Chapter Forty-Nine: George Smith Patton
According to the scouts, more than 10,000 French soldiers were moving northeast of Paris, that is, the secret of the Berlin regiment's raid on Paris had been discovered by the French, and these more than 10,000 French soldiers were obviously the Berlin regiment defending the direction of the city of Saint-Denis.
Hitler, after consultation with the commanders and chief of staff of the other two regiments, decided to return all the men of the infantry regiment to Hedu so that they could consolidate the base of Hedu, and the Berlin regiment and the cavalry regiment took advantage of their speed and maneuverability to bypass the French defending northeast and attack Paris from other directions.
In the early morning, Hitler and his team finally entered the suburbs of Paris, and through the crisp morning mist, the spire of the Eiffel Tower could already be seen in the distance!
All the German soldiers were thrilled to make history by the fact that for the second time since the Franco-Prussian War, regular troops from abroad entered Paris, France.
This was Hitler's second visit to Paris, and the circumstances were very different, the first time he led less than ten men, who had sneaked in, but this time, in just three years, he led a few thousand men to attack Paris!
"After attacking Paris, go to the Louvre and take more pictures for Empress Augusta Victoria." Hitler remembered that Victor's mother's wish was to come to the Louvre.
Now the German army was only a few kilometers from the center of Paris, and the infantry marched in no more than two hours!
At present, it has been proved that there are more than 20,000 defenders in Paris and its vicinity, of which 10,000 are in the northeast of Paris, and the remaining 10,000 are stationed in Paris and nearby fortresses, more than 2,000 defenders in the center of Paris, and about 4,000 American expeditionary forces are being trained.
Hitler did not have much idea at the moment, he only wanted to attack the center of Paris, and as long as he could attack the center of Paris, it would certainly shock the French government and boost the will of the German people to fight.
Hitler's heart can be described as proud and full of ambition.
However, in the sunlit woods, the sound of machine-gun fire suddenly sounded.
......The Berlin regiment and cavalry regiment, which were marching, were stunned by the sudden fire for dozens of seconds before reacting, and the soldiers in the Berlin regiment's truck jumped out of the truck and organized a counterattack under the command of the officers.
In the forest, countless French Renault tanks suddenly appeared, and a large number of soldiers in American military uniforms appeared!
How can it be?
Hitler couldn't believe it, he knew that there were more than 4,000 American soldiers in the center of Paris, but the information from the Army Intelligence Bureau showed that these more than 4,000 American soldiers had only landed for a month and were being trained by an American lieutenant colonel named George Smith Patton, and their combat effectiveness should not be high, so Hitler did not pay attention to the more than 4,000 American soldiers in the center of Paris.
But how did these American soldiers go to the outskirts to ambush?
Moreover, both the cavalry regiment and the Berlin regiment had sent scout troops beforehand, and it had already been proved that there were no enemy troops on the march, so why did the enemy suddenly appear again?
Hitler was puzzled, but a minute later Hitler reacted, and now what he needed to do was not to think about how the enemy could suddenly come out, but to organize the troops to counterattack and retreat, and he ordered: "Put the tanks in front, the Berlin regiment under the command of the company commanders to find favorable terrain for defense, and the cavalry regiment retreats to the rear and strikes at both flanks of the enemy." ”
His order was informed by the heralds and staff officers to the battalions and companies, the Berlin regiment was elite, moved quickly, and quickly drove the few tanks in the direction of the ambush, the armor of the German tanks was very thick, not to mention rifle bullets, even artillery shells could not penetrate, and the machine guns equipped with French Renault tanks had no effect on German tanks.
The Mauser anti-tank rifles stored in the companies of the Berlin regiment were also quickly distributed to the soldiers, and the casualties were suddenly reduced.
"I don't know how many enemies there are, whether they are ambushed by our troops in other directions, this situation is not right, it is better to withdraw early."
Hitler thought to himself, when the sudden appearance of American soldiers disrupted his plans, and made him suspect that his plan to raid Paris had been discovered, and since the American expeditionary force had attacked him, would the rest of the French soldiers also attack him?
Hitler became cautious: "The first battalion withdrew to Hedu Town first, and the second battalion and the third battalion retreated slowly. ”
Closing his eyes with regret, he did not expect that he was discovered by the enemy on his march, which meant that he had no chance to attack Paris.
The cavalry regiment covered the reconnaissance nearby, and the Berlin regiment took the few tanks as a fortress, allowing the heavy weapons and the wounded to go first, and after intercepting the enemy for half an hour, the soldiers boarded cars, or drove motorcycles and bicycles, abandoned their positions and ran.
Hitler also sighed, twisted his horse's head, and kept up with the large army.
In the American unit, Colonel Patton scolded: "Haha, isn't Hitler allegedly the German sword?" Why did you run away, everyone chased me and killed these German boys. ”
Yes, it was the newly formed tank brigade of the American Expeditionary Force, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Patton, with six companies of tank troops under the auspices of the American Expeditionary Force.
Yesterday George Patton had heard that the Germans had defeated 20,000 reinforcements led by Marshal Foch at the town of River, and that, according to the Ministry of Intelligence, there were signs of an enemy in the city of Saint-Denis, so the French sent more than 10,000 men to defend that direction.
Patton felt that it was not that simple, that the Germans might not be trying to occupy the city of Saint-Denis, and that he had heard of Hitler in the streets of Paris, who had previously attacked Paris by replacing the French flag on the Eiffel Tower with a German flag.
Hitler was a man with a wild mind, and since there was a first time, there might be a second time, and even if he had few troops, he might still attack Paris by surprise.
Anyway, the tank brigade was still training, and Patton was idle, so after some thinking and using the limited information in his hand, Patton guessed which route the German troops were taking, so he marched all the way, sent cavalry scouts, and ordered them to monitor the German cavalry scouts, and after the German cavalry scouts searched, he ordered the soldiers to run to the forest ambush site at maximum speed, and at the same time, the tanks hidden in a valley were also driven out, directly attacking the Germans who were marching behind.
George Patton, taking advantage of the gap between the search cavalry and the troops, commanded a beautiful ambush.
Fortunately, Patton only had more than 4,000 men, and although he was armed with hundreds of Renault tanks, he still underestimated the combat effectiveness of the Berlin Regiment, which was not only an elite soldier, but more importantly, each company was equipped with anti-tank rifles, and the armor of the Renault tank was defenseless against the 13-mm anti-tank rifles, and many were destroyed.
Under the cover of the 1st and 2nd battalions and cavalry regiments, Hitler's troops withdrew to Hedu a few hours later, and Patton's American troops confronted him from a town two kilometers away from Hedu.
In this attack, the Berlin regiment and the cavalry regiment suffered about 500 casualties, and this loss of soldiers in vain made Hitler's heart bleed, and in a settlement in the town of Hedu, Hitler and the commanders of the other two regiments discussed the plan of attack.
There are only about 4,000 American soldiers, which is the same as the number of Hitler's troops, but many of the American soldiers are new recruits, who come from afar, and the combat effectiveness of German veterans is not at the same level.
However, Hitler, who was deliberating, suddenly received a telegram from Ludendorff himself: "The enemy reacted quickly to the surprise attack of our army, gathered 15 French Entente reserve divisions to pounce on our army, and immediately returned to Fort Thierry!" ”
After seeing this telegram, Hitler sighed: "Germany - it's over!" ”