On April 11, 1940, the day after Operation Scythe began, the Wehrmacht continued their journey. More than a thousand Belgian defenders of the Eben-Emer Fortress had surrendered the night before, and they could not break through the defenses of 100 German supermen at great sacrifice until 9 p.m., when the Albert Canal, crossed by 1 German motorized rifle battalion, entered the Eben-Emel Fortress. So the defenders of the Eben-Emer fortress had a nervous breakdown and surrendered under the white flag - 100 Germans were no longer enough, and what could they fight with a few hundred more?

The battle for the Fronhofen Bridge also ended at 10 p.m. on April 10. The 2nd Battalion (Motorized Infantry Battalion) of Hitler's Banner Corps reached the west bank of the Albert Canal via the bridge at around 9:30 a.m., and then spent 30 minutes crushing several thousand Belgian infantry along with the 16th Assault Gun Company, which had arrived earlier.

Prior to this, an assault battery of the 3rd Motorized Rifle Division and an infantry battalion had arrived at the Feldwetzelt Bridge. Less than 100 supermen under the command of Lieutenant Altman together crushed another Belgian infantry brigade.

At this point, the Eben-Emel fortress, the Frönhofen Bridge and the Feldwezelt Bridge all fell into German hands. The road from the Dutch city of Maastricht to the west of the Albert Canal is completely unblocked. The Belgian line of Liège-Albert was broken through by the Germans on the first day of the battle!

The only unsuccessful "Battle of the Cannes Bridge" in this air assault operation also ended on the morning of April 11. After paying a "heavy price" of 22 dead and 26 wounded, Martin . The "Soldering Iron Group" under the command of Second Lieutenant Schakter finally captured the blown up bridge and repelled a Belgian infantry brigade (which actually retreated on its own initiative).

On the southern front of the "Liège-Albert" line, that is, east of the important town of Liège on the banks of the Maas River, the German 6th Army, led by two panzer divisions, also launched a devastating offensive. By 6 p.m. on 10 April, they had advanced 30 kilometers on Belgian soil, and the vanguard had reached the outskirts of Liège. The city, which had held off the Germans for more than 10 days in the last world war and bought valuable mobilization and deployment time for the Anglo-French forces, was abandoned in the early hours of April 11.

On the morning of the 11th, the vanguard of the German 6th Army marched into the city of Liège. Less than 100 kilometers northwest of Liege is the capital of Belgium, Brussels, and Antwerp, Belgium's largest port city, is less than 110 kilometers from Liege......

In the quiet church-like headquarters of the Allied Forces, Generals Gammelin and Verrick stood in front of a huge sand table and watched as their staff officers placed wooden plaques symbolizing the German army on the plain west of the Liège-Maas-Albert Canal.

Although the Coalition did not expect a decisive battle with the Germans on the Liège-Maas-Albert Canal line, Gamblerin and Verrick did not expect that the defensive line that had held the Germans for more than 10 days in the last world war would completely collapse within 24 hours.

"Lord (Admiral Verrick is not now Viscount Gort, but he has the title of Lord), how long do you think 100 km of plains will hold back the Germans?"

"2 days...... Or 3 days. Admiral Verrick estimated the time, "It's still too late, the Germans won't be able to approach Brussels until April 13 at the earliest, and our men will be there on April 12." ”

"It's only a day early." Gan Molin frowned. He had expected the Germans to be held back for 10-15 days on the Liège-Maas-Albert Canal so that the Anglo-French forces stationed in Belgium could calmly open their lines.

"This was a very crucial day, and it decided the defeat of Germany!" Admiral Verrick remains confident. "When we join forces with the Belgians, we will have 45-50 divisions, including 8 powerful tank brigades (3 in the 1st British Panzer Division, 1 in each of the 3 light mechanized divisions in the French, and 2 and a half brigades in the 1st Reserve Panzer Division, which were also treated as tank brigades by Verrick). These tank brigades had no less tanks than the German panzer divisions, and they were also qualitatively superior. ”

Gan Molin's brow was still furrowed. He understood what Verrick meant, which was to fight the Germans on the Brussels-Dale line. And it's also a battle against mechanized troops!

"But they have air superiority!" Admiral Gammelin said, "When will your Spitfire arrive?" ”

"It will definitely be in place before the battle begins." Admiral Verrick assured.

The British High Command was reluctant to send valuable Spitfires to France and Belgium - the Spitfires were complex in technology and never produced in high volumes. By April 1940, only a dozen squadrons of fighters in the RAF had been reequipped with Spitfires.

And these Spitfire fighters were responsible not only for the air defense of the British homeland, but also for the British fleet blocking the English Channel. Four other squadrons were deployed to the Onique Islands, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and Shetland Islands to counter the Fokker Zero fighters on German aircraft carriers that might break through from there.

However, the ongoing Battle of Belgium was also a matter of life, and if the Coalition forces were defeated here, the British mainland would be less than 100 kilometers away from the German front!

It is possible that Germany's two Bismarck-class battleships will enter active service in 1940, and the German Navy will have the strength to fight head-on with the British Royal Navy -- although the German Navy is still no match for the battleships, the advantages of the Luftwaffe and naval aviation are too obvious. The high-performance fighters they have (BF-109 and Fokker Zero) are conservatively estimated to be more than 1000 units! Moreover, there are a large number of high-performance bombers or attack aircraft such as the Ju88, Ju87, He-115 and Fokker 99, and once they cooperate with the battleships, it is difficult to say whether the British home fleet can maintain sea supremacy in the English Channel.

In this case, the British Empire had to think about desperate problems. Even before Chamberlain bowed and stepped down, the British Wartime Cabinet had already decided to send Spitfire fighters to the Belgian campaign, and at the same time to massively expand the army - if the Belgian campaign failed, the British Empire would probably have to rely on the army to defend it!

And Gammelin now has to think about more than just Belgium, he also has to pay attention to the northern flank of the Maginot line. If the Germans had made a breakthrough from the direction of Luxembourg and outflanked the rear of the "Maginot Line", it would have been fatal for France. His gaze turned to the empty flanks of the "Maginot Line". After the main forces of Army Group 1 moved west into Belgium, there was almost everywhere north of Metz, there were too many areas for the Germans to break through, and there were too few reserves in the hands of the French high command......

……

"General, the main force of the 1st Army Group of the British and French forces has been dispatched!"

At noon on April 11, Senior General Guderian, commander of the 1st Panzer Army, who was leading his troops through the Ardennes Forest, received news of the dispatch of the 1st Army Group of the British and French forces. At this time, he was sitting in an armored command vehicle, operating with the 1st Panzer Corps, the vanguard of the 19th Panzer Group. The commander of the 19th Panzer Corps, Admiral Reinhardt, was sitting next to him, holding the briefing he had just received.

The 1st Army Group of the British and French forces, with dozens of divisions, was of course mobilized in a mighty way, and it was impossible to hide from the German army, which had air superiority. Therefore, as soon as it was dispatched, it was detected by the Luftwaffe.

"Yes, great!" General Guderian laughed and nodded, "France is almost finished...... Those dozens of divisions cannot be moved, and if they do, there will inevitably be a gap in deployment, and now we will win. ”

Admiral Reinhardt smiled, "If you don't move, Belgium will surrender now." As soon as Belgium surrenders, the British may have to withdraw their troops and go back to defend their hometown, leaving the French army alone to fight is not a dead end? ”

"Hehe, it's all a death!" Guderian nodded approvingly, "I think the French actually died on the 'Maginot Line'...... Not only did it cost too much, but it now had too many troops to defend it, and not only did it have to defend the 'Maginot Line', but now it had to cover the flanks of the line. The 'Maginow' line of defense must be defended; Metz to the north of the line is facing Luxembourg and must be heavily guarded; Belgium must be saved, otherwise the British will not agree. In this way, how many troops can they have to put in Sedang? ”

At present, there are more than 100 French divisions that have completed training and equipment, of which 50 or 60 are either defending the "Maginot Line" or defending the flanks of the "Maginot Line", and there are more than 40 divisions that can be used for mobile combat.

On the German side, only 19 divisions were used to attract the attention of the defenders of the "Maginot Line", and the remaining nearly 120 divisions could be used in a mobile manner!

In addition, most of the more than forty divisions that the French could use for mobile combat were now transferred to Belgium with the very elite British Expeditionary Force. Gammelin and Joseph. George's forces that could be used to cover the middle lane were naturally pitiful.

Guderian looked at his watch, and it was 12:13 p.m. Berlin time on April 11.

"Where are the Großdeutsche Banner and the 3rd Panzer Division?" Guderian asked, "When will they get to the vicinity of Sedan?" ”

Admiral Reinhardt looked at the report in his hand, "At 10 o'clock we were already in Ettal, and there were still more than 30 kilometers to break through the Ardennes Valley, and about 50 kilometers to go from Sedan. ”

"They'll be able to fight the French tonight!" Guderian thought for a moment, "Then we can be airborne tomorrow morning...... Whether we can break through in one fell swoop will be known tomorrow morning. (To be continued.) )