Lin Wei's explanation made General Bock's eyes light up. To be fair, in the battle so far, the Belgian defenders were the toughest, but among the generals sitting in the seats. The Belgian army is still the weakest among the three countries because Belgium has no national depth. Now that almost the entire territory has been occupied, there is no longer anything to fear. In everyone's consciousness, they no longer considered Belgium's power to be in the hands of the British and French forces. In everyone's mind, we are still more willing to discuss whether the British Expeditionary Force with naval support is stronger, or the French Army, which still has strong remaining strength.
Dong Dong... General Bock tapped his fingers on the table rhythmically, as if he wanted to knock the sound into people's hearts. Everyone was silent, waiting for General Bock to give his final answer: "I decided to fight the Belgian army first!" General Bock finally approved Lin Wei's suggestion.
Although General Reichenau and General Kuechler were a little disappointed, as soldiers, they immediately adjusted their mood and began to discuss how to defeat Belgium.
"The Belgian army defends the Lys River. From the north to the sea is the British Expeditionary Force, and the south is defended by the French Army!" General Reichenau introduced, "The Lys River is not a big river in France, although Belgium has bombed the Lys River." River Bridge, but the strength of the River Rees is not difficult for us!"
"Not bad!" General Kuechler added, "Although there are theoretically fourteen Belgian divisions defending there, we are almost forcing hundreds of thousands of people on the seashore. Their morale, equipment, and other factors have already reached On the verge of collapse! Furthermore, the Belgian position on the Lys River has no room for more than 200,000 Belgian troops, so they, like us, can only replace them after the Belgian troops defending the Lys River suffer heavy losses!"
General Bock watched the two generals gesticulating on the map and arguing one or two words from time to time. But General Bock did not stop him. This was mainly because General Bock hoped that Lin Wei could systematically learn how to lead troops in war. This can be regarded as Gustave's sake, and he should educate Lin Wei more. But Lin Wei's mind is not here at all now. General Bock really made a mistake this time.
The armored group is now progressing smoothly. Except for Dunkirk, only Calais is not under control of the ports in northern France. According to the progress of the past few days, Calais should be captured today. But the British and French allied forces were really unable to escape. Calais is an important port in France, with a cross-sea passenger and mail port to the United Kingdom. Most passengers from London to continental Europe disembark here. It is also a trading port and a tourist port. The country's tulle and mechanical gear manufacturing center, shipbuilding, chemicals, textiles, brewing, etc. are also important.
It can be said that the importance of the Port of Calais is much higher than that of Dunkirk, which can also explain why the German high command made unanimous misjudgments during Operation Overlord.
The armored cluster in the west now concentrates almost all German tanks. If you add the three divisions of SS Police, Wiking and Prinz Eugen that have arrived now, the number of German armored divisions there now has reached 13. So many. If these armored divisions are properly used, they can achieve results that will impress the world. But if it is not used well and the British Expeditionary Force and the French Army suffer huge losses with the cooperation of the British Royal Navy, it will not be a pleasant thing. Even in the next battle, the German army must use infantry to fight with the French army.
However, the current situation is generally very favorable. Although General Rundstedt's Army Group A cannot keep up with the advancing speed of the armored group, it is pressing forward step by step from the south. Together with the armored group in the west and General Bock's Army Group B in the east, the troops of Britain, France and Belgium are now surrounded on three sides. Their only way out is the English Channel in the north.
"If the current situation is the same as in history, Churchill has already started trying to rescue these people, right? Humph... none of these people can go back!" Lin Wei, who had been listening to the battle plan on the surface, fists under the table Already clenched tightly.
"Lampard!" General Bock shouted, "Strengthening the Lys River requires the assistance of the armored forces and the air force. There is no problem with your skeleton division!"
"No problem, the Skeleton Division will create a safe enough path for the infantry behind!" Lin Wei said absently. In fact, Lin Wei always feels that something will happen now. Britain's powerful navy has always been a thorn in Lin Wei's heart. If this is the Second Empire period, if Germany still has a significant ally, if, too many if. Lin Wei slowly closed his eyes. He now needed to think about how to defeat the British Royal Navy. Germany's own strength alone is not enough. The British shipbuilding industry is far more powerful than Germany. If you want to defeat them, you must win by surprise. Moreover, a small amount must add up to a large amount and slowly consume the strength of the British Navy. This will take a long time.
"I finally understand why Germany chose the wolf pack tactic!" Lin Wei thought to himself.
At this time, the debate in this temporary headquarters came to an end, and General Bock finally decided to use the Belgian army's defense zone as a breakthrough. At this time, the German Wehrmacht still had great autonomy, unlike later Hitt? After Le defeated France, his personal authority reached its peak, so much so that he frequently intervened in the command situations of frontline commanders during the Soviet-German War. Hit now? Le will still intervene in the battle even if he has time. But in most cases, decisions will be made after discussing with the commander. So the Dunkirk evacuation in history could not have been caused by Hit? Hold yourself accountable (at least Göring and Rundstedt!).
"Okay, if there are no problems, the attack will start early tomorrow morning!" General Bock said, "Defeat the Belgian army and force Belgium to surrender! The British and French coalition forces will become ours! We can no longer run away!"
"Yes, general, national will, fight for the country!" everyone shouted in unison.
After the meeting, Lin Wei, who was worried, walked out of Louis XIV's palace and saw Robert C. Crawford still waiting for him outside. He said with concern, "Actually, you don't have to wait for me outside. Are you still afraid?" Someone is coming to assassinate me?"
"Leader, that's not true! Deputy Leader Heydrich has been assassinated several times. This kind of thing cannot be taken lightly!" Robert C. Crawford replied.
"I know, by the way, you go down and investigate. I need a copy of the weather conditions in the English Channel for the past two days. Find them out immediately. I want to use them!" Then Lin Wei asked, "What is the current situation in Brussels? Is anyone inciting hatred against us?"
Upon hearing this question, Robert C. Crawford immediately said seriously, "Leader, the mood of the Belgians is quite stable now! No one is instigating it, maybe they still have illusions about Britain and France!"
"Humph..." Lin Wei sneered, "These Belgians need to be beaten. No matter which nation they are, they all have a common shortcoming, that is, the scars are healed and the pain is forgotten. When they and the French army invaded the Ruhr area , I certainly didn’t expect that just over ten years later, we would be back!”
Robert C. Crawford did not answer the question knowingly. The Ruhr area was invaded by the Franco-Belgian forces, which happened under the nose of his leader. Having experienced that invasion personally, Lin Wei felt deeply dissatisfied with Belgium. The hatred of the accomplices reached its peak. Almost everyone in the SS knew about this, so under normal circumstances, no one dared to mention Belgium in front of Lin Wei.
"If the Belgians understand their situation! We don't mind being nice to them. After all, that operation was also a matter for the Belgian soldiers and has nothing to do with the ordinary people of Belgium. But what if they don't understand?" Lin Wei smiled cruelly. ,; "Dr. Hans Franck is very unhappy in his position as Governor-General of Poland. It might be better to change to Belgium!"
Robert C. Crawford fought a cold war. Most soldiers did not know what Dr. Hans Frank was doing in Poland, but as the secretary of the national leader, Robert C. Crawford knew all too well about this man with great What kind of person is this guy with a doctorate title? If he were transferred to be the governor of Belgium, the Belgians would be ready to die.
Lin Wei looked down at his watch and said, "Let's go see the Belgians now. I hope they won't anger me!"
At the same time, now in the west, Guderian's armored group had captured Calais, but Guderian's independent actions ended there.
Because, in the early morning of May 25th, the German high command authorized Rundstedt to cross the canal line, but he did not take action until the 26th. Hitt? Le personally intervened and ordered the attack to continue in the direction of Tauerlay-Kassel-Dunkirk. Hit? Le's responsibility has been completely misunderstood. He did not take the initiative to make this suggestion on the 24th, because Rundstedt had already issued the order on the 23rd. He only agreed with Rundstedt's suggestion. Regarding the actions on the 25th and 26th, he made no provisions, because he specifically authorized Rundstedt to decide on the next action.
Under the circumstances, this was a reasonable decision. The German armored divisions now need rest and replenishment - half of Kleist's tanks are no longer operational, and 30% of Hoth's tanks have been damaged. Moreover, the main force of the French army south of the Aisne and Somme rivers was still intact and had not been defeated, so a pause was necessary.