The German army also suffered a lot of losses, with more than 300,000 casualties, more than 5,000 aircraft, more than 700 tanks, and more than 10,000 vehicles. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

In short, the Second French Campaign was an incomparably brilliant victory, although it did not completely annihilate all the Anglo-American forces, but the Anglo-American forces in a short period of time, absolutely did not dare to think about opening up a second battlefield.

The captured tanks were available, but the aircraft suffered too much damage and took some time to recover.

The situation on the battlefield in the Soviet Union has deteriorated, and these troops will soon be transferred to the Soviet front, but if the fighting continues endlessly, the German army is destined to be unable to consume, and Rommel already has a general idea in his heart.

Although more than 2 million Anglo-American troops were annihilated in support of the French campaign, more than 500,000 Anglo-American troops escaped, most of which were British troops, and only a small part of them were American troops.

This strategic retreat was not a prepared retreat, for they did not occupy certain terrain suitable for retreat; However, as a rout retreat on all fronts, it was successful.

Although the resistance was repeatedly interrupted, the German advance was slowed down, and the Anglo-American holding on to several strategic points made the fighting in these areas more favorable to them, and they held back more German troops in these areas than expected, which gave the more than half a million Allied troops a chance to escape.

This breakout was under centralized command, and the entire breakout force was under the command of Field Marshal Montgomery. Rommel's anticipation of dissent between the military and political leaders of the Anglo-American forces was eliminated, although there were some differences of opinion between Eisenhower and his generals.

Commenting on this tension between Britain and the United States, Montgomery said:

"From then until the end of the war, there was always some emotion between the British and American forces. From time to time, Patton made some remarks that were not conducive to unity. When he was stopped by Bradley in Argent, he said: Let me drive to Falaise, and we will drive the English back to sea, and another Dunkirk. ”

Montgomery also understood the problems between Britain and the United States, and often said to his subordinates: "The trouble of infighting later turned into a storm, and sometimes it was almost like destroying the ship of the British and American coalition." ”

From the fact that Patton was placed in the besieged Ardennes area, while Montgomery only broke through the troops, it can be seen that the Anglo-American forces were careful thinking about each other. Fortunately, both Patton and Montgomery were very good, Patton fulfilled his goal of delaying and attracting German troops, and Montgomery also used countless corpses of British and American troops to open the door to escape.

Eisenhower's decision to concentrate command of the Anglo-American forces in the hands of a single person was timely, as the battle was spiraling out of control, and apart from the northern and southern flanks of the breach, there was hardly a coherent line of defense in the area.

Yes, the Anglo-American coalition completely ignored the fact that they were annihilated by more than 2 million, but wrote a special account of the tactics of successfully breaking through more than 500,000 yuan.

General Wilmot recalled:

"The soldiers of the 28th SA rushed back from the Orr River in an endless stream, and they brought ...... Sad news that the regimental fortifications had collapsed. ”

Montgomery's contribution to the recovery of the situation was that he strung together a series of isolated actions into a cohesive battle with a clear plan. It was precisely because he did not agree to an immature piecemeal counterattack that the Anglo-American forces were able to gather reserves and break through the German encirclement in one fell swoop.

However, just when the commander-in-chief needed reserves to strengthen his western flank breakthrough, the Anglo-American forces on other sides were not taken into account, and there were many Anglo-American troops who were scattered and did not have time to break through, and their end was to be prisoners of war.

In general, Montgomery's breakout was still successful, although not perfect, but it was already very good, after all, more than half a million Anglo-American troops escaped to Britain without any problems, and of course they also discarded all available weapons and equipment, and returned to Britain almost empty-handed.

As far as the development of the German situation is concerned, what reversed the situation was that the encirclement was too large for the Germans to annihilate the enemy in the Ardennes area in an extreme time, and they were unable to quickly gather forces to prevent the British and American forces from breaking through.

When the weather cleared, the British and American air forces fought the Luftwaffe desperately, and despite the utmost self-sacrifice of the Luftwaffe pilots, who could only lighten the burden on the ground troops, these fierce attacks from the air often delayed the delivery of ammunition and supplies that were most urgently needed by the combat troops.

For the sake of concealment, most of the supply depots were located on the east bank of the Rhine, and in this respect the supply of fuel was particularly affected, so from the very beginning the fuel of the attacking troops was simply used today and there was no tomorrow, and this situation only improved when Rommel pulled out the transport planes from the German mainland:

The Anglo-American army air force had a certain numerical advantage, and they often flew hundreds of planes directly to the German supply lines, and the British and American air forces flew 15,000 sorties in four days, attacking not only the transportation lines in the Ardennes, but also the roads, railways, and airfields in the entire Rhineland.

More than 1,700 tons of bombs were dropped on St. Vitus...... In direct support of regional operations, the Tactical Air Force flew more than 30,000 sorties to harass the Germans, which further damaged the Germans.

Of course, the losses of the Anglo-American air force were also extremely serious, more than 2,000 planes were shot down in just four days, but their air raids were also good, and they successfully delayed the German offensive and pursuit.

Looking back from the German point of view, the following conclusions can be drawn: the area of deployment and the area in which the offensive was launched were chosen correctly, and the time of the attack and the method of launching the attack of the Fifth Panzer Army were suitable for the situation at that time, and they were also correct.

The enemy's intelligence and aerial reconnaissance were unaware of the readiness of the troops to deploy, and the camouflage measures taken proved to be effective, although it was risky not to inform the troops until the day before the attack, and the suddenness was achieved both strategically and tactically.

As soon as the Second French Battle was over, Rommel rushed back to Berlin with several major generals, and Germany held a grand welcome ceremony for Rommel's Führer, and all the citizens of Berlin poured into the streets, full of flowers, but Rommel did not have the heart to face all these honors now.

At the meeting on January 9, 1942, when Rommel made a very detailed analysis:

After the Anglo-American coalition forces have lost more than 2 million elite troops, they will not launch a landing operation in a short period of time, and it is not something that the Anglo-American coalition forces will dare to take action to open up a second battlefield. (To be continued.) )