Republic of China game

Page 565

"Fuwen, I just received a telegram from the CCP. They decided to support the Communist Party of India to establish the Socialist Union of India. I hope we can recognize it as soon as possible. In addition, they also want to use gold to buy a batch of weapons and equipment from us. Armed Comintern South Asian Army."

Luo Yaoguo took a yellow newspaper from Natalie's hand, glanced at it, and said indifferently: "Gold? It seems that Indian feudal landlords and princes are still very rich! Well then, call the CCP, We will recognize the Socialist Union of India as soon as possible, but the eastern section of the Sino-Indian border must be bounded by the Brahmaputra River. As for the purchase of weapons, after the establishment of the Socialist Union of India, the country Purchased in the name of..."

"Fuwen, I think it's better to have a long-term plan for the sale of arms." Bai Chongxi suddenly spoke at this moment, interrupting Luo Yaoguo.

"Oh why?"

"The CCP just defeated the British and Indian troops in the Battle of Jamshedpur, and now they have the upper hand. If we sell arms to them again, in case they unify India, we will..."

"This..." Luo Yaoguo frowned, as if he was in a dilemma.It is obviously not in China's interest to let India be unified under the socialist system so early.But that gold is so tempting... Thinking about the wealth accumulated by the Brahmins and Dishalis in India for nearly 4000 years, it is really coveted!

"Fuwen, I have a plan for both." Natalie said in a low voice.

"What can you do?" Luo Yaoguo asked curiously.

Natalie smiled and said: "In fact, we can recognize the two central governments of India at the same time. New Delhi used to follow Britain in declaring war on us. Now that they have just become independent, they don't want to make an enemy like us right away. ?”

"It makes sense. Gandhi and Nehru are not fools. Declaring war on us is of no benefit to them. Among other things, our navy alone can trap them to death."

Natalie smiled lightly and said: "Yes, although India has a certain military industrial base, but now it is in such a state of chaos, I am afraid that they can't produce much arms, right? And their military industry is not complete. Many weapon parts and components Raw materials have to be imported from the UK. Now that the Indian Ocean is under our control, they can only buy from us at a high price if they want to import."

"Then what about Ma Bufang and the others? They haven't entered India yet. If we want to recognize the government of the Indian National Congress, we should wait until Ma Bufang and the others have gained a foothold in northwest India." Luo Yaoguo thought for a while, and then asked Bai Chongxi. : "When can they send troops from the Muslim coalition?"

Bai Chongxi raised his wrist and looked at his watch, he laughed and said, "They have entered India now!"

Chapter 0858 The Ardennes Offensive of 1939 ([-]) in Bastogne

阿登高地位于比利时东南、卢森堡北部和法国东北部的森林台地。面积约1万平方公里。多森林、泥炭地和沼泽。最高点博特朗日山的海拔为694米，全长950公里的马斯河就从这片丘陵地带的北面通过。在历史上的第二次世界大战中，希特勒的大军曾经在1940年5月和1944年12月两度在这里实施突袭。而在这个被扭曲了的历史中，纳粹德国的军事高层们最终还是将突破英法联军防线的地点选择在了这个阿登高原。

Judging from a one-fifty-thousandth military map spread out on the front cover of the half-track armored vehicle, this forest-covered platform with rivers and rivers seems to be the core of the entire Western European battlefield!On the south of the Ardennes Plateau is the Maginot Line of Defense built by the French at a huge expense. It is said that to break through this line of defense, at least 700mm siege cannons are needed!Anyway, the Germans don't have such large-caliber artillery right now, so this line of defense cannot be breached theoretically.Now, the French have concentrated 20 to 22 fortress divisions or reserve divisions on that line of defense, deploying about 40 troops.

In the north of the Ardennes Plateau is the main battlefield where the Anglo-French coalition forces (including the Belgian and Dutch forces) are currently fighting with the Chinese and German coalition forces.More than 150 million British and French allied forces have entered Belgium, deployed along the Liege defense line, and fought side by side with more than 30 Belgian troops.Confronting them opposite them is the German Army Group A, which also has nearly 200 million troops, including a powerful German Armored Army (China's Fourth Armored Division is also incorporated into this armored army).

In the northwest of the Ardennes Plateau is the heavy industry center in northern France. According to the reconnaissance of the German intelligence agency, the French have deployed nearly 50 troops there, and one of them includes two armored divisions and a motorized infantry division. French Armored Group.

In addition, to the west of the Ardennes Plateau, across the Maas River, is Sedan, an important town in eastern France.About 250 kilometers southwest of Sedan is Paris, the capital of France!More than half of the wealth of the entire French Empire is concentrated there.And advancing 280 kilometers northwest from Sedan, you can reach Dunkirk, an important port in northwestern France... Once the Chinese and German coalition forces capture there, they will complete the encirclement of the main force of the British and French coalition forces!By then, the entire French campaign will almost be decided.

On this map, in the direction of the Ardennes, there is a particularly eye-catching blue arrow extending from the Prum region in Germany, passing through northern Luxembourg, southeastern Belgium, and straight into Sedan in northeastern France, just passing through across the Ardennes.And what blue represents in the tactical symbols currently adopted by the German army is their ally, the Chinese National Defense Forces!In other words, it was the 12 troops of the First Armored Army (owed to the Fourth Armored Division) of the Chinese National Defense Army who were responsible for crossing the Ardennes Highlands, forcibly crossing the Maas River, and capturing Sedan!

According to the "Manstein Plan" formulated by the German High Command, after the capture of Sedan, the Chinese First Armored Army will have to advance 50 to 100 kilometers northwest to seek the armored group deployed with the French in northeastern France decisive battle!After destroying this French armored group, they can turn to rest and wait for the order to attack Paris.The capture of Paris was Hitler's reward to the Chinese Armored Army-this is also the request China made to Hitler.

It's just that the attractive prize of Paris doesn't seem to be so easy to get.Because the British and French allied forces are now also paying attention to the Ardennes Highlands.The first day of the Chinese First Armored Army's breakthrough was relatively smooth. Without encountering any effective resistance, it easily advanced 60 kilometers to the southwest of the small Belgian city of Bastogne.There, the First Panzer Army commanded by Admiral Huang Guyu encountered resistance from an unknown number of French troops.

After receiving the report from the vanguard, Huang Guyu immediately summoned his staff and discussed countermeasures by the front cover of a half-track armored command vehicle.

"Everyone, I believe you also understand the mission of our First Armored Army. We must break through the Ardennes Forest before the British and French allied forces react, and forcefully cross the Maas River to capture Sedan. Moreover, the faster we complete these missions The better, otherwise the more than 200 million British and French allied forces assembled in Belgium and northeastern France may jump out of our encirclement, and the French campaign will be protracted." Huang Guyu raised his head and glanced at the crowd , Emphasized the tone and said: "The assistant commander hopes that the French campaign will end in May! Because we need a powerful Germany that rules most of Europe."

Hearing the meaning of quick victory over Luo Yaoguo in France, all the people present immediately started whispering, and after a while, Lieutenant General Dai Anlan, chief of staff of the group army, spoke first: "Jun Zuo, this Bastogne is an important traffic station in the Ardennes forest area." The main road, there are two important roads crossing there, one of which leads to the north of Belgium. If we want to move westward with peace of mind, we must seize it and cut off the road for the main force of the Anglo-French coalition in northern Belgium to go south. Therefore, I suggest , we should give full play to the advantages of our armored army's strong firepower and impact, concentrate on attacking the opponent, and strive to capture the city within 24 hours and open up the road to the west! But at the same time, we should also send light armored grenadiers from Pakistan Go around Stoney to the south and move westward quickly, trying to advance to the east bank of the Maas River as soon as possible." Said, Dai Anlan drew the offensive line on the map with red and blue pencils. "According to the reconnaissance of the vanguard, the French have a Moroccan infantry division stationed in Bastogne..."

"It's a Moroccan division. The fighting power of these North Africans is not weak." Huang Guyu muttered softly, interrupting Dai Anlan's words.

Morocco is a French colony, and the so-called Moroccan Division is actually a colonial unit with French officers as the main officers and soldiers recruited from the Moroccan colony.However, unlike the British and Indian troops in the United Kingdom, the French Moroccan Division or North African Division is the most elite infantry unit of the French Army.Whether it is weaponry or troop training, these colonial divisions are better than other French infantry divisions, and due to generous salaries (for Moroccan soldiers) and good supplies, the morale of these colonial divisions is very high.In the previous battles in Belgium, even the German troops who had participated in the Eastern Front War suffered some losses in their hands.Therefore, it is indeed a big trouble to have a Moroccan division stuck in Bastoni now.Although the strength of a mere division is not enough to withstand the 10,000+ army of the First Armored Army, it is still very possible to delay it for three to five days.At that time, reinforcements from the British and French allied forces may come in a steady stream.

"Commander, please entrust the task of capturing Bastogne to our First Armored Army! I promise to destroy that Moroccan division within 24 hours and open up the main route for the army to advance westward." Xu Yunlong, the commander of the First Armored Army, entered Will stand up and volunteer at this time.

"Well! With the fighting power of the First Armored Army, there is no problem in taking down Bastoni." After hearing Xu Yunlong's determination, Huang Guyu nodded slightly, but his eyebrows gradually twitched stand up. "But judging from the terrain around Bastoni," he said, pointing to the large dense forests on both sides of the road, "here is densely forested, which is very unfavorable for armored troops to attack. The Moroccan division currently defending Bastoni is Relying on the large forest outside the city of Bastogne, and the firepower of the French infantry divisions is very strong, especially after the Soviet-Polish War in 1937, the French focused on strengthening the anti-tank firepower of the infantry divisions, and each infantry division was equipped with An anti-tank artillery battalion was established, and each infantry brigade was also equipped with an anti-tank artillery company. The whole division was equipped with a total of 30 47mm anti-tank guns. This kind of artillery can already threaten our No. 800 at a distance of 500 meters , at a distance of [-] meters, the Panzer III should be easily destroyed... If we rush to use armored forces to attack Bastogne, the losses will be very heavy. And according to the plan, after we break through the Ardennes Forest, we will still There will be a battle with the French armored groups, and if we lose too much, it will be difficult to defeat them."

Speaking of this, Huang Guyu glanced at the surrounding dense forest again.After the German High Command declared war on Britain and France on November 11, the reason for the delay in launching an offensive was the 6 armored divisions owned by Britain and France.These armored divisions plus the impregnable Maginot Line, as well as the nearly 14 million troops assembled in northeastern France, made the German high command find no place to talk for a while!Although the plan proposed by Lieutenant General Manstein was supported by Hitler and some high-level German troops, the opponents also put forward very tenable reasons.

Due to the limited traffic capacity of the Ardennes Forest, according to the estimates of the German High Command, the roads there cannot allow too many German (Chinese) armored divisions to pass at the same time.Therefore, the armored forces that ventured to break through the Ardennes Forest are likely to have a decisive battle with as many as 14 British and French armored divisions in northeastern France!Because it is only two to three hundred kilometers from northeastern France to Sedan, and the traffic conditions are good, and it is relatively far from the German air force base. Being greatly restricted, there is no way to exert its full power.

In this case, facing an enemy with several times the advantage, those German (Chinese) armored divisions may not have much chance of winning!Therefore, in order to formulate a feasible plan, the time for the German attack could only be delayed again and again. It was not until March this year that Lieutenant General Rommel proposed a feint attack on Belgium and the Netherlands to attract the British and French armored forces to enter the German air base. Belgium, which is closer, will then use 3 armored divisions and several panzergrenadier divisions as the vanguard to conduct a breakthrough from the Ardennes Forest.

But no one thought that it was precisely to cover the main force of the Anglo-French coalition forces entering northern Belgium that the French command sent the second Moroccan infantry division into the Ardennes Forest for defense.

"Jun Zuo, I think the British and French allied forces should have guessed our intentions by now?" At this time, a staff officer of the group army headquarters suddenly reminded in a low voice.While speaking, he pointed to the north bank of the Maas River on the map. "There are the main forces of the British and French allied forces there, and there are 10 armored divisions alone."

"Oh?" Huang Guyu glanced at the map along the place pointed out by the other party. There are several roads extending south from the north bank of the Maas River through the Ardennes Forest. "You mean that the Anglo-French coalition forces will soon send a large army south to attack our flank?"

"Yes, sir!" replied the staff officer. "Thanks to the presence of this Moroccan division, our plan to sneak across the Ardennes Forest and launch a surprise attack has actually failed. Even if we can continue to advance around Bastogne, we will lose Due to the suddenness, and because Bastogne blocked a major road, we will not have too many troops to bypass Bastogne. If Stoney advances again, it will take at least 24 hours." He glanced at Xu Yunlong, the commander of the First Armored Corps, and said: "Besides, I estimate that it will be difficult for our army to capture Bastony within 24 hours. Now our The armored forces are blocked on the road, and they can't even fully deploy in 24 hours..."

"Not bad! Not bad! You are right. It is very difficult for our armored army to complete the deployment in 24 hours." After listening to the other party's explanation, Huang Guyu looked back at the road and couldn't see one after another. The vehicles on the side kept nodding.Then he looked at each other again.This is a lieutenant colonel in his 20s wearing a black armor uniform.He is very handsome, with a tall nose on a rectangular face, and a pair of eyes revealing a bit of shrewdness.Huang Xuchu recognized this person as Huang Yongsheng, who was an "elite staff officer" trained all the way from the third period of the Central Army Primary School, the [-]th period of Whampoa, and the tenth period of Lu University.

"Yongsheng, let's talk about it, do you have any suggestions?" Huang Guyu asked.

"Okay, sir!" Huang Yongsheng said: "Because we will definitely be dragged down by the Moroccan infantry division sticking to Bastogne, the plan to quickly pass through the Ardennes Forest is definitely impossible to realize. Therefore, we should immediately change the original The plan is to place the battlefield directly in the Ardennes Forest. We can surround this Moroccan infantry division and attract the reinforcements of the British and French coalition forces into the northern part of the Ardennes Forest...Because the Belgian railways and roads are constantly being bombed by the Luftwaffe, the coalition forces are on the Maas River. The mechanized troops on the shore did not dare to act during the day. They would have to spend at least one night to gather and then spend two to three nights marching to enter the northern part of the Ardennes Forest.

And we happened to use this time to deploy our troops in the Ardennes Forest area. Although the terrain here is not conducive to the attack of tank troops, it is conducive to our use of anti-tank weapons to attack the armored forces of the British and French coalition forces.Now the anti-tank guns of our army have been replaced by the 27mm anti-tank guns of the 57th year of the People's Republic of China. This kind of artillery is so powerful that even our No. [-] tanks cannot withstand it, and most of the French and British tanks cannot withstand it.And our No. [-] and No. [-] (not historical models) tanks can also ambush the armored forces of the British and French allied forces in the dense forest of the Ardennes Forest.As long as we can take advantage of the favorable terrain of the Ardennes Forest, we will definitely be able to defeat several armored divisions of the British and French allied forces. "

"But in this way, we will not be able to complete the deployment of the German High Command to encircle the main force of the Anglo-French coalition forces in northeastern France and northern Belgium." Dai Anlan frowned and reminded.

"Sit, there is no way to complete the deployment of the German High Command." Huang Yongsheng shrugged, and said with a wry smile: "If we divide our troops to surround Bastogne, and then detour through the Ardennes Forest, at most two armored divisions can arrive on time. On the east bank of the Meuse River, even if this force can defeat the four French infantry divisions defending the Meuse River, it is impossible to defeat an armored group army coming from northeastern France. Moreover, in a maximum of four days, the British and French allied forces will come from Belgium Deploy the mechanized troops to the south to attack the flanks of our two armored divisions, and the consequences will be disastrous!"

Having said that, Huang Yongsheng paused, and his tone became more serious. "Junzuo, Canzao, the First Armored Army is our country's only bargaining chip in the European War. If we want to gain enough benefits from France, we must keep the First Armored Army basically intact!"

"Not bad! What Yongsheng said is very good!" Huang Guyu pondered for a moment, then nodded. "We can't pin our hopes on the opponent's stupidity, let alone use our Chinese armored forces to take risks for Hitler. If we don't have troops in France after the war...how much say can we have in the peace treaty?" said Here, Huang Xuchu took a command stick from the adjutant, tapped on the map and said: "Everyone, I completely agree with Lieutenant Colonel Huang Yongsheng! We want to change the original plan and place the battlefield in the Ardennes Forest." Stretching out his baton, he stroked lightly on the northern edge of the Ardennes Forest, "The [-]st and [-]nd Panzergrenadier Divisions are each equipped with a heavy tank battalion and a heavy anti-aircraft artillery battalion, deployed at various intersections in the northern Ardennes Forest. Yunlong, you are in charge of commanding the battle in this direction."

"The [-]st Armored Division, [-]th Armored Grenadier Brigade, [-]st Armored Corps, and units directly under the [-]nd Armored Corps are responsible for encircling Bastoni. The above-mentioned forces are under the unified command of myself."

"Furthermore, the [-]th Armored Division (owed to the [-]th Panzergrenadier Brigade) advances around Bastogne towards the western edge of the Ardennes Forest until it reaches the west bank of the Meuse."

"Oh, and also, send power to Army Group B and report to Marshal von Blogger that our Chinese First Armored Army has encountered at least two Moroccan infantry divisions in Bastogne. Now we are going to destroy these two Moroccan divisions first and open the West way in."

Chapter 0859 Ardennes Offensive in 1939 ([-]) Decisive Battle

1939年4月27日，晚上8点30分。

On the ten-kilometer-long front on the northern edge of the Ardennes Forest, countless signal flares rose from the French positions in the north of the forest almost at the same time.There are red, yellow, and green ones, all of which are giving orders to shoot to the rear artillery group.One day before, the French had invested a Moroccan infantry division to conduct several rounds of fire reconnaissance against the Chinese armored grenadiers holding on to the northern defense line of the Ardennes Forest.Ascertained the reality of some Chinese people.The defense line of the Chinese army is very sloppy. There are no deer villages and barbed wire fences hundreds of yards wide, no dense minefields, and no deep and long trench fortifications. And know.Moreover, there are not many Chinese machine gun firing points, and no permanent anti-tank gun firepower fortifications have been found.In most areas, there are only a few shallow trenches and temporary fortifications made of sawn down trees... Such a line of defense is simply vulnerable to the French Army, which is good at fighting positional warfare!However, in order to ensure that the armored forces can break through the Chinese defense line at one time, the French still showed the strength to fight the positional warfare of World War I, and mobilized more than 1500 artillery pieces with 75mm, 105mm and 155mm calibers from the north of the Maas River.At this moment, they began to show their power at the same time!

The whole front began to burst into pieces of orange flames, and then there was an earth-shattering explosion, as if an eight-magnitude earthquake had occurred. More than 1500 cannons spit out flames.Strictly follow the coordinates determined in advance to project the shells.If you look down from the air, you will find that a fire wall with a length of more than ten kilometers and a width of several thousand meters seems to have ignited on the northern edge of the Ardennes Forest, and this fire wall is still slowly moving southward, as if I want to burn the entire forest and all life in it to ashes!

Standing on the high ground where the headquarters of the Ninth Armored Grenadier Brigade of the Chinese National Defense Army is located, the French cannons made a sound like a hurricane, and it became more and more intense and fierce.The ground was vibrating violently, as if it would soon be broken into pieces. Large and small explosion spots erupted on the front line, and the smoke and dust mixed with the flames went straight into the sky.The intense gunpowder smoke has covered the entire position, as if there is a cannon fodder hell shrouded in smoke.

However, in the view of Major General Pan Ershen, commander of the 601th Armored Grenadier Brigade, and Lieutenant Colonel Zhang Bingjun, commander of the [-]st Heavy Tank Battalion, although the French have formed many armored divisions, their combat thinking still seems to be World War I style. .What they rely on is not the impact and maneuverability of the tank, nor is there any infantry-tank coordination, ground-air coordination, but the endless, large-scale long-term bombardment of the whole line in the Verdun model... completely disregarding Cover up your own combat attempts, and don't pursue any suddenness of the battle.The fire reconnaissance continued for a day, and at the same time, it blatantly assembled troops under the nose of the Luftwaffe and mobilized heavy weapons (of course, a lot of them were blown up).If nothing unexpected happened, the Frenchman's bombardment might last all night, right?The Frenchman's tanks won't start their assault until tomorrow morning, right?

Because, according to the weather forecast, the whole of Belgium will be covered by rain clouds tomorrow, and the German planes can only withdraw from the sky temporarily.Therefore, the Army Command had long expected that the French army would take advantage of tonight's darkness and tomorrow's rain to launch a general offensive.However, they did not expect that the French would spend the whole night carrying out such ineffective bombardment.

It’s just that this kind of firepower preparation is of course effective against the infantry who stuck to the trenches in World War I, but after more than 20 years, it seems to be a bit outdated to deal with the mechanized troops that are excited and flexible, and have strong firepower and air superiority.Especially in this battle, China's two armored grenadier divisions and a small number of No. 2 heavy tanks fought on the battlefield in most of the Ardennes Forest, and they didn't care about the thin lines of defense at all.Unless the French were able to destroy the entire forest with artillery... which is obviously impossible, this massive bombardment was simply a waste of ammunition.

And of course, precious time!

According to reconnaissance, the French began to mobilize their forces at the same time that Bastogne was attacked by the Chinese army.It took them two full days to mobilize and deploy an army group from the north bank of the Maas River, including an armored division, a light mechanized division (actually a newly formed and ill-equipped armored division), two Infantry Corps (under the jurisdiction of a motorized infantry division and a Moroccan infantry division), and a powerful artillery group.These troops were transported by a convoy of trucks and buses from the Maas River directly to the small plain north of the Ardennes Forest.However, during the first day of transportation, they were indiscriminately bombed by hundreds of Stuka dive bombers, losing hundreds of vehicles of various types, and the entire road was covered with burning vehicle wreckage.After that, the French wisely gave up daytime transportation, and used two nights to deploy all troops in place.Then there was slow fire reconnaissance and shelling. It seemed that the French didn't care that the Chinese and German coalition forces went west to copy their back after eating the Moroccan division of Bastoni.

At this moment, the cannons rumbled.

Pan Ershen and Zhang Bingjun stood on a high place on a small hill, watching the tumbling flames and smoke with binoculars.They had also seen such a scene under the Chita Fortress during the anti-Souvier War in 1937, but at that time it was the enemy who was bombed, but this time it was themselves.Fortunately, the headquarters of the First Panzer Army had already accurately judged the start time of the shelling from the French army's vigorous pre-war preparations, so they withdrew the large troops from the front line. Otherwise, under the cover of such firepower, The loss must not be small.

It seemed that after a while, Pan Ershen put down the binoculars in his hand and shouted loudly to Zhang Bingjun from Shaanxi in Mandarin with a Gansu accent: "Bingjun, is this French guy a skinny camel bigger than a horse? The power of the army is really not blown out! More than 1500 cannons have been concentrated in just one army-level combat operation, which is much stronger than the old Maozi."