Hitler adopted Manstein's plan and changed the order of operations on the Western Front. Read h-u-nmix*h-u-nmix*小-说-网 with me.
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Manstein received the credit he deserved, but the traditional generals were resentful that a plan from a junior officer should be given priority over their own, and von Manstein was left in command of the infantry in the rear.
Army. Hitler can change the battle plan, but there is one thing that Hitler cannot change, and that is the gap in strength between the two sides. Although the German army ranked 4
000 aircraft against the Allied 3
000 aircraft, had air superiority, but the Allies had about 3
383 tanks, while Germany had only 2 in total
335 vehicles, many of which are light tanks with limited combat performance.
On May 10, 1940, just after 2:30 in the morning, 64 German paratroopers crossed the Dutch border. They were the vanguard of the German army's attack on the Netherlands. These paratroopers landed in Rotterdam, The Hague, Dordrecht and Muir.
on major bridges near Erdijk and other places to prevent the Netherlands from blowing up these bridges and blocking the main German cross-border offensive. A large number of German troops entered the Flanders region through the Albert Canal. These troops might have been attacked by the Belgian Egyptians.
However, at 5:30, the German glider force successfully landed on the Belgian border, controlling and destroying this strong firepower point.
Five minutes later, 30 divisions of the German Army Group B led by General Bock crossed the border like a tide along the coast from Maastricht to the mouth of the Ems River. At the same time, in the south, led by von Ronde
The 44 divisions of Army Group A led by General Stetter, including the main attack force composed of 7 armored divisions commanded by General Kleist, advanced into the Belgian Ardennes region. French military commanders have since
Since 1919 it has been described as a forested area impenetrable to tanks.
The Allied forces in the north include 5 divisions of the British Expeditionary Force, 8 divisions of the French 1st Army deployed on the right flank of the British army, and 7 divisions of the French 7th Army deployed along the coast of Dunkirk. According to "d
"Plan, leaving the defensive positions they had worked hard for all winter, and advancing to join the Belgian army in order to establish a defense line along the Dier and Meuse rivers. This almost suicidal move by the Allies made Hitler extremely excited.
It was obvious that there were many difficulties on the road ahead for the Allied forces. Luftwaffe aircraft were constantly circling and bombing overhead, which put the Allied forces under severe challenges. It took them a long time to gradually adapt to this disturbing sound that was often heard in their ears.
The nervous roar of planes. In addition, the German army's rapid and fierce attack frightened the civilian population. Wherever Bock's army went, people fled one after another, and the Allied forces' path forward was soon blocked by refugees.
Despite this, by the evening of May 14, the Allied defense line was completed.
From the mouth of the Scheldt to the north of Antwerp, it is guarded by three divisions of the French 7th Army. It extends 80 kilometers southeast to Leuven and is guarded by 13 divisions of the Belgian Army. The front from Leuven to Wavre
Guarded by the British Expeditionary Force, from Wavre to Namur, it was guarded by six divisions of the French 1st Army. The hastily constructed defense line of the Allies was fragmented. Faced with such a defense line, many battalion and brigade commanders
They were all frustrated, and the soldiers were equally unsure. They had spent a winter building vast field fortifications along the French border, and now they were expected to stop the German attack with such a line of defense, which was at best
It can only be regarded as a primitive defensive position, and there are even no defenses at all in some places. At the same time, commanders at the division level and above are also worried about the war situation in the south. However, so far, they have not realized that the slowdown has slowed down.
The advancing Bock Army Group was actually nothing more than a "matador's cape", designed to lure the main Allied forces into a trap, thereby creating conditions for Kleist's armored group to carry out a fatal blow.
After drawing Allied mobile forces to the north, the Bock Force's mission was to hold the Netherlands like an iron plate against the armored forces advancing from the French coast before moving south into Belgium and France.
The first task of the German army is to capture key fortresses on the Dutch and Belgian defense lines, which are the basis of the defense of both countries. The majestic reinforced concrete fortress of Eben Emaar has been captured by the German army through a gliding assault. Other German paratrooper units must also ensure that
The security of the bridges allowed German troops to advance through the canal-ridden terrain of the Netherlands towards major cities in the Netherlands close to the coastline.
By May 13, the German 18th Army led by General Küchler had passed the bridge previously occupied by the paratroopers and began to advance towards the "Dutch Fortress". Near Breda, the German army encountered the German Army led by General Henry Giraud.
The French 7th Army maneuvered along the coastline and entered the Netherlands through Belgium.
As a result, the French army was repulsed and fled to Antwerp!
Due to the Dutch bombing of the main bridges across the Issel and the flood of fleeing villagers, the German army led by the SS SS-Leibstandarte was greatly slowed down in its advance towards Amsterdam. Hitler did not want his "image
Troops" fell into the quagmire of a difficult foot march. On May 13, the Guardsmen began to maneuver southward to join the SS Special Mobile Regiment and the 9th Armored Division and advance towards Rotterdam. German paratroopers had occupied the main bridges in Murdijk
, the road to Rotterdam has been opened. By the morning of the 14th, the German army captured 4
With more than 000 prisoners of war, the SS soldiers fighting with the armored division began to take over the task of guarding the Murdijk Bridge from the well-equipped paratroopers.
Although the Dutch resistance was disorganized, it still delayed the German offensive timetable.
The German High Command issued an ultimatum, threatening to destroy Rotterdam with artillery and aerial bombardment if the Netherlands continued to resist.
Having lost contact with the British and French Allied Forces, the Netherlands had no choice but to accept the German conditions.
However, although the bombardment of Rotterdam was cancelled, the order was not conveyed to the Air Force, and Rotterdam was still bombed into ruins by the Luftwaffe. After the bombing, the SS Flag Guard immediately entered Rotterdam. In the city, the SS Flag Guard discovered
picked up a group of armed Dutch soldiers and opened fire immediately. Unfortunately, these Dutch soldiers were part of the surrendered local armed forces and were being recruited by Air Force General Kurt Student.
Stuart, the founder of the German paratroopers, was seriously wounded. After recovering, Stuart commanded the invasion of Crete a year later.
On May 13, the Queen of the Netherlands and some Dutch government officials boarded a ship in The Hague and fled to the United Kingdom.
The Commander-in-Chief of the Dutch Army, General Henry Winkelmann, subsequently announced his surrender. In the south, the 6th Army led by Reichenau crossed the Albert Canal and entered Belgium. The Belgian Army retreated to the line of the Dir River, fighting with the British Expeditionary Force and George
The troops of the French 1st Army led by General Blanchard reunited. By May 15, the Allies had assembled about 35 divisions on the lines of Namur and Antwerp. The German 6th Army was hastily established against the Allies.
While the defense was conducting a feint attack, the 8th Army advanced southward from the Netherlands, threatening the flanks of the British, French and Belgian forces.
However, just as the Allied forces were preparing to compete with Bock's army, they were defeated by shocking news from the southeast. Central France had been captured by the new German army, and all Allied forces in Belgium were in danger of being cut off.
Center. The campaign in the Low Countries is coming to an end. The German plan, except for some minor errors, went as planned. Bock's advance into Belgium led the Allies to the north. Rundstedt's armor
The troops successfully passed through the Ardennes region, and German armored vehicles rampaged through northern France.
One of the main goals of Hitler's military policy was to destroy France, the enemy that had humiliated Germany after World War I. The invasion of the Low Countries was nothing more than a trap to attract the Allied forces from their positions. It was a fatal blow for the German army to launch from Afghanistan.
Preparations for launching an armored charge in the climbing area.
After the war started on the Western Front, German troops quickly passed through the borders of the Netherlands and Belgium. As the Allies expected, the majestic and solid reinforced concrete fortress of Eben Emaar fell into the hands of the elite German paratroopers, who landed by gliders.
on the roof of the fortress. However, the 30 divisions of Army Group B led by General von Bock were actually just a feint, designed to make the Allies believe that Germany was acting according to the same plan that had been used and failed in past wars.
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The real major attack was launched from the Ardennes area. Here, the German army assembled the 444 divisions of Army Group A led by General von Rundstedt, including 7 armored divisions of von Kleist.
The German army planned to launch a surprise attack on the Allies from here. A large number of French troops were stationed in the vast Maginot Line to prevent attacks from the German-French border. However, the Maginot Line did not cover the Belgian border because
French policymakers believed that a large-scale attack on France from the Ardennes was impossible.
Germany's plan soon became a reality.
The German armored divisions marched anxiously along the mountain paths in dense column formations, encountering almost no resistance from the Belgian army in the Ardennes.
They entered the impassable forests and mountains, and everything was like a peacetime exercise, easily sweeping away the light cavalry troops sent by the French army to "block" them.
By the afternoon of May 12, three divisions of Gudri's Armored Corps had crossed the French border and arrived along the Meuse River in the Sedan area!
In this battle operation, the military traffic police played a decisive role: thousands of vehicles were in good order and marched strictly according to the plan.
By the evening of May 12, the German armored forces had controlled the vast front from Sedan to Dinant on the right bank of the Meuse River. In 1870, when the Paris Revolution broke out, this was the place where French Emperor Napoleon III was defeated and captured by the Prussian army.
.70 years later, the French commander-in-chief, 68-year-old General Gamelin, expected that the German army would appear in the Ardennes area at a certain stage of the battle. However, he expected that the German army would only be a light exploratory force at most, so he was ordered to protect this area.
The deployment of the 9th Army is far more dispersed and weaker than other areas.
The French High Command estimated that once the French army withstood the German attack when they first arrived at the Meuse River, it would take at least four days for the German army to organize and plan for crossing the Meuse River, and another two days for implementation.
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But in fact it took the Germans only 24 hours to forcefully cross the Maas River.
On May 13, Guderian's infantry troops crossed the Meuse River in rubber boats. At the same time, 300 twin-engine bombers and 200 "Stuka" dive bombers of the Air Force razed the French defensive positions to the ground!