Chapter 824: The Sad Frenchman

May 13, 1940.

The Dutch army was defeated by the German army, the national sovereignty was lost, and the Dutch queen Beipo led the government into exile in London.

The 19th Armored Division and Army Group A on the front line of Seqian also stopped.

In Germany, the little man was both excited and worried about the brilliant results achieved.

Going forward, will Army Group A, whose backup cannot keep up, be flanked by the French army?

Now the result of the battle has been much greater than expected, it is time to stabilize the front, ensure the advantage and look forward to the final victory.

But in the eyes of the generals on the front line, doing so is tantamount to giving up the surprise attack, and it is also tantamount to giving up the opportunity and advantage to further expand the results of the battle.

So they called Berlin and tried their best to obtain an order of "strong investigation" and "expanding the bridgehead position".

There is a saying: "Generals are outside, and military orders are not accepted."

Guderian made good use of this tradition and used the orders "flexibly", allowing subsequent infantry and motorcycle mechanics to expand and consolidate the bridgehead.

And he himself led the troops directly under him and continued along the line of the Somme.

During this period, the 19th Armored Division fought several battles with the 3rd and 4th Armored Divisions of the French Army, and all of them successfully repelled the enemy.

On the 18th the troops arrived at Saint-Quentin.

On the 19th, under the order of Guderian, the 19th Armored Division forcibly crossed the Somme River. Before the front line and backup tanks arrived, the French army with crude weapons could only watch the enemy walk away.

Seeing the French reserve team attacking by the German tank group, they decided to flee with poor weapons and equipment.

But how could they escape the tanks, they were about to be overtaken by the tanks, and the fleeing soldiers were already in despair.

But at this moment, they found that these tanks ignored their own existence and passed by their side.

Except for a few unlucky ones blocking the road who were knocked down and injured, and some idiots who were caught in the track and crushed to death, the others were unscathed.

But in the panic on the battlefield, many people did not realize this scene.

Then, the funniest scene appeared.

On the battlefield, the German pursuers left the fleeing French army behind, and staged a spectacle of the defeated army chasing the winning army.

…………

"The Netherlands was defeated, the queen led the government into exile in London, and the situation in the French campaign deteriorated further. Hasn't mother made a decision yet?"

Late at night, after the two children were sound asleep, Li Zitao and Mary leaned on the bedside to discuss the recent situation.

The news of Luxembourg's surrender has spread, and some recent rumors have put Mary in a bad mood.

In people's mouths, Luxembourg became a "traitor" of the Allied countries, and some people described it as "surrendering so fast that the Germans had no time to shoot".

This puts Marie in a bad mood, but what worries her even more is that the Grand Duchess is still in Luxembourg, hesitating whether to leave.

"Mother wants to wait until the last moment. As the Grand Duke, she can't just abandon the people. There are simple people there." Mary said sadly.

As the Grand Duke, this is her responsibility, but as a family member, what she does will only make her sons and daughters worry about it.

However, the others have already been arranged to leave, let him go to London first to meet with his grandmother, the Queen of the Netherlands, and listen to news from the UK by the way.

Sister-in-law Elizabeth and her husband were in Belgium. Mary got in touch with her, and her new husband, the Baron, made arrangements to take her away if the situation was unfavorable.

Little Mary is still in school, but recently she frequently calls her sister to express her worries and anxieties.

The fifth Prince Charles and the youngest Alex were sent to London when Britain and France declared war on Germany and Luxembourg decided to join the war.

However, with the recent changes in the situation, the eldest mother-in-law seems to have changed her mind and wants to send the two of them to the United States.

Judging from the current situation and what she knew, France, which was once hoped for, was easily burst like a bubble, and it seemed that it was about to fail.

Lost France, only relying on how the British Isles resisted and occupied the whole of Western Europe,

The imposing German army?

France's performance made the mother-in-law start to doubt her life, and she even distrusted her older and second brothers who were full of confidence before.

Of course Li Zitao has no problem with this, he said that he can send a special plane to pick up the little prince and princess.

Speaking of which, S.H.I.E.L.D. has trained hundreds of qualified fighter pilots, and it's time to send them out to show their prestige.

In recent days, orders have come in like snowflakes, and a French battle has made the whole world secretly startled by the combat effectiveness of the army's mechanical scale.

Skunk's Hercules series, the new generation of S-4, YS-130 has just been finalized and produced, and 200 orders have been received.

The new generation of medium-sized transport aircraft has a faster flight speed, a longer maximum range, and a maximum load of only 2 tons.

However, multiple divisions have been carried out in the cabin, and the transport warehouse can be divided into two floors and 6 different areas according to needs to meet multiple needs.

And in terms of armor, electronic equipment, and security, no small changes have been made.

The more outstanding performance brought about an increase in the selling price, from the original price of 153,000 US dollars to 221,000 US dollars.

The export price has increased from US$198,900 to US$251,300. This price is still the price after repeated negotiations with the Ministry of War.

Otherwise, according to the skunk's original quotation, the price would have to be raised by one-fifth.

The "Flying Fortress" developed by Grumman Studio under the Skunk also has a real aircraft, model NG-15, a medium-sized bomber.

An all-metal 4-engine bomber with a lower monoplane aerodynamic layout, equipped with a constant-speed propeller engine built by Skunk Studios, and a bomb load of 1.3 tons.

The maximum range is 2,450 kilometers, the speed can reach 285-355 kilometers per hour, and it can take 4 to 6 crew members.

Because it is an all-metal fuselage, safety is naturally improved, and this is also the world's first all-metal bomber.

The British and American military, which obtained the data and some non-core blueprints, have frequently called the skunks recently, and even Li Zitao has been harassed.

His Royal Highness, who tried to cheat him several times, still couldn't bear to lose face, so he didn't call himself, but asked his wife to make several overseas calls to Mary.

Just the day before yesterday, she was pulling her grandmother, the Queen of the Netherlands, and Marie into a relationship between family and the past, just to speed up the demand for orders from the UK.

The French couldn't stand it anymore.

This is confidential news from the government. When they learned the news from the new Prime Minister Churchill, they knew how bad the situation was.

Li Zitao felt a little regretful that His Majesty was not subdued, but for the sake of his wife and the amiable Queen, he had no choice but to give up this opportunity.

On the phone, Li Zitao told the Queen that a quarter of the production would be sent to the UK first, and the rest of the orders would be given priority to them once there was a surplus.