Two Hundred and Eighty-One Color Schemes

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But the 5th Light Panzer Corps, reinforced from Army Group C to Army A, ran into their troubles. They rampaged across the territory of Belgium, and with the cooperation of the Stuka dive bombers, they cut through the plain area west of Eben Emaar, and successfully completed the task of covering the flank of Army Group A.

It's a pity that when they were eager to expand their results, they encountered the two main armored divisions of the French First Cavalry Corps. This force was the vanguard of a large number of British and French soldiers who went north into Belgium to meet the German army. The strength of the two sides was evenly matched, so a tank battle that surpassed all the armored warfare scales of the Polish campaign kicked off.

French and German tanks fought fiercely, and the flames of war burned all day long. It stretches from near Ani, 25 miles west of Liège, to 15 miles from the city of Jean-Bourou.

Germany's 5th Light Armored Army has four armored divisions, which is one more armored division than the armored division equipped with Panther tanks. However, the 18th Armored Division and the 19th Armored Division in this division are only equipped with p-3 tanks, which are much worse than the latest Leopard tanks.

The 5th Light Armored Division of another light armored division is only equipped with the oldest German P-2 tanks, but these tanks were modernized in 1937, removing the turret, remodeling the chassis, and installing an open combat compartment And a 75mm caliber anti-tank gun, which became a self-propelled anti-tank gun.

This corps was supplemented by a Panzergrenadier division, the 19th Motorized Rifle Division. Equipped with a small number of USS assault guns and a large number of armored vehicles and automobiles, they have strong combat capabilities.

It can be said that as a make-up light armored army, although this force has close to 800 tanks and self-propelled anti-tank guns, its assault combat capability seems to be inferior to that of the First Armored Army equipped with 500 tanks. Of course, relying on its numerical advantage, this armored army is by no means a soft persimmon.

Now, the opponent it faces is the armored force of the French 1st Cavalry Corps of the British and French Allied Forces, which is also one of the best armored forces in the world. This force has more than 400 tanks, most of which are advanced Mas35 tanks and B1 heavy tanks. These tanks all have 47mm anti-tank guns that can threaten German tanks. Most of them are also equipped with radio equipment and have strong coordination capabilities.

The two powerhouses meet and fight. Relying on the quality advantages of some tanks, the French stormed the German army, and successively created a situation where the more fought the less. The German army lost 110 tanks and self-propelled anti-tank artillery, which made the German high-level really distressed for a while.

However, the quality of the German army's excellent crews was fully demonstrated during the battle. In the process of destroying 110 tanks and armored vehicles, France unknowingly paid a heavy price for 180 tanks.

This partial counterattack by the Anglo-French forces stabilized the Allied defenses in Belgium.

It resolved the advantages of the German armored forces and prevented further attacks by the right-wing forces of the German B Army and A Army in Belgium.

After such a tragic tank battle, the commander of the British Expeditionary Force and the French commander Gan Molin believed that the main force of the German army was in Belgium, so within a few hours, the main force of the British and French coalition forces that had already penetrated into Belgium, Regardless of the threat from the rear, they continued to go north.

In order to face the turbulent German B Army in northern Belgium and the flanking forces of Army A west of Liege, the 40 main divisions of the Allied Forces-almost all the elite French field forces, plus the entire British Expeditionary Force, as well as the Belgian army The troops guarded their planned line of defense together.

From the Dutch radius near Antwerp to the south through Brussels to Namur, they deployed a long line of defense for a full 65 miles, stationed in these areas a large number of troops, as time went on, the total French and British forces here were even There is a danger of overtaking the Germans.

But this time, the Allied forces gained a respite from the victory in the city of Bleu, which helped the British and French allied forces stabilize their position in Belgium. They were able to consolidate their strength and build up a solid line of defense. However, for the German side, this victory can be said to be a suppression first and then a rise, which is in the arms of Akado and his senior generals.

As Akado and the German senior commanders foreseen, with the appearance of German military forces such as the German Army B and the 5th Light Armored Army under the Army Group A, the attention of senior French generals such as Gan Malin has shifted from The fragile Sedan defense line was transferred to Belgian territory.

When Akado heard that the French and British armies had all fallen into the trap, he almost cried with joy. The huge hole he had dug for the Allies in Belgium finally came in handy, and the German operations near Sedan and Dinant were completely ignored by the French.

And when the more than 300,000 traditional infantry of Group A passed through the Ardennes Forest, all resistance had been wiped out by the armored troops in front. They crossed mountains and ridges, crossed barriers and trenches that no one had guarded for a long time, and easily passed through the Ardennes Forest. When they appeared in Sedan and strengthened the German defense line, laying a solid foundation for the two elite armored units of Guderian and Rommel to continue to advance, no one realized the real intention of the German army.

"In the direction of Dinan, our army is gradually eliminating the positions built by the French soldiers. But the battle is very difficult, and our troops have suffered staggering losses." Field Marshal Brauchitsch pointed to the map and introduced the current battle situation to Yuan Akado.

In the spacious and bright combat conference room, General Bock, the German chief of staff, frowned and stared at the map. In his heart, it seemed that he was not so optimistic about this light war. In fact, it also proved the weakness of the German troops during the offensive.

Although Keitel's Group B achieved an astonishing attack speed at the beginning, that crazy attack speed was completely completed under the strange assault of paratroopers. Later in the southern Netherlands, when his troops were mixed with the main force of France, the entire southern Dutch front gradually stabilized.

The 6th Light Armored Division stopped in front of Antwerp, an important city in northern Belgium, and failed to advance 1 km for 2 consecutive days; kilometers of land; and the situation of the 1st Infantry Corps was not much better, they had to dig trenches to deal with the counterattack of the increasingly powerful British Expeditionary Force.

On the other hand, in the just-concluded Battle of Jean-Bleu, the German armored forces suffered the most serious losses since their formation. In just a few days of fighting, Germany lost 63 tanks and 47 modified Weasel 2s. Self-propelled anti-tank gun. This loss worried a seasoned and prudent general like Chief of Staff Bock. He worried that Germany would fall into the quagmire of war and follow the old path of failure in the previous war.

But Marshal Brauchitsch didn't take all this seriously, because the heavy punch Germany was really going to hit was actually on the front line of Sedan, so he still believed that Germany had a chance to win. Moreover, the naval adviser also told him that Germany's current maritime power is more advantageous than that in 1912, which also gave him stronger confidence.

Of course, the confidence also comes from the country. With the efforts of Akado and Augustus, Germany has mobilized a full 1 million reserve personnel, established the H Group Army commanded by General Weicks, and led by General Kleist. I will command the Army Group I. This military expansion has made the national defense force stronger, with a total of more than 5 million combat troops.

The SS established the 6th Panzer Division and the 7th Armored Division respectively, which were incorporated into the 9th Panzer Army of Army H and the 11th Panzer Army of Army I respectively. The two units are also equipped with more than 1,000 newly produced armor-enhanced Leopard Type B tanks.

As a result, Germany now has a total of 8 armies, namely Army A commanded by General Rundstedt, Army B commanded by General Keitel, Army C commanded by General Loeb, Army D commanded by General Model, Army Group E commanded by General List, Army Group F commanded by General Kluger, Army Group H commanded by General Weicks, and Army Group I commanded by General Kleist.

Of course, if it is purely divided by scale, Army A and Army B can now be called army groups. The size and organization of these two armies are almost twice or even twice that of other armies. For example, Group A now has four armored armies, the 1st, 2nd, 5th, and 7th, which are four times the size of other group armies.

Therefore, after Brauchitsch introduced the current situation of the battle, he pointed at the logo of the German army in the Sedan area with a pointer, and confidently said to Akado: "In the next stage, the army will cooperate with the air force to fully implement Operation Sickle, attack here, here, and this area at the same time."

"Can we win in the area west of Sedan and ensure that the troops can advance quickly? You must know that we don't have many armored troops. Once we fall into a war of attrition, the situation will be against us." Bock had to ask himself. Top concern.

"This problem is very easy to solve." Brauchitsch pointed to a large area west of Sedan and said: "The French army does not have any main force here, and our armored forces can reach the designated attack target as quickly as possible. Our infantry has also added a large number of means of transportation, just hoping that these troops can keep up with the attack speed of the armored forces."

Finally, he looked at the silent Yuan Akado, stood up straight and said: "My Yuan, although I firmly believe that we will win this war, I still want to assure you here. If this battle If you can't win, I will choose the most decent way to give you an explanation."

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