As soon as the British and American planes finished dropping bombs, they immediately accelerated to flee, and their fighters stayed behind to break off, and the German troops who came after them had a lot of advantages in the number and quality of planes, and also had the upper hand in the strangulation, but Cologne, which was burning brightly below, was crying about the dereliction of duty of the German Air Defense Command. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Of the 1,850 bombers of the British army, 163 were lost, of which 16 were shot down by German anti-aircraft artillery, 124 were shot down by German night fighters, 2 collided and crashed, and 21 crashed near or over Cologne due to mechanical or other reasons, with a loss rate of 8%.

Compared with the previous loss rate of 40%, the loss rate was significantly reduced, proving that Campbell's large-scale and intensive bombing method was correct, and thus became the standard air attack method for British bombers thereafter.

Fortunately, in order to bomb the railway junction in Cologne, the British and American forces did not attack various arsenals located in the Ruhr industrial area, such as the dozen or so tank production lines of Germany in the Noor industrial area, and the aircraft company of Messerschmidt.

These are the lifeblood of Germany, as for the responsibility for this incident, of course, it belongs to the German Territorial Defense Command, but Rommel still blames himself deeply for this, he was originally a master of sneak attacks, and he also has eagle eyes, but this time it is capsized in the gutter.

……

Patton's left-wing Anglo-American forces were now completely finished, the encirclement was getting smaller and smaller, and their room for maneuver was getting less and less, just when Patton was going to go to the front line to fight a bloody battle.

He received a telegram from the White House, which was sent by Roosevelt himself, but in fact it was an order, and Patton was appointed chief of the Operations Section of the Department of Defense and immediately took up his post.

Patton was to be replaced by his deputy, and Roosevelt certainly didn't want his generals to fall in the dust. Although Barton was very conflicted, he reluctantly said goodbye to his brother who was still fighting bloody, left his subordinates, and fled.

Because of Patton's departure, the morale of the encircled Anglo-American troops was even lower, and more and more Anglo-American troops surrendered, which greatly relieved Rommel that the more than one million elite German troops who had previously surrounded Patton's corps could finally draw some troops to launch an offensive against the Anglo-American forces in France.

Rommel also wanted to attack the Anglo-American forces in France after completely eliminating the more than 500,000 Anglo-American troops, but Eisenhower's continuous onslaught on the Maginot Line made the Maginot Line anxious everywhere, and if it weren't for Modell's superb defensive tactics, the Maginot Line would have been broken through at this time.

Rommel decided not to wait, and immediately dispatched 500,000 troops to launch an offensive against the Anglo-American coalition forces in France, in fact, the German army was also very tired at this time, and the ammunition and fuel were also very consumed.

The German troops began to attack from the Belgian border, and the British and American forces in front of them were the British Expeditionary Force, and the Germans quickly tore through the British Expeditionary Force's defensive line.

Major General Yarud personally led the 32nd Panzer Division to charge at Alaska, and as long as Alaska was occupied, the 300,000 Anglo-American troops attacking the Ardennes Forest would be cut off from retreat and supply lines.

When Yarud arrived in Alaska, the Anglo-American forces did not place a guard force in Alaska at all, and Yarud easily led the 32nd Panzer Division to occupy the place.

Now the commander-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Force, Rhodes? Gault couldn't sit still, Alaska was a matter of life and death for the British Expeditionary Force, how could the city of life of hundreds of thousands of British Expeditionary Forces be occupied by the Germans, it was also the door of escape.

By now, the outcome of the landing war has been very confused, and it is difficult to determine who will kill the British and American forces and the German army, so Rhodes ordered a counterattack in an attempt to delay the German offensive to avoid the British army being surrounded.

The commander of this counterattack was Harold? Major General Franklin; His army (the Frankish Army) consisted of two divisions, the 10th and 100th (Northumberland) divisions, plus 324 tanks from the 1st Army Tank Reinforcement Brigade and 60 tanks supported by the French army.

The dire situation had spread to the south, and the German advance had tore a gap between Prolon-Cambrai and threatened Boulogne and Calais.

This would cut off the British Expeditionary Force and separate them from the main French forces. General Weygon's plan was to use the Frankish offensive to close the gap, while using the British 10th Infantry Division to hold the line from Scarp to the east of Arras while the two divisions attacked the town of Arras.

On the afternoon of October 21, the 100th Division and the 1st Tank Reinforced Brigade began an offensive south of Alas. This was the only large-scale offensive of the British Expeditionary Force during the campaign, which was supposed to consist of two infantry divisions.

The First Tank Brigade has an M26 Pershing heavy tank that has just been developed by the United States and used on the battlefield to test its performance, which was urgently developed to deal with the German Leopard battle tank.

The M26 heavy tank weighs 42 tons and is armed with a 90 mm gun, which is a little more powerful than the German Leopard firepower. (Appeared 2 years earlier than in history)

Two infantry divisions attacked from the left and right flanks of Alaska, with the regiment on the right flank making rapid progress at first, but they were soon confronted by German infantry and armed guards with air support and suffered heavy losses.

The left wing also achieved its initial success. The unit in charge of the defense, the Skeleton Brigade, a motorized regiment of the Armed Guards (soon expanded to become the Skeleton Corps), was defeated by the British army, which was stronger than expected.

Because in order to hurry quickly, Yarud did not carry large anti-tank guns, but supported some easy-to-carry 32 mm and 50 mm anti-tank guns, and the 32nd Panzer Division commanded by Yarud was basically the No. 3 and No. 4 tanks re-equipped by other German troops, and was not at all the opponent of the American M26 tank.

In desperation, Yarud brought in the division's 88-mm anti-aircraft guns and 120-mm field guns and put them into the defensive line to be used as anti-tank guns, and at the last moment, a lot of explosives were placed around the position to stop the M26 Pershing tanks.

The British Expeditionary Force was forced to halt its advance after suffering heavy losses. Later, with the support of the Luftwaffe, Yarud launched a successful counterattack and drove the British army back. The Franks had been completely repulsed by this point.

However, Mu Xiu was destroyed by the forest wind, and the Anglo-American coalition gradually woke up from the initial chaos and began to become organized.

Although the first hand has been lost, it does not mean that the Anglo-American coalition is a lamb to the slaughter, after all, the Anglo-American coalition is fighting on the inside line and has its own advantages, and some hidden strength has not yet been shown, and the British are brewing a counterattack.

At a time when the countries of Western Europe were generally afraid of Rommel, it was necessary to defeat an elite German army commanded by Rommel and pierce the myth of the invincibility of the German army commanded by Rommel, otherwise the battle could not be fought.

…… (To be continued.) )