Chapter 235: The End of France (5)

The French high command, which had been calm and composed before, was really panicked this time. Gamelin gritted his teeth and ordered Brigadier General Henry Lafontaine, the commander of the 55th Infantry Division, to be sent to a military court.

The rest of the people stared at the inconspicuous small city on the map with solemn expressions. Many people had an extremely dangerous premonition in their hearts, as if the other party had already understood the entire situation, and they were heading towards the dug hole. Jump into the trap!

But Gan Molin can no longer care so much. "The top priority now is to retake the Sedan Fortress. The main force of the German army must not be allowed to cross the Maas River! The bridge on the river has been blown up, and the German army will inevitably build a pontoon bridge to cross the river. Send bombers immediately to block the Germans from crossing the river!"

"..." Everyone couldn't help but look at each other.

Nowadays, it is known to everyone that the performance of French fighter planes is not as good as that of the Germans. This is not a change brought about by Yannick's time travel. It has to start from the last world war.

At that time, in accordance with the Schlieffen Plan, the German army first captured Belgium, invaded France from the north, and then went straight to Paris to engage in a fierce battle with the British and French forces in northeastern France. What's terrible is that the Northeast region happens to be the industrial center of France, including the aviation industry. The protracted and fierce war destroyed France's industrial foundation, and a large number of skilled workers also died in the war.

The end of the war coincided with a worldwide economic crisis, which gave French industry no chance to recover.

On the other hand, in Germany, the mainland was not baptized by the flames of war during World War I, its industrial base was well preserved, most of the casualties in the war were professional soldiers, and the economy in the rear was relatively healthy. The Treaty of Versailles originally did not allow Germany to have any air force, but Germany has been secretly researching and developing air force through secret cooperation with the Soviet Union and using civil aviation as a cover.

Moreover, France is a traditional army power. The air force has always been an affiliate of the army. Its position on the battlefield is mainly to provide fire support for the army. The French have never thought that the air force can become an independent combat force and influence the battlefield situation.

The bombers sent to prevent the Belgian Germans from crossing the river two days ago were all wiped out, and only a few of the escorting fighter jets escaped. Wouldn't sending another plane mean to repeat the same mistake? !

Gan Molin noticed everyone's concerns and said confidently. "You can rest assured that this time with the latest fighter jets from our allies, we will definitely be able to defeat the German fighter jets!!"

"..." Listening to Gamelin's confident words, Viscount Gott couldn't help but smile bitterly in his heart. How can you be more confident than me?

Now the British and French fighter jets are completely at a disadvantage against the German BF-109, and they have not even been able to fully understand the specific performance of the BF-109. At this time, the German army actually put a new type of fighter into service. Who knows how much better this type of fighter is than the BF-109.

And the most important thing is that the Spitfire is still in the small-volume production and manufacturing stage. Only 30 fighters have been deployed to France this time. This was originally planned to be transferred to the front line in Brussels, Belgium.

Although he felt a little uneasy, he couldn't say these depressing words to dampen his own morale. He could only smile to show that everything was under control.

After ordering the dispatch of aviation troops, Gan Molin continued to dispatch troops and generals. "Are there any reinforcements near Sedan? Send all the troops that can be mobilized to stop the German army!" He did not dare to be negligent now. Once the main force of the German army crossed the Meuse River, the situation would take a turn for the worse.

If the main force of the German army crossing the river turns northwest, it will be able to weave an unprecedentedly huge net against the main force of the British and French allied forces in Belgium!

That was almost all the elites of the French field force, plus more than 40 divisions of the entire British Expeditionary Force! Once these main forces fall into encirclement, the battle will undoubtedly be lost.

"This open door must be closed again!"

After a busy period, everyone was pleasantly surprised to find that there was an infantry division in Mezières, 30 kilometers southwest of Sedan, that was preparing to be deployed to the south bank of the Meuse River. As long as they could launch a counterattack, they should be able to gain one or two days for themselves. of precious time.

Moreover, there are still two tank divisions in reserve in Guize, Cambrai and other places, and an infantry division and an armored brigade newly landed by the British army also marched to the vicinity of Saint-Quentin, just in time to compete with those two tanks. The division attacked together. Even if the Germans successfully cross the river and turn northwest to outflank the main Allied force's retreat, they will be able to deliver a severe blow to the lone, deep-reaching force on the flanks and take advantage of the situation to establish a new line of defense.

Looking at the numbers of these two tank divisions, Gan Molin couldn't help but sigh with emotion. This was a mobile force built up through de Gaulle's unremitting persistence and was originally considered a useless luxury. Unexpectedly, it has now become the only trump card that can make up for the crack in the sky.

Just like Churchill in the UK, Charles de Gaulle in France also paid close attention to the development of Germany after World War I and proposed the formation of an independent tank and armored force to save the "dangerous" France.

However, the French government, which adhered to the policy of appeasement, continued to "connive" Germany; the French military, which adhered to the rules, tried to resist foreign aggression with the "Maginot Line".

De Gaulle had no choice but to run around advocating his own theories and would never give up until he achieved his goals. In 1934, he published a book called "Building a Professional Army" about advocating the establishment of an independent tank and armored force, confidently hoping to attract the attention of senior military officials.

However, he thought too much.

Unexpectedly, this book caused quite a stir in Germany, especially in the military circles. This book made de Gaulle an outstanding technical expert in the eyes of German generals.

Such an embarrassing situation made Charles de Gaulle laugh and cry, but then he became more worried. Because the German army had begun to form a large-scale armored corps based on the theory of "Building a Professional Army".

The "indifference" of the French military leaders made him decide to rely on the power of public opinion to force them to submit. He sent the book to the news and newspaper departments, and often invited some reporters to dinner to "sell" his theory to them. However, he was unreasonably rejected by most people, and even ridiculed and insulted.

And he was just like Don Quixote, struggling powerlessly, but never giving up until his death.

Hard work pays off. Several reporters were very interested in his tank theory. They began to promote Charles de Gaulle's ideas in newspapers and support the construction of tank armored forces. It is a little gratifying that some generals, politicians and other knowledgeable people have also joined the ranks of supporting him and published articles to support Charles de Gaulle.

This is undoubtedly a challenge for the admirers of the "Maginot Line". With official support, they launched a tit-for-tat "counterattack" in the media. Some pointed out the weaknesses of tanks, some ridiculed Charles de Gaulle, and some even believed that Germany liked to invade, so it was not surprising that it had a tank division; France loved peace and only needed defense and no tanks.

For a time, the two sides went back and forth in newspapers and magazines, and neither side gave in. An academic initiative turned into a war of accusations. Not only did it not attract the attention of the military's top brass, but some social groups also joined in the attack on Charles de Gaulle, saying that he wanted to build his own army and was a "speculator" and "warmonger".

At this time, cabinet member Paul Reynaud was very supportive of the ideas proposed by Charles de Gaulle in his book "Establishing a Professional Army". In his view, with an armored tank army, France's future is promising. So, in the debate in the House of Commons, Reynaud made an impassioned speech and was successful.

Soon, the bill to establish a special army including 7 mechanized divisions was sent to the Armed Forces Committee of the House of Commons for review. Of course, according to convention, the military's opinions need to be sought, and the result is predictable, they disagreed. At the same time, the military leaders decided to "ban" Charles de Gaulle for "making trouble" everywhere regardless of his military status.

However, thanks to Renault's mediation, Charles de Gaulle served as the head of the 507th Tank Regiment and was promoted to colonel in December 1937, but he was not happy about it. In his opinion, it was impossible to establish an independent armored tank unit in France, and as the war was approaching, he clearly realized that he had to train the troops to meet the war.

World War II broke out and Germany invaded Poland. Just as Charles de Gaulle expected. The British and French coalition forces huddled behind the "Maginot Line" and watched the Allies being divided indifferently.

Charles de Gaulle, who was appointed as the tank commander of the 5th Army at this time, was both happy and disappointed. He was happy to see the superiority of the independent use of tank armored units and the effectiveness of rapid assaults. Disappointingly, he submitted the summary report of the Polish Campaign to the General Staff, hoping to attract attention and learn lessons, but it fell into the sea.

Gamelin knew that the two tank divisions were far from reaching the divisional scale of 500 tanks. Each division had only more than 100 tanks, which was equivalent to a tank regiment, and most of them were "outdated" tanks.

But the current situation did not allow him to regret not listening to de Gaulle's advice. He ordered de Gaulle to lead the two understaffed tank divisions to intercept the German army.