Chapter 516 The Franco-Siamese War (1)
The morale of the 35th Infantry Battalion collapsed and the troops completely lost control. The soldiers threw away their weapons and jumped off the road, fleeing desperately in the opposite direction of the attacker. A few brave men tried to continue to resist, but they were immediately hit by the overwhelming firepower of the French army. This was a very common sight in the eyes of those French soldiers, but they were the ones who retreated at that time and witnessed this embarrassing scene again, but the winner was replaced by themselves, which really made the French officers and soldiers present sigh for this.
"viva!" French soldiers stood beside the seized baggage cart and cheered for victory. Am cavalry tanks roared and crossed the road, chasing the Siamese infantry who were fleeing wildly.
The light tank company lined up in wedge-shaped combat formations and drove the Siam defeated army to the north. At this time, the sky was gradually getting darker. Fearing that the troops deployed by Siam were deployed on the flanks, Lieutenant Vaeri ordered the cessation of combat. At this time, the bodies of more than 200 Siam soldiers were lying in the wilderness behind the tank company.
The raid ended with the French victory. The 35th Infantry Battalion of the Siamese Army was killed in the battle, 270 people were captured, 70 of which were all kinds of wounded.
Half of the battalion officers were killed, including the battalion commander and the battalion chief of staff. The Serron car, which was used as a bunker, was hit by a forty-seven-mm armor-piercing grenade. Several battalion officers who were hiding behind the car were torn to pieces together with the beautiful car.
The armored regiment of the Saigon Division perfectly achieved the mission given to them by the division commander, and they cut the attack of the Siam Army into two sections.
Now the armored regiment occupies a section of the central Highway 5. On the east side is the 12th Cavalry Company of the Siam Army. This unit is in exchange for fire with the Shishufeng defenders, and it seems that there is a problem in the rear.
On the west side of the armored regiment is the 20th infantry battalion of the Siamese Army advancing along the highway. When the battle was about to end, they sent almost a company of reinforcements to the 35th Battalion. Unfortunately, they bumped into an H35 tank platoon that was about to detour from the east, and were soon repelled by the fierce firepower of French tanks and the accompanying infantry.
At present, the Siamese infantry battalion had stopped marching and deployed defensive formations on both sides of the highway. Obviously, the commander was hesitant about the decision of the battle. He was not sure whether to launch an attack or retreat now.
The commander of the First Armored Regiment of the Saigon Division was Major General Fang. Thoma Army, a professional soldier with a very tough style. He has served in the cavalry since he was a second lieutenant and accumulated rich training and command experience. During the Weigang defense line breakthrough campaign, Colonel Thoma was captured by the German army in the French War Zone Command. At that time, he was already the chief of staff of a half-armored brigade.
After Thomas was released, he was promoted to the level by the Army Department. As a reward for his brave fight for France, Marshal Betton personally met with the same group of releasing generals as him, and told him personally that he would be entrusted with important tasks by the state.
Betan did not lie, Major General Thomas became the commander of the First Tank Regiment of the Motorized Infantry Division of Saigon, an organization that the French army had never used before.
Previously, the French army's basic intermediate armored units were semi-brigades, and they had two combat tank battalions. The tank semi-brigades were also divided into heavy-mounted semi-brigades and light-mounted semi-brigades. The former was equipped with heavy-mounted tanks such as Carl B1, and the latter was equipped with medium-light tanks such as H39. Of course, because of the insufficient number of tanks, these battalions often mixed into other H or S series.
If all the people are full, a tank and semi-brigade has about seventy tanks. A heavy semi-brigade paired with a light semi-brigade, and a motorized hunting battalion, then it is a complete French Army Armored Division.
Because of the French defeat on the European battlefield, the French army began to learn the advanced tactics of the German army, which led to the emergence of a new organization of the tank regiment.
The third battalion unit is a mixed combination of light and heavy tanks, which is more suitable for various battlefield environments than a single tank semi-brigade. The commander can flexibly mobilize the troops in his hands for mobile combat.
The most basic company organization is still in accordance with the French army's own customs. The entire tank regiment has 125 tanks, of which 20 are used as backup vehicles for each battalion.
The entire regiment was equipped with the main tank models of the French army before the war. Because the local army was preparing to replace the new tank, it seemed particularly generous in terms of old equipment. Thomas' commanders were also elite soldiers and powerful generals who had served in the army for many years. Many of them had shared the joys and sorrows with the general, scooping a spoon in a pot and using the same paring knife.
The only thing that made the Army Major General feel regretful was that the place where he served was a little remote, but Betton told him that he would be able to be transferred back to his homeland only if he had to serve abroad for four years. When he returned, Betton promised to add a star on his shoulder. He was promoted to the general rank by four years. I heard that there were still wars to fight, let alone Indochina, he would even throw him to the Antarctic.
"General Lyon's telegram." The communications officer handed the telegram to the general.
Thomas' car is a modified Citroen Unico P107, which is also a semi-track transporter serving in the French Army. It is more horsepower and faster than the Somi mg, and the carriage protection is better, and of course it is more expensive.
The French army equipped 2,000 such half-tracked vehicles to pull 70 to 100 mm artillery, because the vehicle has a very good mobility and a highway speed of 42 kilometers per hour, which is more suitable for traction regiment-class artillery for maneuvering warfare. Germany seized many of these half-tracked vehicles, but none of them were returned to the French after the war.
Thomas used the French army to keep it himself. At that time, many artillery soldiers threw away the artillery and retreated to the rear in this tractor with good off-road performance. Although the car at the rear of this car was not very large, this guy had a strong load capacity and was very conspicuous in the retreating team, because each p107 was filled with various luggage items from French officers and soldiers, and from a distance it looked like a moving hill. At the same time, this thing consumed a lot of fuel, so the German army picked up many Citroen p107s abandoned because of exhaustion of fuel on the road to pursuing the French army.
Thoma's semi-track transporter is a specially modified version. The original canvas tent was changed to a metal hardtop. The cabin was equipped with protective steel plates, the window glass was also replaced with bulletproof, and an armored cover that could be quickly closed. A folding desk, a file box and safe, and a foldable camp bed. This car was not a commander's mobile housing.
"Notify Malmo of the Second Battalion and ask him to come to me immediately." Thomas picked up the telegram and glanced at it, then pushed open the car door and walked out of the car.
The embers of the battlefield have not yet been extinguished, and there is a pungent smell of sulfur in the air. Thomas walked past a Siamese Army's baggage truck. The melted rubber tires left a large pool of stains on the ground. The driver's charred body was curled up in the cab of the truck, which was burned with only the skeleton. The car was loaded with rice in sacks. The surface layer had been carbonized, and the bottom layer looked still burning, so that the carriage kept steaming with a strange fragrance.
"Henry, go find two people to deal with the body and remove the car from the road." Thomas frowned and said to the Chief of Staff who was walking towards him.
"Okay, general." Chief of Staff Colonel Henry Valentine was forty-five years old. He was a real young man. He was once a fan of Charles de Gaulle. Even in the prisoner-of-war camp, he was still a staunch admirer of the other party.
However, when he learned that Charles de Gaulle fled France on a British envoy's plane, his thoughts changed a little. He believed that Charles de Gaulle's approach to the British was a betrayal of the French nation and nation. If Charles de Gaulle really went to Britain to establish a resistance government like in history, then perhaps Valentine would find a way to defect to the other party, but the problem was that Charles de Gaulle disappeared on the way, and now he was dead and dead, and no one was seen. Who knows what he was going to England for?
How could Betang give up the opportunity to take advantage of the situation? As an active French general, Charles de Gaulle did not apply to his superiors, nor did he obtain government approval, and suddenly jumped onto the British plane and fled out of the country. However, there were a bunch of witnesses who testified.
"You have read the above orders. How many mobile forces can we mobilize now?" Thomas took the helmet from the adjutant and handed the cap to the lieutenant.
"At present, at most two companies are sent, and the biggest difficulty is that the supply cannot keep up." Valentan said, "When the little goatee stroked his jaw, he said." Has the troops been counted out? "Thoma stood by the road with his waist, looking at the wilderness illuminated by the tracked car headlights, the French infantry were cleaning the battlefield. They gathered the remains of Siamese soldiers and arranged them on the open space, and various guns, weapons and ammunition were piled up." Twenty-seven people were killed, sixty-four were injured,
The two were seriously injured, which was a brilliant victory. "Varentan reported with a smile: "This is what France needs most now, and there is no more inspiring than a victory." "This is just the beginning, the colonel." Thomas turned his head and glanced at the excited Chief of Staff, and then turned his gaze to the other end of the road, which was the position stationed by the Twenty Infantry Battalion of Siam. Unlike the lights here, the Siamese position was hidden in a darkness at this moment.
ps: Please give me some monthly tickets. The author needs monthly ticket support. Please give me some motivation. (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!