Republic of China: Ace Pilot

Chapter 691 Tactical Success but Strategic Failure in Airborne Operations: The Paris Wars
At dawn on May 16.

In the village of Golier, south of Sedan, General Lafontaine, commander of the French 71st Infantry Division, is roaring at his subordinates.

His troops were tasked with filling the gap in the Sedan Line, but they were ambushed by the German 2nd Panzer Division as soon as they arrived at their positions.

"I need tank support! At least a battalion of B1 bis!"

However, the telegram sent back from the front-line command was vague, stating that most of the tanks were deployed at the Maginot Line and it would take at least three days to move them over.

Lafontaine hung up the phone and walked to the top of the church at the village entrance.

On the distant plains, the black silhouettes of German tanks stretched out like a moving steel forest.

His adjutant suddenly shouted, "General, look at the sky!" A dozen Stukas swooped down, their shrill cries piercing eardrums, and the front lines were instantly engulfed in flames.

La Fontaine drew his sword and shouted at the soldiers, "For France!" But his voice was quickly drowned out by the explosion.

At this time, the German armored group had advanced to Saint-Quentin, fifty kilometers west of Sedan.

Guderian's command vehicle was parked in front of an occupied French barracks, where propaganda posters for the "Maginot Line" were still pasted on the wall.

The communications officer brought the latest intelligence: "General, the French 10th Corps has been completely routed, and the British are moving north."

Guderian smiled slightly, picked up his pen, and circled the next target on the map: "Notify all units to launch an attack on Arras at dawn tomorrow and completely cut off the Allied forces' retreat."

The fighting continued into the night.

As night fell, the German mechanized forces ceased their offensive.

Without location tracking, night vision, and real-time wireless communication, the Germans dared not launch a rash attack. If they got lost at night and were surrounded by the French army, they would lose the advantage they had gained in the past few days.

The French and British troops could also take this opportunity to catch their breath.

But another unit is preparing to depart.

10pm late at night.

French airborne camps behind the Maginot Line.

More than 200 French paratroopers, pilots, and crew members lined up in their positions.

Fang Wen, the commander of this operation, stood at the front of the team, while Gong Xiuneng stood guard beside him.

He said, "Communication specialists of each crew, turn on your issued Taishan walkie-talkies and make sure you can communicate."

Ten communications specialists, who were also members of the gunboat crew, turned on their walkie-talkies and conducted a brief test call on a fixed frequency.

After confirming that the communication was correct, Fang Wen ordered: "Board now."

This newly formed French airborne combat squadron boarded 10 gunboats.

Subsequently, Fang Wen piloted an amphibious aircraft to take off first, followed by a series of gunship aircraft.

These gunboats were flown by the French Army's best military pilots. They took off separately, turned on the navigation lights on their wings, and maintained a certain distance from each other.

Through their usual training and tacit understanding, they formed a flight formation in the night sky.

However, without guidance, such a flight formation still cannot reach its destination.

Next, it will be up to Fang Wen.

Fang Wen picked up the microphone: "Attention all aircraft, maintain altitude and speed, head northwest, and follow me."

His amphibious aircraft flew ahead of the formation, with its navigation lights on at night.

The entire gunboat formation maintained a wide distance and followed the aircraft as it flew northwest.

Before long, the night flight formation reached the Ardennes.

What appears as a dark, murky expanse of land below is revealed in Fang Wen's mechanical perception.

The Meuse River flows quietly in the night below, with forests and mountains on both banks.

The aircraft flew north along the river, and ten minutes later, the terrain along the riverbank became flat and open.

That was the Sedan region, where German tank units conducted large-scale group operations in the Ardennes.

The French army relied on the terrain of the river valleys and canyons as a defensive barrier. Once this formidable barrier was breached, the Paris Basin would be flat and open behind them.

Where are the ground support personnel for this operation?

Fang Wen searched.

He found it very quickly.

Outside a small town, there were flashing lights shining into the sky.

He identified the person as his contact by the flashing, long and short characters, and then picked up the microphone.

"Attention all aircraft, maintain flight status, descend to an altitude of 1500 meters, paratroopers stand by."

Under his command, 10 gunboats descended to a lower altitude, and French paratroopers inside the cabins hung their parachute safety rings on the overhead sliding bars and lined up to jump.

Two minutes later, Fang Wen gave the order: "Jump."

The cabin doors of 10 gunboats opened, and French paratroopers filed out, leaping into the air. The safety rings snapped open the moment they jumped out of the cabins, and a few seconds later, their parachutes deployed.

In the dark sky, umbrellas bloomed and fell downwards.

Ten minutes later, the French paratroopers landed on the ground, quickly untied their parachute lines, and regrouped with their teammates who had landed nearby.

The contact persons then came forward to meet with the paratroopers.

“I am Private Jean Le Maire, from the 55th Infantry Division, a local, and the guide for this operation.”

Jean Le Maire introduced himself and his companions, explaining that his regiment had been defeated and that his comrades were locals who had received the mission via radio.

The paratroopers who met up with him numbered 160.

The rest have not yet been found.

With time running out, the paratroopers had no intention of waiting for their comrades and immediately followed the guide toward their first target, the town of Ambrosini.

Soon they arrived at the town of Ambrosini, a very small town with only one road leading into it.

Two paratroopers entered the town first.

Not long after, the two ran out.

"There are tanks in town, and one of them is driving this way. Everyone, take cover!"

(The background image shows the actual streets of Ambrosio, a small French village that is almost gone.)

Upon hearing the warning, the paratroopers immediately took cover.

A moment later, the roar of a tank engine and the sound of tracks turning and crushing could be heard from ahead.

The sound grew closer and louder.

A German Panzer IV tank drove out.

It drove out of the town, patrolled around for a bit, and then drove back.

After the tanks disappeared from sight, the paratroopers gripped their MAS-38 submachine guns and charged into the town.

At the same time, 10 gunship aircraft descended from the sky and launched flares.

Illuminated by flares, the three tanks in the town had nowhere to hide and were subsequently subjected to aerial fire.

Unfortunately, the nighttime air strikes by gunboats were not very accurate; a barrage of bullets swept down, covering the area around the tanks.

Taking advantage of the suppressive fire from the airborne gunships, the paratroopers quickly approached and rushed into the civilian houses next to the tanks.

Inside, German officers and soldiers were also rushing out, and the two sides met.

French paratroopers fired in advance, killing more than a dozen German soldiers on the ground, while the remaining German soldiers quickly retreated.

Several French-made grenades followed them into the house; after the explosions, the French troops stormed in.

on the sky.

Fang Wen observed the battle from his amphibious aircraft. He did not intervene in the command of the battle; it was a battle between the French and the Germans. He only needed to return with his gunboat squadron in an hour to fulfill his promise.

Through his mechanical perception ability, he could clearly see the battle situation between the two sides.

The French paratroopers' airborne raid caught the German army completely off guard.

However, the German army also had a considerable number of troops stationed in the town, including tanks, so they were able to put up a fight.

The key issue is that relying solely on flares for firing assistance in the dark is not very effective for gunships and aircraft.

But the battle that followed took a turn for the better.

Behind the German lines, dozens of paratroopers appeared; they were the more than 40 who had gotten separated during the earlier landing and regrouping.

These paratroopers, working in a pincer movement, wiped out the largest German force, leaving only one German unit in the town.

The German troops occupied the town's church, and two tanks were stationed at the church entrance.

During the assault, the French paratroopers suffered heavy casualties.

Ultimately, however, the French paratroopers used cluster grenades to destroy two tanks and stormed the church.

Fang Wen saw them bring out several captured German officers and couldn't help but turn on his walkie-talkie to eavesdrop.

“We captured a colonel and two lieutenants, but they refused to communicate.”

"This is not the German command center. We will continue north as planned."

After the call ended, the French paratroopers, carrying prisoners, left the town and marched north.

In the air, Fang Wen led his gunboat squadron, circling and waiting.

His supernatural senses had already detected a German tank unit approaching the paratrooper unit.

Should we remind the paratroopers below?
Fang Wen hesitated.

If I explain it too clearly, it will be difficult to explain. After all, night flight is already a talent that is hard to understand. To be able to see a target thousands of meters away in a pitch-black night sky is even harder to explain.

Moreover, this is not a war in China.

He shook off his thoughts and gave up on giving the reminder.

Ten minutes later, the French paratroopers encountered the German tank forces.

After being discovered, the more than 100 paratroopers lost their advantage in attacking behind enemy lines and could only retreat to the riverbank.

In this situation, the gunships in the air launched a round of air fire suppression.

The 20mm cannons mounted on the French gunboats finally proved their worth.

This HS.404 aircraft cannon, originally mounted on fighter jets, was modified and transformed into a manually operated weapon via a gun mount.

A large number of 20mm cannon shells were fired at German tanks from an altitude of 1000 meters.

Although the armor-piercing shells could not penetrate the frontal armor of the Panzer IV, the upper part and rear side of the turret were penetrated by the indiscriminate 20mm armor-piercing shells.

After the two tanks were penetrated and brought to a stop, the Germans began to disperse and ceased their assault on the paratroopers.

This also gave gunship aircraft the opportunity to land.

Aerial flares fell, illuminating the river, and two gunboats landed first.

Forty paratroopers led the prisoners across the water to approach and board the gunboat.

The two planes took off immediately, followed by three more landing.

At this point, the German army discovered the situation and immediately organized tanks and artillery to fire on the river.

Flames and water columns appeared on the river surface after the explosion.

A gunboat was hit in the tail and lost its tail fin, making it unable to take off again.

The pilot and crew chose to stay behind to cover the rear, continuously firing at the shore.

Subsequently, the remaining five gunship aircraft also landed one after another.

Two of them were hit by tank fire and were unable to take off.

Ultimately, seven gunboats landed, carried paratroopers, and took off, while the three gunboats on the water ceased firing and surrendered to the German forces.

Seven gunboats followed Fang Wen's amphibious aircraft back along the same route and eventually landed at the airborne brigade's seaplane base.

The airborne unit's surprise attack was tactically successful, but its strategy remained largely unchanged.

5 month 17 day.

The German offensive intensified.

At the Metz fortress on the eastern section of the Maginot Line, General Besson, commander of the French 3rd Army, is receiving urgent orders from Paris.

The order required him to transfer two divisions to reinforce Sedan.

But Besson, looking at the German feint attack outside the fortress, was caught in a dilemma.

“If we withdraw our troops, a breach will appear in the Maginot Line!” his staff advised. “German forces in Alsace could launch an attack at any time.”

"But if we don't send troops, Paris is doomed."

Besson eventually issued the order to withdraw his troops.

As French soldiers withdrew from the Metz fortress, they saw the distant sky stained red by artillery fire.

Meanwhile, on the front lines, Private Lemerre, who had just returned to his unit, once again escaped the rout. He and several comrades hid behind a destroyed truck, watching German tanks drive past them in droves.

“Paris…can we go back?” a young soldier asked in a low voice. Le Maire did not answer, but just gripped his rifle tightly.

Unbeknownst to him, alarms were already sounding in Paris, ordering the evacuation of residents.

In just a few days, France, which was known as a European land power, was stunned by Germany's blitzkrieg tactics.

5 month 18 day.

Fang Wen piloted an amphibious aircraft back to Paris from the front lines.

When the plane landed in Paris, Fang Wen saw the chaotic scene below.

A wave of refugees fleeing for dozens of kilometers.

Cars, horse-drawn carriages, bicycles, and even women pushing strollers converged into a slow, creeping gray river.

They left Paris and migrated along the Orléans region to safer places.

At that moment, two French fighter jets flew in and flew between Fang Wen's civilian plane.

Clearly, Paris is now under a complete no-fly zone.

Fang Wen used gestures to communicate with the other pilot.

After obtaining permission, he landed the plane on the runway at the branch office.

As soon as the plane landed and he and Gong Xiuneng got off, Pierre came over to inquire about their well-being.

"Did you make it?"

“The operation was successful, but the German command center was not destroyed. Now you need to consider leaving Paris with us,” Fang Wen replied.

"So fast?" Pierre looked incredulous.

In response, Fang Wen could only explain: "The German 19th Panzer Corps has broken through Laon and is advancing toward Reims at a speed of 25 kilometers per hour. The resistance of the French troops along the way is being easily torn apart like paper."

Pierre was deeply disappointed. As a Frenchman and a descendant of French nobility, he loved his country even more.

After a moment, he forced himself to speak: "So your plan is going to start now, right?"

Fang Wen nodded: "If Paris falls, those military engineers would be better off coming to Asia with me than letting the Germans benefit from them."

(End of this chapter)