Chapter 302: Autumn Wind Sweeps Away Fallen Leaves (Part I)

On June 3, 1940, the Luftwaffe launched a heavy bombardment of French airfields and rear. Limer's Army Group B was the first to attack on the right flank, and on the same day, Flender's 7th Panzer Division crossed the Somme first and the Flandish Division cut off the French 10th Army defending the Abweville-Amiens line, allowing the rest of the German divisions to advance through this gap.

On June 8, 1940, the Flemish division reached the banks of the Seine. Flender turned north again, and rushed 50 miles in one go, aiming for the coastline. It reached its destination that night, cutting off the retreat of the French 9th Army and the British 51st Division, which were retreating towards the coast.

These troops were forced to surrender to Flender. After the B Army launched an attack, the left flank of the Rundstet A Army also launched a river crossing offensive on the Aisne River, that night, the 1st Armored Division of the 15th Panzer Corps forced the Aisne River, Limer's corps defeated the French armored forces, broke through the right flank of the French 6th Army, after that, Limer waved his army south, all the way straight into the land of no man.

Hordes of French prisoners threw their guns at the Germans and crushed them under the tanks. Weygand later wrote with a heavy heart that "the most shocking thing about him was that the German tanks and planes had caused fear in the French soldiers." This is one of the greatest successes of the German army."

On June 12, 1940, Limer's 15th Panzer Corps reached the Swiss border town of Pantaril, cutting off the retreat of French troops from the Maginot Line to Switzerland. Since the forced crossing of the Aisne River, Limer's 15th Panzer Corps has driven more than 400 kilometers in 10 days, capturing as many as 250,000 French troops. Created a spectacle in the history of warfare.

The German armored clusters drove straight in, and their power and speed were unheard of in the history of warfare. France was in a panic. In the early morning of June 13, French Prime Minister Renaud called British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in frustration and said:

"I'm afraid we're going to lose this battle."

Churchill was stunned and replied:

"I simply don't understand that an attack with a large number of rapid armored units would cause such a drastic change."

In order to further find out the truth of the war situation and to cheer up the already desperate French leaders, Churchill flew from London to Paris on June 14. Churchill recalled, "Almost as soon as he saw French Prime Minister Renaud and Commander-in-Chief of the Anglo-French forces, he immediately realised that the situation was much worse than he had imagined - every one of them had a gray face." ”

Churchill asked Gunmalin, "Where are the strategic reserves?" Gammelin shook his head, shrugged his shoulders and said, "There are no strategic reserves," Churchill listened. Simply dumbfounded.

The speed of advance of Li Mo's 15th Panzer Army not only caught the coalition forces by surprise. It also unnerved the German high command, and Kleist twice ordered Limer to halt his advance, but he did not hesitate to resign to resist. After the ban was lifted, he was even faster than before. So much so that on the way, he encountered a group of French soldiers who were scattered. They didn't want to delay getting out of the car to go to the prisoners. Shout only with a megaphone:

"We don't have time to take you prisoner, lay down your arms and get off the road. so as not to get in the way. ”

On June 16, Li Mo urged his three armored divisions to move westward. On July 20, Limer swept past Amiens, near Abbeville. At this time, the German high command did not expect that the battle in France would go so smoothly, so it did not know how to deploy troops for a while. It was not until the next day that they gave the order to the tank troops: to advance north from Abbeville, with the goal of breaking through the French Weygand Line.

Regarding the order of the German High Command to send a telegram directly to Limer's front-line troops, Keitel thought so, and hurriedly called to ask Limer what was going on, and Limer said:

"There is no suspicion in employing people, and there is no need to suspect people."

As for the High Command, of course, Li Mo knew that it was Hitler who was presiding, and Celtic, the chief of the General Staff, must have also participated, in order to prevent such a situation from occurring in the future.

Li Mo immediately issued an order to the whole army and the troops, and the orders of the troops were all from his direct superiors, not from the Ministry of Defense and the High Command, and without the orders issued by Li Mo from the Ministry of Defense and the High Command, the front-line commanders were not allowed to carry them out, otherwise military law would be involved.

After Remer readjusted his deployment, he immediately decided: the 1st Tank Division would advance to Calais; The 2nd Tank Division advanced towards Boulogne. Li Mo knew very well that the offensive line formed by Army Group A, which he was in, from Sedan to the west coast of France, had cut off the retreat of the French army from the north to the south.

Army Group B in North Bánk had captured the Netherlands and eastern Belgium, and the left flank of the main force of more than 700,000 British and French troops was actually under deep encirclement by the Germans.

From the morning of June 23 to 24, Limer's armor troops occupied Boulogne and Calais. On the afternoon of the 24th, Limer's 5th Panzer Corps had reached Graflin, and Reinhardt's 41st Panzer Corps, on its right flank, had also reached the line of the Eyre-St. Ommel-Graflin Canal. The two armored brigades only needed to work hard to directly capture the Weigang defensive line, and dozens of infantry divisions were also following in a steady stream. Li Mo and the others were full of ambition and determined to lead their armored forces to fight another encirclement and annihilation battle, completely annihilating hundreds of thousands of British and French troops in the coastal area.

In the first phase of the operation, from the breakthrough to the retreat from Dunkirk, the Allies lost 61 divisions, almost half of their total strength three weeks earlier. The French lost their most elite troops, almost all of their motorized transports and armored vehicles, as well as half of their modern artillery, and 3 lightly armoured, 1 heavily armoured, 2 cavalry and 24 infantry divisions were wiped out. Now several of the French armies on the Northern Front have been wiped out, and although most of France, including 90 percent of the territory south of the Somme, Eyre and Maginot lines, is still in its own hands, the French commander-in-chief, General Weygand, has only 60 divisions left, and most of these troops are poorly combat, poorly equipped, and do not have sufficient means of transport.

It was to face off against the reorganized German 150 elite divisions, which was obviously a hopeless battle, and on June 25, the second phase of the attack was first launched by Army Group B in the coastal area, and the French fought valiantly and tenaciously in some places, and the French 7th Army Corps between Amiens and Perron successfully resisted the attack of the 4 tank divisions of the 15th Panzer Army of Kleist.

The British 51st, 31st and 40th French Infantry Divisions, and the 2nd and 5th Cavalry Divisions were forced into the sea and the vast estuary of the Seine. These Anglo-French units were in disarray surrounded by the German 5th and 7th Panzer Divisions at Saint-Valéry between Duep and Le Havre. Inside the small fishing port of Angko. On 12 July, these troops, numbering more than 40,000, surrendered to Flender with no hope of rescue.

…… (To be continued......)