On April 16, 1940, at the same time as Churchill's visit to Paris, Charles Murphy. The 4th Reserve Panzer Division, commanded by Colonel de Gaulle, finally arrived near the Monte-Diu heights. His division also departed from the assembly area of Reims's 6th Army, but the sortie was later than that of the 3rd Reserve Panzer Division, and it was not until noon on the 14th. Like the 3rd Reserve Panzer Division, there was serious congestion on the road.

Probably because the impression left by the last war was so terrible that many French people did not want to live in the occupied areas, and all fled with their families and wagons full of furniture and belongings. As a result, the limited roads were blocked, and de Gaulle's Panzer Division could only stop and go, and did not dare to march during the day in order to avoid air raids. As a result, the 90-kilometer road took nearly 2 days and arrived on the morning of the 16th. In order to reach the designated target within the specified time (before 12 o'clock on the 16th), de Gaulle also stubbornly asked the troops to march on the morning of the 16th, but they were blown up by dozens of Ju87s and Hs-123s. Eighteen CharB1 heavy tanks and fifteen H39s were lost, as well as dozens of trucks, and more than 30 CharB1 and H39 broke down on the road. Less than 100 tanks arrived successfully, and the equipment was less than 60% in good condition.

After arranging all the tanks that had made it to the ground (most of them had gone into the woods, some were camouflaged and parked on the grass), de Gaulle drove to the headquarters of the 21st Army, a wine estate with beautiful houses.

De Gaulle found that the atmosphere inside the headquarters of the 21st Army was very depressing, and the staff officers who came in and out were all sad. When he arrived, a meeting was taking place in a makeshift conference room. The commander of the 2nd Army, Charles Murphy. General Henciger personally arrived at the front one hour earlier and took over command from General Flavigny. Several division commanders are now being assigned tasks (the 3rd Motorized Division, the 3rd Reserve Panzer Division, the 2nd Reserve Panzer Division, the 4th Reserve Panzer Division, the 2nd and 5th Hussar Divisions, and the 55th Infantry Division have all arrived). When he saw de Gaulle enter, the French lieutenant general beckoned to him and called him to his side.

"Charles, you're here just in time for the night's general attack!" Charles. General Henciger said to de Gaulle, "How many tanks do you have left in your panzer division?" ”

"There are 45 CharB1s, 52 H39s." "There are another 11 CharB1s and 19 H39s under repair and may arrive later." ”

"Hmm," said Charles. General Hensig nodded, "There are 45 more CharB1s, plus 50 from the 2nd Reserve Division and 33 from the 3rd Reserve Division, for a total of 128 vehicles...... OK. ”

128 intact CharB1s is the maximum number that the 3 reserve armoured divisions can take out right now, but if they can't, they won't be able to do it.

"At 6:30 p.m., the attacking units set out, the shelling began at 7:30, the tanks and armored vehicles were ignited at 7:45, and the offensive began at 8 o'clock." Charles. General Henciger hastily arranged it, and then said to de Gaulle, "Charles, your CharB1 tank is also going to attack." ”

"Is it only the CharB1 tank that participates in the attack?" Shire. De Gaulle asked.

"Yes, the H39 tank was too vulnerable in the face of German tanks and anti-tank guns." Charles. General Henzig shook his head and said, "We lost a lot of H39 tanks last night and during the day today, so all CharB1 tanks were used for tonight's attack." ”

……

"Shelling! Quickly stealth ...... Boom! ”

When the shelling before one of the attacks of the French began. The eldest son of the German Foreign Minister, the grandson of the chairman of the Heinkel Wine Company, and the handsome Nazi superman Rudolf. Ribbentrop, shirtless and wielding a sapper shovel, was digging a foxhole next to the ruins of a church south of the town of Stoney, which had been almost flattened by artillery fire. The remaining 33 people in the 2nd platoon of the 11th company he belonged to (the rest were either wounded or killed) are now stationed here as the outpost of the entire flag team.

Due to the rush of time, the officers and men of the 11th Company and the 2nd Platoon did not have time to dig the trenches, so they could only rely on the ruins of this Catholic church, which was destroyed by artillery fire, to dig foxholes, and to build machine guns and anti-tank gun fire points with building materials taken from the church.

The main force of the "Großdeutsch" banner was stationed in the town of Stoney and in the Sugar Bread. The town was garrisoned with 1st and 3rd battalions, and the 2nd battalion was stationed on the sugar bread heights, and there was no time to build any strong fortifications. The four battalions, which were artillery battalions, were divided into two places.

The 5th Panzer Division also sent their 7th Tank Company (1 Panzer Division with 16 tank companies) into the small town of Stoney. This is a tank company consisting of 8 No. 3 tanks and 7 No. 3 assault guns, which is very powerful, and 25 H39 tanks and 5 CharB1 tanks were destroyed by the company during the daytime battle today. They themselves lost 3 tanks No. 3, and none of the sturdy No. 3 assault guns were damaged to the point of being difficult to repair - the 80mm frontal armor thickness was still very strong in 1940.

And the 14th anti-tank artillery company of the "Greater Germany" flag team has also achieved remarkable results in the past ten hours. Although the company had only 12 inadequately powerful 37mm anti-tank guns and 1 captured 47mm anti-tank gun, 28 H39 and 3 CharB1 tanks were destroyed by them.

The blow from the air also inflicted heavy losses on the attacking French tanks. Ju87 dive bombers and Hs-123 attack aircraft destroyed 17 H39 and 16 CharB1 tanks during the day on the 16th.

Six No. 3 assault guns (belonging to the 4th Battalion of the "Greater Germany" flag) and three No. 4F guns (with a powerful but short-lived 42-caliber 75mm gun) deployed on the Sugar Loaf Heights. Their results were equally surprising, destroying 16 H39 tanks and 7 CharB1 tanks.

In addition, a number of H39 tanks and CharB1 tanks were blown off tracks by anti-tank mines planted by the Germans, some of which were destroyed by anti-tank guns and German tanks, and some were dragged off the battlefield by French tank repair vehicles.

"God, this is a tank graveyard!" Shire. Charles de Gaulle followed Charles. General Hensig entered a former enemy command post located below the southern side of the Monte-Diu Heights, and when he raised his binoculars and looked at it, he could not help but exclaim in a low voice.

In the bright moonlight, the entire southern slope of the Monte-Diu Heights was littered with destroyed tank wreckage and scattered steel fragments and twisted and damaged parts. There are also many corpses of French soldiers accompanying the wreckage of these tanks, which seem to tell the cruelty of the battle.

"Charles," Brocade of the 3rd Reserve Panzer Division stood beside de Gaulle, and when he heard De Gaulle's words, he only sighed softly, "this is a cemetery, the cemetery of our French armored forces. ”

His words were somewhat disheartening, and Charles of the 2nd Army. General Hensig turned his head and glared at him, "Now that most of the Germans' armored forces are heading north, if we can break through the high ground, we can threaten the rear of the German army, and we can force the German armored division that is moving north to come back!" ”

Can it really be done? Shire. De Gaulle looked at the wreckage of nearly 100 charred and broken French tanks on the battlefield, and then thought about the bombardment that his Panzer Division had encountered on the way from Reims, and he was not very optimistic about the attack in front of him.

At this time, the brief artillery preparation of the French army was over. Charles. General Hensig shouted to the heralds behind him: "Order the troops, start the attack!" “

The 125 CharB1 tanks (3 more broke down during the start) slowly drove out of the area where the attack was launched, slowly rushed up the hillside, and then divided into two lines, all the way to the Sugarbread Heights, followed by 30 companies of infantry, like a tidal wave towards the high ground where the Germans were stationed.

"French tanks! At least 100 of them, "Gustav. Second Lieutenant Schwarzenegger half-crouched in the foxhole, holding the phone and headset and shouted, "It's all B1 type, and there are a lot of infantry, the French are attacking!" Hey, do you hear me? ”

There was no echo in the telephone receiver, Gustav. Schwarzenegger guessed that the shelling had broken the telephone lines. He turned back to Rudolph. Ribbentrop shouted: "Rudolph, go to the company and report the situation!" ”

The news of the appearance of more than 100 CharB1 tanks on the battlefield soon reached the headquarters of the 12th Army 10 kilometers away, and General Kleist had 3 powerful armored divisions, the 5th, 6th and 8th Panzer Divisions, and more than 1,000 tanks, assault guns and self-propelled guns that could be fired, enough to crush the French armored forces that were attacking the Monte-Diu Heights!

However, on the morning of the 16th, the German general did not send out his powerful armored assault force. Instead, they are hidden in the woods and villages north of the Monte-Diu Plateau. Because he didn't want to expose his cards too early, in order to attract more French troops south of Sedan.

"With 100 B1 tanks, plus those destroyed during the day and those that broke down on the march, there are almost three French reserve armoured divisions coming to us." General Kleist looked at the commander of the 41st Panzer Corps, William. Feng. Lieutenant General Thoma, "The 3 armored divisions have been handed over to you, now you can start the detour!" (To be continued.) )