The Third Reich: The Return of the King

Chapter 672

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On the 43rd, the German army was still advancing rapidly, and the commander of the Marine Corps, Steiner, personally arrived at the front line of Southampton. The German follow-up troops were still constantly sending reinforcements to Southampton, showing a posture of intending to launch a large-scale attack!

This made the British side quite nervous. They kept sending telegrams to the direction of the Fog City to report emergency and ask for help, while stepping up the layout of the defense line, preparing to fight a decisive battle with the German army in Southampton!

However, just when everyone’s attention was attracted by Southampton, Guderian led the main force of the German army to quietly bypass the British frontal forces, rushed all the way north, and captured the city of Salisbury at two o’clock in the morning on the 23rd.

Salisbury is located to the west of Southampton. If it is occupied here, the British army can cut off the road to Southampton from the west. So after learning that the German army has captured this place, the British side just felt more nervous, but did not associate too much.

However, Guderian did not stop!

After he captured the city of Saul, he immediately continued to launch a fierce attack in the northwest direction. At four o’clock in the morning, the German army captured Warminster.

The speed was frightening. There was a distance of 23 kilometers between Warminster and Saul. The German army conquered it in just one hour. This means that when the German army attacked Saul, they had already sent troops to bypass Saul and march towards Warminster!

If so, they would probably receive news of the fall of other cities soon!

Sure enough, at five o’clock in the morning, the German army arrived at the city of Bath and began to launch a fierce attack on the city of Bath!

The city of Bath is 140 kilometers away from Bournemouth, the landing site of the German army. It is definitely a safe rear area, so the British army did not expect the German army to attack here at all. When they were attacked in Bournemouth, they also dispatched part of the troops stationed in the Bath area, causing the already small number of troops in the Bath area to become even more scarce!

Therefore, the German vanguard easily conquered this place in less than an hour!

If the British could still be associated with Southampton when the Germans captured the city of Saul and did not take this matter very seriously, then the Germans continued to march northwest and successively conquered Warminster and Bath, which had nothing to do with Southampton! Therefore, the British began to be confused. The Germans sent a force to march northwest. What did they want to do?

In fact, the German intentions were not difficult to guess. If you connect their marching routes on the map and draw a line, it is easy to figure out their strategic intentions!

They wanted to capture the city of Bristol, then cut off the connection between the southwest direction of the British and the capital, and then close the door and fight the dog, and annihilate the remaining British troops in the southwest!

After figuring out the German intention, the British were shocked. They sent an urgent warning telegram to Bristol City, asking them to strengthen their defenses, and sent a telegram to the garrison in the southwest to ask them to break out as soon as possible, otherwise once the German encirclement was completed, they would not be able to run away at that time! The

British army sent telegrams very quickly, but compared with the German attack speed, they were still a little too slow!

The Germans launched an attack on Bristol at six o’clock in the morning!

This city is already in the domain of the sun, and it has nothing to do with the place threatened by the Germans.

Therefore, even if the British army has five million troops in the mainland, there are not many troops stationed here, so Bristol’s defense force is very empty.

The Germans used tanks to open the way in the early morning, surrounded three missing one, deliberately opened the road in the north to let the defenders in the city escape, and then launched an attack on the British army in the city from the other three directions.

The British army was caught off guard and suffered heavy losses. By the time they figured out the situation, the Germans had already rushed into the city and fought street battles with them!

Normally, street fighting is a very advantageous way of fighting for the party with slightly inferior weapons and equipment, because it will weaken the weapon advantage of the attacking party.

Moreover, the British army is very familiar with the terrain here. They have the advantage of fighting at home. Logically, they can fight this battle and may even repel the German attack.

But the problem is that the German attack speed is too fast, which does not give the British army too much time to prepare in advance. In addition, the number of British troops in the city is not large, not even as many as the German attacking forces, and they have no tanks, not even many anti-tank guns. Even if there are, they are some small-caliber anti-tank guns, which are difficult to threaten the German army!

The German army used tanks to open the way, and while the defenders had no time to deploy in the city, they quickly occupied most of the streets in the city and divided the defenders into many small areas!

The coordinated urban street fighting of infantry and tanks is one of their fixed training subjects for the German army, and they have experienced such battles many times in previous battles, so the German army performed very well, and their cooperation was very tacit, clearing the British troops divided in various places bit by bit.

After the British army failed in several attempts to counterattack, they immediately threw away the fluke in their hearts and never dared to confront the German army head-on. They took advantage of the German army not blocking the retreat in the north and immediately fled from here!

But they didn’t expect that without the protection of the city’s reinforced concrete, how could their speed be comparable to the German tanks in the open area outside?

So, when they escaped from the city, their fate was doomed!

The German tank troops caught up with them effortlessly, defeated them, caught up with them again, and defeated them again, and it lasted for several times!

If it weren’t for the lack of German troops and the main attack on the British army in the south, this British army would definitely be destroyed in the field.

The German army would not adopt the tactic of defeating them, but would pursue them relentlessly, outflanking them, and making dumplings to annihilate them!

At nine o’clock in the morning, after three hours of fierce fighting, the Iron Cross flag of the Third Reich fluttered over the city of Bristol, announcing that the city was incorporated into the territory of the Third Reich.

However, Guderian did not stay here for too long. After conquering here, he immediately led his army south and rushed towards Exmouth, an important town in the south!

This city is also an important seaport city in the southern region of the Sun Never Sets.

If it is captured here, the German army can easily divide the British troops in the encirclement into two parts again, allowing the German army to complete the elimination of these troops more smoothly!

At three o’clock in the afternoon, the German army arrived at the city of Exmouth!

Because the German army had cut off the connection between the southwest direction of the Sun Never Sets and the mainland, the British troops here were panicked one by one, just thinking about escaping from the German encirclement.

There were not many people who had the mind to stay in the city to resist the German army!

So, Guderian occupied this place easily without bloodshed!

After occupying here, the German army’s initial strategy was completed!

Guderian’s set of combined punches made the Sun Never Sets dizzy. They had never seen such a way of fighting before!

In one day, the German army advanced more than 300 kilometers and captured seven cities along the way, including two important cities.

The speed and range of the German attack were beyond the expectations of the British Army, which made them almost completely unprepared and passively attacked throughout the whole process!

And Guderian also made the British Army remember his illustrious reputation with this battle! _