CHAPTER 695: CHAPTER 695: RECAPTURE THE BRIDGE

It’s unclear who started it, but the German artillerymen suddenly became frantic, attempting their last desperate struggle.

But it was all meaningless.

The French Army pulled the trigger without hesitation, gunfire echoing throughout, German soldiers falling one by one into pools of blood.

After a few minutes of intense gunfire that gradually subsided, only the French soldiers shouting in rough German could be heard:

"Hands up!"

"Drop your guns if you want to live."

"We won’t harm you, surrender is a wise choice!"

...

The Germans realized they couldn’t fight off this French Army in front of them. They were artillerymen with no combat experience and poorly equipped, while the French had tanks.

The machine guns and 37mm caliber cannons on the tank turrets formed an indescribable pressure and deterrence to the German artillerymen who had never faced enemies in close combat.

Thus, before the battle even heated up, the German artillerymen were already surrendering in droves.

This was the second large-scale capture by the French Army.

The first time was in Meziere City, where the amount of captured ammunition and supplies was uncountable, too many to be counted.

It’s known that seven warehouses in the Arden Mountains forests and thirteen warehouses near the train station were almost all full.

With these supplies, there was basically no need to worry about food, ammunition, and fuel problems. Even if the city was completely blockaded by the German Army, it could hold out for months.

The second time was this surprise attack on the German artillery positions on the west bank of the Meuse River, capturing 63 German-style 105mm howitzers and a large number of shells.

These howitzers were absolute treasures for the French Army, which sorely lacked large-caliber howitzers.

At this time, Schneider was fully producing and importing in reverse from Italy, only managing to accumulate 103 guns until now.

There were only 103 guns nationwide, yet to be put to the battlefield because of the worry that they would quickly be used up by the German Army.

But on the battlefield, Shire captured 63 guns in one go.

...

After their victory, the French Army didn’t stop. They swiftly maneuvered south along the Meuse River.

Because the German defensive line was deployed along the river, and the First Armored Division was penetrating from about a kilometer behind this line, all they encountered were artillerymen, command posts, logistics units, warehouses...

All units were thus easy to overthrow, and any hurriedly organized resistance was effortlessly crushed with a few gunshots.

In the end, the French Army destroyed ten regimental command posts, six brigade command posts, four divisional command posts, and two corps command posts.

They killed, wounded, or captured as many as 33 major generals, with countless other officers.

Even Vice Admiral Nicholas, the commander of the 21st Group Army, fled in a rush, unable to take or destroy the classified files in the command post, which allowed the French Army to gain immediate control of all the German Army’s intelligence on the surrounding area.

They had precise information on positions, strengths, and unit numbers.

Most importantly, half an hour later, the First Armored Division successfully seized the strategic bridge 7 kilometers upstream.

The bridge was rigged with explosives by the German Army, with an infantry battalion stationed there to protect the bridge.

Their orders were: if they couldn’t hold the bridge, to blow it up, ensuring the French Army couldn’t cross from there.

However, ...

With all upper command posts flattened by the First Armored Division like a bulldozer, this unit lost their command, contact, and even knew nothing about the situation of the main forces.

Without the order to blow up the bridge, they dared not act rashly, especially since the main forces reinforcing Sedan also relied on this bridge.

More importantly, their orders were to ensure the French Army couldn’t cross this bridge.

Now, the French weren’t coming from the far end of the bridge, but suddenly appeared on their flank and rear. Did this fit the criteria for blowing up the bridge?

Certainly not!

To blow or not to blow?

If they blew up the bridge, what would they do if the German Army counterattacked or besieged Mezieres and needed this bridge?

They only had a few minutes of consideration, then they saw the French tanks roaring towards them.

Machine guns and artillery fire rained down on them, and planes swooped towards them with a shrill noise.

In the end, Captain Noah, who was guarding the bridge, chose to do nothing and fled with his men.

After successfully seizing this bridge, the following tasks became much simpler.

The First Armored Army had more than 300 tanks, only 100 of which had been urgently converted into "amphibious tanks" to cross the river, losing 27 during the battle.

Most of the losses happened when tanks got stuck in the mud while crossing or got their engines soaked, rendering them unrepairable.

If they had not captured the bridge, the 200 tanks in Mezieres would have had difficulty crossing the river unless they built a pontoon bridge or converted all tanks into "amphibious tanks."

Even so, there would still be supply and reinforcement issues in future operations, and the west and east banks of the Meuse River could easily be divided and cut off by the German Army.

Now, with the bridge under French control, all problems were solved.

Shire immediately deployed a mechanized regiment to guard the bridge, followed by the deployment of the two artillery regiments they had just captured, one on each bank of the river.

...

In Paris, people had not yet received the news of victory on the front by dawn.

After a night of reflection, the citizens of Paris gradually recovered from the ecstasy of recapturing Meziere.

They observed that Shire’s forces did not expand their achievements but showed signs of being encircled by the German Army in Meziere.

In the morning, people bought newspapers and saw many comments unfavorable to Shire:

"This is not good news. Although Shire recaptured Meziere, if he can’t break out of the encirclement, then it’s just recapturing Meziere."

"Yes, and Meziere will become a ruin, and we will get nothing because the Germans will flatten it."

"This may become Shire’s greatest failure, even though his crossing of the Arden Mountains was astonishing, the results are not as great as imagined."

"We even need to consider the issue of resettling the citizens of Mezieres. What will they do? Cross the Arden Mountains to escape to Belgium?"

...

The capitalists and parliamentarians breathed a sigh of relief in secret.

Shire’s failure was their victory. Otherwise, Shire could become an unshakable existence through this battle.

However, just as they regained their courage and attempted to spread unfavorable opinions about Shire through bribes, news of victory arrived again from the front:

"Shire has defeated the Germans, again!"

"Early this morning, Shire’s troops broke through the German encirclement, and the German Army was defeated!"

"The German defensive line on the west bank of the Meuse River no longer exists, comprising three infantry divisions and one artillery division, with a total strength of over 70,000 men!"

"The Germans had the natural barrier of the Meuse River and an absolute numerical advantage, but were still ruthlessly defeated by Shire!"

...

Once again, the people of France cheered loudly for Shire’s victory.