Two Hundred and Eighty Third Pontoon Bridge Defense Battle

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Sedan, a historically famous city, was founded on the Meuse River, about 60 miles from the border area. The population of the central area of ​​the city is only 13,000, so it stands to reason that it should be just a little-known small city.

However, this city became famous because of the war. During the First World War, it was occupied by the German army for 4 years; in 1870, it became the biggest military shame of France-Emperor Napoleon and his The troops were defeated and here accepted an unconditional surrender.

But this time, the French threw away the Sedan again, very cleanly, and didn't even have a decent resistance that made the German army feel a little pressured. Compared with the previous few times, the French are even more useless this time.

But there is a German front-line general who is even more useless. This person is Yuan's confidant and beloved general Rommel. In the Battle of Poland, he commanded the German 7th Panzer Army to rampage in northern Poland and achieved brilliant results, which earned him the reputation of "Double Empire".

But this time he was hidden by the snow, yes, there was no doubt that he was hidden by the snow. He and his 7th Panzer Corps were placed in an irrelevant position, with no important combat missions at all. They just followed the troops and kept rushing.

The task given to him was very clear, that is, to let him rest his troops, follow the army to the west, and join the battle at the most critical time. So the well-known German 7th Panzer Army turned out to be a follower of other troops.

All this made Rommel so depressed that he almost collapsed in depression. He had always felt himself the center of the world, the calamity of the enemy. But now he has to face a very cruel problem, that is, there is no battle to fight.

When he heard that the 2nd Panzer Army occupied Sedan and that the 3rd Specialist Division of the SS had crossed the river in Sedan, he finally wrote a personal letter to Akado, in which In it, he expressed his eagerness to fight.

He got a reply soon after, and Yuan sent him an enthusiastic letter back. However, what moved him the most was that at the beginning of the chapter, Akado asked about his physical condition and told him to eat on time so as to maintain a strong body to command the troops to fight continuously. His stomach disease has always troubled him, but it is a very happy thing that this little secret has been discovered and comforted.

And he got the result he wanted, Brauchitsch ordered the German army to carry out "operation sickle", his troops were ordered to take the lead, and the 1st Panzer Army and 2nd Panzer Army, which had always been in the front, were responsible for this time. He is queen.

The young general was standing on the side of the pontoon bridge in Sedan, watching his armored troops pass the pontoon bridge at the fastest speed. And not far from him, there is an 88mm anti-aircraft gun standing there,

The long gun barrel pointed to the sky.

"General! The 2nd Armored Division of the SS has completely crossed the river, and the 7th Armored Division is now crossing the floating bridge." The staff officer reported to Rommel with a record report: "We received a large-scale supply this morning. Fuel and ammunition are abundant, and other materials are sufficient for us to use for five days."

"What about aerial reconnaissance information?" Rommel watched a Leopard tank speeding past on the pontoon bridge, and the truck behind the tank pulled a 150mm caliber cannon and drove across the widened and reinforced pontoon bridge without slowing down. , asked.

"The latest information provided by the aviation liaison officer an hour ago shows that the French troops are gathering, but the other side does not have heavy weapons. The Stuka bombers have bombed these French gathering areas, and the effect is being evaluated." The staff officer glanced at the phone in his hand. The data said.

"Send a telegram to the headquarters of the 2nd Armored Division of the SS, ordering them to send a reconnaissance unit to conduct reconnaissance in an area with a radius of 30 kilometers. If there is resistance from a small group of French troops, they will be eliminated on the spot." Rommel squinted The eyes thought for a while and said: "Let the motorized infantry division behind hurry up, we have no time to waste."

"Yes!" The staff officer stood at attention and saluted, then turned and left.

Just a few minutes after the staff officer left, the terrible air defense siren sounded. Rommel looked at the distant sky. There, Luftwaffe fighter jets were tearing apart the densely packed British bomber fleet.

From time to time, a plane fell from the sky dragging thick black smoke, and then shattered in mid-air, causing a tragic explosion. But the bleak air defense siren continued, and the surrounding German anti-aircraft gunners were busy, carrying the shells to convenient positions and placing them in a row.

"Long live Yuan! General." A captain of the Air Force Ground Air Defense Force came over, saluted Rommel, and said anxiously: "The battle alarm has been sounded here, please follow my people to the designated place take refuge."

"What?" Rommel pointed to the majestic 88mm cannon behind him, glanced at the captain who stepped forward to persuade him to avoid it, and said with a smile: "Captain, this is an anti-aircraft cannon! You Do you think there is any place safer than where I stand?"

"General! I need to be responsible for your safety! So you'd better get out of here with my people!" The captain said again stubbornly.

"Captain! I think you have made a mistake! Your purpose here is to protect the absolute safety of that pontoon bridge! Not to protect a general like me. You don't know that for the outcome of the entire battle, my Can personal safety be ignored?"

"But." The captain wanted to say something else.

But Rommel interrupted him: "I'm standing here, I want to see how you repel the attack of enemy planes! I want to watch you defend that important pontoon bridge with my own eyes!"

"I obey! General!" The captain had no choice but to pay a military salute, then walked to the anti-aircraft gun beside Rommel, and began to assign tasks. Sure enough, he never looked at Rommel again, as if the general of the armored force did not exist at all.

Although the loss was huge, the British bomber fleet gradually approached the German pontoon bridge. These bombers received an order to destroy the pontoon bridge at all costs to prevent the German army from advancing. They also carried out this order with the most loyal attitude.

Just now, German fighter jets had shot down nearly 20 British planes, but these crazy British pilots continued to attack the German Air Force's defense line, and finally dragged the German fighter jets to the sky near the pontoon bridge.

"Thug! Chug!" A Bofors anti-aircraft gun fired in the distance. With its high rate of fire, the anti-aircraft gun fired desperately into the sky, and the impact caused a cloud of dust to rise around. See clearly the position of that defensive position.

"Boom!" Caught off guard, the 88mm cannon behind Rommel fired, and the loud noise startled Rommel. As the flames sprayed out of the barrel, the cannon body moved back with the help of the brake, and quickly returned to its original position on the gun mount. A unique small device at the position of the breech breech helped the German gunner complete the entire process of ejection. The breech breech opened, and a heavy shell case fell to the ground with a clanging sound.

"Load!" A young artillery commander ordered loudly.

A gunner came to the gun position with the shells in his arms, quickly stuffed the shells into the barrel, and then the soldier next to him quickly closed the breech bolt. At the moment of closure, he yelled out the password he had yelled countless times during training: "End!"

"Boom!" Without the slightest hesitation, the cannon fired again and fired its second shell under Rommel's gaze. Rommel quickly looked at the position where the muzzle was pointing, and saw a plane there It happened to be hit by a shell, surrounded by a ball of flames at an altitude of a thousand meters, and instantly shattered into parts.

"Hit the target! Adjust the angle of the cannon! Continue to load!" The young officer in charge of commanding the cannon put down the telescope in his hand and shouted loudly.

A few artillerymen hurriedly started to rotate the rotating wheels of the 88mm cannon, and the cannon began to rotate rapidly, without any cumbersome feeling. During the rotation, another shell was pushed into the barrel.

"Boom!" The British bomber dropped their first bomb of the day, but it was at least 30 meters away from the pontoon bridge. Huge waves rose on the water, but only wet the clothes of the German engineers on the pontoon bridge.

"Boom!" The 88mm cannon next to Rommel fired again, and the shells rose rapidly, trying to destroy anything in front of it, but this time it didn't hit the British plane, but flew directly into the sky. It exploded in the distance.

But the soldiers of the German Air Defense Force adjusted the angle quickly again, loaded the shell, and fired another shell into the sky. Cooperating with the high rate of fire of the upper Bofors anti-aircraft guns, the German anti-aircraft firepower formed a dense air defense network over the pontoon bridge. Every British plane that hit this huge network was instantly smashed to pieces.

Rommel saw the soldiers of the German Air Force anti-aircraft artillery regiment loaded with shells sweating profusely. He silently watched these soldiers fire into the sky crazily. All the British bombers that had passed the German fighter jets were shot down near the pontoon bridge.

He witnessed the birth of an air defense ace. The anti-aircraft gun beside him shot down 11 British bombers in an hour.

The efforts of these anti-aircraft gunners were not in vain, and the pontoon bridge was safe and sound. Rommel's steel army passed through Sedan at the fastest speed, surpassed the German 1st Panzer Army guarding ahead, rushed to the forefront of the entire German offensive force, and appeared on time. where they should appear.

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