The Rise of the Third Reich

Six No. 3 assault guns drove forward slowly in the gradually dissipating morning fog. Behind these six assault guns were several Sd.Kfz.231 8-wheeled heavy armored reconnaissance vehicles. 200 SS infantrymen. Some of these infantrymen came off those 8-wheel armored vehicles, and some were soldiers of the 11th Motorized Infantry Company of the "Grossdeutschland" banner. The 11th Motorized Infantry Company, together with the 640th Assault Artillery Company, which had just transferred to the "Grand Deutschland" banner before the Battle of France, is now the sharp knife of the "Grand Deutschland" banner.

Rudolf Ribbentrop, who was on the battlefield for the first time, was both excited and nervous. He kept sticking his head out and looking ahead. The houses in the small village ahead can be vaguely seen. It is a French village. This is already the land of the French Republic, and it seems to be loosely guarded!

"Rudolph, don't stick your head out!" Gustav Schwarzenegger's loud voice suddenly rang out. "The enemy may have a sniper!"

Upon hearing this, Rudolf Ribbentrop quickly retracted his head and followed the assault gun honestly. It turns out that there are a small number of French soldiers stationed in the village ahead, and it should be the outpost of the French army on the Sedan-Mause River line.

45 minutes ago, they had a firefight with the 17th Motorized Reconnaissance Company of the "Grossdeutschland" flag force. The Motorized Reconnaissance Company only had five wheeled armored vehicles, and it was difficult to attack the French troops defending the village. Therefore, the 640th Assault Artillery Company and the 11th Motorized Infantry Company were responsible for "attacking the enemy".

The "Grossdeutschland" flag force equipped with 6 No. 3 assault guns has a very powerful attack capability, because the No. 3 assault gun not only has a 24-caliber 75mm cannon, but also has armor steel up to 80mm thick on the front. . Such firepower and armor could be considered extremely powerful in 1940, and the French infantry divisions had almost no anti-tank weapons that could deal with this assault gun.

"Oh my God, this is a tank, a German tank! Am I dreaming?"

Private Francois Bernard of the 12th Company of the French 306th Infantry Regiment poked his head out from behind a low wall, took a look at the battlefield shrouded in mist, and immediately exclaimed.

"Old Bolshevik, are you dreaming? This is a forest area." The company commander, Lieutenant Morrow, leaned against a low stone wall, smoking a cigarette and speaking in a mocking tone. The 306th Infantry Regiment of the French Army was a second-line force that was expanded after the start of the World War. Most of the officers in the infantry regiment were older reserve officers, and most of them were right-wing in their political stance.

The composition of the soldiers in the army is complicated. There are basically no passionate young people, they are all elderly uncles. I have a family, a career, and all kinds of thoughts that don’t want to go to war. Bernard, who was called the "Old Bolshevik" by Captain Moreau, was the leader of a left-wing trade union before the war broke out. Although he was not a Bolshevik, he was also an anti-war element. After being drafted into the army, he kept complaining and never trained well.

Lieutenant Moreau really wanted to discipline this union leader, but there were people on top of him, and he was very familiar with the various regulations of the army (he was a union lawyer), and he was not afraid of a bumpkin lieutenant at all. grape).

"Captain, you will know after you see it for yourself!" Private Bernard said in a trembling tone, "They are really tanks...and there are many of them, at least 10 of them!"

His vision was not very clear in the mist, and he mistook the wheeled armored vehicle advancing with the tank for a tank.

"Ten cars?" Lieutenant Morrow put out his cigarette butt and continued to say some mocking words. The rumbling sound of the motor had already reached his ears. This French officer in his thirties, who had participated in the operation to occupy the Ruhr area, suddenly looked ugly. He quickly got up and turned around, half-kneeling on the ground, and carefully poked out half of his helmeted head to take a look.

"Oh God! What kind of tank is this?" the French lieutenant exclaimed, "It looks bigger than the Charles D1 tank! Moreover, some of them look so strange...it seems like there is no turret!"

"No turret?" Private Bernard asked, "Are there any cannons?"

"Rumble..."

This question was quickly answered, six No. 3 assault guns opened fire! After only one round of fighting, the screams started behind the stone wall where Lieutenant Moreau's company was stationed. It turned out that a 75mm shell penetrated the stone wall, killing and injuring a large number of people.

"Damn it!" Lieutenant Morrow also screamed, "It's a 75mm cannon!"

These are 6 moving 75mm cannons protected by steel armor! And the anti-tank weapons possessed by Lieutenant Moreau's company are only a few anti-tank guns!

"Anti-tank gun!" Although he knew it was useless, Lieutenant Morrow still shouted, "Anti-tank gun, ready to fire!" Then he shouted, "Signal soldier! Phone! Bring the phone over..."

A few anti-tank guns cannot withstand the No. 3 assault gun, and Lieutenant Moreau's mission is not to stop the German army. His mission was to promptly discover and report the Germans when they "sneak-crossed" the Ardennes Forest. So in this village, there is a telephone line directly connected to the regiment headquarters in Sedan.

…

In fact, the regiment headquarters of the French 306th Regiment now knows that something is wrong, because the outpost battle has begun in full force. On the edge of the Ardennes Forest, several outposts reported being attacked by German tanks and infantry.

Moreover, there are now dozens of German planes dropping bombs in Sedan City to create panic!

Lieutenant Colonel Andre, the leader of the 306th Regiment, was in a hurry to direct the transfer of his regiment headquarters. At the same time, he had to report all the bad news he received to the commander of the 38th Division one by one. But he knew it was of no use!

Because everyone knows that the French Army is a slow-responsive bureaucracy. Unless it is a place that the big shots are particularly concerned about, such as Belgium and the "Maginot" line of defense, news from other unimportant places is uploaded very slowly - it must be done one by one. There will be endless verifications and delays. If an emergency situation here in Sedan can be reported to General Gan Molin within 24 hours, it will be considered very fast.

This kind of reporting speed was not a problem from 1914 to 1918. The war at that time was a very slow military operation.

But now, the Germans defeated Poland in 12 days! It took 12 hours to break through the Belgian defense! 24 hours later, the situation here in Sedan may be out of control... Now we can only ask for approval from the superiors to blow up several bridges on the Maas River. This is the only way to prevent the German army from breaking through!

The forty-year-old French commander's prediction was obviously correct, and the actual situation was worse than he imagined.

Because it does not take 24 hours, but only a few hours, and the situation on the Sedan-Maas River line will change dramatically.

"No enemy plane found! No enemy plane found! Over!" Rudolf Hersmann, driving a Fokker Zero fighter, was soaring in the sky. 3,000 meters below was the flowing Maas River!

His group is currently performing air superiority missions around Sedan. Although the air combat performance of the Fokker Zero is on par with the BF-109, this aircraft has one advantage that most single-engine fighters of this era cannot match. Yes, it’s a super long range.

The ultra-large range means ultra-long time in the air. The Fokker Zero often stays in the air for as long as 5-6 hours, and is extremely efficient when performing air superiority and escort missions. Therefore, this aircraft has become the favorite air superiority fighter of frontline German commanders, and its frequency of deployment has become very high.

Over the past two days, Rudolf Herschmann has spent more than 20 hours in the sky. It's a pity that no enemy plane was shot down! Not only were they not shot down, but they were not even engaged in a single firefight. It was extremely boring.

I originally thought that as the Belgian campaign intensified, his brigade would have no chance of making meritorious deeds. However, I did not expect that starting from April 12, Rudolf Hessmann's brigade would be transferred to the front line in Sedan to perform escort and air superiority missions.

"Roger, Rudolf." Lieutenant Heinz Bahr's voice came from the earphone, "Keep your altitude and continue to observe."

Still the same old thing! Rudolf Herschmann thought to himself that today might be another boring day. In Sedan, an area far away from the battlefield, it would be strange to encounter a French plane.

"Planes discovered!" Suddenly, Prince Weisenfeld's voice came, trembling with excitement, "Unidentified aircraft were discovered at 90 degrees due east!"

Due east? Is that a plane from Germany? Rudolf Hessmann also turned around to search, and immediately made a discovery. At an altitude of 4,000-5,000 meters, a fleet of planes covering the sky and the sun appeared out of nowhere! That's not dozens of planes, but hundreds or even a thousand planes.

"It's the Junkers 52! And the H glider..." Prince Weisenfeld shouted, "That's our plane, it's the airborne troops! Thank God, they are going to airborne at Sedan, now we have something to do." !”

Airborne in Sedan? Is the old man (referring to Marshal Hessmann) confused? Rudolf Herschmann thought to himself, what's so good about Sedan? Why use precious airborne troops to capture it?

"Pull up, pull up, height 5000," Lieutenant Baltz's order reached Rudolf Hessmann's ears. "There will definitely be a tough battle today! I wish you good luck!"

Just when Rudolf Herschmann and the others were pulling up the plane, all the Junkers 52s they were pulling began to cut the ropes, and hundreds of them began to circle and land, rushing toward their intended targets...