Chapter 234: The End of France (4)

In the early morning of July 6, the sky was bright, and the Stukas above the Sedan Fortress began a new round of dive bombing.

At this time, a very strange thing happened.

The bomb dropped by a Stuka did not hit its target, but the bomb accidentally landed near a hidden artillery position. Brigadier General Lafontaine was shocked when he received the report. He believed that the Germans had detected all the artillery positions in the fortress, and immediately ordered all artillery positions to be relocated for safety reasons.

However, the "uncles" of the French army who were ravaged by the Stuka's terrible roar for a whole day yesterday (as mentioned earlier, the vast majority of the soldiers of the 55th Division are reserve soldiers recalled after the outbreak of the war, and most of them are over 30 years old) have already They were so frightened that they interpreted the position relocation as "the Germans have crossed the Maas River, and the artillerymen will be sacked if they don't run away." So the two divisional artillery regiments decided to retreat south without authorization.

The infantry regiment who watched the artillery retreat thought that the German tanks had "defeated" the artillery. Everyone shouted that the Germans were using their troops like a god and decided to retreat. So the division's 6 infantry battalions and 5 artillery battalions collectively blew up the camp, creating a chaotic scene. Some units retreated southward, some units completely dispersed, and many recruits were so frightened that they threw their weapons on the roadside. You know, they didn't even see half a German at this time.

At 7 o'clock in the morning, Brigadier General Lafontaine discovered that he had lost contact with his infantry. He believed that his troops had been involved in a melee with the Germans. As the general, he should preserve his strength and "lead his troops to break out", so he ordered the division headquarters to keep communications silent. retreat south

At 8 a.m., Guderian ordered the crossing of the river to begin.

Nearly two hundred artillery pieces that had been ready for action roared simultaneously, and countless shells hit the fortress firepower point on the other side of the river.

The soldiers rushed down the river with their assault boats and rubber boats, pushing the boats forward and jumping onto the speedboats despite being soaked in the icy river water. When the last soldier jumped on the speedboat, the motor of the assault boat started.

Soon, countless ripples appeared on the river, and the Zodiac boats and rubber boats shot towards the other side like bullets.

"Chug!" The French firepower on the other side opened fire, and various light and heavy weapons poured out bullets crazily. From time to time, mortar shells hit the water, splashing water columns and splashing onto the German soldiers on the assault boat.

The soldiers could only cling to the rubber boat and listen to the bullets fired from the other side whizzing past their heads. A mortar shell happened to hit a ferry boat, and the human body was mixed with the fragments of the rubber boat. Up to the sky.

Guderian, who was standing on the river bank watching the battle, frowned. "What's going on? This doesn't look like the firepower a division should have." The other party's firepower was indeed fierce. He felt that the other party seemed to want to stop the German army from advancing, but for some reason, this was different from the firepower a division should have. The density is quite different. "It seems like two battalions of firepower at most."

"It's a little strange. Could it be a trap?" the adjutant standing aside asked doubtfully. He did not believe that bombers could reduce the strength of a division hiding in the fortress to only two battalions. But at this time, the French army has no reason to hide its strength? It’s really good to think about.

"A trap?" After thinking for a while, Guderian shook his head. "There may be an opportunity. Give the order to cross the river in full force!"

Guderian guessed right. There were only two fortress infantry battalions of the 55th Division left on the south bank. After fighting for a long time, they suddenly noticed that there was no movement from the friendly troops next to them. They called the division headquarters to ask why the people on the flanks did not fight back and why there was no artillery support. , and the phone was blocked. The battalion commander then believed that the division headquarters had been annihilated by the Germans and the main force of the division had been wiped out. He told his subordinates that Brigadier General Lafontaine had served the Republic with loyalty and benevolence, and now he must carry forward the spirit of Verdun and persist for a long time.

And Brigadier General Lafontaine, who was confused and cursed by the battalion commander, suddenly realized that he had made a mistake after turning almost 20 kilometers: the main force of the division was actually running faster than the division headquarters! When he came to his senses, he ordered the division's military police battalion to block the road and block the infantry back to their positions. As a result, the division's military police battalion fired warning shots to no avail. Instead, they were scattered by a large number of broken troops. The battalion commander and a division staff officer were forced to retreat 12 kilometers. , almost shot as a deserter by the 10th Army Headquarters

At this time, the furious 10th Army headquarters was questioning why the 55th Division retreated without authorization after intercepting a large number of broken troops. Brigadier General Lafontaine said that his infantry was frightened by German tanks, and that German paratroopers were moving around in the rear, pretending to be friendly troops and delivering orders. The soldiers were wreaking havoc, and I was attacked from both sides. Fortunately, I turned around in time...

The military department stated that German tanks are still north of the Maas River, and German paratroopers are still in Belgium. Excluding the possibility that the Germans will teleport, did the 55th Division see a ghost in broad daylight?

Brigadier General Lafontaine also said that he didn't know anything. He was coerced into retreating. This was reported by his regiments. They did see the tanks. The military headquarters said that our army had several tracked vehicles in addition to the 110th Heavy Artillery Regiment in the rear. Tractors and no tanks at all. What does he, a division commander, do for a living? Brigadier General Lafontaine continued to say that the Germans must have sneaked into the rear and spies had infiltrated the army to spread false information.

And while they were wrangling here, the German crossing troops successfully set foot on the south bank of the Maas River after suffering more than a hundred casualties, and established a semicircular beachhead with a radius of less than 500 meters. The beachhead is of course very fragile.

If the French army is still there, a wave of artillery fire or a counterattack can easily drive these German troops back into the river.

Unfortunately, as the saying goes, ideals are full, but reality is very skinny; at this time, the remaining French soldiers had suffered heavy losses under the double blow of Stuka in the sky and artillery fire on the ground. When the German soldiers approached the French defense line and blew up two fire points with Panzerfaust rocket launchers, the remaining French army finally collapsed and raised the white flag.

"Surrender now?" Guderian was surprised and of course he would not miss such a good opportunity. He ordered the infantry to cross the river in assault boats and rubber boats; and asked the engineers to build heavy and light pontoon bridges. Heavy pontoon bridges are used to pass tanks and self-propelled artillery, and light pontoon bridges are used to pass infantry and trucks.

Then he sent a telegram to the headquarters, asking for air force support.

After all, the French are not fools. Of course, they will know what the consequences will be if their large forces successfully cross the river, and they will definitely do everything possible to prevent them from crossing the river.

After arranging all this, he took a assault boat to the other side of the river and interrogated the surrendered French soldiers. He found that the highest position among them was actually a battalion commander. After interrogation, they found that they themselves did not know how they had lost contact with the higher-ups, and they all thought that the division headquarters had been annihilated.

Guderian was also a little confused after hearing this, and he could not figure out what was going on.

However, he was also entangled in this matter and went to the nearby fortifications. There was a bunker every hundred meters or so, but I saw that part of it was still under construction and had not even been removed.

"Oh, these French." These French spent 20 years building fortifications, but they didn't even repair the defense line on the Meuse River. Looking at the "on ne passe pas" sprayed on the wall of a bunker, Guderian shook his head speechlessly.