Chapter 283

Sedang, the historic city, was built on the Merz River, about 60 miles from the border area. The population of the central area of the city is only 13000, which is supposed to be just a small unknown city.

But the city became famous because of the war. During the first World War, it was occupied by the German army for four years; In 1870, it became France's biggest military Disgrace - Emperor Napoleon III and his troops were defeated and accepted unconditional surrender here.

This time, the Frenchman lost the color when, lost very clean, even let the German team feel a little pressure decent resistance. Compared with previous times, the French are more cowardly this time.

But there is a German front-line general who is even more cowardly. This person is Rommel, the beloved General of the head of state. In the war of Poland, he commanded the 7th German armored army to make a rampage in northern Poland and achieved brilliant results, thus winning the reputation of "imperial double".

But this time he was snowed. Yes, there is no doubt about it. He and his 7th armored force were placed in an insignificant position, with no important combat tasks at all. They just followed the troops and kept on going.

The task given to him above is very clear, that is to let him rest his troops, follow the army all the way west, and join the battle at the most critical time. So the well-known German 7th armored army became the valet of other troops.

All this depressed Rommel to the point that he almost collapsed in depression. He always felt that he was the center of the world and the disaster of the enemy. But now he has to face a very cruel problem, that is, there is no war to fight.

When he heard that the 2nd Panzer Army had occupied Sadang, and that the 3rd SS specialist division had crossed the river of Sadang, he finally wrote a personal letter to akado, in which he expressed his eagerness to fight.

Soon he got a reply, and the head of state gave him a warm reply. However, what moved him most was that at the beginning of the article, akado asked about his physical condition and told him that he must eat on time to maintain a strong physique to command the army's continuous operations. His stomach trouble bothered him all the time, but it was a very happy thing that this little secret was discovered and comforted.

And he got the result he wanted. Brauchich ordered the German army to "wave the sickle". His troops were ordered to take the lead, and the 1st and 2nd Armored Forces, who had been driving ahead, were responsible for his rear this time.

The young general was standing on the side of the pontoon in sedang, watching his armored forces pass the pontoon as fast as they could. Not far from him, there was an 88mm antiaircraft gun standing there, its long barrel pointing to the sky.

"General! The 2nd SS Panzer Division has completed crossing the river. Now the 7th SS Panzer Division is crossing the pontoon "We received a large-scale supply this morning. The fuel and ammunition were very abundant, and other materials were enough for us to use for five days," the staff officer told Rommel with a record report

"What about the intelligence of aerial investigation?" Rommel watched as a leopard tank sped past the pontoon, and the truck behind the tank pulled a 150 mm cannon across the widened pontoon without slowing down.

"The latest information provided by the aviation liaison officer an hour ago shows that French forces are gathering, but the other side has no heavy weapons. Stuka bombers bombed these French assembly areas, and the effect is being evaluated. " The staff officer looked at the information in his hand and said.

"Send a telegram to the division headquarters of the second armored division of the SS, ordering them to send investigation teams to investigate the area with a radius of 30 kilometers. If they encounter resistance from small French forces, they will be eliminated on the spot." Rommel narrowed his eyes for a moment and said, "let the motorized infantry division behind hurry up. We have no time to waste."

"Yes The staff officer stood at attention and then turned away.

Just minutes after the staff left, the grim air defense alarm went off. Rommel looked into the distant sky. There, the German Air Force's fighters are constantly tearing up the dense group of British bombers.

From time to time, a plane with dark smoke fell from the sky, and then broke apart in mid air, causing a terrible explosion. But the shrill air defense alarm continued, and the German antiaircraft Gunners around were busy, carrying the shells to the convenient position and putting them in a row.

"Long live the Fuehrer! General A captain of the ground air defense unit of the air force came up, saluted Rommel, and said anxiously, "the battle alarm has been sounded here. Please follow my men to the designated place for refuge."

"What?" Rommel pointed to the awe inspiring 88mm cannon behind him, looked at the captain who advised him to escape, and said with a smile, "Captain, this is an air defense cannon! Do you think there's anything safer than where I stand? "

"General! I need to be responsible for your safety! So you'd better get out of here with my people! " The captain added stubbornly.

"Captain! I think you made a mistake! Your purpose here is to protect the absolute safety of that floating bridge! Not to protect a general like me. Don't you know that my personal safety is negligible for the outcome of the whole campaign? "“ But What else does the captain want to say. But Rommel interrupted him: "I'm standing here. I want to see how you attack the enemy planes! I want to see you defend that important pontoon with your own eyes“ Yes! General The captain had to salute, and then went to Rommel's side of the anti-aircraft guns, began to set up the task. Sure enough, he never looked at Rommel again, as if the general of the armored force didn't exist at all. Although the loss was huge, the British bombers gradually approached the German pontoon. The order they received was to destroy the pontoon at all costs and prevent the German army from moving forward. They also carried out the order with the most loyal attitude. Just now, German fighters have shot down nearly 20 British planes, but these crazy British pilots continue to attack the German Air Force's defense line, and finally drag the German fighters to the sky near the pontoon“ Suddenly! Suddenly In the distance, a bofos antiaircraft gun opened fire. With its high firing speed, the antiaircraft gun shot desperately into the sky. The impact force made a piece of dust around it. Rommel could see the position of the defensive position without a telescope“ Boom Caught off guard, the 88mm cannon behind Rommel opened fire, and the huge noise startled Rommel. As the flame ejected from the barrel, the gun body moved backward with the help of the brake, and quickly returned to the original position on the gun frame. On the position of the breech, a unique small device helped the German gunner complete the whole process of ejection. When the breech was opened, a heavy cartridge case fell to the ground, making a clanging sound“ Load A young artillery commander ordered loudly. A gunner came to the gun position with a shell in his arms, quickly put the shell into the gun bore, and then the soldiers nearby quickly closed the bolt. At the moment of closing, he called out the command he had called countless times during training: "over!"“ Boom Without the slightest hesitation, the gun opened fire again. Under the gaze of Rommel, it fired its second shell. Rommel quickly looked to the position where the muzzle pointed to, and saw that a plane was hit by the shell, surrounded by a fire at an altitude of 1000 meters, and instantly broke into parts“ Hit the target! Adjust the gun angle! Keep loading The young officer in charge of the gun put down his telescope and cried out. Several artillery began to rotate the wheels of the 88mm cannon in a hurry, and the cannon began to rotate quickly, without any sense of bulkiness. In the process of rotation, another shell was pushed into the bore“ Boom The British bombers dropped their first bomb today. As a result, they were at least 30 meters away from the pontoon. Huge waves rose on the water, but only splashed the clothes of German engineers on the pontoon“ Boom The 88mm cannon next to Rommel fired again. The shell soared to destroy anything in front of him, but this time, instead of hitting the British plane, it flew directly into the sky and exploded not far away. But the soldiers of German air defense forces adjusted the angle again with extremely fast speed, loaded the shells, and hit another shell into the sky. With the extremely high firing speed of bofos antiaircraft gun, the German Antiaircraft Firepower formed a dense antiaircraft network over the pontoon, and every British plane that hit the huge network was smashed to pieces. Rommel saw the soldiers of the German Air Force antiaircraft artillery regiment filled with shells sweating like rain. He silently watched these soldiers wildly open fire into the sky. With the efforts of the 40mm bofos antiaircraft gun and the 88mm antiaircraft gun, all 40 British bombers who rushed through the German fighter planes were shot down near the pontoon. He witnessed the birth of an air defense ace. The antiaircraft gun beside him killed 11 British bombers in an hour. The efforts of these antiaircraft Gunners were not in vain. The pontoon was safe and sound. Rommel's iron and steel army passed through sedang as quickly as possible, crossed the German first armored army on guard in front, rushed to the front of the whole German offensive force, and appeared where they should be on time.