On April 16, 1940, the Norwegian campaign, which brought together many forces, finally ushered in its climax.

The rhythm of the war, which had been completely dominated by the British and French forces, became confusing again because of the decisive attack of the German 30th Division.

The Anglo-French expeditionary force had more than two divisions of combined strength, and was only one German division away from the capture of the Norwegian capital. Although the expeditionary force could achieve a final victory in Norway if this last obstacle was broken, no one was optimistic about the outcome of this duel.

The war has entered a fierce part, and both sides have also exerted all their strength.

The war has changed from the mutual testing of the vanguard teams at the beginning to a decisive battle that overwhelms all the main forces.

Tired British soldiers, dragging their heavy steps, constantly moved along the main roads of Lillehammer and then poured into the front. The positions on the periphery, though somewhat consolidated by the addition of the French Alpine Infantry Regiment. However, the main forces of the German 30th Division, which arrived on the battlefield one after another, once again crushed the defensive line.

Although the battalion that the Germans launched a surprise attack on before had strong combat quality and orderly coordination, they had not yet used heavy weapons after all, and they were at the same level of firepower as the British army.

At that time, the expeditionary force could still rely on the French infantry, who were also skilled in land warfare.

But now, the main German forces brought not only more enemies, but also more powerful weapons. Round after round, they poured artillery fire on the defensive positions of the expeditionary force, giving full play to their firepower superiority.

Everyone knows that an expeditionary force without heavy weapons should never go head-to-head with the Germans who have no more than a battalion of self-propelled artillery as artillery support on their positions. As long as the Germans still had artillery shells, even if they were dull and ploughing the ground piece by piece with shells, sooner or later they would grind the defensive forces of the expeditionary force.

The officers who went to the headquarters to ask for a retreat were all driven back to their positions in disgrace. Listening to them when they returned to the position, the British Lieutenant General Oliver and the French Colonel Bernard in the headquarters were both in an anxious posture as if they were facing a great enemy. Colonel Bernard was fine, at least he was able to communicate normally with the officers who went to ask for instructions. But Lieutenant General Oliver, his face was almost bloodless, and he just muttered "can't retreat, can't retreat......."

In this battle, Lieutenant General Oliver, as the supreme leader of the expeditionary force, has been forced into a dilemma.

In order to support them in the battle, the British Admiralty sent a second fleet to replenish the expeditionary force, after losing a detachment of troops and all the supplies on the fleet's transport ships at Narvik Heights. In order to enable the expeditionary force to finally win this battle.

Two British divisions and a French regiment required a huge amount of materiel, and it was not easy to transport them long distances by sea to Norway. Churchill, in order to protect the safety of the transport fleet, specially dispatched a large number of warships from other routes to escort the convoy. For this reason, the frequency of attacks by Dönitz wolves has almost doubled the frequency of British transport teams for imported goods!

It can be said that Churchill relied on the huge losses on other routes in exchange for the abundant supplies of the Norwegian Expeditionary Force.

If you make a great sacrifice, you must be rewarded enough, this is the message of the British Admiralty to Oliver. If Oliver had wasted the great sacrifice made by the Admiralty and lost the battle. One can imagine how bad the situation he will be in when he returns home.

Hans, on the other hand, was a famous German general who grew up in the war, and was known for his steady use of troops and his infallibility. If you want to occupy the premise of the firepower superiority of such a cautious famous general, it is almost impossible to defeat him by relying on the superiority of troops and numbers.

Oliver originally hoped to rely on the French Alpine Regiment with excellent individual quality as the lead, and break through the German firepower line with attack to attack and take the rear of the 30th Division, so as to offset the German superiority created by self-propelled artillery.

However, when he found that in addition to its strong firepower, the German army was not inferior to the French infantry in the world's first army in terms of individual combat quality, Oliver realized that his strategy had failed.

Even if it is difficult to stabilize the defensive line under the offensive of the German army, let alone counterattack and attack the German sortie position, it is simply a fool's dream!

Speaking of which, Lieutenant General Oliver and Colonel Bernard looked down on Major General Hans, a German counterpart, at first.

Ten days ago, they were still full of contempt for this German division, which had cowered in Oslo and did not dare to move. Compared with the British and French alliances, the commanders of the German army inevitably seemed a little too cowardly.

At that time, Oliver and Bernard naively thought that this German army might just be a spiritual symbol of the German faction to the Norwegians, just to inspire the Norwegians to resist. Once the Norwegian forces were completely annihilated, the German division should probably flee back home in disgrace to avoid engaging the expeditionary force.

But now, when the Anglo-French army was exhausted and exhausted on the way to attack and rush, the Germans struck!

It was only then that Oliver remembered that the expeditionary force had abandoned the heavy artillery that was difficult to pass through the Norwegian mountains in order to achieve a quick victory, and gave up the advantage of firepower.

In the face of the Norwegian troops under the same firepower, this weakness was temporarily concealed by the excellent combat qualities of the Anglo-French forces, which far surpassed the Norwegian soldiers. But when encountering the same well-trained and even more individual quality of German soldiers, all the weaknesses are infinitely magnified in an instant!

tired troops; low firepower; and the British, which accounted for the majority of the forces of the expeditionary force, which was nowhere near the combat level of the German Army........ All of this led to the fact that the expeditionary force, which now had the advantage of troops, was suppressed by the German army.

The battle has reached its climax, with both sides committing the strongest force. Since no one had a rear, it was only a matter of time before the expeditionary force, which was now suppressed by the Germans, was defeated.

If you continue to fight, it will definitely be a failure. But if he chooses to retreat in embarrassment, he Oliver can't afford to pay that responsibility.

"General Oliver," Bernard advised, speaking fluent English, "my men can't hold it anymore, and those who believe in you can't do better." So......... We have only one way to go. ”

Oliver knew exactly what the path Bernard was talking about. But he couldn't go that way, and he didn't dare to go that way.

"No way!" Oliver loudly refused: "Withdraw now, and all your efforts will be in vain." The country will not approve of me doing this......... In short, it must not be withdrawn! ”

"Wait, wait, maybe things will turn around........" Oliver said with a somewhat morbid face.

There will be no turnaround, Bernard knows it in his heart.

All the forces have been used, and if they can't win now, then this battle will never be won with their strength. It's just that Oliver, who is under great responsibility and pressure, has begun to collapse at this moment, and he can't listen to any analysis.

"General! A large number of Norwegian troops have appeared in the north, and they are attacking the northern flank of our army! The staff officer's report became the last straw that crushed Oliver.

"Hold me up," Oliver felt a sweetness in his throat, then a mouthful .......of blood gushed out, interrupting his speech.

"Plop!" With a dull crash, Lieutenant General Oliver, commander-in-chief of the Anglo-French expeditionary force, fell to the ground unconscious.........

。

PS: Don't say anything, tenth update