@@@@@

Tanks sorted.

However, Xue Yue, who graduated from the armored training class of the National Defense University with the first place last year and received training in half a year of actual combat exercises, was dumbfounded. There are no wedge-shaped formations that can exert firepower, no infantry hiding behind thick steel to protect, and no artillery to protect the front flanks! More than 50 French tanks lined up in a straight line, and then stupidly rushed to the battlefield where the smoke of gunpowder had not yet dissipated, to challenge the infantry line with a well-established and solid defense system.

This is simply looking for death!

When he jumped to his feet and scolded and shouted, the infantry cluster finally appeared hundreds of meters behind the tank cluster, a huge gap that could be easily blocked by artillery fire, even a few trainee staff officers behind him covered their faces and couldn't stand it, and Cai Yi, who had just arrived, frowned fiercely, after three years of fighting, the French army was at this tactical level?

Soon after the German outpost spotted the French tank, it called for artillery to quickly adjust to carry out a covering shelling of the French armored group, and the heavy shell landed next to a tank that was slow due to mud and craters, and the seven-ton Renault FT17 tank instantly turned into a ball of fire. Fortunately, howitzers hit tanks by luck, unless they are dense enough to cover every inch of land, not many tanks are actually hit. But the infantry in the back was miserable! The shells kept falling around them, and the mud from the explosion soon pinned the wave of infantry to the ground, unable to follow the tanks. Seeing that the French tanks were obviously completely out of touch with the infantry, but they continued to bury their heads in the first line of defense of the German army, even Qiu Wenbin, who was usually silent, stomped his feet: "Stupid! The Germans had already seen tanks in Verdun, and the trenches were changed to a standard of at least 3 meters wide, and they could not rush through without the support of sappers! ”

As if to test it, the French tanks that broke through the barbed wire fence to reach the first line of German defense were attacked by a large number of 37-mm infantry guns, and the mere 25-mm thick steel plates could not withstand direct fire. Due to problems with the design of the Renault FT17 fuel tank, many tanks caught fire as soon as they were penetrated. Even the tank crews could not escape. The ZEISS eightfold telescope clearly shows two German soldiers suddenly jumping up from the front position. Then a grenade was thrown at the tank that was close at hand, and immediately after that, the tail of the tank began to catch fire. Encouraged by them, more and more German infantry used bunkers and craters to get close to tanks, blowing them up with simple grenades, and several even caught fire when infantry hit fuel tanks. In just half an hour, nearly half of the more than 50 tanks were destroyed by artillery shells and infantry, and the rest had to turn around and retreat when they saw that the situation was not good.

"See?" Yue Peng looked at Xue Yue, raised his eyebrows and admonished: "Don't have the heart to underestimate the enemy!" The Germans were the first to be equipped with tanks, and they had a lot of anti-tank combat training at Verdun, and we recently found out that they were equipped with a 13.2mm anti-tank rifle. After the experiment, it was found that after using a special bullet, 15 mm of steel plate can be penetrated at 200 meters, and 25 mm can be penetrated at 100 meters! ”

"Oh? There are such guns! Doesn't it mean that it can easily penetrate the front armor plate of our T2 tank? Cai Ye also became solemn for the first time, after all, no one wants the country to spend a lot of money and transport weapons thousands of miles away before they appear nemesis on the battlefield. Zhang Xiaozhun roughly described it and said: "We don't know how much equipment we have. However, this gun is very difficult to fight. The recoil is to death, and it takes the best gunners to use it, and the number will certainly not be very large. ”

Several people are talking. The fight didn't end with the tanks being withdrawn. In order to test the German defensive line, even though the artillery power was greatly reduced due to the rain, Mangran, who was personally in charge, still ordered the infantry to continue the attack. The French soldiers scattered over the mountains bent down and charged forward, and the shells covered the infantry group assault at a speed of 100 meters every three minutes. However, due to the impact of the rain, the German fortifications could not be effectively destroyed, and the surviving Maxim heavy machine guns began to take over the battlefield, and the bullets denser than the rain instantly bit off a large piece of the front end of the charging formation! Thousands of French soldiers were torn apart by bullets.

Although the smoke and rain were dense, an experienced officer like Cai could still judge the intensity of the fire from the machine-gun fire network. Zhang Xiaozhun saw the corners of his mouth squirming. Introduced: "Songpa doesn't have to be counted. From what we have seen before, there is an average of one Maxim machine gun per 100 meters. There were about 13,000 of them on the entire Hindenburg line! After the advent of tanks, the Germans also strengthened the number of 37-mm infantry guns, which could penetrate tank armor at a distance of kilometers. ”

Before Xue Yue could wake up from these terrifying figures, several German shells fell in front of the observation post. After the guards protected everyone and retreated to the bunker under the observation post, Zhang Xiaozhun immediately spread the map of the Hindenburg defense line he carried with him on the table, pointed to the section of the defense line from Reims to Soisson, and said: "During the 100-day battle, we conducted some tentative reconnaissance of this defense line, and the section from Reims to Soissons in front of us is the most dense salient of the Hindenburg defense line, which the German army called the Siegfried Line and stationed 13 German infantry divisions. Judging from the reconnaissance photos of the aircraft and the summary of various intelligences, the entire defense line is divided into four layers. The first layer is an outpost line located about a kilometer in front of the main fortifications, which does not have much heavy equipment but has a lot of mines and barbed wire, and also digs deep trenches to defend against tanks, mainly used to slow down and hinder the speed of the attacking troops. The second to fourth floors are the main trench defense line, and many branch lines and tunnels have been excavated, and air raid trenches. The first and second trenches consisted mainly of machine guns and light infantry, and every hundred meters or so there were heavy machine-gun bunkers with grenadiers and mortars, as well as 37 infantry guns. The main breakthrough point chosen by Nivelle and Manjan is 5 kilometers to our left, and the terrain is complex, and it is the strongest area of the German defense! There are many swamps and deep valleys between the three terraces, and there is a commanding height of Shermandamu Mountain 200 meters to the northwest, on which the Germans have built many permanent cement fortifications and deployed hundreds of cannons, including at least 48 K16 long-range cannons to block all targets within 15 kilometers! Judging from the previous records on the Eastern Front, Hindenburg and Ludendorff were very good army commanders, so Zi'an and I both felt that with the current morale, tactics and chaotic command of the French army, it would be difficult to break through Siegfried's defensive line. ”

Although it is only a cursory introduction, the size, enormity and intensity of firepower of the Hindenburg Line are deeply impressive. In particular, the Siegfried Line, located in the Champagne-Ardennes region, is arguably one of the strongest in the entire defensive line! Therefore, Cai Ye felt very strange, when the firepower of the two armies was equal, the first thing to break through the defense line was to find the weak point, but why did Nivelle and Mangran choose to break through strongly? Yue Peng answered his doubts: "Nivelle is not as qualified as Petain and Foch. His ascension to power was unexpected by many people, so since he came to power, he has been preaching everywhere that he will have a decisive battle. The aim should be to consolidate one's position. So this battle was fought by him and Mangran as a decisive battle! He believed that a strong breakthrough would inflict heavy damage on the main force of the German army, and as long as it broke through the past, the weak German army would surrender without fighting. ”

"It doesn't make sense!" Cai Ye slapped the table fiercely, remembering what he said when he was studying this line of defense with Yang Qiu, and said angrily: "When I studied the battle situation with the commander-in-chief, he personally said that Ludendorff is very good at using troops, and when he was defending on the eastern front, he used the strategy of Tian Ji horse racing, using the third-line reserve troops to defend the trenches, the second-line to fight the main force, and the first-line elite troops to act as reserves!" Therefore, after coming to the Western Front, this set of tactics will definitely continue to be used, and once the French army is entangled by reserves and the second line, the casualties will be very large. Even if it breaks through, it will encounter an elite head-on interception and pinching attack, and the exhausted division that has completed the breakthrough will definitely be defeated. This is a war, it is simply to stain his top with the blood of soldiers! ”

His words resonated with everyone, all of them are officers who hold the life and death of soldiers in their hands. Even if it was the French soldiers who died now, everyone was angry. Zhang Xiaozhun is even more aware of the upright temper of this old classmate. Comforted: "To extinguish the fire, let's look at the line of defense we want to fight." After saying that, he glanced at Qiu Wenbin, who immediately pointed to the east of Lance and said, "This is our war zone. The main attack was carried out by the French Fourth Army, with the objective of pinning down the main forces of the Siegfried Line and breaking through the German First Army line in the Ponfarvege-Meronvillier area. According to intelligence, the German First Army belongs to the German Crown Prince's Front, with 10 infantry divisions and 1 cavalry division totaling 210,000 people, more than 1,500 artillery pieces of various types, and about 2,000 machine guns. Earlier this army group also took part in the Battle of Verdun. It was one of the stronger units in the German army on the Western Front. From our point of view, to its right there is the Fifth Army facing the French Central Front north of Verdun. It has a strength of 13 infantry divisions. With our current scale and ability, we have the ability to break through Mo Long with a ruthless heart, but the problem is. ”

Qiu Wenbin paused and continued: "Because we expect that the French army will not be able to break through the section of Siegfried, there will be a big problem, what to do once we break through!" ”

Zhang Xiaozhun immediately said worriedly: "According to the plan, after the French Fourth Army completes the breakthrough, it will split part of the attack Sedang, and the main force will flank Ilson, forming a flanking attack with the Third Army, cutting off the rear road of the entire German Crown Prince Front Army in one fell swoop, and completing the encirclement of it!" According to Mangran's vision, as long as Ilsun was closed, the main force of the German Crown Prince's front of 700,000 people would be encircled, and the entire Western Front would be reversed and the front could be pushed to the border between France and Belgium in one fell swoop. But we are not optimistic about the Third Army, don't look at it has 10 divisions, but 6 of them are reserve divisions that were only completed in November last year, and the morale of the French army is generally low after a long battle, and the possibility of breaking through Saint-Quentin and flanking Ilson together is very small, so even if we break through, we will become a lone army! ”

Alone on the Western Front? Joke!

If the French Third Army is unable to break through and cooperate, then the envisaged flying of both wings will turn into a backwater! Even if all 22 divisions of the expeditionary force are pulled up, they will be cocooned and become a lone army! Judging from the map, after breaking through Moron, it will be surrounded and intercepted by the German First Army, and if Mangran's main force cannot break through, it will also provoke the third and seventh armies, even if Mangran drags these two armies to Ludendorff, the Fifth Army can be transferred from Verdun and Saint-Miel to intercept. Even if none of this happens, then you will encounter 3 German infantry divisions on the way to Ilsun! If Ludendorff continues to use the tactics of Tian Ji horse racing, then these three divisions will definitely be elite troops! With the current strength of the Wehrmacht, even if the 3rd and 103rd Divisions meet the elite of the German army, if they cannot form a numerical advantage of more than 3 to 1, they will definitely be held back.

What is needed in assault movement warfare is speed, and if it is blocked by three elite German divisions, less than half of the 400,000 brothers will be able to go home! Therefore, in front of Yue Peng and Cai Ye, in addition to waiting for an opportunity to make a move, they also need to deploy the combat options after the breakthrough! Will it attack Sedan, surround Saint-Miel, or sweep Ilsun, or whatever? Yue Peng and Cai Yi glanced at each other, walked to the narrow observation window together, and looked at the retreating French troops like a tide, all thinking about a question.

If Yang Qiu personally commanded this battle, what would he choose?.

******

ps: In the morning, my daughter's violin exam, and in the afternoon, she was rewarded so I went to play, and the code word was delayed, sorry! …… (Your support is my biggest motivation.) )