Chapter 281

However, the 5th light armored force strengthened from group C army to group a army met with their problems. They smashed through Belgium, and with the help of Stuka dive bombers, they cut Ebon? In the plain area west of EMAR, the task of covering the flank of a group army was accomplished excellently.

Unfortunately, when they were anxious to expand their achievements, they met two main armored divisions of the French first cavalry corps, which were the forerunners of a large number of British and French allied soldiers who went north to Belgium to meet the German army. The strength of the two sides was equal, so a tank war beyond all the armored warfare scale of the Polish campaign began.

The French and German tanks fought fiercely, and the fire burned for three days. From near ani, 25 miles west of Liege, to 15 miles west of jeanbulu.

The 5th light armored force of Germany has four armored divisions, one more armored division than the armored division equipped with leopard tank. However, the 18th and 19th armored divisions in this division are only equipped with P-3 tanks, which is much worse than the latest leopard tanks.

The other light armored division, the 5th light armored division, was only equipped with Germany's oldest P-2 tanks. However, these tanks were modernized in 1937, with the turret removed, the chassis modified, an open combat cabin and a 75mm caliber anti tank gun added, becoming a kind of self-propelled anti tank gun.

This army is supplemented by an armored Grenadier division, the 19th motorized infantry division. They are equipped with a small number of No. 3 assault guns and a large number of armored vehicles and vehicles, and have a strong combat capability.

It can be said that as a light armored force, although it has nearly 800 tanks and self-propelled anti tank guns, its assault combat capability seems to be inferior to that of the first armored force equipped with 500 tanks. Of course, depending on the number of advantages, this armored force is by no means a soft persimmon.

Now, it faces the armored forces of the French 1st Cavalry of the British and French allied forces, which is also one of the strongest armored forces in the world. This unit has more than 400 tanks, most of which are advanced soma S35 tanks and B1 heavy tanks. These tanks are equipped with 47 mm anti tank guns that can threaten German tanks. Most of them are equipped with radio equipment and have strong coordination ability.

Two strong meet, a fight. The French attacked the German army with the quality advantage of local chariots, creating a situation of fighting more with less. The German * team lost 110 tanks and self-propelled anti tank guns, which made the German high-level feel painful for a long time.

However, the excellent quality of the German fleet showed incisively and vividly in the process of fighting. France unconsciously paid a heavy price of 180 tanks in the process of destroying 110 tanks and armored vehicles.

This local counterattack by the British and French allied forces stabilized the Allied defense line in Belgium, defused the advantage of German armored forces, and prevented the right wing forces of German group B and a from further attacking in Belgium.

After such a fierce tank battle, both the commander of the British Expeditionary Force and the commander of France, gammerlin, thought that the German main force was in Belgium. So within a few hours, the main force of the British and French allied forces, who had already gone deep into Belgium, went north despite the threat from the rear.

In order to meet the surging German B group army in the north of Belgium, the flanking forces of a group army west of Liege, almost all the elite French field forces, the 40 main divisions of the Allied forces, the whole British Expeditionary Force and the Belgian forces guarded their planned defense line together.

They set up a 65 mile long defense line from the Dutch radius near Antwerp to Brussels and then to NAMUR. They stationed a large number of troops in these areas. Over time, the total strength of French and British troops here was even more dangerous than that of German troops.

This time, the Allies had a chance to take a break. The great victory in the city of Blu helped the British and French allied forces to stabilize themselves in Belgium. They were able to consolidate their strength and build a solid defense line. However, this victory for the German side can be said to be the first suppression after Yang, in the hearts of akkado and his senior generals.

As akkado and senior German commanders foresee, with the appearance of German forces such as the German group B army and the 5th light armored army under the German group a army, the attention of senior French generals such as kammerlin has shifted from the fragile setang line to Belgium.

Akkado almost wept with joy when he heard that the French and British armies had all fallen into the trap. The great pit he had dug for the allies in Belgium was finally put to use, and the German forces' operations near setang and Dinan were completely ignored by the French.

When more than 300000 traditional infantry of a group army passed through Arden forest, all resistance had been eliminated by armored forces in front. They climbed mountains, crossed roadblocks and trenches that had not been defended for a long time, and easily crossed the Arden forest. When they appeared in setang, strengthened the German defense line and laid a solid foundation for goodrian and Rommel's two elite armored forces to move on, no one realized the real intention of the German forces.

"In the direction of dinam, our army is gradually excluding the positions built by French soldiers. But the fighting is very hard, and the losses of our troops are amazing. " Field marshal brauchich pointed to the map and introduced the current situation to the Fuehrer akado.

In the spacious and bright war conference room, German chief of General Staff General Burke frowned and stared at the map. In his heart, he seemed not so optimistic about this light war. In fact, it also proved the weakness of German forces in the process of attack. Although Keitel's B group army made a very amazing attack speed at the beginning, the crazy attack speed was completely completed under the strange attack of paratroopers. Later, in the south of the Netherlands, when his troops were mixed with the main forces of France, the whole southern front of the Netherlands gradually stabilized. The 6th light armored division stopped in front of Antwerp, an important city in the north of Belgium, and failed to advance 1 km for two consecutive days; The 7th infantry army fought bloody battles in the area 35 kilometers north of Brussels, losing 3000 people and only laying 7 kilometers of land; The situation of the 1st Infantry was not much better. They had to dig trenches to cope with the counterattack of the stronger and stronger British Expeditionary Force. On the other hand, the German armored forces suffered the most serious losses in the just concluded battle of Jean blu. In just three days of fighting, Germany lost 63 No. 3 tanks and 47 modified weasel type 2 self-propelled anti tank guns. This loss worries the veteran generals such as chief of staff Burke, who is worried that Germany will fall into the mire of war and embark on the old road of failure in the previous war. But marshal brauchich didn't think much of all this, because Germany was really ready to fight hard in the front line, so he still thought Germany had a chance to win. Moreover, naval advisers told him that Germany's maritime power was superior to that of 1912, which gave him more confidence. Of course, confidence also comes from China. With the efforts of akkado and Augustus, Germany has mobilized a whole million reserve personnel and established the H group army under the command of general Wilkes and the I group army under the command of general klester. This military expansion has made the national defense force more powerful, with a total of more than 5 million combat troops. The SS established the 6th armored division and the 7th armored division respectively, which were incorporated into the 9th armored army of H group army and the 11th armored army of I group army. These two units are also equipped with more than 1000 new armored enhanced leopard tank type B. In this way, Germany now has eight army groups, namely, group A under the command of general lundstedt, group B under the command of general Keitel, group C under the command of general Loeb, group D under the command of general model, group E under the command of general Liszt, group F under the command of general Kluger, and group H under the command of general Wilkes, And general Kleist's I army. Of course, if we divide them purely according to their size, group A and group B can now be called group armies. The size and establishment of these two groups of armies are almost twice or even three times that of other groups of armies. For example, group a now has the first, second, fifth and seventh armored forces, four times the size of other groups. Therefore, after introducing the current situation of the war, brauchich pointed to the German army's logo in shedang area with his pointer and confidently said to akado: "in the next stage, the army will cooperate with the air force to carry out the operation of waving the sickle. Here, here and in this area, the attack will be launched at the same time."“ Can we win in the area west of setang and ensure that the troops can advance rapidly? We don't have many armored forces in our hands. Once we fall into a war of attrition, the situation will be unfavorable to us. " Burke had to ask the questions he cared about the most“ It's a very easy problem to solve. " Brauchich pointed to a large area to the west of setang and said: "the French forces have no main force here. Our armored forces can reach the designated targets as quickly as possible. Our infantry has also added a lot of vehicles, hoping that these troops can keep up with the attack speed of the armored forces. " Finally, he looked at the silent leader akado, stood up and said, "my leader, although I firmly believe that we will win this war, I am here to assure you. If I can't win this battle, I will choose the most respectable way to give you an account. "