French Prime Minister Paul. Renaud hung up the phone, he didn't understand why he was calling Churchill's fat man like that, and it made him feel ashamed - a French prime minister who had a nervous breakdown, like a child seeking comfort after being bullied, went to call the British prime minister.

Where is this what a proud French should do?

Thinking of this, the French prime minister took out a handkerchief to wipe away his tears, and then picked up the telephone receiver and dialed the phone of Commander-in-Chief Gammelin.

"Admiral, how's it going?" Renault's voice was hoarse, but his tone was cold. Although he was not as strong as Churchill, he was not stupid, and of course he could perceive the critical situation on the battlefield, while Gammelin was helpless as commander-in-chief.

Maybe it's time to consider a change of commander-in-chief! Renault thought to himself: General Wei Gang, commander-in-chief of the Eastern Army, was a suitable candidate, he had been Foch's chief of staff, and he was responsible for the last French victory over Germany.

"Chancellor, the Germans have broken through the Maas River Line," the Gammerin on the other end of the line did not know that Chancellor Reynaud was planning to replace him, "not only the 9th Army and the 2nd Army were at great risk, but even the troops fighting in Belgium were at risk of being surrounded, and the troops stationed on the Maginot Line were equally dangerous. ”

"So what do we do?" Paul. Renault asked.

"The 9th Army is as stable as possible," said Ganmalin, "and the 2nd Army is trying to counterattack and see if it can close the gap." At the same time, our troops in Belgium must be prepared to retreat by sea......"

"Retreat by sea? Using the Port of Antwerp? ”

"Not Antwerp, currently considering a retreat from Zeebrugge." Ganmalin said.

Zeebrugge is the second largest port in Belgium, next to the North Sea and closer to the UK than Antwerp. Compared to Dunkirk, 60 kilometers away, Zeebrugge was also closer to the Anglo-French front, making it easier to escape. However, Zeebrugge also had something that was not conducive to retreating, that is, it was too close to the German mainland, and the BF-109 could cover German bombers and torpedo attack aircraft to attack.

Renault thought for a moment and then asked, "Prime Minister Churchill will come to Paris tomorrow, do you want to talk to him about it?" ”

"It should be said," replied Gammelin, "that we could not withdraw without the ships of the British." In addition, the counterattack of the 2nd Army continued to provide air cover, but we did not have any aircraft that could fight the BF-109 and the Fokker Zero. ”

In fact, the French D.520 can be used against the BF-109 and the Fokker Zero - provided that the BF-109 and the Fokker Zero cannot play high and low. This allowed the D.520 to rely on agility against the BF-109 while diving at high against the Fokker Zero.

However, after losing hundreds of its best pilots in one day, the French Air Force would not be able to obtain a large number of D.520s at once, and it could only rely on Britain if it wanted to compete for air supremacy in the theater.

"So will the 2nd Army's counterattack work?" Paul. Renault asked what he was most concerned about.

Gan Malin was silent for a while, and then said in a firm tone: "Yes! The 2nd Army will definitely be able to complete the task...... They will fight a battle on the Marne! ”

Hanging up the phone, General Gan Molin, squinting his eyes at the huge military map, came over a while and began to dictate the order: "The Motherland is in danger!" The armies that could not advance would rather die in battle on the battlefield they held on, than give up every inch of French land entrusted to them to defend. Like all historical moments in the motherland, our slogan at this time is: Victory or death. We will win! ”

This was the order given by Marshal Chauffeur on the eve of the Battle of the Marne in September 1914. Gan Molin now sent these words to Joseph, commander-in-chief of the Northeast Front. General George.

Joseph. George was at this time greatly annoyed by the frustration of the 21st Army at the town of Stoney, where his Northeast Front was on the verge of collapse, and the 1st Army, the 7th Army, and the British Expeditionary Force deep into Belgium were already locked in a stalemate with the attacking Germans, and they were still at a disadvantage, and it was not easy to disengage. The 9th Army, which was in charge of the central defense, was being violently beaten by the Germans who had broken through the Maas River from the Sedan and Mans lines, and was about to be routed. If the Second Army's counterattack fails, the "miracle of the Marne" will turn into a "Sedan disaster" (referring to the Battle of Sedan in the Franco-Prussian War).

So after receiving the order of Gammelin, Joseph. George immediately called the commander of the 2nd Army, Henchiger, and first reprimanded him, and then promised that the 2nd and 4th Reserve Divisions would arrive at the front line as soon as possible to reinforce the 2nd Army.

Assured that reinforcements would arrive soon, General Hingchig immediately called Flavigny at the front and ordered him to launch a counterattack against the Sedang enemy on the same day (15 April). Ordered by strict order, Flavigny summoned his two division commanders to his headquarters and ordered them to attack at 2 p.m.

"General, this can't be!" Blocard, commander of the 3rd Reserve Panzer Division, immediately objected, "The Germans are far more powerful than we are, and they also have a kind of 'turretless tank' (referring to the No. 3 assault gun) that we did not know before, which is so strong that even our 47mm guns have a hard time penetrating its frontal armor." This means that it is much stronger than our CharB1 tank. And the Germans' No. 3 tank was equipped with a 47mm or 50mm cannon, which could penetrate the frontal armor of the CharB1 tank at a distance of 500 meters! ”

A few days after the launch of a large-scale German offensive, all sorts of exaggerated reports about German tanks began to reach the commanders of the French armored forces. What moved them the most were the No. 3 assault gun and the No. 3 tank, which was equipped with a 50mm gun of 42 times the caliber. The former's 80mm frontal armor could block the French 1000mm anti-tank guns at a distance of 47 meters. The latter's 50mm guns had already inflicted heavy losses on the Belgian battlefield (the S35's frontal armor was 56mm, which could not withstand a 50mm gun of 42 times the caliber using tungsten alloy warheads at a distance of 500 meters). Now the commander of the 3rd Reserve Panzer Division, Brocard, fears that the armor of the CharB1 heavy tank (60mm/45 degree angle) will not be able to withstand the attack of the German No. 3 tank.

"General, we should follow the original plan, use the CharB1 heavy tank for defense, and let the German tanks attack." Brocard suggested, "Because defense is more powerful than offense is the CharB1 heavy tank." ”

"No way!" Flavigny immediately dismissed Brocard's suggestion, "We have to attack, right today!" He turned his gaze to Betty, commander of the 3rd Motorized Rifle Division. General Buxu, "General Buxu, you come to command the 3rd Reserve Armored Division and the 3rd Motorized Infantry Division, and you must launch a counterattack before 14 o'clock today!" ”

……

"Marshal, the armored forces of the French seem to be concentrated south of Sedan!"

At 2 p.m. on the 15th (the French counterattack had not yet begun, but the Germans in front of the enemy at the town of Stoney had already detected the arrival of a large number of French tanks, and aerial reconnaissance had proved the same), Manstein had already found traces of the French armored forces in a large number of battle reports.

"Oh? Are they going to fight back? "The commander-in-chief of the Western Front, Marshal Khamestein, put on his reading glasses and walked to the map desk.

"Here," Manstein said, pointing to the Monte-Diu Heights on the map, "where yesterday morning the 1st Panzer Division fought a battle with dozens of French tanks and 1 infantry regiment, destroying dozens of light tanks. In the early hours of this morning, the 'Großdeutschland' flag team and a part of the 10th Panzer Division engaged the French army again in the town of Stoney. ”

"Stoney Town in our hands?" Hamannstein was well acquainted with the terrain around Sedan and naturally knew the importance of the Monte-Diu Plateau and the town of Stoney.

"It's in our hands right now!" "But the French mobilized a lot of tanks to retake it, and the CharB1 heavy tank was there." ”

"A reserve armored division?" Hamannstein frowned. Of course, he knew the "prestige" of the French reserve panzer division, and the CharB1 heavy tank was almost the calling card of the reserve panzer division (with the exception of the reserve panzer division, only four separate tank companies had such tanks).

"It should be them, probably 1 motorized infantry division and 1 infantry division......," Manstein thought for a moment, "perhaps the main forces of the French 2nd Army are coming towards Sedan." ”

"Erich, what do you think?" Hamanstein asked himself about the promising chief of staff (since Operation Scythe had already been successful, Manstein's next position would probably be that of Second Quartermaster).

"Annihilate the main force of the French 2nd Army!" "Then there will be nothing to stop the 12th Army from moving south to Verdun." ”

What kind of place Verdun is, even a layman who knows nothing about military affairs knows! Now the Germans only need to take there, not only can they cut off the communication between Metz and Paris, but also open the way for the German Panzer Corps to continue south along the Maas River. 6-70 km south of Verdun is Tulle, an important railway hub, and 100 km south of Tulle is another railway hub, Langele. As soon as these two places were captured by the Germans, the French troops stationed in the "Maginot Line" were completely surrounded! (To be continued.) )