Transmigrated as the Crown Prince

When powerful countries compete, it affects not only the powerful countries themselves, but also many small countries who are involuntarily involved in the abyss of war. Because of their extremely important strategic location, both armies in the war wanted to control them.

Although Belgium is small, as an industrial power, it can use its strong industrial and geographical advantages (dense river network) to symbolically resist the German attack and safeguard its honor.

Of course, the most important thing is that Yannick is worried that once Belgium is frightened into surrender, it will not be able to attract the British and French troops into the famous encirclement in history. Germany's combat plan may fail, so Belgium is left to act as a bait.

Luxembourg, also a small country, has only 300,000 people in the country. Although it is very wealthy, it has long maintained a neutral role in disputes between great powers and does not pay much attention to the construction of armed forces. And it doesn’t have as strong an industry as Belgium. Based on the calculation that the maximum mobilization capacity of modern warfare is 12% of the total population, it can mobilize 60,000 people to serve the war at best. Excluding the labor required for logistics and war industry, it can mobilize an army of 10,000 people at most.

Therefore, when the German envoy came to the door, the Grand Duchess Charlotte Aldegund of Luxembourg, Elisabeth Marie Wilhelmine, did not hesitate to accept any conditions from Germany.

The German army successfully took over Luxembourg's defense line. Guderian's 19th Armored Corps and Reinhardt's 41st Armored Corps formed an armored group and plunged into the Ardennes Forest.

"Keep your formation!

"Keep distance between front and back and don't crowd."

“Crowding only makes travel slower!”

Guderian stood on the roof of the armored command vehicle, looking at the endless convoy in front and behind, and finally understood why the French were so confident that they regarded this place as a natural chasm without heavy guarding.

How can this be considered a road?

It is rugged. In wide areas, two tanks may be able to drive side by side, but in narrow areas, it is extremely difficult for even one tank to pass. There are even crashes and rollover accidents from time to time. No, another tank not far away slid into the small ditch next to it.

"Damn it." Guderian couldn't help but muttered as he watched the engineers coming forward to tinker with the tank. "At this speed, when will we be able to pass through the broken forest!"

"We will be able to walk out in about 60 hours. Commander, don't be anxious. No matter how anxious we are, there is nothing we can do," the adjutant said comfortingly.

No one here is in a hurry. This kind of movement can be called a tortoise speed. Although it is covered by the forest, the possibility of being discovered by the French cannot be completely ruled out. Once such a large and immobile force is discovered by the French and the French launch artillery strikes, the consequences will be unimaginable. It is even possible that the entire Army Group A will be completely buried in this vast forest.

But this is not a problem that can be solved in a hurry. Now all the troops, tanks of various types and a large number of armored vehicles are crowded here, and it is impossible to increase the speed.

"Hey." Guderian sighed and simply jumped out of the armored vehicle. He would rather wander around at this time. Anyway, now the troops can only crawl forward slowly at the speed of this turtle.

In other directions, Army Group B, commanded by Fedor von Bock, split into two, one entering the Netherlands and the other attacking Belgium.

Because Belgium voluntarily gave up its neutral attitude, the German army did not need those useless nonsense and launched an attack directly.

The first thing they had to conquer was the famous Fortress of Eben Emaar.

The Eben Emaar Fortress is located on the Belgian side of the border between the Netherlands and Belgium, between the cities of Maastricht and Vis. The fortress is an important part of the Albert Canal defense line. It is a powerful fortification and important support point for the northern extension of the Maginot Line. It is also the core of Belgium's eastern defense system.

It was from here that the German army entered Belgium in 1914. In order to resist the next possible German invasion, the Belgians began to build this magnificent fortress project here as early as the early 1930s.

It was modeled after the intricate fortifications of the Maginot Line. The fortress is built on a small granite plateau, which is 900 meters long from north to south and 700 meters wide from east to west. Its northeast and northwest sides are almost vertical cliffs, about 40 meters high, and the surging Albert Canal passes under the cliffs; its south side is separated by a wide anti-tank ditch and a 7-meter-high protective wall. All sides of the fortress are surrounded by the so-called "canal belt" and "trench belt", and are equipped with reinforced concrete bunkers equipped with searchlights, 60mm anti-tank guns and heavy machine guns. The Maas River to the east of the fortress runs parallel to the Albert Canal, forming a peripheral barrier.

At first glance, each fortress seems to be scattered in a pentagonal area, but in fact, it is a clever combination of forts, rotating armored turrets, anti-aircraft gun positions, anti-tank gun positions, heavy machine gun positions, etc. The various parts of the defense system are connected together by 5 kilometers of underground reinforced tunnels and trenches.

Each weapon is carefully positioned for maximum effectiveness. The fortress is easily visible from any direction. Every tunnel leading into the fortress can prevent enemy attacks. There are no exposed masonry traces on the fortress, and there are no buildings that expose the position. Weeds are growing everywhere. There are 4 hidden turrets on the top of the fortress, and hydraulic lifts are used to supply ammunition. In order to confuse the enemy, the Belgian army also set up fake turrets throughout the fortress. Its artillery firepower can control the Albert Canal and all ferries within 16 kilometers of the Maas River.

The defensive force of Eben Emar Fortress totaled 1,200 people, commanded by Major Qiaotlan, and belonged to the 7th Infantry Division. All personnel can be in a bunker 25 meters below the ground, and are equipped with drinking water, food and a large amount of ammunition for long-term use. The fortress is fully equipped with weapons. Along the outer edge of the fortress, beside the trenches and rivers, there are many bunkers and shelter trenches, as well as mutually supporting fire firing positions. For general bombardment, Eben Emar Fortress can undoubtedly withstand.

The fortress was designed by a group of experts during peacetime and completed in 1935 after three years of careful construction. The fortress is generally considered to be impregnable and impregnable. It was listed as one of the most important defensive positions in Europe and the strongest fortress in the world at the time, and was vividly compared to the "gate" to the east of Belgium and a "lock" on the Albert Canal defense line.

But what they failed to consider was that the enemy might come from the air and land in the open space between the fort and the armored turret. And there are only four 62mm anti-aircraft machine guns in the entire fortress, which is a bit incredible.

When the German glider forcibly landed on the top of the Eben Emaar Fortress, two of the four anti-aircraft machine guns malfunctioned. In addition, one of the two intact aircraft was knocked over by the wing of the landing glider.

An assault team composed of 84 German paratroopers took 11 DFS-230 gliders towed by Junkers 52 and parachuted to the top of the Eben Emaar Fortress. After more than 30 hours of fighting, they forced the Belgian troops to surrender in the fortress.

Although this airborne battle was classic, Yannick decided to change his attack method.