By dawn on 14 May, the advance of German Army Group B had routed three Belgian infantry divisions and a heavily armed French Army Group in front of the Albert Canal and had crossed to the west bank that day.

Among them, an armored regiment under the command of Colonel Ronsenburg used 30 T3 tanks that had crossed the west bank in advance (this was already all available equipment when the river was first crossed). ), along a medium-sized road, to the west of a city called Louvain.

There, they engaged in an encounter with the British expeditionary 1st Infantry Brigade of the 3rd British Division on Major General Montgomery.

The battle took place at night, and neither side knew the specific strength of the other party, so neither dared to use all the strength of the fight.

Although it was already about 10 o'clock in the evening, in Bock's headquarters, the officers who were accustomed to sleeping late did not take off their burdens and went to sleep. They worked overtime to deploy and dispatch Army Group B, which was spreading wider and wider, to coordinate the offensive pace of these troops.

"General! The vanguard regiment under the command of Colonel Longsenburg sent a telegram saying that they had just been besieged by Louvain and were engaged with the British forces there. An operations staff officer hurried into General Bock's headquarters and reported the bad news to the commander of Army Group B, who had been sleeping late.

"The vanguard regiment is besieged by Luvan?!" Bock, who heard the report, was shocked, could it be that the British army launched a counterattack and surrounded the vanguard of the German army?

Although only a disgruntled armored regiment was surrounded, the shock that this news brought to Bock was not the battle situation itself. For him, who commanded an army group of hundreds of thousands, it was not a big trouble for a small force of no more than 1,000 people to be surrounded. A battle of this magnitude, in normal times, Bock would not even look at it much.

However, if it is true that at a time when the French and Belgian armies are retreating one after another, if the British army can fight a successful encirclement battle against the German army, it will undoubtedly greatly boost the morale of the French and Belgian armies and boost the increasingly decadent spirit of the Triple Alliance

Even if the British annihilated only a small vanguard of the German army, which did not have all the weapons and equipment, the scale of the battle was not large. However, this can have a huge impact on their morale. Prior to this, the Belgian and French armies had never won, let alone annihilated the German army on a large scale. And the German army has never lost before, and has always maintained the myth of undefeated, shocking the psychological defense line of the Triple Alliance.

"The vanguard must not be wiped out!" Bock quickly decided: "Let the Air Force of the Third Air Force find a way to take off the latest F-190 fighters and Stuka bombers to support the Louvain area, and we must quickly resolve the crisis of the pioneer Colonel Longsenberg." ”

"General," Hearing this, the colonel's liaison officer of the 3rd Air Force, who remained in the headquarters of Army Group B, said with a complicated expression: "The F-190 is a daytime fighter, and it has never had experience in night combat. In addition, the night bombing of the Stuka bomber will also be very unsatisfactory due to vision problems. It is really ....... for the Air Force to take off fighters at night"

The colonel's liaison officer is telling the truth. Although Reinhardt wanted to strengthen their night combat capabilities at the beginning of the Air Force, it had little success. After all, the Luftwaffe's start was already over, and it was really not easy to eat a big fat man in one bite.

In line with the principle that the food should be eaten one bite at a time and that the road should be taken step by step, the air force of the Third Reich chose to first improve its daytime combat capability and then use its spare strength to find a way to solve the problem of night operations. As a result, the Luftwaffe's daytime combat capability exploded, and it did not encounter an opponent in Europe for the time being, but when it fought at night, it was avoided if it could, and it was basically at the level of maintaining "zero operations" at night.

"Of course, I know that your air force will have difficulties in fighting at night, but I must now find a way to prevent the first defeat of the entire campaign in the Louvain area!" Bock shook his head helplessly, and said loudly: "We have won all the way to today, and we must not make a mistake in this small place of Luvan!" The myth of the invincibility of the German army must not be broken! ”

As he spoke, Bock walked to the wall in the room, looked at the huge Franco-Belgian map, and said, "Louvain's map is just a minor small strategic node that cannot be recalled, and even if you bypass it, you can't blame it. ”

The colonel's liaison officer, who was left behind by the Air Force, followed him to the map by the wall and set his sights on the area representing Belgium. He searched for a long time before he finally found the carefully marked place name of Luwan. Compared with those large cities that are bigger, thicker, and circled, Louvain is indeed too small.

"Found a place?" Bock asked without turning his head, turning sideways to the Air Force Colonel.

"Yes, General!" The Colonel nodded and replied, "It's a small place indeed. ”

After confirming that the other party had found the location, Bock continued: "Yes, this is a small place. However, it is such a small place, but there is no room for error! Looking at its location, it is a distance not to be ignored from our main force, and even if we had to send the nearest armored division to support it, it would have to wait more than 4 hours to rush. ”

The colonel understood Bock's intention to show him the map, and he did not want to show how small Louvin was, but to tell himself how far Louvin was from the German army. At this distance, only the planes of the Air Force can rush to provide support in time.

"My subordinates understand, I will report to Hugo Sperler, and I will ask him to immediately find a way to arrange a batch of air support." The liaison officer pursed his lips, then reassured.

He is one of Hugo Speller's most trusted officers, and he is also a talent that Hugo Sperle has focused on cultivating for the Air Force. With his assurances, Hugo Speller's side should be able to approve of this night battle.

Thinking of this, Bock smiled with satisfaction. As a result, he didn't waste ten precious minutes to explain to a little colonel.

Speaking of which, Hugo Speer is also the fattest senior general of the Luftwaffe today. Because Reinhardt killed Goering, the commander of the Luftwaffe in history, this 200-pound Admiral Hugo Sperler became the weight of the Third Reich Air Force generals.

The big fat man has a big responsibility, and this German fat man happened to lead the Third Air Force, the largest in the Third Reich Air Force sequence, as the commander of the air force.