Chapter 206 The Attack Begins

When powerful countries fight, it is not only the powerful countries themselves that are affected, but many small countries are also involuntarily involved in the abyss of war. It is only because their strategic positions are extremely important that both sides of the war want to control them.

Although Belgium is small, as an industrial power, it can use its strong industry and geographical advantages (dense river network) to at least symbolically resist the German attack and maintain its honor.

Of course, the most important thing is that Yannick is worried that if Belgium is frightened into surrendering, it will not be able to attract the British and French troops into the famous encirclement in history, and Germany's combat plan may fail, so Belgium is kept as bait.

Luxembourg, which is also a small country, has a population of only 300,000 people throughout the country. Although it is rich, it has long maintained a neutral role in the disputes between the great powers and does not pay much attention to the construction of armed forces. And it does not have a strong industry like Belgium. According to the maximum mobilization capacity of modern warfare of 12% of the total population, it can mobilize 60,000 people to serve the war at best. Excluding the labor required for logistics and war industry, it can mobilize at most 10,000 troops.

Therefore, when the German envoy came to the door, Grand Duchess Charlotte Aldegund Elizabeth Mary Wilhelmine of Luxembourg did not hesitate to accept any conditions of Germany.

The German army successfully took over the defense line of Luxembourg. Guderian's 19th Armored Corps and Reinhardt's 41st Armored Corps formed an armored group and plunged into the Ardennes Forest.

"Pay attention to maintaining the formation!

"Keep the distance between the front and the back, don't crowd."

"Crowding will only slow down the speed of travel!"

Guderian stood on the roof of the armored command vehicle, looking at the endless convoy in front and behind, and finally understood why the French were so confident that this place was a natural moat and there was no heavy guard.

How can this be considered a road?

It was rugged and flat. Two tanks might be able to drive side by side in wide places, but it was extremely difficult for even one tank to pass in narrow places, and even crashes and rollovers occurred from time to time. Look, another tank slid into the ditch next to it not far away.

"Damn it. "Guderian watched the engineers tinkering with the tank and couldn't help muttering. "At this speed, when can we get through the broken forest!"

"It will take about 60 hours to get out. Commander, don't worry, there is nothing we can do even if you are in a hurry, right?" The adjutant comforted him.

No one here is not anxious. Although the forest is hidden in such a snail-like movement, the possibility of being discovered by the French cannot be completely ruled out. Once such a large and immobile force is discovered by the French and the French launch artillery attacks, the consequences will be disastrous. It is even possible that the entire Army Group A will be completely buried in this vast forest.

But this is not a problem that can be solved in a hurry. Now all the troops, various types of tanks and a large number of armored vehicles are crowded here, and the speed is impossible to increase.

"Hey. "Guderian sighed and simply jumped off the armored vehicle. He would rather wander around at this time. Anyway, the troops can only crawl forward slowly at this turtle-like speed.

In other directions, Army Group B, commanded by Fedor von Bock, was divided into two, one entering the Netherlands and the other attacking Belgium.

Because Belgium voluntarily gave up its neutrality, the German army did not need those useless nonsense and launched an attack directly.

The first thing they had to conquer was the famous Eben Emael Fortress.

The Eben Emael Fortress is located on the Belgian side of the border between the Netherlands and Belgium, between the cities of Maastricht and Wies. The fortress is an important part of the Albert Canal Defense Line, a powerful fortification and important support point of the northern extension of the Maginot Line, and the core of the Belgian eastern defense system.

It was from here that the German army entered Belgium in 1914. In order to resist the next possible German invasion, the Belgians began to attack here as early as the early 1930s. This magnificent fortress project was built here.

It was built in imitation of the intricate fortifications of the Maginot Line. The fortress is built on a small granite hill, which is 900 meters long from north to south and 700 meters wide from east to west. Its northeast and northwest sides are almost vertical cliffs, about 40 meters high, and the Albert Canal with surging water passes under the cliff; the south side is separated by a wide anti-tank trench and a 7-meter-high protective wall. The fortress is surrounded by the so-called "canal belt" and "trench belt" on all sides, and is built with reinforced concrete bunkers equipped with searchlights, 60mm anti-tank guns and heavy machine guns. The Meuse River to the east of the fortress is parallel to the Albert Canal, forming an outer barrier.

At first glance, each fortress seems to be scattered in a pentagonal area, but in fact, it is a defense system that cleverly combines artillery positions, rotating armored turrets, anti-aircraft gun positions, anti-tank gun positions, heavy machine gun positions, etc., and the various parts are connected by a 5-kilometer-long underground reinforced tunnel and traffic trench.

Each weapon was carefully arranged to maximize its effectiveness. The fortress is easy to observe from any direction. Every tunnel leading to the fortress can prevent the enemy's attack. There are no exposed stonework marks on the fortress, nor are there any buildings that expose the position. Weeds grow everywhere. There are 4 hidden turrets on the top of the fortress, and ammunition is supplied by hydraulic lifts. In order to confuse the enemy, the Belgian army also set up fake turrets in various parts of the fortress. Its artillery firepower can control all crossings within 16 kilometers of the Albert Canal and the Meuse River.

The defense force of the Eben-Emael Fortress has a total of 1,200 people, commanded by Major Qiaotland, belonging to the 7th Infantry Division. All personnel can be in bunkers 25 meters below the ground, and are equipped with drinking water, food and a large amount of ammunition for long-term use. The fortress is fully equipped with weapons. Along the outer edge of the fortress, there are many bunkers and trenches, as well as mutually supporting fire positions beside the trenches and rivers. For general bombardment, the Eben-Emael Fortress can undoubtedly withstand it.

The fortress was designed by a group of experts in peacetime and completed in 1935 after three years of careful construction. It is generally believed that the fortress is impregnable. It was listed as one of the most important defensive positions in Europe and the strongest fortress in the world at that time, and was figuratively likened to the "gate" in the east of Belgium and a "lock" on the Albert Canal defense line.

But they did not consider that the enemy might come from the air and land on the open space between the turret and the armored turret. And the entire fortress has only four 62mm anti-aircraft machine guns, which is a bit incredible.

When the German glider forcibly landed on the top of the Eben-Emael Fortress, two of the four anti-aircraft machine guns malfunctioned. In addition, one of the two intact ones was overturned by the wing of the landing glider.

The assault team of 84 German paratroopers boarded 11 DFS-230 gliders towed by Junkers 52 and parachuted to the top of the Eben-Emael Fortress. After more than 30 hours of fighting, they forced the Belgian troops in the fortress to surrender.

Although this airborne battle was a classic, Yannick decided to use a different offensive method.