Since the Germans concentrated most of their air and artillery forces to support the 7th Panzer Division, the division crossed the river with ease. In the middle was the elite German infantry regiment "Greater Germany", whose personnel were selected from the entire German Army and had been trained with Limer's Panzer Corps since 18 October.

From April, the division also conducted, inter alia, special training for forced marches, river crossings and night battles in conditions of insufficient food. At noon, the assault units of the "Greater Germany" infantry regiment began to approach the river bank, and the French, despite the fact that the "Stuka" was still bombing, immediately began to fire at the 7th Panzer Division. The assault sappers of the 7th Panzer Division braved French shells to transport the rubber boats to the riverbank, but at the last moment they were suppressed by direct fire from the opposite bank.

The commander of the 7th Company, the vanguard of the river crossing, was killed on the riverbank. Once again, the 88 guns showed their might, they destroyed one fire point after another on the opposite bank. Under the cover of direct fire from anti-aircraft guns, the 7th Company was the first to successfully cross the river, and then the 6th Company followed, and everything was as accurate as the exercise.

"Stuka" also closely supported the attack of the 7th Panzer Division after crossing the river, and the bombs almost fell on the head of the 7th Panzer Division itself. Approaching the highway from Sedan to Dang Chali, the 6th Company captured the 17th batch of French prisoners. At the same time, the 7th Company came under heavy fire from a large pillbox with 6 perforations, and the Germans, after approaching the pillbox, used grenades to force the defenders to surrender. The 6th Company then captured another pillbox as well.

Subsequently, they surprised and joined up with the right flank of the 17th Panzer Division, Balk's 17th Infantry Regiment. By 5 p.m. The 6th Company occupied the heights of 1847, and 70 years ago, not far from here, Moltke the Elder commanded the Battle of Sedan.

Balk's 17th Infantry Regiment was tasked with following behind the "Greater Germany" Infantry Regiment and occupying the heights around Sedang and the road to the south. Until now, the main battles had been fought by the "Greater Germany" infantry regiments, and Balk had advanced with relative ease. Observing not far from the front, Limer was satisfied with the crossing of the river: the French artillery was clearly suppressed by the "Stuka", and the fortifications along the river bank were destroyed by direct fire from anti-aircraft guns, although the enemy terrain was favorable and our casualties were light.

Balk had the impression that the French artillery had fled. The cessation of French artillery fire was a great encouragement to the 7th Panzer Division: a few minutes ago. People are hiding in the trenches. Now, no one still thinks about hiding, everyone just thinks about moving forward. By 5:30 p.m., Balk's 17th Infantry Regiment had reached the road. Deep wedged into the main line of defense of the French army. And swept the banks of the river. By half past seven in the evening. The 17th Panzer Division already had six battalions in the West Bank and controlled a sizable landing site.

But now that Limer didn't have any anti-tank guns or tanks on the other side of the river, he had to worry all night about whether the French would launch a fierce counterattack. Bridging was given the highest priority. Half past four in the afternoon. A special bridging company chose a suitable site to begin its work, and 70 yards away there was still sporadic French fire on the other side of the river, and shells were regularly exploding around. In the sky, the fighters of the Luftwaffe did their best to prevent enemy aircraft from attacking. The sappers went into battle shirtless, and in a record 38 minutes they set up a light ferry, and before midnight, the 176-ton pontoon bridge was erected.

Considering that the 6th Panzer Division had suffered a lot of delays on the way in, Li Mo's order to the 6th Panzer Division was quite arduous. Li Mo ordered the division, after forcing the crossing, to take control of the high ground near Dangchali, and then turn to the west to "roll up" the French defenses. In fact, the task of this division was to open and cut the link between the 18th and 9th armies of France. However, Li Mo also realized that due to various delays, this division was quite skeptical about whether it could complete its mission.

However, Limer's German subordinates did not disappoint him, and the direct fire of tank guns and anti-aircraft guns was once again powerful. Although it was almost impossible to observe the French concealed good firing points in the setting sun, the German battle engineers managed to force their way through under heavy artillery fire. Due to the success of the 5th Panzer Division on the left flank, the resistance of the French army weakened quickly after the German crossing.

The Germans were busy all night delivering reinforcements to the West Bank. An infantry officer had the leisure to observe the French fortifications on the banks of the river, and was astonished to the fact that many of the firing points had not been completed. He sighed very much: these Frenchmen, they have 180 years, they have not even dug the foundation, and the Shenma fortifications have not been repaired for 180 years, so the purely romantic French did not want to repair it at all......

Records from the French side: The main ones to bear Limer's onslaught were the French 55th Infantry Division, a B-class reserve division. Despite the division's good terrain and strong artillery support, his extremely poorly trained reservists were no match for the German first-class fighters, especially with the support of "the whole Luftwaffe". Despite the stubborn resistance of many of the bunkers, most of the infantry cover units deployed between the bunkers fled without a fight under the Luftwaffe.

The 55th Infantry Division received reports that about 40 enemy troops south of Widley had crossed the river, were shelling, and had lost contact with the infantry regiment on our left flank (this link would never be established). Neither Hunterziger, who was present at the time, nor the commander of the French 170th Army, was worried: as long as all positions were held and an immediate counterattack was made, there would be no problem.

However, in the following hour, the situation took a sharp turn. An artillery company in Humon reported the sighting of German tanks in the vicinity, and two hours later, the commander of the 170th Army B Artillery Group in Burson reported to the corps artillery commander Penceley that fierce fighting had broken out around his headquarters, and that if he did not retreat, he would be surrounded within 5 minutes and asked to retreat. His request was granted.

Penceley then also reported that German tanks had been spotted near his headquarters and not only retreated from his headquarters, but also ordered the artillery group to retreat. At this time, Limer did not have a single tank on the west bank, and Penceley's headquarters was more than 8 kilometers from the nearest German. The two artillery commanders were clearly primarily responsible for the collapse of the Sedan area.

Three hours after the German crossing of the river, the officers and men of the 55th Division finally could not bear it: on the road were groups of deserters, without weapons, and some people shouted all the way that the German tanks had reached Bulsun. Artillery was also mixed in with it. These people were almost all in a state of hysteria, and the commanders at all levels, whether real or not, received the order to retreat from somewhere.

The collapse of the French army at Sedan undoubtedly began with artillery, which historically always enjoyed a high status in France. As long as the artillery can hold out, the infantry will not retreat. The German breakthrough at Verdun in 1916 also began with a B-class division, but at that time the French artillery did not retreat, and the breakthrough was then blocked by a resolute counterattack by infantry. The Luftwaffe attack was allowed to work, but by contrast, the Polish artillery was almost always sacrificed on the ground, and the French were apparently demoralized by the French armed forces after the First World War.

…… (To be continued......)

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