The sun never sets

"People in various countries are starving, but the People's Revolutionary League has hoarded more than half of the world's food!"

“Many places in the world are short of food, and the People’s Revolutionary League has purchased a lot of low-priced food on the international market!”

The People's Revolutionary League originally didn't care much about its duties to various countries, but after being criticized so many times, and with the instigation of certain cadres, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had to issue a statement, "........The League needs to ensure that 8 million people in the country are free from hunger. We must reserve food for at least one year for all the people in the country, but this is far from enough. Our goal is to reserve food for three years for all the people in the country."

"With food in hand, there is no need to panic. Food is the primary need of the people. The Alliance must ensure that the people can eat enough. On the basis of being full, they must also eat well, with a combination of meat and vegetables, and all kinds of nutrition!"

This attitude doesn't seem to be aimed at solving the problem, but rather at adding fuel to the fire. The spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has become much more aggressive in recent years, no longer making "protests" or "serious protests" at every turn like before.

Out of humanitarian spirit, the People's Revolutionary League will still provide some free food to places where famine and disaster have really occurred, but the league cannot feed so many people in the world.

It takes a lot of effort to feed 8 million people.

".........We once again call on all parties in the United States to stop the war and put more managers on agricultural production......"

The appeal is just an appeal and it has no effect. Many people know where the problem of food shortage in the United States lies, but the problem cannot be solved unless only one of the three separatist regimes remains. Only then will the Americans be able to devote more resources to agriculture, which is only a possibility.

Although Germany and the Anglo-French alliance were very dissatisfied with the People's Revolutionary League's practice of raising food prices, the food market had become a seller's market, and they could only buy food at higher prices while looking for new sellers around the world.

After the outbreak of the Franco-German War, the German Empire and the Anglo-French Alliance increased their orders for imported materials from the Alliance. With the experience of the world war, Germany and the Anglo-French Alliance wanted everything, even if it was not in short supply for the time being, and they would buy everything they could.

What is not in short supply now may not be in short supply after a period of time. The demand for manpower and supplies in modern warfare is almost endless.

The generals of the German General Staff claimed that "blitzkrieg" was a tactic different from trench warfare, and that tanks would crush the resistance of the syndicalists and achieve victory before the enemy had time to react.

But what if something happens?

More than 20 years ago, German marshals and generals were equally confident and turned the planned short war into an inescapable quagmire.

Will it be different this time?

Judging from the situation on the first and second days after the war, the German attack speed was indeed much faster. The infantry division could only advance 30 miles a day, at most 40 miles. If it was faster, even if the soldiers could bear it, the animals pulling the carts could not.

The armored division could easily cover seventy or eighty miles a day. With aircraft cover and airdropped supplies, the armored forces could advance much faster than infantry.

Chapter 907: Raid

The courage of the Belgian soldiers was the same as it was twenty years ago. They fought against the German army, which was armed to the teeth, with their weak forces and backward equipment. It was not until the entire army was smashed to pieces and nearly half of the officers and soldiers were killed or wounded that they retreated in embarrassment.

The German army returned to the old place and advanced much faster than last time. It took only one day to defeat the resistance of the Belgian army, occupy important areas in eastern Belgium, and control various transportation hubs.

But before the war started, the German army was destined to encounter the same problem as last time. Compared with infantry divisions, armored divisions were far superior to infantry divisions in soft attack, hard attack, mobility and defense, but tanks could not take down fortresses.

Twenty years ago, the Liege Fortress could withstand the bombardment of 280mm caliber heavy artillery. The small water pipes of the Panzer IV and Tiger tanks were not able to penetrate the several meters thick concrete outside the fortress.

There is no way to penetrate thick armored steel.

According to many military experts, all the German army can do now is to use its infantry to take down the outer defensive strongholds of the Liege Fortress one by one, while waiting for various large-caliber heavy artillery for the attack to be transferred from the rear.

After the end of World War II, the Belgians spent a lot of manpower and financial resources to rebuild the Fortress of Liege, which was much better than before. However, because Belgium’s land area is not large, its financial and human resources cannot be compared with those of a truly powerful country. Therefore, the Fortress of Liege is very strong, but not strong enough.

There is no need to deploy the Gustav super cannon. As long as the Germans drag the 600mm caliber mortar over, the Sun Fortress will be smashed like a walnut.

The Belgians thought so, and so did many people who followed the war. However, times have changed, and the update of weapons and equipment has led to a lot of changes in tactics. While transporting super-caliber siege artillery to the front line, the German General Staff sent airborne troops to prepare to use a surprise attack to take down the Levant Fortress.

If they failed, they would only lose a few hundred or a thousand paratroopers; if they succeeded, they would make a lot of money. The last time they attacked the Liege Fortress, the German army suffered more than 20,000 casualties. Compared with the tens of thousands of casualties, hundreds of thousands of paratroopers were only a small fraction.

Undoubtedly, the paratroopers are the elite selected from thousands of troops in the army, but the elite are to be used at such the most critical moments.

In mid-October 1938, when the German army launched an attack on three fronts at the same time, at 10 a.m., the Belgian army seemed to have noticed something and the fortresses in Belgium began to enter a state of war. At 3:4 a.m., 35 Junkers-41 transport planes towed 52 DFS-41 gliders and took off from two military airports in Cologne, heading west and gradually climbing.

The airborne assault plan was not smooth from the beginning. The Germans, who were known for their rigor, made many mistakes as soon as they appeared. First, due to the problem of the altimeter, the aircraft should have climbed to 2600 meters, but actually only climbed to about 2200 meters, which was equivalent to entering the fire range of small-caliber anti-aircraft guns. Worse, the timing of the uncoupling of the transport plane and the glider was also miscalculated. As a result, the German glider group, which should have entered quietly, was dragged into the Dutch airspace by the transport planes and was beaten by ground anti-aircraft guns.

As the German transport pilots were frantically climbing to higher altitudes to avoid artillery fire, the cables of the two gliders carrying some members of the commando and their captain, Lieutenant Rudolf Wetzig, broke, and they had to make an emergency landing on a farm on the German border.

Lieutenant Rudolf Wetzig immediately led his soldiers to the roadside to stop a car after landing, and at the same time contacted the nearest airport by radio to arrange a transport plane to tow their glider again. When he received a negative answer, he used means to transfer a bomber to be used as a transport plane.

The Aryan Superman was just a boast. Compared with soldiers from other countries, the Germans did not seem very special. But Rudolf was indeed brave and resourceful and could be called a good general.

The remaining members of the airborne commando team who lost their commander did not panic after arriving at the target area. Instead, they spontaneously organized themselves to attack various fortresses in Belgium according to previous drills. In less than 10 minutes, they destroyed 10 strong bunkers.

For a moment, the loud noise of the commandos detonating explosives could be heard everywhere in the fortress. The Belgians, caught off guard, did not react at all. In fact, at this time, the German army's combat objectives had been basically achieved. Even if the Eben Fortress was not occupied, it had lost its attack capability. However, the paratroopers of the Granite Commando also faced the dilemma of running out of explosives, and could only use the terrain to engage in a tug-of-war with the defenders.

At 7 a.m., 18 Junkers 52 transport planes carried out parachute landings with 300 reserve troops, greatly strengthening the German attack strength. At 8:30 a.m., after a lot of trouble, Lieutenant Rudolf Weziger, who had fallen behind, finally arrived at the battlefield with the rest of the team on two gliders, towed by bombers, and joined the battle.

It was not until around 10 a.m. that the Belgian troops in the fortress began to organize effective resistance. Since most of the explosives carried by the German army were left on the gliders and they were unable to continue the blasting, the soldiers of both armies chased each other with submachine guns and rifles in the maze-like fortress, engaging in fierce close-range combat.

One hour after the German paratroopers set off, at 5:30 in the morning, the German army began a large-scale artillery bombardment. The 6th Army rushed into Belgium with great momentum and defeated the Belgian border guards in a short time. Then they moved westward and successfully crossed the Meuse River. It took only one day to reach the Albert River. On the other side was the Eben Emael Fortress. The explosives carried by the German paratroopers had long been used up, and there was little ammunition left, so they were in urgent need of support.

The fierce battle lasted all day, and at dusk, the 51st German Engineer Battalion braved machine gun fire and crossed the Albert Canal in rubber boats. Each of them carried dozens of kilograms of high explosives, and if they were hit by bullets, the entire boat would be blown to pieces.

In the early morning of the next day, all the engineers successfully crossed the canal, and under the cover of the army's machine guns and cannons, they carried dozens of kilograms of explosives and climbed to the top of the fortress with difficulty. The paratroopers also did their best to cover them. Even so, the overloaded engineers had to make great efforts to move forward.

Finally, at about 8 a.m., the 51st Engineer Battalion and Granite

The commandos gathered inside the fortress and began organizing blasting and mopping-up operations.

Koch, the commander of the assault regiment, ordered the paratroopers to form combat groups with engineers as the core to cover the engineers. Whenever the engineers blasted a hole, the German paratroopers would immediately go in and fight with the Belgian soldiers in the bunker without waiting for the smoke to clear. The sound of gunfire, shouts and explosions filled the entire fortress. In this way, the German army broke through the Belgian army's defensive fortresses one by one.

At about 13:35 the next afternoon, the Belgian defenders' fighting spirit completely collapsed. The commander of the Eben Emael Fortress, Major Jotland, led his men to surrender, and the battle for the fortress was declared over.

In this battle, the German army had only 6 killed and 15 wounded, while the Belgian army had 23 killed and 59 wounded. 1200 Belgian officers and soldiers were captured by the German army. However, this was a German public announcement. Generally speaking, the German casualties should be multiplied by a correction factor between 2 and 10. There are also some particularly exaggerated ones, and there are also many who portrayed the tragic defeat as a major victory.

Napoleon often did this, releasing war reports that reduced his own casualties and exaggerated the enemy's losses. The German government also knows these tricks and uses them very skillfully.

Chapter 908 Unexpected

The German army was able to successfully capture the Belgian fortress with paratroopers not only because the German army was well-trained and caught the Belgians by surprise, achieving the effect of a "surprise attack", but also because the Belgians were backward in knowledge, had no radar technology, and had almost no defense against air raids.

The rebuilt Belgian fortress had many artillery and anti-tank guns, but few anti-aircraft weapons. The few anti-aircraft weapons that were available did not play much of a role in the German raid.

The Belgians believed that there would be some movement before the German army launched a war. As long as the Belgian army had a certain amount of time to react to the attack, they would be able to quickly blow up the bridges and use bunkers to fight a positional blocking war with the German army. The subsequent British and French troops would rush in and push the Germans back into the trenches of the World War again.

But it was already 1938, and the Belgians were still using the tactics of twenty years ago. Belgium still wanted to use the backward tactics of World War I with Germany, but it was obvious that it would only be beaten.

The German army relied on airborne raids to capture the Belgian fortress area. The strength and efficiency of the German army shocked the whole of Europe. It should have shocked the world, but the American government was in the midst of a civil war and didn't care much about what was happening outside the United States.

The Alliance had already used airborne assault tactics before, and thought the German airborne assault on Belgium was very good, that was all.

The German army captured the Belgian fortress area within two days, and its prestige and reputation reached a new peak. However, this was also the most successful battle for the German army.

On the third day after the war began, the Anglo-French alliance had recovered from the chaos of the surprise attack. Unlike the predictions of the German General Staff, the French Red Army had much more manpower than expected, and the ability of the Workers' Syndicate to recruit soldiers far exceeded the imagination of the Junker officers.

After sending more than one million volunteers, the French Commune still maintained 120 million standing troops in the country, not 80 as the Germans believed. In addition to the six armored divisions in the North American and Spanish battlefields, the French Commune still retained seven armored divisions in the country, equipped with 6 tanks of various types, a large part of which were B7 heavy tanks.

The main enemy of the French Commune is Germany, and for more than a decade, it has been aiming to reach Berlin. However, Germany's strategic depth is not large, and its railways and roads are well developed, so it does not need to consider strategic mobility. Therefore, the tank development route of the French Commune is mainly heavy tanks, unlike the People's Revolutionary League, which mainly develops medium tanks.

Heavy tanks have superior performance in terms of armor and firepower. It doesn't matter if their mobility is a little poor. As long as there is enough fuel, they will definitely not be slower than infantry.

The German General Staff did not expect the French Red Army to have so many troops, nor did they expect the French to be equipped with so many heavy tanks and aircraft. In addition, the reaction speed of syndicalist Britain also exceeded the German General Staff's estimates.

On the third day of the battle, the British army appeared in Belgium and started a fierce battle with the German army. According to the report of the German front-line troops, the British army had four armored divisions, and together with the armored forces of the French Red Army, the armored forces of the British and French alliance had surpassed Germany.

In the battles in Belgium and on the German-French border, the heavy tanks of the Anglo-French alliance caused great trouble to the German army. It was often the case that a few heavy tanks were able to block an entire German battalion, a whole regiment, or even an entire brigade.

The German army's pak50mm anti-tank gun, combined with tungsten core armor-piercing projectiles, has a very good armor-piercing effect. The armor penetration is 250mm at a right angle of 88m and 500mm at a right angle of 78m, which is far superior to the previous generation pak37mm stepping stone.

Moreover, the German army conducted many drills and explored a set of effective tactics that could fully utilize the power of the new (actually not so new) anti-tank guns.

".....We have developed a new method of attack. We will advance from one advantageous position to another with our 12 anti-tank guns. At this time, our tanks will stay in place as much as possible and stay in hidden positions to provide covering fire. After that, we will temporarily occupy positions in the new advantageous positions.

, and when the tanks began to make the next attack, we turned to provide firepower for the tanks... This tactic worked well. Although the enemy's firepower was very fierce, it could not stop our advance. The enemy suffered losses one after another and was forced to withdraw from the position again and again... "

When facing the light tanks and medium tanks of the British and French allies, the German infantry and armored forces cooperated and achieved a good exchange ratio. However, when the B1 heavy tanks of the French Commune appeared on the battlefield in groups, the German tactics were not easy to use.

The French Red Army's B1 heavy tank borrowed from the Hammer heavy tank of the People's Revolutionary League and also made some improvements. It used a more powerful engine and was equipped with thicker armor. The thickness of the hull armor and turret armor reached 75mm, and the armor thickness of the gun shield reached an astonishing 90mm.

The pak50mm anti-tank guns equipped by the German army can effectively destroy various tanks and armored vehicles, but there is no good way to deal with the sturdy gun shield of the BI heavy tank. It is definitely impossible to penetrate the front, even at a distance of 300m, the pak50mm anti-tank gun cannot penetrate the gun shield of the BI heavy tank.

In order to destroy the heavy tanks of the French Red Army, German tanks and infantry had to close the distance, which led to a sharp increase in German casualties.

The German Army's training and professionalism are better than the Red Army of the Workers' Syndicalists, and their combat effectiveness is also stronger under the same conditions of military strength. However, when facing heavy tanks that cannot be penetrated by anti-tank guns, they can only use designated district teams.

If the gun shield of the B1 heavy tank cannot be penetrated, then the side armor can be attacked. If that doesn't work, the rear can be attacked from behind. For any tank, the sides and rear must be relatively vulnerable. It's not impossible to install heavy armor on the sides and rear, but isn't it because the tonnage does not allow it?

If you can't penetrate the tank at 500m, then get closer, 300m, 100mm. The closer the distance, the stronger the anti-tank gun's armor-piercing ability, and the higher the danger. The most dangerous thing is to send people with explosives to blow up the tank tracks. The blasting team will either be killed by the machine gun on the tank or killed by the accompanying infantry.

The morale of the German army was high, and the morale of the French Red Army was even higher. When the war started, the German army had a great advantage in the exchange ratio in the early stage. When the B1 heavy tank appeared, the exchange ratio was quickly leveled and basically maintained at a 1:1 level.

The British Red Army and the French Red Army poured into Belgium in large numbers and fought with the German Army. The casualties on both sides continued to increase, and more and more technical weapons were damaged.

Chapter 909: All beings are equal

The British and French allies had more tanks and aircraft than Germany. The German army deployed more than 4000 aircraft of various types on the front line, and the first wave of air strikes involved 800 fighter planes, which was an unprecedentedly powerful air force cluster. Nearly 1300 aircraft were destroyed in the first day of air strikes.

However, the strength of the French Air Force far exceeded the Germans' imagination. Although 1300 planes were destroyed in airports and hangars, the French Commune still had more than 6000 planes.

Together with the British Air Force, the Anglo-French Alliance's air force strength was almost 2.5 times that of the German Air Force. The German Air Force's air superiority lasted only four days. From the fifth day, the German Air Force fell into a bitter battle.

The Anglo-French alliance not only had many fighter planes and fighter jets, but also many bombers. On the evening of the seventh day of the battle, the Anglo-French alliance's bombers were dispatched in large numbers to bomb Germany's transportation hubs, especially on the Belgian-German border, where infrastructure such as railways and bridges were heavily bombed.

The stronger the firepower, the higher the logistics requirements. Blowing up transportation supply lines can effectively weaken the German army's offensive power and advancement speed.

The German High Command naturally could not tolerate the transportation lines being destroyed by the syndicates, and sent out many fighter planes to drive away the enemy's bombers. It also deployed many anti-aircraft battalions at railway hubs and other important places. Anti-aircraft machine guns, anti-aircraft guns, anti-aircraft balloons and other weapons were brought out, effectively reducing the rate of damage to infrastructure, but it could only be reduced, not completely banned.

The French Commune and the United Kingdom both have some heavy bombers. Although their range cannot be compared with the Allied's real heavy bombers, they are able to bomb many places in Germany.

On the tenth night after the outbreak of the war, the British and French allies dispatched 112 heavy bombers to launch a night bombing on Berlin.

Thanks to intelligence support, this night bombing achieved certain results. More than 20 heavy bombs fell on the city of Berlin, destroying more than a dozen houses and killing and injuring more than 100 people.

More than 100 medium-sized bombers were dispatched and dropped so many bombs, but only achieved such a small result. The return and landing were rare, and there were many accidents, causing considerable casualties. It seems that this night bombing was a loss, but the bombing was in Berlin, so the situation is different.

The heavy bombers dropped not only bombs but also many leaflets. When the bombs exploded in the city of Berlin and leaflets flew all over the sky, thousands of Germans hid in the basements, praying that the bombs would not fall on their heads.

The next day, the trade union side widely publicized the bombing of Berlin in order to undermine Germany's reputation and boost their own fighting spirit.

The Germans were shocked when Berlin was bombed.

He stayed in the air-raid shelter all night, barely closing his eyes. When it was dawn in the morning, William III immediately summoned Air Marshal Catherine and other air force generals to discuss the arrangement of Berlin's air defense.

If the enemy can bomb once, they can bomb ten more times. Germany had mastered radar technology three years ago and built many radar stations across the country to form an impenetrable detection network.

However, the German army had no night fighters, and even if they found the syndicate's bomber group, it would be difficult to intercept it. The only way to use it was to implement a blackout in Berlin and deploy more anti-aircraft guns in the surrounding areas and urban areas. There was no other good way.

Apart from Berlin, other places were not safe. Now not only did the front lines need to deploy many anti-aircraft weapons, but important cities in the rear also needed the protection of anti-aircraft guns.

These measures would consume a lot of resources and have some impact on the course of the war. Anti-aircraft guns must be deployed in large numbers to be effective, and a small number would be useless. However, these expenses could not be saved. If there were a few more bombings, Germany's losses would only be greater.

"Your Majesty, the enemy bombers were able to drop bombs on Berlin because there were spies who used bonfires and lights to navigate along the way. The local police force and garrison captured some of the spies, making it difficult for the enemy to launch another air raid on Berlin."

William III was furious. "What I want is to be absolutely sure! The enemy bombed Berlin. We cannot remain indifferent to this. We must give an explanation to the people!"

Marshal Catherine said: "The Air Force is converting the Bf110 fighter into a night fighter, and there will be results soon."

Radar was a new thing, but it developed very quickly. By 1938, it had been miniaturized enough to be installed on aircraft, but only aircraft with more than two engines could accommodate radar. Before radar-equipped night fighters entered service, night bombers were actually very safe. Anti-aircraft guns fired under the guidance of searchlights had a low hit rate, and general fighters could only operate in the night sky under the guidance of experienced pilots who had received special night flight training. Even so, the effect was very poor.

Aircraft equipped with radar are different. Radar is not affected by visibility and can clearly see enemy aircraft at night without any light. If the aircraft itself has night combat paint and the enemy does not have a radar alarm, then biting the enemy aircraft is as easy as tracking a blind man. Usually, the prey will only discover them when the night fighter opens fire.

The German Air Force had tried to install radar on airplanes very early on, and after the bombing of Berlin, the progress of the project was accelerated a lot.

"This is not enough. We need more than just defense. We also need equal retaliation!"

"Your Majesty, what do you mean?"

"Yes, we will drop bombs on the enemy's capital! We will bomb Paris!"

Marshal Catherine frowned and said, "Your Majesty, the bombing of Paris will not cause much damage to the French Commune. What we need to do now is to bomb the enemy's airports, assembly workshops and other facilities related to the Air Force."

"No, we need to bomb Paris, otherwise what will the Germans think of us? What will other countries think of us?"

The bombing of Paris was not only the will of William III, but also the need of many Germans. It was a kind of venting, which was of little help to the war, but His Majesty the Emperor, the frightened government officials, and the citizens of Berlin needed the Air Force to retaliate.

The opinions of the citizens were of little importance; the anger and fear of the Emperor and the top government officials were the main driving force behind the retaliation.

Before the last world war, war was a game for the nobility. Even in the world war 20 years ago, the real top government officials did not have to worry about being killed in the war. They could comment on the war while sipping coffee in the rear, far away from the war.

But now the bomb has been dropped on their heads. If they are unlucky, a heavy bomb will explode next to them, and no matter whether they are the emperor or the marshal, they will be blown to pieces.

In the face of bombs, His Majesty the Emperor is just a mortal.

Chapter 910: Too Young

The German Air Force retaliated by bombing Paris five nights later. The result was the same as the Workers' bombing of Berlin. It had some effect, but the cost-effectiveness was not high and the losses were not small.

Apart from killing a few Parisians, the Luftwaffe's actions were meaningless.

However, the German government was satisfied with this, claiming that "justice had been served," and many Germans cheered for this, especially the young people who grew up in a militaristic atmosphere and were taught from childhood to expand Germany's living space.

There are also many people who are filled with fear of war. Those who have experienced the world wars are terrified of endless wars and the situation where people are not able to eat enough every day and people starve to death every day.