The fog that permeates the Paris section of the Seine has finally begun to dissipate, and the large swath of the city along the river is like a sauna.

In fact, it has been a while since the upwind outlet stopped casting smoke, and the effect of smoke grenades in large cities is also one of the reasons why Chen Tian chose Paris as the breakthrough location. Now it seems that this factor played a very important role in the successful construction of pontoon bridges on the river by the German army.

By the time the hands on the watch pointed to 11 o'clock, 18 of the 20 pontoons had been completed, and the other two had been abandoned due to heavy damage from French artillery.

"Your Highness, our vanguard armoured forces have crossed the Seine and are currently assaulting the French artillery positions in the vicinity of Versailles. The main forces of the Panzer Army are crossing the river, and according to the plan, the 1st Tank Division and the 1st Panzer Division will sweep the northern section of the French Seine Line and the artillery positions there, and the 2nd Tank Division and the 2nd Panzer Division will sweep the southern section of the Seine Line and the artillery positions there. The 1st and 2nd Mechanized Divisions were responsible for the logistical transport of the two armoured assault units, while the 1st and 3rd Infantry Corps were to be on standby after clearing the remnants of the French Seine Line in Paris. By the time Hoffman reported, the sound of the artillery on the battlefield had become much weaker, and it seemed that the French artillery had no time to pay attention to the battlefield here.

Everything was under control, and Chen Tian didn't say anything about this, but turned his head and asked, "The Eiffel Tower has fallen?" ”

"Yes, we don't yet know which side it was blown down by shells. Judging by the artillery situation on both sides, it is more likely that it was hit by the heavy artillery of the French themselves, but the possibility of collapse after being hit by our shells is not ruled out. Hoffman didn't seem to care, and his tone was flat as if it was just a small neighbor's tree that had fallen.

Chen Tian didn't have much feeling about this matter, the Old Summer Palace was burned, so what did it matter if the French people poured down a few towers.

"Pour it, pour it! The old doesn't go, the new doesn't! It's just that from today onwards, the reputation of me and our troops may not be good! Colonel Hoffman, do you think our legion will be called the 'Beast Legion' in the future? ”

"Oh, of course! We should attack like beasts and terrify our enemies, shouldn't we? Hoffman's answer satisfied Chentian, and it seemed that the officers and men of the Legion would also like the name.

"When it came to the announcement, it was said that the German 8th Army, known as the 'Beast Legion', had successfully broken through the French defense line on the Seine. In the battle with the French army, the Eiffel Tower, a landmark building in Paris, was accidentally hit and collapsed, and our army regretted it very much! "Many legions in Europe have their own unique titles, and Chen Tian feels that it is time to give his legion a good name. Taking advantage of the opportunity to collapse the Eiffel Tower, the reputation of the "Beast Army" will surely spread quickly around the world.

"Yes! Your Royal Highness! ”

It was originally a very interesting name, but it was discussed and approved by these two people very seriously.

On the east bank of the Seine, 20 kilometers from Paris, the German Crown Prince listened to the roar of cannon fire in a depressed mood, he had been in a bad mood lately, and his defeat at the hands of the French seemed to have left a deep imprint on his heart. He did not know how to spell the word defeat from birth, and in the great palace he said one no one would say two; In the military academy where the children of the nobility gathered, everyone dared to take the first test if he took the second exam; In the service, his superiors were more obedient than his subordinates; Even on the battlefield, Verdun, known as one of the top ten fortresses in Europe, was successfully captured by him, and the glory of being the first to enter Paris was recorded in his name. The Seine, a small river that could swim casually, bleeds his head when he hits it.

In fact, it was Moltke Jr. who urged Moltke Jr. to give the order for an all-out attack that day, and the Kaiser knew very well about it. However, the Kaiser naturally would not pin such a failed title on his son when the war situation in France was good, even if the people did not know, Prince's prestige in the army would be greatly affected, and Moltke Jr. naturally became a scapegoat, not to mention that Moltke Jr. did not oppose launching a full-scale attack at that time.

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, the call of the Chief of the General Staff!" A staff officer reminded him softly beside him, for fear of disturbing the prince's thoughts. In the past few days, there have been many staff officers who have been repaired by the prince, and the rest of them are also cautious.

"Oh!" The prince answered coldly and walked slowly to the phone.

The staff officer breathed a deep sigh of relief, accompanying the king is like accompanying the tiger, but he didn't expect that it would not be easy to accompany a prince.

"Hey, oh, I see! Well, well, well! That's it! After the prince finished speaking, he threw the telephone back onto the telephone, and his face was still so terrifying.

"The whole army is ready and waiting for the order to cross the river!"

Even the order to prepare for the attack sounded so passionless.

Falkenhayne ordered the armies to cross the river as soon as Chentian's armored forces destroyed the French artillery positions on the opposite bank, and Prince naturally despised this victory with the help of others.

"It's Jigi again, it's so hateful! Why did my father always look at him, and actually let me cooperate with him and fight side by side, and let me learn more tactics and strategies from him. What is my identity and what is his identity, hum! One day I will prove to the world that I am the strongest commander in Germany, that I am the best ruler of Germany! ”

20 kilometers away in Paris, Chen Tian sneezed heavily.

"It's so late, who still thinks about me!" Chen Tian said to himself half-jokingly.

Compared with Chentian's relaxed mood, Guderian, who was officially commanding a large-scale armored force for the first time, was much more nervous. Although he was a tank commander, he had to sit in an armored command vehicle, which was more suitable for communications command.

"Where is the 201 Tank Regiment now? Oooh! And what about the 202 tank regiment? Well, good, keep going! The rest of the troops followed, and at the same time paid attention to liaising with the 2nd Panzer Division! ”

After exiting Paris and turning south, Guderian's troops attacked along the French lines, and their most important task was to find and take out the French artillery positions. Those nasty cannons hiding under cover can pose a huge threat to the troops crossing the river, but when the opponent is standing on top of them, they are completely helpless.

As for how to find them, those small hill packs on top of the bunkers are not very obvious from the air, but they could not be more obvious to the ground forces. What's more, Mr. Gu believed that where the resistance behind the French line was most fierce, there were French artillery positions, and his tank units began to clear French artillery positions one by one according to this inference.

At present, the establishment of armored forces basically continues the original model, each tank division includes 250 tanks, 50 armored vehicles and 100 trucks, the armored division includes 50 tanks, 200 armored combat vehicles and armored personnel carriers, 100 ordinary trucks and 50 large-caliber howitzers, and the mechanized infantry division is carried by 200 trucks and 3,000 motorcycles to carry the ordinary infantry division and all equipment. Of these armoured units, each division basically consists of five regiments and one battalion directly under the division.

As the vanguard of Guderian's tank division, the 201 and 202 tank regiments of the 103 tank regiments were spread out in a line, with about 10 meters between each tank, followed by 20 armored vehicles and 40 trucks full of infantry, which began to sweep the French depth like a big brush.

In the dimly lit fields, hundreds of steel chariots dragged billowing smoke and dust at a speed of 20 kilometers per hour. The big guys, painted with white iron crosses, paid no attention to the frustrated screams and frightened eyes of the French, and the criss-crossing French communication trenches, barbed wire, sandbags and even the corpses of the French could not stop their progress, and strings of dark red bullets continued to spray from the tank, like a whip with strong penetrating power lashing at everything near it. When a tank stopped, the French were even more frightened, because the small but close and accurate shells would soon send many French soldiers to heaven.

"Hey, brothers, there's a hill in front, and the French have such heavy machine-gun fire, it must be another artillery position!" A commander looked through the observation hole at the headlights, and in front of him there were small hills like abandoned graves, but inside were hiding the French who were still alive but were about to be killed, and the French cannons that made the German soldiers gnash their teeth.

Probably because the inside of the tank was so noisy, the other people did not hear the commander's voice at all, and he had to pat the gunner's head and repeat it loudly.

The gunner nodded, and then shoved a shell into the chamber.

There is usually a hole about half a meter wide and 1 meter long in front of those hills, which is the firing hole of the French cannons; Behind the hill was a long slope, from which the French pushed the artillery and dragged it out of the bunker. The shooting holes and slopes were covered by the French with a dry green concealed gauze tent, so it was difficult for German planes to spot them from the air, and it was even harder to drop a bomb than to draw the jackpot.

It should be because of the discovery of those small mountain bags, the German tanks have stopped, and there is no way for them to hit the target they want to hit while on the move, unless there are too many enemies in front of them to aim, otherwise the commanders will still choose to stop and fire. There were apparently quite a few French infantry positions and machine-gun forts near the hill, from which sporadic or cascading bullets flew from time to time.

Soon, the first tank slammed into the fire, and the flames that erupted from the barrel after the shell was fired were particularly clear in the night, and the white smoke was less conspicuous.

After the shell left the chamber, it hit the target 100 meters away in the blink of an eye, and visually the red trail had not disappeared The shell had exploded, as if a thick straight red ray on the tank had directly detonated the target; Aurally speaking, the shell is fired and exploded like a double cannon connected together, and it is easy to mistake people for thinking that the shell exploded in the barrel.

The tanks opened fire one after another, and the French positions not far away were suddenly shrouded in flames and shrapnel, and this scene was like a group of fierce men beating a poor man with one punch and one punch, and brilliant blood flowers suddenly bloomed on that person's face. Thankfully, it was now the German tanks who played the role of big men, and the poor French soldiers were beaten to the ground.

At first, there were French soldiers running out of those positions or hills, and the machine guns on the tanks quickly took out them. When everything calmed down, the tanks started again, while the German infantrymen in the armored vehicles and trucks behind jumped out of the compartments, their rifles in their hands, and they followed the tanks towards the hill.

When the tanks drove behind the hill and turned their guns sideways, the German infantry, under the cover of tank guns and machine guns, rushed into the hill, and there were often many remnants of French artillery inside, and most of them chose to surrender under the double pressure of German tanks and infantry. Of course, there are some diehards who use their weapons to resist, and at this time the German soldiers will simply evacuate here, and after the tanks have retreated as far as possible, they will shoot towards the passage behind the hill. After an earth-shattering explosion and a huge ball of fire, the diehards disappeared with their graves.

By the time the 201 and 202 Tank Regiments cleared a French artillery position, the tank units behind would overtake them as the new vanguard. Once the Panzer Division and Mechanics had caught up, the 201st and 202nd Tank Regiments had been largely cleared, and after handing over the French artillery positions and prisoners, the tanks would be fed, refueled, and continue to advance until they overtook the tank unit that had cleared another French artillery position in front of them and recharged to the front.

According to Guderian's tactical arrangement, his tank divisions advanced alternately, completely clearing the French artillery positions along the way, and ensuring the speed of advance and fuel supplies. By daybreak, his tank division advanced 50 kilometers, and the 1st Tank Division under Org's command advanced 45 kilometers using overall advance tactics, but the offensive was temporarily halted while his troops were refueled.

German follow-up troops continued to pass through the pontoon bridges on the Paris section of the Seine, and the German troops in other sections also began to build pontoon bridges to cross the river, and hundreds of thousands of German troops had already crossed the Seine by dawn. Xia Fei's proud work, the Seine defense line has been crushed by the German steel torrent. It was only one night between the German offensive and the breakthrough of the Seine line, and the order to retreat had not even had time to reach each of the defending troops.

The next morning, when the communiqué drawn up by Chentian was issued in the name of the Eighth Army, the whole world was shocked, and many peace-loving people condemned the extremely uncivilized behavior of the German army in destroying cultural relics and monuments.

After the Seine defense line was breached, the Kaiser gladly bestowed the title of "Royal Beast Legion" on Chentian's legion. From this day on, every officer and soldier of the East Prussian Legion was proud to be a member of this legion, and the main motif on the banner of the legion was changed to a beast with a hideous face, a beast with the domineering spirit of a tiger, the courage of a lion, the agility of a leopard, and the wisdom of a fox.