There are many forests in the Lorraine plateau, and the air force of the Baath Army has not yet arrived, and only a few words from the French stationed in the trenches on the front line are not helpful for a detailed and comprehensive understanding of the German defense system, Britain and France have sent their own armored troops to attack the German defense line, and they have the best understanding of the situation, and so on, the German defense line east of Saint-Dizier has also set up more than 20 kilometers of three-layer fortifications. Before the wolf and jackal chariots were not improved and upgraded, it was very difficult to deal with such a deep defensive line, but now after the comprehensive upgrade and improvement, it is not a problem at all to deal with this defensive line with a depth of only 20 kilometers.

"The Germans have come up with a lot of ideas." Wang Shiqian nodded and said: "And according to the reconnaissance of the French, in some important areas, the defense is not just three layers, but five layers, and the largest depth is likely to exceed fifty kilometers. ”

This time Li Mengpei was finally surprised, and he said: "It's rare that the Germans also know the echelon defense tactics? ”

"He's not a echelon defense, the Germans are just worried that after the tank breaks through, the defense line behind will collapse, so there are so many layers of defense. In fact, this is still the idea of the combat vehicle to help the infantry break the barbed wire system of the trenches, not the idea of an armored assault. Even if there are five layers of line defense, it is difficult to block the armored assault because it cannot concentrate forces, and this is still a problem with the German army's thinking on the use of combat vehicles. Wang Shiqian said: "We don't care how many layers of defense the German army has, in short, these defenses are not terrible for us, what is really terrible is actually the anti-tank tactics."

The British Mark 1 had armor only five to ten millimeters thick, and the tungsten core armor-piercing bullets fired by German rifles were able to penetrate it in many cases. The situation improved after the front armor was thickened to 14 or 16 mm, except that the British heard that the Germans were producing an anti-tank rifle with a caliber of 13 mm. The bullet is also tungsten core, I don't know how effective it is, our front armor is twenty millimeters thick, whether this anti-tank rifle can penetrate it, because the sample gun has not been captured, it is not yet known;

In addition to the anti-tank rifle, the observation of the internal crew of the tank is also a difficult task. Anglo-French tanks began with periscopes made of ordinary glass. As soon as the mirror was on the field, it was shattered by German snipers, and later it became a direct opening, but for bulletproof. In particular, a lot of small cracks were opened, but although the bullets could not come in, the lead liquid splashed after the bullets hit the small cracks and other gaps in the car could still splash into the car and injure people. So now they all wear an iron mask. The purpose is to prevent the spilled lead from injuring people. They are strongly recommending that our people do the same and are willing to provide this mask......"

Wang Shiqian said this, Li Mengpei suddenly felt very funny, the first batch of combat vehicles during the exercise of the combat vehicle periscope also encountered this problem, even if it is a rubber warhead, it can also break glass. Therefore, when improving, the ordinary glass was replaced with tempered glass, but the effect was still not good, and finally laminated glass was used, and a wide-angle lens was used to narrow the observation seam. The problem is roughly solved. It is said that this new type of laminated glass was invented by a French chemist a few years ago. Patents were also applied. The Chinese chariot uses laminated glass invented by the French, while the French chariot wears a mask to observe the slit, which is really the largest and most strange in the world.

“…… The Germans often used trench mortars to attack British and French tanks, especially when they were within mortar range, and the tanks became extremely dangerous; But compared with mortars, the German-made M1896 77 field gun is the biggest threat to the combat vehicle, this kind of cannon is 27 times the diameter, the muzzle velocity of the shell is 465 meters, and the shell weighs 6.85 kilograms," Wang Shiqian recited the data of this artillery, and said helplessly: "No matter how thick the armor of the tank is, this kind of cannon can always be destroyed with one blow." According to the British's front-line report last month, the Germans had specially drawn some 77 guns from the artillery sequence to the front line to form a special mobile anti-tank unit. These mobile units used steel pointed armor-piercing shells, and it is said that they never untied horses from their guns, but only changed places after firing two shots, and the British said they were very, very difficult to deal with. ”

"Is that all?" When Li Mengpei heard the 77 Field Artillery Anti-Tank Group, his heart was also tight, nearly seven kilograms of shells, whether they were jackals or wolves, as long as they touched them, they would die. The armored division also has anti-tank units, but the caliber of the anti-tank gun is only 37mm, and the Germans are good, as soon as it comes up, it is 77mm.

"Then there are the anti-tank trenches and the infantry's cluster grenades." Wang Shiqian said, "These are not problems, the British said that now the width of the German army's anti-chariot trench has been increased to three meters 66, except for our chariot can rush through, other chariots can not pass, but he has a good way, that is, to carry a large amount of dry firewood on the chariot, and throw it down in front of the trench, so that the chariot can press the firewood to pass." ”

As soon as he heard that even firewood was used, Li Mengpei wanted to laugh but couldn't. Wider and wider chariot trenches were indeed a problem, but it was not without the wisdom of the British to be able to solve this problem in such a simple way. He was still thinking about the 77 anti-tank field artillery, so he asked: "Commander, didn't Britain think of using aircraft to suppress the anti-tank mobile group of the German army?" ”

"I asked this question. The British said that before the war they would send planes to reconnoitre, not only fighters but also bombers, and there was a kind of 20-pound and 9-kilogram bomb called Cooper, which was to destroy the German anti-tank artillery group. But before the war, the German artillery was very hidden, they were difficult to detect, and during the war, the planes of the two sides were fighting, and the bombers had to withdraw from the battle for safety, so ......," Wang Shiqian said. He talked with the British and French friendly forces this time, and basically finished asking the questions he was going to ask, and the questions were still very detailed, "In addition, the German army has begun to build anti-tank pillboxes, if they really lose air superiority, the Germans can completely transport the anti-tank 77 guns into the anti-tank pillboxes."

I haven't seen this kind of pillbox either, I don't know if the wolf-style 57mm gun can penetrate it, fortunately, I didn't make a fool when I chose the gun last time, and I used a 30x diameter field gun instead of a 14x diameter mountain gun, which is a lot heavier, and the requirements for the turret are also high, but the lethality is much stronger. If the 57mm guns could not deal with anti-tank pillboxes, then they could only be dealt with by self-propelled guns, and the Germans could not have imagined that our armored divisions would be specially equipped with self-propelled artillery brigades. ”

Wang Shiqian said that the Germans could not think of it. Unconsciously thought of the ghost idea of Zhou Sixuan and those people, this is simply a cub selling Ye Tian is not distressed, and the armored division is tossed by them like this. I don't know how bad the loss will be. He knew why he did this, but he couldn't accept it......

In the cramping of his heart, Wang Shiqian took out a cigarette, and when he didn't want to light the fire, the lighter couldn't be lit, and Li Mengpei next to him took it and hit it again, he took a puff of cigarette and laughed at himself: "It's really outdated, this new thing really can't be used." ”

Li Mengpei didn't care about the lighter. He vaguely believed that the purpose of the division was to divide and use the armored divisions in order not to inflict heavy casualties on the German army, but he did not expect that the German army had always been quick to accept new weapons and new tactics, and the officers were almost all tactical experts. They would take the time to study anything new, and then quickly learn from it and think of ways to deal with it, and the five-tier defense system and anti-tank tactics that are now unfolding in front of them are the embodiment of this spirit. Originally, the stronger the opponent. The more the battle is fought, the more flavorful. But the General Directorate actually arranged it like this, so how should the armored division fight in the future? You know, although there is no dive bomber cooperation, the armored division is not a British and French fancy tank army, once it assaults, it will go straight to the lifeblood of the German army.

After taking a few puffs of cigarettes, Major General Wang Shiqian's mood calmed down a lot, and he said again: "This staff officer of the British Chariot Corps is Fuller. There are a few brushes, and I'm not talking about his tactical knowledge. Rather, he could see that the most fatal weakness of the German army was the line of communication and the headquarters between the front and rear, which was somewhat remarkable. His idea was: first, on a 150-kilometer-wide middle road, 1,700 heavy tanks would break through the German forward defenses, crush the resistance, and attract German reinforcements on both flanks; Then, 400 medium tanks on the left and right roads prepared in advance attacked the two flanks of the German army, which had been weakened by reinforcements, and attacked the enemy's depth of 40 or 50 kilometers, and then turned to the center, and the two armored forces closed together like iron pincers, cutting off the connection between the German rear headquarters, the military station and the front line area, and encircling the German troops in this area. ”

Wang Shiqian said this, in Li Mengpei's ears, this was his own routine against the Russians, but there were some differences in details, but the defense of the Russian army at that time was not as thick as the German army now, and the trenches of the Russian army at that time were really as thin as paper. It was he who approved: "It seems that this person will be appointed chief of staff of the armored corps, and there are indeed two hits." ”

"It's not just two hits," Wang Shiqian shook his head, "the encirclement and annihilation of the German army in this area is just an opening in the entire defense line, while encircling and annihilating the German army in this area, he also has 1,200 medium combat vehicles in the rear to form a pursuit force, they will rush into the strategic rear of the German army through this open gap, paralyze its strategic command network, and then disperse, break the defense of the entire Western Front, and finally attack Germany."

The handwriting is large, 1,700 heavy tanks, 2,000 medium tanks, it's scary to think about. But after all, he is only a staff officer, which is equivalent to a decisive battle plan on the entire Western Front, and the resources mobilized are extremely huge, not to mention whether the British Expeditionary Force Command will listen to him, even if the British agree to it, the French may not agree. Moreover, the British had heavy tanks, and it was enough to open a frontage one hundred and fifty kilometers wide, but they did not have medium tanks that were good at pursuit and easy to maneuver, and the French did not have them.

The British kind of hounds chariot actually only has machine guns and no guns, while the French Renault, although they have cannons, have very short legs, and can only travel 35 kilometers at a time of refueling; And although these two tanks are considered to be improved, the mechanical system is still unstable, and like us before, it will be overhauled in less than a hundred kilometers, so we will do everything possible to see our wolf, he hopes that our wolf will act as a medium tank in the plan, and one guy will kill the Germans. ”

"It's actually like this...... Li Mengpei suddenly realized at this time, but he said, "Two thousand medium-sized chariots, even if you count the domestic total, there are less than a thousand." ”

"So he hopes that Britain, France, and the United States will equip some of them, and then all countries will gather 2,000 vehicles to kill Germany, and everyone will have a share in the war at that time." Wang Shiqian extinguished his cigarette, "He thinks it's good, but he doesn't want to think that the matter of forming a coalition headquarters has not yet been completed, and he is preparing for joint operations of the armored forces of various countries." ”

"Then we ......, and the ...... above," Li Mengpei said, some things are really hard to say.

"No matter how the top is dismantled, we still do our plan first, what heavy medium-sized? The wolf style was enough to break through these layers of German defenses. Now the problem is that we only have two armored divisions, four hundred and fifty tanks, and assuming that the loss of ...... because of the split, the tank loss will not be counted, even if the loss is eight... Sixty car groups, one self-propelled artillery regiment, how should this battle be fought next? Speaking of losses, Wang Shiqian's painful face twitched, but he still said an estimated loss figure.

Li Mengpei pretended not to see the commander's flesh pain, and said with a sideways face: "If this is the ......, then you should attack Metz along the Moselle Valley, this road is wider than the Shams Pass, and both chariots and self-propelled guns are conducive to deployment." At the same time, the Moselle was originally a canal, and no matter how much the Germans destroyed the railway, as long as there were ships, our supplies could still be transported along the Moselle Canal all the way to the Rhine.

The Germans already had reserves at home, and as long as we attacked quickly, the capture of Metz would be tantamount to the capture of Luxembourg. There are two directions here, one is to the west, detour to the rear of the German army, occupy an important railway junction, cut off supplies, and shake the whole line of the German army, at this time the British and French troops attack again, and the German army will definitely collapse on the whole line; The other direction is to attack Mainz in the northeast, which is already on the banks of the Rhine, and if this place is lost, it is equivalent to saying that all the southwest of Germany has fallen, and we can even hit Berlin along the railway! ”

"You are the seventeenth battle plan of the former French commander Xia Fei." said that the British were big, and their subordinates were not small, but Wang Shiqian had no objections.

"Yes, I've seen Xiafei's plan for Seventeen. In my opinion, the most important thing for the armored division to attack is the road and logistics, as for the defense, as long as it is fast enough to break the enemy's meridians before it reacts, then even if the fist falls on the body, it will not hurt, so the offensive route should not choose the Shams Pass but the Moselle Valley. Not only is the road wide, but it also has a canal. Railways are easy to destroy, the Germans can't even destroy canals, this is a natural river. Li Mengpei said.

"Then how many days are you going to bomb this fortress group of Metz? We don't have a dive bomber now, and even if we had, there was no way to take the fortress defense with his bombs. From the perspective of Qingdao, the fortress man-made by Germany is not the scorching sun of Belgium," Wang Shiqian nodded, which can be regarded as approving Li Mengpei's choice of offensive route, after all, there is the fortress of Metz on one side and the fortress of Strasbourg on the other, and the fortress cannot be bypassed anyway, so taking the fortress is the key to the attack.

"The commander still remembers that when he was attacking Taiwan, in the face of the Magong Fortress in Penghu, which was still garrisoned by the Japanese army, the Air Force made a strong attack plan of spraying poison gas through the plane and then parachuting from the plane? I think that solution could be applied to Fortress Metz.

The battle should be launched in the evening, by the plane to drop poison gas bombs over the entire fortress, and then wait for dawn, and then use the plane to send the infantry parachute into the fortress, generally speaking, the fortress is full of fortress artillery, even if there are guards, there will not be many, as long as a thousand elite infantry sneaks in, it is bound to cause great chaos inside.

And at the same time that the troops parachuted into the fortress, armored divisions also began to be launched. It was less than 60 kilometers from Nancy to Metz, and the German forward positions were only more than 20 kilometers from Metz. The armored assault force did not get too entangled with the Germans on the defensive line, and if they advanced at full speed, it would not take them two hours to reach the city of Metz. At this time, taking advantage of the internal chaos of the fortress, our army can occupy Metz in one fell swoop. This is actually the reason why I chose the Moselle Valley, although Strasbourg was more laxly defended, it was too far away from the German forward position, and even if we broke through the German defense, we would not be able to flank the inside and outside of the fortress. (To be continued......)