Swing sickle Ⅱ

At 4:00 a.m. on January 8, the offensive plan code-named "Scythe" was officially launched. The central German battle group mobilized a full 2,000 155mm artillery pieces, and bombarded the German border line of Luxembourg, which was only a few dozen kilometers away, for half an hour. Nearly 200,000 shells were fired.

This artillery fire is going to cut the altitude of Germany's Luxembourg border by three meters, until the central battle group consisting of Army Group F of the Wehrmacht, three Panzer divisions of the SS and four Panzergrenadier divisions of the German Wehrmacht arrives in the Alliance. When the army defended the position, all they saw was a piece of scorched earth, and even the traces of the previous trenches were completely erased.

At 6 am on January 8, the German SS SS17 "Belisingen" Panzergrenadier Division took the lead in entering Luxembourg City, the capital of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.

At exactly 6:20, all the armed forces in Luxembourg City were wiped out by "Belisingen", and the last policeman who persisted in fighting was knocked unconscious by the German army at the city hall and unarmed - a baton.

At 6:30, the current Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the Grand Duchess Charlotte Aldegand Elise Maria Wilhelmina, announced the defeat and surrender of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg at the Luxembourg City Hall. On behalf of the German head of state, the "Belisingen" division commander handed over his token.

From the German attack at 4 a.m. to the surrender at 6:30 a.m., the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg resisted for two and a half hours in front of the German second-line army group. national records.

After the war, Germany found the crux of why Luxembourg was helpless when collating data. The seven French divisions that had planned to defend Luxembourg were moved away from the German front in Luxembourg in turn before the Belgian war. Shoot down Luxembourg and Germany with zero casualties (except for some of the police who were knocked out)!

In other words, the Luxembourg border is completely undefended against Germany! The nearly 200,000 shells the Germans had previously fired were all wasted on the land.

Leon, who got this news, was almost stunned. He immediately investigated the intelligence agents in Luxembourg and found that there were only three Gestapo in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, and what was even worse was that none of the three Gestapo was deployed. in the army.

This directly led to the fact that when the French troops evacuated Luxembourg in batches, Germany did not receive the details of the evacuation, which made German high-level officials mistakenly believe that Luxembourg had at least more than 60,000 Allied troops defending.

The loss of nearly 200,000 shells made Leon furious, and he immediately ran to Reinhardt's office, pointing at his nose and scolding him.

Reinhardt was also embarrassed and wanted to find a crack in the ground to get in.

He always thought that Luxembourg, a small country, was not worth mentioning, so he did not put limited power on Luxembourg, let alone the Luxembourg army with only a few hundred people.

The central battle group that "defeated" Luxembourg in only two and a half hours did not stop their pace, but passed through Luxembourg at high speed, reaching the border of Rupee and Luffa.

At ten o'clock in the morning, the first part of the SS "Belisingen" Panzergrenadier Division, which had been rushing in the front, successfully arrived at Petange, which is only a few kilometers away from the junction of Luxembourg and Belgium, which is a distance from Luxembourg, Belgium. Arlon, an important town on the southern border of the province, is only ten kilometers away, and it is only a few hundred meters away from the southernmost city of Aubangge in Belgium!

Across a small forest, "Belisingen" even saw hundreds of Belgian soldiers digging trenches sweating like rain!

In the face of such a good thing, the Germans did not choose to wait for the follow-up troops, but launched a surprise attack directly on the Belgian troops.

Just over ten minutes later, the Allied forces of this division were slaughtered by the German army, and "Belisingen" became the first German army to enter southern Belgium.

Not long after the SS first entered Belgium, the second armored group of the Wehrmacht led by Rommel also rushed into southern Belgium, and the first armored group of the Wehrmacht led by Guderian also arrived at the Asheville line at the same time. , posing as if he was going from the Sherand invasion to Brussels, the capital of Belgium, to go straight to the middle of Belgium.

In the face of the massive German invasion, the Allies did not respond until nearly 1,500 tanks led by Rommel began to enter the Ardennes area.

Soon the Allies began the remedial action. Gammelin immediately dispatched more than 200,000 people from the French First Army, which was entangled with the German Army Group C near the Liège Province, to the front line from Nouvel to Toman, in an attempt to block the ancients. Derian's offensive.

It is a pity that Model, who had been leading the troops in a defensive posture, made him underestimate the threat posed by the German Army Group C.

Although the mobilization of the French army was very secretive, Model was still keenly aware of the new trends of the French First Army Group.

In just three hours, Army Group C defeated the remaining 100,000 people of the French First Army who stood in front of them, captured Liège, the capital of Liège Province, and then took the ten thousand momentum to Brussels, 80 kilometers away. Interspersed at high speed.

While his troops were fighting hotly, the Rommel cluster on the other side seemed very comfortable. They successfully passed through the Ardennes with poor road conditions at 3 o'clock in the afternoon and arrived at Nechateau. They did not touch each other along the way. Even if they were blocked by a little bit, southern Belgium seemed to open the door to them.

He lost several lands in a day, which made Gan Morin panic.

It's not in the middle of Belgium anyway, Kammelin thought bitterly.

"We, what should we do?" Inside the Allied High Command, Gan Morin sighed softly, looking at the red arrows on the map representing the direction of the German attack.

"General, why don't we withdraw the main force from Belgium," said one of Gammelin's staff. "The German offensive is too fierce, and it is difficult for us to gain a firm foothold."

"I don't agree!" A senior Belgian general stood up angrily after hearing this, "We can't retreat, we must defend our capital!"

"Can you keep it?" the French army staff retorted, "Most of the soldiers fighting in Belgium are our soldiers, and we must bring them home!"

"But..." What else did the Belgian general want to say.

"Stop arguing!" Cammelin roared, then turned to look at de Gaulle, "Charles, tell me, what should we do?"