Chapter Sixty
Fawcett drove his tank down the highway in France. A group of Frenchmen approached, unarmed Frenchmen sat on the side of the road, waving white flags, while a few German pilots stood guard over the French prisoners.
The German soldiers who were leading the way were very surprised, and after being informed by radio from the tank behind them, everyone gathered around to ask about the situation. It turned out that Junkers 88 pilot Eichmann and Messerschmitt 109 fighter pilot Richter von Haber had been shot down in the previous battle, and Eichmann was separated from his crew members. After the two pilots met up, they tried to return to the German army's position on the Marne River, but encountered a regiment of French soldiers along the way. The two men tried to hide, but were discovered by the French. What happened next was astonishing - an entire regiment of fully-equipped French soldiers surrendered to the two German pilots!! Then, the scattered crew members gradually reunited, and finally, it was the scene that Favre and his men saw.
Orders came over the radio, and the company commander ordered several soldiers to replace the pilots, then called a bucket truck to send a few pilots back, while the rest of the troops continued to advance.
Throughout the day, there was no real fighting, just groups of French soldiers surrendering to German vanguard troops one after another. By evening, Fawzi's advance detachment had taken in an entire division of French prisoners, and this number continued to grow, with large quantities of weapons and ammunition seized, as well as a whole battalion of artillery that was captured without firing a shot, and on the roads there were also many abandoned intact trucks and armored vehicles, even tanks loaded with ammunition and fuel, whose crew members had long since fled.
By the 14th, German troops were advancing while staring blankly at dogfights in the sky. Flavigny watched as 88s and 20mm cannons fired wildly into the air, plane after plane of British and French aircraft crashing to earth. Soon his attention was focused forward again.
The 222 armored car of the forward reconnaissance unit quickly turned around, and the radio transmitted the message that a large number of French army tanks and infantry mixed combat groups were found in front, about twenty kilometers away from Fafnir's armored group. The German planes in the air were still entangled with British and French planes, unable to extract ground cover forces. The heavy artillery in the rear had not yet deployed into position, only some Sk18 105mm field guns and FK38 75mm field guns quickly deployed behind the armored group to prepare for firing. On one side, the Pak36 anti-tank gun quickly sought cover to unfold and conduct defensive fire. The armored group rapidly changed from a single-column marching formation to a box-shaped tank combat formation. Fafnir's 413 tank was in the front row center, with Belwigen's 315 tank and Dornberger's 313 tank behind it. The formation advanced to a ridge and stopped, engines idling, gun turrets aimed at the direction of the incoming French tanks. At this time, the field guns in the rear had completed their deployment and began to conduct blocking fire, attempting to disrupt the French army's formation and inflict casualties on the French infantry.
Fawriel's gunner, Otto, had half his body exposed outside the turret, peering through binoculars. Fawriel soon heard him muttering to himself: "Somua S35, Renault R35, Char B1-bis!!!" Next thing he knew, the guy ducked back into the turret and slammed the hatch shut, yelling at the top of his lungs: "Prepare for battle!"
The French tank struggled to climb over the mound, slowly revealing its body. Seizing this opportunity, the German tanks opened fire one after another. The 413th tank where Favre was located was a Type D with only a short-barrelled 75mm howitzer, so it didn't matter that the French R35 had almost no defensive capabilities. His tank also fired at the French tank with shells, and even if it couldn't destroy it, it could at least damage its external components or injure the crew inside.
The French tanks withstood the first wave of attacks, several Renault R35s stopped moving with smoke billowing out, and a few Frenchmen opened the hatches and jumped out desperately to escape. However, more French tanks fired hastily after crossing the ridge. Due to firing on the move, the French tanks' shells were scattered all over the place, but they also successfully created a lot of smoke, which reduced the hit rate of the German tanks' second wave of fire. Commander Otto ordered: "Move forward and attract the attention of the French! Tell the comrades behind to aim and fire!"
Fafnir accelerated upon receiving the order, dashing forward at full speed while twisting its body left and right along the way. The gunner was firing the cannon at high speed, desperately proclaiming to the French: "I'm here!!"
As expected, this action attracted the attention of many French tanks. Several S35 and R35 tanks turned towards vehicle 413, frequently stopping to fire their guns along the way. Even a few B1 tanks turned their hulls and turrets to fire at Fawcett. Fawcett used his golden finger "YPE" to predict the trajectory of many French vehicles, and combined with the poor training level of the French tankers, vehicle 413 dodged almost all the cannon fire like a ghost. The French were attracted by this vehicle, and almost all their tanks were firing at vehicle 413. The French infantry was initially separated from their tanks and was blocked and killed by field artillery fire, so they had not yet arrived on the battlefield. The French tanks were fighting alone, and the German tanks took advantage of the opportunity when the French attention was focused on vehicle 413. Tank 3 and Pak36-type 37mm anti-tank guns frequently fired, carefully aiming at their targets with almost no misses. One by one, the French tanks were hit and caught fire, especially the Renault R35, which was the first to be eliminated.
The French tanks found that things were going badly, so they turned around and fired individually. However, Fawcett's 413th car was still hit in the hail of bullets from the French... YPE is not omnipotent...
Vehicle 413 was first hit on the lower side by an S35's 47mm cannon, shattering a road wheel and breaking the track which slid off like a dead snake. The turret was then hit again by the S35's 47mm gun, jamming the ring so it could only fire at one angle. Commander Otto ordered the crew to abandon ship, and they quickly opened the hatches and escaped. Fafnir had barely made it out before he saw a B1's 75mm howitzer shell hit nearby, sending him flying with a blast of energy. His chest felt hot as he crashed face-down to the ground.
"Ah, I see! A huge trap!! What's the difference between being blown to bits and being blown to smithereens!!! Being burned to a crisp and being roasted alive aren't the same thing, are they!!!!" He started trembling all over, and the infantrymen who rushed up to assist him thought he was scared out of his wits. But Fafnir muttered to himself: "Hehehe... this feeling... it's been so long since I've felt it... the thrill of being on the brink of life and death! How long has it been? It seems like it's been since that time in the Hongyuan Purple Palace... have I forgotten? No, I haven't forgotten! This feeling has always been here! I love it!!! Hahahaha! I adore this feeling! Slaughter! Being killed! Battle! Destruction! Death! I'm passionate about this life!!" Fafnir's eyes flickered open and shut, and for an instant, his blue pupils turned yellow - just like the bird of prey lurking in wait to strike. Then they returned to their normal blue color.
The soldiers supporting Fafnir found that he was no longer trembling, but instead let out a sinister laugh of "heh heh heh". At the same time, an unprecedented aura of ferocity appeared on Fafnir's raised face. Fafnir pushed away the infantry brothers who were supporting him, reached out and took several M24 hand grenades. Before anyone could stop him, he turned around and ran towards a B1 tank.
He sensed the trajectory of the French tank's machine gun bullets with his "sixth sense" ability, which was thoroughly awakened between life and death. He demonstrated a high level of infantry skills by dodging artillery fire with superhuman physical abilities. Using various coverings and tank wreckage, he jumped closer to the B1 tank, and when he was over 20 meters away, he threw a bundle of hand grenades onto the engine cover of the B1 with an accurate throwing motion. A loud explosion ensued, and the tank came to a halt...
At this time, the tactical movements of a large number of S35 tanks also slowed down. The French tank commanders could no longer hold on - commanding and loading was simply too tiring. German tanks were knocking out French tanks one by one, while German infantry approached the French tanks from multiple directions, greeting them with cluster hand grenades just like Favre had done.
The battle was over, not a single French tank had escaped, either destroyed or surrendered. The German tanks suffered minimal losses, vehicle 413 being knocked out and requiring major repairs, the others having been grazed by shell splinters to varying degrees, none other being knocked out or needing major repairs. The anti-tank guns had no losses, infantry losses were slight, with only a few wounded in the close combat tank battle that followed - Fahnrich was among them, his chest scratched by shrapnel.
Baerwagen scored 2 kills as the driver of Panzer III No.315, Doernberg scored 1 kill as the gunner of vehicle No.313, Yang and combat engineer Karl cooperated to destroy a B1 tank with cluster hand grenades. The battle on May 14 ended.
