Transmigrated as the Crown Prince

The French high command, which had been calm and composed before, was really panicked this time. Gamelin gritted his teeth and ordered Brigadier General Henry Lafontaine, the commander of the 55th Infantry Division, to be sent to a military court.

The rest of the people stared at the inconspicuous small city on the map with solemn expressions. Many people had an extremely dangerous premonition in their hearts, as if the other party had already understood the entire situation, and they were heading towards the dug hole. Jump into the trap!

But Gan Molin can no longer care so much. "The top priority now is to retake the Sedan Fortress. The main force of the German army must not be allowed to cross the Maas River! The bridge on the river has been blown up, and the German army will inevitably build a pontoon bridge to cross the river. Send bombers immediately to block the Germans from crossing the river!"

"..." Everyone couldn't help but look at each other.

Nowadays, it is well known that the performance of French fighter planes is not as good as that of the Germans. This is not a change brought about by Yannick's time travel. It has to start from the last world war.

At that time, in accordance with the Schlieffen Plan, the German army first captured Belgium, invaded France from the north, and then went straight to Paris to engage in a fierce battle with the British and French forces in northeastern France. What's terrible is that the Northeast region happens to be the industrial center of France, including the aviation industry. The protracted and fierce war destroyed France's industrial foundation, and a large number of skilled workers also died in the war.

The end of the war coincided with a worldwide economic crisis, which gave French industry no chance to recover.

On the other hand, in Germany, the mainland was not baptized by the flames of war during World War I, its industrial base was well preserved, most of the casualties in the war were professional soldiers, and the economy in the rear was relatively healthy. The Treaty of Versailles originally did not allow Germany to have any air force, but Germany has been secretly researching and developing air force through secret cooperation with the Soviet Union and using civil aviation as a cover.

Moreover, France is a traditional army power. The air force has always been an affiliate of the army. Its position on the battlefield is mainly to provide fire support for the army. The French have never thought that the air force can become an independent combat force and influence the battlefield situation.

The bombers sent to prevent the Belgian Germans from crossing the river in the previous two days were all wiped out, and only a few of the escorting fighter jets escaped. Wouldn't sending another plane mean to repeat the same mistake? !

Gan Molin noticed everyone's concerns and said confidently. "You can rest assured that this time with the latest fighter jets from our allies, we will definitely be able to defeat the German fighter jets!!"

"..." Listening to Gamelin's confident words, Viscount Gott couldn't help but smile bitterly in his heart. How can you be more confident than me?

Now the British and French fighter jets are completely at a disadvantage against the German BF-109, and they have not even been able to fully understand the specific performance of the BF-109. At this time, the German army actually put a new type of fighter into service. Who knows how much better this type of fighter is than the BF-109.

And the most important thing is that the Spitfire is still in the small-volume production and manufacturing stage. Only 30 fighters have been deployed to France this time. This was originally planned to be transferred to the front line in Brussels, Belgium.

Although he felt a little uneasy, he couldn't say these depressing words to hurt his own morale. He could only smile to show that everything was under control.

After ordering the dispatch of aviation troops, Gan Molin continued to dispatch troops and generals. "Are there any reinforcements near Sedan? Send all the troops that can be mobilized to stop the German army!" He did not dare to be negligent now. Once the main force of the German army crossed the Meuse River, the situation would take a turn for the worse.

If the main force of the German army crossing the river turns northwest, it will be able to weave an unprecedentedly huge net against the main force of the British and French allied forces in Belgium!

That was almost all the elites of the French field force, plus more than 40 divisions of the entire British Expeditionary Force! Once these main forces fall into encirclement, the battle will undoubtedly be lost.

"This open door must be closed again!"

After a busy period, everyone was pleasantly surprised to find that there was an infantry division in Mezières, 30 kilometers southwest of Sedan, that was preparing to deploy to the south bank of the Meuse River. As long as they could launch a counterattack, they should be able to gain one or two days for themselves. of precious time.

Moreover, there are still two tank divisions in reserve in Guize, Cambrai and other places, and an infantry division and an armored brigade newly landed by the British army also marched to the vicinity of Saint-Quentin, which was able to compete with those two tanks. The division attacked together. Even if the Germans successfully cross the river and turn northwest to outflank the main Allied force's retreat, they will be able to deliver a severe blow to the lone, deep-reaching force on the flanks and take advantage of the situation to establish a new line of defense.

Looking at the numbers of these two tank divisions, Gan Molin couldn't help but sigh with emotion. This was a mobile force established through de Gaulle's unremitting persistence and was originally considered a useless luxury. Unexpectedly, it has now become the only trump card that can make up for the crack in the sky.

Just like Churchill in Britain, Charles de Gaulle in France also paid close attention to the development of Germany after World War I and proposed the formation of an independent tank and armored force to save France, which was "in danger".

However, the French government, which adhered to the policy of appeasement, continued to "connive" with Germany; the French military, which adhered to the rules, tried to rely on the "Maginot Line" to resist foreign aggression.

De Gaulle had no choice but to run around advocating his own theories and would never give up until he achieved his goal. In 1934, he published a book called "Building a Professional Army" about advocating the establishment of an independent tank and armored force, confidently hoping to attract the attention of senior military officials.

However, he thought too much.

Unexpectedly, this book caused quite a stir in Germany, especially in the military circles. This book made de Gaulle an outstanding technical expert in the eyes of German generals.

Such an embarrassing situation made de Gaulle dumbfounded, but he became even more worried. Because the German army has begun to form a large-scale armored corps based on the theory in "Building a Professional Army".

The "insensitivity" of the French military leaders made him decide to rely on the power of public opinion to force him to submit. He sent books to news and newspaper departments, and often invited some reporters to dinner to "sell" his theories to them. However, he was unreasonably rejected by most people, even sarcastic and sarcastic, and was humiliated.

And he was just like Don Quixote, struggling feebly but unswervingly until death.

Hard work pays off. Several journalists were very interested in his tank theory, and they began to promote de Gaulle's ideas in newspapers and support the construction of tank and armored forces. What is somewhat gratifying is that some generals, politicians and other insightful people have also joined the ranks of supporting him and published articles in support of de Gaulle.

This is undoubtedly a challenge for admirers of the "Maginot Line". They relied on official support to carry out tit-for-tat "counterattacks" in the public opinion media. Some pointed out the weakness of tanks, some laughed at De Gaulle, and some even thought: Germany likes aggression, so it is not surprising to have tank divisions; France is peace-loving, and only needs defense without tanks.

For a time, the two sides were going back and forth in newspapers and magazines, refusing to give in to each other. What was originally an academic initiative turned into a war of mutual accusations. Instead of attracting the attention of the top military officials, some social groups also joined in the attack on De Gaulle, saying that he wanted to build his own army and was a "speculator". "Militant".

At this time, cabinet member Paul Reynaud was very supportive of the ideas proposed in de Gaulle's book "Building a Professional Army". In his opinion, with the armored tank corps, France has a promising future. As a result, in the debate in the House of Commons, Reynolds made an impassioned speech and succeeded.

Soon, the bill to establish a special force including seven mechanized divisions was sent to the Armed Forces Committee of the House of Commons for review. Of course, as a rule, the military needs to be consulted, and the result is predictably that they disagree. At the same time, senior military officials decided to "block" de Gaulle because he was "making trouble" everywhere regardless of his status as a soldier.

However, thanks to Renault's mediation, de Gaulle became the commander of the 507th Tank Regiment and was promoted to colonel in December 1937, but he was not happy about it. In his view, it was impossible to establish an independent armored tank force in France, and as war was approaching, he clearly realized that it was time to train the troops to prepare for the war.

World War II broke out and Germany invaded Poland. Just as de Gaulle predicted. The British and French forces huddled behind the "Maginot Line" and watched indifferently as the Allies were carved up.

At this time, de Gaulle, who was appointed tank commander of the 5th Army, was both happy and disappointed. He was pleased to see the superiority of the independent use of tanks and armored forces, and the effectiveness of rapid assaults. Disappointed, he submitted the summary report of the Polish campaign to the General Staff, hoping to attract attention and learn lessons, but nothing happened.

Gan Molin knew that these two tank divisions were far from reaching the division level of 500 tanks. Each division only had more than 100 tanks, which was equivalent to a tank regiment, and most of them were "old-fashioned" tanks.

But the current situation no longer allowed him to regret not listening to de Gaulle's advice. He ordered de Gaulle to lead these two dissatisfied tank divisions to intercept the German army.