At 5:40 pm on April 21, 1940, another howitzer bombardment came to an end. Rudolph Ribbentrop stretched out his neck from a fox pit he dug himself and looked forward. A sea breeze blowing from the English Channel passed, blowing away the smoke of the battlefield. The battlefield was full of wreckage of tanks, mostly British cruise tanks and French H35 light tanks. Both of these tanks had thin armor.

, the 42-diameter 50mm gun of the German No. 3 tank, could not resist the 42-diameter 50mm gun in today's battle. Some were the larger French S35 heavy tanks. Although this tank is known as heavy, its armor cannot be compared with the B1 heavy tank. The thickest armored steel on the front is only 56mm thick, and it also cannot withstand the 50mm gun of the No. 3 tank, so it was also destroyed in today's tank battle.

German tanks also suffered losses. Thirty or forty No. 3 and No. 4 were destroyed or abandoned, lying on the battlefield in a row, as if telling the cruelty of today's tank encounter.

Rudolph Ribbintrov estimated that his troops must have blocked the main force of the British and French coalition forces stationed in Belgium in Alas!

"Tank! The enemy's tank is coming!"

I don't know who suddenly shouted, and then Rudolph Ribbentrop heard the roar of the motor and the sound of the tracks crushing the ground. Compared with the previous few times, the sound he heard was louder this time, and it was obvious that a "big guy" came up.

After a few minutes, the rattle of the motor and tracks rolling became louder and louder, and dozens of slowly moving "big guys" tanks led the infantry to finally appear in Rudolph's sight.

What kind of tank is this? Rudolph Ribbintrov suddenly saw a large tank that he had never seen before. The wide body carries a turret that looks a bit small, and the turret is installed with a 37mm or 40mm cannon. The tiny gun barrel and the huge body are put together, which looks a bit out of proportion. Moreover, these large tanks with disproportionate proportions are very slow to drive, with a speed of at most ten kilometers per hour.

Rommel, the commander of the 7th Armored Division, put down the telescope in his hand, pointed to the tank that was slowly driving towards his frontier position in the distance, and said to Major General Hans Spidal (hes original adjutant of Hessman) of the 7th Armored Brigade: "Hans, another thick-skinned tank has come."

The one approaching is actually the British "Matilda" 2 tank. Although Rommel does not know the technical data of this tank. But looking at its size, speed and the small cannon, you will know that the tank is big and heavy, and its weight is all over the skin.

"Lieutenant General, the No. 3 tank may not be able to deal with it." Hans Spidal also agreed with Rommel's view. Such a large tank is still so slow to drive, and the gun caliber of the equipment is also small. If it is not covered in thick skin, wouldn't it be useless?

"Do you want to transfer a few 4 models?" Hans Spidal then suggested, "or use an 88mm gun to deal with it."

Each armored regiment of Type 4 has only half a company, and is reluctant to use it in normal times. It only pulls out and uses it when encountering thick-skinned tanks such as B1 or S35. The 88mm anti-aircraft gun is usually organized by the Air Force Air Defense Force and is temporarily assigned to each unit during wartime. Now, when operating with the 7th Armored Division, there is an anti-aircraft gun battalion equipped with 88mm anti-aircraft guns.

"First use 88mm anti-aircraft guns to attack," Rommel thought for a while, and then said, "The No. 4 model is also dispatched. After 88mm repels these thick-skinned tanks, let the 1st Battalion of the 25th Armored Regiment (the type is usually incorporated into the 1st Battalion of each armored regiment) be pursued... Let the infantry of the 'Great German' flag team cooperate to attack. If possible, get me a thick-skinned tank back."

Rommel had a premonition that the thick-skinned tanks on the opposite side might become a trouble for the German armored forces in the future. It is best to seize a few units and study them now.

"As for the order, Lieutenant General." Hans Spidal replied.

...

"Fleet! Rudolph, look at the direction at 9 o'clock and find an unknown fleet! Take someone to see."

At 6:20 pm, Lieutenant Rudolph von Heinsberg Hessmann, who was flying along the Belgian-Dutch coastline, suddenly heard the voice of the squadron leader Lieutenant Novotney from his headphones. Their original squadron leader Lieutenant Barr was out of trouble yesterday. He was shot down by British Spitfire over Bruges, parachuted into the Netherlands, and is now detained by the Netherlands.

Therefore, the squadron leader was vacant, so the two officers in the team, Novotney and Hessman, had to choose one of them to act as agents. Both of them were second lieutenants and were about the same age. Of course, Hessman won by his father, but the number of shots was Novotney. Moreover, Novotney had become the captain of the four-aircraft formation (who became the leader on April 18), so Novotney was now taking his squadron from Dunkirk (to perform escort missions) to Wilhelmshaven base, just passing through the sea off Belgium (they were going from the sea off Belgium and then flew back to Wilhelmshaven along the sea off the Netherlands).

“Hersman received.”

Rudolph von Heinsberg Hessman, the young man, did not rebel with Novotney because of the failure of the squadron leader competition. The two are still good friends.

"Squad 2, follow me." Rudolph Hessman gave orders to his three Fokker Zero.

He is now qualified to command the four-plane formation. From April 10 to now, he has shot down three coalition aircraft. Although he is still far from the ace pilot, he can rank third in the entire squadron (from April 10 to now, Novotney was the first to shoot down in the entire squadron, second was Lieutenant Barr and Hessmann, Jr.).

Driven by his Folk Zero, Hessman led three other wingmen and quickly approached the fleet that drove from afar. This was not an ordinary fleet, but a fleet of two cruisers and seven or eight destroyers, moving south quickly.

"Walter, I discovered the enemy fleet, with 2 cruisers and 8 destroyers..." Rudolf Hessman just reported his discovery when he heard the sound of a wingman coming from his headphones.

"Enemy planes! Discover enemy planes! At 10 o'clock, at a height of at least 2,000, and 3 aircraft."

Little Hessman turned his head and found three small oceanic gray-painted planes approaching him while climbing.

"It's three fire-breathing machines, we've got some work done now!" Little Hessman shouted, "All of them, follow me to climb!"

After several months of confrontation, the British also found some of the characteristics of the Folk Zero. This type of aircraft has a large range and the flexibility of medium and low altitudes is not easy to say. If anyone is entangled by them, pray to God. However, this type of aircraft is not undesirable. The way to deal with it is to seize the high-altitude position and then dive. Although the Folk Zero uses an air-cooled engine produced in Germany and has a much better quality than Japanese goods, it is still unsatisfactory in high-altitude performance (unless there is turbocharged, the high-altitude performance of the air-cooled engine is not very good).

However, it is not easy to compete for high-altitude positions with Folk Zero, because Folk Zero's climbing performance is good. Unless you are ambushing at high altitude in advance, you can't even beat the Zero even if you spit fire.

Moreover, the Fokker Zero pilots have experience in simulating air combat with the B-109 and know what the aircraft they are flying are deficient. Therefore, when there is no b-109 cover at high altitude, they will usually immediately seize the high altitude and then launch a dive attack first when they encounter enemy planes.

Hessman was lucky today. All the ships in the British deportation patrol formation did not search the air radar, so the Spitfire aircraft, which was in direct cover mission, did not seize the high-altitude position in advance. Instead, he let Hessman take the lead and earn the fourth result.

...

"Discovered at 6:20 next?"

When the news of the British driving the patrol formation to Belgium reached Berlin, Hessman attended the Command Department meeting at 73 William Street. Today, the Command Department meeting discussed the matter of attracting Italy and Japan to join.

Not long after the meeting began, Hessman's adjutant Schnez sent an emergency report from the Naval Air Force Command.

"What's wrong?" Adolf Hitler asked.

"Leader, the British are taking advantage of the night to withdraw troops," Hessman said. "There are 10 cruisers and destroyers heading to the port of Belgium."

"Can we stop it?" Schletcher asked. His question was not about Hessman, but about the Marshal Raidel who attended the meeting.

"We have submarines there," Raidel said, "but it's hard to say whether there will be any results. In addition, the main ship is dispatched..."

Submarine attack cruisers and destroyers is not very reliable, and the submarines sent by Denitz to the coast of Belgium did not carry a few torpedoes. They all went to mines to detect the enemy's situation.

"The main ship must not move," Hessmann did not want to use the main ship to take risks. "The aircraft will be arranged to bomb Belgian port tomorrow... and the 1st Armored Army, the 6th Army and the 18th Army will step up the attack, so many people will not escape."

Hessman said this, but he knew in his heart that there would definitely be many British people running away this time! More than 200,000 is impossible, but it is not certain to get a half-fold, and it is not certain to run away 100,000, but he has no choice now.
Chapter completed!