Explosions and thunder were repeated, and gunfire was like a rain of gunfire, and the main city of Sedang, located on the east bank of the Maas River, was already a scene of fierce and bloody battles. Dozens of tanks drove into the rubble-strewn streets of the town, ignoring the dilemma of armored vehicles being unable to perform in street battles, and thousands of German infantry sacrificed their lives to launch a frantic assault on the French army with their own flesh and blood. Although night had fallen, the city was still filled with gunfire and buildings collapsing in flames, showing the fierceness and brutality of the battle.

"Command the 10th Panzer Division, you must take down the color for me before midnight today!" In a clearing on the outskirts of the city, Guderian snarled loudly at his lieutenant. There was a tiredness on his face that could not be concealed, and his originally neat and straight military uniform had become dirty and wrinkled due to three days of fatigue, but his eyes were full of determination and determination, and his spirit was more excited and condensed than ever. Seeing the swarming of tanks and armored vehicles on the road in front of him, Gudri thumped like a war drum in peace of mind, and he tried his best to suppress this excitement, but the blood surged uncontrollably, making him almost roar in the command vehicle.

After two and a half days of sleepless hard work, at 5 p.m. on May 12, the German 19th Panzer Corps finally sailed out of the Ardennes. They marched 110 kilometers through the winding and rugged dense forest, overcoming countless steep peaks and ravines; Thanks to the industriousness and efficiency of the sappers and the concerted efforts of all the personnel, this area, which Julius Caesar called "terror", has become the road to victory for the German army. At this time, the 10th Panzer Division had all rushed out of the Ardennes except for the heavy artillery, and the large forces of the 1st and 2nd Panzer Divisions were also rushing to the foot of the mountain like a spring flood, and countless tanks and vehicles in front of them were telling Guderian that the Ardennes Mountains had been broken!

For Guderian, nothing made his heart flutter and excite him more than this. The most crucial step for the Germans on the Western Front was to quickly pass through the Ardennes, which was widely considered impassable, and if this operation failed, not only would Guderian, who had been chartered beforehand, be discredited, but the entire strategy of the German army would collapse, and even lose the war was still unknown. And now, his armored corps has swept out of the mountains and forests, and as long as he crosses the Maas River in front of him again, the door of victory will be completely open to him!

"In addition, send a telegram to the 1st Panzer Division, telling them to prepare the inflation valve as planned, and start a tentative river crossing at 7 o'clock tomorrow morning!" Guderian called out to the adjutant who was about to run away, and added. For the 19th Panzer Corps, which had already arrived at the city of Sedan, they now needed to make every effort to cross the Maas River as fast as possible, otherwise every hour of delay would cause French reinforcements to advance 4 to 5 kilometers in the direction of Sedan, making the ensuing battle even more difficult to deal with. In Guderian's plan, if the French army had only a few guards on the west bank of the river, then the Germans would have a great deal of confidence that they would not be suppressed by heavy firepower, and would directly take the opposite bank in one wave.

And even if the French army had sufficient troops and strong fortifications on the other side, Guderian would not look at the river. According to the "Yellow Plan", the German High Command concentrated all the bomber groups that originally supported the right flank in the center, and together with the original aviation forces of Army Group A, a total of more than 500 bombers could cover the 19th Panzer Army. As soon as Guderian made a phone call to the rear command, hordes of bombers would launch a devastating air attack on the other side of the river, a flying artillery formation exclusive to him.

As the clock ticked by, the explosions in the city were still loud, but the place where the bullets flew gradually shifted from the outskirts of the city to the river. Since the French did not anticipate the presence of such a large number of enemies, and they only deployed less than two battalions of guards in the city, the battle line was inevitably compressed step by step, even if these French soldiers resisted vigorously. As far as the Germans could reach, the town was in ruins, and the flames burned in the dilapidated houses, reflecting the dark night sky like a sunset.

At 11:35 p.m., the fighting in the town of Sedan gradually stopped. More than half of the 1,000 French defenders were killed or wounded, and the rest also raised their hands to the Germans in desperation - in order to prevent the Germans from taking advantage of the situation to attack the west bank, the French blew up the bridge over the Maas River early, and the defenders in the east bank city had no way to escape. Guderian, who had just taken time to take a nap, ignored his mental fatigue and immediately began to deploy preparations for the crossing of the river, and a small number of a dozen self-propelled guns were also assembled as fire cover before the first wave of exploratory attacks was launched.

The Germans were in full swing preparing to cross the river, and the French troops on the opposite side were not idle. After the battle broke out in the city of Sedan, the French defenders, who had been relaxed and scattered, instantly woke up as if they had been poured a basin of cold water, and they immediately realized that the enemy was close at hand, and immediately gathered their troops and stationed them in the field fortifications along the river. The French commander clearly understood that the town of Sedan on the east bank was a residential area and could not be defended, and with only this little garrison under his command, he could not be rescued at all, and sooner or later he would be swallowed up by the menacing German army.

This is not the case in the West Bank. As the original site of the former fortress of Sedan, and also guarding the Maas River, the most important natural gap on the northeastern border of France, the French army has always maintained some field fortifications in this area, coupled with the wide and fast river in front of it, it is enough to form a tight defense against the invading enemy. With the existing machine-gun positions and rapid-fire artillery fire, the French commander was confident that he would be able to block the river with stormy fire if the enemy dared to cross the river, and beat all the Germans in the rowboats into the water to feed the fish!

The morning light was hazy, dispelling the deep darkness between heaven and earth, and on May 13, before the sky was completely clear, the 1st Panzer Division, which had rested for half the night, took the lead in crossing the river. More than a dozen Bison self-propelled guns roared like thunder, smashing more than 40 kg of projectiles to the opposite shore a kilometer away, but due to the limited amount of ammunition they carried, the Bison fired less than 100 shells in total before being stopped. A few minutes later, the German infantry appeared on the river beach, they pushed the inflatable raft into the water, and then multiplied on it in squads, rowing towards the opposite bank with wooden oars.

As dozens of rafts advanced to the middle of the river, a dense barrage of bullets struck from the opposite bank. The German rafts paddling slowly in the river could not be avoided at all, and immediately became the best targets for the French machine guns, and the German soldiers constantly turned over and fell into the water amid screams, and the blood and corpses rose and fell in the waves, and they were soon washed away without a trace. An inflatable raft was overturned by a huge wave of water stirred up by a cannonball, and the soldiers on board disappeared in an instant, and with the raging rush of the Maas River in early summer, the chances of them not drowning were almost zero!

"Let the troops crossing the river immediately retreat, and at the same time call for air support to the command." Guderian put down the binoculars in his hand and turned to the adjutant to instruct. The French in front of them were indeed not ordinary people, and the fire along the river was both awkward and fierce, and if the attack was carried out according to the normal steps, he would need to assemble at least two heavy artillery regiments on the east bank and consume about 50,000 shells for fire coverage. It would take three days to reach the front line through the winding roads of the Arden Forest by waiting for this batch of artillery and ammunition to reach the front. At that time, the French defenders on the other side of the river will not be able to exceed this number of troops, and it will be almost impossible for the Germans to achieve a breakthrough.

Seeing the German inflatable raft in the middle of the river turning around and fleeing in disarray, the French troops on the west bank could not help but thunder with joy. The soldiers triumphantly pointed at the poor insects struggling in the river and laughed at them, and the frustration they had felt at the loss of Sedang the previous night was swept away. The French commander also breathed a sigh of relief, and confidence returned to him. The Germans really had no artillery firepower, and yesterday they rushed to the city of Sedan with only a group of tanks and infantry, and in the face of the mighty and wide Maas River, they were helpless when they landed, and could only be beaten by their own fire in the center of the river.

Somehow, the French commander suddenly realized the suffering of Emperor Napoleon. At that time, France was overwhelming the European continent, and Prussia and Austria were trembling under the cannons of the French army, but it was precisely because of the existence of the English Channel that this invincible army was useless in front of the British, so that the Napoleonic Emperor could only lament by the sea.

Time has passed, but today the party that benefits from natural insurance has become France. Without the river in front of him, the French commander would never have been able to resist the German attack: leaving aside the difference in strength between the two sides, he had only three anti-tank guns in his hands at this time. To use this bit of firepower to block at least 50 German tanks that appeared last night is tantamount to a whimsical dream!

"However, the Germans actually drove so many tanks through the Ardennes...... "The French commander looked solemn, full of worry about the battle that would break out later. He realized that since the tanks could pass through the Ardennes in large numbers, it would not be a problem to tow artillery and ammunition transporters, but he was afraid that in a few days, he would have to face the indiscriminate bombardment of hundreds of artillery, and it would be difficult to block the river again. Therefore, what he needs most now is reinforcements, even if he can't stop the Germans from crossing the river, he must have enough assault reserves to destroy the enemy on the beachhead.

"Sir, the headquarters of the group army called back, the 46th Infantry Division has rushed to us for reinforcements, and it is expected to arrive at midnight today!" A correspondent took off his headphones and handed the telegram he had just received to the French commander. The latter breathed a long sigh of relief, and a happy smile finally appeared on the corner of his mouth. At this time, the French commander felt that the situation was very stable, and with the support of this new force, there was no doubt that his own defense line had added a strong iron lock.

In an optimistic atmosphere, few people in the French army noticed that a group of black planes had flown from the east over the Ardennes forest.