Battle of the Third Reich

The morale of the 35th Infantry Battalion collapsed, and the troops completely lost control. The soldiers threw their weapons and jumped off the road, desperately fleeing in the opposite direction of the attackers. A few brave people tried to continue to resist, but then they were hit by the French army's overwhelming firepower. This is a very common sight in the eyes of those French soldiers, but it was themselves who retreated at that time, and witnessed this embarrassing scene again, but the winner was replaced by himself, which really made the French officers and soldiers present sigh.

"Viva!" The French soldiers stood beside the seized cart and cheered for victory. The AM cavalry tank roared over the road, chasing the Siamese infantry who had run wild.

The light tanks lined up in wedge-shaped combat formations and drove the Siamese army to the north. At this time, the sky was getting dark, and I was worried about encountering the Siamese troops deployed on the flank. Lieutenant Vaeli ordered to stop fighting. At this time, the remains of more than 200 Siamese soldiers lay on the wilderness behind the tank.

The raid ended with the victory of the French army. The 35th Infantry Battalion of the Siamese Army was killed in this battle and 327 were killed and 270 were captured, 70% of whom were wounded.

Half of the battalion officers were killed, including the battalion commander and the battalion chief of staff. At that time, the Chetroron car they used as a bunker was hit by a 47mm armor-piercing grenade, and they were hiding behind the tactics. The battalion officer and the beautiful car were torn to pieces.

The Saigon Division’s armored regiment perfectly fulfilled the mission entrusted to them by the division. They cut the Siamese Army’s offensive spearhead into two.

The armored regiment now occupies a section of the central part of Highway 5. On their east side is the 12th Cavalry Company of the Siamese Army. This unit is engaged in a firefight with the Shishufeng defending army. It seems that they have not noticed that there has been a problem in the rear. .

On the west side of the armored regiment is the twentieth infantry battalion of the Siamese Army, which advanced along the road. When the battle was about to end, they also sent almost a company of reinforcements to the 35th battalion. Unfortunately, they ran into the preparations from the east. A h35 tank platoon with a roundabout side was quickly repelled by the fierce firepower of the French tanks and accompanying infantry.

At present, the Siamese infantry battalion has stopped marching and has launched a defensive formation on both sides of the road. Obviously the commander has hesitated in the battle decision. He is not sure whether he should launch an offensive or retreat now.

The commander of the 1st Panzer Regiment of the Saigon Division is Rear Admiral Fang Toma. This is a very tough professional soldier. He has been serving in the cavalry unit since he was a second lieutenant. He has accumulated rich training and command experience. Wei In the battle of the break-through of the defense line, the brigade was immediately captured by the Germans in the French theater headquarters, when he was already the chief of staff of an armored half brigade.

After Thomas was released, he was promoted to the first level by the Ministry of the Army. As a reward for his fighting for France, Marshal Betten also personally received the same batch of promoted generals who were promoted with him. .

Betan did not lie, and Major General Thomas became the commander of the First Tank Regiment of the Saigon Motorized Infantry Division, a establishment that the French had never used.

Prior to this, the basic intermediate armored unit of the French army was a half brigade, which had two combat tank battalions. Tank half brigades are also divided into heavy loaded half brigades and light loaded half brigades. The former are all equipped with heavy tanks such as Carl b1, and the latter are all equipped with medium and light tanks such as h39. Of course, because there are not enough tanks, these camps often mix and match. Enter other h or s series.

If they were full, a tank and half brigade would have almost 70 tanks. A heavy half-brigade with a light half-brigade, plus a motorized battalion battalion, then it is a complete French reserve armored division.

Because the French army's fiasco on the European battlefield prompted the French army to learn the advanced tactics of the German army, which also led to the emergence of this new formation of the tank regiment.

The three-battalion unit is a mix of light and heavy tanks, which is more adaptable to various battlefield environments than a single tank half brigade. The commander can flexibly mobilize the troops in his hands for mobile operations.

The most basic platoon establishment is still in accordance with the French army's own habits. The entire tank regiment has 125 tanks under its jurisdiction, 20 of which are used as backup vehicles for each battalion.

The equipment of the entire regiment is all the main tank models of the French army before the war. Because the local army is preparing to replace the new tanks, it is particularly generous in terms of old equipment. The commanders under Thomas are all elite soldiers who have served in the military for many years. Many of them have also worked together with the generals, scooped the horse spoon in a pot, and used the same paring knife.

The only thing that makes the major general regret is that the place of service is a little remote, but Betan told him that he only needs to serve abroad for four years before he can be transferred back to the mainland, and when he returns, Betan promises to be on his shoulders. Add a star. I have been promoted to a rank for four years. I heard that there are still battles to fight, not to mention Indochina. I just want to throw him to Antarctica.

"General Lyon's telegram." The communications staff handed the telegram to the general.

Toma’s car is a modified Citroen Unico p107, which is also a semi-tracked transport vehicle serving in the French Army, and has more horsepower and faster speed than Sommi mg, and the protection of the car is also better. Of course, the price is more expensive.

The French army is equipped with two thousand such semi-tracked vehicles for towing artillery from 70 to 100 mm, because the mobility of this vehicle is quite good, and the road speed reaches 42 kilometers per hour, which is more suitable for towing regimental artillery Carry out mobile operations. Germany seized many of these semi-tracked vehicles, but none of them was returned to the French after the war.

Thomas used the French army's own reservations, but at that time, many artillery soldiers threw the artillery and drove backwards with this good off-road performance tractor. Although the compartment at the rear of this car is not very large, this guy has a superb load-bearing capacity and is very conspicuous in the retreating team, because each p107 is filled with various luggage items of French officers and soldiers, which is far from a distance. Like a moving hill. At the same time, the fuel consumption of this thing is also very large, so the Germans found many Citroen p107 abandoned on the road to pursue the French army because they ran out of fuel.

Toma’s semi-tracked transporter is a specially modified version. The original canvas awning was changed to a metal hard top. The cabin was equipped with a protective steel plate. The window glass was also replaced with bulletproof. It can also be quickly closed. Armor cover. A folding desk was placed in the carriage, as well as a file box and a safe, as well as a foldable camp bed. This is not a command vehicle, but a mobile home of the commander.

"Notify Malmo of the 2nd Battalion and let him come to me immediately." Toma took a glance at the telegraph, then pushed the door of the car and walked out of the car.

The embers of the battlefield were not extinguished, and the air was permeated with a pungent smell of sulfur. Thomas walked past a Siam Army’s yoke truck. The melted rubber tires left big dirt on the ground. The burnt skeleton of the truck was huddled with the driver’s scorched body. It was rice packed in sacks, the surface of which had been carbonized, and the bottom layer still looked smoldering, so that the cabin continued to evaporate a blue smoke with a strange fragrance.

"Henry, get two people to dispose of the body and remove the car from the road." Toma frowned and said to the oncoming chief of staff.

"Okay, General." Chief of Staff Colonel Henry Valentin, forty-five years old, was a true young faction and was once a fan of Charles de Gaulle, even if he was a strong admirer of the other party in the prison camp.

However, when he learned that Charles de Gaulle fled France by plane of the British envoy, some thoughts changed. He believed that Charles de Gaulle's surrender to the British was a betrayal of the French country and nation. If Charles de Gaulle really set up a resistance government in Britain as in history, maybe Valentine would still find a way to go to each other, but the problem is that Charles de Gaulle went missing on the way, and now there are no dead bodies, no people, who knows What is he going to do in England?

How did Beidang give up the chance of falling into the rocks? As a French general, Charles de Gaulle did not apply to his superiors and did not pass the approval of the government. He suddenly jumped on the British plane and escaped from the country, but there were a lot of witnesses who testified.

"You have seen the above command, how much manpower can be mobilized now." Toma took the helmet from the adjutant's hand and handed the cap to the second lieutenant.

"At present, there are at most two companies dispatched, and the biggest difficulty is that the supply can't keep up." Valentin said with a small goat with his jaw under his jaw. "Is the loss of troops counted?" Toma stood on the side of the road with his waist up, looking at the wilderness illuminated by the lights of the tracked vehicles. The French infantry were cleaning up the battlefield. They collected the remains of the Siamese soldiers. Arranged on the open ground, various guns, weapons and ammunition piled up. "Twenty-seven people were killed and sixty-four were injured, including two seriously injured. This was a brilliant victory." Valentin reported with a smile: "This is what France needs most now, and there is no more incentive than a victory. Popular.""This is just the beginning, Colonel." Thomas looked back at the excited chief of staff, and then turned his attention to the other end of the road. It was the position where the Siamese 20th Infantry Battalion was stationed, and there was a light here. The obvious difference is that the Siamese positions are hidden in a darkness at the moment.

ps: For monthly tickets, the author needs monthly ticket support, please give me some more motivation. (To be continued.)