Chapter 379 M21's Momentum

Frogs croak and cicadas make noise, and the soul is in a state of exhaustion.

In an open area north of Cambrai, soldiers of the German 1st Tank Division were busy building tank bunkers in the sunset.

A tank bunker is a deep pit similar to a trench, except that there are slopes at both ends for tanks to enter and exit, so that tanks can "hide" into the pit to prevent being covered by enemy artillery.

However, the German army did not need to worry about this most of the time, because their 105-caliber howitzers always crushed the French artillery.

Who made those stupid French people only love 75 guns?

Major General Nicholas did not need to worry about these matters. He sat on a half-height stone, staring at the notebook in his hand and lost in thought.

He was very satisfied with today's results. He destroyed the entire French heavy "Saint-Salmon" regiment at the cost of 13 "Upper Silesia". It was estimated that there were more than a hundred "Saint-Salmon".

However!

Nicholas looked at the sketch of a French tank in his notebook. His army was blocked by this small tank.

This kind of tank actually has wheels?

What is that for?

A new weapon from the French or a new invention from the Charr?

Major General Nicholas was puzzled.

This was one of the reasons why Major General Nicholas did not order his troops to charge towards the enemy during the day. Those strange wheels confused him.

Major General Nicholas was completely unaware that he had missed a golden opportunity, a chance to completely defeat the 1st Special Artillery Division.

And the consequences are serious. The surviving small tanks will cause irreparable losses to him.

The sky gradually darkened, and the sketch disappeared into the darkness unconsciously. Nicholas simply closed the notebook and put it in his backpack.

He thought, if we encounter the enemy's defense line tomorrow, should we fight or not?

"Erwin." Major General Nicholas turned his head and shouted.

A tank soldier trotted up to Nikolas and stood up to respond: "General."

"Tomorrow." Major General Nicholas said coldly: "Your tank battalion is at the forefront and rushes towards the enemy's defense line as quickly as possible. Do you understand?"

"Yes, General." Ehrman readily accepted the task without any hesitation.

This is a test.

If he succeeded, the main force following him would surge forward and completely defeat the enemy.

If he failed, the main force would still have time and space to retreat.

However, what Major General Nicholas did not expect was that his opponent did not give him a chance to "test tomorrow".

Just as Major General Nicholas was thinking about how to draw the French tanks out of the city tomorrow, the whistle of artillery shells suddenly came from the air.

"Artillery attack!" the sentry warned loudly, and the soldiers fell to the ground instantly.

Major General Nicholas sat motionless.

This is not because he is brave, but because he knows that the cannonball cannot hit his position.

Before becoming the commander of the tank division, Nicholas was an artilleryman. He commanded a 77mm field gun on more than one occasion to fight the French army on the front line. His battlefield experience allowed him to judge the impact point of the artillery shell from the whistling sound of the artillery shell. At least 400 meters away from yourself.

Sure enough, several shells exploded 500 meters away.

Then came another row of cannonballs, but the impact point was still inaccurate.

Major General Nicholas felt strange that the French opened fire without seeing their own station?

Ten minutes passed, and the artillery shells were still exploding one after another. Most of them were random bombings without targets.

The staff officer reported to Major General Nicholas: "The artillery cannot suppress it. The enemy is attacking from a mobile position."

Wandering bombardment means firing a gun and changing its location. In this dark night, you can't determine its position at the next second, so suppressing it is meaningless.

But at the same time, there is no accuracy in shooting like this, because there is no correction for each shell.

Major General Nicholas frowned, why are they wasting artillery shells like this?

He listened carefully with doubts, and then suddenly understood something. There was the sound of motors hidden in the gaps between gunfire.

"Enemy attack!" Major General Nicholas ordered loudly: "Bring out the tanks!"

That's an enemy tank, Major General Nicholas thought. They used the sound of gunfire to cover up the sound of the tank's motor.

The enemy attacks with tanks, we should also use tanks to counterattack!

However, Major General Nicholas made a mistake in his command.

"Upper Silesia" is a tank with a turret. Its external perception capability is much worse than that of "Saint-Salmon M21". Once the tank crew enters the tank, they are almost blind and cannot see anything.

This was also the case. The tank barely drove out of the bunker, and then it could do nothing, facing the darkness outside the observation hole in a daze.

Instead of doing this, it is better to convert into infantry on the spot to form a line of defense. Defense with rifles and grenades may still be effective.

The victory or defeat on the battlefield often depends on a difference of thought. The commander's reaction speed and judgment ability can often determine the outcome of the battle.

Major General Nicholas seemed to have discovered this, but it was too late to change the order. He could only bite the bullet and order the troops to form a defense line together with the tanks.

To make matters worse, the German "Upper Silesia" tanks were tall and stood on the German defense line like benchmarks. The French army immediately knew the location of the enemy's defense line and found the target.

The first to fire were mortars. One after another, the shells hit the surroundings of the German tanks with sharp whistling sounds. Some even hit the branches and leaves of trees and exploded above the enemy's heads. The German soldiers were blown away. Screaming again and again.

Intensive gunfire followed closely, and the fire of the shells reflected the backs of the German army, allowing the French soldiers to aim at the right target.

"Saint-Samond M21" always kept its speed to approach the enemy. The machine gunner stuck out half of his head to observe the front, and the heavy machine gun in his hand fired "da da". As long as there was a black shadow flashing, he would not hesitate to shoot a bullet.

"Saint-Samond M21" equipped with 37 guns was not in a hurry. They drove straight towards the German tanks face to face, getting closer and closer.

The machine gun turret of the German tank was spewing flames, but it was obvious that it was random shooting. The bullets had already hit the sky but they knew nothing about it.

Almost at a close distance, the 37 gun of "Saint-Samond M21" opened fire.

"Boom", the German tanks began to emit white smoke, and soon a big fire broke out.

The fire illuminated the German defense line like torches. Several "firemen" escaped from the tank cabin, shouting and waving their hands and running around. The scene was in chaos.

The French tanks ignored these. They did not get too entangled with the Germans. They rushed forward at full speed regardless of everything, hitting anyone and bombing tanks.

The whole battle seemed to be that the tanks were responsible for disrupting and smashing the German defense in the front, and the French soldiers followed behind to "clean up" the remaining German troops.

The Germans were defeated for a while, and they ran around like headless flies, and they couldn't find a direction to escape in the dark.

At this moment, the "Saint-Samond M21" actually played its momentum!