While the 19th Panzer Corps and the 1st Regiment had arrived on the outskirts of Dunkirk, to the south of them, the German 7th Panzer Division and the 3rd SS Division were in unimaginable trouble. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

It had been two full days since the two divisions launched an offensive against Arras, but there had not been any substantial breakthrough at all.

Originally, the French army responsible for defending Arras had two divisions and as many as 15,000 men, but when the British decided to retreat to Dunkirk in an all-round and rapid manner, as a barrier in front of Dunkirk, in order to delay the German attack, the British and French command temporarily sent an additional British 50th Division and the 1st Tank Reinforced Brigade to Arras.

When Rommel officially began attacking Arras, the French gave Rommel a blow in the face, and for a whole day, Rommel's 7th Panzer Division advanced less than 10 kilometers, and the 3rd SS Division failed to advance a single step.

Then, in the early morning of the 13th, before Rommel was about to attack again, according to Rommel's plan, an unexpected thing happened.

The reinforced British and French troops actually took advantage of the darkness of the sky to launch a counterattack!

This counteroffensive brought Rommel unimaginable trouble, not only the French infantry, but also the strength of a British division and 74 British tanks and 60 French tanks.

In the face of the Anglo-French counterattack, the 7th Panzer Division and the 3rd SS Division, also known as the 'Skeletons', immediately organized defensive operations, and all the offensive plans previously formulated were shelved.

It was precisely this battle that made the German army feel the pressure for the first time, and there was even a kind of powerless despair in it.

There are more than 20,000 people in the three infantry divisions of the British and French forces, and the British 1st Tank Reinforcement Brigade is all equipped with Matilda heavy tanks!

The PAK36/37 37mm anti-tank guns of the 3rd SS Division did not cause any damage to the Matilda heavy tanks, they were completely unable to stop the British tanks, and even many SS soldiers chose to open fire when the tanks were almost running over them, and at a distance of several meters, the armor-piercing shells of the anti-tank guns still could not penetrate the heavy armor of the Matilda tanks.

On the left flank of the 7th Panzer Division, which was under the responsibility of the 7th Panzer Division, which was composed entirely of No. 2 and No. 3 tanks, the 7th Panzer Division was also helpless against the Matilda heavy tanks of the British.

The battle line was repeatedly compressed, Rommel was not reconciled, since the beginning of the war, his troops have never been blocked by the enemy, this time his troops were not only blocked, but even counterattacked by the enemy, the counteroffensive even made himself a lot of losses, the battle line was almost impossible to hold!

Requesting air reinforcements, and reporting to the Fourth Army that it was under a large number of Anglo-French counterattacks, with at least five divisions of the enemy attacking them, and that they had hundreds of tanks that were difficult to handle.

In fact, it was not that Rommel lied about the military situation, but that he was completely shocked by the counterattack of the British and French forces, and tens of thousands of troops counterattacked his position, and he could not make an accurate judgment at all, and he could not believe that the enemy, who had only three infantry divisions and a tank brigade, dared to launch a counterattack against himself.

However, a situation that made Rommel depressed arose, due to the bad weather, the air force could not give him support, and the army group asked him to hold his position as much as possible, and if it was really not possible, he would retreat and wait for reinforcements from the large army.

"Retreat? The word never existed in my world! ”

Throwing down a sentence, Rommel made a decision that would be enough for him to go down in history!

Since even their own air force can't come to reinforce it, then the French air force or the British air force can't appear here!

Isn't there a lack of artillery capable of dealing with the enemy? Then turn the anti-aircraft guns over!

Soon, on Rommel's orders, all the 88-mm anti-aircraft guns of the division and all the 105-mm field guns of the 3rd SS Division were deployed to the front line.

All of these cannons were used by Rommel as flat-fire fire, and at great close range, they fired at the British Matilda's heavy tank, which they considered indestructible!

In fact, Li Ling's side already had a Li tank destroyer with an 88mm anti-aircraft gun as a weapon, but this does not mean that other people already know the power of the 88mm anti-aircraft gun.

More people still use the 88 gun as a pure anti-aircraft gun, and no one has ever used this thing as a direct fire for attack tanks.

If he hadn't been forced to do this, I'm afraid Rommel wouldn't have tried his luck to get the 88-mm anti-aircraft gun to the front line.

When the 88-mm anti-aircraft gun was first used on the battlefield by Rommel as an anti-tank weapon, everyone was shocked.

The 88-mm anti-aircraft gun's terrifying penetrating power was almost brutal, and it could easily destroy the Matilda heavy tank at a distance of 1.5 kilometers.

One shot at a time?

That's right, it's one shot at a time!

Every time the muzzle of an 88mm anti-aircraft gun erupts flames, a British tank is destroyed!

The Anglo-French forces, which had been unstoppable before, became vulnerable almost instantly, and all 134 allied tanks, including all Matilda heavy tanks, were lost in half an hour!

According to the commander of the British Expeditionary Force, Rhodes? Goult's idea was to resolutely carry out a counter-assault from the direction of Arras, encircle and annihilate the 7th Panzer Division, tear the German line of attack, and then deter the Germans and give other troops absolute time to Dunkirk.

Originally, he was so close to success, Harold, the commander-in-chief of the Arras counterattack? Major General Franklin was even ready to draft a telegram asking for credit, but when the 88mm guns were first shown on the battlefield, it was all in vain.

"Attack, attack! It's time to fight back! ”

Rommel stood on the tank, brandished his pistol, and gave orders to the soldiers beside him!

It was the only decent large-scale counteroffensive by the Anglo-French forces, and they came so close to success that they ultimately fell short.

This time, Rommel not only destroyed Arras, but also destroyed the little hope that the French had so hard to ignite, and the French were completely desperate, and they no longer had the luxury of expecting their country to withstand the German attack.

As for the British, well, this battle had only one effect, and that was to make them retreat faster and faster!

They no longer hoped that the French would be able to hold off the Germans and allow them to evacuate safely, and they had even begun to abandon the large number of weapons in their hands, heavy machine guns, artillery, and everything else that would delay their escape was abandoned on the side of the road...... (To be continued.) )