Looking at the retreating figures of the French infantry, and the corpses scattered all over the ground in blue-gray uniforms on the west bank of the Boer River, Rontilis felt a little incredible. He and more than a hundred soldiers of the armored reconnaissance squad had just repelled the attack of an entire French regiment. With only a brief artillery preparation, the French sent more than a thousand infantry to charge, and if it weren't for the fear that the ammunition would run out too quickly, the results of the Rontilis squad would have been even greater.

The consequences of rifle plus bayonet shock tank guns plus machine guns were obvious, and with the help of dozens of German aircraft, not even a few French were able to touch the water of the Boer River. The only thing that Rontilis regretted was that the French had taken away all the strange-looking rifles from the corpses as they retreated, and those strange things were supposed to be weapons that had penetrated their own armor during the previous attack.

"Report to the command that we have repelled the first wave of French attacks! The French were outnumbered and morale-packed, but heavily armed, and they had a number of special rifles that could pierce steel plates. The main French force remained at the edge of the woods, and in addition to continuing to prepare for a frontal attack, they had sent two troops to cross the river from both sides of our army, and if the situation continued to develop, our troops would soon be surrounded by the French, and they would ask for instructions on what to do next. ”

At this time, Rontilis missed Law and his little mole-like head. As for the scarcity of French artillery, no one will be surprised, since it is a well-known fact that the main forces of the French army lost most of their artillery in the Seine line.

By the time the report from Lontilis reached the command of the 8th Army, the generals were preparing to return to their respective units to carry out the order to advance to the Boer River, while the staff officers were busy packing their things, and the headquarters of the army group would soon set off with the main force.

After reading the report quickly, Hoffman had a happy look on his face, "The French troops hidden in the woods there are indeed quite large, but it's a pity that they are already at the end of their crossbows, and even one of our armored reconnaissance teams can block their attack!" ”

"Oh?" Chen Tian took the report a little surprised.

"Haha! I'll just say, our incendiary bombs work! Your Royal Highness, let the armored reconnaissance team and the aviation unit work together to contain them, and at the same time let our main force rush over as soon as possible, this is a golden opportunity to annihilate the French army! François was on the sidelines.

Org had a similar expression, "Let my Panzer Corps plunge straight into the Boer River and sweep the French army near the woods from north to south!" At that time, no matter how many anti-tank rifles they had, they would not be able to stop our torrent of steel! ”

"It seems that the temptation to annihilate the main force of the French army is too great for everyone!" Chen Tian said unhurriedly, at this moment, only he and Guderian still maintained a calm mind. Guderian's composure seems to have come from talent, and he has gradually accumulated over the course of one battle after another.

"Generals, I think what His Royal Highness said is very reasonable. Isn't it too easy for us to find the main force of the French army in this way? I wondered at first why the French troops, who had worked so hard to hide there, would attack one of our reconnaissance squads and expose their location. In the event of a surprise attack, they could have completely encircled our armored reconnaissance squad with the addition of anti-tank guns and ZHA kits! ”

Guderian's opinion comforted Tatsuten, after all, there are very few people who can remain sober and calm in the face of victory.

"If you think about it, the French seem to be deliberately trying to make us discover, and it's very well hidden. Instead of letting our aviation units discover them, they let our ground reconnaissance units, so that we will feel fortunate and feel that this is a once-in-a-lifetime unexpected opportunity. When victory beckons us, beware of the last trap before the end! Chen Tian made his own speculation, but all this was just his speculation, and there were too many doubts that could not be strung together.

"We can't be sure if it's the main French army, the only thing we know for sure is that the French want our main force to go to the area of the Boer River!" Guderian added.

"If that is not the main force of the French army, where is the main force of the French army now? They lured our troops to the Boer River, will their main forces be in ambush on the way to the Boer River to ambush our marching columns, or will they lie in ambush near the Boer River and wait for the opportunity to attack half-crossing? François was puzzled.

"Or maybe that's the main French army, where they spread a big pocket and wait for us to get in!" Olg made his guess.

"It's the same as before, throwing Molotov cocktails at other places where the French might be hiding! Burn the entire French plain to the bare and it will be clear at a glance! "François once again showed his violent tendencies.

Chen Tian shook his head, this suggestion was really unrealistic.

"Whether it's Longtan or Tiger's Den, we have to break through! The divisions continued to advance towards the Boer River as planned, intensified reconnaissance and search of various places along the way, especially in the area of the Boer River, sent planes and airships to closely monitor the densely wooded areas there, and carried out exploratory bombing of the denser areas there, and could use incendiary bombs if necessary! Let our armored reconnaissance squads continue to hold their ground, and the aviation units will provide air support as much as possible! ”

"Yes! Your Royal Highness! The generals went down and set up.

When the telegram of holding the position reached Lieutenant Lontilis, his wounded soldiers were being bandaged while others counted the remaining ammunition.

"Lieutenant, we suffered few casualties in the battle just now, 10 killed, 24 wounded, and no one was hit by the strange bullets that we had before. Now we still have 148 soldiers in the squad, of whom 37 are lightly wounded and 13 are seriously wounded; 6 tanks, of which 1 was incapacitated; 3 armoured combat vehicles, 3 armoured personnel carriers, 4 supply and maintenance trucks, a total of 42 heavy machine guns and 7 light machine guns, including machine guns on tank armored vehicles. All the ammunition on the armoured vehicles has been distributed, each soldier has about 50 rifle bullets and 2 grenades in his hands, and each machine gun has 4 cartridges with nearly 1,000 rounds; On average, there were 11 more shells per tank. "The officers in charge of statistics played the usual care and rigor of the Germans, and they were always able to provide very accurate data to the commanders. Lontilis's team wasn't running out of ammunition yet, but it wasn't going to last long.

The French troops on the opposite side were not in a hurry to attack, and most of them remained at the edge of the woods, and the German planes came and lay on the ground to avoid the bombing. About 4 or 5 kilometers on either side of the position, two flanked French troops crossing the river were moving slowly under the interference of German aircraft, but a number of French soldiers had already reached the east bank of the Boer River. Rontilis had a vague feeling that he had become rats in the hands of the French, who were in no hurry to eat themselves until they felt hungry.

Lontilis got into his tank, and after a while he took out a few smoke grenades, and then called two officers for a few words, and they immediately asked the soldiers to empty the truck of all the things, and then left the position and drove east, escorted by two armored vehicles, and finally stopped on a grassy field about 2 kilometers away.

After a while, a group of gray "cigars" drifted in the distance, and the slight humming sound gradually spread from far to near.

"They're big!"

Lontilis sighed as his soldiers lit smoke bombs a few hundred meters east of the position, and the airships began to adjust their course and lower altitude. After a while, more than a dozen airships were divided into three echelons, and several airships in the front echelon were parked above the grass where the German soldiers had fired smoke bombs, and they were about 7 or 800 meters above the ground. Then there was a jaw-dropping scene, someone jumped from above!

"Oh my God!"

The German soldiers on the ground screamed in amazement, and one by one the men jumped out of the airship pods, and the white parachutes were pulling the men so that they would not fall too fast. Dozens of parachutes fell one after another, and it seemed that a white rain of flowers fell in the sky, and the French soldiers on the other side were even more stunned to watch the scene of this angel descending.

Before the paratroopers could land, the first few airships started again, then the first group stopped where they had just been, and then the second group of paratroopers.

A few minutes later, a number of parachute boxes fell from the third batch of airships, containing the most needed supplies for the Lontilis team, including guns, ammunition, and first-aid medicine. When the boxes hit the ground, the German paratroopers who had landed earlier and the vehicles sent by Rontilis had been waiting there for a long time. They quickly loaded the wooden boxes onto the truck, along with the parachute, and returned to their positions.

In the process, all the French become full-fledged spectators. What left them was not only shock, but also admiration.

For the Longiris team, this airdrop has increased not only strength, but also morale and confidence.

"Your Royal Highness, is it too early for us to expose our airborne capabilities in front of the French?" On the moving armored vehicle, Hoffman seemed to have some apprehensions about the airdrop.

"I don't think so, after our pilots and airship crew escaped using parachutes, there was nothing to hide from the world about airborne. Besides, the French haven't seen our planes airdropped! That scene must have surprised them with a jaw dislocation! What we need to do at present is to train a large number of qualified airborne troops who are mentally and physically qualified, who not only want to parachute from airplanes, but also need sufficient courage and ground combat ability to fight in the enemy's rear. ”

Although the carrying capacity of the aircraft is generally not high at present, the huge number of aircraft in the German army can make up for this deficiency to a certain extent. Thomas Post's many civilian aircraft, which had been largely recovered from Germany before the war, were also a valuable asset to be reckoned with. In addition, as a non-all-metal aircraft, the carrying capacity of the "Owl" heavy bomber is quite surprising, and this bomber has also become the focus of production in various German military aircraft factories.

"Your Highness, what you said is also very reasonable, I hope we can defeat the French smoothly this time!" Hoffman always felt a little awkward sitting in the compartment, and the space in the armored car seemed to be much smaller all of a sudden. This is because Chen Tian came up with another way to block the bullets of the anti-tank gun, which is to pile some sandbags on both sides of the carriage.

"I hope so! I wish I could hurry up and find out what conspiracy the French are playing! ”

In a wooded area in central France, where countless brown tents are densely packed like mushrooms growing at the foot of a large tree, it is obviously much more popular here than in Petain. In one of the big mushrooms, the old handsome Xia Fei and his staff officers were closely watching the situation on the battlefield.

"Field Marshal, General Pétain reports that everything is going well on his side, that he has launched the first attack on that German armored force as planned, and that he has successfully retreated!" A staff officer wearing an old-fashioned blue shirt and red pants reported to the old commander.

The wrinkles on Xia Fei's face and the gray hair on his head are still the same, but his ruddy and healthy face is covered with a faint dark color, since the start of the war, the French army has been defeated, so that Xia Fei has to bear the pressure from the government and the army to continue to command the battle, he and France are now in urgent need of a shocking reversal to maintain the hope of the battle.

"Well, that's good! Let General Petain attack harder, and not hesitate to suffer casualties, he must make those Germans use his troops as our main force! ”

"Yes, Marshal! But General Petain had only more than 50,000 men there, and would the Germans see through it? The staff officer raised his own questions, and the hastily drawn up plan seemed to be far from perfect, and it was revised again and again as something unexpected happened.

"As long as the army is placed at the edge of the woods, then there is no way for the other side to determine how many men and horses are still in the woods. Petain sent only a small number of soldiers to attack at a time, while the large force watched from behind, and although the German army was small in number, the Germans were so confident in their firepower that if we were willing to sacrifice a few more soldiers, they would believe that they were holding their positions there with great firepower. Once our offensive momentum is played, the possibility of the opponent making a wrong judgment is very high! Xia Fei naturally had his worries, after all, he couldn't guarantee that the German army would be 100% fooled, but now that he was ready to fly, any more temporary changes would only make the situation worse, so he was extremely resolute to bet the main force of the French army on this deception.

"The three armies in the middle of the German army have collectively turned, are we starting to act?"

Xia Fei took a deep breath, as if he was still making up his final decision. Eventually, he clenched his fists and gave the order:

"Well, it's time. Let's get the soldiers moving! ”

In a few moments, the sound of passwords, footsteps, horses' hooves, and the grinding of gunboats gave the forest a vigorous vitality, and even the air was filled with flowing hope.

More than 10 kilometers north of this wood, it was the flank of the Hindenburg 5th Army, which had turned.