章 174: Chapter 252 The French Doomsday (22)
The German soldiers on the front line stared in disbelief at the sudden bombardment.
As the smoke cleared, a scene too horrifying to describe appeared before them. The entire area was covered with dense craters, and near these craters lay the bodies of French soldiers. The artillery barrage had been so sudden that most didn't even have a chance to hit the ground, they were pierced by the storm of shrapnel.
Countless bodies, some without heads, others missing limbs, hardly a complete one among them. The whole battlefield was filled with a pungent smell of gunpowder and blood, making it difficult to breathe.
A German soldier murmured, "What kind of cannon is this?" After all, even German soldiers hadn't witnessed such a "performance" of rocket artillery.
"This should be a new type of weapon. I've never seen such a dense firepower attack." A German soldier in the nearby foxhole, shaking all over, lit a cigarette, gazing at the distant inferno, and replied absentmindedly.
The heavy pontoon bridge, hastily assembled, was finally completed. Guderian ordered five self-propelled rocket artillery vehicles to cross the river first and support Hill "A". These 122mm self-propelled rocket artillery had a range exceeding 10,000 meters. After crossing the river, they stopped and launched a barrage of rockets.
Each self-propelled rocket artillery vehicle had 4 rows of 60 launch tubes. All five vehicles fired simultaneously, launching 300 rockets that rained down on the battlefield.
The French division commander in the rear headquarters instantly knew that continuing the attack was impossible. He decisively issued the order to retreat.
Unfortunately, before they could move, German tanks appeared on the opposite hill.
One after another, German tanks descended from the hill, heading straight towards them.
Seeing this scene, the frontline French soldiers instantly fell into chaos, and the entire line collapsed. The terrifying artillery barrage had extinguished all their determination and courage. At this moment, they abandoned everything, throwing away their backpacks, rifles, and anything that could burden them, desperately fleeing backward. Faced with the choice between honor and survival, they resolutely chose the latter.
Those who were wounded could only kneel on the ground, raising their hands high, continuously praying for the approaching German soldiers to show mercy and spare their lives.
But Guderian didn't want to waste time here dealing with prisoners. "I don't have time to capture you! Drop your weapons, leave the road, and don't block the way!"
After finally herding these surrendered French soldiers to the side, the armored unit continued to charge forward.
A few brave French tanks attempted to block the German advance, but apart from vividly illustrating the meaning of "mantis trying to stop a car", they had no effect. Well, not exactly no effect – watching those valiant tanks instantly blown up, the remaining tank crews hurriedly climbed out of their beloved vehicles, raising their hands high.
Just as the French front line collapsed, the rear headquarters was also in chaos. Logistics personnel and wounded soldiers fought for seats on the trucks. Staff officers frantically dealt with various telegrams and documents at hand, damaging radio equipment. The army had been routed, and now, everyone had no time to care about anyone else.
But they hadn't had time to escape before another round of rockets came down. Although it didn't directly hit the French headquarters, it terrified the people inside. No one knew if the next shell would land on their heads.
The shocked division commander hastily ordered to find a white cloth to hang up, the higher, the better.
Guderian, ignoring them, headed straight for Montcornet. Montcornet was more than 70 kilometers away from Sedan, and it was the junction of the French 2nd Army and the 9th Army.
Soon, the news of the German main force crossing the Meuse River reached Paris, France.
French Prime Minister Reynaud frantically dialed General Gamelin's phone. "General, I heard that the German main force has crossed the Meuse River, is it true?!" He prayed from the bottom of his heart that Gamelin would tell him this news was false, that the Germans were stopped on the other side of the river.
Unfortunately, reality was cruel.
Gamelin was also overwhelmed by this news, and wearily replied, "Yes, Prime Minister, the main German armored force has crossed the Meuse River. The forces we sent to intercept have been defeated, and they are now advancing towards Montcornet."
"Do you have any countermeasures?" Reynaud was no fool. From Gamelin's discouraged tone, he vaguely sensed that Gamelin was helpless in this situation. After all, to be an excellent lawyer, the ability to read between the lines was essential. Reynaud had been a successful lawyer before.
It seemed that this commander was not up to the task!
The idea of replacing Gamelin with a different overall commander flashed through Reynaud's mind! And he immediately thought of a more suitable candidate.
Maxime Weygand!
Weygand could be considered a hero of the last time France defeated Germany. He had served as Chief of Staff for 5 years under Allied Forces Commander-in-Chief Ferdinand Foch during World War I, and he was competent, intelligent, experienced, and energetic.
In fact, Reynaud had discussed privately with Daladier about replacing Gamelin with Weygand earlier, but it was dropped because they couldn't convince Daladier.
In the current situation, Daladier probably had no reason to object.
But General Gamelin on the other end of the phone naturally had no idea that Prime Minister Reynaud had already decided to replace him. "We have sent two armored divisions (not at full strength) to intercept the Germans, but once they cannot be stopped, not only will the 9th Army and the 2nd Army face enormous risks, even the forces operating in Belgium will be at risk of being surrounded."
"What?!" Reynaud was suddenly shocked, not expecting the situation to be worse than he had imagined. "Then shouldn't we quickly withdraw the forces from Belgium?"
Gamelin would have liked to, but if they withdrew recklessly, the German troops in Belgium and the Netherlands would closely follow. If there was any mistake, a voluntary retreat could turn into a large-scale rout, and they couldn't afford to take that risk.
Hearing Gamelin's explanation, Reynaud's disgust towards him increased a bit more. After all, it was Gamelin who had confidently assured that the main German attack would be in Belgium, leading to the relocation of all the troops to Belgium. Now it seemed like jumping into a fire pit, didn't it?! "So, what should we do? Do you plan to watch our soldiers fall into an encirclement?"
"Of course not. What we can do now is to stabilize the 9th Army as much as possible. The 2nd Army should try its best to counterattack and see if it can seal the gap." At this point, Gamelin hesitated for a moment before revealing his plan. "Our troops in Belgium also need to prepare for a sea evacuation, but this requires assistance from the British."
"A sea evacuation?" As long as it could get these troops out of the encirclement, not to mention a sea evacuation, even digging a tunnel to retreat, Reynaud would readily agree. "Then quickly formulate a detailed plan, and I will contact the British side."
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