Chapter 317 The Belgian main force that was wiped out
The main Belgian forces assembled in the center were quickly annihilated by General Bock's Army Group B.
The war started with lightning speed and ended in the blink of an eye.
The 10 most elite reorganized divisions among the 22 divisions of the Belgian Army were divided and then annihilated by Army Group B with three armored divisions as the vanguard. The whole process was as simple as a pre-arranged exercise.
The prisoners with their hands raised in the air walked out of the ruins in a long queue, and were escorted by the infantry of Army Group B to gather in the temporary prisoner of war camp.
"No communication!" A sergeant holding an MP40 submachine gun pointed the muzzle at several Belgian prisoners who were speaking quietly.
The prisoners immediately shut their mouths and put on a submissive look.
The sun has just risen above the head. If it were normal, it would be time for them to start lunch.
But who would have thought that the central front, where Belgium's main force was concentrated, would collapse in one morning?!
Those bunkers, those trenches, those firepower points, those machine gun positions... The Belgian soldiers seemed to feel that all the previous defense preparations were in vain.
"Boom, boom, boom..." Several more tanks made heavy noises, rolling past the avenue next to the prisoners' queue.
The gravel piled up on both sides of the road was beating rapidly amidst the violent vibrations on the ground.
The hearts of the Belgian prisoners of war also beat violently.
The German army is really terrifying. They are like a huge steel roller machine that can crush any enemy's defense line.
The Belgian Army does not have armored forces. Their knowledge of armored forces is, at most, limited to the French ally's armored division consisting of R-35 light tanks.
Therefore, when the German T3 tank, which was much larger than the R-35 light tank, appeared in front of them, these Belgian infantrymen inevitably became timid.
They could not understand that the German Army, which they had treated as a soft persimmon in the Ruhr 17 years ago, would now remain such a terrifying force.
In less than a day, the German army defeated the main force of the Belgian army deployed on the border.
It is impossible to count on the combat effectiveness of the remaining 12 divisions of the Belgian Army. If the remaining troops are concentrated on one front like the main force, then the German army will only need half a day to eliminate them.
The entire Belgian army.
The defeat on the border was something the three-nation coalition had not expected. Not only the Belgian military, but even French General Gamelin, the commander-in-chief of the coalition before the war, believed that the main Belgian troops assembled for defense on the border would
It can hold the German army for at least 3 days.
Those three days were originally a critical time for the deployment of the main force of the coalition's counterattack.
Because of Belgium's neutral status, British and French troops had never had the opportunity to enter Belgian territory before.
After experiencing the loss of troops and loss of international reputation in the First World War in Norway, the British government changed its previous strong attitude and ordered Lord Gott, the commander of the expeditionary force, not to enter Belgian territory on his own initiative without the request of the Belgian government.
In Norway, the British army once landed on the territory of the Kingdom of Norway uninvited. As a result, two army divisions suffered total losses and actually surrendered to the German army.
Even the Royal Navy, which has always been full of glory, easily lost a powerful squadron with three cruisers and seven destroyers. Moreover, the captain of the three destroyers also chose to surrender like the Army.
The original violation of the neutral rights of neutral countries has already caused the British Empire to be condemned internationally. The surrender of both the army and the navy has completely lost the face of the empire as a superpower!
Given the lessons learned from the British expedition to Norway, how could the British dare to do the same thing by sending the French expeditionary force? It would be better for neutral countries to infringe less.
The French government has always maintained a good cooperative relationship with Belgium. In addition, General Gamelin, the commander-in-chief of the French army, wanted to conceal his strategic intention to counterattack the German army in Belgium, so the French army deliberately did not send a single soldier to Belgium.
Death.
Gamelin wanted to make the German army think that there were no allied troops on Belgian territory, so that they could then devote the main force to attack Belgium.
After the German army began to attack, Gamelin sent his troops eastward to counterattack the main force of the German army that had just broken through the Belgian defense line, catching Germany by surprise. In this way, the outcome of World War II was basically doomed.
However, the rapid collapse of the Belgian border defense line exceeded Gamelin's expectations, leaving the coalition counterattack forces with no time to deploy calmly.
It was not only beyond the expectations of the French high command, but also beyond the expectations of the Belgian military.
Because of the slightest illusion that it could maintain its neutral status, the Belgian government has not invited British and French troops to garrison its domestic defense lines.
After all, once that is done, Belgium will be equivalent to an ally of Britain and France, and will no longer be a neutral party.
Thinking that Germany might not rashly attack a neutral country, the Kingdom of Belgium took it for granted and maintained its image as a neutral country.
Neither their government nor the military have any objections to this. At worst, when the German army really comes, they can ask the British and French forces to enter. Anyway, ten of the most elite divisions in Belgium have been gathered on the border.
It can give the coalition forces several days of deployment buffer time.
It is a pity that Belgium's own elite troops cannot even compete with the German army's second-rate infantry divisions in terms of weapons, equipment and training level, let alone the first-rate armored divisions of the Third Reich.
It would be an exaggeration to say that the Belgian elite was completely defeated after a confrontation with the German armored forces.
This was not a wrong decision. In fact, everyone had previously believed that with ten Belgian main divisions stationed, it was impossible for the German army to achieve a breakthrough in a short period of time. Even if the German army finally defeated these ten main divisions,
At least it will have to wait until several days later.
By that time, the coalition forces had already deployed the troops in the rear and pulled up the strongest counterattack force in an orderly manner.
But no one expected that the 10 main divisions that had been searched through the entire Belgian Army would be instantly killed by the 3rd Armored Division of the German Army Group B.
The counterattack troops, who were originally expected to support the front line in time, had not received the order to set off at this time.
When they saw with their own eyes that the German T3 tanks were killing soldiers like chopping vegetables, while the few precious small-caliber anti-tank guns on their side could not even penetrate the opponent's armor, the officers could no longer control themselves.
of troops.
A strong enemy was right in front of them, but reinforcements were far behind. Despair enveloped all the border defenders. Not only the soldiers, but also their frontline commanders had lost the courage to resist.
They can only be swept away by the endless German T3 tank group, but they don't have a single artillery that can penetrate these tanks. Apart from raising their hands and surrendering, they really don't know how else to face the swarm.