Chapter 271: The Battle of the Bridgehead

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The morning sun shone down on the earth, yet everything here had nothing to do with peace and serenity. A tank painted in white camouflage crashed through a small sapling and sped forward with a mechanical roar. The tank’s tracks rolled over the thin layer of snow, churning up black mud as they went.

“Boom!” An explosion was heard in the distance. A shell had hit a distant village. On both sides of the road lay a dozen or so bodies of Belgian soldiers. And in the village, a machine gun nest was firing fiercely at the approaching tank.

The bullets sparked off the tank’s turret, but they could not stop the vehicle’s advance. On the tank’s pockmarked armor, a set of blurry numbers was written in a hollow font—113. Yes, the ace crew of the 3rd SS Panzer Division, which represented death, was on the attack. Their objective was to capture the huge bridge behind this village.

“Clark, watch the front position,” Rein said, staring into the commander’s panoramic periscope. “Andre, right front, about 30 degrees. See that haystack? I suspect there’s a heavy machine gun or an anti-aircraft gun hidden there!”

“Understood,” Andre replied. The turret began to turn with his reply. When the turret had turned to the correct position, Andre opened fire without waiting for Rein’s command.

“Boom!” The tank’s hull shuddered. The surrounding dust and white snow were thrown into the sky by the powerful blast wave. A shell directly hit the haystack, sending a pile of scrap metal and bodies flying into the air.

“Beautiful! A 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft gun! They were just waiting for us to turn! They took us for rookies,” Rein said, laughing heartily as he saw the result of the battle. He patted Andre’s shoulder and then commanded the sweating Bruce, “Bruce! Keep loading high-explosive…”

He then grabbed the intercom, held it to his throat, and said, “Have your infantry spread out! Following behind the tanks, you’ll be hit by concentrated fire!”

His words were directed at the panzergrenadiers following behind. To attack this important transportation hub, the higher-ups had concentrated almost all the troops they could find: a full two companies of panzergrenadiers, and seven tanks, including Rein’s crew. And the Belgian bridge defense force they were attacking was said to not even have a single anti-tank gun.

The reaction speed of the Belgian defenders was already quite fast, but they were still not prepared to face Germany’s battle-hardened armored forces. In the past few days, Rein had added four kills to his record, just three cannons and one truck. Compared to the Polish front, there were fewer things here that could threaten Rein’s Panther tank.

The bullets could only leave a shallow, paint-chipped pit on the frontal armor plate of the Panther he was driving, like the light freckles on his face that were hard to distinguish without a close look. But these mottled marks told the story of this tank’s experience, and like military medals, they inspired awe.

The Knight’s Cross hung around Rein’s neck, swaying slightly with the trembling of his advancing tank. Through his periscope, he saw the Belgian infantry being riddled by Clark’s fire, and he also saw the enemy machine gun nest being submerged in white smoke by Andre’s coaxial machine gun.

Compared to their time in Poland, this crew no longer felt any tension. In its place was a smooth and pleasing coordination. For them, attacking and slaughtering was their job. What they needed to do was very simple: to take out any opponent and to survive with tenacity.

So the excited shouts and yells had disappeared. Apart from some necessary instructions, everyone tried not to interfere with the others’ work. Except for when they needed to stop and fire, Andre would give two kicks to the back of Baumann’s chair.

The German panzergrenadiers were also more experienced in combat. The frantic yet rigid attacks of the past had disappeared, replaced by extremely efficient attack methods.

A simple machine gun nest established to their direct rear was firing fiercely. The unique sound of the MG42 was the most beautiful music in the ears of the German infantry.

After summarizing their own combat experience, the German infantry had developed a very effective basic tactic, which was mainly centered on the machine gun. The infantry squad was composed of a machine gun team and a rifle team. During an attack, the machine gun team was responsible for suppressing the enemy strongpoint, and then the rifle team would use the terrain to approach the enemy strongpoint, and then, in close combat, they would annihilate the enemy with the powerful suppressive capabilities of the assault rifle and the G43, or with hand grenades.

The general procedure was that the machine gun would first occupy a suitable firing position, and the rifle team would simultaneously flank to the side. Then the machine gun would open fire from the front to attract and suppress the enemy’s fire, while the rifle team would approach from the flank or the rear, and then rely on the bravery of the rifle team and the close-combat weapons in their hands to eliminate the opponents in the strongpoint.

In defense, the position was divided into several sections or several independent strongpoints, with the machine gun team as the core, and the rifle team responsible for vigilance and for protecting the machine gun team. In short, in defense, the machine gun was the pillar of firepower. Therefore, special attention had to be paid to the protection of the machine gun. Once the machine gun was destroyed, the defense would be extremely difficult.

In the actual combat in Poland, the German army often did not operate in squads, but in platoons and companies. But the principle of combat was still the same, just with the addition of the use of mortars or heavy machine guns belonging to the platoon or company. The MG42 was fully capable of meeting the tactical needs of the German army. It had a considerable suppressive capability. Since its range was basically the same as that of the machine guns of various countries, coupled with its much higher rate of fire, a general machine gun was simply no match for the MG42 in a machine gun duel.

In fact, the tactics that Germany was now using were an extremely “cheating” style of fighting based on a weapon advantage. For example, using the advantage in communications and artillery power to concentrate the use of tanks to break through the opponent’s defensive line; for example, using the advantage in fighter performance to generally use high-altitude dive-bombing tactics; for example, using the advantage of the general-purpose machine gun and the assault rifle to suppress the opponent.

“Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!” Seeing that the German tank was not easily changing direction, and having already taken out two anti-aircraft gun positions based on their combat experience, the Belgian defenders finally couldn’t hold back. A Bofors anti-aircraft gun hidden in a corner opened fire early.

Because it was an anti-aircraft gun, the Bofors had a very high rate of fire. Taking advantage of the gap while the Panther tank was traversing its turret, this cannon fired seven 40mm high-speed shells at Rein’s tank in one go.

Although the Panther’s frontal armor was very strong, and although these shells could not effectively penetrate the Panther’s frontal armor, this fierce combination of punches had stunned Rein’s crew. The intense vibration made them dizzy. Rein felt his internal organs sloshing around inside the tank. The extra armor plate that had been temporarily installed on the front of the tank had actually been pierced, and because the vibration had caused the welds to break, half of it had actually fallen to the ground.

“Baumann, reverse!” Rein, still in a daze, knew that he had to adjust his position at this time and quickly gave the order.

But it seemed that he had lost his sense of direction a bit after being hit. Baumann actually continued to drive the tank forward. The half-fallen armor plate was half-resting on the hull, the other half stuck in the ground. As the tank advanced, it was completely bent and then kicked to the side by the tracks with a clanging sound.

Rein shook his somewhat dizzy head and shouted to Andre, “Front! Approximately at the 11 o’clock position! Near that broken low wall! Fire as soon as you have a target! Don’t wait for the tank to stop!”

“Boom!” Just as his voice fell, the Panther tank’s retaliatory fire rang out. A shell directly hit the low wall, turning it into a shower of shattered bricks. But this shell had deviated a little too far. The Belgian Bofors anti-aircraft gun was to the right of the low wall, but this shell had hit the left side.

“Rein, you idiot! In the end, you still need me to save you!” an arrogant voice came through the headset.

Just as the voice fell, behind the Bofors anti-aircraft gun, a tank climbed up a steep slope and crashed through the fence behind them. The Belgian soldiers were stunned by the sudden pincer attack and immediately threw down their arms and fled in all directions. The Bofors, which was still smoking, was also abandoned.

But the tank that had charged up seemed to have no intention of letting any of the enemy go. The machine gun fired continuously, cutting down several of the Belgian defenders.

“This is on you,” Rein’s side had recovered. He saw that the Belgian defenders were retreating toward the large bridge. It was clear that they wanted to push to the other side and then blow up the bridge. So Rein gave a crazy order. “Baumann, full speed ahead! Overtake these Belgians and get to that bridge.”

And so a crazy scene appeared before the eyes of the German and Belgian armies. A battle-scarred Panther tank suddenly began to accelerate, flying down the highway at a very fast speed.

Soon, this tank had broken away from the cover of the German infantry. Its machine gun was firing continuously, cutting down one Belgian soldier after another. Soon, due to casualties and fear, the retreating Belgian soldiers consciously made way.

This tank charged forward frantically, passed the pursuing German soldiers, passed the fleeing Belgian soldiers, and finally, before anyone could get close, it had occupied the large bridge. Suddenly, the tank’s hatch was thrown open, and an officer with a gun jumped out of his turret.

Under the shocked gazes of everyone, he threw the grenade he had been clutching in his hand and then fired several dozen bullets at the routed Belgian troops. Then, with the smoking muzzle of his gun, he jumped off the tank and shouted, “Surrender or die!”

Soon, the Belgian defenders gave up their resistance. They threw their guns on the ground and raised their hands high…

The German army had assaulted to the banks of the Meuse River with incredible speed. Taking advantage of the defenders’ negligence, they had captured the important large bridge in one go. The steel torrent of Army Group A had broken through the Meuse River defensive line in just three hours. They were now advancing on Sedan, which could be said to be a major transportation hub in the rear of the Anglo-French coalition forces.