mobilize

Although the dark shadows of war in the European skies had re-emerged, the New Year of 1940 arrived on time as always.

Gronau, Germany, Headquarters of Army Group E of the Wehrmacht.

"General Liszt, Happy New Year!" Army General Scherner, Chief of the General Staff of Army Group E, walked into the operational command room and said to Liszt, who was looking down at the map and thinking, "Today is New Year's Day, you are not going home. Would you like to spend more time with your wife and children?"

"The soldiers are still sticking to their posts, how can we, as commanders, leave them behind and leave the barracks?" Liszt raised his head and smiled at Sherner, "What's more, aren't you here? Sherner? General."

"Haha, yes." Sherner laughed twice, then walked up to Liszt and asked, "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking about how we should fight this battle." Liszt looked at the map and pondered, "Army Group A and Army Group C have completely entered the Netherlands, and the vanguard of the Allies has also begun to attack Belgium. The border moves, and in two days at the most, they can collide."

"Isn't it better? We don't need to be afraid of any enemies in the field," Scherner said.

"That was when our armored units had an advantage," Liszt added, "and now, the armored units of Army Groups A and C have been temporarily transferred to the Ardennes, where they are going to execute General Manstein. 'Operation Scythe', all the armoured units of our three army groups combined are only four armoured divisions, God, I really don't know what a lion would become if it lost its claws."

"Don't worry, General Liszt," Scherner comforted. "Even if a lion loses its claws, it's still a lion, and even if a sheep has teeth, it's just a sheep. You don't need to help us. Soldiers' combat effectiveness is concerned."

"I hope so... I hope Luxembourg can make a breakthrough as planned by Manstein," Liszt said.

"You don't seem to be very concerned about General Manstein's 'scythe operation'?" Scherner saw what Liszt was really worried about. What he really worried about was not whether his side could win, because he was originally worried He's not good at offense, he's good at defense.

What he was really worried about was progress in Luxembourg, where about 70% of Germany's armored forces were assembled today, and if they did not make the decisive breakthrough in the Ardennes as planned by Manstein, then the other two German All fronts would be stagnant as a result, bringing the entire tempo of the war to the tug-of-war that Germany least wanted to see.

For Germany, the tug-of-war is tantamount to chronic suicide.

"To be honest, yes, my chief of staff." Liszt admitted without hesitation, "I am very worried about General Manstein's 'scythe operation', although I personally don't know much about tank combat, but I know that armored commanders should try to avoid getting their troops into uneven terrain such as mountains, and General Manstein's plan goes against that."

Speaking of which, Lister paused, then looked directly at Scherner, and said slowly: "General Scherner, can our tanks be able to level the mountains and rivers under the command of his Manstein?"

"Obviously, no." Scherner shrugged, then turned around and walked towards the door of the command room, "But the Führer can!"

On January 2, 1940, 150,000 soldiers of the German Army Group E set off on a train and began to cross the German-Dutch border into the Netherlands, and drove all the way to the Dutch-French border.

On January 4, 1940, three British expeditionary divisions, 17 Belgian divisions, and the entire French First Army arrived at the Belgian-Dutch border, and opposite them were the German Wehrmacht Army Groups A, C, and E. Army Group and the northern campaign group consisting of two mechanized infantry divisions of the German SS.

"General! General!" De Gaulle waved a telegram, pushed open the door of Cammelin's office, and shouted happily, "The numbers of the German troops in Belgium have all been confirmed, they are the German Wehrmacht A and C. , the three army groups of E, and the two elite mechanized armored divisions of the SS! Their numbers are exactly the same as in the plan we captured!"

"Very good!" Kammelin took the telegram and said happily after taking two glances, "Two of the three ace army groups have come, and even the SS sent their most elite mechanized armored divisions to Belgium. Belgium is really their main direction! Holy Mother, thank you for helping me at the most critical time!"

"Yeah." De Gaulle said excitedly, "They have gathered their most elite troops together, and I think we have every chance to annihilate them in Belgium in one fell swoop!"

"Yes, we have a chance!" Cammelin nodded, then put the telegram in his hand aside, leaned down and looked at the map and said, "But we still need to continue to strengthen our strength in central Belgium, just rely on The First Army, the Ninth Army, the British Expeditionary Division and the Belgian Division had a hard time hitting the German elite in this open terrain."

"Continue to strengthen?" De Gaulle was stunned for a while, and his reason gradually suppressed his previous excitement, "Where did our troops continue to strengthen to central Belgium?"

"Here!" Gammelin pointed to Luxembourg, "Dump some of the troops from the southern region of Belgium (near the Ardennes region) to the center."

"The south?" De Gaulle frowned, "We don't have many troops here, and the Germans have an entire army group in Luxembourg. It's not good to draw from here..."

"What's wrong with this?" Gan Morin laughed, "E army group where they are located is called army group, but it is just composed of a group of recruits who have just joined the army. They lack training and equipment, The entire army group does not even have a few tanks, it is obviously a reserve army, do you think that a reserve army like this can break through the Ardennes alone?"

After listening to Gan Molin's words, de Gaulle thought about it carefully, and said, "Well, they really don't have the ability to break through, and the troops that have always been composed of pure infantry really don't need to worry too much."

"But then again, even if they have a large number of tanks, they can't attack us across the Ardennes area." Cammelin added, "So, let's transfer the southern armored troops to the middle, and also transfer some anti-tank guns. In the past, after all, in the flat field, German tanks were still quite a threat."