soldiers marched through the reviewing stand in step, they looked soft and listless compared to the cavalry and artillery.
Napoleon, who was in an excited state, immediately showed displeasure after seeing the performance of the infantry columns, and was very angry at the performance of the participating infantry who were spiritless and without momentum. After the military parade, Napoleon called a meeting of his generals in his residence. After a severe reprimand, he gave them a deadline to find ways to make the infantry look majestic and powerful in the next year's military parade.
This is indeed a difficult problem. What should be done? The generals racked their brains and pondered, but they could not solve the problem.
Later, by chance, they suddenly discovered that there is an animal that walks with a proud and arrogant look, which is the goose that "bends its neck to sing to the sky".
Because geese walk with their heads held high and their knees not bent, they give people a very uplifting feeling. These French generals who are good at fighting were inspired by this, so they strictly required the soldiers in the queue not to "step" out when stretching their legs forward, but to "kick" out without bending their knees, and to lift their legs as high as possible and then slam their feet hard on the ground, while swinging their arms vigorously. Hard work pays off. After a period of hard practice. The spirit of the infantry square team is indeed refreshed and majestic. This made the generals very happy, because they could finally "hand in their work". ?
It was another year of military parade. Although the cavalry and artillery columns were still heroic, their forms were old and lacked novelty: when the infantry columns passed the reviewing stand with a new and powerful step in unison, Napoleon's eyes lit up, and he was infected by this brand-new step, excited, praised it repeatedly, and his satisfaction was beyond words. When he happily asked what kind of step it was, the generals had an idea and said in unison that it was "goose step", which is called "goose step" in English. Since then, "goose step" has become the standard name for infantry formations, and the "goose step" in military parades has gradually evolved into "goose step". As Napoleon's army swept across Europe and was invincible, the concept of "goose step" quickly spread throughout Europe.
What's funny is that when Napoleon was finally exiled due to his defeat, the French army's goose step was also cancelled as Napoleon's "residual poison". However, the goose step was carried forward in many other European countries, especially Prussia, the biggest enemy of France at that time, which made it the focus of its soldiers' formation training.
However, in the early goose steps, the arms did not swing. When marching, the arms should be close to the trouser seams, and the steps should be stiffly kicked high. In this way, there may be some alternative beauty, but the most beautiful and natural hand-waving action of walking is sacrificed.
Fortunately, the Germans found that it was unscientific not to wave the hands. Probably during the First World War, the German army's goose step was determined to swing the arms with elbows bent, which was obviously more suitable for human body mechanics.
After that, this goose step was promoted to the whole world and became the parade step of many countries. Even China's goose step was learned from Germany. It started with the Huai Army (which was jokingly called "duck step" at the time) and was carried forward by Yuan Shikai's new army. Yuan Shikai was a super fan of Germany. He hired German consultants to train the new army with German drills. Since then, the goose step has become a standard subject for basic training of individual soldiers.
Accompanied by the majestic and classy "Imperial March", the black army slowly advanced, Yannick was so excited that he wanted to howl to the sky. "The Force is with me, I am with the Force!!"
But if he really shouted it out, Pétain next to him might think he was crazy.
Yannick stopped chatting with Marshal Pétain, stood up, straightened his clothes, stretched his right hand diagonally to the sky, and saluted the square formations passing by the stage. A group of military leaders behind him also stood up and raised their hands to salute.
"My honor is loyalty!"
"My honor is loyalty!"
Marshal Pétain looked at the fanaticism in the eyes of the soldiers passing by the stage, and felt that if Yannick asked them to die immediately, they would execute it without hesitation.
These square formations are exactly one squad, and it is clear to see the weapon configuration of these guards squads.
One MG3 machine gun, four 98Ks, three G43s, one MP44, and one MP40 submachine gun; none of the current European battlefields can catch up with the German army in terms of class activity density. But Yannick still dared not take it lightly, thinking that the Soviet RPK-47 squad machine gun is not a heavy barrel model of the AK-47, so if the MP44 is replaced with a heavy barrel, it can also become a squad machine gun, right? In this way, the muzzle velocity, bullet kinetic energy, and range will all be improved.
Perhaps he really suffered from "lack of firepower fear", Yannick even thought about making a belt-fed submachine gun to deal with the Soviet Union's human wave tactics.
"Belt-fed submachine gun", this kind of brain-opening thing is not his first creation. Later, the United States actually developed a model: FM9 police belt-fed submachine gun. This is simply the rhythm of beating the gangsters into a sieve. Carrying 10 kilograms of ammunition can definitely produce the effect of a metal storm.
Just when Yannick was thinking about how to improve the firepower of the troops, three Guards phalanxes had already passed the reviewing stand. The melody of the music suddenly became relaxed, and the band began to play the Wehrmacht military song Erika. Erika is a common flower plant in Germany, belonging to the family of heather. The lyrics use anthropomorphic rhetoric to praise Erika like praising a beautiful woman, expressing a love for her hometown and her motherland. The melody of the song is not as majestic and tragic as the old German military song "Prussian Military Song", but it is quite relaxed and romantic. It is one of the favorite songs of German soldiers in World War II. Yannick did not let go of this song, and he became the creator of this time and space.
When the eight phalanxes of infantry passed by, it was the armored soldiers. The engine of the jackal tank rumbled, the tracks rolled the ground, and the tank soldiers on the tanks were all looking at the reviewing stand in high spirits.
The tank engines roared, and on both sides were scouts and signalmen on motorcycles. They stopped from time to time to guide the crowd and keep the French citizens who were getting closer and closer away from the dangerous German war machines.
One after another, the Jackal tanks rumbled past the Arc de Triomphe, and the German armored soldiers sang their war songs, and the songs echoed over Paris, one wave higher than the other. A French citizen watched the national flag near his home being quietly lowered and replaced by a black, red and yellow German flag, and sobbed sadly.