For the remaining seventy-five kilometers, Guderian walked another day, and by the afternoon of June 12, one of Guderian's vanguard divisions, a newly formed German armored division, had reached the opposite side of the small town of Sedan.

This panzer division belonged to the 17th Division of the 7th Panzer Army of the German SS, and there were only three Panzer divisions under the 7th Panzer Army, namely the 17th, 18th, and 19th Panzer Divisions, while the old Panzer Corps of the SS had four Panzer Divisions, and all of them were named, such as the Skeleton Army, the Viking Army.

And these newly organized units, because they have no combat merits, are all numbered numbers, and when they have military merits, they can name their units, which is the tradition of the SS.

Flender, the commander of the 17th SS Panzer Division, who arrived opposite Sedan and drank water on the Maas River in France, has been thinking about naming his Panzer Division all the time since he became the division commander, knowing that this named unit is the supreme honor in the SS, and once this unit is named, as long as this unit is not revoked, this name will always exist, what a thing worth fighting for!

Now the opportunity came, Flender took his own armored division, climbed over the slopes of the Ardennes Mountains, went through a lot of hardships, and finally arrived at the opposite side of Sedan earlier than the other troops, but unfortunately Flender's armored troops were blocked by the French Maas River, and Flender's armored division also had a bridge force, a division of bridge troops, could not assume a pontoon bridge across the Maas River at all, Flender had no choice but to send a telegram to ask Guderian to urgently dispatch a bridge bridge.

The French 2nd and 9th armies, which were deployed near Sedan and were mostly composed of reserve units of the A or B ranks, that is, the 2nd and 3rd tier troops. And Guderian's Panzer Corps was aimed almost at the junction of the two armies. Later generations suspected that Germany was well aware of the French deployment plans. In fact, that is the reason why Zhang Jun has long been familiar with history.

According to the plan of the British commander-in-chief in the north, the 9th Army, which was north of the 2nd Army, would turn forward to occupy the line of the Metz River south of Namore in Belgium, and this plan of action would require the 9th Army to advance more than 70 kilometers from the junction with the 2nd Army. And the frontage occupied by the 9th Army will reach 80 km. In fact, this is only the air distance, and in practice, considering the bend of the Metz River, it is much more than 80 kilometers. The 9th Army, consisting of 9 and a half divisions, including 2 light cavalry divisions, would form a cover curtain in front of the 9th Army in order to delay a possible surprise attack by the Germans and buy time for the infantry divisions behind to occupy positions. The forces of General Clapp's 9th Army for the occupation of the Mes line consisted of 7 infantry divisions. (At that time, the width of the defense of 1 infantry division was only 10 kilometers)

Of these 7 divisions, there are only 2 regular divisions, the 5th Motorized Division and the 4th North African Division. There are also 2 A-class reserve divisions, the 18th and 22nd divisions (23% officers, 17% non-commissioned officers, and 2% enlisted men), and the other 2 are B-class reserve divisions, 61st and 53rd divisions (almost all personnel are reservists). The remaining division, the 102nd Fortress Division, had very few transports. Eight kilometres downstream of Sedang on the Mes River was the junction of the 9th Army and the 2nd Army, which had only two infantry corps and a cavalry cover like the 9th Army. According to Ganmalin's plan, the 2nd Army would remain in place.

The 2nd French Army faced the onslaught of the 17th Panzer Division of Guderian's Panzer Corps on the 10th Infantry Corps. In fact, the 10th Infantry Corps was combined with the 9th Army in a very dangerous way. In order to cover the Maginot Line from being outflanked, the commander of the 10th Infantry Corps, General Grandzade, and the commander of the 2nd Army, General Hunterziger, deployed the better division, the 3rd North African Division (active division) on the right, another B reserve division, and the 55th Infantry Division on the left, which was connected with the rightmost flank of the 9th Army, the 53rd Infantry Division (another B-class division). (General Clapp of the 9th Army, in order to prevent the troops advancing into Belgium from being outflanked, deployed the better troops on the left). Behind these 2 divisions, there was the reserve, another B-class division, which belonged to the 10th Infantry Division of the 71st Army. These 3 B-class divisions were to guard the section of the river where Guderian's Panzer Corps stormed. That is, the section of the river that Flender was going to attack.

The morale of the two armies was extremely low, and Lord Brooke recalled, recalling a review of a French unit: "I have rarely seen such a bad unit, the soldiers are not shaved, the horses are not combed, the uniforms are lazy and ill-fitting, the vehicles are dirty, and no one has a sense of honor for his troops. Everyone showed an expression of resentment and disobedience. When the command to look to the left is heard, no one obeys......

Flender soon received a telegram from Guderian, who ordered Flender to immediately move eight kilometers downstream of Sedan and then rest the whole army, and tomorrow their armored division would be the main attack task of crossing the river, and at the same time Guderian also explained to Flender that eight kilometers downstream of Sedan was the junction of the French Second Army and the Ninth Army.

Flender immediately ordered his armored troops to rush downstream of Sedang, don't look at the distance of only eight kilometers, Flender took two hours to reach the designated position, after arriving here, Flender found another SS unit, that is, the SS direct shipping regiment, the SS had a total of two direct shipping regiments, both of which were originally deployed on the Soviet front, and one was urgently transferred to the French front by Zhang Jun.

Of course, these helicopters are FA223 transport helicopters, this SS direct flight regiment has a total of 164 aircraft, although the transport of these helicopters is only two tons, there is basically no armor, it is still possible to block rifles, there is no way to prevent anti-aircraft machine guns, just this take-off weight, even if Zhang Jun has the ability to do it every day, there is no way to equip FA233 with thicker armor.

Isn't this fa233 useless? It's very useful, not to mention transportation, a very convenient means of transport, in addition, Zhang Jun has modified all these FA233 helicopters, and the ugly FA223 is hung with German 150mm six-barreled rocket launchers on both sides. It is the German six-barrel rocket launcher, the gun body weighs more than 500 kilograms, two is 1,000 kilograms, plus 12 rounds of 150 mm caliber, the range of 8 kilometers, a rocket net weight of 31 kilograms, just enough for the FA223 transport helicopter to carry. In addition, the horsepower of the current FA223 has also been increased by Zhang Jun's request, in addition to these, two machine gunners can also be carried up to provide the most direct near-air fire support for the troops.

These FA223 helicopters with weak defensive capabilities, super maneuverability, and super firepower, under normal circumstances, follow the attack of armored forces, and will never fly alone over enemy positions, and the range of general air defense weapons is generally three kilometers, FA223 can be completely outside the enemy's firepower, and the air above their own armored forces can launch an attack, and the armored forces below can completely provide ground protection for the FA223 in the air, and the FA223 provides sufficiently fierce fire support for the armored group.

Flender's armored division has the direct support of the direct navigation regiment, which makes Flender's confidence skyrocket, and when the time comes, the commander-in-chief of Army Group B will definitely send JU87 dive bombers, this is a high-power precision strike, this most advanced "three-dimensional blitzkrieg," can it be blocked by those second- and third-rate French ** teams?

It's difficult, it's difficult, even if there is a natural danger of the Maas River, as long as the German pontoon bridges are erected, France will have to collapse, there is no other way. If Zhang Jun's "Black Eagle" makes a shining debut, then the British and French forces can only be wolf chasers. It's a pity that the "Black Eagle" is still in the process of being intensively refitted, and this will take some time, and Zhang Jun estimates that by July and August, he will be able to have a brigade to a regiment of "Black Eagle" available.

……

The optimistic Allied High Command, the Allied High Command was still very optimistic about the situation until the 11th, and the French military attache in London told the British on both the 11th and the 12th that the main direction of the German offensive was through the Low Countries, and at least this time, strategically, the enemy did not achieve a surprise attack. Of course, the Germans' current success is largely due to the lack of preparedness of the Netherlands and Belgium. General Weygand, who was in Syria, also believed that the situation was favorable to the Allies.

However, there is still some bit of intelligence that suggests, especially the reconnaissance of the Royal Air Force, that in the Ardennes direction, there is a strong German unit. But due to the tight cover of the Luftwaffe and the dense forests, the intelligence was vague. In addition, the intensity of Bauk's offensive in the north also raised suspicions that this was the main force of the German armored forces. In conclusion, the documents of the French High Command at that time did not express a recognition of the danger in the Ardennes direction. Rather, General George issued a directive in which he "foresaw" the need to strengthen the defenses of the Sedan area. The French 2nd, 3rd Panzer Division, 3rd Motorized Division, and 14th, 36th, and 87th Infantry Divisions were instructed to occupy the second-line positions behind Sedan. Orders were given to these divisions on the 11th-13th, respectively, but it was already too late, and it turned out that the divisions would not be able to reach the front when they were most needed.

On the 10th, the British and the French General George had again had an unpleasant affair, and on the 10th, the Gamblerin had already handed over the power to consult the situation with the Belgian king, but when he visited the headquarters of General George on the 11th, he found that General George had delegated this authority to General Bieraut, the commander of the French 1st Army Group, and also had the power to coordinate the battle plan. Gammyrin was dissatisfied, but did nothing.

By the morning of the 13th, the cavalry search force of the French 2nd Army crossed the Maas River to search, which was a dangerous but necessary move. Flender's Panzer Division was preparing to cross the river and had to stop fighting, and the 2nd Cavalry Division and the 5th Cavalry Division were still unable to resist the SS Panzer and began a chaotic retreat, spread over a frontage of 30 km. Three German Panzer Divisions (17th, 18th, and 19th Panzer Divisions) were rapidly encircling this front. More dangerously, the right flank of the cavalry search unit of the French 2nd Army, the cavalry unit of the French 3rd Army on the Maginot Line, the 3rd Cavalry Division, had retreated to France after skirmishes. And on the left flank of the cavalry search unit of the 2nd French Army, a cavalry unit of the French 9th Army, without a fight, retreated behind the Maas River. As a result, the cavalry search units of the 2nd French Army lost cover on both the left and right flanks, and of course their end was annihilation, which would have serious consequences for tomorrow's battle.

…… (To be continued.) )