Five hundred meters, a distance on the battlefield is not too long or too short, and a charging unit can run this distance in just a few minutes to break through to the enemy's position.

Of course, this also means that they have entered the effective range of almost all weapons on the defending side except for pistols and grenades, and there have been cases in history where the attacker has not been able to break through this short 500 meters even if they have shed blood, but that situation is limited to infantry.

When the first French tank roared out of the flaming pile of steel wreckage in front of the German soldiers, it did not shake the young men much.

Although the bombardment of French artillery caused a lot of casualties to the German troops on the front line, the blood of their comrades, far from damaging the morale of those loyal soldiers, only ignited their fighting spirit.

The soldiers were fanatically looking forward to the battle, determined to decorate the dead with the heads of their enemies.

The three-kilometre-long defensive position of Zhongyāng was guarded by twelve Waffen-SS infantry platoons, with a second-line position set up a hundred and fifty metres behind them, and between the two fronts were large and small heavy weapons firing points and bunkers. Dense and winding trenches connected these firing points and the two fronts.

These trenches were dug so deep that they were almost as tall as a person, and the soldiers could not see the outside at all when they stood inside. This is the German Army's most standard defensive tunnel system, this kind of communication trench not only allows the second-line troops to reach the front-line position safely under the threat of strong fire of the opponent when they need to support the front line, but once the first-line position is breached, those who rush into the trench will also lose their way in these labyrinthine and twisting communication trenches.

The Germans had set up concealed machine-gun bunkers at the intersection of these trenches, and there was nowhere to hide in such a narrow space, and if the French soldier was unlucky enough to fall into such a trench trap, he would have ended up lying at the bottom of the trench mud with a broken corpse.

The Waffen-SS soldiers clenched their rifles in their hands, waiting for the officers to give the order to fight, and some even trembled with excitement at the impending battle. But their commanders are not so strong, and they are worried about the situation they are facing now.

All communication with the Forward General Command had been cut off, and they now only had communication with the battalion headquarters field telephone, and communication between the two battalion headquarters had also been interrupted.

The French shelling had destroyed the positional headquarters, and the switchboard and communication radio of the field telephone had collapsed under the pile of dirt that was still emitting a faint green smoke.

The forward positions had lost their unified command, and the two Waffen-SS battalions could now only maintain some contact by means of communications corps shuttling back and forth. To make matters worse, they also lost communication with higher command authorities, which meant that they were now unable to call in for support from the rear fire in a timely manner.

The only remaining quick means of communication between the forward positions and the rear was the use of radio, and to the deep dismay of the commanders, there was a congestion in radio communications. The field commanders suddenly discovered that their few calling frequencies were already occupied by armored troops, and the radio was now in chaos.

The field commanders had no mind or time to engage with the Panzer Corps, and the two SS major battalion commanders hurriedly ordered their respective communications companies to lay new field telephone lines as soon as possible, at least to connect the two Waffen-SS battalions with each other.

By this time, the French tank group had already appeared in the officers' sights, so the two Waffen-SS battalions had to fight separately until contact with their superiors was restored.

As the distance slowly approached, the outline of the French tank, painted with brown and yellow camouflage, was clearly revealed in front of the German officers and soldiers.

"There's Matilda and B1, hell, and R35, they're tough guys. ”

The commander of the first battalion, Major Murray, gasped as he looked at the group of slowly crawling behemoths. He no longer wanted to know where the French got the Matilda tanks, all he knew now was that these tanks were definitely not the opponents of the 37mm anti-tank guns attached to the forward positions.

"What about Fenris, why haven't they fired yet? Didn't they see the tanks? ”

Murray shouted.

"Sir, Fenris is shifting positions, and they haven't moved into a new firing position yet." The battalion headquarters staff officer hurriedly reported.

"What!"

Murray quickly turned his head to look at Fenris's position, which was now a mess, strewn with shiny shell casings and all sorts of messy debris, most conspicuously a pile of smoking wreckage and a dozen launch bunkers built with sandbags and dirt.

It seems that the pile of wreckage is the Fenris that was destroyed by French heavy artillery. Murray's eyes hurriedly looked around, and finally saw the trail of Fenris at the rear of the position, this group of huge tank snipers was rapidly crossing the entire second-line position, and they were moving towards the left flank of the position.

"Just hit the French with a shell and it was out of order, and that guy Rawls didn't even have time to inform us?"

Murray turned his face to the staff officer and ordered, "It seems that we can't count on them now. Immediately order the commanders of the first and second companies to do everything possible to stop the advance of the French tanks, no matter what methods they use, they must withstand this wave of attack! ”

"Yes, sir."

"Communications Staff, how's the phone line being laid?"

"Connecting."

"Speed up."

"Understood, sir!"

"Hmph, look at it, it's the Matilda tank made by the British, do you see, although this thing has thick armor, but in front of our Fenris, it's just a thick piece of paper at most, do you understand? No matter how thick it is, it's just a piece of paper, haha! ”

Warrant Officer Schmitt was waving his luger and boosting the morale of his soldiers, who seemed to others to be demoralized, but Schmitt felt that it was not enough.

Now, these young men, who have only been in the army for a year or two, are holding their breath and aiming their rifles at the slowly approaching tanks, their eyes full of longing for battle.

The Schmitt platoon had been in the trenches for a whole morning, and so far they had not been able to find a chance to open fire. In fact, it was to blame that they were a little sluggish, and when the French fighters flew over their heads, none of them thought to open fire.

As a result, when Schmitt, who was the first to react, roared and gave the order to shoot, the three French fighters were already tumbling like autumn leaves, scattering and falling down, so they couldn't even grasp this only opportunity to shoot.

During this time, the French tank groups had already brought them closer to the German positions to more than four hundred meters. The main thing is that these tanks have a common problem, the speed is amazingly slow, the Matilda is already like an ox cart, and the French force is completely showing what it means to be sluggish, plus it just rained last night, and the wet and soft ground has slowed down the speed of these heavy big guys.

The R35 was a little faster than all of them, but in order to maintain its offensive formation, it had to slow down. The group of French tanks slowly and trembled at the speed of foot "charged" towards the German positions.

The French tankmen were not cowards, they had the same will and courage to fight as the German fighters opposite. Otherwise, they would not have continued to attack without hesitation after seeing an entire tank regiment wiped out in ten minutes.

They had already seen the horror of the previous tank attack group, the wreckage of those tanks was now behind them, and the grim sight made everyone who saw it shudder.

Having just rushed to a distance of four hundred meters, the French tank group began to launch suppressive fire on German positions. I don't know what the French think, the B1 tank began to pour its 75 mm grenades and 47 mm grenades at the German forward positions as they marched, these French gunners had relatively limited skills, and now they are firing on the move, so the accuracy of the hit of those shells can be imagined.

In addition to the 47 guns that fired shoulder-to-shoulder, which could hit several German bunkers and crumble sandbags and dirt into the air, those 75mm howitzer shells could only uselessly create boring craters in the open space in front and behind the German trenches.

However, since it is a suppressive fire, it is only necessary to consider dumping shells as much as possible on the opponent's position. If you find that the opponent has any firepower and dares to return fire, then use a short stop to destroy it, as long as you break through the position of the German ** team in the shortest time, then you will have completed half of the task, and then you just need to continue to insert it into the center of Germany, and the work of clearing the trenches will be solved by the group of infantry following behind the tank group.

The performance of the "Matilda" was also good, although only two machine guns were installed, but it still swept the German positions with splashes of mud and momentum.

The suppressive attack of the French tank group did look vigorous, gorgeous and beautiful, and under the heavy rain of firepower, the French tanks successfully raised dozens of large and small plumes of smoke and countless fireballs on the German positions.

In the middle of the first array of tank charging formations was the company commander of the 1st Battalion and 1st Company of the 2nd Regiment of the 6th Tank Division, who was sitting in the narrow turret of B1, and was firing at the Germans with his shoulder and tail bracket.

Although he clearly saw that his 47mm shell destroyed one German firing bunker after another, and he was still very confident in his cāo gun technique at this point, he didn't know why he felt more and more panicked as he fought.

The strange scene on the battlefield suddenly made him feel an inexplicable fear in his heart, the Germans reacted so strangely that so far they had not responded to their own attack, not even a single shot.

He could now faintly see the black German steel helmets exposed on the German trenches, and the French tank company commander watched one steel helmet after another disappear into the trenches in a rain of shells and machine guns, but the Germans continued to lie there motionless as if they had been cast on that section of the battle howl. There was a very unusually calm scene on the German positions.

Looks a little bit bad. Looking at the increasingly clear and lifeless German position, the image of Colonel Chanon, the commander of the 2nd Tank Regiment who had just been killed, suddenly popped up in his mind, and he saw the mutilated body of the old colonel when he passed by the pile of wreckage, and the commander of the French tank company suddenly felt a chill in his back, and a trace of foreboding appeared in his heart.

Filian pushed a 47mm shell into the breech and then turned his eyes to the turret periscope, through which he carefully observed the slowly approaching German position.

As his tank group got closer to the German position, the strange feeling in Major Firien's heart grew. The French began to feel a little tingling in their scalp, as if even their hair had a feeling of wanting to stand on end.

What tricks are the Germans doing, is there some kind of trap, maybe in the next second that position will erupt like a volcano to spit out countless deadly munitions at themselves. Filian thought to himself with trepidation.

Before the attack, the division commander had told them to destroy the German anti-tank gun positions with heavy artillery, although he did not know what the results of the shelling would be, and perhaps the artillery had succeeded.

Maybe the Germans didn't fire at themselves because they didn't have the weapons to deal with them, but after careful observation he didn't look like this, only a few faint pillars of smoke rose behind the German positions on the opposite side, and they all looked like they were weak and seemed to disappear at any time, and the German positions didn't look like they had been ravaged by heavy artillery.

In particular, there are several dirt slopes in the rear, on which a large and sturdy shelter has been built. It must have been a German command post or observation post, and according to the words of the superiors, the artillery would not let go of any important targets, but Filian could not find half a crater on that small dirt slope.

There must be something wrong, why the Germans have not fought back until now, the shrewd French tank company commander would never believe that the Germans would be so honestly hit by his own target, he now has a vague feeling that the counterattack launched by the Germans must be more terrifying than any time he has encountered.

Now the young French tank officer began to regret that he had participated in the attack. Although the thickness of the armor of your tank should be said to be able to withstand the attack of the German anti-tank guns, but what if the Germans have more powerful weapons than those anti-tank guns.

The flamboyant images of the FT17 Renault and its crew were once again in the back of the French tanker's mind.

Just when he was thinking wildly, suddenly, with a crisp gunshot, the German position on the opposite side suddenly boiled like a boiling pot, and countless large and small shells and bullets with colorful trails flew across the short distance of three or four hundred meters between the two sides and smashed into the tanks on the first line of France.

Now the German position looked like an exploding pyrotechnic storehouse, and all kinds of sounds, flames, and gorgeous light surrounded Filian like a tide.

"Phew!"

A violent crash shook Filian out of his initial shock, and the Germans finally fought back. Filian hurriedly lifted the walkie-talkie next to him and shouted into the microphone.

"Don't mess up the whole company, keep the formation, keep the speed, the B1 tank platoon suppresses the artillery fire, the "Matilda" platoon, suppress the opposing infantry fire with machine guns, everyone listens, for the sake of France, charge. ”

"Understood, all charge!"

The answers of his three platoon commanders came from the headphones.

"Lowe, slow down a little and let the tanks on the flanks rush up first." Filian gently pestled his driver with his foot.

"Yes, sir."

The driver was also a clever fellow, and he skillfully took the tank back a gear, and secretly slowed down in the chaos of the battlefield.

However, although Firian's tank slowed down, the B1 became a priority target for the German soldiers.

Firian made a foolish mistake by forgetting how conspicuous his company commander's flag, which hung from the tail antenna, in the stack of attacking tanks.

As he got closer to the German position, and more and more ammunition was being hit on his car, Firian began to feel a little panicked, from the first few seconds to a few rounds a second like a dense rain, Filian had forgotten to continue shooting, he just cowered in his captain's seat and looked at the top of the turret in fear, listening to the sharp impact of every bullet and small-caliber shell hitting the outer deck of the B1 tank.

Now every sound made Filian shudder, and he felt that the tank's armor was about to be smashed alive by German shells.

Now that the young officer had lost the courage to continue fighting, the renault tanks and the tragic situation of the tankmen had weakened his will to fight, and now the French major was thinking about how to get out of here as soon as possible and return to safety.

Suddenly, a dull loud bang sounded outside the car, and Filian hurriedly leaned on the periscope and looked out.

I saw that an R35 tank under his command was on fire, the flames jumped up four or five meters high, the blackened turret was skewed to the side, and a tanker was struggling to climb out of the tank turret with flames all over his body, but there was no movement halfway through, and the charred limbs hung outside the turret like a dead branch, and the turret was still spewing flames outward.

"No...... No, I'm going to get out of here, my wife and kids are still waiting for me, I can't die here. ”

There was only one thought in Firian's mind, leaving this hellish place, what France, what military honor, in the battlefield where life and death alternate, these ethereal things were not as useful as a steel helmet.

Not knowing how precious life is without seeing death, Firian is now determined to find a way out of the battle, out of this battlefield, no matter what, what France, what medals, what loyalty, to hell with all this.

He just wanted to be alive to return to his wife and children, and beg them to forgive him for how stupid he had been, and how he would throw them aside for the sake of those foolish honors.

Filian secretly prayed to God that as long as he escaped from this bloody hell alive, he would immediately return to his family and never leave them again.

But the current situation made him feel that his wish was a bit wishful thinking, not to mention that the Germans had already set their sights on him, and he still did not understand what was going on, just to say that the fact that he retreated and fled during the attack was enough for the cold-blooded animals of the Judge Advocate Court to drag him out and shoot him, and he did not want to die in the hands of the Germans, let alone in the hands of his own people.

Suddenly, a flash of inspiration flashed in Firian's mind, and he hurriedly picked up the communication headset, and after adjusting the frequency, he said loudly through the microphone.

"Colonel Argent, we have met very fierce return fire from the Germans, but we have broken through to a very close distance, I think it is time for the infantry to charge, we have attracted most of the attention of the Germans, and now there are only two hundred meters left, and it is possible for the infantry to rush forward with a single attack. My tank company and I will provide them with fire support. ”

"I see." The infantry commander cut off communications without answering his advice.

"What's going on, doesn't it seem to work?"

Firien shook his head, but then a smug smile appeared on his face, for he could clearly hear numerous wild roars from the rear of his tank group, and the French infantry was speeding through his tank group, charging at the dense barrage of German bullets.

Today VIP pauses updates, tired and has a day off.

But don't despair, the story is already approaching the second ** since the beginning of the book. In the following chapters, the protagonist will begin to deal with domestic affairs in a big way, and after the end of the French campaign, he will finally be free to deal with the long-awaited economic, political and diplomatic affairs. The diplomatic and political struggle with France, Japan, Italy, the United States, and the Soviet Union is about to begin, and the famous military air battle of England will begin, this time of course, according to the rules of the protagonist. The May chapter will not disappoint you. Finally, I hope that everyone can actively vote for the VIP recommendation of May to this book, and I will repay you with more exciting plots and stories, thank you. Single-edged