Chapter 960

Crossing the Maas River

Hitler adopted Manstein's plan and changed the order of combat on the Western Front. Read h-u-n mixed*h-u-n mixed*small-shu-shu-net.

Please remember

Manstein received the honor he deserved, but the traditional generals were indignant about the plan that was made by a subordinate officer above them, and only arranged for von Manstein to command the infantry army in the rear. Hitler could change the combat plan, but one thing Hitler could not change, that is, the gap in strength between the two sides. Although the German army had 4

000 aircraft against the Allied forces

000 aircraft with air superiority, but the Allies have about 3

383 tanks, while Germany has only 2 in total

Many of them are light tanks with limited combat performance.

On May 10, 1940, just after 2:30 am, 64 German paratroopers crossed the Dutch border, which was the vanguard of the German attack on the Netherlands. These paratroopers landed on the main bridges near Rotterdam, The Hague, Dodrecht and Muldik, respectively, to prevent the Netherlands from blowing up these bridges and blocking the German offensive from the main crossing of the border. A large number of German troops entered the Flanders area through the Albert Canal. These troops may have been blocked by the Great Fortress of Eben Emar, Belgium, but at 5:30, the German glider troops successfully landed on the Belgian border, controlling and destroying this solid fire point.

Five minutes later, 30 divisions of the German Army Group led by General Bock crossed the border like a tide from Maastricht to the estuary of the Emes. Meanwhile, in the south, 44 divisions of the Army Group led by General Von Longdstedt, including the main attack force composed of seven armored divisions commanded by General Klester, advanced forward into the Ardennes region of Belgium, which French commanders have described since 1919 as a forest area where tanks cannot pass.

The Allies in the north, including five divisions of the British Expeditionary Force, eight divisions of the French 1st Army deployed on the right wing of the British army, and seven divisions of the French 7th Army deployed along the Dunkirk coast, left the defensive positions they had worked hard for a winter and advanced forward to join the Belgian army in order to establish defense lines along the Dir and Maas Rivers. The almost suicide move of the Allies excited Hitler.

It was obvious that the Allied forces had many difficulties on the road ahead. The Luftwaffe planes kept hovering over their heads and bombing, which put the Allied forces in severe tests. It took them a long time to gradually adapt to the nervous roar of the planes that often accompany their ears. In addition, the German rapid and fierce attack made the civilians frightened and uneasy. Wherever the Boke army went, the people fled, and the Allied forces' path was soon blocked by refugees.

Despite this, by the evening of May 14, the Allied Line of Defense was still built.

From the mouth of Scelt to the north of Antwerp, the three divisions of the 7th Army of France were guarded by three divisions of the 7th Army of France, and then extended 80 kilometers southeast to Leuven, guarded by 13 divisions of the Belgian Army, the front from Leuven to Wafre was guarded by the British Expeditionary Force, from Wafre to Namur, and by six divisions of the 1st Army of France. The lines of defense that the Allied forces have been hastily constructed were fragmented, and many battalion-level and brigade-level commanders were very frustrated in the face of such a line of defense, and the soldiers were equally unconfident. They had built along the French border in a winter.

The vast field fortifications, but now they are expected to use such defense lines to stop the German attack. This line of defense can only be regarded as primitive defensive positions at most, and there are even no fortifications in some places. At the same time, commanders at the division level and above were also worried about the war situation in the south. However, at this point, they did not realize that the slowly advancing Bock Group Army Group was actually just "the cloak of the bullfighters", in order to lure the main forces of the Allied forces into the trap, thereby creating conditions for Klester's armored cluster to carry out a fatal blow.

After attracting the Allied mobile forces to the north, the Bocks' troops were tasked with defending the Netherlands, like a plate, forming an anvil with armored forces advancing from the French coast. The German army's primary task was to seize the key fortresses on the defense lines of the Netherlands and Belgium, which was the basis of the defense of the two countries. The majestic Eben Emarr reinforced concrete fortresses had been occupied by the German army through gliding assaults. Other German paratroopers must also ensure the safety of the bridges so that the German troops can advance to major cities near the coastline of the Netherlands through the wide spread terrain of the Dutch canal.

By May 13, the 18th German Army led by General Quschler had already begun to advance towards the "Dutch Fortress" through the bridges previously occupied by the paratroopers. Near Breda, the German army encountered a storm along the coastline led by General Henry Giro, and blocked the French 7th Army that entered the Netherlands through Belgium.

As a result, the French army was repelled and fled to Antwerp!

As the Netherlands blew up the main bridges through the Eisel River, coupled with the flood of fleeing villagers, the German army led by the SS guard flag team was greatly slowed down. Hitler did not want his "image force" to fall into the quagmire of difficult hiking marching. The guard flag team began to march south on May 13 to meet with the SS Special Mobile Regiment and the 9th Armored Division to advance towards Rotterdam. The German paratroopers had occupied the main bridges of Muldik, and the road to Rotterdam had been opened. By the morning of the 14th, the German army captured 4

More than 000 prisoners of war, SS soldiers who fought with the armored division began to replace well-equipped paratroopers to take on the task of protecting the Muldike Bridge.

Although the Dutch resistance was chaotic, it still delayed the German offensive schedule.

The German Supreme Command issued an ultimatum, threatening the Netherlands to destroy Rotterdam with artillery and air bombing if it continues to resist.

The Netherlands had no choice but to accept the German conditions when they lost contact with the British and French Allied forces.

However, although the operation of bombardment of Rotterdam was cancelled, the order was not transmitted to the Air Force, and Rotterdam was still bombed into ruins by the Luftwaffe. After the bombing, the SS Guard Flag Team immediately entered Rotterdam. In the city, the Guard Flag Team found a group of armed Dutch soldiers and immediately opened fire. Unfortunately, these Dutch soldiers were part of the surrendered local armed forces and were being incorporated by Air General Kurt and Studdenet. The fire attack of the Guard Flag Team seriously injured the founder of the German paratroopers. After recovery, Studdenet commanded the invasion of Crete a year later.

On May 13, the Queen of Dutch and some Dutch government officials boarded the ship in The Hague and fled to the UK.

General Henry Winkelmann, commander-in-chief of the Dutch Army, then announced his surrender. In the south, the 6th Army led by Reichnau crossed the Albert Canal and entered Belgium. The Belgian Army retreated to the line of the Deer River and met with the British Expeditionary Force and the troops of the French 1st Army led by General George Blanchard. By May 15, the Allied forces had assembled about 35 divisions on the line of Namur and Antwerp. While the 6th Army of the German Army launched a feint attack on the defenses established by the Allied forces in a hurry, the 8th Army advanced south from the Netherlands, threatening the flanks of the British, French and Biz.

However, just as the Allies were preparing to compete with Bock's army, they were defeated by shocking news from the southeast. Central France had been broken by new German troops, and all Allies in Belgium were in danger of being cut off. The campaign in the Low Countries was about to end, and Germany's plan was carried out as expected except for some minor mistakes. Bock's advance towards Belgium led the Allies to the north. Longdstedt's armored troops successfully passed through the Ardennes area, and German armored vehicles rushed across the northern part of France.

One of the main goals of Hitler's military policy was to destroy France, an enemy that shamed Germany after World War I. Invasion of the Low Countries was nothing more than a trap to attract the Allies to leave the position, and was the preparation for the German army to launch a fatal blow and launch an armored sprint from the Ardennes.

After the war broke out on the Western Front, German troops quickly passed the Dutch and Belgium border. As the Allies expected, the majestic and sturdy Eben Emar reinforced concrete fortress fell into the hands of the German elite paratroopers, which landed on the roof of the fortress by gliders. However, the 30 divisions of the B-group group led by General Von Bock were actually just feints, with the aim of convincing the Allies that Germany was acting in accordance with the same plan that had been used and failed in past wars.

The real heavy attack was initiated from the Ardennes. Here, the German army assembled 444 divisions of the Group A group led by General Von Longdstedt, including 7 armored divisions of Von Klester. The German army planned to launch unexpected attacks on the Allies from then on. A large number of French troops were stationed in the vast Maginot Line to prevent attacks from the German-French border. However, the Maginot Line did not cover the Belgian border because French decision makers believed that it was impossible to conduct a large-scale attack on France from the Ardenot Line.

Germany's plan quickly became a reality.

The German Armored Division was nervously advancing along the mountain path in a dense column, and there was almost no resistance from the Belgian army in the Arden Mountains.

They entered the forests and mountains without access, and everything was like a peacetime exercise, easily sweeping away the light cavalry troops sent by the French army to "block" them.

By the afternoon of May 12, the three divisions of the Guderry Army A had crossed the French border and arrived along the Maas River in the Seden area!

During this campaign, the military traffic police played a decisive role: thousands of vehicles were well organized and moved strictly according to the plan.

By the evening of May 12, the German armored troops had already controlled the vast front line from Sethon to Dinand on the right bank of the River Maas. In 1870, when the Paris Revolution broke out, this was the place where the French Emperor Napoleon III was defeated and captured by the Prussian army. 70 years later, the commander-in-chief of the French army, General Ganmolin of 68, was expected to appear in the Ardennes area at some time in the battle. But he expected that the German army would be only light temptation troops at most, so the 9th Army, which was ordered to protect this area, was far less scattered than other areas in deployment.

The French Supreme Command estimated that once the French army withstood the attack when the German army first arrived at the Maas River, it would take at least 4 days for the German army to organize and plan the Maas River, and it would take another two days to implement it.

But in fact, it took only 24 hours for the Germans to cross the Maas River.

On May 13, Guderian's infantry troops crossed the Maas River by rubber yacht. At the same time, 300 twin-engine bombers and 200 "Stuka" dive bombers razed the French defensive positions to the ground!

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Chapter completed!