Thinking of this, Fang Yan admired Rommelton, and the open-minded enthusiasm he originally pretended to be gradually became sincere. This is an excellent soldier with loyal and pure ambitions, although the way to get to the top is not glamorous, but he really wants to make a career, and gritted his teeth and is willing to start from the bottom. On this basis alone, Rommel surpassed most of the top ranks of the Wehrmacht, and you must know that there are no more than 20 generals in the German Army who are familiar with armored warfare, and many lieutenant generals and generals from infantry are still ignorant of this new combat system because of their self-respecting status.

Since Rommel is so desperate, what reason do you have to be lazy and passive in the tactical exploration of air-ground support? Fang Yan was excited, and he had a plan for the future. In the next half month, Fang Yan plans to conduct tactical discussions with Rommel every day, and if necessary, Fang Yan's aircraft group can also participate in the exercise to verify their concept through practice. Although time is indeed tight, it is better than doing nothing, not to mention that Fang Yan has a different kind of thought, that is, to try his best to form a good relationship with Rommel, a rising potential stock that has not yet developed.

In the days that followed, Fang Yan became a regular visitor to the 7th Panzer Division's station. After Rommel gained something from the exercise, he pulled Fang Yan to study the combination of air power and armored combat on the spot, and the knowledge and expertise of the two complemented and verified each other, and each other's tactical capabilities were improved extremely quickly. Fang Yan proposed to establish direct communication between the grassroots units of the two armies, so that each battalion of the armored division could call for timely air support, and Rommel immediately readily agreed, and began to implement this plan gradually and carefully from the technical and organizational levels.

During the discussion and exchange with Rommel, Fang Yan, a novice in the army, finally learned about the establishment of some armored divisions. At present, the 7th Armored Division has 2 regiments and 4 tank battalions, equipped with a total of 228 Czech 38T and 12 latest Snow Wolf tanks, and another 23 command combat vehicles converted from the No. 1 tank chassis are distributed among the combat units, and the surrounding tanks are dispatched through the high-power radio stations they carry.

To Fang Yan's surprise, there were great differences in the actual establishment of each tank battalion, and the number of companies and platoons under its jurisdiction could be adjusted up or down. This kind of combat establishment is completely different from the situation of the navy in terms of equipment supply and personnel training, and Fang Yan had to dispel the idea of understanding the army system in a short period of time.

In addition to the tank units, the 7th Panzer Division also had two mechanized infantry regiments. The regiment is a small 2nd battalion with only 2,300 men, but its support firepower is not inferior to the ordinary 3rd battalion, and it has achieved self-propelled. Each regiment has 2 Bison, 6 Sable self-propelled guns (SPGs), and 12 Destroyer No. 1 as the main infantry anti-tank gun, which can also be used as SPGs to provide direct fire strikes when needed. Fang Yan knew that this was a butterfly effect caused by himself, because the cheap and excellent Bobcat tank had dominated the German armored forces, a large number of eliminated No. 1 tanks were transformed into various transformation vehicles and continued to serve the troops.

In order to equip the Panzer Division with sufficient offensive strength, Rommel also had an artillery regiment under his command. However, due to the fact that the production of Bobcat chassis was not rich enough, 24 105mm howitzers could only be towed by trucks, and 12 150mm heavy howitzers could only be carried by Snow Wolf chassis, so they were also towed by trucks. Rommel expressed regret that this allowed his divisional artillery to be less rapid than other units in terms of cross-country maneuvering and on-the-spot deployment. In the event of a large-scale long-drive assault, there is a high probability that the artillery will fall behind.

However, even if the heavy artillery was not equipped with self-propelled chassis, the number of tanks and self-propelled guns of the 7th Panzer Division exceeded the 300 mark. Considering that this division is still the poorly equipped of the 10 armored divisions, the German Army deployed at least 3,000 vehicles of various types for this campaign! Extrapolating this result really made Fang Yan very excited.

You must know that in the Battle of France in another world, Germany only had 2,659 tanks in service, including 1,478 tanks No. 1 and No. 2 that could only bully infantry. By this time, the quality of the German armoured forces was far ahead of history, even better than it was during Operation Barbarossa a year later. Even if the air support available to the German Army was significantly reduced due to the establishment of naval aviation, then this well-equipped tank force would be able to take over the offensive and wipe out the enemy from the front!

In the process of Fang Yan and Rommel forgetting to sleep and eat to improve their abilities, time quietly entered May 1940. The cold of midwinter that was rare in the past 50 years has disappeared in the warm sun of early summer, and the grass of Europe is flying, and the wood flowers are blooming, presenting a scene full of vitality and joy.

On the Maginot Line on the German-French border, the French 2nd and 3rd armies are in full swing for the Golden Boot Cup. Since last winter, in order to prevent these idle GIs sitting behind reinforced concrete from being suffocated, the French Army has sent more than 10,000 soccer balls to the front; The companies kicked and kicked each other, and the cross-unit events were naturally organized. Now, eight well-honed teams have risen through the crowd and will begin their high-profile final knockout round from May 8.

In northern France, the British Expeditionary Force was still building up its strength at the speed of the old donkey. It had been nine months since the outbreak of the war, and Britain had sent 10 divisions to the European continent, and their casual attitude was as if the European war had not taken place at all, and the Germans would stay behind the Siegfried Line and exchange eyebrows with the French army. Although these troops were the elite of the British Army, and their equipment and training were excellent, they were nothing compared to the 102 divisions of France and the 140 divisions of Germany.

Recently, at the urging of Paris, the British reluctantly sent their newly formed 1st Panzer Division to the front. The commander-in-chief of the French army, Gun-in-chief, said sarcastically that at this rate, the British Army would successfully complete the general mobilization after six years of war. At that time they could expect a Soviet-German war, and sure enough, the British had a foresight and saw everything.

The British and French armies, which were directly hostile to Germany, were still in this position, and Belgium, which had declared neutrality, was even more optimistic. With the Western Front having been quiet for most of the year and the two previous war alarms finally passed uneventually, Brussels still felt that it could escape the disaster despite the crash of a German officer carrying an offensive plan on the Western Front in Belgium in January.

Consider that Germany invaded Belgium once in 1914, and was condemned internationally for its gross trampling on the neutrality of Belgium, which it had solemnly guaranteed. It had only been 26 years since then, and Hitler had declared more than once that he would not break the neutrality of the British and French troops before they entered Belgium. No matter how shameless this Nazi dictator is, he will not do such a blatant self-destructive promise to make his reputation on the street, right?

In addition to moral considerations, Belgians' self-confidence in avoiding war also stems from their own military prowess. This small country with a total population of only 8.5 million people maintains a standing army of seven divisions in peacetime, and can expand the force to 22 divisions in three days in wartime. Relying on the canal in the east and the Jincheng fortress, it is enough to block the enemy army outside the country in the future. The Belgians felt that they had become a stinging porcupine in front of Germany, and that as long as Hitler's head was not broken, he would not have fallen under his own fortified city and repeat the mistakes of the German army in 1914.

However, the Belgians had been hurt by the Germans after all. The ruins of the fortress of Liège are still there, telling every young man who did not experience that war the tragic fate of this small country for no apparent reason. King Leopold III did not pin his hopes entirely on Hitler, and he also found a safety rope for his country in the West: once Belgium was invaded by Germany, he asked the British and French troops to quickly enter from the west and fight the Belgian army.

The French military hated Belgium's behavior of not crying without seeing the coffin, wanting to avoid war, and wanting to let the eldest brother save him with all his might when he was in danger. Gammelin did not forget that it was Belgium that was the first to abandon its alliance with France in 1936, shortly after the signing of the Anglo-German Naval Agreement, which led to the collapse of French influence on the younger brother in Eastern Europe. Now, in the face of the knife-wielding thugs who have rushed to their doorstep, the Belgians are still unwilling to completely surrender to France: if Germany really did not intend to invade Belgium, this two or five boys must be watching the fire from the other side, watching millions of French soldiers and the Germans grinding flesh and blood!

Although the French military was very dissatisfied with Belgium's attitude, after some weighing, Gammel could only pinch his nose and agree to the other party's request. For no other reason, France's greatest enemy now is Germany to the northeast. If Belgium were to quarrel with them in order to gain the strategic depth of more than 200 kilometers, or even to use force, it would be too much to gain and to lose. Gammelin asked himself if the French army was not strong enough to ignore the will of a country with 22 divisions, not to mention the fact that the French government still had to maintain its image as a righteous archway in the world.

Unable to enter the Low Countries at the first opportunity, Gammel deployed the main forces of the coalition forces near the northern border. The 7th Army was adjacent to the English Channel, the 1st Army was facing Brussels, and the British Expeditionary Force was in the middle. As for the German army's main attack on the Low Countries, Ganmalin has always been convinced. As soon as a Belgian request for help was received, the elite army of the coalition of 45 divisions would immediately cross the border and advance to the predetermined front.