Chapter 327 France Don’t Cry 12
On the outskirts of Paris, Vincennes, the Allied Forces Headquarters.
The news of the appearance of German armored units near Sedan and the German airborne landing west of Sedan-Mause reached Gamelin's ears almost at the same time. These two pieces of news made him a bit dumbfounded - the Germans actually broke through not from southern Luxembourg, which has very convenient transportation, but from the Ardennes Forest!
"Your Excellency, Commander-in-Chief, we only have one division on the Sedan-Maas River line... With enemies from both sides and front, we can only temporarily retreat to the fortress. Therefore, the Sedan-Maas River line has actually been breached."
General Joseph George, who was urgently summoned to Vincennes, reported the latest battle situation to Gamelin in a tone that was about to cry.
The French 2nd Army was originally deployed on the line between Sedan and the Meuse River. They had just been transferred to the Metz fortification area to prevent the German army from breaking through from Luxembourg to southern Belgium (just south of the Ardennes Forest, the terrain is relatively flat. Transportation is also very convenient). The 2nd Army was replaced by several divisions of the French 9th Army. They were all second-line troops with insufficient combat effectiveness and too few troops. In the original history, the French army would not have been able to withstand the airdrop without the 1st Airborne Chasseur Division, let alone now.
The Sedan-Mause River defense line was breached on the 12th, and a small number of French troops who were not eliminated hid in the Sedan Fortress. However, the French army was still stronger than the Belgian army. They at least blew up several bridges on the Meuse River in time.
But this cannot stop the German army. The 1st Armored Division and the "Gross Deutschland" flag force under the 19th Armored Corps, the 7th Armored Division under the 15th Armored Army (the division commander is Rommel) and the SS "Reich" With the cooperation of the airborne troops, the flag team set up the pontoon bridge on the afternoon of the 12th. Now the armored troops have begun to cross the river in a mighty way!
"Your Excellency, Commander-in-Chief, according to the Air Force's reconnaissance, the Germans have set up two pontoon bridges on the Maas River." General Joseph George continued to report, "A large number of tanks and armored vehicles are crossing the river, and it is estimated that they will soon head south or south. It’s an attack to the north!”
"General George, how are we going to stop them?" British Army General Verrick hurriedly interjected, "Should we send reserves to plug the gap now?"
"Reserves will be dispatched," General Gan Molin took over the topic. "We have many reserves, 3 million of them (most of them are training), and the 6th Group Army is already ready to move (originally belonging to The 6th Army of the 3rd Army Group handed over its troops to the 8th Army a few days ago, and the headquarters retreated to Paris to take over the 6 divisions under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Command) and will set off today (13th) evening."
Among the six divisions belonging to the 6th Army, there are the powerful 2nd Reserve Armored Division and 3rd Reserve Armored Division. These two reserve armored divisions have a total of 8 tank battalions (including four light and heavy tank battalions), with a total of 316 tanks at full strength. Although the number is only as large as one German armored division, these two French reserve armored divisions have powerful charB1 heavy tanks. At full strength, each division has 68 units.
From the appearance, this huge tank with a 75mm gun and a 47mm gun can easily defeat any German tank. This is also the confidence of General Gamelin.
"In addition, it's okay, the 1st Reserve Armored Division will also be transferred from the 1st Army to the 9th Army," General Gamelin squeezed out a smile, "This way there will be three powerful reserve armored divisions to fight against the 9th Army." The German armored forces broke through Sedan-Maas River."
"Three reserve armored divisions..." Joseph George calculated silently. "At full strength, there are 204 charB1 heavy tanks and 270 H39 tanks. Even if only 80% of the vehicles can move, it is enough to deal with the Germans. However, We needed time to mobilize our troops, and now Germany had control of the air and was bombing our railway lines indiscriminately."
Some time ago, the main task of the Luftwaffe and naval aviation was to weaken the French Air Force. Therefore, they mainly bombed airports, not railways and roads. However, starting on April 12, German planes began bombing railways in France, which caused great inconvenience to the mobilization of French troops.
Because the motorization level of the French infantry is not high, there are only a small number of motorized infantry divisions, and most of them have been deployed on the Belgian battlefield. They cannot be mobilized to the Sedan-Mause line in a short time.
Therefore, Gamelin and Joseph George could only deploy some infantry divisions (including a motorized infantry division that was not "motorized") to accompany three reserve armored divisions with a small number of motorized infantry (only 1 battalion). The French infantry divisions would be very slow to move without relying on railways for maneuvers.
"Your Excellency, Commander-in-Chief, Mr. Lord," Joseph George said, "In order to buy time, we must delay the actions of the German army. Otherwise, they will cause enough damage before our reserve armored divisions are in place, which may affect the Battle of Belgium."
"But how can we delay their actions?" Admiral Verrick asked.
"Use bombers!" Joseph George replied, "Invest enough 'Blenheim' bombers and 'Breguet' attack aircraft (Bre. 690 series) to blow up the pontoon bridge built by the Germans on the Maas River at all costs. ”
Admiral Verrick knew this was the only way!
"But how to deal with the German BF-109 and Fokker Zero?" Admiral Verrick asked again.
These two fighters are almost becoming a headache for the British Empire. All aircraft manufacturers in the UK and the US that can produce fighters have now received R&D orders from the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy - Britain needs fighters that can restrain the BF-109 and Fokker Zero!
Admiral Gamelin said: "Then send enough Ms.406, Hurricane, H-75 and Spitfire fighters!"
Admiral Verrick nodded silently. He knew there would be enough Ms.406, Hurricane, H-75, Blenheim bombers and Breguet attack aircraft. But there would be no precious Spitfire fighters.
Because according to the order of the Royal Air Force Fighter Command, the Spitfire squadron transferred from the UK (only 10 in total) can only be used on the Belgian battlefield!
In the early morning of April 14, a fleet composed of Ms.406, Hurricane, H-75, Blenheim bombers and Breguet attack aircraft roared to the Sedan-Meuse River battlefield, covering the sky and the sun, and was fierce.
Almost at the same time, more than 200 BF-109 and Fokker Zero fighters took off from airports in Germany and arrived over the Meuse River. The fierce air combat that lasted for a whole day was then staged grandly with the accompaniment of the roar of ground artillery fire and the explosion of bombs.
"Brothers, today is our festival!" Lieutenant Heinz Barr's cheers reached Rudolf Hersman's headphones, "Fight hard! Anyone who returns empty-handed, don't say it's Heinz Barr's men!"
Rudolf Hersman looked at the floating bridge on the Meuse River below with some concern. I saw that anti-aircraft artillery positions had been set up on both sides of the floating bridge, and there were about a hundred anti-aircraft guns of various calibers with their muzzles raised and ready to fight.
It seems that many pilots will die here today! Rudolf Hersmann, who personally killed two French pilots yesterday (the pilot and the mechanic on the Breguet plane that was shot down yesterday were unable to parachute), took a breath, drove his Fokker Zero closely behind Heinz Bahl's plane, began to pull up the altitude, and occupied a favorable attack position.
When the German planes began to climb, the British and French fighters also began to increase their altitude. However, the Fokker Zero is not a fighter with outstanding high-altitude performance and dive performance. Its advantages lie in range and medium and low-altitude flexibility. Therefore, the Fokker Zero did not climb too high and began to circle at an altitude of 5,000 meters.
"BF-109 will dive first to attack and break up the enemy's formation," Heinz Barr's voice rang out from Rudolf Hersmann's headset, "We will follow up and fight with Ms. 406 and Hurricane fighters. We must entangle them as much as possible and shoot them all down. Do you understand?"
Today, BF-109 and Fokker Zero will cooperate in the battle. BF-109 is responsible for dive attacks and uses the "hit and go" tactic to attack the enemy's fleet. The task of Fokker Zero is to follow behind BF-109 and fight with Hurricanes, H-Ks and Ms. 406s that have been broken up. As long as they can be entangled, BF-109 can shoot down Blenheim bombers and Breguet attack aircraft in the second and third waves of dive attacks.
At this time, the BF-109 group that had climbed higher had begun to roar down, and Lieutenant Barr quickly ordered: "Two-plane formation, follow the BF-109, and then find the enemy's fighters to fight, remember to leave the bombers to the BF-109..."
The method of using the BF-109 with outstanding high-altitude and dive performance to cooperate with the Fokker Zero with outstanding medium and low-altitude flexibility was explored as early as 1939. After a few months of the "French Air Battle" 40 years ago, not only did the German fighter pilots fully master this "high-low combination", but even the British and French pilots knew how powerful it was. As soon as they saw the BF-109 dive down, they knew that something was wrong. The originally strict formation was instantly disbanded, turning into hundreds of three-plane formations, dispersing at high altitude.
However, unlike the situations encountered in the past, today, whether it was the Hurricane, H-K or Ms.406, facing the BF-109 and Fokker Zero that outperformed them, they did not take the action of diving to escape, but chose to fight bravely. It seemed that he wanted to sacrifice himself to cover the bombers and attack aircraft to blow up the two floating bridges on the Meuse River.
The bloodiest and most intense air battle in history began!