The sK28 cannon howitzer has a slender barrel of 52 times the diameter, which gives it a fairly high muzzle velocity.

The 105mm armor-piercing high-explosive bomb flew at a speed of 820m/s towards the Shire B1Bis at a distance of 1260m, effortlessly piercing through the frontal armor of its hull and detonating inside!

The B1Bis burst into a dazzling flash, followed by a loud bang and a large cloud of smoke rising into the sky, and large and small parts fell to the surrounding area like scattered flowers.

Compared with the unprotected and tall 88mm anti-aircraft guns, the Big Max self-propelled guns are undoubtedly more suitable for such operations.

Next, 8 Big Max cars took turns firing at a distance of 1000m, knocking out the enemy in front of them one by one as if by name.

The third heavy tank, which was in emergency reversing, did not escape the catastrophe, it was hit by two shells in succession, and it exploded on the spot, and the turret flew in the air twice and landed a few meters away, but the hull continued to retreat a short distance due to inertia.

"Boom!"

The anti-tank gun positions were not spared, and they were soon bombarded with high-explosive shells, and the dust drifted away, only to see that the small 25mm anti-tank gun had turned into a pile of scrap metal.

The German tanks and infantry, which had been preparing for a long time, did not intend to give the other side a chance to breathe, and immediately left their positions.

"Whoa—whoa—"

One of the captains pulled out his flare gun and fired two red flares into the air in quick succession, and then followed with a Luger pistol himself.

The sporadic battles that followed were too easy, and the hundreds of French troops in confusion and panic were completely powerless to resist the surging German forces.

The two sides exchanged seemingly fierce fire, and the sound of gunfire "bang" and "bang" spread throughout the field, but it was not long before some French soldiers picked up the white cloth with bayonets and brandished it.

An FM29 light machine gun group fired two magazines indiscriminately in the general direction, and seeing that dozens of German infantry were still leaping forward quickly, they simply threw their guns to the side, raised their hands and slowly stood up.

Half an hour later.

Hundreds of rifles and light machine guns were piled up on top of each other, and these weapons, made of fine medium-carbon steel and high-quality walnut wood, now resembled a pyre.

The French, with about two infantry companies and one anti-tank gun company, lined up in two columns, walking with their bare hands along the country dirt road to the southeast.

One after another, III C, IV B, and Sdkfz221 passed by, heading northwest.

"It won't be long before we meet the Eiffel Tower!"

"Maybe you can also swim in the Seine?"

"The big capitalists in Paris don't know what dreams they're having these nights."

"Hahahaha-"

The German soldiers on tanks and armored vehicles talked and laughed, as if they had taken this combat operation deep behind enemy lines as an outing.

The once-indestructible-looking Shire B1Bis heavy tanks were still burning, the rubber on the wheels had long since been burned out, the paint had been baked, and the smoke from the charred wreckage was rising into the sky.

"It's great that you guys arrived in time, there are not enough troops to rely on the 5th Motorized Infantry Regiment in a multi-front assault."

Now that the 11th Motorized Rifle Regiment had followed, the 5th Panzer Division, which was worried about the lack of accompanying infantry, was relieved of a major annoyance.

The 39-year armored division of the German People's Army is very different from the armored division of the same period in history.

The German Society now uses an armored division of two armored regiments and a motorized infantry regiment, as well as one battalion each of motorized artillery, engineers, communications, and reconnaissance.

Historically, it was a two-regiment armored brigade and a two-regiment motorized infantry brigade, and the divisional artillery was also at the regimental level. It can be seen that it is a composite force of various arms with tanks as the core, including various support units, and has a strong independent combat capability, while other countries are not.

The establishment now adopted by the German Society is certainly unreasonable, because the number of infantry and artillery accompanying the tank operations is insufficient, and it is easy to find a dilemma of overstretched troops or insufficient firepower.

And because the German Society has no previous experience similar to the Polish campaign, the unsatisfactory staffing problem has not been exposed until now.

Had it not been for Erwinlon's failure to keep up with the 5th Panzer Division in time this time, they would have had to stop their advance.

This is the case on the southern front, and it is even worse on the northern route.

Or rather, it's a bad situation unlike the history of the original plane.

The Maginot Line to the south and the Ardennes Forest in the center were broken through, and Army Group Mannheim advanced due west, and they led the 5th Panzer Division as the vanguard and headed straight for Paris.

After passing through the Ardennes Forest, Army Group Koblenz also advanced rapidly to the northwest, as it has historically been, in an attempt to cut off the Anglo-French forces in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Faced with such a critical situation, the Anglo-French forces were forced to retreat in a big way.

In order to block the path of the Koblenz cluster, the French high command did almost everything.

The 2nd Hussar Division and the 13th Motorized Rifle Division were the first to arrive, but were routed after only 36 hours of delay for the Germans.

The 14th Infantry Division, the 42nd Infantry Division, and the 35th Reserve Infantry Division then rushed to the defensive positions, but again only for a little delay.

So far, none of the efforts of the French have worked.

The vanguard of the Koblenz cluster is already approaching Lille and is about to pose a direct threat to the Calais region, and the 400,000 Anglo-French troops are about to be surrounded, and it seems that defeat is a foregone conclusion?

"We Brits never give up when the time of despair has not yet come. Now, send a telegram to Brooke and get him ready to fight back immediately. ”

The commander-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Force, Admiral John Verrick, gave the order with a loud voice.

In a warehouse office building in Lille, where the headquarters of the 2nd Army had only been transferred this morning, Lieutenant General Alain Brooke, who had just stepped out of the officer's car, received the order.

With a solemn expression, he stared at the map in front of him, and then pointed to a small town marked on it and asked, "It can only be here, this is our last chance." ”

"The Scottish division is still on the way, they came under air strikes." A lieutenant colonel's staff officer next to him spoke very quickly: "The Royal 2nd Tank Regiment has been reorganized, but they want to march at night. ”

"We still lack enough tanks, ask the French, we need their tank troops!"

"Yes! Excellency! ”

After the French sent out several divisions one after another with refueling tactics, the British took advantage of the small amount of time they had gained to regroup their troops.

The 1st Panzer Division, the Royal 2nd Tank Regiment, the 6th Infantry Division, and the 15th Scottish Infantry Division were ordered to flank the town of Arras from two directions.

According to the plan of the counterattack, the 4th Panzer Division and the 21st Motorized Rifle Division, the vanguard of Army Group Koblenz, would be cut off from the rear, and the advance of its large forces would be delayed.

According to the orders of the Expeditionary Force Command, the counterattack force must do everything possible to delay the advance of the German army and buy time for the transfer and deployment of friendly forces.

In history, it was also in this small town called Arras that the Anglo-French army launched a counterattack that fought to the death but ultimately failed -

They tried to cut off the vanguard of the German army and prevent the follow-up of its main forces. Although the Anglo-French forces initially achieved results, they were eventually repulsed by the Germans.

On May 25, it was a dark day with dark clouds and torrential rain.

At 11:57 p.m., the 3rd Company of the 21st Motorized Infantry Division's Motorized Reconnaissance Battalion encountered a horde of British tanks in a wheat field 7 km east of Arras.

The pouring rain blurred the vision of both sides, and although the exchange of fire was extremely fierce, it did not actually achieve much results.

The German reconnaissance detachment, knowing that it was invincible, hastily laid some mines, and then hurriedly retreated.

Motorcycles roared and wheels rolled up large explodes of mud.

In the area west of Arras, 42 Soma S35 cavalry tanks and 9 Charles B1Bis of the French army were also attached to support the British counterattack, and they attacked with four infantry companies of the 15th Scottish Infantry Division, directly pressing the left rear of the German vanguard.

[Picture]

"Enemy tanks!"

"Attention! Dispel their formation. ”

An anti-tank artillery company and infantry battalion of the 21st Motorized Infantry Division hurriedly arrived here to set up defenses, and it took only a few minutes for the six Pak36 anti-tank guns to lay down their hoes, and they did not even have time to lay the telephone lines for communication between the various gun positions.

More than a dozen 80mm smoke bombs fell one after another, but the heavy downpour hindered the formation of smoke and did not play the ideal role in dispersing the shock formation of the French tanks.

"Reload tracer!"

The captain watched the battle in the artillery mirror, then shouted "Feuer".

A 37mm armor-piercing tracer bullet flew towards the B1Bis with a conspicuous bright white trail, and several other anti-tank guns also fired at the same target.

The rain was so heavy that the rain shield of the artillery mirror almost failed, and I saw that the shell hit the gun shield of the heavy tank and ricocheted, and the shell drew a laser with an obtuse folded line!

The rest of the 37mm cap-piercing rounds were equally ineffective, only bursting into one spark after another.

"Invalid! Void! Comrade commander, they stopped! "There was a shout from the artillerymen.

The B1Bis parked neatly and then bombarded exposed German firing points with 47mm and 75mm guns.

The German anti-tank artillery responded calmly and tried to shoot at the tracks of the French tanks.

In such a static duel, the low anti-tank guns actually had an advantage, because it was very difficult for tanks to detect and hit them.

The fierce engagement lasted almost twenty minutes, and after several tanks were broken tracks and driving wheels were destroyed, the French tanks took out half of the German anti-tank guns and then launched a second assault.

As the distance closed, the British infantry, armed with Enfield rifles and Bren light machine guns, followed closely the French tanks that were almost lined up.

"Boom! Rumble! ”

The Germans continued to use mortars to disrupt the intruding enemy's infantry, but the effect was not obvious.

All kinds of fire from machine guns, mortars, and anti-tank guns weave through the battlefield within a radius of only a few kilometers, and tracer bullets constantly shuttle through the rain curtain.

"Listen, launch flares after completing the breakthrough, don't forget."

"Company A is ready to attack."

"Thirty seconds!"

"Don't be afraid, kill these Germans!"

The sharp charging whistle sounded, and the figures looming in the rainstorm became clearer as the distance closed—a British soldier in Tommy's helmet approached the forward position with a bayonet-mounted Enfield rifle!

This scene is very similar to that of twenty years ago, but unfortunately most of the German soldiers can only hear about the horrors of the war at that time from the mouths of their fathers.

The forty-year-old captain of the anti-tank gun company was reminded of the scene when he was still an unknown heavy machine gun ammunition man, responsible for carrying boxes of canvas cartridges that seemed to never be moved.

"Captain." A herald slipped down the edge of the dirt slope next to him, and then took advantage of the situation to lie down, "Telephone order, the regiment commander asked us to hold our position, reinforcements are only six thousand meters away from us. ”

"The British counterattack is useless, ready to fire!"

"Wait until the tank gets closer!"

The British infantry and the French tanks could not be expected to cooperate closely, so I saw S35 cavalry tanks and B1Bis rumbling over foxholes, ridges, and trenches, and continued to move forward regardless of the situation.

Only then did the German anti-tank artillery and infantry lean out of their hiding places, picked up submachine guns and rifles, and fired at the British soldiers who were almost pressed to their faces.

"Dada-"

Dense bullets flew out of the muzzle of the MP38 submachine gun, and one by one the British soldiers were caught off guard and fell into the muddy fields.

M24 wooden-handled grenades, which had been hastily tied together with wire, were also thrown at the French tanks one after another, and the cluster grenades exploded with a deafening loud sound......

【Cluster Grenades】

On the same day, Nanjing.

The Imperial Council, which had been postponed for many days, was convened today, but to no avail.

The magnitude and speed of the war in Europe have exceeded the imagination of the Ming monarchs and ministers, and the different opinions are no longer just simple A and B, but A, B, C, D, E, and so on.

For an entire hour of meetings, the only things that came to consensus were two things that didn't matter.

First, Singapore is located in the Strait of Malacca, and its location is important, so it must be controlled, and there is no Propaganda Department, but a special government, which is planned to be named "Sin Chew".

Second, the Ming Army must expand again, and six new infantry divisions will be formed in the next three months; By the end of the year, four infantry divisions, four field heavy artillery brigades, and one tank brigade will be reorganized.

"The demands of the Peasants' and Workers' League and the Communist Party cannot be met at the moment, but this has nothing to do with the imperial court, so it can be dried for a while."

"The progress of the public redemption is still good, much faster than originally expected, and it is expected to reach the goal two months ahead of schedule."

"Australia's affairs, most of them still want to wait and see for a while, so it's okay, no matter how you say it, it's a little unstable to send troops in a hurry."

After returning to Zhaoren Palace, Zhu Lingjing casually said a few words to Zhou Changfeng, and then stopped.

The latter followed her, flipped through her notes as she walked, and replied with some confusion: "But when the Americans send another division to Hawaii, it will be even more difficult to fight...... Depend on! ”

No, big sister, why did you stop suddenly?!

[Alas, it's so distressing...... As a result, I was stunned on the spot when I checked the manuscript fee today - directly missing the full attendance and 20% of the incentive. Then I remembered that I went to the emergency room a few nights ago and didn't update it, and I forgot to redeem the leave slip the next day......]

(End of chapter)