901. Chapter 868 Passing through Belgium

Chapter 868 Passing through Belgium

Facts have proved that before the Germans said they wanted to borrow the road, they were already prepared to force it. Although Britain and France have firmly expressed their support for Belgium, Belgium has also stated that it will protect the security of its homeland at all costs.

But these seem so insignificant in the face of the Germans' strategic purposes and interests.

What's more, Germany is currently at war with Britain and France. Since it is already an enemy country, why should Germany care about the diplomatic threats from Britain and France?

The German government ignored the threats from Britain and France and the actions of Belgium. When the 24-hour deadline had just passed, it immediately declared war on Belgium.

At the same time, more than 100,000 German troops marched into Belgium and directly attacked the troops stationed on the Belgian border.

The German army moved quickly, which Britain, France and Belgium had never expected.

Even though the Belgian government had begun emergency mobilization after being issued an ultimatum, it was impossible to mobilize many troops in one day.

But the problem is that because the Belgian government has previously declared absolute neutrality, Belgium has no preparations for war nationwide.

This is also in line with the thinking of the German army. After confirming the French plan, the German army reduced its patrol aircraft to avoid alerting the enemy.

It can be seen on the map that the cities of Charleroi, Namur, Leuven and Antwerp are relatively close to each other.

With a large number of reconnaissance aircraft, the German army quickly discovered the whereabouts of the French army. The German army was surprised to find that the French seemed to have divided their forces into two groups, with the goals being Namur and Brussels.

More than an hour after the French army attacked, a large number of German aircraft arrived at Namur and started a fierce battle with the French aircraft.

In less than a day, the German army fully recovered its territory and advanced to Liège.

But having said that, even if the Germans did not attack Belgian military airports, Belgium would not be able to compete with the German army in the sky.

Although the Belgian army also reinforced and rebuilt the defensive positions on the border, it was obvious that nothing could be done in one day.

The good news is that most of the German bombers were not targeting the Belgian defense lines, but Belgian airfields and military camps.

At the cost of more than 10,000 casualties, the Germans captured this fortified fortress and advanced along the river toward Namur.

But the price was that France didn't have many aircraft to use in the war in the north. Even with some British support, the total number of aircraft France can use is still only about 1,000.

In order to ensure that the plan was foolproof, the French general contacted the domestic government and the staff, requested more aircraft resources, and asked the staff to send another army to protect his flank.

When the French arrived near Namur along the river, they received bad news: the Germans had captured Namur and had moved north to fully attack Brussels, the capital of Belgium.

Since the outbreak of the war, neither France nor Austria has achieved a decent victory.

But the Belgians ignored one thing, that is, more than 20 years have passed since the First World War.

The French army supporting Belgium has a total of 12 divisions with more than 150,000 troops.

During World War I, the Liege Fortress held off the Germans for a long time. However, World War II had fully utilized aircraft, coupled with the bombing of a large number of artillery, so that the seemingly solid Liege Fortress only lasted less than three days.

Under the orders of the French general, fifty thousand of them headed west to Charleroi, looking for an opportunity to enter Brussels from the rear and help the Belgians hold the capital.

On May 27, 1936, the German army arrived in Brussels and immediately launched a full-scale offensive.

What's more, because of Belgium's previous declaration of absolute neutrality, Belgium has massively reduced its military budget.

The general was very excited to receive the nod of approval from the French staff. After all, this plan seems to him to be foolproof. The narrow Belgium may become the grave of the German army, directly defeating the myth of the German army's invincibility.

The remaining 100,000 people were temporarily stationed on the river bank, waiting for the German army to actually attack Brussels. The French army took the opportunity to capture the fortresses of Namur and Liege in an effort to cut off the logistical supplies and retreat routes of the German army that invaded Belgium. , it would be best to directly surround this German army.

You know, the French used a large number of aircraft in the war in the south and Italy and achieved considerable results.

Although the government has already warned the border troops, the German army is likely to launch an attack after 24 hours.

At 5 o'clock in the morning on May 22, when the sky was still gray, the German army had launched an attack.

But these Belgian border troops were obviously not well prepared. When the German army launched its attack, a considerable number of Belgian soldiers were still sleeping sweetly.

The reality was that the Belgian conscription service mobilized fewer than fifty thousand recruits after the Belgian border was violated.

The speed of the German army's advance exceeded the French army's expectations. There was no other way. The French general responsible for supporting Belgium could only change his order.

In the face of large-scale enemy artillery bombardment and bomber attacks, the role of the Belgian border defense facilities became minimal.

They never dreamed that Germany is a meticulous nation. The Germans said they would attack, but they would actually attack.

In less than five days, they conquered two major military towns in Belgium and are about to approach Brussels. This also proves the strength of the German army.

But what the Belgians did not expect was that this war was like a fire, and a relatively close neighbor like Belgium was destined to catch fire.

The unprepared Belgian army had absolutely no chance of winning against the well-prepared German army.

And because Belgium's territory is relatively small, it is easier to defend with the help of fortresses.

Coupled with the fact that it has not experienced a large-scale war for a long time, Belgium's war and mobilization system has basically become rotten.

This has led to the German army's desire to fight against Belgium. After all, in the eyes of the Germans, it is absolutely a shame for the Germans to allow a small country to occupy territory.

As a small country with great powers on both sides and facing another great power across the sea, these three powers do not allow Belgium to have a strong air force.

This has resulted in Belgium’s investment in the air force being the lowest among small European countries, with the number of military aircraft being less than 50.

However, the German army was able to defeat the Belgian army in a short period of time, which proved the strength of the German army.

Liege is one of the more famous cities in Belgium. Here, there is one of the few large fortresses in Belgium, the Liege Fortress. It is obvious that the Belgian army also wants to concentrate its defense forces on its key fortresses, delay the German offensive as much as possible, and seek time for British and French support.

Most of these new recruits have not yet received their weapons and equipment, and even their military uniforms are too big or small and do not fit them well.

The bad news is that Belgium is a relatively small country. There were not many military airports in the first place. Faced with such a large-scale German attack, most military airports were destined to be scrapped.

Even before the German ultimatum arrived, Belgium's attitude towards the war was to watch a good show.

On May 28, after confirming that the Germans had launched a full-scale attack on Brussels, the French army also launched an attack on Namur.

But at this time, the German army had arrived in Namur and launched a fierce attack on the city.

Although the Belgian army had less than 100,000 people, they also had strong fortresses as defense.

This also made the French army hold its breath. They wanted to prove that the French army was not bad. At least when facing the powerful German army, it could still use its strategy to deliver a fatal blow to the German army.

The German army will not give the Belgian army a chance. As the saying goes, taking advantage of his illness to kill him, the German army launched a mighty attack, with a large number of artillery shells pouring down, as if to kill the Belgian army in one blow.

The French army's idea of ​​quickly conquering Namur and Liège not only failed to materialize, but also trapped itself around Namur.

In order to ensure that their offensive was foolproof, the German army left nearly 100,000 troops stationed in Namur, and deployed a large number of aircraft to patrol the line from Charleroi to Namur in order to guard against the French army.

What the French army didn't expect was that there were a lot of German troops stationed in Namur, and they were even slightly ahead of them in terms of firepower.

It is worth mentioning that Belgium occupied a small part of German territory in the previous war.

Four days after the outbreak of the Derby War, the French army set out from Sedan and moved north along the river in an attempt to support the Belgian army.

This also means that after this round of air strikes, Belgium has no possibility of resistance in the sky.

Although the Belgian government has already put the army on combat readiness, the frontline troops have transported a large amount of weapons and ammunition to prepare for war at any time.

Hundreds of bombers, protected by fighter jets several times their size, marched toward the Belgian military base and airport.

It takes a certain amount of time just to assemble a batch of weapons and equipment from the weapons warehouse, not to mention distributing these weapons and equipment to tens of thousands of new soldiers and deploying them to the battlefield.

But Germany is different. After making full preparations for war, Germany produced nearly 3,000 aircraft in half a year, and even captured nearly 1,000 Polish aircraft.

This allowed Germany's aircraft reserve to directly exceed 4,000 aircraft. Even if it was divided half and half, it could still use more than 2,000 aircraft to attack Belgium and France.

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