At 7:40 am on May 22, at Parce Town, the Second North African Division, Charles de Gaulle and the Second North African Division Commander, Brigadier Andre, were constantly looking at their watches while listening to reports brought by their subordinates.

At 7:40, 24 75mm howitzers from the 322nd Artillery Regiment of the Fourth Armored Division were ready.

At 7:45, 12 155mm howitzers from the Heavy Artillery Regiment of the Second North African Division were ready.

At 7:50, the 2nd, 24th and 46th Combat Tank Battalions of the Fourth Armored Division were all in place, and 31 b1 tanks and 82 r35 tanks were ready to go.

Behind the tank cluster, the Fourth Motorcycle Hunting Battalion of the Fourth Armored Division and the two infantry provided by the Second North African Division were also ready. As soon as they received an offensive order, they would immediately follow the tank troops in front to crush the German troops in the bridgehead on the east bank of the Du River.

Confirming that the counterattack troops were all in place and ready, Charles de Gaulle secretly breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that this battle was a battle that concerns the life and death of the Fourth Armored Division and even France. He must do his best to fight it well, and must not let the future of the Fourth Armored Division and France be destroyed by the old and conservative antiques.

Just as night fell last night, Charles de Gaulle received an order that shocked him to the point of being speechless. General Besson, the commander of the Third Army Group, actually ordered him to disperse the four combat tank battalions in the Fourth Armored Division and strengthen the four infantry divisions including the nearby Second North African Division to enhance the combat effectiveness of the infantry.

De Gaulle was angry at General Besson's order that was so stupid that he was almost ignorant, and he felt it natural.

Almost all officers from the French Army held infantry supremacy, and tanks should be subordinated to the outdated idea of ​​infantry, and General Besson is definitely no exception. Under the influence of this old thinking, General Besson was absolutely natural to Charles de Gaulle's view.

De Gaulle certainly would not accept this seemingly natural but actually an idiot.

Charles de Gaulle used all his skills to fight with General Besson in the middle of the night with radio. With the help of Brigadier General Andre, the commander of the Second North African Division, he successfully convinced General Besson and saved the integrity of the Fourth Armored Division.

Brigadier General Andre’s idea is very simple. The Fourth Armored Division fights within its own jurisdiction. Of course, the more tanks it has, the better. Why should it be distributed to other infantry divisions? The Germans now have two armored divisions built bridgeheads in their own jurisdiction. After the Fourth Armored Division was disbanded, what would they use to resist the German tanks that rushed out of the bridgehead?

After saving the Fourth Armored Division, Brigadier General Andre immediately and Charles de Gaulle planned the next day's counterattack plan overnight, preparing to prove to General Besson that the tanks in the Armored Division could play the greatest role only when they were concentrated. Otherwise, General Besson would not know when he would be exhausted and issued another order to disband.

The new counterattack plan was formulated overnight and was implemented efficiently. De Gaulle watched the pointer on his watch beating happily, advancing quickly towards eight o'clock, and secretly prayed in his heart that he hoped that the infantry of the Second North African Division would not be as vulnerable as the British Third Infantry Division, otherwise his troops would be betrayed again and experience a failure without failure again.

When he thought of Montgomery and the Third Infantry Division, Charles de Gaulle couldn't help but be furious. If Montgomery and the Third Infantry Division were not for the incompetence of the Germans, they were beaten up by the German counterattack. He exposed his right wing to the Germans, his counterattack in the Reims area would have been completed long ago. He cut off the German supply line in one fell swoop and reversed the entire battle situation, and he would have been sent here to be a firefighter.

The pointer on the watch finally pointed at 8 o'clock in the midst of Charles de Gaulle's random thoughts. With the order of Brigadier General Andre beside him, 12 155mm howitzers and 24 75mm howitzers opened fire together, announcing the beginning of the French counterattack.

In the southeast of Champudivir town five kilometers southwest of Zervry, after a night of battle, the bridgehead of the Fifth Armored Division on the other side of the Du River had been expanded to ten kilometers east-west and five kilometers north-south.

St. Barram Village is located five kilometers southeast of Champdivir and is a small village with only seventy or eighty houses.

At this time, about 500 meters northwest of the village of St. Barran, the commander of the Fifteenth Armored Regiment of the Fifteenth Armored Regiment of the Fifteenth Armored Division, Colonel Stletcher, looked at the village of St. Barran, which was trapped in the sea of ​​fire, and the German infantry in the village that were scattered and dodged.

At around 6 p.m. yesterday, the 15th Armored Regiment led by Stletcher had just supported a battalion of infantry to capture the village of St. Barram and the town of Lahen to the northeast of him.

After spending the night in Laheng, Stracher got up early and gathered his troops to march towards the city of Shaosang in the southwest, preparing to cooperate with the infantry of the Fifth Motorized Infantry Brigade to capture Shaosang. He happened to see this scene when he passed through the village of St. Barram.

After all, Stratcher was in the final stage of the battlefield. After a little panic, he immediately recovered his composure. He immediately ordered the communication platoon to report to his superiors and sent the regiment's reconnaissance platoon to investigate the movements and scale of the enemy's troops near Saint Baran Village.

Stratcher experiencedly judged from the strength of the French artillery fire that the French artillery bombardment was not harassment, but the real artillery preparation before the attack.

The four No. 1 tanks of the reconnaissance platoon avoided the coverage of the French artillery fire and went around to the west of Saint Baran Village. Soon after, a telegram was sent, more than 30 French tanks were approaching Saint Baran Village, with at least three companies of infantry behind them.

Stratcher had just transferred the news to the division headquarters, and the reconnaissance platoon sent him a new piece of information that shocked him. The French tank that launched an attack on the village of St. Barram was a B1 tank.

Hearing the report of the reconnaissance platoon, Stratcher immediately remembered the information about the equipment of the British and French coalition forces forwarded from the military headquarters. The intelligence strictly ordered the commanders of various tank troops to be careful of the British Matilda Type 2 tanks and the French B1 tanks. Compared with these two tanks, all the types of tanks in the German active equipment are not their opponents in armor and firepower.

After a little thought, Stratcher immediately issued an order to let the tanks of the second battalion retreat northeast first, avoid the French tanks' march route, and led the tanks of the first battalion to respond to the retreat of infantry in the village of St. Barram.

The German infantry in the village of St. Barram had only two dissatisfied companies, and they also discovered the danger they were in.

After getting rid of the chaos caused by artillery bombardment, the infantry hid in fox pits and trenches. While avoiding the French artillery bombardment, they sorted out the weapons at hand and prepared to fight against the French army.

About ten minutes later, the explosion gradually stopped, and the infantry of the 5th Armored Division exposed their heads from their respective hidden places and looked at the French army charging towards the south of the village.

It was a b1 tank! Seeing the tall and mighty tanks rushing in front of the French army, the German infantry also recognized their identities.

Thinking of the various descriptions about the B1 tank issued by the division headquarters, the German infantry suddenly became nervous. Without the 88mm anti-aircraft guns, the weather was not good. The Stuka bomber could not be dispatched. With the light weapons in their hands, how can they deal with these steel monsters?

A violent whistling sound made the nervous German infantry in Saint Baran village feel excited. More than 30 105mm shells and 150mm shells fell into the French army in the charge with a strong wind. In the strong flames and gray smoke, countless French troops who could not dodge were everywhere in the explosion and flesh and blood were flying. The surviving French troops also rushed to lie on the ground to avoid German shelling. The French offensive momentum was temporarily curbed.

The second tank battalion of the 15th Armored Regiment took the opportunity to rush into the village of St. Barram. Stletcher half of his body exposed his turret and shouted: "Retreat, retreat."

Seeing Strattecher coming to take the retreat in person, the German infantrymen were not hesitating. They used mortars to shoot out a series of smoke bombs to block the French's vision, and then jumped out of the trenches and foxholes to run towards the tanks. The wounded were also supported or carried on stretchers to the tanks, and then followed Stratcher's tank troops to flee northeast.

When the French B1 tank rushed into the village of Saint Barram through the thick smoke, the village was already empty...

After learning that the village of Saint Barram was recovered and the German army fled northeast, Charles de Gaulle and Andre briefly discussed and immediately ordered the 46th Battle Tank Battalion and the Fourth Hunting Battalion to continue pursuing the German deserters in the northeast, and cooperated with the second and 24th Battle Tank Battalions attacking the bridgehead from the northeast to eliminate the German army in the northeast direction of the bridgehead.

Stratcher, who had retreated to Laheng town one step ahead, had just settled the wounded people he brought back, and then received a report that the French army was approaching Laheng town in the direction of St. Barram.

Stratcher sneered a few times and jumped into his command vehicle - a Type 4 D tank, and then issued an order to let the Fifteenth Armored Regiment gather in the north of Lahen Town, waiting for his order.

To the southwest of Lahen Town, the German infantry who had just retreated from the village of St. Barram to Lahen Town used the terrain and houses of Lahen Town to hurriedly build a line of defense. Although they knew that the enemy they were about to face was the French B1 tank, they were not afraid because they had eight more 88mm anti-aircraft guns on their positions.

Major General Valsbone, the commander of the Fifth Armored Division, mistakenly believed that the French army would launch a main attack from the northeast of the landing field during counterattack, so he assigned the eight eighty-eight-mm anti-aircraft guns in the anti-aircraft artillery battalion to Lahen Town in the northeast, preparing to fight against the possible b1 tank.

Unexpectedly, the French army's main attack direction was placed in the village of Saint Baran in the southeast of the landing field, and the 88-mm anti-aircraft gun lost its place of use.

Now the French offensive troops in the direction of Saint Barram Village were successfully attracted to the direction of Lahen Town. The gunners of the 88-mm anti-aircraft gun moved the anti-aircraft gun to the southwest of Lahen Town, pointing the guns to the place where French tanks might appear, and excitedly waiting for prey to come to the door.

Stletcher half of his body exposed the turret, and he looked at the fierce battlefield in the north from time to time. The 31st Armored Regiment and the infantry were fighting with the French there in full swing.

Why haven't the French who occupied the village of St. Barram arrived yet? Could it be that the reconnaissance forces had any information? Stratcher thought anxiously.

Five minutes later, Stratcher still did not wait for the French troops, but waited for the order issued by the division headquarters to lead his troops to attack.

The armored forces of friendly forces are fighting with the French army, so let us go for support.

Which friendly army is it? Is it the 7th Armored Division? Their equipment is comparable to that of themselves. Can they deal with the French B1 tanks in field battles? Strattcher secretly guessed in his heart.

When Stletcher led his subordinates to climb over a hindrance of earth and saw the scene of friendly forces fighting with the French, he was shocked.

The battle has come to an end. More than 30 French B1 tanks were scattered on the battlefield in the distance, more than 20 of which were either emitting black smoke and flames, or parked in place and opened wide open. The tankers inside had already escaped, and only four or five B1 tanks were still firing fire to make their final resistance.

A voice suddenly came from the radio, "Col. Strattcher, take your men to intercept the French infantry, don't let them run away. The first battalion of the 25th Tank Regiment of the 7th Armored Division will cooperate with your actions and do not accidentally hurt your friendly forces."

On the way to the battlefield, Stratcher had already contacted the mysterious friendly forces through radio and learned about the other party's identity.

"None of them can escape, Colonel Rosen," Stletcher replied to the radio.

Chen Dao put down his radio microphone and lay on the front of the gangster No. 1's car and looked in the direction of Stratcher.

After carefully observing Stracher's troops in the telescope, Chen Dao frowned and said to Captain Lorentz beside him: "Did you see that the tanks of the 5th Armored Division are mainly composed of No. 1 and No. 2, and the No. 3 and No. 4 tanks are actually less than ten, and there is not even one of the 38t models. Their equipment is really not ordinary behind."

"It seems that the work efficiency of the Army Ordnance Bureau is not very low. I think the office building of the Army Ordnance Bureau will definitely be flattened by the commanders of the armored forces with tanks, especially after they have seen our equipment."

"That's a must." Chen Dao sneered, holding his arms.

While chatting with Captain Lorentz, Chen Dao saw that the last few stubborn B1 tanks were also destroyed, leaving only the infantry troops following behind who were chased by German tanks in the wilderness. He thought that he was really better than to come by.

After learning that the bridgehead of the Fifth Armored Division was the direction of the French counterattack, Chen Dao was shocked. In his original plan, the tank company of the Ghost Battle Group cooperated with the Seventh Armored Division to repel the French counterattack, and immediately moved to the bridgehead of the Fifth Armored Division to cooperate with the troops of the Fifth Armored Division to make a breakthrough. Because there is no irrigation canal near the landing ground of the Fifth Armored Division, the tank troops can gallop across at will.

As a result, the French B1 tank unit actually made a sound from north to south, and flew a shot near the landing ground of the 7th Armored Division and moved to the landing ground of the 5th Armored Division to the south to launch an attack.

Admiral Hort immediately ordered Chen Dao to lead his troops to leave the safe and sound landing ground of the 7th Armored Division, and follow the west bank of the Du River to the south and enter the bridgehead of the Fifth Armored Division.

After Chen Dao led the ghost battle group into the bridgehead, he happened to meet the French troops advancing towards Laheng Town. Chen Dao ordered an attack without hesitation. The French troops advancing towards Laheng Town did not expect that German tank troops would suddenly appear on their left wing. Eight tanks were destroyed in the first volley of the ghost battle group. After the marching French tanks turned around in a panic, they had already lost more than half of the tanks in the shelling of the No. 4 G tank.

The dozen surviving B1 tanks relied on heavy armor and the No. 4 G-type tanks of the ghost battle group, and after less than twenty minutes of tank war, they died one by one under the powerful kwk40 tank gun.

After dealing with the vulnerable French infantry, Stratcher pressed several French officers to find Chen Dao.

After a few greetings, the two began to interrogate the prisoners. After hearing the answer from a French major led by the prisoners, Chen Dao said with a strange expression: "Your division commander is Charles de Gaulle! Where is he now?"

The French major wanted to treat him silently, but immediately changed his mind when he saw Chen Dao take out the box cannon that was not on his waist.

“He is in the town of Parse.”

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Chapter completed!