I was a tycoon in World War I: Starting to save France - Chapter 605

Cannons roared and smoke billowed.

The British defense line was six miles east of the fortress of Antwerp.

This location is actually not suitable for setting up a defensive line. It is at the farthest end of the heavy artillery range of the Antwerp Fortress and is almost beyond its “protective range”.

Major General Eden once made suggestions to Lieutenant General Ives about this: “At this distance, the fortress cannot provide fire support for the British army. Our artillery shells can only hit your trenches.”

Lieutenant General Ives responded this way: “Don’t worry, Major General, we don’t need fire support from the fortress. In this direction, what we are considering is not defense, but offense. Our defense line will keep pushing towards the Germans.”

But the facts gave Lieutenant General Ives a resounding slap in the face.

…

On the German offensive line, Lieutenant General Nicholas and Colonel Erwin stood on the hill to observe the German offensive.

In this battle, the 21st Army commanded by Nicholas served as the main offensive force to break through Antwerp.

In fact, it was not just the main attack, but the 53rd Army that followed was also under the command of Lieutenant General Nicholas. This was an order from the General Staff.

The air fighter jets roared towards the enemy, densely packed like a swarm of bees.

That is the improved “Fokker E2”. Although their performance is not as good as the French “Camel” fighter planes, most of the British and French fighter planes are on the Somme, Verdun, or on the Namur line and cannot reach Antwerp in time.

Who made Antwerp a British defense zone?

(The picture above shows the German “Fokker E2” fighter jet, with a top speed of 140 kilometers per hour. Although it is not as fast as the “Camel”‘s 190 kilometers per hour, it is significantly improved compared to the “Fokker E1″‘s 110 kilometers per hour)

“This is one of the few battles in which our army has air supremacy.” Nicholas looked at the fighter planes in the sky and felt quite emotional.

“Yes, General,” Erwin replied, “but I think the important thing is the tanks.”

Although aircraft are important, their role in a single battle, especially in a fast attack, is very limited.

“You mean LK1?” Nicholas turned his head and looked at Erwin standing behind him with doubtful eyes.

He never understood why Erwin, a tank expert, was so interested in this light tank, even after receiving the tanks and discovering that they were modified from retired cars.

“Yes, General.” Erwin said firmly: “LK1 may not be good enough. It cannot compete with the ‘Shire A1’, but what we are facing is the British ‘Whippet’ and the British tactics. ”

Just as he was talking, British tanks appeared behind their defense line, and a large number of “Whippets” numbered at least two hundred.

Nikolas’s expression condensed. This is not a good sign. The German army’s tanks, including the “Upper Silesia”, only have more than 300 tanks. If the “LK1″‘s rough manufacturing is taken into account, the strength of the two should be evenly matched. , I am afraid that it will be difficult for the German army to break through quickly.

But Erwin was not worried at all. He said calmly:

“The tactics of the British army are completely different from those of our army and the French army.” Erwin looked at the British army’s defense line from a distance: “They did not build anti-tank trenches, and the trenches were not even widened, which meant that our tanks could easily cross them. line of defense.”

This is the stubbornness of the British, or the arrogance of the first world powers. The British do not believe that the enemy has the ability to break through their defense lines.

Erwin added: “Their tactic is to use tanks to resist the attack of our tanks.”

Nicholas raised his binoculars and looked at the battlefield. The situation was indeed as Erwin said. The British army moved the tanks behind the infantry trenches to organize defenses, trying to block the torrent of German tanks with the infantry.

Nicholas said “hmm” and said with concern: “The problem is that the strength of the British armored forces is not inferior to ours. This tactic may be able to block our attack.”

Erwin shook his head slightly: “General, the Whippet may have an advantage against infantry, but against tanks, it can only be passively beaten.”

Nicholas was stunned, put away the telescope and asked: “Tell me the reason.”

“Speed, General,” Erwin replied:

“The top speed of the ‘Whippet’ is only 13 kilometers per hour, while our ‘LK1’ has a top speed of 18 kilometers per hour. This allows our tanks to easily occupy a favorable position by virtue of their speed advantage.”

“The setup of the Whippet’s four machine guns gives it many blind spots for firepower. There is almost no need to consider its firepower when approaching from the side and front.”

(The picture above shows the side view of the “Whippet”. Since there is no rotating turret, this angle is in the blind spot of its firepower, and there is also a large area of ​​vertical armor facing enemy firepower)

Nicholas understood. He turned to Colonel Erwin and asked with approval in his eyes: “So, you specially train our tanks to approach the enemy’s blind spot?”

Colonel Erwin smiled and nodded: “Why not?”

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While he was talking, the torrent of tanks from the British and German armies collided hard.

The battle turned out just as Erwin predicted. The two armies were immediately divided as soon as they came into contact. The British “Whippets” were paralyzed by the “LK1” one after another, while the “LK1” suffered almost no losses. , several of the vehicles that stopped seemed to be due to malfunctions.

Lieutenant General Nicholas saw clearly in the telescope that the “LK1” tank always used its high speed to seize a favorable position, and then slowed down after entering the blind spot of enemy fire to increase its attack time.

In addition, the German army was equipped with K bullets with strong armor-piercing ability, which only caused smoke to rise from British tanks one by one, and some of them caught fire because their engines were penetrated.

He was right, Lieutenant General Nicolas secretly praised him. Although the “LK1” was modified from a retired car and was much cheaper than the “Whippet”, the “Whippet” was simply vulnerable in front of it.

Then, under the cover of tanks, the German infantry rushed into the British trenches and killed them indiscriminately. From time to time, flamethrowers sprayed a long string of fire dragons into the British trenches, burning the British army.

That was the equipment invented by the German army not long ago, inspired by the Charles submachine gun and shotgun.

Due to the huge lethality of the French submachine gun in close combat, the German army immediately started its own submachine gun research and development plan, but this required a process.

During this window period, they urgently invested in this flamethrower that could burn and kill enemy troops in batches.

The firemen rolled and ran on the battlefield, screaming like the howl of a hungry wolf or the cry of a night owl. Even amid the sound of gunfire, they were extremely penetrating, striking the hearts of everyone on the battlefield and stirring up the fear buried in their hearts.

The British soldiers were terrified. They hurriedly climbed out of the trenches and stumbled away. They didn’t care even though they knew that doing so would expose their backs to the German army. They just wanted to escape from this terrifying purgatory and never come back!