The decisive battle against the Third Reich - #947 - Chapter 944 Metz Fortress (please vote for me)

“Your Excellency, Marshal!” Just as several people were having a heated discussion about the French regiment, a staff officer handed Rommel a telegram.

Originally the telegram should have been given to Rundstedt because he was the commander-in-chief.

However, because of Rundstedt’s lack of energy and health problems, he did not often stay at the headquarters and did not often deal with documents. As mentioned before, Rundstedt “does not go to work” before ten o’clock in the morning.

Rommel, on the other hand, was energetic and known to be a workaholic, sometimes even eating and sleeping at the headquarters.

So over time, his subordinates became accustomed to reporting to Rommel instead of Rundstedt.

“Our reconnaissance plane discovered that the enemy was transporting supplies to the Ghent and Kopp areas!” the staff reported.

Rommel glanced at the telegram and asked: “Is the transportation volume large?”

“We can’t observe it for a long time!” the staff officer replied, “but there is no end to the convoy we can see!”

I couldn’t observe for a long time because Germany didn’t have air superiority, so I could only take advantage of the patrols of British and American fighter planes to get closer and take a few photos, and then quickly withdrew.

What I saw was a convoy instead of a train. That’s because the railway lines in northern France were basically destroyed by British and American bombings, and then they were bombed again when the Germans withdrew. The locomotives and the like could be driven away as long as they could. Those who didn’t leave were blown up on the spot.

Therefore, it will be difficult for the Allied forces to resume railway transportation in France for a while.

Rommel thought for a while and then said: “Order the reconnaissance troops to conduct reconnaissance every few hours, including at night!”

“Yes, Your Excellency Marshal!”

This is actually Eisenhower’s “Fireball Plan.”

In order to meet the supplies of the three armies of the United Kingdom and the United States at the same time, Eisenhower collected almost all military and civilian vehicles in France. These vehicles kept moving on the road day and night like ants moving back and forth between the ports of Normandy and Belgium. Transport between borders.

In fact, this is the difficulty of transportation… The materials must be transported across the English Channel or by air, but they must face the terrible road conditions in France.

The reconnaissance results came out the next day, and it is said that the reconnaissance force lost two reconnaissance aircraft as a result.

“The Allied forces are transporting supplies day and night!” Rommel said: “The destination is the Belgian border. Obviously, their attack target is still the Ardennes region!”

“Yes!” Rondstedt agreed.

“But this time it seems something is different!” Qin Chuan said: “There are two supply points, one in the north and one in the south…”

“They are going to attack from two directions at the same time!” Rommel looked at the map, followed the science map to the right, and then shouted: “Damn it, they are going to attack the Metz Pass!”

“What do we have there?” asked Rundstedt, who was obviously not familiar with the Metz Pass.

“We have more than 10,000 people there!” Rommel replied: “There is a fortress there, the Metz Fortress!”

Just as Rundstedt breathed a sigh of relief, Rommel continued: “But they are all cadets!”

“Cadet?”

“Yes!” Rommel replied: “The Metz Fortress… is used by them as an education base. It is more like a university town. The military schools of the Wehrmacht and the SS are located there!”

Rondstedt was stunned when he heard this.

Then Rundstedt asked again: “Is the fortress sufficient to defend against enemy attacks?”

“Who knows?” Rommel said: “We don’t even know how many enemy troops are attacking in this direction!”

“Why didn’t we consolidate the defenses here before?”

“We don’t have enough troops, and the enemy has been attacking in the north along Route 69!” Rommel replied.

“We need someone to organize these cadets to fight!” Rundstedt said: “Otherwise, they are likely to collapse before reinforcements get there!”

“Of course!” Rommel agreed.

Then Rundstedt and Rommel turned their attention to Qin Chuan.

Qin Chuan was stunned for a moment and quickly realized what their looks meant.

“No, Marshal!” Qin Chuan said, “I don’t think I’m suitable for this task!”

“Tell me why!”

“I…” Qin Chuan thought for a while before replying: “I never went to a military academy!”

“Please, Lieutenant Colonel!” Rommel couldn’t help laughing: “This is no reason!”

Rundstedt also helped: “I also think that no one is more suitable for this task than you. Their textbooks even have your battle examples, and I believe there is more than one!”

“Absolutely!” Rommel agreed.

The two old marshals were teasing Qin Chuan like this, which made Qin Chuan a little bit unbearable. At the same time, he also knew that he couldn’t refuse, so he could only agree: “Okay, Marshal, you win!”

“Very good!” Rommel patted Qin Chuan on the shoulder and said, “Of course, I won’t send you alone. The 1st Infantry Regiment should be the one to perform the mission. You can take helicopters to reinforce in batches.

“Yes, Your Majesty Marshal!” Qin Chuan responded.

Helicopter reinforcement is indeed a good method. It can quickly and conveniently deliver troops to the target area, but because it has no air superiority, it can only set off at night.

Due to the limited number of helicopters allocated, the 1st Infantry Regiment was divided into three groups, and one group rushed to the Metz Fortress every night.

Originally, Qinchuan thought that the German army should have three days to prepare, so the 1st Infantry Regiment would be enough to rush to the Metz Fortress.

But Qin Chuan soon discovered that he was wrong… He didn’t know that his opponent was Barton.

And Patton was also the kind of person who acted resolutely. He even drove towards the Metz Fortress along the road at night before the 3rd Army had reserved enough fuel and supplies.

In Patton’s words: “If we prepare for one more day, the enemy will also prepare for one more day. Therefore, I would rather both me and the enemy prepare for one less day!”

As a result, the forward troops of the 3rd Army arrived in front of Metz Fortress in just twenty-seven hours and used anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns to block the airspace of Metz Fortress so that helicopters could not enter or exit.

Of course, this is all for later.

At the same time that Patton’s vanguard troops were moving, Qin Chuan and Colonel Slaine led the 1st Infantry Battalion and flew towards Metz Fortress on a helicopter.

For reasons of confidentiality, this reinforcement only informed Colonel Becker, who was in charge of the defense of Metz Fortress, that a group of helicopters would transport a batch of supplies to the fortress, and ordered Colonel Becker to be ready to receive it.

So, when helicopters parked in the square and groups of soldiers emerged from them, Colonel Becker couldn’t help but wonder.

“The information I got was to receive supplies!” Colonel Becker said.

“We are the supplies!” Colonel Slain replied: “I think you realize it, you are in trouble!”