The rationale for their argument was that it was impossible to prepare the large quantities of artillery and ammunition needed for strength with such a rapid degree. They were right, the 7th Panzer Division had only divisional artillery to follow, and each gun had only 50 rounds of ammunition, but, as the French could not have imagined and Li Mo had foreseen, the bombers of the entire Luftwaffe would be more than enough to make up for the lack of artillery power.

In the Battle of Sedan, the Luftwaffe concentrated 2 air corps and 1,500 aircraft in order to support Limer. (The Luftwaffe had a total of 5 air corps on the Western Front) from 7 a.m., first of all, wave after wave of Dornier 17 bombers, the targets of the bombing were mainly the communications systems of the French army.

The commander of the French 10th Army, Grandesard, soon discovered that the effectiveness of artillery fire was greatly reduced due to delays in communications. The 71st Division, which was on the march, was seriously affected, and the divisional telephone exchange was damaged. (Grandesa has to comfort the 71st Division, the seventh will not cross the river today!) The 55th Division complained to the commander of the 2nd Army, Hunter Zigger, that the air raids by enemy planes had seriously affected morale and asked for air support, and received the answer: they must be baptized by fire.

The lack of support of the Allied Air Force for the ground forces was due to a number of reasons, first of all, it was not until 09:40 on the morning of the 13th that the French Air Force received a request from the 1st Army Group to use the main forces of the Air Force in the direction of the 2nd Army. However, in the order, the urgency of the situation was not stated, except vaguely that the seventh could cross the river in the next 2-3 days. It was not until noon that the 2nd Army reported to the Air Force that there was an enemy tank group on the other side of the river, but due to the traditions of the First World War, the Air Force was asked not to attack. so as not to affect artillery observations.

On the part of the Royal Air Force, the number of front-line bombers dropped from 135 to 72 as a result of the attacks on the seventh feint direction two days ago. The Air Force Headquarters expressed concern to the commander of the front, General Balart, that if the losses continued at this rate, they might not have enough strength until the "critical" moment in the future. (And when is more critical than the 13th) the result is that Britain did not send bombers on the 13th. In terms of fighters, due to the divisional defense method of the French Air Force, the French army could only use a limited number of fighters in this area, and only 250 sorties were used in the Sedang direction, which is almost a drop in the bucket.

By noon. The intensity of the bombing suddenly increased. Hundreds of planes are constantly appearing in the sky. Immediately after that, the Stuka dive bomber appeared. They usually operate in groups of 3 aircraft, each of about 40 aircraft, at an altitude of 5,000 feet. Attack a target in groups of 2-3 at a time. The remaining planes attacked the targets missed by the 1st group. Group 3 operates independently. Attack independent or moving targets. The main objects of the bombardment were the artillery positions of the French army and the advancing French infantry. The French suffered serious losses in equipment and morale.

Li Mo, on the other side, observed all this with great encouragement in the telescope: 3 planes. 6, 9, more Stuka dive bombers appeared. They rushed vertically towards their targets, bombs falling one after another, huge smoke and dust covering the other side of the river, and the air waves even caused damage to Germany.

At this time, the enemy's shelling stopped, and the 7th Panzer Division received an order to advance. Buoyed by air superiority, the infantry and sappers quickly advanced to the river, preparing to cross the river. ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUNNERS ALSO QUICKLY PUSHED THE 88MM AND 37MM ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUNS TO THE RIVER. At this distance, even these guns were able to destroy the French fortifications (the protective steel plates for the fortifications were not delivered for a winter). 88MM GUNS CAN DESTROY TARGETS THAT EVEN THE HEAVIEST GUNS CAN'T DESTROY DUE TO THEIR HIGH MUZZLE VELOCITY.

At 3 p.m., the bombing of the Stuka dive bombers extended into depth, and the most critical moment of the French campaign arrived. Although both sides made detailed plans and complicated troop movements, at this time, the fate of France, Hitler's thousand-year-old empire and even Europe was only pinned on those few forcible soldiers, and their success or failure would affect the squad, platoon, company, and regiment. And then the whole campaign.

The crossing of Limer's right-flank Panzer Division was not smooth, and the division's right-flank 86th Infantry Regiment reached the river bank too late to take advantage of the Luftwaffe's cover and was suppressed by French fire. The 69th Infantry Regiment on the left flank of the division was also almost pinned down on the bank of the river by French artillery fire and was almost immobile. (The Luftwaffe offensive, although enormous, seemed to have left many French artillery positions intact here) Only a few rubber boats reached the opposite bank, and the Germans had the impression that a small counterattack by the French could drive several groups of Germans on the opposite bank down the river.

However, the French did not counterattack, on the contrary, with the cooperation of the 7th 88th gun, the Germans who crossed the river also captured several points of fire and held a firm foothold. However, due to the blockade by French fire, the 69th Regiment could not continue to reinforce the opposite bank. By night, the main forces of the 69th regiment remained in place.

In fact, the 7th Panzer Division was able to cross the river entirely on the initiative of its junior officers. The conductor on the west bank of the river was nothing more than a sergeant La Paz. He could only find two undamaged rubber boats crossing the river, each with only three people, and he managed to cram four of them, and he also carried a lot of blasting devices with hollow charges. For this purpose any excess weight was thrown away, including the sapper shovel - "there is no way to defend it, and if it is not successful, it will be a good thing." ”

No sooner had they crossed the river, La Paz's gang attacked a particularly threatening pillbox first, first using a hollow-charge blasting device to blow up the back wall of the pillbox, then throwing in several grenades, and the French in the pillbox surrendered. On the east bank of the river, there were bursts of cheers from the other sevenths. Buoyed by the victory, the 7th captured two more pillboxes and tore about 300 meters into the French line. At this time, the depth of French fire prevented them from moving forward, and they almost ran out of ammunition. La Paz himself returned to the river and waited for reinforcements. The new rubber boats were constantly shattered by French fire, and La Paz's company commander personally directed the launching of the new boats by the river.

Here, the French suddenly launched an attack, and at a critical moment, reinforcements from the 86th Regiment arrived and repelled the French. By the evening, six of La Paz's original 1,717 men had been killed and three wounded. Together with the later 86th Regiment, they occupied the heights near La Paz and reached their designated goal. La Paz was awarded the Cross on the same day, promoted to lieutenant.

As can be seen from the operation in La Paz, there were no covering troops between the French pillboxes at all. According to the regulations of the French army, there should be a side behind the protective bunkers between the bunkers. The French side does not mention this in the record, but we can probably guess that the poor discipline and morale of the French troops may have been at work again, and that the covering forces may have retreated without a fight under the attack of the Luftwaffe.

Of course, it may also be because the Seventh Panzer Army is advancing too fast, and many French troops have not yet reached the river bank. But we will soon see what the discipline and morale of the French army will play in the face of the attacks of the 5th and 7th Panzer Divisions. (To be continued......)