Transmigrated as the Crown Prince

The Belgians around the Fortress of Eben Emaar really intend to reinforce/take back the fortress. After all, the fortress is a top priority and it took a lot of manpower and material resources to build. It is so hard to swallow it if it is just handed over to others. tone.

However, before the Belgian infantrymen who came for reinforcements got close to the fortress, they were blown up by German bombers in the sky.

After several waves of reinforcements were repulsed, the Belgians became cruel and decided to simply bombard the fortress. Since the fortress cannot be recaptured, then all the Germans exposed outside the fortress will be blown up to the sky.

There are several artillery positions near the fortress. Unfortunately, the shooting of these big guys was aimed at external parties. After all, who would point the muzzle at their own fortress. These cannons are quite old, left over from the last war. They have a caliber of 150 mm, which sounds quite scary, but unfortunately they are short-barreled. The whole appearance looks like a big artillery piece.

Just as these artillerymen turned their guns and aimed the muzzles at the Eben Emar Fortress, adjusting their angles to shoot at the various elements, there were bursts of heart-rending screams in the sky.

These people instinctively looked up at the sky and saw planes swooping down from the clouds.

"German bombers!!"

Before he finished speaking, the Stuka formation, which had dived to the extreme height, dropped bombs one after another. The piled up artillery shells were detonated, and the entire artillery position was immediately engulfed in a sea of ​​fire.

The rest of the artillery positions were also hit.

In this way, from morning to noon, the Belgian army could not even get close, let alone recapture the fortress.

The main vanguard force of the German Army Group B has already arrived.

The first to cross the river were the two tank divisions of General Reichenau's Sixth Army. In addition to these two tank divisions, he also had 14 infantry divisions under his command. The task he received was to break through between Maastricht and Liege. On the front, open the road to Brussels, meet the enemy troops in the area north of the Meuse and Sambre rivers as soon as possible, and blockade the north of the Liege Fortress to protect the flank security of the German westward advancing group.

Reichenau's mission was of decisive significance to the victory of the entire campaign. Whether the forces of the Belgian Army and the British and French allied armies could be resolutely restrained so that they would soon lose their freedom of movement depended on the speed of the German Sixth Army's actions.

Reichenau often personally directed the commandos to advance, taking the lead in crossing walls under a hail of bullets, which greatly boosted morale. Of course, this is also related to his love of sports in his youth, his abundant physical strength, and his love of self-expression, which prompted his heroic performance on the battlefield.

As a high-ranking military official, Reichenau also knew his side's true strategic intentions. The military activities of Army Group B could be said to be just a false move, while Army Group A's direct penetration into the Ardennes Forest was the real killer move.

However, Reichenau did not dare to neglect anything and used the most rapid offensive to attack Belgium. Only by doing this can Britain and France mistakenly judge that this is the main direction of the German army's attack, and attract more coalition forces to jump into this huge encirclement.

But now watching his tank troops rumble across the bridge on the Albert Canal and advance rapidly, Reichenau felt that even without military operations in the Ardennes, he could achieve the final victory by relying solely on frontal military operations. victory.

When passing the Eben Emar Fortress, Reichenau's command armored vehicle stopped and called for Lieutenant Weiqige, the leader of the "Granite" commando. "Young man, how did you capture this fortress in such a short period of time?"

Lieutenant Weiqige reported truthfully. "Report to the general. This fortress had been bombed once before we landed. After we landed, few soldiers in the fortress came out to resist."

"Oh?" Reichenau couldn't help but wonder. "How come I didn't know about this bombing?"

Lieutenant Weiqige explained. "General, I saw Praetorian Guard X Troop printed on those bombers."

Reichenau suddenly realized. "So that's it." Troop X of the Guards is directly responsible to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and sometimes even the headquarters doesn't know their battle plans. It seems that they used some secret weapon on this fortress. "Did the soldiers in the fortress surrender?"

"There is no general. We eliminated dozens of soldiers who rushed out, blew up all the entrances, exits and gun ports, and blocked the vent valves of the fortress. They were all trapped inside, and now they should... need to be rescued Rescue him?"

Reichenau shook his head. "No, just leave them alone. We don't have the extra energy to take care of them. Thank you for your hard work, young man." After some more encouragement, Reichenau sat back in the car and continued to follow his troops.

Until six o'clock in the evening, they did not encounter any decent resistance and advanced thirty kilometers in one breath.

Such rapid advancement is of course inseparable from the cover of the aviation force. The attack of troops, especially the attack of armored troops, requires absolute safety overhead; and now, in order to seize air supremacy, the German Air Force dispatched thousands of fighter jets on the long offensive line!

For the armored troops on the ground, only by ensuring absolute air superiority over their heads can they attack without fear.

Reichenau's vanguard had already reached the outskirts of Liege.

Looking at the ruins of Liege Fortress in the distance, Reichenau sighed with emotion.

In the last 10 years of the 19th century, the Belgians spent a lot of manpower and material resources to build the Liege Fortress. 12 permanent fortifications were arranged in a ring around the city (clockwise: Fort Ponty at 1 o'clock, Fort Ponty at 2 o'clock) Fort Bahom at 3 o'clock, Fort Yvegenie at 3 o'clock, Fort Frelon at 4 o'clock, Fort Schaudefontein at 5 o'clock, Fort Enburg at 6 o'clock, and Fort 7 o'clock. Bonserburg in the direction, Flemmelburg in the 8 o'clock direction, Augneburg in the 9 o'clock direction, Ronsinburg in the 10 o'clock direction, Landingburg in the 11 o'clock direction, Landingburg in the 12 o'clock direction Fort Lyell), these forts are equipped with 252 artillery pieces of various calibers, and are densely covered with machine gun fire points and infantry shooting holes.

If we look at their relative positions to the Maas River, these fortresses are divided into two parts: the six fortresses from 2 o'clock to 7 o'clock are located on the west bank of the Maas River, and the six fortresses from 8 o'clock to 1 o'clock are located on the west bank of the Maas River. east coast. The fortresses are all built on small hills around the city, with the highest point 260 meters above sea level and the lowest point 130 meters above sea level. The shooting holes and fire points set up on the fortress have a wide range of fire, allowing you to overlook the surrounding area at the foot of the mountain, while its position is relatively hidden. The firepower arrangement between the fortresses is also quite clever. When any fortress is attacked, the two nearby fortresses can provide firepower assistance.

According to the plan of the German Chief of General Staff Moltke at the time, the general attack on France would adopt a "bottom + turning plan" strategy; that is, the Metz Fortress at the junction of Germany, France, and Belgium would be used as the axis of rotation, with Alsace and Alsace on the left flank. 200,000 troops were deployed in the Lorraine area to serve as a "base" to contain the heavy French army group facing them. Another 200,000 troops were used as a "pivot" in the Metz area, and 700,000 troops were concentrated on the right wing, forming a powerful and mobile "turning plate". "Plate", crossed the Belgian territory along the seaside, forcibly crossed the Seine River, occupied Paris, then detoured to the northeast, and attacked with the left wing and the Metz Group to annihilate the main force of the French army on the Franco-German border. The key to this strategy lies in whether the German right-wing group can capture the important Belgian city of Liege within a few days (7 railways and 17 roads intersect here, with a population of more than 200,000, about 30 kilometers from the border). From here It only takes 3 hours to travel to Paris by express train.

As a result, the Liege Fortress became a stumbling block for the German army. The German army used a variety of "battery rams" (large-caliber heavy artillery) to attack France for 13 consecutive days, costing 50,000 casualties. of passage.