Bombers swarmed into the heart of France, anti-aircraft sirens sounded, and on this morning, not only Paris, but too many cities were being ravaged by the Luftwaffe. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

The German ground forces were also fully advancing in the direction of Paris at 10 a.m. on May 18, 1940.

The German armoured assault group, which had been repaired for two days in Eyre on the Dunkirk-Calais-sur-Lis, was rushing towards the Somme, the last natural line of defense in front of Paris, with much faster than the previous attack.

Rommel's 7th Panzer Division, Guderian's 19th Panzer Corps, and Li Ling's 1st Regiment marched in unison, and the three armies completed the journey of nearly 100 kilometers in only four hours.

Three armies arrived almost simultaneously on the banks of the Somme near the French town of Amian.

There was no fierce resistance as expected, and the French only figuratively fired a few shots and hid in the city as a shrunken turtle.

The French hid in the city, using the vantage point of Notre-Dame Cathedral, the largest Gothic church in France, to keep an eye on the German troops who were nervously crossing the river network.

The German tank crews looked at the small French city from afar and did not attack Amian.

In fact, it is not that Rommel, Guderian or Li Ling are kind or cowardly, but they really don't want to waste too much time here, the city is not well defended, but it is impossible to use armored forces to quickly defeat it.

Rather than wasting time here, it would be better to take Paris a little earlier and thus end the war.

Standing on the bank of the Somme, watching his troops crossing the river busily but without nervousness, Li Ling smiled and smiled happily.

Just over 20 years ago, on both sides of the river, one of the most brutal battles of the First World War, the Battle of the Somme, took place.

The two sides of the war were none other than the German and Anglo-French forces.

In that 141-day battle, more than 1.26 million soldiers were killed, and there was a horrific record of burying 60,000 people in just one afternoon.

It has been a battleground for soldiers since ancient times, but this time, neither side has to go through that tragic situation that people don't want to mention, and the waters of the Somme are still clear and don't have to be completely dyed red by the blood of the soldiers.

By the evening of the same day, the German vanguard had fully crossed the Somme, only 130 kilometers from the center of Paris.

However, the 130-kilometer route could not be passed in the first place, because their tanks were facing a somewhat awkward situation at this time.

Due to the technical limitations of gasoline engines, the general maximum range of German tanks was less than 200 km. Earlier they had already run wildly for more than a hundred kilometers, and the remaining fuel of the tanks was clearly not enough to support them in their rush to Paris.

Now that the distance between the main forces and the main force has not been completely opened, it is better to stay here and wait for supplies than to move on, and then go straight to Paris in one go.

Li Ling's stop, although they did not have any special purpose, really made the French defenders in Amian City tremble.

Since the armored forces had already crossed the river, Amian was already in the German army's sphere of influence at this time, and was besieged by a large army, and there was no way to fight back.

At eight o'clock that night, negotiators were dispatched to the city of Amian to find the station of the first regiment directly under Amian that was closest to Amian.

The French approached Li Ling with their terms of negotiation, and they could surrender, but hoped that the Germans would not kill them or harm the French people in the city.

Li Ling was noncommittal about the conditions they proposed, and he hadn't even thought about entering the city before.

But now that the French are here, they should change their previous thoughts.

"Put all the weapons in the church, send all the oil in the city, and wait for the troops in the back to come and take it here."

"That's it?"

The French looked at Li Ling in disbelief, it didn't make sense, wasn't it rumored that the Germans would rob them of their belongings, and they still liked to kill people?

"What else do you want? Do you want me to lock you all up? ”

"Don't, I'll go back now and order someone to collect the weapons and put them in the church, although there is not much oil, but we will send it all over immediately, please rest assured."

……

When the time came to dawn on the 19th, when the supply troops, which had almost broken their legs, finally arrived near Amian and began to replenish the fuel of the 7th Panzer Division and the 19th Panzer Army, the 1st Regiment under its direct command had already loaded the fuel sent by the French and went on the road.

The German offensive continued, and the pace of their advance reached an incomprehensible level.

The Italians were in a hurry.

The Germans' all-out assault after a two-day pause was so fast that if the Italian army did not attack again, there would be no chance of getting a piece of the battle at all.

So, before the day was fully lit, Mussolini ordered his army to attack.

At the same time as the Italian ground forces advanced towards France, Mussolini also ordered the Italian air force to carry out air strikes on Malta, a British territory located in the Mediterranean.

In just one day, the Italian Air Force carried out as many as seven batches of air strikes on the small island.

This time, which was not supposed to be a major military operation, caused an uproar throughout the world.

The anxious Churchill laughed, the irritable Renault laughed, the Roosevelt who sat on the mountain and watched the tiger fight, but the German Führer Heydrich was angry!

Heydrich, after hearing the precise targets of the Italian army's air strikes, smashed almost everything he could see in the office.

The Italian Air Force, at the behest of Mussolini, attacked a hospital on the island of Malta!

They actually airraided a civilian hospital!

As many as 141 unarmed civilians were killed in the airstrikes, and the news swept through all the mainstream media around the world, and all relevant and unrelated countries began to criticize Italy, and the actions of the Italian army have even affected his ally Germany.

Churchill seized the opportunity and immediately began to spread rumors that the Germans were involved in this matter, and that the Germans had planned air strikes on civilians!

However, these are all things that politicians need to care about, and soldiers fighting on the front line do not have the time to care about any news.

At noon that day, Li Ling's troops reached the line of defense on the Aisne River, which was only 80 kilometers away from Paris, and the battle had already begun, and it was already part of the outer defense circle of Paris, the capital of France.

Guderian, who had seen the departure of the 1st Regiment in the morning, had just led his troops out of the Somme...... (To be continued.) )