The Ardennes offensive in 8681939 was three tank battles of the French

Twelve o'clock in the evening. In the temporary headquarters of the Chinese Chapter 862 Regiment outside Bastony, Huang Guyu was also working with the German Chapter 862 Regiment Commander Guderian to make final deployment adjustments for the decisive battle that would start tomorrow. Although the original plan for the assault was not fully realized, the "Ardennes salient" that was pressed against the heart of France like a bayonet is still the focus of the entire Western Front. Anyone with a little military knowledge can guess what is going to happen next by looking at this map that shows the latest developments on the battlefields of Western Europe?

The victory or loss of the "Ardennes salient" will be the key to the victory or defeat of the entire Western European campaign! If the French could not break through the defenses of the Chinese Chapter 862 regimental army as soon as possible and recapture the Ardennes salient, the best outcome that awaited them would be a great rout with the participation of 2 million men...... The main Anglo-French forces in Belgium were pursued by the Luftwaffe and German Army Group A, and half of them could escape back to France, which could be regarded as a very successful "rout".

The German High Command, of course, also recognized the importance of the "Battle of the Ardennes Bulge". For this reason, Guderian, who had a good relationship with the senior generals of the Chinese armored forces, was designated by the German high command as the commander-in-chief of the "Ardennes Bulge Campaign" at the first time, responsible for commanding the Chinese Chapter 862 regimental army and the German Chapter 862 regimental army, a total of 10 armored divisions, 6 panzergrenadier divisions, and 16 motorized infantry divisions to fight a decisive battle with the British and French forces!

On paper, Guderian had in his hands up to 32 divisions of troops, including 10 powerful armored divisions. On the other hand, the Anglo-French army had only 10 divisions, and was scattered in two battlefields, the northern Ardennes Forest and the west bank of the Maas River. The Sino-German side seemed to have a great advantage, but in fact this was not the case, due to the blockage of Bastoni, the road through the Ardennes Forest was not smooth, so of the 7 Panzer Divisions of the Germans, only the SS Chapter 862 Army rushed to the "Ardennes Salient". Among them, the 862nd Chapter Regiment of the French Army stationed in Lille, France, had been mobilized 24 hours earlier, and would arrive at Sedan on the west bank of the Maas River 48 hours later at the latest. There is also a British armored division and the elite British Chapter 862 regimental army under the command of the regimental army, and they will be in place within 24 hours at the earliest! If all the above two support armies are in place, then the Anglo-French forces around the Ardennes Forest will have as many as 16 divisions, including 4 armored divisions! The strength will be much larger than the four Panzer Divisions and the two Panzergrenadier Divisions that the Sino-German coalition can use.

Therefore, the atmosphere in the war room was a little solemn at this time, Huang Guyu was drinking strong hot coffee, and the rising heat could not hide the melancholy on his face. Although he is calm on the outside, he is worried about the decisive battle that is about to break out. It is not that he is not worried about the combat effectiveness of his own panzer divisions and panzergrenadier divisions, but he is worried that he will lose too much and miss the following battle of Paris.

Guderian seemed to see Huang Guyu's thoughts, smiled slightly, pointed to the map and said: "Guyu, although the French are not weak, there are obviously many problems in their troop allocation, the troops are too scattered, and they are a little weak in the direction of the main assault, there are only 6 divisions, and there are still 2 divisions that will arrive on the battlefield tomorrow night." According to the experience of the great battle of armored forces on the battlefield of the USSR, the battle between the four armored divisions (light mechanized divisions) could already be divided into winners and losers in a whole day's battle, and this armored division of the British arrived too late. ”

"And in tomorrow's battle, our army still occupies favorable terrain, it is really not a wise move for the French to attack the forest area with armored forces, I believe that your Min 27 57mm anti-tank gun and No. 4 tank will definitely make the French tanks suffer!" Speaking of this, Guderian picked up a pencil and sketched his battle plan on the map, and said as he sketched:

"In response to tomorrow's French attack, I propose to respond with the tactics of elastic defense. First of all, Huang Yongsheng, the operational staff officer of China's Chapter 862 regimental army, then nodded and said: "I am also worried that the Ardennes Bulge battle will become bigger and bigger, and finally evolve into a general battle that will determine the direction of the entire war. ”

"Oh?" Guderian replied, his brow furrowed slightly. The German High Command had already made the same judgment, the Ardennes salient threatened the flank of the main Anglo-French forces, and if the Anglo-French forces could not retake the Ardennes Heights, their troops in Belgium would have to retreat in a hurry, and the next battle would be fought outside Paris.

Guderian thought for a while and said: "The command is already formulating a plan for the decisive battle of the Ardennes, the initial plan is to defend the north and attack the west, after opening up Bastoni, the German Chapter 862 regimental army will quickly advance westward, strive to break through the Maas River as soon as possible and capture Sedan, and defeat the French Chapter 862 regimental army, open the door to Paris, and force the main force of the British and French alliance in Belgium to retreat." ”

"Bastoni should be able to take it in 24 hours, so how long will it take for the German Chapter 862 regimental army to pass through the Ardennes Forest?" Huang Guyu asked.

Guderian immediately replied: "It is only 120 kilometers from Dasburg in Germany to the Maas River east of Sedang via the Ardennes Forest, but the Ardennes Forest has limited capacity. My Chapter 862 regimental army has 6 armored divisions, 4 panzergrenadier divisions, and 9 motorized infantry divisions that will be transferred through the Ardennes Forest to the east bank of the Maas River, and it is estimated that it will take 72 hours to pass through. In addition, the seven motorized infantry divisions attached to the Chapter 862 regimental army will participate in the operation in the Ardennes Forest and will be under the command of the Chinese Chapter 862 regimental army, while the Chinese Eighth Panzer Division will be temporarily allocated to the German chapter 862 regimental army. ”

Hearing that 7 German motorized rifle divisions would be assigned to the Chinese Chapter 862 regimental army for defensive operations in the northern Ardennes Forest, Huang Guyu breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, but his expression was still grim. "How long will it take for your 7 motorized rifle divisions to arrive?"

"It is estimated that 2 divisions will be in place before Bastoni is opened, and when Bastoni is opened, the roads in the Ardennes Forest need to be prioritized for the passage of armored troops...... So the remaining five divisions had to wait until four days later before they could be in place one after another. ”

"That means that only 2 divisions will be in place by tomorrow afternoon." Huang Guyu wrung his eyebrows, and his face showed a look of disappointment. According to his estimates, the fiercest battle on the northern front of the Ardennes Forest should have taken place within 24 hours, and he would have to crush the 100,000 French army with 2 Panzer Divisions, 2 Panzergrenadier Divisions and 2 Motorized Rifle Divisions!

Yes! It's to defeat ...... Although Guderian did not make such a request, Huang Guyu wanted to once again play the prestige of the squadron in front of the Germans in this battle of the Ardennes salient, and only in this way can we ensure that the equal friendship between China and Germany can "go back to a long time" in the future.

……

April 28, early in the morning. Northern Front of the Ardennes Forest. The shelling had been going on all night, with 1,500 French artillery firing at least 300,000 rounds of shells according to the fire plan that had been laid out. The squadron also used 10 self-propelled artillery battalions of 180 105mm and 150mm self-propelled guns to return fire. Although the ammunition fired was less than one-tenth of that of the French army, the casualties caused were definitely no less than 1,500 French cannons. Thousands of tons of TNT explosives turned the battle line between the two armies, as well as the northern edge of the Ardennes Forest, into a hell of fire, and in the front line of the Somluz-Dierbiy area, where the two sides shelled the most intensively, the dense forest was long gone, and the ground became like the surface of the moon, and everywhere was covered with shocking craters, small ones a few meters wide and half a man deep, and the large ones were more than ten meters wide and two or three meters deep. The position on the side of the squadron was almost turned into white ground by artillery, the trenches were all filled, and there were no machine gun firing points and civil fortifications in sight. It seems that the French artillery bombardment has achieved unimaginable results, and the Chinese defensive forces have been wiped out by the kind of artillery fire that is so dense that they have never heard of it!

At this time, in the rear of the French front, a huge steel phalanx of 312 S35 tanks and 156 Charb1-Bis tanks had been formed, waiting for Lieutenant General Lawrence, who commanded the battle, to give the order for the assault to begin. Unlike in another time and space, when the French split tanks into companies, the French army, which had learned from the experience of armored warfare in the "Anti-Soviet War", also knew to concentrate on the use of tanks. The time finally came to 5 a.m. on April 28. Glancing at the light rain that was shivering outside the headquarters, Lieutenant General Lawrence, the commander of the French Army's Chapter 862 Regimental Army, smiled with satisfaction and waved his hand vigorously. "Armored troops! Attack! Goal Bastoni ....... ”

The roar of the cannons, which had been roaring all night, suddenly fell silent, and it seemed that everything had returned to peace and tranquility. However, this tranquility lasted only a short time, and then a deafening roar of motors was heard from the side of the French position. The smoke on the battlefield had not yet dissipated, and puffs of faint white smoke rose from behind the French position. Looking down from the artillery observation posts on several commanding heights behind the first-line positions of the squadron, you can clearly see that on a front about 5,000 meters wide, hundreds of steel monsters spitting white smoke showed their postures, roaring and driving towards the forward positions of the Chinese defenders, which were already empty!

At the forefront was a somewhat odd-looking heavy tank with two cannons, and the front-line artillery observers of the squadron who had long been familiar with the details of the French tanks recognized their 31.5-ton Charb1-bis tank at a glance. The shape of this tank seems to be a bit "retro", as if a small turret was installed on top of the "water tank" of the First World War. The small turret houses a 47mm tank gun, but this gun is clearly not the only gun of this tank, as on the right side of its front, there is a short, thick barrel sticking out. This is a 17 times caliber 75mm gun, although the muzzle velocity of this gun is only 490 m/s, but the power should not be underestimated, when firing the Type 1910 armor-piercing projectile can penetrate 400mm thick homogeneous armor steel at a distance of 400 meters at a 30-degree angle. And the biggest feature of this charb1-bis tank is not the powerful firepower of this 75mm gun, but its solid protection. It has a maximum armor thickness of 60mm on the front, and 55mm on the sides. In history, the German team in 1940, with the exception of the famous 88mm anti-aircraft guns, could hardly find artillery that could destroy such tanks at long distances. And in this time and space, this tank is enough to compete with any tank in the world except for the 45.5-ton Tank IV.

These Charb1-Bis tanks were followed by an even larger number of Somoan S35 medium tanks, which weighed about 20 tons in battle, and although slightly smaller than the No. 2 tank equipped by the Chinese armored forces, it was no less protective than the No. 2 tank, with a turret frontal armor of 55mm and a body frontal armor of 40mm thick. However, the tank's firepower was relatively weak, with only one 47 mm L/40 cannon.

Shire. The armored command vehicle of Major General de Gaulle also jumped out of the starting position following the tank phalanx. Behind him was a motorized infantry brigade of nearly 8,000 men with three regiments and nearly 8,000 men belonging to the French First Panzer Division, which were divided into hundreds of armored vehicles or armored personnel carriers, followed by the tank phalanx, and rumbled across the open area between the two armies, which had been plowed countless times by artillery fire, and rushed forward.

General Xu Yunlong, commander of the Chinese First Panzer Corps and commander-in-chief of the northern front of the Ardennes Forest, was at this time at an observation post on a hillside more than 200 meters northwest of the Belgian town of Otun, witnessing the attack of French tank forces. After looking at it for a while, he put down his binoculars, exhaled lightly, pointed to the French tank column and said to Hu Lian, the commander of the Second Panzer Army beside him:

"Boyu, have you seen it? First concentrated artillery bombardment, then concentrated tank assault, and finally motorized infantry followed...... It's almost exactly the same way we play, and these Frenchmen are learning pretty fast. ”

"It's been almost two years since this style of play appeared in Europe, and the French won't be fools if they learn it again." Hu Lian smiled nonchalantly and replied:

"It's just that these French still haven't completely gotten out of the World War I mentality, and the shelling has been going on all night...... As long as you look at the direction of their key shelling, you can guess the direction of their main attack, and there is no concealment at all. If I command, for a 30-minute to 1-hour artillery attack, we only need to make a passage about 3,000 meters wide in the direction of the main attack that can be used by attacking the tank phalanx, so that we will have no way to adjust the deployment, and we will definitely be caught off guard by them. Although the Panzers were able to fight back, the two Panzergrenadier divisions would most likely be routed. ”

Xu Yunlong laughed lightly and said, "The French already understand the theory, but they don't have enough practical experience, after all, they haven't fought for more than 20 years. It's normal to have a little World War I mentality, besides, in the Soviet-Polish War, the Soviet Red Army also used tens of thousands of artillery pieces before launching a tank assault and carried out a long period of artillery preparation. The French at that time had a large number of military advisers in the Polish army, who learned mechanized warfare from the Soviet Red Army. It's just a pity that they have encountered opponents like ours and the Germans. Saying that, he turned his head to Zhao Gongwu, the chief of staff behind him, and said: "Give Zhang Bingjun's 601 heavy tank battalion an order and let them go!" ”

"Order Pan Ershen that all 57mm anti-tank guns are not allowed to fire until the French tanks have entered a distance of 500 meters."

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