The Third Reich in Desperation

Therefore, Montgomery sent a request to the division headquarters of the Belgian 10th Division with the mentality of trying to send away this group of allies who failed to accomplish anything and failed to succeed, asking them to withdraw their troops and allow the British army to take over the existing front line in the Luwan area alone.

But the commander of the Belgian 10th Division rejected Montgomery's kind suggestion to let him withdraw his troops, and insisted: "The 10th Division was ordered to defend Louvain, and they would never leave the zone without the king's order to let them out."

Montgomery could barely resist cursing at the pompous fool.Since you are ordered to defend, then defend well. What is the attitude of such a loose defense arrangement?Send the record to the German army!

No way, Montgomery hurriedly reported to his superior, Lieutenant General Brook, and asked him to ask Lord Gott to negotiate with the King of Belgium as soon as possible so that he could readjust the front.

It is a pity that the king of Belgium, under the influence of his chief of guard, conceitedly disagreed with letting the British army take over the Louvain line of defense.

而作为远征军总司令的戈特也没有采取任何后继措施，仅仅是在5月11日下午6时建议布鲁克的第2军将蒙哥马利的第3师调往英国远征军第1军的左侧，以这种方式避免了损伤比利时军队那点没有意义的尊严。

But Biggot, who Montgomery saw, understood that he believed that Louvain was an important fortress leading to Brussels, the capital of Belgium. division defense.

Compared with the dignity of the Belgian army, Montgomery paid more attention to the strength of Louwan's defense.

Therefore, while the Belgian army on the front line was still retreating and the German army was approaching, Montgomery arbitrarily decided to withdraw his division to the back of the Belgian 10th Division and build a new defensive position against the 10th Division.

For this reason, Montgomery, who has always been conceited, lowered his body and said to the commander of Major General Luke of the Belgian 10th Division: "General, my division will accept your command without reservation and suggest strengthening your defense line as a reserve."

Luke was very happy to hear that, and immediately agreed to Montgomery's arrangement, leaving this "reserve team".

And when the news reached the British High Command, it immediately caused a shock.Commander Gort asked Commander Brooke to go to the 3rd Division to find out the situation immediately, but Montgomery said that the army did not need to worry because he was about to drive the Belgians out.

Once the Germans arrived, Montgomery explained, he would have no trouble fighting off the Belgians and then taking over the front.Prior to this, it was okay to let the self-righteous Belgian 10th Division serve as a forward security force for the British 3rd Division.

With a division-level unit that is willing to be cannon fodder in front, the 3rd Division does not have to worry about the German army suddenly attacking itself all day long.Even if the sky falls, the 10th Belgian Division in front will bear it first.

Therefore, while the Belgian 10th Division anxiously watched and waited for news from the front, Montgomery and the officers and soldiers of the British 3rd Division were extremely calm.

During this period of the war, Montgomery even developed a habit of falling asleep shortly after dinner.During the day he was out and around the front all day, meeting and debriefing subordinate commanders, making decisions and giving verbal orders.

In the afternoon, Montgomery returned to the division headquarters, met with the staff team, and issued orders for the night and the next day.Then eat and go to bed.

Except in emergencies, he is not to be disturbed while sleeping.

It can be said that the Belgian cannon fodder troops, which were not leaving, became an early warning insurance for Montgomery's defense of Louvain.

As long as they are still there, the British 3rd Division does not have to worry about being attacked by the Germans.They have an entire division of early warning troops, which can be said to be a big deal.After all, they are only the size of a division in total, and logically, at most they will set up a battalion-level early warning force.

In this defensive deployment, Montgomery used his flexible means to strongly prove his general ability.

Text Chapter 321 Combat

Wittmann's 111 car group was very lucky. After more than a day of advancing in the forest, the [-]st SS Panzer Division they were in drove out of the Ardennes forest first and hit an unsuspecting Belgian infantry here. Division defense.

"Lucas! Follow up with Vic and their No. 112 tank, and attack the Belgian's position in front." Wittman shouted loudly in the tank.

In front of them, a Belgian position with heavy machine guns was firing bullets at German tanks in a panic.

Since it was not expected that the German army would rush out of the Ardennes Forest, a Belgian short-staffed division stationed here was not very vigilant, and they did not even deploy the defensive troops in the trenches.

At this time, after the German tanks appeared one after another, these poor Belgian soldiers remembered that nothing is impossible in the war.

"It looks like this battle will be easy, because the Belgians don't have any weapons that can penetrate our armor." After hearing the sound of the Belgian small-caliber gun being bounced off again, he controlled the coaxial machine gun to shoot at the Belgian soldiers' mines. O loudly said.

So far, the battle situation is basically the same as the exercises that Wittmann and the others participated in.Of course, unlike the exercise, the coaxial machine gun in Leo's hand would not only leave behind the smell of gunpowder and gunpowder, but also leave behind a large number of corpses.

Due to the sudden outbreak of the war, the Belgian garrison did not even evacuate the local civilians.Although the people fled quickly after the war, the livestock they left behind, cattle and sheep, turned into corpses.

Those poor domestic animals became victims of bullets, shells and bomb fragments.The animals spread their hooves and fell to the ground, exuding a smell of carrion, which mingled with gunpowder smoke and tank gasoline exhaust.

And those animals are still beings that were wiped out by the way.Leo and the others, the tank gunners with coaxial machine guns, and the Belgian soldiers who were really keeping an eye on were the ones who suffered the most casualties.

"This reminds me of when I was fighting in Poland," Leichter said with emotion after loading another grenade into the cannon: "The massacre was overwhelming, and the enemy had no power to threaten us at all."

"Boom!" As soon as Leichter finished expressing his emotions, the grenade he loaded was fired, once again causing a burst of blood spray on the Belgian's position.

Two Belgian artillerymen, at a distance they already thought were close enough, once again hit Wittmann's Panther 37 with 111mm shells.

"Precise hit!" shouted a Belgian fighter, waving his fists.

Unfortunately, before he could put his fist down, the shell that hit the Leopard tank accurately was blocked again.

Can't you penetrate it at such a close distance? !The Belgian officers and soldiers on the ground first lost their psychological defense.They really couldn't figure out how to deal with the behemoths one after another in front of them.

They didn't have a few anti-tank guns, and they didn't have cannons with a caliber larger than 37 mm.Now, the only weapon that could have knocked down a German tank, after being fired at close range at the risk of being destroyed, still has no effect.

Shooting at a static distance is the best way to increase the power of shelling.But now, even firing at close range can't penetrate the armor of the Leopard tank, then there is really no way to deal with these German steel beasts.

"Ruls, your company hastened to go up. The machine gun position is almost unstoppable!" The Belgian battalion commander who saw all this urgently ordered from the rear.

"Battalion Commander..." Rules looked at the boss with an ugly face.

The machine gun position is almost unstoppable, it is clearly starting to collapse!

Standing on the small hill behind, Rules clearly watched the company on the machine gun position fleeing in all directions.

The machine gun position that has gradually disappeared is the only well-arranged position of the Belgian short-staffed division guarding the Ardennes Pass.Except there, there are no important people on other commanding heights, and there is no equipment if you need equipment.

All the essence remained in that position.Even the only two 5mm anti-tank guns in this short-staffed division with less than 37 people were all deployed on the side of the machine gun positions.

But this is the position where the best equipment of the whole division is assembled, but it can't even stop the vanguard of the German armored division a little bit.Before the German tanks even reached the position, the officers and soldiers in the position had already dropped their weapons and fled.

"The machine gun position has been lost, and the officers and soldiers there have no intention of fighting!" Rules finally mustered up his courage and shouted to his battalion commander who was still trying to hold the position.

"That has to be defended!" The battalion commander said with tears: "The whole division is still well-arranged for such a position. If it falls there, we will no longer have a commanding height that can be used to suppress the German army."

It is an incredible thing for a division to use only one company to hold the commanding heights.It's a pity that in this Belgian garrison division, it is so unreasonable to play cards.

They didn't even deploy a small amount of security troops in the Ardennes Forest, nor did they occupy a few more commanding heights at the Ardennes Pass, which should have been defended with all their strength, to maintain firepower density in the only direction that the German army might rush out.

From the division commander to the head of the regiment, no one thought of seriously setting up a main defensive position.In the end, it was Rules' battalion commander who thought of sending a machine gun attached to the regiment headquarters to guard the most important commanding heights.

"It's really impossible. Even if it's life-saving, we have to regain the position. Otherwise, we won't be able to stop the continuous stream of German tanks." The battalion commander wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and gritted his teeth.

It was too late to send people to re-garrison other hills, and it was impossible to have time to build the second sniper position.The only thing that can stop the German army is the machine gun position closest to the mountain pass.It is equivalent to a gate, and if it cannot be defended, the torrent of steel that opened the gate of the German army will no longer have any obstacles.

"Battalion Commander, the best weapons of our regiment are all left in that position." Roules glanced at the distant position where there was no Belgian soldier alive anymore, and turned around to persuade: "Even if we even And the 3rd company behind the battalion headquarters all charged up, and it is impossible to achieve better results."

In the distance, soldiers who had fled from the battlefield had poured into a transfer station on the mountainside in twos and threes.Then, they took the logistics personnel in the transfer station and continued to rush to the rear.No one is still trying to stop the pursuing German army, their courage has long been exhausted on that hill.

Text Chapter 322 Poor guy

"The Belgian army has lost its fighting spirit. Shall we continue to pursue it?" Driving on the bumpy mountain, Lucas' body swayed with the tank.

Their No. 111 tank and 5 other Panther tanks, under the cover of the No. 3 assault gun, quickly broke into the Belgian machine gun position and easily occupied it.

Here, Wittmann opened the top of the tank and observed the makeshift trenches left by the Belgian troops.This kind of trench is very rough, and it is only a layer of sandbags on the outside of a pit of more than one meter, which is considered complete.There is neither a traffic trench nor a second trench at the rear, just a simple row of tunnels.