The Rise of the Third Reich

On the outskirts of Paris, Vincennes, the Allied Forces Headquarters.

The news of the appearance of German armored units near Sedan and the German airborne landing west of Sedan-Mause reached Gamelin's ears almost at the same time. These two pieces of news made him a little dumbfounded - the Germans actually broke through not from southern Luxembourg, where transportation is very convenient, but from the Ardennes Forest!

"Your Excellency, Commander-in-Chief, we only have one division on the Sedan-Maas River line... With enemies from both sides and front, we can only retreat to the fortress temporarily. Therefore, the Sedan-Maas River line has actually been breached."

General Joseph George, who was urgently summoned to Vincennes, reported the latest battle situation to Gamelin in a tone that was about to cry.

The French 2nd Army was originally deployed on the line between Sedan and the Meuse River. They had just been transferred to the Metz fortification area to prevent the German army from breaking through from Luxembourg to southern Belgium (just south of the Ardennes Forest, the terrain is relatively flat. Transportation is also very convenient). The 2nd Army was replaced by several divisions of the French 9th Army. They were all second-line troops with insufficient combat effectiveness and too few troops. In the original history, the French army would not have been able to withstand the airdrop without the 1st Airborne Chasseur Division, let alone now.

The Sedan-Mause River defense line was breached on the 12th, and a small number of French troops who were not eliminated hid in the Sedan Fortress. However, the French army was still stronger than the Belgian army. They at least blew up several bridges on the Meuse River in time.

But this cannot stop the German army. The 1st Armored Division and the "Gross Deutschland" flag force under the 19th Armored Corps, the 7th Armored Division under the 15th Armored Army (the division commander is Rommel) and the SS "Reich" With the cooperation of the airborne troops, the flag team set up the pontoon bridge on the afternoon of the 12th. Now the armored troops have begun to cross the river in a mighty way!

"Your Excellency, Commander-in-Chief, according to the reconnaissance of the Air Force, the Germans have set up two pontoon bridges on the Maas River." General Joseph George continued to report, "A large number of tanks and armored vehicles are crossing the river, and it is estimated that they will soon head south or It’s an attack to the north!”

"General George, how are we going to stop them?" British Army General Verrick hurriedly interjected, "Should we send reserves to plug the gap now?"

"Reserves will be dispatched," General Gan Molin took over the topic. "We have many reserves, 3 million of them (most of them are training), and the 6th Group Army is already ready to move (originally belonging to The 6th Army of the 3rd Army Group handed over its troops to the 8th Army a few days ago, and the headquarters retreated to Paris to take over the six divisions under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Command) and will set off today (13th) evening."

Among the six divisions belonging to the 6th Army, there are the powerful 2nd Reserve Armored Division and 3rd Reserve Armored Division. These two reserve armored divisions have a total of 8 tank battalions (including four light and heavy tank battalions), with a total of 316 tanks at full strength. Although the number is only as large as one German armored division, these two French reserve armored divisions have powerful charB1 heavy tanks. At full strength, each division has 68 units.

From the appearance, this huge tank with a 75mm gun and a 47mm gun can easily defeat any German tank. This is also the confidence of General Gamelin.

"In addition, it's okay, the 1st Reserve Armored Division will also be transferred from the 1st Army to the 9th Army," General Gamelin squeezed out a smile, "This way there will be three powerful reserve armored divisions to fight against the 9th Army." The German armored forces broke through Sedan-Maas River."

"Three reserve armored divisions..." Joseph George silently calculated. "At full strength, there are 204 charB1 heavy tanks and 270 H39 tanks. Even if only 80% of the vehicles can move, it is enough to deal with the Germans. However, We needed time to mobilize our troops, and now Germany had control of the air and was bombing our railway lines indiscriminately."

Some time ago, the main task of the Luftwaffe and naval aviation was to weaken the French Air Force. Therefore, they mainly bombed airports, not railways and roads. However, starting on April 12, German planes began bombing railways in France, which caused great inconvenience to the mobilization of the French army.

Because the motorization level of the French infantry is not high, there are only a small number of motorized infantry divisions, and most of them have been deployed on the Belgian battlefield. They cannot be mobilized to the Sedan-Mause River line in a short time.

Therefore, Gamelin and Joseph George could only deploy some infantry divisions (including a motorized infantry division that was not "motorized") to accompany three reserve armored divisions with a small number of motorized infantry (only 1 battalion). The French infantry divisions would be very slow to move without relying on railways for maneuvers.

"Your Excellency, Commander-in-Chief, Sir," Joseph George said, "In order to buy time, we must delay the actions of the Germans. Otherwise, they will cause enough damage before our reserve armored divisions are in place, which may affect the Battle of Belgium."

"But how can we delay their actions?" Admiral Verrick asked.

"Use bombers!" Joseph George replied, "Invest enough 'Blenheim' bombers and 'Breguet' attack aircraft (Bre. 690 series) to blow up the pontoon bridge built by the Germans on the Maas River at all costs. "

Admiral Verrick knew this was the only way!

"But how to deal with the German BF-109 and Fokker Zero?" Admiral Verrick asked again.

These two fighter jets have simply become a worry for the British Empire. All aircraft manufacturers in the UK and the United States that can produce fighter jets have now received research and development orders from the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy. The UK needs to be able to restrain the BF-109 and Fu K-Zero fighter!

Admiral Gamelin said: "Then send enough Ms. 406, Hurricane, H-75 and Spitfire fighter jets!"

Admiral Verrick nodded silently, knowing that there would be enough Ms. 406s, Hurricanes, H-75s, Blenheim bombers and Breguet attack aircraft. But there will be no baby bumpy Spitfires.

Because according to the orders of the Royal Air Force Fighter Command, the "Spitfire" squadrons transferred from the UK (there are only 10 in total) can only be used on the Belgian battlefield!

In the early morning of April 14, a fleet consisting of Ms.406, Hurricane, H-75, Blenheim bomber and Breguet attack aircraft roared to the Sedan-Maas River battlefield, blocking the sky and the sun with a fierce momentum.

Almost at the same time, more than 200 BF-109 and Fokker Zero fighter jets also took off from airports in Germany and arrived over the Maas River. The fierce aerial battle that lasted throughout the day was then staged grandly, accompanied by the roar of ground artillery fire and the explosions of falling bombs.

"Brothers, today is our holiday!" Lieutenant Heinz Bahr's cheers reached Rudolf Hessmann's earphones. "Hit them all well and hard! If anyone comes back empty-handed, Don’t say they are my subordinates, Heinz Barr!”

Rudolf Herschmann looked at the pontoon bridge on the Maas River below with some worry. I saw that anti-aircraft gun positions had been set up on both sides of the pontoon bridge. There were about a hundred anti-aircraft guns of various calibers, their muzzles raised, waiting in full array.

It seems that many pilots will die here today! Rudolf Hersman, who personally killed two French pilots yesterday (the pilot and electromechanical crew of the downed Breguet aircraft failed to parachute yesterday) took a breath and followed closely behind Hein in his Fokker Zero. Ci Bal's plane began to raise its altitude and occupied a favorable attack position.

When the German plane began to climb, the British and French fighter planes also began to increase their altitude. The Fokker Zero is not a fighter with outstanding high-altitude performance and dive performance. Its advantages lie in range and mid- and low-altitude flexibility. Therefore, the Fokker Zero did not climb too high and started circling when it reached an altitude of 5,000 meters.

"BF-109 will dive first to launch an attack and break up the enemy's formation," Heinz Barr's voice sounded from Rudolf Hessmann's earphones. "We will follow up and fight with Ms. 406 and Hurricane Fighter fighting, you have to entangle them as much as possible and kill them all, do you understand?”

Today, the BF-109 and the Fokker Zero cooperated in the battle. The BF-109 was responsible for the dive attack and used the "one-hit and away" tactic to impact the opponent's fleet. The mission of the Fokker Zero is to follow behind BF-109 and fight with Hurricane, Hock and Ms. 406 who have been separated from their formation. As long as it can entangle them, the BF-109 can shoot down Blenheim bombers and Breguet attack aircraft in the second and third waves of dive attacks.

At this time, the BF-109 fleet that had climbed higher had begun to roar down. Lieutenant Barr quickly ordered: "Double formation, keep up with the BF-109, and then find the enemy fighter jets to fight. Remember to leave the bombers to the BF-109s." 109…”

The strategy of using the BF-109, which has outstanding high-altitude performance and dive performance, with the Fokker Zero, which has outstanding mid- and low-altitude agility, was explored as early as 1939. After a few months of the "French Air Battle" 40 years ago, not only the German fighter pilots fully mastered this "high-low combination", but even the British and French pilots also knew how powerful it was. As soon as they saw the BF-109 swooping down, they knew something was wrong. The originally tight formation disbanded instantly and turned into hundreds of three-machine formations, scattered at high altitude.

However, unlike the situations encountered in the past, today, whether it was the Hurricane, Hg or Ms.406, when faced with the BF-109 and Fokker Zero whose performance exceeded them, they did not take the action of diving to escape, but chose to be brave. Respond to the challenge. It seemed that he wanted to use his own sacrifice to cover bombers and attack planes to blow up the two pontoon bridges on the Maas River.

The bloodiest and most intense air battle in history begins!