, the Ardennes offensive in 8661939 was one in Bastoni

The Ardennes are located on forested plateaus in southeastern Belgium, northern Luxembourg and northeastern France. It covers an area of about 10,000 square kilometers. Lots of forests, peatlands and swamps. The highest point, Monte Bottrange, is 694 metres above sea level, and the 950-kilometre-long Maas River passes through the northern side of this hilly terrain. In chapter 860 of history, there are 20 to 22 fortress divisions or reserve divisions, and about 400,000 troops are deployed.

To the north of the Ardennes is the main battlefield of the current battle between the British and French forces (including the Belgian and Dutch armies) and the Sino-German forces. More than 1.5 million Anglo-French troops had entered Belgium, spread along the Liège Line, and fought alongside more than 300,000 Belgian troops. Facing them was the German Army Group A, also with nearly 2 million troops, including a powerful German Panzer Army (China's Chapter 860 Regiment Army).

To the northwest of the Ardennes is the center of heavy industry in northern France, where German intelligence suggests that the French have deployed nearly 500,000 troops, including a French armoured cluster of two armoured divisions and a motorized infantry division.

In addition, to the west of the Ardennes, across the Maas River, is the important town of Sedan in eastern France. About 250 kilometers southwest of Sedan is Paris, the capital of France! More than half of the wealth of the entire French Empire was concentrated there. A 280-kilometre drive northwest from Sedan will take you to Dunkirk, an important port in northwestern France...... Once the Sino-German coalition forces captured it, they would complete the encirclement of the main forces of the Anglo-French forces! By that time, the entire Battle of France would have been almost decided.

On this map, in the direction of the Ardennes, there is a particularly striking blue arrow extending from the Prüm region in Germany, passing through northern Luxembourg and southeastern Belgium into Sedan in northeastern France, just passing through the entire Ardennes. And the blue color in the tactical symbols currently used by the German ** team represents their ally the Chinese Defense Forces! In other words, it was the 120,000 troops of the 860th Chapter Regiment of the Chinese Defense Forces (owed to the 4th Panzer Division) who were responsible for crossing the Ardennes Heights, forcibly crossing the Maas River, and capturing Sedang!

According to the "Manstein Plan" formulated by the German High Command, after the capture of Sedan, the Chinese Chapter 860 regimental army had to advance 50 to 100 kilometers northwest in order to seek a decisive battle with the armored cluster deployed by the French in northeastern France! After eliminating this French armored group, they could turn to rest and wait for the order to attack Paris. The capture of Paris was Hitler's reward for the Chinese Panzer Army -- this was also the demand made by the Chinese side to Hitler.

It's just that this tempting prize in Paris doesn't seem to be so easy to get. Because the Anglo-French forces are now also aware of this Ardennes. The first day of the breakthrough of the Chinese Chapter 860 regimental army was relatively smooth, and without encountering any effective resistance, it easily advanced 60 kilometers and came to the southwest of the small Belgian city of Bastoni. There, the 860th Regiment under the command of General Huang Guyu encountered resistance from an unknown number of French troops.

After receiving the report from the vanguard, Huang Guyu immediately gathered his staff officers and discussed countermeasures on the front cover of a half-track armored command vehicle.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I believe you also understand the mission of our Chapter 860 regimental army, we must break through the Ardennes Forest area before the Anglo-French forces react, and force the crossing of the Maas River to capture Sedan. Moreover, the quicker these tasks are accomplished, the better, otherwise the more than 2 million Anglo-French troops assembled in Belgium and northeastern France may break out of our encirclement, and the French campaign will be protracted. Speaking of this, Huang Guyu raised his head and glanced at everyone, and said in an accentuated tone: "The assistant marshal hopes that the French campaign will end in May!" Because we need a strong Germany that rules most of Europe. ”

Hearing the meaning of the quick victory over Luo Yaoguo of France, all the people present immediately began to exchange ears, and after a while, Lieutenant General Dai Anlan, chief of staff of the group army, took the lead in speaking: "Junza, this Bastoni is an important communication artery in the Ardennes Forest area, there are two important highways that cross there, one of which leads to the north of Belgium, if we want to advance westward with peace of mind, we must seize it and cut off the road for the main force of the British and French coalition forces in northern Belgium to go south." Therefore, I suggest that we should give full play to the advantages of our armored army in terms of firepower and impact, concentrate all our efforts on striking at the other side, and strive to seize the city within 24 hours and open up the road to the west! At the same time, however, we should send lightly armed Panzergrenadiers to bypass south of Bastoni and move swiftly westward, scrambling to the east bank of the Maas. As he spoke, Dai Anlan drew the line of attack on the map with red and blue pencils. According to the reconnaissance of the vanguard, the French had a Moroccan infantry division stationed in Bastony......"

"It's a Moroccan division, and these North Africans are not weak in combat." Huang Guyu muttered softly, interrupting Dai Anlan's words.

Morocco was a French colony, and the so-called Moroccan divisions were actually colonial troops with the French as the main officers and recruiting soldiers from the Moroccan colonies. However, unlike the British and Indian armies, the French Moroccan or North African divisions were the most elite infantry units of the French army. These colonial divisions were better than the other French infantry divisions, both in terms of armament and training, and their morale was very high due to their generous salaries (for Moroccan soldiers) and good supplies. In the previous battles in Belgium, even the German ** team that participated in the war on the Eastern Front suffered some losses at their hands. Therefore, it is indeed a big trouble to have a Moroccan division blocked in Bastoni now. Although the strength of a mere division is simply not enough to withstand the hundreds of thousands of troops of the Chapter 860 regimental army, it is still very possible to drag on for three or five days. At that time, reinforcements from the British and French forces may come in a steady stream.

"Commander, please leave the task of capturing Bastoni to us Chapter 860 Group Battle, if we lose too much, I'm afraid it will be difficult to defeat them."

Speaking of this, Huang Guyu glanced at the surrounding dense forest again. The reason why the German High Command did not launch an offensive after declaring war on Britain and France on November 6 was because of the 14 panzer divisions possessed by Britain and France. A few panzer divisions, together with the impregnable Maginot Line, and the nearly 2 million troops assembled in northeastern France, made it impossible for the German high command to find a place to talk for a while! Although Lieutenant General Manstein's plan was supported by Hitler and some of the German military leadership, opponents also put forward very defensible reasons.

Due to the limited accessibility of the Ardennes Forest, according to the estimates of the German High Command, the roads there could not allow too many German (Chinese) Panzer Divisions to pass at the same time. Therefore, the armored forces that ventured to break through from the Ardennes Forest would most likely have to fight a decisive battle with up to 14 Anglo-French armored divisions in the northeastern part of France! Because it was only two or three hundred kilometers from northeastern France to Sedan and the transportation conditions were good, and it was relatively far from the Luftwaffe base, although it did not have a combat radius out of Stuka, the bomb load and the time left in the air were very limited, and there was no way to give full play to its full power.

In this case, in the face of an enemy with several times superiority, those German (Chinese) armored divisions probably have little chance of winning! Therefore, in order to formulate a feasible plan, the German offensive could only be delayed again and again, and it was not until March this year that Lieutenant General Rommel proposed an operational plan to feint Belgium and the Netherlands to attract the armored forces of the British and French forces into Belgium, which was closer to the German air base, and then use three panzer divisions and several panzergrenadier divisions as the vanguard to break through from the Ardennes Forest.

But no one expected that it was precisely in order to cover the main force of the Anglo-French coalition army that entered northern Belgium that the French high command sent a staff officer of the 860th Regiment Command of the Moroccan Infantry suddenly reminded in a low voice. As he spoke, he pointed to the north bank of the Maas River on the map. "There is the main force of the Anglo-French forces there, and there are 10 armored divisions alone."

"Oh?" Huang Guyu glanced at the map along the place pointed out by the other party, and there were several roads on it that stretched south from the north bank of the Maas River through the Ardennes Forest. "Are you saying that the Anglo-French army will soon send a large army south to attack our flank?"

"Yes, sir!" The staff officer replied: "Thanks to the appearance of this Moroccan division, our plan to secretly launch a surprise attack through the Ardennes Forest has actually failed. Even if we were able to bypass Bastony and continue our advance, we would lose its suddenness, and since Bastony blocked a major road, we would not be able to bypass Bastony's troops too much, and it would be difficult to defeat the Panzer Army that was heading south from northeast France. If we were to capture Bastoni and march again, it would take at least 24 hours. As he spoke, he glanced at Chapter 860, and it was difficult for the regimental army to even complete the deployment. After listening to the other party's explanation, Huang Guyu looked back at one after another vehicles on the highway that couldn't be seen at all, and nodded incessantly. Then he looked at the other again. This is a lieutenant colonel in his twenties wearing a black armored uniform. The man is very handsome, with a high nose on his rectangular face, and a pair of eyes that reveal a bit of shrewdness and ability. Huang Xuchu recognized this person's name as Huang Yongsheng, who was an "elite staff officer" trained all the way through the third phase of the Central Army Primary School, the twelfth phase of Huangpu, and the tenth phase of the Lu University.

"Yongsheng, let's talk about it, what do you suggest?" Huang Guyu asked.

"Yes, sir!" Huang Yongsheng opened his mouth and said: "Since we will definitely be dragged down by this Moroccan infantry division that is holding Bastoni, the plan to quickly pass through the Ardennes Forest is ironclad and unrealizable. Therefore, we should immediately change our original plan and put the battlefield directly in the Ardennes Forest. We can encircle this Moroccan infantry division and attract reinforcements from the Anglo-French army into the northern Ardennes Forest...... Since Belgian railways and roads were constantly bombed by the Luftwaffe, the allied mechanized units on the north bank of the Maas River did not dare to move during the day, and they had to assemble at least one night and another two or three nights to march into the northern Ardennes Forest.

We took advantage of this time to deploy our forces in the Ardennes Forest area, where the terrain was not conducive to the attack of tank troops, but it was conducive to the use of anti-tank weapons against the armored forces of the British and French forces. Now our army's anti-tank guns have been replaced by 57mm anti-tank guns of the 27-year-old type, this kind of artillery is amazingly powerful, even our No. 3 tank can't resist it, and most of the French and British tanks can't withstand it. And our tanks No. 3 and No. 4 (not historical models) could also ambush the armored forces of the Anglo-French forces in the dense forests of the Ardennes. As long as we can take advantage of the favorable terrain of the Ardennes Forest, we will definitely be able to defeat several armored divisions of the Anglo-French army. ”

"But then we will not be able to complete the deployment of the German high command and encircle the main forces of the Anglo-French forces in northeastern France and northern Belgium." Dai Anlan frowned and reminded.

"Counselor, there is no way to complete the deployment of the German High Command." Huang Yongsheng shrugged his shoulders and said with a wry smile: "If we divide our forces to surround Bastony, and then make a detour through the Ardennes Forest, at most two armored divisions can reach the east bank of the Maas River on time, even if we can defeat the four French infantry divisions defending the Maas River, it is impossible to defeat an armored army group from northeast France." Moreover, in four days at most, the Anglo-French army will draw mechanized troops from Belgium and attack the flanks of our two armored divisions, and then the consequences will be unimaginable! ”

Speaking of this, Huang Yongsheng paused and accentuated his tone. "Junza, Senza, Chapter 860 Regiment Army is the only bargaining chip in our country in the European War, if we want to get enough benefits from France, we must let Chapter 860 Regiment Army basically remain intact!"

"Not bad! Yongsheng said very well! Huang Guyu pondered for a moment and nodded. We cannot pin our hopes on the stupidity of our opponents, let alone risk Hitler with our Chinese armored forces, if we have no army in France after the war...... How much more say can there be in a peace treaty? Speaking of this, Huang Xuchu took a command gang from the adjutant, knocked on the map and said, "Everyone, I completely agree with Lieutenant Colonel Huang Yongsheng's opinion!" We need to change our original plan and put the battlefield in the Ardennes Forest. As he spoke, he stretched out his baton and swiped lightly on the northern edge of the Ardennes Forest, "Chapter 860 The regimental army group sent a telegram, reporting to von . Marshal Bock, our Chinese Chapter 860 regimental army encountered at least 2 Moroccan infantry divisions at Bastoni. Now we are ready to destroy these two Moroccan divisions first and open the way to the west. ”

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