Now the commander of the French Ninth Army, who was defending the Sedang line, had given a fatally wrong order, and Girod mistakenly believed the news that thousands of German tanks had crossed the river, so he ordered the first army to retreat throughout the county, but the retreat of the French army on all fronts soon turned into a great rout and confusion for the whole army, and the commander-in-chief Giron also lost contact.

After receiving the order to retreat from the commander-in-chief, Girod, the defenders of the Sedang fortress immediately ordered to blow up the Sedang fortress, including all the heavy artillery arranged in the Sedang fortress, and when the French 19th Division rushed to reinforce the Sedang fortress, the Sedang fortress was in ruins.

The Sedang Fortress has no value of guarding, and it is even worse than in history, in which the German army abandoned the Sedang Fortress after blowing up all the heavy artillery of the French army with Stuka dive bombers, and Rommel's rapid crossing of the river resulted in the French army completely destroying the Sedang Fortress themselves, because they could not leave the Sedang Fortress to the Germans.

The French 19th Division, which went to reinforce the Sedang Fortress, could only run away immediately, and if it ran half a step slower, the German Panzer Division that caught up with it would be a life-threatening thing, in a word, how fast it could run was how fast it was, and all that could be thrown away was thrown away.

The attack on the fortress was still the 25th Panzer Regiment, and the regiment commander Luxemburg was now attacking with more than 200 tanks and an Panzergrenadier Regiment, which was reorganized by Rommel by order of Rommel, and his number was the 6th Infantry Regiment, to which Rommel allotted all 96 half-track armored vehicles of the division.

Rommel also had a 7th Motorized Grenadier Regiment under his command, and the reorganization of this regiment was a different situation, and Rommel Xia himself modified the remaining 24 and 3 tanks of these guns, all of which were transferred to the 7th Motorized Grenadier Regiment.

Rommel is also groping to see which kind of firepower reinforcement is more reasonable, although the current establishment of the German army is already the most advanced in the world, Rommel still feels that the pure motorized infantry regiment still lacks heavy weapons to attack the fortification.

The 6th Regiment followed the attack of the main tanks, and the half-track in their hands would play a perfect role, and their regiment would no longer need Rommel to transfer tanks, while the 7th Infantry Regiment only had tanks and motorized, but did not have half-track armored vehicles, and the continuity of the attack was weak, but Rommel did not have so many half-track armored vehicles in his hands, and now it can only be like this.

But the 7th Infantry Regiment with tanks must be even more powerful than before, they don't have armored vehicles in their hands, they can completely capture the armored vehicles of the British and French forces! Since the 7th Panzer Division crossed the river, the 7th Panzer Division has captured more than 20 intact tanks of the British and French forces, as well as more than 50 armored vehicles.

This equipment was completely transferred by Rommel to the 7th Infantry Regiment, which was now completely transformed into an Panzergrenadier Regiment whose offensive firepower surpassed that of any German infantry regiment.

Of course, the armored vehicles and tanks captured by the 7th Panzer Regiment were disposable products, and if they were broken, it was impossible to repair them and could only be abandoned, and Rommel did not have time to collect the wreckage and parts of those destroyed armored vehicles now. Whatever, use it first, it's better than nothing.

Rommel's Seventh Panzer Division is now awesome, the 13,000 men of the whole division do not need to walk at all, the fully mechanized troops, the Seventh Panzer Division is equivalent to a unit on wheels, and the firepower of the entire Panzer Division is comparable to that of the French army.

Rommel was touched by the battle on the Meuse River, writing in his war diary:

"I am convinced that in a battle like this one on the west bank of the Meuse, a division commander who wants to fully understand the rapidly changing situation must be present in person, galloping between the various front-line positions with his means of communication, and giving direct orders to the regimental commanders on the front. Only in this way can we fully grasp the situation of the battle and cope with sudden changes at any time. If the subordinates had reported the situation to the division headquarters by radio, and then the division headquarters had issued an order, it would have been delayed and the emergency response would have been delayed. On the other hand, however, the division commander had to constantly use the radio and maintain close contact with the division headquarters that remained in the rear, and every morning and afternoon the division commander should exchange views with his chief of staff and deputy division commander. (Actual combat conditions proved that this method of command was very effective)

At 5 p.m. on May 12, Rommel arrived at Sedan with the main force, and Rommel ordered a meal and rest while waiting for the follow-up truck troops to follow the main force.

At this time, Rommel had less than 11,000 troops in his hands, because Rommel had captured tens of thousands of French prisoners, and he had to draw a battalion from his small army to establish a prisoner of war camp.

The barracks built by the French army on the defense line of the Meuse River have now become prisoner of war camps for them, so there is no need to worry about the problem of food, the French army has hoarded a large amount of food, weapons and ammunition in the barracks, and Rommel has not been left with all the ammunition consumed when crossing the river, even if it is precious fuel, Rommel has used the captured fuel to replenish it to the fullest.

A slightly intact bunker in the Sedang fortress has become Rommel's temporary command post at this time, but the deputy division commander and the chief of staff are nervously looking at the map, they now know the habits of Rommel division commander, no matter how tense the battle is, their division commander will close his eyes and rest whenever he has free time.

In fact, they knew that Rommel was using his "Eye of God" to observe the situation around 60 kilometers, and Rommel was afraid of the air raids of the British and French forces, after all, he had 800 trucks in his hands, and these materials were the material basis for his war.

The "Eye of God" quickly surveyed the situation sixty kilometers around the fortress of Sedan, and the general situation of the whole battlefield was as follows: Rommel's troops on the left and right flanks, having established beachheads on the Meuse River by this time, were to quickly crush the French army, and then build a pontoon bridge, and they were now about thirty-five kilometers away from Rommel.

For the armored forces, this distance is not a problem, Rommel can attack with confidence, do not have to worry about the safety of his wings, if there is really that blind enemy unit to flank him first, Rommel will let him know what counter-encirclement is.

This is the case of friendly forces, and what about the Anglo-French forces! Rommel also attached great importance to their situation -- attaching importance to the enemy tactically and despising the enemy strategically is an indestructible truth, and knowing the enemy and knowing oneself is the prerequisite for victory.

Of course, the five mobilized French divisions could not escape the detection of Rommel's "Eye of God", and the goal of these five divisions was all the village of Philipville, and they must have wanted to block Rommel in the village of Philipsville, in fact, these five French divisions wanted to eat Rommel! Of course, Gammerin did not know the true situation of the French Ninth Group and gave this extremely wrong order.

……