Chapter 217 The Second Day

Early morning of July 4.

Admiral Reichenau had just gotten up when his adjutant ran over in a hurry. "General, all the Belgian troops in Liege have fled!"

"What?!" Admiral Reichenau did not react for a moment. They slept outside Liege for one night, and the Belgian troops in the city fled? If they slept a few more nights, would all of Belgium have to surrender? "Have you confirmed it?"

The adjutant said with certainty. "The reconnaissance battalion has searched the entire city of Liege, and the Belgian troops have indeed withdrawn to the other side of the Meuse River, and those bridges have been blown up."

"The bridges have all been blown up?" Reichenau nodded thoughtfully. Since even the bridges were blown up, they had definitely fled.

There are three bridges from Liege to the other side, and the command had previously discussed whether paratroopers could be sent to occupy these bridges. However, there were a large number of Belgian troops stationed on both sides of these bridges. After deduction, it was found that the success rate of paratroopers occupying these bridges intact was less than 40%; even if they occupied them, the success rate of holding on until the subsequent reinforcements arrived was only 12%, so the plan to send paratroopers was abandoned.

Now these bridges have been blown up by the Belgians themselves, and it seems that they can only cross the Meuse River. "Pass the order down, the whole army will march into the city after breakfast. Send a telegram to the headquarters, we have occupied Liege City, and will start crossing the Meuse River in a few hours."

"What on earth do these Belgians want to do?!" At the same time, Gamelin's roar rang out in the British and French Allied Command. "The last time their ancestors resisted the German army here for a full 13 days. They are not afraid of embarrassing their ancestors!!" The Eben-Emael Fortress, which was always claimed to be impregnable and indestructible, was captured within two hours of the start of the battle yesterday; today, the enemy just arrived at the city, and they fled in a hurry? Are these cowards planning to flee all the way to France to seek asylum? !

How could they have such a stupid teammate? !

Viscount Gort smiled bitterly. "Didn't they say that Liege City is not safe? They have built fortifications on the other side of the Meuse River and will resolutely stop the German army from crossing the river." The reason why they could hold out for so long in the last war was because there was the Liege Fortress at that time; unfortunately, the fortress was eventually scrapped by the German artillery, and the Belgian army did not repair the fortress afterwards.

"Humph, these cowards!" Gamelin cursed fiercely a few times. "Your Excellency, how long do you think they can hold out?"

Viscount Gort thought about it. "Two or three days should be no problem."

"Once the German army successfully crosses the river, it will be less than 100 kilometers away from the capital Brussels. The plains of less than 100 kilometers can only delay the German army for two or three days at most. That means the German army can attack Brussels as early as July 8." He originally expected that the Germans would be blocked for 10-15 days along the Liege-Meuse River-Albert Canal line, but he didn't expect that he really overestimated the fighting spirit of the Belgian army.

Viscount Got nodded. "That's about it."

Gamelin stared at the battle map on the wall for a long time and said. "Although our current assembled forces in Brussels far exceed those of the German army, I am still not at ease. I plan to mobilize the Seventh Army as well!"

"Seventh Army?" Viscount Got was stunned. "That's our reserve, Commander, are you sending the reserve now?"

Warfare is about deployment, that is, deploying your own forces in advance according to the enemy situation. But the battlefield changes rapidly, and the enemy may appear in places that were not expected at the beginning, or in other unexpected situations. At this time, there should be a mobile force that has not been deployed and reserved to deal with such situations. This is why the reserve team is created.

At the critical moment, investing one more reserve team can play a decisive role.

Alexander, the King of Macedonia in Europe, proposed the idea of ​​using medium-equipped infantry as a reserve team, and established and timely invested in the reserve team in the Battle of Gaugamela, defeating the Persian army. And Napoleon's failure that year was also because there was no reserve team in the end.

But now Gamelin has sent all the reserves, which inevitably makes Viscount Gort a little uneasy. What if there is any change in the war, or the Germans have a trick that has not been used?

"Don't worry, Your Excellency." Gamelin said confidently. "We are now completely sure that the German attack is carried out according to the Schlieffen Plan. This is the main attack direction of the Germans! Now is the best time to put in the reserve, because we have to use the most powerful offensive to defeat the Germans in one go!"

"..."It sounds quite reasonable. After all, the German army's combat effectiveness is indeed strong, and it is indeed necessary to gather superior forces to defeat them; but the lack of reserve forces has always made Viscount Goth deeply uneasy.

Seeing this, Gamelin comforted. "Now I am pushing the reserve troops up, but the country is undergoing national defense mobilization. Subsequent troops will be formed continuously. At most, in a week, we will have ten reorganized divisions of reserve troops."

Hearing this, Viscount Goth was slightly relieved. "Then should we support the defenders of the Meuse River? The Belgian fighters are no match for the Germans. Without air support, they may find it difficult to hold on."

When mentioning this, Gamelin's face was a little ugly. Not to mention the Belgian fighters, even France's own fighters are no match for the Germans. More than 200 of them were shot down yesterday alone (including British Hurricane fighters).

"When will your army's Spitfire fighter jets arrive?" He knew that the British had a fighter jet called "Spitfire" in service, which was far superior to the Hurricane and their 406 in performance.

"It will arrive in the next few days. But..." Viscount Goth hesitated when he said this.

Gamelin asked curiously. "But what?"

Viscount Goth hesitated for a moment before continuing. . "We have heard that the Germans have also put a new type of fighter into service. Although we don't know the specific performance, it should not be inferior to their BF109."

The corners of Gamelin's mouth twitched slightly. This news was really enough to hit morale. The German BF109 is already powerful enough, but there are even more powerful fighters?

However, he still encouraged himself and Viscount Goth. "Don't worry too much, Your Excellency. The victory or defeat of the war still depends on the army. God favors the army!"

At this time, Viscount Goth's sixth sense was vaguely worried about the Germans' back-up plan, and he was slowly moving forward in the Ardennes Forest. Because the road was too narrow and long, the entire team was arranged in a long snake formation. If the team wanted to refuel, they had to stop and refuel together; otherwise, it would probably cause a jam.

"Stop and refuel!"

The long team slowly stopped, and the tankers took the oil barrels from the tank racks and began to refuel the tanks.

Speaking of this military gasoline barrel, it is another remarkable invention of the German army in World War II; while the German High Command formulated the blitzkrieg strategy, it also faced a problem. Due to the rapid attack speed of each attacking force, the logistics supply could not keep up. In the battle, thousands of tanks, armored vehicles and trucks required a lot of gasoline.

Later, the German army developed a new 20-liter oil barrel, the standard name of which is called a standard container. This standard container is stamped into two parts with thin iron sheets, and then welded together. It is not only very cheap, but also takes very little time to make, which can meet the large-scale needs during the war. This is still secondary. The key is that it is really convenient to use. Normal people can move it easily, and it will not leak. It can be hung on the tank very conveniently.

The German High Command regarded these oil barrels as strategic secret weapons, and even ordered the German army to destroy their oil barrels first when they were forced to surrender or captured to avoid falling into the hands of the Allies. Because the structure of this thing is so simple, the Allies can mass-produce it as long as they get this oil barrel.

In the end, the secret was not kept. The Allies seized the German oil drums, quickly copied them, and applied them on the battlefield. This type of oil drum was used on a large scale in both civilian and military fields in later generations.