Tracer bullets dragged the pillar of light towards the machine-gun position, sending the dirt flying, and the place was soon covered in splashes of black dirt and snow, but judging by the sound of gunfire, the machine-gun position was already muted.

"Medic!" It seemed that the unlucky guy who had been knocked down just now could still be saved, and a soldier shouted to the medic who followed behind. However, the Belgian infantry was still firing around, and the scene was very chaotic with bullets hitting the ground and the hull of the tank.

"Boom!" A Belgian artillery opened fire. Since the advent of tanks, anti-tank weapons have also appeared in the active service of various armies in the near future, and the most common anti-tank weapons are anti-tank guns. Belgium purchased 200 anti-tank guns from France in 1908, all of which were deployed in the German-Belgian border area, but very few in the Ardennes Forest, and fortunately the 205 tank encountered an anti-tank gun.

The shell hit the front armor plate of the No. 205 tank, which was the first to be headed, and it refracted at a beautiful angle and burst into a spark. Although the distance is not too far, the anti-tank guns equipped by the Belgian army are still small guns of less than 50 mm caliber, which are enough to deal with Tank No. 2, but they are a little weak against Tank No. 3.

"Boom!" Tank 205, which had found its target, opened fire very decisively, and the shells flew into the bushes, bringing up broken branches of dirt and plants. Of course, along with the shield of an anti-tank gun and the mutilated bodies of two soldiers, flew up together.

"I hit it! Ha ha. Jurgen was shouting happily in the headset, but there were still a lot of Belgian soldiers around, moving quickly in the improvised trenches, and then constantly attacking the German tanks that had already been very close.

"Boom!" Another cannon fire, but Karl couldn't find the location of the gun through the commander's periscope. The shell hit the 205 tank in the head in an instant. Once again, the shells were blown off by the heavy armor of tank No. 3. The armor of Tank 3 showed the world how tough it was, and it drove invulnerable into the trenches of the Belgian defenders, crushing two crying Belgian soldiers.

"Did you find the cannon? Jurgen? Karl lay on the periscope and kept searching, hoping to find the hidden Belgian anti-tank gun through clues. However, due to his vision and the splashes of dirt around him, he couldn't find the hidden cannon.

"Damn! I can't see what's going on on the left, they're shooting wildly, it's too messy there. Jurgen grumbled loudly.

"Turn left, Mark! Let's drive over and see! Karl commanded loudly, "John, keep shooting." As soon as his order was over, his tank was hit by a shell, and the body shook violently, but everyone knew that it was not a feeling of being penetrated.

"Haven't found it yet?" Karl asked aloud with a frown.

"Nope! But that cannon is really on our side. Andrei replied hunched over the scope. Tank No. 3 has a very excellent optical sighting system, which ensures hitting tank-sized targets at a distance of 600 meters. However, the current distance is only a few tens of meters, and it does not give full play to the aiming advantage of the No. 3 tank.

"Jurgen, machine gun the bushes in front of us, turn the turret and fire!" There is no way to find it this way, if after a while, the advancing tanks 204 and 206 will have to show their fragile side armor, and no one can say what disaster will happen at that time. Karl had to use the clumsiest methods to find this very cleverly hidden anti-tank gun.

Tracer bullets alternately flew into the bushes, snapping some of the branches. Although it could not be heard from inside the tank, there was obviously nothing to block the bullet from penetrating where there was no artillery. If a bullet hits the shield of an anti-tank gun, it will splash sparks, and ricochets that can be seen at a glance - especially tracer bullets - will be more pronounced.

Sure enough, a volley of bullets passed through the bushes, and in the middle there were several noticeable changes in the trajectory of the ballistics. Jurgen was not polite either, and fired a shot. Carl's car shook, and he saw through the periscope that the shells had hit the target, and the corpses were scattered everywhere.

"Company commander, I took out the anti-tank gun on the left." Carl breathed a sigh of relief and said into the intercom. Rommel was machine-gunning at the target in front of him, and near the anti-tank gun, there were several Belgian infantrymen who were in charge of cover, and they tried to escape, but were beaten into a sieve by Clonemer.

The German grenadiers who followed rushed up, they opened fire with their Mauser rifles, and a heavy machine gun mounted in the back was finally set up and roared, and the Belgian defenders, who had lost their heavy firepower, began to retreat, but the German soldiers did not intend to let these people get out of here easily.

"Boom!" A grenade hit the ground, and a huge crater immediately appeared in the originally white snow. Tank No. 206 rushed through the defensive positions on the flank of the Belgian defenders and opened heavy fire on the fleeing crowd. More than a dozen Belgian defenders were knocked to the ground, and one even had half of his head with a steel helmet knocked off the ground.

"Mark! Speed up! Can't let them run. Karl commanded loudly. His tank immediately began to accelerate, crossing the bush in front of it and running over the Belgian anti-tank gun, which had been broken into parts. About dozens of Belgian soldiers watched in horror as the 205 tank ran over the bushes and raised their hands helplessly.

The battlefield soon fell silent, and the Belgian defenders who fled numbered about six or seven men, most of whom surrendered and were captured. The battlefield was cleaned and dozens of bodies of Belgian servicemen were found. It seems that a company of soldiers from the Belgian army was stationed here, more than 100 people.

Soon two off-road vehicles from the regimental headquarters drove over and interrogated the Belgian soldiers. Then the battalion commander came over and asked Ivo about the specifics of the battle just now. Ivo called Karl and Davis and other commanders and carefully explained the battle just now.

"The other party is a veteran and has a strong combat ability. The anti-tank guns were very sophisticated, but apparently they did not have a complete defense system and did not have heavy fire support. Karl pointed to the map to describe the location of the anti-tank guns, and then concluded: "They seem to be undermanned. ”

The battalion commander nodded and pointed to the troops of the 1st Armored Division that were moving forward in the distance: "The order from above, in order to ensure that the troops can suddenly rush out of the Ardennes Valley, each unit is responsible for half of the distance. It's just half way through now, and you've already fought for them. ”

"It's a great honor." Carl said with a smile and scratching his head.

"You can't make a fire for dinner, you can only eat canned food and compressed biscuits." The battalion commander patted Karl on the shoulder and signaled encouragement. Then while walking back to his armored command car, he said with a smile: "Rest will be allowed in the middle of the night, don't catch a cold." ”

After sending off the battalion commander, several people prepared to return to their respective crews, only to meet the unlucky panzergrenadier who had just been hit on the battlefield. He lay on the stretcher and groaned, bullets passing through his shoulders and shattering his shoulder blades. The medic estimated that he might have to amputate his entire arm to save his life: the good news was that he was alive and probably wouldn't have to go to war again; The bad news is that he'll probably have to get someone else to tie his shoes for the rest of his life.

The German Panzers performed satisfactorily in their first battle, easily breaking through the heavily defended enemy positions, and the Belgian soldiers, who had lost heavy firepower, were crushed in front of the tanks. The speed of the 1st Panzer Army's march from the Ardennes Forest was very exciting for Schlieffen, who was at the main headquarters at the front, and Moltke Jr. was buying precious time for himself.

On the left flank, the French army, desperate to regain lost territory, sent the First and Second Armies out of the fortified fortresses and across the German-French border, only to be routed by the Germans who were waiting for them. The German infantry, with only nine infantry divisions, played well against the French forces of more than 300,000 troops in two armies, and the French attack was slow.

The tactics of the offensive school dominated the tactics of the French army, and the chief of the General Staff, Xia Fei, believed that the German army would not advance from the Ardennes Forest west of Luxembourg, because the intelligence showed that the German army was not sufficient, and the information in Xia Fei's hand showed that the German army had only 78 divisions on the western front, but in fact there were 98 divisions. Therefore, Xia Fei ordered the French Third, Fourth, and Fifth Armies to advance towards the Ardennes Forest. The French high command was confident that the Germans would avoid the suffering Ardennes terrain, and the troops below did not carry out reconnaissance and other preparations for a full-scale battle. And judging from the timing, the French army advanced to the Ardennes Forest about three days later than the German army, which was quite deadly.

The fiercest fighting was on the Belgian border, where the main force of the German right flank, 25 corps and 7 cavalry divisions, entered Belgian territory in an attempt to encircle and annihilate the main force of the Anglo-French coalition on the Franco-Belgian border. The main forces of the coalition consisted of 22 corps and 8 cavalry divisions, which were not much different in strength and spread out on the line from Eitan to Landresi.

The army offensive was accompanied by the first large-scale air battle in human history, and Germany, like China, listed the air force separately and attached importance to the role of this new weapon in warfare. It is a good tradition for German soldiers to be open to new things and adapt them, and the pressure caused by being besieged from both sides in the Great War also forced them to find more ways to win the war. (To be continued.) )