At 5:40 p.m. on April 21, 1940, another round of howitzer bombardment came to an end. Rudolph. Ribbentrop stretched out his neck from a foxhole he had dug with his own hands, and looked ahead, as a gust of sea breeze from the English Channel swept by, blowing away the smoke that filled the battlefield. The battlefield was littered with the wreckage of tanks, mostly British cruisers and French H35 light tanks. Both tanks had thin armor and could not withstand the 42 x 50mm guns of the German No. 3 tank, and suffered heavy losses in today's battle. There are also some larger French S35 heavy tanks, although this tank is called heavy, but the armor can not be compared with the B1 heavy tank, the thickest armor steel in the front is only 56mm thick, and it can not withstand the 50mm gun of the No. 3 tank, so it was also destroyed in today's tank battle.

The German tanks also suffered losses, and thirty or forty No. 3 and No. 4 were destroyed or abandoned, lying on the battlefield in a way that seemed to tell the cruelty of today's tank encounter.

Rudolph. Ribbentrop estimated that his unit must have blocked the main force of the Anglo-French army in Belgium in Arras!

"Tanks! Enemy tanks are coming! ”

I don't know who suddenly shouted, and then Rudolph. Ribbentrop heard the roar of the motors and the crushing of the tracks. Compared to the previous times, this time he heard a louder voice, obviously a "big guy" came up.

After a few more minutes, the rattling of motors and tracks became louder and louder, and dozens of slow-moving "big" tanks led the infantry into Rudolph's sight.

What kind of tank is this? Rudolph. Ribbentrop suddenly saw a large tank that he had not seen before. The wide body carried a small turret, and on the turret was mounted a 37mm or 40mm gun. The small barrel and the huge body shape look a little out of proportion. Moreover, these large tanks that are out of proportion drive very slowly, at most a dozen kilometers per hour.

Rommel, the commander of the 7th Panzer Division, put down the binoculars in his hand and pointed to the tanks that were slowly moving towards his forward position in the distance. Rear Admiral Speidar (who was Hersmann's former adjutant) said: "Hans, here comes another thick-skinned tank. ”

It was actually the British Matilda 2 tank that was approaching. Although Rommel did not know the technical data of this tank. But looking at its size, speed and the small cannon, you can see that this tank is big and heavy, and the weight of the whole body is on the "skin".

"Lieutenant General, I'm afraid tank No. 3 can't deal with it." Hans. Specdar also agreed with Rommel. Wouldn't it be useless for such a big tank, and if it drove so slowly and had a small caliber of artillery, it would be useless to have no thick skin?

"Do you want to transfer a few No. 4F models up?" Hans. Specdar then suggested, "Or use an 88mm gun to deal with it." ”

Each armored regiment of Type 4F has only half a company, and it is reluctant to use it in peacetime, and only when it encounters a thick-skinned tank like the B1 or S35, it is pulled out and used. The 88mm anti-aircraft gun is usually the establishment of the air defense force of the air force, and it is temporarily assigned to various units in wartime. Now operating with the 7th Panzer Division is an anti-aircraft battalion of anti-aircraft artillery of the Air Defense Corps, armed with 88mm anti-aircraft guns.

"First use 88mm anti-aircraft guns," Rommel thought for a moment, and then said, "Type 4F is also dispatched, and when the 88mm repels these thick-skinned tanks, let the 1st Battalion of the 25th Panzer Regiment (Type F is usually incorporated into 1 battalion and 1 company of each panzer regiment) pursue...... Let the infantry of the 'Greater Germany' flag team cooperate in the attack. If possible, get me one of those thick-skinned tanks back. ”

Rommel had a hunch that the kind of thick-skinned tank on the other side might become a problem for the German armored forces in the future, and it was better to capture a few of them now.

"Yes, Lieutenant General." Hans. Spiral replied.

……

"Flotilla! Rudolph, look at the direction of 9 o'clock and spot the unidentified fleet! You take someone to see it. ”

At 6:20 p.m., Rudolfin, flying along the Belgian-Dutch coastline. Feng. Second Lieutenant Heinsberg-Hersmann suddenly heard the voice of the squadron leader, Second Lieutenant Novotny, from his headphones - their original squadron leader, Lieutenant Barr, had been unlucky yesterday and was shot down by a British Spitfire over Bruges, parachuted into Dutch territory, and was now being seized by the Netherlands.

As a result, the post of squadron leader became vacant, so one of the two officers in the squadron, Novotny and Hirschmann Jr., had to be elected. Both are ensigns, and they are about the same age, and of course Hirschman Jr. wins, but the number of shots shot down is Novotni. Moreover, Novotny had already become the captain of the four-plane formation (on April 18), so Novotny became the squadron leader. Now, Novotny is flying with his squadron from Dunkirk (on an escort mission) to the Wilhelmshaven base, just off the coast of Belgium (they are going to fly off the Belgian coast and then back to Wilhelmshaven along the Dutch coast).

"Hersman received."

Rudolph. Feng. Heinsberg-Hersmann, the boy, did not turn against Novotny because of the failure of the squadron leader competition, and the two were still good friends.

"All of Team 2, follow me." Rudolph. Hersman gave orders to his three Fokker Zeros.

He now has the qualifications to command a four-plane formation. Since April 10, he has shot down three coalition aircraft, and although he is still far from being an ace pilot, he is still the third in the entire squadron (since April 10, the first squadron has shot down Novotny, the second is Lieutenant Barr, and the third is Hersman Jr.).

Piloting his Fokker Zero, Hersman Jr. led the other three wingmen and soon approached the flotilla in the distance. This is not an ordinary fleet, but a fleet of two cruisers and seven or eight destroyers, which is rapidly moving south.

"Walter, found the enemy fleet, there were 2 cruisers and 8 destroyers......" Rudolph. Hersman had just finished reporting his findings when he heard the wingman's voice coming from his headphones.

"Enemy planes! Spot enemy aircraft! At 10 o'clock, the height is at least 2000, the number is 3. ”

Little Hersman turned his head to look and saw three small planes painted in ocean gray approaching his side as they climbed.

"It's 3 Spitfires, now we have a job to do!" Little Hesman shouted, "Everyone, climb with me!" ”

After several months of confrontation, the British also touched some of the characteristics of the Fokker Zero. The range of such aircraft is large, and there is nothing to say about the flexibility at medium and low altitudes, so whoever gets entangled in them should pray to God. However, this kind of aircraft is not impossible to deal with, and the way to deal with it is to seize the high-altitude position and then dive -- although the Fokker Zero uses an air-cooled engine produced in Germany, and the quality is much better than that of the Japanese product, it is still unsatisfactory in terms of high-altitude performance (unless there is turbocharging, the high-altitude performance of the air-cooled engine is not very good).

However, it is not easy to compete with the Fokker Zero for a high-altitude position, because the Fokker Zero has a good climbing performance. Unless it is an ambush at a high altitude in advance, even the Spitfire can't grab the zero.

Moreover, the pilots of the Fokker Zero have experience in simulated air combat with the BF-109, and they also know what the shortcomings of the aircraft they fly. Therefore, when there is no cover for the BF-109 at high altitude, they will generally seize the high altitude immediately after encountering enemy aircraft, and then launch a dive attack first.

Hirschman Jr. had good luck today, as none of the ships in the British destroyer patrol formation had anti-aircraft search radars, so the Spitfires on direct cover duty did not seize the high-altitude position in advance. Instead, Hirschman Jr. took the lead and earned him a fourth result.

……

"Found it at 6:20?"

When news of the discovery of the British patrol formation sailing off the coast of Belgium reached Berlin, Hersmann was attending a meeting of the High Command at 73 Wilhelmstrasse. Today's meeting of the High Command was to discuss the matter of attracting Italy and Japan to join forces.

Not long after the meeting began, Hersmann's adjutant Schnetz sent an urgent report from the command of naval aviation.

"What's wrong?" Adolph. Hitler asked.

"Leader, the British are taking advantage of the night to withdraw their troops." Hersman said with a frown. "There are 10 cruisers and destroyers on their way to Belgian ports."

"Can we stop it?" Schleicher asked. His question was not for Hersman, but for Marshal Raeder, who was present at the meeting.

"We have submarines there," Mr. Raeder said, "but it's hard to say if we can make a difference." In addition, the capital ship will be dispatched......"

Submarine attack cruisers and destroyers were not very reliable, and the submarines that Dönitz sent off the coast of Belgium did not carry a few torpedoes, they were all taken out to lay mines to reconnoiter the enemy.

"The capital ship will definitely not move," Hersman did not want to risk with the capital ship, "tomorrow planes will be arranged to bomb Belgian ports...... And the 1st Panzer Army, the 6th Army, and the 18th Army will all intensify their attacks, so not many people will escape. ”

Hirschman said this, but he knew in his heart that there would definitely be a lot of British people escaping this time! More than 200,000 is impossible, but it is not certain to make a discount and run away with 100,000, but he has nothing to do now.

"It's not a problem to run away from tens of thousands of British," Hersman said with a frown, as he suddenly thought of the French fleet, "and now I'm afraid that the British will poison the French fleet!" (To be continued.) )