Chapter 247: The End of France (17)

God was against his will, but Guderian's worries came true.

Early the next morning, shortly after dawn, the sky was gray and somewhat depressing. Large swaths of dark clouds began to gather together, becoming thicker and thicker, making people breathless.

Suddenly, a hole seemed to be torn open in the sky, and a bright light flashed through, splitting the black curtain into two. Immediately afterwards, heavy rain fell from the sky with rumbling thunder, like a raging waterfall pouring down.

On the unnamed high ground marked by the Germans as Highland A, German soldiers were hurriedly setting up defense lines in the heavy rain.

"What a damn weather!" Major Battalion David wiped the rain off his face, looked up at the dark sky, and called his communications troops. "Hans, go to the landing point and see if there are any tents across the river." This time, in order to occupy the high ground first, they did not bring any other supplies except guns, ammunition and shovels. Now with the rain, everyone has become Soaked chicken.

"yes!"

Not long after the signal trooper left, David heard the roar of an engine from behind.

David couldn't help but feel happy. Could it be that the armored troops had crossed the river? After waiting for a while, the sound of the engine got closer and closer, and what appeared in front of him was a Stalker destroyer. There were several cars following behind, but the rain was too heavy to see clearly.

The commander of the destroyer, who leaned out half of his body, saluted him. "Major David, General Guderian is worried that the enemy will take the opportunity to launch an attack, so he specially ordered us to come and help with the defense."

"That's great." David returned the greeting and couldn't help but wonder. "Has the heavy pontoon been built?"

The Stalker Destroyer shook his head. "Not yet. We came over from the light pontoon bridge, but it took a lot of effort."

Although the Stalker destroyer is nearly ten tons lighter than the Jackal tank, it still cannot pass the light pontoon bridge. To this end, they removed everything that could be removed from the destroyer, so that the naked vehicle could barely pass the light pontoon bridge. After crossing the river, they put everything back on, which took a lot of effort.

"How many cars did you come?"

"Because the wind was so strong, the pontoon bridge was swaying; there were only five destroyers coming over. That's quite a lot, right?"

"It's great that you guys can help." David also has a general understanding of the performance of the Stalker. In defensive operations, it should be able to easily deal with three or four times the number of enemies, which is at least 20 enemy tanks.

The commander of the destroyer pointed at several boxes hanging on the vehicle. "And I also brought you 50 extra iron fists and raincoats."

"That's great." They had brought 50 Iron Fist before they came, which means they now have 100 Iron Fist. With the assistance of these five tank destroyers, even if the enemy's main armored force comes, they will It can withstand it for a while.

"The enemy troops have arrived five kilometers away." Just when David asked the soldiers to build bunkers for these destroyers, a scout riding a motorcycle came to report. "Battal Commander, the enemy is five kilometers away. There are many infantry and many tanks. I saw at least twenty tanks, and there may be more behind them."

"Get ready to fight!" David loudly greeted his men. The soldiers lay down in the foxholes they had just dug, checking their guns and ammunition, preparing to meet the enemy.

This heavy rain came and went quickly. By the time the French army appeared, the heavy downpour in the distance had turned into a drizzle.

"Damn it, are these French guys ready to risk their lives?"

Looking at the behemoth appearing in the telescope, the Stalker commander couldn't help but frown.

Although France fell quickly during World War II, France still designed several good tanks before.

The Renault FT-17 designed and produced by the French during World War I is known as "the first modern tank" because it has several basic characteristics of a modern tank: a single driver is in the front of the body; the main weapon is in the front The top-mounted turret can rotate 360 ​​degrees; the commander is responsible for the main vision work and has the largest and highest vision point; the engine is separated from the crew.

This conceptual new weapon has brought many foreign orders to France. It has been exported to at least 27 countries, which shows that global users are quite satisfied with FT17.

Since Renault and its series of improved models produced more than 4,000 vehicles in total, in order to remain competitive, many Renault chassis were transformed into platforms for other new weapons until World War II.

According to the data, the B1 tank designed and developed by the French has basically surpassed Germany in the same period in terms of luxury attributes.

The B1 heavy tank has a frontal thickness of 60 mm. At that time, the German No. II (equipped with a 20 mm cannon), III (equipped with a 37 mm cannon) and IV (equipped with a short 75 mm gun) were the ones with deeper penetration than the level 1 vehicles. The low-level divine artillery) is basically impossible to penetrate.

In terms of firepower, the B1 with a 47mm main gun in the turret can easily penetrate all German tanks, and the 75mm howitzer on the car body can overturn the firepower point easily.

Moreover, on the eve of World War II, France had built more than 300 B1 heavy tanks. Logically speaking, they should be able to punch Nanshan Nursing Home and kick Beihai Kindergarten.

This is why many books always say when introducing France's defeat: At this time, the performance of German tanks was not as good as that of French tanks.

However, because the B1 heavy tank was used by the French army for dispersed deployment, as an accessory to the auxiliary infantry, it was unable to concentrate its forces for an assault. In the end, it was divided and surrounded by the German's all-pervasive tank troops on various fronts, and was defeated one by one.

Of course, the B1 heavy tank also has its own shortcomings, such as high fuel consumption, a range of only 150 kilometers, too slow speed, and a maximum speed of only 28 kilometers, etc., but these cannot be the reason for its poor performance. The only explanation is that the French army's combat thinking is too backward. The weapons cannot be blamed for the pitfalls of people. The B1 heavy tank is innocent, otherwise the Germans would not have modified the B1 after occupying France and used it until 1944...

And now, the French seem to want to take this A highland in one fell swoop, and they actually sent twelve B1 heavy tanks and countless Soma 35 medium tanks and Renault 35 light tanks to assist the infantry in attacking the highland.

"Deal with the enemy's heavy tanks first! Fire!" The commander looked at the B1 heavy tank approaching from a distance through the periscope and gave the order to fire.

"Boom!" The 50mm tank gun of the destroyer roared. The shell tore through the air, cutting a straight line in the continuous rain, heading straight for its target, and slamming hard into the front armor of the leading B1 heavy tank.

Although the front of the B1 heavy tank was 60 mm thick, the Hunter was equipped with a 50mm KwK 39L/60 tank gun, which could penetrate 88 mm of vertical armor at a distance of 500 meters.

Now, because of the visibility affected by the weather, they fired at a distance of 400 meters. The shell directly tore the front armor of the B1 heavy tank and penetrated into the tank. Various fragments bounced back and forth several times, stirring the inside of the tank into a bloody mess.

The B1 heavy tank drove forward for a distance in inertia and finally stopped.