The Belgian army had about 30,000 defenders stationed in the fortified area of Liège, in addition to about three German infantry divisions retreating to Belgium from the west bank of the Rhine, as well as a battalion of armored units, in the open space between the batteries. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

The Germans retreated from the west bank of the Rhine to Belgium numbering about 400,000 men, but most of their heavy weapons had been lost. There were only about 300 artillery pieces left, and less than 100 tanks. Morale is low and supplies are insufficient. However, the German troops who were able to escape here were basically elite veterans who had survived the battle.

Rommel took advantage of the precious time of the Ming army to readjust its attack deployment and accumulate war materials to quickly carry out a large-scale reorganization of the German troops retreating to Belgian territory. A large number of severely understaffed troops were ruthlessly dismantled, and many units with a long and glorious history disappeared in this reorganization.

After the reorganization, the German forces were concentrated in a small number of units. As a result, Rommel had in his hands a full divisional force capable of conducting regular operations. Instead of a large number of empty shelf troops, but only hundreds or thousands of people remain.

Because there were less than 100 tanks left, Rommel had to organize them into two tank battalions. One was deployed in the fortress of Liège, and the other remained in Brussels. Although the Germans also received a number of tanks from the United States, they are now either in Britain or on the sea.

The German army was reorganized into 19 infantry divisions and numerous independent divisions. Auxiliary troops. There were also many units that were incorporated into the reserve supplementary forces by Rommel, which gave the German army a certain sustained combat capability. At least half of these German troops had already been shipped to Britain to garrison the British Isles, at the request of the German Chancellor.

Rommel, on the other hand, led nine infantry divisions and two armored battalions to remain in Belgium to direct Allied troops in Belgian territory. Both Rommel and Belgian army commanders were well aware of the importance of the fortress of Liège. The Belgians stationed two of their most elite infantry divisions at the fortress of Liège, and Rommel sent reinforcements to defend the fortress.

In the hearts of Rommel and the Belgians, even if the fortress of Liège could not withstand the attack of the Ming army in the end, it was necessary to let the Ming army shed blood under the fortress of Liège.

The Ming army has a strong espionage and reconnaissance ability, and they have long been familiar with the situation of the Liege fortress. Also very well aware of the situation with the batteries of these fortresses. In order to deal with these powerful, sturdy batteries equipped with steel armor, the Ming army mobilized more than a dozen army heavy artillery pieces.

These 305 mm caliber army heavy guns have a powerful attack power. Although it is slightly smaller in caliber than the same type of armament of the Allied forces, because of the advantages of the Ming Dynasty's scientific and technological strength in metallurgy and casting, its double diameter is very long, and the special armor-piercing projectile is also very powerful. These guns were used to deal with the batteries built twenty or thirty years ago.

And the Ming army is not just these army heavy artillery.

The strength of Daming Army Aviation is recognized by the world. They not only have the world's most powerful fighter unit, but also a powerful bomber unit. The latest dive bombers of the Ming army were equipped with a rudimentary computer system to calculate the trajectory, which greatly increased the accuracy of bomb delivery. And they can hang new bombshells of more than a ton.

These heavy bombs, nicknamed Cabinet Cabinets, can weigh up to one and a half tons and can be completely destroyed in an instant after hitting the turret accurately from the top. The Ming Dynasty, which has advanced scientific and technological level and strong industrial production capacity, is able to equip the Ming army with sharp weapons that are enough to destroy all strong defense lines.

The troops of the Ming Army's Central Army Group moved very quickly, and the Sixth Panzer Army, as its vanguard force, had reached the banks of the Maas River only two days later, on August 26.

At this time, the army heavy artillery of the Ming Army's heavy artillery division was still advancing slowly in the rear, and the Sixth Panzer Army, which was marching smoothly, was unwilling to wait here for the arrival of the follow-up troops. On the afternoon of 26 August, they hurried to attack the defenders on the other side of the Maas.

In reality, however, this was a violation of the orders of the General Staff. Because the 6th Panzer Army received an order to advance to the banks of the Maas River and wait for the arrival of the Heavy Artillery Division. Moreover, the 19th Armored Corps under the Sixth Armored Army arrived first, and the commander of this corps, Lieutenant General Huang Gu, wanted to make meritorious contributions in the war, so he asked the group army headquarters for an order to search for and attack.

The so-called power search attack is to allow the front-line troops to carry out a certain intensity of reconnaissance and defensive attacks. This authorization has a certain degree of flexibility, saying that it allows attacks, but it is not a formal attack order. This is a sideline game, after all, it is a formal order from the superiors.

Huang Gu is not stupid, being able to be the commander of an armored army is definitely not a simple character. He naturally knew the strength and solidity of the fortress of Liege, and he also knew that it was impossible to take the fortified fortress of Liege in a short period of time with only two armored divisions and two mechanized infantry divisions in his hands.

Huangya's choice was to take the city of Liège, which was surrounded by twelve fortress batteries, as his own merit. As long as he takes the city, then his first merit will be properly obtained.

At this time, all the bridges on the Maas, Meuse, and Urte rivers had been destroyed by the defenders. The Ming army attempted to cross the river directly to attack the city of Liège, which had the main railway and road routes from Germany to Paris, as well as the important Brussels. Huang Gu's idea was to take the following Sun City first, which was the best choice.

It's just that all the bridges on the river were destroyed, which directly led to the Ming army having to use sapper troops to erect pontoon bridges on the river. However, the defenders were very strong, and they deployed hundreds of guns of various calibers in the various batteries. When the Ming army began to erect pontoon bridges, these artillery pieces brought heavy casualties to the Ming army with accurate shelling.

The plan to directly attack the city of Liège failed after several attacks, and Huang Gu had to turn around again and prepare to knock out the fortress of Liège first.

In the afternoon, hundreds of Ming warplanes roared to the sky above the fortress of Liège to bomb. The Allies, well aware of the importance of the fortress of Liège, immediately sent their air forces to resist. The two sides fought in the sky, and from time to time, warplanes dragging smoke and flames would fall from the sky, smashing parts and scrap metal to the ground.

A large number of Ming troops, equipped with new jet fighters, occupied an absolutely dominant position in air combat. The Allied piston planes could not catch up with their opponents at all, and they could only be in a situation of being passively beaten. After more than 20 minutes of air fighting, the fighter units of the Ming Army Aviation quickly expelled the air power of the Allied forces, and then the bomber units of the Ming army came to the field to bombard the fortress of Liège.

Numerous double-shot horizontal bombers dropped a barrage of bombs on the outlying positions of the various batteries, marking the target points and inflicting a huge blow on the defenders' outlying positions. The new high-powered dive bombers soon swooped down towards the batteries on the ground.

These new dive bombers with superbombs are highly accurate because they have a rudimentary computer to perform ballistic calculations. Although the defenders put up fierce resistance with a large number of anti-aircraft weapons, they also shot down a number of Ming dive bombers. However, these Ming dive bombers still destroyed several defenders' batteries and other fortifications with their heavy armor-piercing shells.

The permanent fortifications, which had a two- to two-and-a-half-meter-thick layer of reinforced concrete and steel plates, were as fragile as pieces of paper in the face of armor-piercing shells weighing more than a ton. These fortifications, built more than twenty years ago, are no longer working as they were designed to be in the face of modern technology.

The attack of the Daming Army Aviation achieved very good results. Several batteries and fortifications were blown up, causing the defenders' fire blockade to immediately reduce its density. The officers and men of the 19th Panzer Corps, who had been watching the excitement for several hours, soon attacked again, and after successfully crossing the Maas River at great cost, erected two pontoon bridges on the opposite bank, and established a bridgehead position.

Originally, at this time, Huang Gu could be regarded as having completed his task, and it was a good achievement that he had opened a hole on the other side. If he chooses to wait for the arrival of the follow-up troops now, this feat will definitely not run.

However, Huang Gu was stimulated by the success of the day's battle, and because tomorrow the follow-up troops of other troops would arrive one after another. At that time, the right to attack will have to be returned to the army group command.

Therefore, Huang Gu, who wanted to continue to expand his exploits, made up his mind to continue the attack at night when the 51st Mechanized Infantry Division under his command drove to the frontline position after dinner.

Huang Gu said that he was not willing to let the rare fighter plane slip away in front of him, and he was determined to carry out a night raid at night, so as to capture the city of Liège, which was surrounded by a group of fortresses, and give the defenders a center to blossom.

After dinner, the sky grew dark, and a large dark cloud began to approach from the distant horizon. A few hours later, lightning and thunder roared, winds roared, and downpours whistled and turned the land into a swamp. Huang Gu, who was in his headquarters, was excited to see the heavy rain at night, thinking that God was helping him.

Huang Gu wanted to carry out a night raid operation, and with the cover of heavy rain, he was able to cover the whereabouts of the attacking troops as much as possible. This is very beneficial for night raid operations. But he didn't care that the muddy ground would make his most powerful weapon, the armored unit, lose its formidable combat capability. (To be continued.) )