Chapter 375 Tank Battle

At that moment, a strange idea flashed through Christine's mind: ask Charles for help.

Charles must know how to solve this problem, Christine thought, there is no problem he can't solve.

But the next second Christian cut it off. He knew the relationship between Joffre and Charles, and he also knew that the Schneider tanks he was equipped with were used to defeat Charles.

It's ridiculous to ask Charles for help in this situation!

The military situation was urgent and the German army was advancing towards the town of Cambrai at a speed of two kilometers per hour.

Christian had only more than an hour to prepare. He commanded the troops to unload the tanks from the train, and then had the soldiers use houses to hide the tanks in the town in preparation for battle.

Christine could only hope to win in this way, as Joffre said, by catching the Germans off guard.

However, the facts still disappointed him.

…

Major General Nicolas of the German 1st Tank Division was riding a sidecar and following the troops.

While observing the battle situation, Major General Nicolas marveled at the convenience of the three-wheeled vehicle. Its small size made it very capable of off-roading, and it was more stable than a two-wheeled motorcycle. It could be considered an excellent command vehicle. Its disadvantage was that it had a small space and no protection.

A motorcycle caught up with him from the right, and the rider reported loudly: "General, there is information!"

Without waiting for orders, the driver slowed down and stopped, and the rider handed a telegram to Major General Nicholas.

Nicolas took a look and saw the words: "'1st Special Artillery Division' ambushed in Cambrai!"

A smile appeared on Nicolas's lips. They didn't expect that the German army would have spies in Cambrai?

Something as conspicuous as a tank certainly could not escape detection. Major General Nicolas even received a picture of the French troop deployment in Cambrai.

Nicholas did not follow the troops, he chose to stop and consider the next battle plan.

It was not a good idea to go directly into the street fighting of Cambrai. It would be too dangerous for tanks and would not allow the tanks to play to their strengths.

"General," the staff officer suggested, "we can concentrate our artillery to bombard Cambrai, and then the enemy tanks will be forced to fight outside the city."

This seems like a good idea.

If the enemy tanks don't come out, they will be blown to pieces.

If they come out, they will be hit head-on by the German tank divisions because they are not prepared.

But Major General Nicholas did not accept this suggestion.

"It takes time to assemble artillery, Dim." Major General Nicolas said coldly: "Bombing will not be effective in a short time."

The staff agreed that the target was especially tanks hiding in towns, which would require a long bombardment with many shells.

Major General Nicholas was silent for a while and said, "We have a better way to force the enemy out!"

…

In Cambrai, Christine stood on the church bell tower holding a telescope. This is the highest place in the town and she can clearly see the situation several kilometers away.

Entering the aperture were the defeated French troops, scattered in groups here and there, many of whom had abandoned their backpacks, ammunition and other heavy objects in order to escape.

Christine shook her head secretly. It had been a long time since she saw the French army in such a mess.

Suddenly, a cloud of dust appeared on the horizon, and then several tanks jumped out.

Christine saw clearly that they did have turrets, three of them just as the wounded had described.

"Prepare for battle!" Christine ordered.

The signalman conveyed the order with a signal flag, and the tanks waiting in the streets started up one after another, preparing to attack the enemy.

At this moment, the enemy tanks slowed down.

Then, they adjusted their direction from being headed towards Cambrai and headed towards the flank of Cambrai.

Christine was startled and immediately put away the telescope and opened the map.

On the flank was the 97th Infantry Division's line of defense. If the enemy broke through this line of defense, they could penetrate into the rear of Cambrai and cut off the railway and road.

Christian was shocked. He knew what the Germans were going to do, but he also understood that there would be no surprise attack. The Germans obviously knew that the "First Special Artillery Division" was here.

Christine made a prompt decision and ordered: "Leave the city!"

"Leave the city!"

…

Tanks followed one after another along the streets out of Cambrai towards the Germans, the heavy "Saint-Chamond" in front and the "Saint-Chamond M21" behind.

This is the embarrassing thing about the "Saint-Chamond M21". It can reach a speed of 28 kilometers per hour on the road, but this method of maneuvering using tires is basically useless.

The tracked vehicle can maneuver at a speed of only 6 kilometers per hour, which is its combat state. This speed is even much slower than the heavy "Saint-Chamon" at 10 kilometers per hour.

A light tank that's slower than a heavy tank?

And there is no rotating turret?

Christine couldn't imagine what fool could invent such a thing and use it on the battlefield. It was simply murder!

What's even more ridiculous is that they actually thought they could defeat the Germans with this thing!

The tanks were assembled outside Cambrai and arranged in a wedge formation facing the Germans, which was a standard offensive formation.

Only then did Christine realize that she had been fooled. The German tanks also formed a formation facing this direction. They seemed to have guessed that the French army would leave the city and were waiting for this moment.

Several artillery shells whizzed in and exploded near "Saint-Chamond", raising a cloud of dust. The closest shell was only a dozen meters away from the tank.

Christine felt nervous. This was a test firing by the enemy artillery. Then a large number of shells would hit the tank group, which would be a fatal blow to the tanks.

"Attack!" Christine ordered, putting away the telescope and running downstairs. He wanted to be with his troops.

…

Northeast of Cambrai, on a flat open ground, two teams of tanks were charging towards each other with thick smoke billowing.

At first they were not moving very fast, as if they were waiting for the soldiers behind them to catch up, but soon both sides forgot about this and sped up, eventually leaving the soldiers far behind and rushing towards the enemy.

Two torrents of steel collided fiercely.

The sound of gunfire suddenly filled the air, and the sound of bullets hitting armor was like the sound of popping beans.

"Saint-Chamon" charged forward into the enemy's position, and the 75mm gun in front of it fired shells at the enemy at a rapid speed while moving.

It didn't dare stop to aim, as doing so might make it the enemy's target in the next second.

Perhaps it was because the enemy tanks were too dense, or perhaps it was because the 75 gun had a fast firing rate, the shells luckily hit several German tanks, which instantly exploded into a cloud of thick smoke, and soon flames appeared.

The "Saint-Chamond M21" in the rear failed to catch up in time. Its speed of 6 kilometers per hour was not much faster than that of the infantry, and it was left behind by the heavy tanks.

All, including the French infantry, were charging the enemy, shouting, with bayonets fixed on their rifles.

However, what they had to face was the German "Upper Silesian" tank, a tank developed under the influence of the "Char A1"!

(End of this chapter)