"Boom!" The light waves exploded, the arrogance flew everywhere, and a fierce red and purple glow burst out from a machine gun position of the French army. The Haggekis heavy machine gun, which was still roaring at the German army just now, instantly lost its sound, and the firepower of the French army in this area was sharply reduced. A German tank, with a faint smoke of gunpowder in its muzzle, remained unrelenting, firing three more 37-mm shells at the site in fifteen seconds. The earth and rocks flew and the air surged, and there was no sound from the French machine-gun position.

Inside the slightly cramped tank hull, the young German Panzer Second Lieutenant Heinz? When Guderian saw this through his observation mouth, he couldn't help but snort heavily, his nasal voice full of hatred and pleasure.

In less than three minutes, this evil French machine gun poured more than 100 rounds at Guderian, which not only stirred his heart, but also claimed the lives of several soldiers behind his tank. And because the machine gun was well camouflaged under the cover of branches and leaves, it was not until a distance of five hundred meters that Guderian discovered it by the flash of fire from the muzzle. He immediately instructed the gunners to turn the turret and fired back the most direct and powerful response. After confirming that the enemy's fire point had been cleared, he raised his left leg and stepped on the back of the driver in front of him, and in a few moments, the familiar loud roar sounded in his ears again. The whole tank shook slightly, and then the guide wheels rotated, the tracks snorted, and continued to rumble forward.

The noise was deafening, the tank was jolting and swaying on the rugged field, and from time to time there was a clanging or shrill sound from the front. Guderian, who had already had experience just now, knew that this was the sound of an enemy bullet being ricocheted off by the front armor of the tank. After an initial panic and apprehension, Guderian's nervousness after the tank was shot at gradually calmed down. A hint of a playful smile crept into his face.

The tank that Guderian was driving. It was the standard Panzer I successfully developed by the Royal Wilhelm Tractor Factory in 1909: its combat weight was 9.5 tons. It has a maximum road speed of 8 km/h, a 37 mm gun in the turret and 15 mm frontal armor. Although this thickness is not satisfactory, its huge inclination of 30 degrees to the horizontal plane fully compensates for this regret; Even a 37 mm infantry gun shell will be slammed off due to its equivalent to 37 mm armor thickness (as mentioned above, the equivalent conversion of armor thickness is not a simple cosine division), let alone the 8 mm machine gun bullet of the French army!

As the distance closed, the incoming bullets became denser again. It's not too late. Guderian was about to order another stop and wipe out all the French infantry who dared to shoot at him, but found that his tanks had driven in front of the barbed wire laid by the French army. At a distance of less than 200 meters from the French position, the French guns were more intensive, with an average of several rounds per second making close contact with their tanks. Looking at the barbed wire fence about one person high in front of him, Guderian gritted his teeth and stomped on the poor driver's back again. Suddenly, the already unbearable noise in the tank suddenly increased, penetrating into the ears; With a puff of visible green smoke from the exhaust pipe, the tank tracks swirled and then pressed straight towards the barbed wire!

"Clang!" There was a tooth-wrenching cracking sound of steel from the tank's tracks, still audible in the loud roar of the gasoline engine. The advance of the tank slowed down significantly. It's unbearable to become like a turtle crawling. Guderian drew a cross on his chest over and over again with his hands, and prayed silently in his mouth. The palms were also covered with fine beads of sweat because of the tension; Although he was crushing the barbed wire according to the most standard combat regulations, the stability of the Panzel I tank was the biggest variable. If Guderian's car suddenly broke down in the middle of the road, then he would not have been able to get off the car for maintenance in the current rain of bullets, and could only become a fixed target for the French army; Although this type of tank can withstand 37mm infantry artillery shells head-on, the French 75mm cannon can still beat it back to parts with one shot!

The tracks squeaked and pierced, and the tank, numbered 027, was bending and crushing one wire after another, crushing it underneath it; From time to time, bullets struck its front and flanks, creating bursts of dazzling sparks. Half a minute later, Tank 027 crashed out of the barbed wire, and the speed of the tank suddenly returned from an old woman on crutches to a normal young man's walking. Guderian quickly hooked the driver's shoulder with his toes, motioned for him to lower the gear, and then immediately turned his head to look back. To his delight, the towering barbed wire had been torn through a gap nearly three meters wide; The steel tracks ran through two smooth and wide marks on the barbed wire, and the infantry could pass through the path they had carved out harmlessly!

"Bang!" After a few minutes of silence, the 37mm guns of Tank 027 roared again. When the smoke of gunfire cleared, waves of earth exploded on the French trenches, and a French soldier with a flat-ended rifle ready to shoot was blown to a blur of flesh and blood. The sturdy gunners were quickly feeding one after another 0.7 kg shells into the chamber, and then opened fire after carefully aiming; the fires were chaotic and flashing, and the French walls, masonry, and sandbags more than 100 meters away shattered and collapsed. At the same time, the standard Maxim machine gun on the front of the hull also began to sound suddenly, and the dust and sand splashed, suppressing the French soldiers in a trench so that they did not dare to show their heads.

Artillery fire roared, machine guns roared. Following Guderian's car, a large number of tanks of the German 17th Panzer Regiment also rumbled through the French barbed wire defense line, like a tiger entering a flock of sheep, and opened fire. Although its 37mm cannon was far less powerful than its counterparts, it was as easy to deal with the rifle-dominated French defenders. With its continuous firing, the defensive fire points on the French positions were knocked out one by one, and the slightly dull sound of French rifles suddenly thinned out. As the tanks slowly approached the French trenches, the German officers and soldiers who followed them immediately threw grenades into the front trenches; After a violent explosion mixed with screams of surprise, the German officers and men rushed up and jumped into the trenches to engage the French officers and men at close range. When the main German infantry also jumped into the trenches and began to clear the remaining French soldiers, the tanks, covered with light white bullet marks, began to turn their heads again and slowly drove towards the second line of French trenches.

Booming and shaking, gunpowder smoke filled the air, and countless German soldiers poured into the French trench positions like a frenzied wave, and launched a face-to-face desperate attack with the French soldiers who were still stationed here. A large number of steel bullets from the light machine gun flew vertically and horizontally, and the violent sound of grenade explosions came and went. Many French officers and soldiers were knocked out of a dozen bloody holes in the battle, fell to the ground without support, or were hit by smoking grenades that were bounced into the corners of the zigzags, and their flesh and blood exploded. From time to time, a figure on fire was thrown, and after landing, all the fur and flesh were dried and scorched. But the French soldiers fought fiercely, fighting desperately with rifles, bayonets, butts, stones, and even fists and teeth, and did not take a step back until they died. After suffering such a heavy blow, the French soldiers' will to fight still did not weaken in the slightest!

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The wind was howling, mixed with the thick smoke of gunpowder and the smell of blood, Russell stood motionless on the hill slope several kilometers away, his solemn and majestic lieutenant general's uniform fluttering in the wind. His light gray eyes stared at the Liantian battlefield that was fighting fiercely in the distance, and he didn't say a word for a long time.

"General, we have broken through the first trench of the French!" Seeing the German troops crossing the winding barbed wire of the French army layer by layer, sweeping across the entire frontline trench area of the French army, a young staff officer could not hold back the pride and excitement in his heart, and said with excitement on his face, "It has only been more than two hours, and the first line of defense of the French has collapsed, which is more than half faster than our scheduled speed!" ”

Russell quietly looked at the torrent of steel rolling forward in the distance, and after a while, he sighed: "Toco's armored legion has such an astonishing and majestic power, in today's land battle, they are almost the absolute masters of the battlefield!" Whether it's a trench or a barbed wire, they can run through it without any fear; If it weren't for their defensive charge at the forefront, we would not have been able to achieve such a swift and astonishing breakthrough! By contrast, cavalry played little role in today's frontal assault, and they could only reconnoiter on the flanks and slash and chase small groups of French troops fleeing. It wasn't until today that I really understood the usefulness of these iron guys. ”

The young staff officer spoke again: "According to reports from cavalry and air forces, no trace of the French troops has been found near our flanks. General, with almost two hours left before the scheduled end of our army's offensive, are we going to throw the remaining reserves into the battlefield and launch a further attack on the French? ”

Russell nodded slowly and said, "Order, let the two infantry regiments with the heaviest losses withdraw from the battlefield, and order the reserve infantry brigade to attack immediately to replace the gap in the front line." ordered the field artillery brigades to shift their positions and bombard the second line of French defense; At the same time, they called the Esch Air Force Base and asked them to continue to send airships and planes to bomb and support. As the spearhead of the attack, we must achieve the most drastic breakthrough that the French have no time to react! (To be continued......)

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