On May 10, 1937, the flames of war once again struck the land of Europa. Since France did not give a clear response within the stipulated time limit, Germany immediately declared war on France in the early morning of the 10th. There was no surprise to the whole of Germany about this situation; Two days ago, their war mobilization against France had already determined the outcome of today's war, and the train full of men and equipment speeding westward was by no means just carrying the mission of intimidating the other side in politics!

According to the war plan formulated by the German General Staff, the first stage of the German army's mission was to quickly defeat France with the superiority of air force and armored forces, and at the same time eliminate this bridgehead that could directly threaten the German mainland, but also gain a geographical advantage in the next step of the war against Britain. As soon as Qingying's declaration of war was issued, the air force units, which had been waiting at the various airfields on the border in advance, accelerated and broke through the air amid the roar of countless engines and the sharp roar of propellers. Compared with the traditional army, they have become the vanguard of modern warfare; And under the onslaught of their eagles' beaks, the first sacrifices will soon appear!

Today, the strength of the Luftwaffe has been greatly improved compared with five years ago: not only has the number of front-line combat aircraft exceeded 12,000, but its quality has also been upgraded in many ways on the basis of the original. The latest BF-109 fighter broke through the 700Km/h mark at a rapid pace, like a lightning speed, while the French Air Force's similar products have just completed the transformation from wooden biplanes to metal monoplanes, and they are like faltering old women in front of the German BF-109 and FW-190. Due to the restrictions imposed on France's military power by the Treaty of Amsterdam, the French Air Force, which had started late, was not at the same level as Germany, when French pilots flew fighter planes to meet the enemy. On boarding, he was unilaterally tortured by German fighters who had absolute superiority in quantity, quality, and even tactics!

"The speed of these French fighters was unusually slow. Just one line faster than our BF-109 prototype. And they are still lined up in a V-shaped formation that is common in the last battle, and there is no flexibility at all when encountering the enemy. We have once again proved to be ahead of the French, having abandoned this inefficient formation six years ago and replaced it with a two-plane formation that has proven to be effective in numerous exercises. Under the mutual cover of wingmen and long planes, our fighters with absolute speed and climb superiority can easily shake off the enemy's tailgating, and once the boys bring the enemy fighters into the firing range, then it has no chance to accelerate and escape. Only a futile struggle can be done with horizontal maneuvers such as tumbling and circling. A German fighter group leader recalls the first day of fighting.

The strength of the German fighter force turned the French planes that took off into the air to fight them into moths, and in just a few dozen minutes, more than 20 fighter planes that took off from airports in various parts of France were shot down, while only one German plane returned home wounded. In fact, even if the French aircraft successfully launched an attack on the German fighters, the 7.92 mm machine guns they were equipped with would hardly be able to deal a fatal blow to the enemy. In addition to fighting against the naked Zero, small-caliber machine guns are difficult to do in air combat, compared to the already grown aircraft, against unarmored targets such as infantry is the area where they can really exert their power.

When the German fighters took control of the skies, the bombers who followed the queue opened the bombing hatches. Large quantities of high-explosive ordnance were poured into the target area. In 1913, Germany's giant airship unit did the same thing. However, due to the high cost of this airship, it could only be used as a direct force of the army group, as was the scarce 420 mm siege guns, and its impact on the battlefield was limited to a single specific area. Today, however, the situation has changed radically. The Luftwaffe has thousands of bombers, most of which are various types of twin-engine JU-88s with a bomb load of more than 3 tons. The JU87 dive bomber, which is used to deliver bombs weighing more than 1 ton, can be accurately dropped over the target's head. Despite the lackluster self-defense capabilities of this single-engine bomber, it is not a problem at all when its own fighters dominate the skies.

There was a loud thunder, a great earthquake trembled, and countless red, purple, orange and red flames of light danced like a volcanic eruption, rushing up hundreds of meters high in an instant; Factories, railroad tracks, bridges, stations and other targets all crumbled and collapsed in the thunder and fury of this day, and the smoke of gunpowder billowed out, and all kinds of debris shot into the sky under the vigorous air waves. Compared with traditional artillery shells, this kind of bomb dropped from the air has an astonishing destructive power ten times or even hundreds of times; A 500kg aerial bomb with a loading coefficient of more than 60% can blow away everything within a radius of more than 100 meters, and leave a huge crater nearly 10 meters deep in the mud! When the German bombers flew away contentedly, they were left with nothing but the devastation of the bombs: blazing fire, debris everywhere, mutilated corpses lying on the ground, and splashes of red and white viscous were shocking. Countless panicked crowds rushed wildly, overwhelmed by utter fear, for the first time they had experienced this new mode of warfare, and from then on, they would all tremble under its terrifying power forever!

During the first wave of Luftwaffe bombardment, French ground artillery units also fought back, shooting down a number of JU87s that were dive-dropping at a wide angle, but this result was insignificant compared to the losses they had suffered. As a result of the massive destruction of roads, bridges, and troop transport stations, hundreds of thousands of French officers and soldiers and supplies were left untouchable; While the sappers were anxious to repair with various equipment, the mobilization schedule originally set by the French Army was greatly disrupted. When a large number of enthusiastic French soldiers arrived at the station to go to the front to fight the enemy, they were told that there was no train at all; Seeing the incomplete railway network under the bombardment, the gloom of defeat rose in the hearts of the French soldiers for the first time.

At the same time, the first German Army, after completing the war mobilization, also crossed the Belgian border in great strides and advanced rapidly towards the west. Whether it was to draw the attention of the Anglo-French army to the northern regions of France or to seek a breakthrough from the Ardennes jungle, Belgium was a must for the German army. Unlike the historical situation, this low-lying state no longer had the idea of bearing the brunt of the German chariot and rushing to die for Britain and France. Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, who had always been close to the Hohenzollern royal family, declared neutrality without any suspense, and King Leopold III of Belgium ordered his troops to get out of the way of border crossers after receiving assurances from the German government. The last war against the German Empire left Belgium with a huge Congo colony, and the country's infrastructure suffered severe losses from artillery fire. The bloody decision of the former King Albert I, who had no experience of the cruelty of war, nearly wiped Belgium off the map of Europe. To this day, Leopold III has no idea of repeating the mistakes of the past.

Thanks to the obedient attitude of Belgium, the German Army was able to fulfill Schlieffen's last wish and complete the crossing of the land with extraordinary speed. The progress of the German army in Belgium was so smooth that even Qingying himself was a little unexpected: you must know that in order to solve the resistance of the Belgians, the German right flank, which had three large army groups, was consumed for 20 days, and it was only in the fourth week that it entered the French border. In order to open up the roads of Belgium as much as possible, the General Staff had drawn up a plan for a large-scale surprise attack on Belgium with paratroopers, but now the implementation could be postponed and the next step could be waited. For Qingying, it is undoubtedly the best situation that this trump card can appear in front of the world at the first time; The difficulty and cost of training airborne troops are extremely staggering, and the current accumulation of the edge means that it can be better used in future operations against the British.

In order to convince Britain and France that the German Army was still marching according to the strategy of the last war, the German General Staff still invested considerable forces in Belgium: its three armies had 32 divisions, including four armored divisions, and a large number of independent units directly under it, with a total number of more than 700,000 men, supported by two air armies. In the center, a mighty army was being rapidly assembled with the mobilization of Germany for the war: it would be a terrifying force with 78 divisions and five air corps in the service. When the first shot had been fired on the right flank, which had attracted the attention of the British and French troops in northern France, and had moved them closer to the north, the central flank cluster, which had been gradually formed, was then swept out of the Ardennes Mountains. With the mobility of 11 armored divisions and 20 motorized divisions, Ludendorff, who commanded the war, was fully confident that he would be able to justify the essence of Schlieffen's plan in another way. On the left flank, Ludendorff handed it over to the Austro-Hungarian army, which with 20 divisions and an air corps was still more than enough to deal with the French army in front of him.

"Now we have nothing to do." Looking at the German warplanes, which had been fully rolled out according to plan, Ludendorff uttered the same words as Moltke had said at the outbreak of war in 1870. At present, he is fully qualified to have the calm and calm state of mind of that legendary commander. After decades of waiting, he finally ushered in this dream moment, today's German army can be said to be sweeping across Europe with the momentum of Mount Tai, its majestic and heroic momentum, no matter how words can describe it! (To be continued......)

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