75

The French government, fed up with Gamelin, who, rather than stopping the German army's advance, had caused chaos on the front line through faulty operations and responses, dismissed Gamelin from his position as commander-in-chief of the French army and replaced him with 74-year-old veteran Maxime Weigand.

However, there was no answer for Beigang as well as Gamelin.

Beigang unilaterally canceled Gamelin's counterattack plan, saying that he would devise a strategy after personally assessing the war situation.

He then went to Belgium and met with the King of Belgium and the commander of the Belgian army.

While the Weigang was wasting time, the German army captured Abbeville, located at the mouth of the Somme River.

It happened two days faster than in history.

Fed up with the frustrating behavior of the Allies, General John Bereker, Viscount Gott, Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), and General Edmund Ironside, Chief of Staff, decided to launch a surprise offensive against the German army.

Although news had already come that the government had begun negotiations with Germany, they had been in the military their entire lives and planned to do their best until the end.

Wouldn't we have less to lose in truce negotiations if we steer the war situation in a direction that is more favorable to our troops?

"Offensive, this is such a reckless thing. "Didn't General Beigang also say that understanding the situation of the war comes first?"

Unlike the two British men, who showed their fighting spirit until the end, General Henri Gaston Billott, commander of the French 1st Army Group, was still passive in the offensive.

Ironside, who was looking at Biott with disapproving eyes, said.

"Then how long are you going to sit around like this and waste time? "If we want to slow down the enemy's advance even a little, we need a more active offensive."

"If you launch an attack hastily, there is a risk of falling into the enemy's trap. Even so, the number of troops and equipment lost so far is enormous, and if we lose more than this, France will be over. Therefore, it is better to focus on defense for the time being-"

"This person is real!"

Ironside, whose patience had reached its limit, grabbed Biott by the collar.

"This is what happened because you keep acting like a coward! This is the country you were born in, so you should think about protecting it. What are you doing now? "Do you think we came here to have fun?!"

"Why are you doing this?!"

"Calm down!"

The staff, embarrassed by the unexpected situation, rushed to stop Ironside.

Biott, who had finally escaped from Ironside's grasp, stammered.

"Okay, then let's do it this way. I will order the 5th Corps under my command to join the offensive. Is it okay to do this?"

"······Good. "Let's do that."

The scale was somewhat disappointing for Bereker and Ironside, who wanted the entire French 1st Army Group to participate in the offensive, but the two, who needed at least one more soldier and one more tank, had no choice but to be satisfied with this.

Even if I said more than this, I was doubtful whether the French army would willingly give up its troops.

however,

On May 19, when the offensive was scheduled to begin, the French did not appear.

Due to a mistake made in the process of delivering orders, the French 5th Corps thought that the full-scale offensive would begin on May 20th.

"What should we do now?"

"Why not wait until the French join us?"

"······Then it's too late. "We have no choice but to go on the offensive even if we do it on our own."

The British army went on the offensive alone, without support from the French army.

The first objective of the offensive was to capture Arras, now in German hands.

***

May 19, 1940

arras france

Sergeant Graham Applelin, who participated in World War I at the young age of 19 and fought in battles whose names are familiar to everyone, such as Ypres, Somme, and Amiens, worked at a cold lamb canning factory on the outskirts of Liverpool before the war broke out. Worked as the manager of .

When Hitler invaded Poland and Britain declared war on Germany, he applied to re-enlist despite his family's opposition.

The reason was that his country was in danger, and he could not remain in the safe rear alone.

The military took Graham's past experience into account and promoted him from sergeant to sergeant.

On the day Hood was sunk by Bismarck, Graham's company left mainland Britain and was deployed to northern France.

As he boarded a transport ship bound for France, Graham saw his homeland for what might be the last time.

At the port, people were waving and shedding tears as they saw off their families and lovers leaving for France.

Before leaving, he looked around at the soldiers who looked nervous.

They were all young soldiers, around 18 to 20 years old, who enlisted with the sole belief of protecting their country like they did in the past.

It's like looking at my past self.

I was so nervous before my first battle.

Graham, reminiscing about old times, put on a benevolent expression and spoke to the private nearby.

"Are you scared?"

"yes? Ah, that's it…"

"Be honest. "No one scolds me for something like this."

"It's scary."

"To what extent?"

"I'm about to pee my pants."

"Right. I was like that too 25 years ago. When I first heard the gunfire, I was so shocked that my legs gave out and I fell down. Because of that, my pants got wet and I was misunderstood as having peed, so I had a hard time explaining it."

"Ha ha ha ha ha······."

"Sergeant Graham!"

As the platoon leader, Ensign Tony Moore, approached, Graham stood up and saluted.

"What's going on, platoon leader?"

"It's 5 minutes before departure. "Stop chatting with the platoon members and just figure out the number of people."

"All right."

Graham saluted, but Ensign Moore walked away without even looking.

Corporal Andrew Hopkins, who had been sitting quietly smoking a cigarette, looked at Ensign Moore's back and clicked his tongue.

"That young guy said he'd see you…"

"I guess it's because I don't know anything yet. "It will change over time."

Lieutenant Moore, who was deployed to France as soon as he graduated from the military academy, was a notorious officer in his company for his arrogant attitude and inflexible personality.

Although it was a long time ago, in the eyes of Graham, who had been on the battlefield for over 3 years and experienced dozens of battles, he was no different from a young chick, but because his rank was a gangster and Lieutenant Moore was his superior, he had no choice but to obey.

"The actual battle is coming soon, so what's the point? Mandarin is such a bastard. "Wouldn't that make you pee your pants in real life?"

"Even if you act picky, you might be surprisingly different in real life."

Before departure, the drivers started the tank all at once. Infantrymen mounted the tanks or lined up on the left and right sides of the tanks.

"Tank forward!"

"Come on, let's go."

The sight of more than 70 tanks advancing in unison, led by Matilda I and II tanks, was truly spectacular, but the soldiers were not in a position to leisurely enjoy the scenery.

The soldiers could not relax their nerves even for a moment, fearing that they would never know when or where the German bullets would fly.

The weather was very nice.

There wasn't a single cloud in the sky, and a cool breeze blew and caressed my face pleasantly.

The weather may have been good for a picnic, but it was very unsuitable for a war situation.

"I'm so fucking jealous of you kids."

Hopkins glanced enviously at the soldiers of other companies riding comfortably on the tank.

My legs were already starting to go numb due to the weight of the machine gun. Even though it hasn't been long since I walked.

"Can't we take the tram like that too?"

"I have to get off when the battle starts anyway, so is there any need to get on? "Didn't I always tell you to build up your lower body strength?"

"It's not that my lower body is weak, it's that this guy is extremely heavy."

The Bren light machine gun that Hopkins was carrying weighed 10.3 kg, making it one of the lightest machine guns, but it weighed quite a bit when you included all the spare magazines.

Graham, who was walking along while accepting Hopkins' non-complaint complaints, stopped when he noticed something moving in the forest ahead.

"Why do you stop suddenly?"

"I think I saw something in the forest over there-"

There was a flash of light in the forest, and a second later a Matilda exploded with a loud roar. Graham reflexively lowered his posture.

"It's an enemy attack! "Everybody get down!"

Hopkins also quickly fell to the floor, following Graham.

When Graham saw several foolish recruits standing in an awkward position, six words came out of Graham's mouth.

"Hey you idiots! What are you doing lying down?! "Get down quickly!"

Three people fell down later, but one, who was slow to act, was hit by a bullet and fell before he could lie down. It was German machine gun fire.

Mistakes in training can be overlooked with just a shout, but mistakes in actual combat are not.

Soldiers who are slow to act or judge cannot survive for long. That's what Graham learned from the war.

"Shoo, start shooting! "Fire back!"

Ensign Moore, who narrowly avoided the bullet, shouted.

But before he could give instructions, Graham was already firing his Lee-Enfield rifle in the direction from which the bullet was coming.

Tanks also charged, firing their main guns. It was the full-scale start of the Arras tank battle.

***

"found! "Firing light at 2 o'clock, turn the turret!"

Under the instructions of tank commander Lieutenant Colin Brenner, gunner Sergeant Randolph Harrywood hurriedly rotated the turret.

"Just a little further to the right… That's enough, that's enough."

Randolph put his eyes to the scope and searched for enemy tanks - or anti-tank guns. However, even when looking around the bay, there was no sign of the enemy.

"Did you find it?"

"I couldn't find it."

"Why can't I find it? "Are you sure you found it with your eyes straight open?"

Randolph was clearly irritated by Lieutenant Brenner's point, but he kept his mouth shut and focused on the search.

Randolph, who had smaller and narrower eyes than others, was often teased and nicknamed 'Chinese' because of his small eyes.

That's why he hated words related to eyes more than any other words.

While Randolph was struggling to find the invisible enemy, this time a firing light erupted from a different place.

Every time there was a firing light, a tank was destroyed and spewed out flames.

"Ah, I found it!"

"Then shoot quickly!"

When the launch pedal was pressed, the main gun fired and retreated back, then returned to its original position.

"You're right?"

"Still checking!"

The 2-pounder main gun mounted on the Matilda II had a very high penetration power for a small caliber of 40 mm, but it had the fatal disadvantage of using only armor-piercing bullets.

Considering that the tank had to fight not only enemy tanks but also a variety of enemies, including infantry and anti-tank guns, this was not a problem that could be ignored.

As expected, my uneasy premonition was not wrong. The anti-tank gun was still alive.

As the guy fired, Randolph closed his eyes tightly. Soon the shock was felt by the tank.

"It's okay, I bounced it off!"

Luckily, the shell fired by the anti-tank gun did not penetrate the Matilda II's armor and ricocheted.

The distance between PaK 38 and Matilda II is approximately 400m. If you hit it right in the front, it's a sufficient distance to penetrate.

Randolph was extremely lucky.

"Loaded!"

When the gunner loaded the shell into the chamber, Randolph immediately stepped on the pedal without even reporting the shot.

A hole was made in the mantlet of the anti-tank gun, creating a large hole in the gunner's body.

Randolph fired his coaxial machine gun to ensure the enemy was finished off.

Even if there had been just one grenade, this trouble would have been saved, but because there were no grenades, the Matilda II's tank crews often had no choice but to rely on their coaxial machine guns.

"Stop, stop. How many bullets do you pour into one anti-tank gun? "What will I do later when I run out of bullets?"

"If even one of the higher-ups had thought of supplying grenades to tanks, this wouldn't have happened."

They only managed to take out one anti-tank gun, but the situation was still unfavorable for the British army.

The German army may have known in advance that the British army would launch a surprise attack, so they placed anti-tank guns in various places and established a strong defensive line.

The British army, which had been advancing without knowing this fact, was suffering enormous damage.

The German anti-tank guns had a longer range than the main guns of British tanks, so they were able to hunt British troops from a greater distance.

On the other hand, the British army had the fatal disadvantage of having short main guns and no grenades, so they had no choice but to advance despite damage in order to destroy enemy anti-tank guns.

-bang!

"Aaaah!!!"

The tank commander who escaped from the Matilda I, which was hit and was spewing flames, struggled to put out the fire on his body.

The Matilda I, which was built on the concept of a moving torch car, had no main gun and was equipped with only one Vickers machine gun. Naturally, it was unable to deal with even an anti-tank gun, let alone an enemy tank, so it was essentially a moving target.

Randolph got goosebumps when he saw his friend writhing in pain, his entire body burning.

When I thought that I too could become like that, I broke into a cold sweat and my hands and feet were shaking.

Lieutenant Brenner, unaware of Randolph's feelings, assigned him a new target.

"It's 11 o'clock! Turn the turret! Hey, are you listening?"

"yes? Oh, I understand!"

"Get your mind straight!"

After yelling at Randolph, Lieutenant Brenner returned his eyes to the observation window.

The target he found was moving.

"The enemy is not an anti-tank gun. It's a tank. "Have you checked?"

"Has confirmed."

Tanks were easier to deal with than anti-tank guns.

This is because the fragments generated from penetration can easily damage the inside of the tank and its crew, rendering it incapable of combat. If you hit the ammunition depot, you can expect complete destruction.

When the enemy stopped moving, Randolph also finished aiming.

"Aim complete!"

"Shoot!"

Matilda II's main gun spat out sparks powerfully, but the enemy did not even flinch.

Randolph felt a sense of emptiness as he watched the armor-piercing bullet hit the tank's armor and bounce off, scattering yellow sparks in all directions.

"Damn it, ricochet! "Reload!"

While the gunner removed the shell from the mount, Randolph stared at the enemy's reflection in the scope.

A main gun without a turret and mounted on a sloping hull.

It was a new, unnamed German tank.

"Loaded!"

"Fire again!"

Randolph fired the main gun again, but the result did not change.

A ricochet again this time. The enemy spotted Randolph and turned his vehicle slightly to the side.

Randolph remembered the news he heard from his classmate two days ago.

It was news that the French army had suffered enormous damage from that small tank.

When I heard that a tank smaller than a truck deflected all the shells coming from the front and destroyed all the French tanks, I thought it was a lot of bluff.

But now I see that those words weren't just a bluff. It was the truth without a single lie.

The moment yellow flames spewed out from the enemy's black gun, a huge shock shook Randolph.

And flames so hot that they could not be described in words engulfed my entire body.