In addition to these full divisions, the Allies had a number of independent small infantry units: the Netherlands had separate brigades and battalions equivalent to about 8 divisions; France had 29 separate fortified infantry regiments. In the French army there were 18 divisions, made up of colonial volunteers; Including 19 "B-divisions", although fully trained units, there are still a large number of people over the age of 30 who need to be retrained after motorization. The best Allied units were well-trained British divisions with full mobility and a large percentage of professional soldiers; The most serious lack of equipment was the Dutch troops.

The Allies deployed about 3,100 tanks and self-propelled guns on May 10; Another 1,200 were pledged to join the battle in new units or allocated from reserves; Another 1,500 obsolete FT-17 tanks were sent to the front, leaving France with a total of about 5,800 tanks on the front. They had about 14,000 guns.

The Allies thus enjoyed a definite numerical superiority on the ground, but a disadvantage in the air: the French Air Force had a total of 1,562 aircraft, the RAF 680, and the RAF Bomber Command 392 aircraft into combat. Most Allied aircraft are of obsolete type; Only the British Hurricane and the French D.520 were able to compete with the German Bf109 fighting chickens on some near-parity conditions.

Germany deployed about 3,000,000 men to participate in the campaign. In May 1940, a total of 157 divisions completed their training; Another 14 reserve divisions remained directly involved in the fighting, mainly in Army Group C and in the forces attacking the Netherlands. In addition to 93 of these divisions deployed on the front line (10 armoured, 6 mechanized), 39 divisions were deployed in the West as reserve divisions of the Wehrmacht High Command, about a third of which would not take part in the fighting. About a quarter of the combat force is from the age of 40, including veterans of the First World War.

The Germans on the Western Front deployed a total of 2,700 tanks and self-propelled guns in May-June, including reserves assigned to fight; Some 7,500 guns could be fought, and the ammunition stock was sufficient for 12 weeks of combat. The units of the "Luftwaffe" were to be divided into two groups. A total of 1,815 combat aircraft, 487 transport aircraft and 50 ****** were deployed in support of Army Group B, while another 3,286 combat aircraft were deployed in support of Army Groups A and C.

In September 1939, Belgium and the Netherlands remained neutral. They tried to do everything possible to avoid the war by adhering to a strict policy of neutrality. Although they secretly arranged for cooperation with the Central Powers in the event of a German invasion of their territory, none of them were openly prepared. The supreme commander of the French army, Moris? In that month, Gammelin suggested that the Allies should take advantage of Germany's tie-up in Poland to occupy the Low Countries before Germany did. However, this suggestion was not adopted by the French government.

During the Polish campaign, the French launched the symbolic Saar offensive - an attack that was only nominally a pre-war guarantee to Poland and a rescue promise from the West - and the French soldiers advanced 5 km (3.1 mi) towards Saar before withdrawing in October, and immediately retreated to the Maginot Line as soon as the Polish campaign was over.

By this time, France had deployed 98 divisions (but 28 were reserve or fortified) and 2,500 tanks against 43 German divisions (including 22 reserve divisions), and the Germans had only a small number of tanks. According to the then head of the Supreme Command of the Wehrmacht, William? Keitel's judgment was that the French army would easily be able to break through to the weakly defended western line of the German army.

After October, France decided not to take the initiative in 1940, although most of the French army had been designed for offensive operations in the thirties of the twentieth century. The Allies believed that even without the Eastern Front, the German government could be destabilized by the blockade, as had been the case in World War I.

It also seemed easier and easier to do so without the collapse of the Nazi regime, and in 1940 the Allies would implement a huge program of modernization to build an overwhelming mechanized force that would have taken advantage of the existing military production in the war against Germany, including some 24 panzer divisions. Then the Allies were to carry out a decisive offensive in the summer of 1941. If the Low Countries have not committed themselves to participating in the actions of the Allies by that date, the Allies can resolutely break their neutrality if necessary.

……

On May 10, 1940, the implementation of the Yellow Plan began, and just after dawn, hordes of German Ju87 Stuka dive bombers suddenly bombarded airfields, railway junctions, heavily assembled areas and cities in France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. At 5:30, on a front of more than 300 kilometers between the North Sea and the Maginot Line, German ground forces launched a large-scale offensive against the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, opening the prelude to the invasion of France.

German Army Group B, which assisted and attracted the main forces of the British and French forces, first attacked important bridges and fortified facilities in the Netherlands and Belgium with airborne troops. This sudden blow immediately caused panic among the Dutch and Belgian troops, and immediately afterwards, the armored units of Army Group B took advantage of the chaos to launch a fierce attack. Since the paratrooper units had already occupied the main roads, Army Group B was progressing quite smoothly.

The breakthrough of German Army Group B on the Dutch-Belgian border caused the main Anglo-French forces assembled in northern France to quickly cross the Franco-Belgian border for reinforcements. At this moment, Hitler was restlessly waiting for news from the front in the underground command post, and when he heard that the main forces of Britain and France had been dispatched, he was "so happy that he was going to cry." Excitedly, he said to the people around him, "They have just fallen into our trap!" I want them to believe that we are still carrying out the 'yellow plan' and that we are still respecting Schlieffen's ideas. They've been fooled, wait and see, the best is yet to come. ”

Rommel's 7th Panzer Division, which was part of the 15th Motorized Army, was this time under the command of the 4th Army of Army Group A, along with the 5th Panzer Division. The 7th Panzer Division, as the main force of the attack, was to force its way through the Ardennes, cross the Mans, appear behind the main Allied forces, cut off the enemy's access to the English Channel, and divide it.

The section of Rommel responsible for the attack was in the middle of the Ardennes Forest, and after Rommel 'Eye of God's eyes' careful probing, this section was about one regiment of Belgian troops, and the Belgian troops of this regiment were evenly distributed on a defensive line about five kilometers wide and three kilometers deep, with fifty-seven bunkers of all sizes.

This amount of troops can only be regarded as a border patrol force, and Belgium, a small country with a population of 10 million, has not made much preparations for war at all, and it seems that Germany's strategic deception is still very successful.

Germany's tactical deception can succeed, this starts with the "yellow plan", Germany has gathered "key points" outside the Maginot Line with great fanfare, preparing to attack the Maginot Line from the front, in fact, this is a German bluff, Germany in front of the Maginot Line has only 26 second-line divisions, tanks are also extremely scarce, many tanks are fake tanks made of wood.

The other two German Army Groups were the main forces of the offensive, Army Group A and Army Group B, with Army Group A being deployed in the Netherlands and Army Group B being deployed outside Belgium. The main figure of the two army groups of AB was to attract the main forces of Britain and France into Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, and then gather and annihilate them. The first phase of the operation was codenamed "Operation Scythe". (The part that the brothers are more familiar with, just briefly introduced, without wasting the brothers' time, belongs to Rommel's era is about to be staged.) ）