Chapter 325 France Don’t Cry 10

On the morning of April 12, 1940, in the German Airborne Jager General Headquarters in Saarbrücken, Airborne General Kurt Student was anxiously waiting for news from the front in the operations room.

In his opinion, the airborne operation in the area west of the Sedan-Meuse River was a test that was likely to cost a lot! Use an elite airborne Jager Division to test the strength of the French army on the Sedan-Meuse River line.

If the French really transferred the main force of the Allied 1st Army Group to Belgium and Metz as expected by the German General Staff and the Western Front Headquarters, then the elite 1st Airborne Jager Division's assault would be successful. If the French still deployed a fairly strong force on the Sedan-Meuse River line, then the 1st Airborne Jager Division would be in a difficult battle and suffer heavy casualties.

However, the sacrifice of the airborne chasseurs would not be meaningless, because the French army's strength in the Sedan-Meuse River area could be found out, and the deployment of French troops in Metz could be inferred, so as to adjust the offensive plan in time. Of course, there were Plan A, Plan B and Plan C in "Operation Scythe". If the French army deployed its main force in Sedan-Meuse River, the German army could break through from Metz.

After all, the French had so few troops, and it was impossible to deploy enough troops everywhere. There must be an empty door, either in Metz or in Sedan-Meuse River... I think the French would not dare to put an empty door in Belgium, because that would put the British Empire in a desperate situation.

Since Britain is an island country, it has always been a large navy and a small army. The size of the British army in peacetime is simply not comparable to that of a traditional army power like France. The small size of the army in peacetime caused the British army to expand slowly during wartime. Moreover, the British army also likes to play the elite route, and will not expand a "miscellaneous army" of hundreds of divisions in a sloppy manner.

Therefore, the 10th Division of the British Expeditionary Force sent to the European continent are all seed troops that have been trained with great difficulty, with a large number of professional officers and senior non-commissioned officers. If they are all lost in Belgium, the recruits being trained in the UK will have no qualified officers and non-commissioned officers to command.

Considering that the closest distance between Belgium and the UK is less than 100 kilometers, and the strong strength of the German Air Force and Naval Aviation, once most of the army officers, non-commissioned officers and Belgium are lost, the UK will be in a terrible situation where it may be invaded and fall at any time... This is likely to force Britain to seek compromise with Germany!

So now the options for Gamelin and Joseph George are very limited.

"General," Major General Bruno Breuer, Chief of Staff of the Airborne Forces, suddenly shouted in the operations room, "Success! Success! Telegram from Major General Tretner (Commander of the 1st Airborne Jaeger Division): The operation was successful! And it was a great success!"

"Great!" Student took the telegram copy, glanced at it, and then walked to a red telephone, picked up the receiver and dialed the number of the Western Front headquarters. The news of the success of the airborne operation was reported to Infantry General Manstein, who served as the Chief of Staff of the Western Front Headquarters.

"Marshal, the airborne troops succeeded!" Manstein put down the phone, he could no longer suppress his excitement, "The first wave of raids was a complete success. Two regiments of the 1st Airborne Division successfully landed west of the Sedan-Meuse River. They did not encounter resistance in most areas! This shows that the French troops in the Sedan-Meuse River area are very empty... There will soon be a breakthrough by the 1st Panzer Group!"

The current commander-in-chief of the Western Front is Marshal Hammerstein, who is also the official chief of the General Staff of the Great General Staff-now the command system of the German Wehrmacht is a World War I style. The Great General Staff can be divided into the Berlin headquarters and the front headquarters during wartime, and the chief of the general staff or the first and second quartermasters serve as the commander-in-chief of important fronts. If the chief of the general staff himself serves as the commander-in-chief of the front, then the first quartermaster general will act as the chief of the general staff.

Since Hessmann had served as the commander-in-chief of the front in the Battle of Poland, it was Chief of Staff Hammerstein who served as the commander-in-chief of the Western Front this time. However, Hammerstein did not propose his own battle plan, but the Supreme Command Meeting chose the "Manstein Plan" as the blueprint and formulated the "Scythe Operation".

Unlike the situation in another time and space where Manstein himself was suppressed by the army during the Battle of France, Manstein now served as the powerful Chief of Staff of the Western Front with the support of Hessmann.

"Very good!" Marshal Hammerstein also breathed a sigh of relief, and a rare ease appeared on his overly serious face. "Erich, what suggestions do you have for the next move?"

It seems that it is only a matter of time to break through the French defense on the Sedan-Meuse River line, but what to do after the breakthrough is controversial within the German army. According to Manstein's original plan, after breaking through the Sedan-Meuse River, the German Army Group A had to undertake at least two tasks at the same time. The first was to go south to Metz to attack the rear of the "Maginot Line"; the second was to form an armored group with the Lochne Armored Division (Manstein's plan was 3 armored divisions) and motorized infantry divisions to attack Dunkirk and Calais, cutting off the land communication between the main force of the Allied forces in Belgium and the French mainland.

Subsequently, the "Manstein Plan" was amended twice - the "Hirschmann Amendment" and the "Rundstedt Amendment", thus becoming the "Scythe Operation" plan.

The "Hersman Amendment" gave top priority to outflanking the elite British and French forces in Belgium to the north (the main mechanized and motorized forces of Britain and France were all in this direction).

The "Lundstedt Amendment" significantly increased the strength of Army Group A to 64 divisions, and added a plan to attack Metz, France from southern Luxembourg - this plan not only serves as a front line between Sedan and the Meuse River The preparation when it is difficult to break through is also necessary to encircle the main force of the French army on the "Maginot" line of defense (the number is relatively large, but most of them are ordinary infantry divisions), and to open up the logistics line of Army Group A.

"Marshal, I suggest splitting up the First Armored Army," Manstein said. "The main force of the 19th Armored Army and the 15th Armored Army of the 1st Armored Army will continue to carry out the plan of going north to outflank Dunkirk and Calais. Task. The 41st Armored Corps and the 5th Armored Division (belonging to the 15th Armored Corps) of the 1st Armored Army were assigned to the 12th Army of Cavalry General Kleist. The 12th Army will first be responsible for encircling Metz southward. Cooperate with the large number of infantry of Army Group A to encircle and destroy the enemies of Metz, creating conditions for encircling the enemies of the 'Maginot' line of defense."

Encircling the dozens of French divisions stationed on the "Maginot" line of defense was actually the main purpose of the "Manstein Plan". Moreover, Marshal Hammerstein and General Lundstedt also agreed to regard the enemies of the "Maginot" line of defense as the main target!

Those who advocated breaking into the Belgian enemy as the main goal were Marshal Hessmann and General Guderian.

"Does Army Group A have the ability to carry out southward and northward missions at the same time?" Marshal Hamelstein seemed hesitant. His worries are justified. If the 41st Armored Corps and the 5th Armored Division are assigned to the 12th Army, then the 1st Armored Army going north will lose 3 armored divisions and only have 4 armored divisions left.

"Marshal, we have now completely obtained the Luxembourg railway system," Manstein said. "This will allow a large number of infantry of Army Group A to quickly move to the north of Metz, so that we can attack the enemy of Metz. Pincer attack. Once Metz is captured by our army, Army Group A can very easily cut off the retreat of the main French army stationed on the 'Maginot' line of defense... According to reliable intelligence, although the 50 French divisions there have a large number of artillery, They have very little mobility and don't have enough trucks to haul heavy artillery. As long as we can cut off the railway line, they can't move."

The defenders of the "Maginot" Line of Defense were not originally mobile troops. Their mission was to defend the line. Naturally, they did not need to equip a large number of trucks, and they did not even have enough large livestock. According to French high command's plans, if troops there needed to be mobilized, it should be done by rail rather than by road.

Therefore, as long as the railway line can be cut off, the dozens of divisions there will not be able to return to Paris, and then the defense of Paris will be out of the question - because Stalin's Red Army struggled in Kiev and Brest (they also struggled in Finland) ), made many German generals aware of the difficulty of attacking big cities. Therefore, the "Battle of Paris" that will never happen has become something that a group of German generals are very worried about... Under the control of this kind of thinking, the dozens of divisions behind the "Maginot" line of defense have become the focus of the German army Serious trouble.

Therefore, the plan advocated by Hessmann and Guderian to annihilate the enemies of Belgium and then attack the enemies of Maginot did not receive much support.

"As for the 1st Armored Group's mission to go north," Manstein said thoughtfully, "I think the main restriction on them is not their troops but fuel. Most of the infantry divisions of the 12th Army and Army Group A can be used in Metz. Reduce pressure on the logistics line.”

This view actually makes sense. If the main force of Army Group A does not attack Metz (you can go by train), then they will have to pass through the Ardennes Forest. By then, dozens of infantry divisions will be on several narrow roads. Crawl slowly, and it will be difficult for trucks transporting fuel to pass.

"That's right. We can only truly defeat France by eating the defenders of the Maginot Line." Marshal Hamerstein thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "Then submit this plan to the Berlin headquarters. Bar."