Then, like a dark cloud, another black aircraft group covered the sky and swarmed in. They suddenly dived downwards to carry out low-altitude bombing; sometimes they dropped powerful high-explosive bombs and then quickly climbed up - this thrilling vertical dive had an aggressive and terrifying effect. Many inexperienced British and French soldiers seemed to feel that every dive was like He fired at his own chest, causing him to stand blankly on the empty shore, forgetting to lie down.
Because Dunkirk was bombed so violently for the first time, the crowd on the ground was in chaos. The British commander shouted and ordered the soldiers to jump into the trenches and use various light and heavy weapons to fight back in the air. In the melee, a German plane was hit and fell into the sea dragging thick smoke. Suddenly, there was a cheer on the pier. The soldiers seemed to have only realized this: the battle between life and death was once again before their eyes.
After receiving the report, the British Air Force immediately dispatched two squadrons of fighter jets, the latest British Spitfires and Hurricane fighter jets. The Spitfire was Britain's most famous and dominant single-engine fighter aircraft during World War II. Since the test flight of the first prototype in 1936, the Spitfire has been continuously improved and used two different liquid-cooled engines. It not only shouldered the important responsibility of maintaining British air power, but also moved to theaters in Europe, North Africa and Asia, providing other Used by the Allies, it also went to the Middle East to participate in local conflicts after the war. The Spitfire and the Luftwaffe Bf109 are tied as the two most important aircraft types in the European theater, and they are also two enemies that competed with each other from the beginning to the end of the war.
So is the Hurricane fighter, a famous fighter in World War II. While the Spitfires were entangled with the German escorting Bf109s, the Hurricanes took advantage of the situation to attack the bulky German Bf110 twin-engine fighters and bombers. Throughout the entire Battle of Britain, the Hurricane was credited with downing more enemy aircraft than any other fighter aircraft in the British Army.
However, these two fighter jets, which later became famous far and wide, encountered no enemies in this battle. When the British planes arrived over Dunkirk, the German planes had already disappeared without a trace. The British planes circled aimlessly over Dunkirk, trying to intercept a certain German bomber group. However, they did not see a single plane until they ran out of fuel, so they had to fly back to the mainland to refuel.
However, just minutes after British fighter jets left Dunkirk, the second wave of German bombing groups appeared. They were full of murderous intent, as if entering uninhabited territory, and carried out intensive bombing on unprotected British ships unscrupulously. Several large transport ships close to the dock caught fire almost simultaneously and began to sink slowly. The soldiers on board jumped into the water filled with dead bodies in despair. Some small boats tried to sail away from the shore, but the German planes did not let go of them. The bombs that landed on the side of the boats overturned the small boats one after another. The evacuation work fell into chaos and was forced to be temporarily stopped. In order to avoid the bombing, the troop transport ship that had already sailed to the sea adopted a "zigzag" sailing from left to right, sailing at high speed through the sea with rain of bullets and rough waves. The cannons on the warships fired non-stop and fired back violently.
The clear weather allowed the thick smoke in the direction of Dunkirk to drift far and wide. Before the shelling and air strikes had completely stopped, Lin Wei gave an order and a huge assault group consisting of more than 2,000 tanks showed his power at this moment.
"No one can stop them! As long as they advance forty kilometers! The miracle of Dunkirk will be in vain!" Lin Wei, holding a telescope, commented in his heart after seeing the spectacular scene of the tank group starting up.
Two thousand tanks set off a torrent of steel on a front line about forty kilometers across to the west. The armored divisions are lined up in a row, regardless of the main attack position. The British and French coalition forces have built this defense line, which is only dozens of kilometers long, into an impregnable one. There is no weak spot at all. Therefore, there is no need for the German armored cluster to be divided and encircled. The only option available at present is to break through frontally and use absolute force to defeat the carefully constructed defense line of the British and French coalition forces, thereby achieving the purpose of annihilation.
The British and French allied forces defending here were all selected from the hundreds of thousands of allied forces with the most elite and strong beliefs. They placed the hopes of hundreds of thousands of people on them. Once upon a time, they also thought so. But when they saw the torrent of steel that Germany concentrated on almost all its armored forces, they knew they were wrong, and how wrong they were.
Everywhere they could see, German tanks appeared, advancing with unstoppable momentum. Use the tank's tracks to crush anything that blocks their progress. The black barrel of the 75mm main gun fired continuously at the soldiers defending here.
"Quickly, report to the Commander-in-Chief, there are tanks here, a lot of tanks!" Lieutenant Colonel Bertrand Wakeley, commander of the 52nd Infantry Regiment of the 1st Division of the British Expeditionary Force defending here, also noticed the German army's attack. But he was immediately stunned by the scale of the attack. When the response comes, immediately send someone to send a message to the division headquarters. Only then did the electromechanical worker wake up, who was also in shock.
"Quickly, stop the Germans!" Although Lieutenant Colonel Bertrand Wakeley didn't know how to stop the German attack, the honor of being a commander still made him try anyway.
Lieutenant Colonel Bertrand Wakeley risked his life and went up to the battlefield in person to let the panicked soldiers know that the commander was here. The appearance of Lieutenant Colonel Bertrand Wakeley gradually calmed down the panicked soldiers and began to prevent some counterattacks.
"General Guderian! The progress is going well! The British and French forces cannot stop our offensive at all!" the radioman reported excitedly.
"Not bad!" Guderian gestured on the map and said, "This is just the warm-up stage. There is a canal behind the British and French coalition positions we are in contact with! If they can't withstand it, they can retreat to the canal. Go from behind! You must ensure that my orders reach every tank and tell them that they must take advantage of the victory to attack the canal and establish a bridgehead on the other side of the canal!"
"Yes, General!" The radio operator who received the order immediately threw himself into the intense work, but he could not hide the excitement on his face.
Guderian turned to Paul Hausser and asked, "Your Excellency, General, I wonder if the lowlands and swamps here have been affected by the attack!"
"There will definitely be an impact!" Paul & Hausser affirmed, "But I believe in the excellent performance of No. 4. Besides, as long as we cross the canal area and move forward a little further, we can get rid of the swamp here!"
"Yeah!" Guderian nodded and said nothing. Each division commander established his own radio communication in his own room so that he could understand the situation of his troops as soon as possible.
'Boom' Lundeker-von-Jette's K405 tank knocked down another tree trunk. When its heavy body hit the tree trunk, the crew inside would not suffer any shock at all. There are mature fixing devices inside that can The tank crew was firmly fixed in their positions.
David Stauffenberg is the loader of the K405 tank. The internal fixing device is definitely a troublesome thing for him, because he needs a lot of effort to pull open the flexible fixing belt to hook the ammunition. .
At this time, occasional explosions could be heard from the front. This was Stuka bombing the unknown enemy force. The air force received orders to delay the march of the enemy army as much as possible. They did not stop because of this, but continued to break through at high speed. Some tanks were stuck in the soft muddy areas of the river bed and were unable to move. They could only stay where they were and wait. The engineering tanks from behind came to the rescue. Generally speaking, when breaking through a battle formation, you need to expand the formation in an open area so that the tanks are at least 25 meters apart from each other. This is to effectively reduce unnecessary losses when being bombarded by enemy artillery.
Hmm - boom boom boom - after a burst of engine roar, there was a strange sound of tracks running on the soft soil. The two tanks moved forward with difficulty. The tanks made strange roars and tried their best to rush out of the muddy wetland. This situation is not uncommon on the entire battlefield. The soil conditions here are really not suitable for tank operations. Is this no wonder Hit? Le and many generals did not want the armored group to launch an offensive before the battle began.
The soldiers hid behind the solid body of the armored vehicle and advanced safely towards the opponent's position. They did not have to worry about the threat of enemy bullets before the final impact. The most equipped anti-tank weapon of the British Expeditionary Force was the anti-tank gun. But they didn't know that as early as the Soviet-Finnish War, anti-tank guns and the Soviet T34 tank posed no threat. Although the Panzer IV tank does not have as high a defense as the T34, it is enough to withstand the fire of British anti-tank infantry.
Weapons such as anti-tank guns no longer face the tanks of the First World War, and the British must pay the price for their complacency. Moreover, the huge anti-tank recoil, although much offset by the muzzle brake, was still not something ordinary soldiers could withstand, so British anti-tank soldiers could not form a lasting blow at all.
Although they are already equipped with the most advanced British anti-tank rifle with a buffer device - the British 0.55-inch Boyce anti-tank rifle, the 0.55-inch (13.97mm) Boyce anti-tank rifle was developed by the British Enfield Royal Small Arms in the mid-1930s. It was developed and produced in the factory and the designer was Captain Boyce, one of the heads of the British Small Arms Committee. The gun was originally called the "Stankin". When the weapon was successfully developed and ready for mass production, Boyce passed away. To commemorate his contribution to small arms, the Small Arms Committee decided to name the anti-tank rifle after him.
The Boyce anti-tank rifle uses a rotating pull-back bolt, is fed by a magazine, and is equipped with a muzzle brake and a single-leg frame. In addition, the gun adopts two measures to reduce recoil - there is a buffer device on the cradle and a very thick base plate, which greatly alleviates the recoil of the gun. At the beginning of the design, the gun was intended to use high-power sporting rifle bullets, but in the end it used a lead-jacketed hard steel core bullet and a belt-type cartridge case to enhance the strength of the bullet bottom.
But the arrogant British did not realize that the potential of anti-tank guns was almost exhausted. They would not have thought that their German counterparts are now using individual anti-tank rocket launchers.
It's not just this single item that leads. Germany is now more than one step ahead in terms of infantry that cooperates with armored groups.
The most basic and main tactical goal of the German Panzergrenadiers is to accompany and assist tanks to break through and attack weak areas on the enemy's defense line, quickly deploy formations, encircle, and separate the connections between enemy key points, and eliminate enemy anti-tank forces as soon as possible. The front line secures a channel to allow other armor and support units to expand the breach.
When the enemy deploys strong anti-tank defenses or broad anti-tank obstacles, the Panzergrenadier units must advance in front of the tanks. After getting as close as possible to the enemy's defense line, that is, about 400 meters away, the armored grenadiers dismount and fight as infantry. Due to their own insufficient defense, half-track armored personnel carriers should not stop for more than 15-15 seconds in any dangerous area. More than 25 seconds. This requires the Panzergrenadier to be quick when dismounting. The tank should provide fire support 100-200 meters behind the half-track armored personnel carrier. When dismounting and advancing or fighting, the squad leader will generally command the most important group in the squad. Depending on the battle situation, if the entire squad is advancing, the squad leader will command the machine gun group. If the enemy's position is discovered, the deputy squad leader will command the armored grenadier group to occupy the fire position, and the squad leader will command the machine gun group to provide cover. If the enemy's position has been captured or suppressed by our side, the squad leader will command the armored grenadier group to advance, while the deputy squad leader can stay with him or move to the rear to command the machine gun group. If both squad leaders command the panzer grenadier group to advance, the machine gun group will temporarily be under the command of the first class machine gunner.
So after the tank cluster crushed the fragile counterattack organized by the British Expeditionary Force, the armored personnel carrier behind the tank quickly dropped the armored grenadiers in the vehicle.
The first person to appear in each armored personnel carrier is the captain of the team. From the captain's appearance to the entire team gathering, it only takes a few dozen seconds. Because there is not so much time for you to waste on the battlefield.
"Skirmish formation!" The captain raised his arms forward, crossing them. After receiving the order from your captain, the distance between everyone in the queue should be about 5 steps. Then he followed the tank and rushed towards the position of the British Expeditionary Force.
"Cover the armored cluster with all your strength!" The captain raised one hand high, and then waved it vertically downward twice in a row. The flexible teams ran back and forth among the moving tanks, using the protection of the tank armor to slowly approach the British Expeditionary Force position.
Naturally, the British soldiers defending the position would not let them take advantage of the unkind Panzergrenadiers. They really had no good solution for the German Army's Panzer IV tanks. But for infantry who lack protection, the situation is different. Therefore, the British soldiers who were unable to stop the advancing tanks of the armored group immediately aimed their fire at the approaching armored grenadiers.
Click, click, click..., the heavy machine guns tilted their fury at the approaching armored grenadiers. Although they could not penetrate the armor of the Panzer IV tank, they proved their worth at this time.
A few soldiers were hit and fell under the heavy machine guns of British soldiers, but most of the panzergrenadiers calmly found the rear of the tank and hid.
Of course, the armored group would not watch its infantry being shot and killed by the British army in vain, and quickly expressed its presence. The 75mm main gun caused a bloody storm on the British Expeditionary Force's position. The fierce exchange of fire between the two sides declared their determination not to retreat. One by one, fresh lives disappeared under the eyes of both sides, but no one had the slightest feeling about it. This was a life-and-death war. No one grieves for the dead person, because it is very likely that it will be him next time.
"I need support now! What, you are under air attack, and the German troops in the east and south have also launched offensives! This is not a reason, the western front we are facing is fatal, and the German army that my troops are facing now is The tanks are even more numerous than our regiment! If we don't stop them here! There will be no way to stop them after crossing the canal!" Lieutenant Colonel Bertrand Wakeley shouted anxiously. The gentlemanly demeanor of the past was long gone. Lieutenant Colonel Bertrand Wakeley now just wants to save the lives of these soldiers in his army. Britain is a traditional sea power country, and the army is not strong to begin with. These soldiers are the most capable soldiers in Britain, and there must be no slightest chance. loss.
Lieutenant Colonel Bertrand Wakeley hung up the phone and sat motionless in his chair. He knew that the pressure in other locations was no less than here, but he still stubbornly believed that the Western Front was the most important because he had already experienced armor. Lieutenant Colonel Bertrand Wakely, who fought in the war, was already deeply afraid of Germany's large-scale armored warfare. Although these German tanks are now limited to the lowlands and swamps here, they can only move at a few kilometers per hour. forward at a speed. But once these German armored groups get rid of the terrain restrictions here, they will definitely cause a devastating blow to hundreds of thousands of British and French coalition forces.
"There's no other way, I have to rely on myself now!" Lieutenant Colonel Bertrand Wakeley hung up the phone and ran out of the headquarters again.
The soldiers of the 52nd Regiment were already within the firing range of the Panzer IV tank, and even the two 7.92mm MG34 general-purpose machine guns on the turret could pose a threat to the British soldiers lying in the trenches. The loose soil cannot block the shooting of the .92mm MG34 general-purpose machine gun.
After Lieutenant Colonel Bertrand Wakeley took the position, he found that the matter was already quite serious. If he arrived a few minutes late, his soldiers would be in extremely dangerous situation, so Lieutenant Colonel Bertrand Wakeley immediately ordered the soldiers They retreated, and there was an anti-tank trench five hundred meters behind them. With urgent deepening and excavation, they should be able to stop these rough-skinned guys.