On September 20, 1938, the Heinz Panzer Corps turned directly to Antwerp on the basis of Lin Youde's new order.

The British and Belgian armies organized their defenses faster than Lin Youde expected, after all, they had seen Lin Youde use the same trick twice, once in Turkey and once in France.

The reason for the rapid breakthrough was mainly because the British high command misjudged the tactical intentions of the German army, and they believed that Lin Youde would start from Lille, sweep the coastline with the French army, and close the door to fight the dogs, so the main forces of the British and Belgian armies were deployed in the western section of the Franco-Belgian border. Of course, the strength of the British army and the Belgian army was not particularly sufficient, and they had to resist the attack of the German Army Group North on the back, so no matter how they resisted, it was only a matter of time before the defense line was broken through, and the British high command was well aware of this, so it was ready to block and delay operations when the defense line was breached.

Now that preparation seemed to be in handy, and with Brussels itself being a heavily fortified city, the British High Command reacted quickly to the perception that the Germans might be about to pass northeast of Brussels.

On 21 September, the German vanguard advanced into a wide field northeast of Brussels, near the small town of Löfen.

**

"In the early hours of this morning, the enemy made a tentative attack on our positions." Colonel Wesley gestured on the map and explained to the core members of the wartime cabinet the latest battlefield developments today, "We think the Germans have advanced here and here, and the reconnaissance report indicates that this should be an armored cluster. ”

"This is, of course, an armored cluster." Winston Churchill shook his head, "The German army that went on the offensive was a massive, damn armored cluster, all advancing on a buzzing iron box. We all know this, Colonel, please speak directly about what we don't know. ”

"Well," the colonel smacked his lips, "we think that this German force may be a division, or even more, and we found two different regimental numbers on the corpses left by the German tentative attack last night, and our soldiers only saw the insignia of the same division on the German tanks. ”

"Okay, there's a German division that has arrived at the battlefield where we were scheduled to snipe." Churchill nodded, "And then, do we have a plan to preemptively give them a dismount?" ”

"No, sir." The colonel shook his head, "The gap between our infantry firepower and the German army is too big, it is unwise to rashly leave the preset positions and bunkers to attack the German army, and although our battle Ji troops can carry out attack operations, but the enemy also has war Ji accompanied, judging from the previous encounter report, the enemy war Ji is flexible and mobile, and they have a greater advantage in the case of grasping the geographical advantage, we think there is no need to deliberately fight under the enemy's advantage." ”

"So you didn't do anything in the time since you discovered the Germans?"

"We were fortifying our positions all night."

Winston Churchill pursed his lips and did not speak.

At this time, Ironside said: "The staff expects the Germans to launch an offensive tomorrow......"

"What is the reason for this judgment?"

"The Germans' attack last night had already made them aware that there was a fortification of our army in front and that they had built a certain amount of fortifications, so they had to wait for the artillery in the rear to follow before they could continue the attack. The judgment of the General Staff was also agreed with by the Expeditionary Force Command, which judged the time of the attack later than that of the General Staff, on the grounds that they found that the Germans were tired and that their ammunition and supplies were almost exhausted. The Germans needed time to replenish and recuperate. ”

"No," Winston Churchill shook his head, "they won't rest, because it was a Chinese who commanded them in the rear, and my adviser told me that the Chinese were very fast, and they had pursued the speed of attack and maneuver since thousands of years ago." ”

Ionside frowned.

"However, they must wait for the artillery to come against our fortifications, knowing that the vicinity of Löfin is where the battle line of the last great war was located, and some of the permanent fortifications built back then have been left behind, and many are still usable, so we have put them to use. If there is no artillery to cooperate......"

"Damn, they're panzers, they're artillery themselves! Their tanks are armed with seventy-five-mm guns that can destroy the vast majority of pillboxes! ”

"But not all."

"Yes, but they don't need to worry about the old permanent fortifications, they just need to kill the wooden or even unroofed bunkers near these permanent fortifications, and they will be able to penetrate the defense line and isolate your permanent fortifications. How long do you think the British army inside will last? ”

Ironside did not answer.

So Churchill continued: "I have had enough of your assumptions, and remember, 'if a bad situation is likely to happen, then it must happen,' and that you would do well to revise your defensive plan to take into account the immediate attack of the Germans." ”

"Alright," Ironside finally relented after a moment of silence, "we'll revise the plan to bring forward all reinforcement steps. ”

Ironside's words made Colonel Wesley frown.

"Your Excellency Chief of the General Staff, our plans are already the fastest, and it is impossible to move supplies and troops at a faster pace under the existing conditions. Moreover, Lille has assembled a large number of French troops, and even if they have nothing to do in Lille, we must ensure the number of troops on the Franco-Belgian border. ”

"Then think again." Churchill waved his hand, "Isn't this the duty of the General Staff!" Okay, the next question, if we want to withdraw our troops from the mainland, we have to have a sufficient number of ships, how many ships has the Royal Navy requisitioned so far? ”

"It's only about 50 percent of the predetermined amount to be requisitioned." "We are looking at reducing the tonnage requirements for vessels, and we hope that the government will call on the people to take action, especially the fishermen, because if we mobilize fishing boats from all over the UK, the capacity cannot be underestimated." ”

"The British Empire has reached the point where it has to use small boats such as fishing boats to withdraw its troops?" Winston Churchill's expression looked a little sentimental, "Nelson's spirit in the sky will definitely not be blind." ”

**

Löfven outlying positions.

Ensign Benjamin is writing a letter home on the ammunition box:

"Dear mother, we finally saw the Germans yesterday, and they were shouting unpleasant words and rushing towards our position in the night, and I couldn't see anyone at all, but they just fired their guns indiscriminately. Bullets whizzed past me, and I don't know if it was the Germans or my own. The Germans seemed to have a machine gun in everyone, and they called it an assault rifle. After last night's battle, I captured one from the dead Germans, it was so heavy that the recoil of the shot was so great that it was as difficult to handle as a mad wild horse. It is unimaginable that the Germans could fight with such a thing.

"We are now waiting for the Germans to attack, and the officers say that it will be calm today because the Germans are waiting for their artillery to move to the front line. After that, the battle will become extremely fierce. The positions we are now stationed in were originally the places where the two armies clashed in the last war, and the trenches we are in now are the masterpieces of the British Expeditionary Force. The veteran officers of the unit said that a third of the soldiers of the British Expeditionary Force who had gone out from this trench to attack the Germans did not return, and many of the remaining were seriously wounded.

"Mom, I can't imagine the tragedy of the last war, tens of thousands of people died in a day or something, it's just appalling. I had nightmares yesterday just by seeing a few corpses, and I guess I'm going to collapse in the face of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. ”

Benjamin stopped his pen and covered the letter with his hand—for he noticed that John, who had always laughed at him, was standing in front of him.

"Look at your sentimental expression, I bet you wrote this letter to your mother."

"So what?" Benjamin frowned.

"Hahaha, it's really a little hairy boy who has not dried up, I said, don't write a letter, take advantage of the fact that the Germans are not attacking today, sneak into the city with me to have a few girls to play, although it is not as good as the Netherlands, but there are a lot of prostitutes in Belgium, and the quality is good."

As soon as Benjamin tried to retort, a sharp whistling sound came from the sky.

"What's going on?" Benjamin asked John blankly, "What's going on with this voice?" ”

John shrugged, "It sounds like an alarm, but I didn't hear about sirens on the ground." ”

Before the words fell, someone shouted: "Bomber! Enemy bombers are diving! ”

Benjamin and John looked up together, and sure enough, they saw many black spots in the sky.

An explosion then pierced their eardrums.

Benjamin looked at the rising dust clouds, and it seemed that the bombs had landed far from the trenches they were in.

No sooner had the idea come to mind than Benjamin was pushed by the shockwave and crashed into the wall of the trench and passed out.

I don't know how long it took for Benjamin to open his eyes, and a strong tinnitus enveloped him, blocking out other sounds, so everything he saw turned into a silent movie.

He saw the bombs fall not far from him, kicking up a large amount of dust, and in the dust he could see people and other debris thrown into the air.

He saw John, who had been laughing at him just a moment ago, lying not far from him, a large amount of blood coming out of his nose and mouth, his round eyes had lost focus, and his hollow pupils were looking in his direction.

He saw that his comrades not far away were panicking and trying to climb out of the trench, but they couldn't find a place to climb on the concrete wall.

――With a traffic trench, you can run to the rear......

At this time, the tinnitus gradually subsided, and the sounds belonging to the real world began to enter Benjamin's consciousness.

He heard someone shouting hoarsely, "Prepare for battle!" The Germans attacked! ”

- By the way, I still have to fight.

Thinking of this, Benjamin grabbed the weapon that had landed not far from him, struggled to his feet, and walked forward with a lead heavy foot, turning into the ditch that led to the shallow trench where he was shooting.

He climbed the stairs and rushed straight to the edge of the shallow trench to look ahead.

He saw that the black iron box was coming towards the position, and the smoke and dust in the sky were almost like a cavalry charge.

In the smoke and dust, you can still see the figure of the running magic armor, and the iron cross on the shoulder shield is particularly conspicuous in the sunlight.