Fleury, a small town a dozen kilometers east of Rouen. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info The inhabitants of the town, have been driven away. Here, it became the defense area of the 2nd Infantry Division and the 3rd Infantry Division of the German 1st Army. They were ordered to rush here to set up defenses and stop the westward advance of the British and French forces.

Behind their lines were the remaining 400 tanks of the German 1st and 8th Panzer Divisions. Once the Anglo-French forces began to attack, the 2nd and 3rd Infantry Divisions would be responsible for holding back the Anglo-French forces. At the same time, the rest of the German 1st Army Corps and the 8th Army Corps would immediately begin to move, forming an encirclement north and east of Fleury. To the south, a few kilometres away is the Seine. If the Anglo-French army could swim across the Seine, they would have broken through in this direction.

At noon on April 7, the vanguard of the British and French forces, the 22nd Infantry Division of the 3rd Army of the British Expeditionary Force, arrived at Fleury. When the British discovered that the area had been captured by the Germans, they immediately halted their advance and reported the situation to the army group command, asking for instructions on the next steps.

When the commander of the 3rd Army of the British Expeditionary Force, Admiral Benson, learned of this, he immediately ordered the 22nd Infantry Division to attack, and at the same time ordered the rest of the troops to speed up and rush to reinforcements, so as to defeat the Germans in the shortest possible time, take Fleury, and open the passage to Rouen.

The reason why Admiral Benson gave such an order was that he believed that the German attack on Rouen had undoubtedly reached a critical moment. Therefore, the Germans sent a small number of troops to stop them, buying time to defeat the British 1st Army and take Rouen. In this case, they will be even less able to waste time.

After receiving the order of Admiral Benson, the British 22nd Infantry Division immediately launched an attack on Fleury.

It's just that they soon knew that they had completely kicked an iron plate. The Germans deployed not a little bit of troops in the small town of Fleury. Whether it is the strength or combat effectiveness, it is much more powerful than their infantry division.

"Fire!"

Eighteen British 114-mm howitzers and 54 83.8-mm field guns were erected and began firing at the German lines outside the town of Fleury.

However, two minutes later, they were met with heavy German artillery fire.

The German 2nd Infantry Division and the 3rd Infantry Division had a total of 36 150-mm howitzers, 72 105-mm howitzers and 108 75-mm field guns. The total number of artillery pieces is three times that of the British army, not to mention that the caliber of artillery still has a great advantage.

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! ”

When the shells continued to fall from the sky and smashed into the British artillery positions, dumbing their artillery to silence them, the division commander of the British 22nd Infantry Division was immediately dumbfounded.

"General, judging by the size of the artillery deployed here by the Germans, their troops must not be in the minority. I'm afraid we're no match for them! Said the commander of the artillery brigade.

The commander of the 22nd Infantry Division of the British Army was also bitter in his mouth, how did he not know that this time he kicked the iron plate. However, Admiral Benson's order had already been given, and he had no choice but to attack head-on.

"Order the troops, prepare for the offensive. Also, send a telegram to the command that we need reinforcements! ”

Subsequently, the British 22nd Infantry Division launched an attack, but, in the face of the strong German firepower, they did not take advantage of it at all, but left behind corpses and had to retreat in disarray.

In the afternoon, the British 23rd and 24th Infantry Divisions arrived on the battlefield. The arrival of fresh troops from two infantry divisions gave the British the confidence to attack.

However, the British army launched three attacks in a row, but they still failed to break through the German defenses, but suffered heavy casualties.

As a last resort, the British had no choice but to stop the attack. At the same time, report the situation here to Admiral Benson.

In the evening, the headquarters of Admiral Benson's 3rd Army also arrived at Fleury, and the main force of 300,000 British and French troops led by him was basically concentrated in this area. Admiral Benson was very dissatisfied with the fact that three infantry divisions launched an offensive and were unable to break through the German defenses. He gave a direct death order, asking them to continue the attack early tomorrow morning, and before sunset to-morrow, they must break through the German lines and reach Rouen.

Admiral Benson did not know that at this moment the units of the 1st and 8th German Corps were in action. A large number of troops, starting from Rouen, rushed to the north and east of the main force of the British army. To the east, the 1st and 34th Infantry Divisions, transported by trucks, were carried by truck.

"General Ludendorff, the divisions of the 8th Army Corps, have you arrived at your intended position?" Admiral Crook asked.

"General, the 7 infantry divisions and 1 armored division of the 8th Army Corps have arrived at their intended positions and are ready to attack." Lieutenant General Ludendorff replied.

Admiral Crook nodded: "In addition to leaving two infantry divisions as reserves in the 1st Army, the remaining 13 infantry divisions and 1 armored division have also arrived at the predetermined position. Early tomorrow morning, the two armored divisions will attack first, and after defeating the British and French forces, the other troops will advance steadily, and all the 300,000 British and French troops will be wiped out here! ”

"Yes, General." Lieutenant General Ludendorff nodded, he certainly wouldn't have any opinion on that.

This time, in order to encircle and annihilate the 300,000 main forces of the Anglo-French coalition army, the 1st Army Corps and the 8th Army Corps both invested the main forces. On the contrary, there were not many troops used to attack Rouen, and even with the addition of the two infantry divisions as reserves, there were only eight infantry divisions in total, with more than 100,000 men.

On the morning of April 8, the 22nd, 23rd and 24th Infantry Divisions of the British Army began to be busy early in the morning to prepare for the attack. Admiral Benson ordered them to break through the German lines before sunset today, and they had no choice. Although he knew that the Germans were not easy to deal with, he had to attack head-on.

At 8 o'clock in the morning, the three infantry divisions of the British army completed their preparations for the attack and were ready to attack. However, they then had to stop the attack. Because, the Germans attacked before they did.

The German 1st and 8th Panzer Divisions, more than 400 tanks, rushed out of their positions and rushed towards the positions of the British. The torrent of steel composed of more than 400 tanks made people unable to have any thoughts of stopping it.

"Oh God! The armored forces of the Germans are here! ”

"Damn, it's a trap, it's a trap set by the Germans." When Admiral Benson learned of this, he was even more shocked and angry.