On the morning of April 17, Dangral had breakfast and, accompanied by his staff officers, rode his beloved Alice on the white horse to inspect the positions of the various infantry regiments.

One night was enough time for the infantry of the French 7th Infantry Division to build a continuous defensive line. Seeing the scattered light and heavy machine guns, anti-tank guns, and barbed wire being pulled up by the sappers, Dangral nodded contentedly, appreciating the efficiency of his men.

After inspecting the positions of the 25th Infantry Regiment on the north shore of Lake Flandersen, Dangral said to the commander of the 25th Infantry Regiment, Colonel Morseff, with satisfaction: "With my experience in trench warfare, I think that the other side needs at least two regiments of troops to be able to break through your defensive line, and you have done a good job." ”

Pointing to the gloomy sky, Colonel Morsev said: "In this weather the German air force cannot be dispatched, and with infantry alone, the Germans will not be able to break through our positions even if they send three regiments, unless they have a large number of tanks." ”

"They can't succeed even if they have a lot of tanks, don't forget that we also have tanks." Dangral said with a smile.

After inspecting the two artillery positions that had already been constructed, Dangral returned to the town of Klaipuyan at 11 o'clock at noon.

After asking the staff officer on duty, Dangral learned that the new supply convoy had departed from the port of Brest in southwestern France and was expected to arrive in two days.

A faster flotilla has already crossed the English Channel into the North Sea and will arrive in Stavanger tomorrow at noon.

Dangral walked to the window and looked out at the gray sky and prayed, "God willing, let this good weather last a few more days." ”

・・・・・・

"Sure enough, the sky has changed, and the enemy will definitely increase his troops in a big way, and we must speed up our actions. Has the artillery regiment arrived? Chen Dao asked.

"They have already set out from Egelsund and are expected to arrive in an hour and a half, and they will be able to meet the three o'clock battle in the afternoon." Hauser said.

"I have been informed by the command of the Navy that a French supply convoy has entered the North Sea. They will find a way to intercept this convoy of the French so that they will not be able to arrive on time. ”

After Chen Dao finished speaking, he turned his head to Second Lieutenant Wolf and asked, "What was the situation in the city of Stavanger yesterday?" ”

"No French ships entered Stavanger last night." Ensign Wolf said.

"Great, we're going to follow the original plan, and we'll take Stavanger before dark tomorrow at the latest." Chen Dao said.

As soon as Chen Dao's words fell, Major Schumacher walked into the room and said to Chen Dao and Hausser: "I have surveyed the terrain, and the terrain in both locations is suitable for armored troops to fight, and the eastern one is slightly worse, but it does not affect the play of the tanks. ”

"Okay, order the troops to be in position and launch an attack on time at three o'clock in the afternoon." Chen Dao said.

Half an hour later, Chen Dao arrived two kilometers west of the town of Brüna on Bandit No. 1 and joined the main force of the Field Investigation Group behind the defensive line of the Führer's regiment.

At 2:20 p.m. on April 17, the German armored ships Rützov, the heavy cruiser Blucher and the light cruiser Emden reached the open sea, 3 km southwest of the German regiment's defensive line, and made contact with the head of the German regiment, Colonel Steiner.

At 2:40, the SS artillery regiment took its position and made contact with the heads of the Führer's regiment, Keppler and Chen Dao.

Chen Dao looked at his watch, and then said to Captain Lorenz, who was ruddy: "Count down to 10 minutes, and we will attack." ”

Seeing Captain Lorenz's face that instantly turned pale, Chen Dao said, "Do you want to take another sip of wine?" ”

"No, sir. I fought yesterday morning, and I'm not a recruit anymore. Captain Lorenz said no, but with both hands he took a silver flask out of his right coat pocket, unscrewed the lid and poured it.

"The last time we exchanged fire with the French was naval artillery, and we settled the battle without firing a single shot. This time it was different, we did not have the support of naval artillery. We had to rush face to face with the French, with their machine guns, artillery, mines and anti-tank guns. You know what, a machine gun bullet flies and your head is like this," Captain Bach said, clenching his fists and opening his fingers in an explosive motion.

"Your steel helmet can't stop it." Captain Bach smiled sadly at Captain Lorenz.

Hearing Captain Bach's words, two blush on Captain Lorenz's cheeks immediately dissipated because of drinking, and he turned into a little white face again.

"Don't always scare him, maybe he, a rookie, will be able to save your old bird's life in the future. It's almost time, let's go see the excitement. ”

After Chen Dao finished speaking, he jumped down from the rear hatch of the Bandit No. 1, ran to the side of a No. 4G tank, climbed onto the tank with his hands and feet, and stood on the turret and looked north.

Captain Bach and Captain Lorenz also climbed on top of the tank's engine room, holding binoculars and preparing to watch the battle.

At 3 o'clock sharp, a series of thunderous thunders suddenly erupted from the artillery positions behind the Führer's regiment, and 36 105-mm howitzers and 12 150-mm howitzers were fired at the same time, announcing the start of the battle.

On the sea, four 150-mm secondary guns on the armored ship Lützov, four 150-mm secondary guns on the heavy cruiser Blucher, and eight 150-mm main guns on the light cruiser Emden opened fire one after another, shelling the opposite French positions under the guidance of the German regiment.

In the telescope, Chen Dao saw countless white miniature mushroom clouds rising one after another on the French position, and in less than ten minutes, the French position that had been shelled was completely covered with white smoke.

After another ten minutes, 24 rounds of 155-mm shells fell on the positions of the Führer's regiment with a gust of wind, kicking up countless clouds of earth and smoke. After 20 minutes of shelling, the French finally couldn't help but start firing back.

The artillery of both sides went toe-to-toe, and they smashed countless shells on each other's heads without money.

The place where Chen Dao was standing was a kilometer away from the position of the Führer's regiment, and he was not worried at all about being hit by artillery shells. He turned his head to the west and turned to observe the positions of the German Regiment.

After Chen Dao's telescope turned around a few times, he finally found the target he was looking for.

"It turns out that this is an observation balloon, which is very troublesome and dangerous, but this is the only thing we can fly into the sky at the moment." Chen Dao muttered to himself.

Behind the German regiment's position, several Norwegian soldiers were slowly turning the winch to release the steel cable in the winch. At the other end of the steel cable, an observation balloon slowly rises to a high altitude under the action of atmospheric buoyancy, 200 meters, 300 meters・・・・・・

When the cable was released to 500 meters, the Norwegian soldiers stopped and immediately fixed the winch.

In the rattan basket hanging from the observation balloon, the artillery observer steadied himself, picked up the telescope and looked north.

There was no sun in the sky, clouds were overcast, and the earth was shrouded in gray.

In this gloom, the fire from the muzzle of the 155mm howitzer of the French Heavy Artillery Regiment was so dazzling when it was fired.

About ten minutes later, an electric wave flew to the surface. After receiving this radio wave, the six 283-mm main guns on the armored ship Lützov, which had been gathering momentum for a long time, turned their muzzles and aimed in the northeast direction.

Not to be outdone, the heavy cruiser Blucher also shook its muzzles with 12 210-mm guns and pointed them at the long-awaited target.

Moments later, artillery observers in the air saw more than a dozen huge fireballs suddenly explode from the French artillery positions.

On the Führer's position, the fire and roar of the French shells as they landed suddenly diminished, and then disappeared without a trace.

Receiving the news that the French artillery position had been wiped out, Chen Dao jumped on his Bandit No. 1, and then shouted into the radio phone: "Field Investigation Group, attack." ”

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