Chapter 355 De Gaulle's Tank

The British army was advancing towards Paris. In addition to the armored troops, there were also cavalry troops, infantry troops, and fighter planes.

All of this, of course, is for the military parade the next day.

This military parade did not have any precursors. All the troops participating in the military parade were assembled in a hurry, and for France, their situation was better.

It is enough to find some troops to act as exercise troops directly from the vicinity of Paris.

Among them, of course, there must be a tank unit. Under this idea, the 507th tank regiment commanded by Colonel Charles de Gaulle was mobilized.

Compared with the British small tanks, Colonel Charles de Gaulle's tank troops are not so brilliant.

Like the British, the French also divided tanks into cavalry tanks and infantry tanks.

According to the current state, France is more inclined to fight a defensive war, and believes that such a war mode can achieve the final victory, but at the same time, it also takes into account that an offensive war must also be fought in a certain strategic situation.

Under such circumstances, France needs special vehicles with breakthrough and penetration functions, which is the responsibility of the S-35 tank manufactured by Soma.

This S-35 tank has good maneuverability and high endurance distance. According to the historical design indicators, it can penetrate the artillery of the imaginary enemy Soviet BT-7 tank and the German No. 3 tank and the armor to resist their attacks. Strategically infiltrate enemy lines and destroy their armored reserves.

But now, this historically considered the best tank of the 1930s is far behind.

From the crew point of view, this tank has 3 people. Although there is one more person than the previous small tank, it is still much smaller than the German five-person tank.

At the same time, the weight of the entire tank, 19.5 tons, uses a 141.7 kW V8 gasoline engine, with a maximum speed of 41km/h and a maximum travel of 257km.

It can be found that if the historical process is followed, the performance of this 20-ton tank is still very good.

The armor is thick, the front is 47mm, and it is still inclined, which is enough to resist the artillery of the German No. 3 tank at that time. At the same time, a 47mm SA-47 artillery is used, which can tear apart the German tank armor at that time.

In fact, during World War II in history, Germany's armored forces were not technologically advanced, but tactics.

Centralized use of tanks, the Germans did this, and the French were very sad.

In World War I, French tanks were quite outstanding in the war, especially the light FT-17 tank, which was simply a template for later tanks.

After World War I, the French worked hard. General Jean Estienne, the father of the French armored force, was solely responsible for the research and development of the assault artillery. Under his auspices, France built armored vehicles in an all-round way, including light tanks and howitzers. Support tanks, powerful assault tanks, armored resupply command vehicles, and more.

Unfortunately, these actions of his led to the opposition of conservative forces within the army. The headquarters of the assault artillery was disbanded in 1920, and the French armored forces had to be under the unified command of the infantry.

As a result, the French army experienced almost no development of the armored forces for the next ten years, and at the same time, they had no money, and the defense budget was mostly used to build the Maginot Line.

De Gaulle was a tall and thin officer. He participated in the First World War and was captured. After that, he escaped from prison five times, which shows his firm will and loyalty to the motherland.

He really cares about the country, and he deeply feels the deterioration of the current situation.

The German invasion of Poland has completely brought substantial losses to Britain and France, but now, Britain and France have not even declared war, and only used this military parade to show the Germans their determination!

This is simply ridiculous. Victory can only be achieved on the battlefield. Is it possible to stop the Germans from attacking on the parade ground?

The appetite of the Germans has no bottom line. What will happen to the Germans when Poland is annexed?

Thinking of this, Charles de Gaulle was very pessimistic. He looked at his army, galloping on the road, and in front of it was already a brightly lit metropolis, Paris!

"Rest in place and prepare for tomorrow's military parade." De Gaulle issued an order to his subordinates.

It is impossible to enter the urban area now, and there is not so much space at all. Take this opportunity to rest quickly.

De Gaulle was sitting on an S-35 tank, leaning against the turret, under the heat of the engine, he looked at the stars in the sky and couldn't fall asleep.

In the second half of the night, there was a new roar in the distance.

The half-tired British armored soldiers caught up.

"Colonel de Gaulle, nice to see you." Herbart jumped from his tank and shouted to de Gaulle.

The two had known each other a long time ago, as early as 1931, when de Gaulle served in the General Secretariat of the Ministry of Defence in Paris. With Pétain's permission and support, de Gaulle published many articles and held several lectures at the Military Academy.

Many of De Gaulle's ideas were more agreeable to Herbart, for example, the concentrated use of tanks and the formation of specialized armored divisions.

But now, when the two met again, Herbart came with a cry for help: "Colonel de Gaulle, please supply our tanks immediately, we are going to run out of fuel soon, if we don't have fuel, we will not be able to complete tomorrow's military parade. Mode."

Hubart's supply convoy has not been delivered yet, and needs follow-up ships, and now, he has run out of fuel.

If you have stayed in the army, you will know how serious the bureaucracy is in the army. Generally speaking, the logistics supply is the uncle, and if you don't have a good relationship with others, there will be problems with supply.

There are runs on each other between the different troops, not to mention, it has now crossed the country.

However, if the personal relationship is friendly, that's another story.

"No problem." De Gaulle spoke quickly: "Use my supplies first."

De Gaulle's generosity made Herbart quite happy: "When my supplies arrive, I will return them to you immediately."

Sitting on the tank with De Gaulle, Herbart sighed: "Your tank is really good, much bigger than ours."

The "Matilda" Type 1 tank weighs only 11 tons, but the armor is 60 mm thick. It can be seen how small this tank is. Compared with the French 20-ton tank, it is a circle smaller.

"Our tanks are already behind." De Gaulle said: "The German tanks are much more advanced than ours. Our armored troops must have advanced tanks, otherwise, we will be at an absolute disadvantage in battle. "