At seven o'clock in the morning on May 23, the sky was already bright.

The town of Revri was in an uproar, with gun trucks with howitzers and trucks loaded with infantry and baggage passing through the town one after another, crossing the Doo River over pontoon bridges.

More than 200 meters north of the town of Zhevli, a group of neatly dressed soldiers stood solemnly beside a forest, and their solemn expressions added a solemn atmosphere to the grove.

Major Koch, commander of the 37th Armoured Reconnaissance Battalion, stood at the head of the line, his solemn gaze swept over the thirty-nine crosses beside the woods, and finally stopped at the one closest to him.

Major Koch turned and nodded to Lieutenant Winter, the commander of the second company, who was standing beside him, who walked to the cross with a sapper shovel and got down on one knee and bent down to dig a small pit in the grave.

Sticking the sapper's shovel into the ground next to the grave, Lieutenant Winter pulled out a rolled-up white cloth from his left breast pocket.

The white cloth was unfolded layer by layer, and a cleaned and clean finger was exposed, and next to this severed finger, there was a wedding ring that sparkled in the morning sun.

It was a ring finger of his left hand, which Lieutenant Winter carefully picked up and placed into the dirt pit he had just dug and filled in the dirt.

Returning to Major Koch, Lieutenant Winter stretched out his left hand to Major Koch and handed him the wedding ring, which lay alone on a white cloth.

"Please send this ring to Mrs. Gauss, and tell her that Captain Gauss was killed only in an instant, and not in pain."

With a heavy face, Major Koch rewrapped the ring and stuffed it into his pocket, then waved his right hand.

Ten soldiers of the reconnaissance battalion raised their guns to the sky with a uniform movement, pulled the trigger, and the sound of gunfire broke the silence of the woods.

After three gunshots, a simple battlefield funeral ended.

On the side of the road to the west of the woods, Chen Dao stood in the carriage of Bandit No. 1 and took in the whole process of the funeral.

"I think we'll see it a lot in the future." Captain Lorenz said.

"You're right." Chen Dao saw that the funeral was over, and resumed his posture lying on the front of the car.

"I felt a lot of pressure to see this funeral. I'm thinking that if we had lost this war, these graves would have been razed to the ground by the French; If we lose this war, after the enemy kills us. And they would point to our corpses and say, look. This is cannon fodder. Chen Dao continued.

"But judging by the current course of the war, we will be the victors in this war, and it will only be the French and the British who will be cannon fodder." Captain Lorenz said.

Chen Dao lay on the front of the car, his eyes swept over the vehicles of the ghost battle group that were ready to go, and said without looking back: "The second phase of the French campaign will finally decide who is the cannon fodder, and once our goal in the second phase of the campaign is achieved, the British and the French will have to accept the fate of being cannon fodder, and forever." ”

At 2:30 p.m. that day. Paris, the capital of France.

French Prime Minister Paul. Renault anxiously welcomed British Prime Minister Winston Churchill at his official residence.

After the pleasantries, the two sides took their seats in the conference room.

The newly appointed commander-in-chief of the French army, Admiral Weygon, personally walked up to the giant map hanging on the wall and began to explain.

"The troops of German Army Group A Guderian have occupied the Belfort and Montbeliar lines yesterday, and our Second Army Group, which is stationed on the Maginot Line, has been surrounded. The Doo line of the Third Army Group has also been breached, the German landing grounds have been connected, and the German forces of at least four panzer divisions are marching towards the Swiss border, which is expected to arrive this evening. ”

"Can I understand that the defensive line of Army Group III has collapsed, and there is a possibility that they will be annihilated by the Germans on the Swiss border?" Churchill asked Renault.

"That's right." Renault's face was unusually pale, and his eyes were bloodshot, and he obviously didn't sleep well.

Churchill lit a cigar. Frowning, he asked, "Why don't you let the Second Army Group withdraw from the Maginot Line ahead of schedule?" By the time of May 15, we already knew the intentions of the Germans. From May 15 to yesterday, a full week. Army Group II had ample time to withdraw its troops from the Maginot Line. Why didn't they retreat, but stayed there and watched themselves surrounded by the Germans? ”

Renault and Marshal Petain, Admiral Weygand and others, who were also attending the meeting, heard Churchill's words, and Churchill seemed to be accusing Army Group II, but in fact he was questioning Renault.

The silver-white beard at the corner of Marshal Petain's mouth trembled slightly, and he said: "General Gammelin once sent a powerful armored force to attack the right flank of German Army Group A near Reims, and made amazing progress, at this time there is no need for the Second Army Group to abandon the defensive line that we have painstakingly spent 5 billion francs to build, but it is a pity that our counterattack has to be abandoned halfway due to some technical reasons.

The 4th Panzer Division, which participated in the counterattack, was transferred to the jurisdiction of the 3rd Army Group. Preparations were made to assist the Third Army Group in holding the line of defense on the Du River and to buy time for the withdrawal of the Second Army Group. Only when the 4th Panzer Division arrived in the jurisdiction of the 3rd Army Group. The Germans had already hit the banks of the Doo, and Guderian's troops were much faster. They attacked the positions of Army Group II in the area of Vossul in the upper reaches of the River Doo, pinning down the forces of Army Group II until Belfort was lost and Army Group II lost its last retreat. It was not that Army Group 2 did not want to retreat, but that the Germans advanced faster than they could have imagined, and they did not have time to retreat before they were surrounded. ”

Marshal Pétain took a sip of coffee and continued: "The Second Army Group is now surrounded, and we should think more about the next battle plan, instead of wasting time on the meaningless topic of why they will be surrounded. ”

A flash of anger flashed across Churchill's face, and he clearly knew what Marshal Petain meant by the "technical reasons" of the Reims counterattack, which must have referred to the rout of the British Third Infantry Division.

Renault was keenly aware of the change in Churchill's face, and hurriedly changed the subject: "Mr. Churchill, I invited you just to hear what you think about the next battle situation?" ”

"I would like to hear first the opinions of General Weygand and Marshal Petain." Churchill took his cigar in his mouth and stared at Marshal Pétain with his eyes blazing.

Marshal Pétain looked at Churchill without showing any hint of weakness, and then said: "I think that the Second Army Group should hold on to its position and fight the Germans to the end with all its strength, and for every day they hold out, we will have one more day to train our troops, to build defensive lines, and to manufacture more weapons." ”

"Not only the Second Army Group must hold on, but the Third Army Group must hold its ground, try to delay more Germans, especially their armored forces, and buy us time to build a new defensive line." General Wei Gang said.

"Why don't you let them break through?" General Deere, deputy chief of staff of the British * team, asked.

The whip in General Wei Gang's hand crossed a curve on the map, and then said: "From Sedan to Nessato, the German army is deployed along the left bank of the Maas River, and the second army group must cross the river to fight if it wants to break through, which is very difficult. Although there was no need to cross the river on the line from Narshato to Belfort, the Germans fighting here were the main force of their armored forces, and the troops of the Second Army Group were almost entirely infantry divisions, and it was tantamount to suicide to let those infantry divisions leave the trenches and charge the German tanks. ”

"So staying where they are is their only option?" General Dill asked.

"Exactly." General Wei Gang nodded and said.

"Can't we send armored troops to meet them for their breakout?" Churchill asked.

"The 4th Panzer Division, our only mobile unit, has been sent to the theater of operations of the Third Army Group, and it was besieged yesterday by two German Panzer Divisions and lost its combat capability." General Wei Gang replied.

"Can we draw some troops from the Belgian theater?" Churchill asked.

"The German Army Group B offensive in Belgium was very strong, and the existing forces could only barely hold on and could not be reduced any longer." Wei Gang said.

"In that case, what can I do for you? Mr. Prime Minister. ”

As a last resort, Churchill had no choice but to acquiesce to the French battle plan

The sun had just set in the afternoon, southwest of the city of Vossule, where the headquarters of the 19th German Panzer Corps was stationed.

Seeing the figure of the No. 4 G tank on Route 57, the long-awaited Mandol jumped on a No. 4 G tank beside him and waved to his long-lost comrades.

The commander of the fourth tank, whose face changed slightly, whispered a few words into the radio microphone, then took off his headphones and handed them to Mandolfel.

"The head of the regiment wants to talk to you."

As soon as Mandolfil put on his headphones, a familiar voice came from inside.

"Hasuke, are you standing so tall to show off your proud figure to the French snipers?"

As soon as Chen Dao's words fell, a chaotic low laugh came from the radio, apparently someone was eavesdropping on the conversation between the two regiment commanders on the radio.

Hearing Chen Dao's ridicule, Mandol replied: "Listening to your voice, you seem to have just been singled out by a group of Frenchmen, I can imagine your blue nose and swollen face and dying." ”

"It's good that I'm alone with a group of them," Chen Dao retorted, "but I'm really tired now, after all, it's not easy for me to kill people and set fires along the way." (To be continued)