Suburbs of Paris, Vincen, General Headquarters of the Allied Forces.

News of the appearance of German armoured units near Sedan and the German parachute west of the Sedan-Maas River reached the ears of Gammelin at about the same time. These two pieces of news made him a little dumbfounded - the Germans did not break through from the south of Luxembourg, where transportation was very convenient, but from the Ardennes Forest!

"Your Excellency Commander-in-Chief, we have only 1 division on the Sedan-Maas line...... In the case of an enemy on the belly and back, you can only temporarily retreat to the fortress. So the Sedan-Maas line has actually been breached. ”

Joseph who was urgently summoned to Vincen. Admiral George reported the latest battle situation to Gammelin in a tone that was on the verge of crying.

The French 2nd Army, which had been deployed along the Sedan-Maas River, had just been moved to the Metz fortification area in case the Germans broke through from Luxembourg-southern Belgium (just south of the Ardennes Forest, the terrain was relatively flat and easily accessible). The 2nd Army was replaced by several divisions of the French 9th Army, all of which were second-line troops, lacking in combat effectiveness and too few troops. In the original history, the airdropped French army could not have resisted without the 1st Airborne Chasseur Division, let alone now.

The Sedan-Maas line was breached on the 12th, and a small number of French troops who had not been wiped out took refuge in the fortress of Sedan. However, the French army was still a little stronger than the Belgian army, and they at least blew up several bridges over the Maas River in time.

However, this could not resist the pace of the German army, and the 1st Panzer Division under the 19th Panzer Army and the SS "Greater Germany" flag team, the 15th Panzer Division under the 7th Panzer Army (the division commander was Rommel) and the SS "Reich" flag team, with the cooperation of the airborne troops, built a pontoon bridge on the afternoon of the 12th. Now the armored forces have begun to cross the river in a mighty way!

"Your Excellency Commander-in-Chief, according to the reconnaissance of the Air Force, the Germans have erected two pontoon bridges over the Maas River." Joseph. Admiral George went on to report, "A large number of tanks and armored vehicles are crossing the river, and it is expected that they will soon attack to the south or north!" ”

"Admiral George, how are we going to stop them?" British Army General Verrick hurriedly interjected, "Is it time to send reserves to plug the gap?" ”

"We have a lot of reserves, 3 million (most of them are in training), and the 6th Army is ready to move (the 6th Army, which originally belonged to the 3rd Army Group) a few days ago, and the headquarters withdrew to Paris to take over the 6 divisions under the jurisdiction of the Supreme High Command), and it will leave today (13th) evening. ”

Among the six divisions of the 6th Army were the 2nd Reserve Panzer Division and the 3rd Reserve Panzer Division. The two reserve armoured divisions had a total of 8 tank battalions (4 each of the light and heavy tank battalions), with a total of 316 tanks at full strength. Although only as large as one German panzer division, these two French reserve armoured divisions had a powerful charB1 heavy tank, with 68 units in each division at full strength.

Outwardly, this huge tank with 1 75mm gun and 1 47mm gun could easily defeat any German tank, which is where Admiral Ganmarin's confidence lies.

"Also, the 1st Reserve Panzer Division will also be transferred from the 1st Army to the 9th Army," General Ganmalin squeezed out a smile, "and then there will be 3 strong reserve armoured divisions to fight against the German Panzer forces that have broken through from the Sedan-Maas River." ”

"3 Reserve Panzer Divisions...... "Joseph Brown". George did the math for a moment, "With 204 charB1 heavy tanks and 270 H39 tanks at full strength, even if only 80% of the vehicles can be driven, it will be enough to deal with the Germans." But we need time to mobilize our troops, and now that Germany has air supremacy, it is bombarding our railway lines indiscriminately. ”

Some time before, the main task of the Luftwaffe and naval aviation was to weaken the French Air Force. Therefore, the airfields are mainly bombed, and the railways and roads are not bombed very much. However, from April 12, German planes began to bomb the railways in France, which caused great inconvenience to the movement of French troops.

Because the level of motorized infantry in France was not high, there were only a small number of motorized infantry divisions, and they had already been put into the Belgian battlefield, so they could not be transferred to the line of the Sedan-Maas River in a short time.

So Gammelin and Joseph. George was only able to draw a few infantry divisions to accompany the three reserve armored divisions with a small number of motorized infantry (only 1 battalion). And the French infantry divisions were very slow to move when they no longer relied on the railroad for maneuvering.

"Your Excellency Commander-in-Chief, Mr. Lord," said Joseph. "In order to gain time, we had to delay the German movement," George said. Otherwise, they will cause enough damage before our reserve divisions are in place, and perhaps it will affect the Battle of Belgium. ”

"But how are we going to delay their movements?" Admiral Verrick asked.

"With a bomber!" Joseph. George replied, "Throw in enough 'Blenheim' bombers and 'Breguet' attack aircraft (Bre.690 series) to blow up the pontoon bridge built by the Germans over the Maas River at all costs." ”

Admiral Verrick knew it was the only way!

"But how did the Germans BF-109 and Fokker Zero deal with it?" Admiral Verrick asked again.

These two fighters are about to become the heart of the British Empire, and all the aircraft manufacturers in Britain and the United States that can produce fighter jets are now receiving research and development orders from the British Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy - Britain needs fighters that can restrain the BF-109 and Fokker Zero!

Admiral Ganmalin said, "Then send enough Ms.406, Hurricane, H-75 and Spitfire!" ”

Admiral Verrick nodded silently, knowing that there would be enough Ms. 406, Hurricane, H-75, Blenheim bomber, and Breguet attack aircraft. But there will be no Spitfires like baby bumps.

Because according to the order of the RAF Fighter Command, the "Spitfire" squadron transferred from Britain (there are only 10 in total) can only be used on the Belgian battlefield!

In the early morning of 14 April, a group of Ms. 406, Hurricane, H-75, Blenheim bombers, and Breguet attack planes roared to the Sedan-Maas battlefield.

Almost at the same time, more than 200 BF-109 and Fokker Zero fighters also took off from airfields in Germany and arrived over the Maas River. The fierce aerial dogfight, which lasted all day, was grandly staged to the accompaniment of the roar of artillery fire on the ground and the sound of bombs exploding.

"Brothers, today is our holiday!" Heinz. Lieutenant Barr's cheers reached Rudolph. In Hersman's headphones, "Give me a good beat, hit hard!" Whoever goes home empty-handed, don't say I'm Heinz. Barr's men! ”

Rudolph. Hersmann, however, looked apprehensively at the pontoon bridge over the Maas River below. I saw that anti-aircraft gun positions had been set up on both sides of the pontoon bridge, and about 100 anti-aircraft guns of various calibers were waiting for them with their muzzles raised.

It seems that quite a few pilots will die here today! Rudolf, who killed two French pilots with his own hands yesterday (the pilot and the mechanics on the downed Breguet plane yesterday were not able to parachute). Hersmann took a breath and drove his Fokker Zero to Heinz. Barr's plane, which began to pull upwards, took up a favorable position for attack.

While the German planes began to climb, the British and French fighters also began to increase their altitude. The Fokker Zero is not a fighter with excellent high-altitude performance and dive performance, but its strength lies in range and flexibility at low and medium altitudes. Therefore, the Fokker Zero did not climb too high, reaching an altitude of 5000 meters and began to circle.

"The BF-109 will dive first to attack, breaking up the enemy's formation," said Heinz. Barr's voice from Rudolph. Hirschman's headset rang, "We'll follow up and fight Ms. 406 and the Hurricane fighters, wrapping them around as much as we can and knocking them all out, understand?" ”

Today, the BF-109 and the Fokker Zero are working together, and the BF-109 is responsible for the dive attack, using the "hit and leave" tactic to attack the opponent's group. The Falk Zero's mission is to follow BF-109 and fight Hurricane, H-Ker, and Ms. 406 who have been scattered in formation. As long as it can entangle them, the BF-109 will be able to shoot down the Blenheim bombers and Breguet attack aircraft in the second and third waves of dive attacks.

At this time, the BF-109 group, which had climbed higher, had already begun to roar down, and Lieutenant Barr hurriedly ordered: "Twin aircraft formation, keep up with BF-109, and then find enemy fighters to fight, remember to leave the bombers to BF-109......"

The BF-109, which has excellent high-altitude performance and diving performance, and the Fokker Zero-style play, which has excellent flexibility at medium and low altitudes, was explored as early as 39. After the "air battle in France" in the past few months 40 years, not only the German fighter pilots have completely mastered this "high and low combination," but even the British and French pilots have also known how powerful it is. As soon as they saw BF-109 swooping down, they knew something was wrong. The originally well-organized formation was disbanded in an instant, turning into hundreds of three-plane formations, which were scattered at high altitude.

However, unlike the situation encountered in the past, today, whether it is the Hurricane, H-Gram or Ms.406, in the face of the BF-109 and Fokker Zero, which are superior to them, they do not take the action of diving and evading, but choose to fight bravely. It seems that they wanted to cover the bombers and attack aircraft at their own sacrifice to blow up two pontoon bridges over the Maas River.

One of the bloodiest and fiercest air battles ever fought has begun! (To be continued.) )