"It's crazy! I still can't believe that the Germans would have chosen to deploy armored forces there. ”

This is the phrase that the French generals at the front and in the rear repeat the most today.

Both aerial reconnaissance and ground reconnaissance proved that a large German mechanized force was trying to pass through the Ardennes Forest, with a length of tens of kilometers from beginning to end.

The French generals objectively recognized this situation and tried to deal with it, but they still couldn't accept it psychologically, and found it unbelievable.

The Ardennes region is not very high, averaging just over 100 meters, but it is rugged, wooded and swampy.

In such a ghostly place, even foot infantry units would have to work hard to get through, let alone motorized troops, or even mechanized troops.

The engine power used in today's tanks is limited, the power weight is relatively low, and the continuous full load off-road is very easy to cause engine overheating and transmission failure, and in this kind of complex terrain forest, any tank breaking down may form a large traffic jam that stretches for more than ten kilometers.

Not to mention the fuel required for hundreds or thousands of tanks, in this kind of grinding off-road situation, the fuel consumption of the tank will surge, so a lot of fuel will be consumed, and the trucks commonly used by the army have poor off-road ability, and it is enough to drive in the wilderness, how can it be possible to pass in the Ardennes area?

Now, the French could take comfort in the fact that the Germans passing through the Ardennes Forest certainly lacked large-caliber artillery, and tanks alone could not break through the Sedang line.

The Sedan Defensive Line was centered on the Sedan Fortress, which was built along the water, with the Muse River as a natural barrier, and a considerable number of garrisons and a range of artillery pieces.

May 21 at 17:11 p.m. Berlin time, in a hill in the northwestern part of the Ardennes Forest......

A search detachment belonging to the Belgian 1st Cavalry Division was trudging through the rugged woods, leading horses and pack horses and rifles, vigilantly scanning their surroundings.

It was near the Belgian border, and they were ordered to pursue it.

The day before yesterday, the Germans had deployed a small contingent of paratroopers to the vicinity of the border, about three companies, and they scattered and attacked a number of posts and military stations, cut off telephone lines, and deprived Belgium, Britain, and France of their sources of information on the flank of the Ardennes.

The 1st Chasseur Division, which was on the border, was ordered to purge these dastardly attackers and re-establish control.

"Captain, that's enough to get here, we're already past the predetermined distance."

"No, I can feel them, they're nearby."

The hunch of the commander of this detachment was not wrong, and more than twenty people of the 5th Regiment of the 2nd German Parachute Division were hidden here.

Because they were pursued after completing their mission, and because they retreated hastily in this complex terrain, many of the German paratroopers of the three companies were scattered, and they could only fight in groups of three or five.

Second Lieutenant Wolf was now the only officer among them, and naturally took on the heavy responsibility of command.

There were nearly 100 persevering pursuers along the way, several times more than his own, so Wolf was unwilling to fight hard, and had been leading the team to avoid the battle and retreat, but he had not been able to get rid of this pursuer.

After discussion, they decided to try another ambush, hoping to make the Belgians retreat this time.

The only eight remaining S-type anti-infantry jumping mines were scattered in a Z-shape and changed to electronically controlled detonation; More than 20 people were divided into three units, and two MG34s were erected on the left and right sides.

Looking at the vigilant enemy troops looking around, the German paratroopers lying on their sides not far away were also particularly worried, whether they could get rid of these kraft candy-like guys depends on this move.

"Beep!"

Suddenly, two short, sharp whistles sounded, and the corporal next to Second Lieutenant Wolf slapped the detonator lever hard.

"Bang bang bang-"

The projectiles at the bottom of the eight S-jumping mines were ignited, bounced up almost at the same time, and then detonated at a height of more than a meter, and the explosions sounded like loud "booms" because the intervals were too short.

Hundreds of short steel rods were fired in all directions, and at least a dozen Belgian soldiers were beaten into bloody sieves on the spot, and the wounded horses let out a miserable neigh, overpowering the screams of the people.

"Wow, blahh—"

Before the smoke and dust from the explosion had cleared, the short, dense and distinctive gunfire of MG34 resounded through the forest, and the rain of bullets swept through the forest like a sickle.

The quality of the 1st Chasseur Division was absolutely qualified, and this search detachment had a reinforced squad that went out a hundred meters in front of it as a sharp scout, but Second Lieutenant Wolf deliberately spared them.

Now, when the roar of explosions was heard behind them and the roar of machine guns came from their sides, these Belgian soldiers were surprised to find that the Germans were right under their noses!

Several paratroopers with branches and leaves tied to their steel helmets and helmets leaned out and opened heavy fire with MP38 submachine guns at the Belgian soldiers dozens of meters away.

The servants were shot on the spot, and the rest escaped the first death because they lay down in time, but then several M24 wooden-handled grenades spun and flew down beside them.

Wisps of green smoke rose from the bottom of the wooden handles of the grenades, and the frightened Belgian soldiers dodged with rolling and crawling, but were soon blown to pieces or knocked down by the flying bullets.

After the initial confusion, the main force of the search detachment behind immediately came to their senses.

"What are you doing? Don't stay here! Ensign, take your men on a detour to the right! ”

The captain commanded several FM30 light machine guns to fire at full strength, and the rest of the soldiers also held Mauser M89 rifles and fired repeatedly.

The reconnaissance units of the Cavalry Division are already elite, how can the search detachment formed by them be passively beaten?

However, this elite duel lasted for a short time, because the German paratroopers who were inferior in strength did not love to fight, and after the ambush was successful, they quickly broke away from the battle and continued to retreat to the southeast.

While the frustrated Belgians were treating the wounded and cleaning up the battlefield, an officer suddenly shouted.

"Stop, be quiet!"

The soldiers looked at him in bewilderment, and then a low roar of engines came from overhead, louder and louder from far and near.

Just above them, a group of 57 Ju-87B dive bombers and 14 Bf-109D fighters was heading towards the fortress.

At this time, the German 3rd Mountain Division was basically ready to attack the fortress of Sedan.

In the previous day and night, the division had organized more than 20 reconnaissance operations at the squad and platoon level, as well as three fire reconnaissance operations at the company level, but the results were mediocre.

The French army had been running the area for many years, and most of the locations had been marked and recorded, and the artillery on the defensive line could fire directly from the firing targets and the Zhuyuan pamphlets, and the accuracy of the shelling made it seem like the shells had eyes.

In the face of such a defensive line, how could a unit lacking heavy weapons take it down?

The 3rd Mountain Division had very limited barrel suppression artillery at hand, only the GebG36 75mm mountain gun, and the rest of the infantry guns, recoilless guns, and anti-tank guns could not carry out the task of destroying fortified positions.

This is also the reason why the French are full of confidence, but they obviously miscalculated and underestimated the results of the rapid development of aviation technology.

"Enemy planes! Note! Note! ”

"Enter the Shelter!"

In the face of the German fighters in the sky, the hearts of the French officers and soldiers in the defense line were half cold, and the sense of oppression given by the huge fleet of aircraft that covered the sky almost made people breathless.

At present, the French army is equipped with a large number of anti-aircraft weapons such as Hatch Chase 13.2mm anti-aircraft machine guns, and some 25mm anti-aircraft guns, but due to limited military spending, they are not equipped in large quantities.

But how could an anti-aircraft machine gun alone support an effective anti-aircraft umbrella?

One by one, Stuka began to carry out the classic "death maneuver" on key targets on the Sedang line - dive-drop-pull-up-flip, and repeatedly cycle bombing and strafing.

The 500kg bombs that were smashed one after another burst into huge fireballs, and the violent shock waves made the earthquake tremble.

A Schneider Mle-7913 105mm field gun was hit at close range, turning into overturned scrap metal on the spot, and parts such as rocking wheels, gun scopes, and standing hoes flew out dozens of meters away.

A series of 13.2mm machine gun shells shot from the ground into the sky, intertwining into a staggered web of fire, as if to trap the German fighters shuttling through.

However, the power of the anti-aircraft machine gun was too weak, and it often caused the plane to flee with wounds after multiple hits in a row.

The Ju-87B dive bomber generally carries a 500kg heavy bomb on the belly and a 50kg light bomb on the left and right wings.

The German pilots drove the plane to dive towards it, and the marked lines on the ground and the cockpit glass were aligned to represent different dive angles, and when the French anti-aircraft machine guns were in the reflex sight sleeve, the MG17 aviation machine gun made a special "zig" sound and dropped a long series of bullets on the target.

The screaming and falling bombs and the rain of bullets turned those anti-aircraft positions into purgatory, and the anti-aircraft fire, which had been briefly held up for several minutes, was suddenly silent.

While this group of planes had been raging over the fortress for a while, another bomber formation was belated.

Twenty-four Do-17 light bombers, escorted by a small number of Bf-109s, arrived and began horizontal bombing.

More than 300 SC50 light aerial bombs fell one after another, like a hailstorm.

The German soldiers on the east bank of the Muse River watched with satisfaction as the explosions kicked up a cloud of dust and smoke that almost engulfed the French positions in front of them.

"Now is the time! Offensive detachments are ready for action! ”

"Go, get up, get up!"

One by one, the figures turned over and jumped out of the starting position of the attack, and ran to the rubber boat hidden by the river beach.

The soldiers carried rubber boats and washed them into the water, then released them, and then paddled together to the opposite shore.

The mountain artillery of the 3rd Mountain Division also began to suppress the fortress, while the recoilless guns, infantry guns, and mortars located on the front line were always ready to bombard exposed enemy fire points and directly support their own infantry units.

The MG34s, which were erected on both flanks of the attack's starting position, also neighed intermittently, and these MG34s, which were mounted on tripods and in a heavy machine gun position, suppressed the remaining French troops with long bursts one after another.

With strong air attack support, the 3rd Mountain Division managed to open a gap in the defensive line.

When follow-up troops arrived to consolidate their positions, the French army also organized four counterattacks, but to no avail.

The failed counterattack also determined that there was no longer suspense in this offensive and defensive battle, most of the artillery and bunkers that were relied on were destroyed, and the demoralized French army did not take any action for the next ten hours, which was very negative.

The strange situation continued into the night, and the regrouped German mountain infantry launched a series of attacks from multiple directions, infiltrating and raiding the French positions.

In the early morning of the next day, when the vanguard of the 8th Panzer Division rushed out of the Ardennes Forest after many difficulties and dangers, they found that they were useless.

The French troops stationed in each other could no longer hold on and began to retreat one after another, and several of the company-level units that were divided and surrounded simply threw their guns away and surrendered.

"It's a really good rifle, it's full of mechanics, it must be strong."

Dozens of MAS-36 rifles were piled up on the ground, and three German soldiers were fiddling with several of them.

As a new bolt-action rifle that began mass production only two years ago, the French intend to use it to replace the old Lebell and Bettier rifles, but it is obviously impossible to replace the huge number of rifles in just three years, not to mention the low mass production rate of the MAS-36.

The French troops stationed at the Sedang Line were fortunate enough to acquire a few rare batches of MAS-36s, but they did not have time to fire a few shots before they became trophies of others.

With the fall of Sedan, the wedge blocking Army Group Kolumbutz was removed.

Now, 5 armored divisions, 4 motorized infantry divisions, and 31 infantry divisions of the German army are constantly passing through the Ardennes Forest, and 500,000 troops are rolling towards the heart of France......

“…… The present state of war is proof enough that the German people, who know their own strength, can crush the illusions of the British and French capitalists and the bureaucratic bloc with their own strength. ”

“…… We should speed up our march to Paris, where the citizens are tired of the corruption of the bureaucracy and the connivance of the right. ”

On the morning of 22 May, Ernst addressed the Council of State.

No political bloc can guarantee that there will be no struggle for opinions, positions, and rights, and the disagreement among the upper echelons of the German Society on the course is mainly concentrated in the beginning of twenty years ago, and in the years following the defeat of the Anglo-French intervention forces and the signing of the Treaty of Rotterdam.

The German Society has a relatively clear conclusion on its own historical task -- to prove the correctness of the theory and the superiority of the system.

Of course, the premise of all this is to ensure the stability of the regime.

In order to achieve this premise, in addition to building a strong national defense force to protect itself, the prevailing view in recent years has been that it is necessary to take the initiative to liberate the whole of Western Europe.

Relatively speaking, France, Spain, Portugal, and Italy are relatively easy to solve, and the biggest problem is the United Kingdom.

As the birthplace of capitalism and the Industrial Revolution, the British Empire still had a formidable fleet, and the consequences of being impatient to challenge its supremacy at sea would be disastrous.

The opinion of the Ministry of Defense was that the British Navy should be weakened by the emerging air force, and a series of air bases against Britain should be established on the Western European continent, guaranteeing multi-directional suppression, supplemented by a powerful submarine force and a broken fleet, forcing Britain to abandon hostilities.

In addition, after achieving the strategic objectives on land, emphasis should be placed on building a strong and regular surface warship force with a view to countering possible threats from the Americas in the distant future.

(End of chapter)