Fleury, a Small Town more than ten kilometers east of Rouen. The residents on Small Town have been driven away. Here, it became the defense zone for German 1st Army Corps 2nd Infantry Division and 3rd Infantry Division. The order they received was to rush here and set up defenses to prevent Anglo-French Allied Forces from advancing westward.
Behind their defense line are the remaining more than four hundred tanks of German military 1st Armored Division and 8th Armored Division. Once Anglo-French Allied Forces starts attacking, 2nd Infantry Division and 3rd Infantry Division will be responsible for blocking Anglo-French Allied Forces. At the same time, other troops of German 1st Army Corps and 8th Army Corps will immediately start taking action to form an encirclement to the north and east of Fleury. As for the south, a few kilometers away is Seine River. If Anglo-French Allied Forces can swim past Seine River, they can break through in this direction.
At noon on April 7, the vanguard of Anglo-French Allied Forces, British Expeditionary Force 3rd Army Corps 22nd Infantry Division, arrived at Fleury. After the British army discovered that it had been captured by German military, they immediately stopped their advance and reported the situation to the Army Group Headquarters, requesting instructions for the next step.
After British Expeditionary Force Commander of the 3rd Army Corps General Benson learned of this situation, he immediately ordered 22nd Infantry Division to launch an attack. At the same time, he ordered other troops to speed up and rush for reinforcements. They must defeat German military in the shortest possible time, capture Fleury, and open the passage to march towards Rouen.
The reason why General Benson issued such an order is that German military's attack on Rouen has undoubtedly reached a critical moment. Therefore, German military sent a small number of troops to stop them, buying time to defeat the British army 1st Army Corps and capture Rouen. In this case, they will no longer be able to waste time.
After receiving the order from General Benson, the British army 22nd Infantry Division immediately launched an attack on Fleury.
However, they soon realized that they had completely kicked into an iron plate. German military The troops deployed on Fleury Small Town are not a small amount. No matter in terms of military strength or combat effectiveness, they are much more powerful than their Infantry Division.
"Fire!"
The British army's 18 114mm Howitzer and 54 83.8 mm field guns were set up and began to fire at German defensive line outside the town of Fleury.
However, two minutes later, they were hit by fierce artillery fire from German military.
German military 2nd Infantry Division and 3rd Infantry Division, there are a total of 36 doors 150mm Howitzer, 72 doors 105mm Howitzer and 108 doors 75mm Field Gun. The total number of artillery is three times that of the British army, not to mention the caliber of the artillery has a huge advantage.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
When the artillery shells continued to fall from the sky and hit the British artillery position, causing their artillery to misfire, the British division commander 22nd Infantry Division was stunned.
"General, judging from the scale of the artillery deployed here by the Germany people, their troops must be quite large. I'm afraid we are no match for them!" said the artillery brigade commander.
The commander of the British Army 22nd Infantry Division also had a bitter taste in his mouth. How could he not know that he kicked the iron plate this time? However, General Benson's order had been issued, and he had no choice but to bite the bullet and launch an attack.
"Order the troops and prepare to launch an attack. In addition, send Telegram to the headquarters, we need reinforcements!"
Subsequently, the British army 22nd Infantry Division launched an attack. However, in the face of German military's powerful firepower, they did not take advantage at all. Instead, they left corpses on the ground and had to retreat in embarrassment.
In the afternoon, the British troops 23rd Infantry Division and 24th Infantry Division rushed to the battlefield. The arrival of two new Infantry Division troops gave the British army the confidence to attack.
However, the British army launched three attacks in a row, but still failed to break through German defensive line. Instead, they suffered heavy casualties.
As a last resort, the British army had to stop the attack. At the same time, report the situation here to General Benson.
In the evening, the 3rd Army Corps headquarters of General Benson also arrived at Fleury. The main force of 300,000 Anglo-French Allied Forces led by him was basically concentrated in this area. General Benson was very dissatisfied with the fact that none of the three Infantry Divisions were able to break through German defensive line. He directly issued a death order, asking them to continue the attack early tomorrow morning. Before sunset tomorrow, they must break through German defensive line and reach Rouen.
General Benson didn't know that the troops of German 1st Army Corps and 8th Army Corps were in action at this moment. A large number of troops set off from Rouen and rushed to the north of the main British army and the East. The farther away the East is 1st Infantry Division and 34th Infantry Division transported by Truck.
"General Ludendorff, 8th Army Corps's various departments, have they arrived at their scheduled locations?" General Kluck asked.
"General, 8th Army Corps's 7 Infantry Division and 1 Armored Division have arrived at the predetermined position and are ready to launch an attack at any time." Lieutenant General Ludendorff replied.
General Kluck nodded. "1st Army Corps, in addition to leaving two Infantry Division as the reserve team, the remaining 13 Infantry Division and 1 Armored Division, We have also arrived at the predetermined location. Early tomorrow morning, the two Armored Division will attack first, and after defeating Anglo-French Allied Forces, the other troops will advance steadily and eliminate all the 300,000 Anglo-French Allied Forces here!"
"Yes, General." Lieutenant General Ludendorff nodded, of course he would not have any objections to this.
This time, in order to encircle and annihilate the 300,000 main force of Anglo-French Allied Forces, 1st Army Corps and 8th Army Corps all invested the main force. On the contrary, there were not many troops used to attack Rouen. Even with the two Infantry Division as reserve teams, there were only 8 Infantry Division in total, just over a hundred thousand people.
On the morning of April 8, the British troops 22nd Infantry Division, 23rd Infantry Division and 24th Infantry Division started busy early in the morning to prepare for the attack. General Benson strictly ordered them to break through German defensive line before sunset today, but they had no choice. Although he knew that German military was difficult to deal with, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and launch an attack.
At 8 o'clock in the morning, the three Infantry Divisions of the British army completed their pre-attack preparations and were ready to launch the attack. However, they then had to stop their attack. Because, German military launched the attack one step ahead of them.
German military 1st Armored Division and 8th Armored Division, more than four hundred tanks, rushed out of their positions and rushed towards British positions. Steel Torrent, composed of more than 400 tanks, makes it impossible for anyone to think of blocking it.
"God! Germany's Armored Forces is here!"
"Damn it, this is a trap, this is a trap set by Germany." After General Benson learned about it, he was even more shocked and angry.