Published at 13th of February 2023 07:08:11 AM

Fleury, a small town more than ten kilometers east of Rouen. The residents of the small town have been driven away. Here, it became the defense zone of the 2nd Infantry Division and the 3rd Infantry Division of the German 1st Army. The order they received was to rush here to set up defenses to prevent the British and French allied forces from advancing westward.

Behind their line of defense are the remaining more than 400 tanks of the German 1st Armored Division and 8th Armored Division. Once the Anglo-French forces start to attack, the 2nd Infantry Division and the 3rd Infantry Division will be responsible for blocking the Anglo-French forces. At the same time, other units of the German 1st Army and 8th Army will immediately start to move, forming an encirclement circle north and east of Fleury. To the south, the Seine is just a few kilometers away. If the British and French allied forces can swim across the Seine, they will break out in this direction.

At noon on April 7, the vanguard of the British and French forces, the 22nd Infantry Division of the 3rd Army of the British Expeditionary Force, arrived in Fleury. After the British army discovered that this place had been captured by the German army, it immediately stopped advancing, and at the same time reported the situation to the group army headquarters, requesting further instructions.

After learning of this situation, General Benson, the commander of the 3rd Army of the British Expeditionary Force, immediately ordered the 22nd Infantry Division to launch an attack. At the same time, he ordered other troops to speed up and rush for reinforcements, so as to defeat the German army in the shortest possible time. , took Fleury, and opened the passage to Rouen.

The reason why Admiral Benson issued such an order was that he believed that the German attack on Rouen had undoubtedly reached a critical moment. Therefore, the German army sent a small number of troops to stop them, and bought time to defeat the British 1st Army and take Rouen. In this case, they will not be able to waste time even more.

After receiving the order from Admiral Benson, the British 22nd Infantry Division immediately launched an attack on Fleury.

It's just that they soon knew that they had completely kicked on an iron board. The German army deployed not a small amount of troops in the small town of Fleury. Whether it is military strength or combat effectiveness, they are much, much stronger than their infantry division.

"Fire!"

The British army set up 18 114mm howitzers and 54 83.8mm field guns and began to fire on the German defense line outside the town of Fleury.

However, two minutes later, they were hit back by heavy German artillery fire.

The German 2nd Infantry Division and 3rd Infantry Division have a total of 36 150mm howitzers, 72 105mm howitzers and 108 75mm field guns. The total number of artillery is three times that of the British army, not to mention that the caliber of the artillery still has a great advantage.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

When shells kept falling from the sky and hit the artillery positions of the British army, and after their artillery was misfired, the commander of the 22nd Infantry Division of the British army was stunned.

"General, judging from the scale of artillery deployed by the Germans here, they must have a large number of troops. I'm afraid we are not their opponents!" said the commander of the artillery brigade.

The commander of the 22nd Infantry Division of the British Army was also bitter in his mouth. How could he not know that he had kicked the iron plate this time. However, Admiral Benson's order had already been issued, and he had no choice but to bite the bullet and launch an attack.

"Command the troops, prepare to launch an attack. Also, send a message to the headquarters that we need reinforcements!"

Subsequently, the 22nd Infantry Division of the British Army launched an offensive. However, in the face of the powerful firepower of the German army, they did not take advantage of it at all. Instead, they left a lot of corpses and had to retreat in embarrassment.

In the afternoon, the British 23rd Infantry Division and 24th Infantry Division rushed to the battlefield. The arrival of the new force of the two infantry divisions gave the British army the confidence to attack.

However, the British army launched three consecutive attacks, but they still failed to break through the German defense line, and instead caused heavy casualties.

As a last resort, the British army had to stop the attack. At the same time, report the situation here to Admiral Benson.

In the evening, Admiral Benson's 3rd Army headquarters also arrived in Fleury, and the main force of the 300,000 British and French allied forces he led was basically concentrated in this area. Admiral Benson was very dissatisfied with the fact that the three infantry divisions had failed to break through the German defenses when they launched an attack. He directly issued a death order, asking them to continue the attack tomorrow morning, and before sunset tomorrow, they must break through the German defense line and reach Rouen.

General Benson didn't know that the troops of the German 1st Army and 8th Army were in action at this moment. A large number of troops, starting from Rouen, rushed to the north and east of the main force of the British army. Farther to the east, the 1st Infantry Division and the 34th Infantry Division were transported by truck.

"General Ludendorff, have the various departments of the 8th Army arrived at the scheduled location?" Admiral Crook asked.

"General, the 7 infantry divisions and 1 armored division of the 8th Army have arrived at their predetermined positions and are ready to attack at any time." Lieutenant General Ludendorff replied.

Admiral Crook nodded: "In addition to leaving two infantry divisions as reserves in the 1st Army, the remaining 13 infantry divisions and 1 armored division have also arrived at their scheduled positions. Tomorrow morning, the two The armored division launched the attack first, and after defeating the British and French allied forces, the other troops advanced steadily and wiped out the 300,000 British and French allied forces here!"

"Yes, General." Lieutenant General Ludendorff nodded, of course he would not have any opinions on this.

This time, in order to encircle and wipe out the 300,000 main forces of the British and French allied forces, the 1st Army and the 8th Army have invested in the main force. On the contrary, there are not many troops used to attack Rouen. Even with the addition of the two infantry divisions as the reserve, there are only 8 infantry divisions in total, more than a hundred thousand people.

On the morning of April 8, the British 22nd Infantry Division, 23rd Infantry Division and 24th Infantry Division started busy early in the morning, preparing for the attack. Admiral Benson strictly ordered them to break through the German defenses before sunset today, and there was nothing they could do. Although he knew that the German army 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 the preparations before the attack and were ready to attack. However, they then had to stop their attack. Because the German army launched an attack one step ahead of them.

The German 1st Armored Division and 8th Armored Division, more than 400 tanks, rushed out of the position and rushed towards the British position. The torrent of steel composed of more than 400 tanks made people unable to think of stopping it at all.

"My God! The German armor is here!"

"Damn it, this is a trap. This is a trap set by the Germans." Admiral Benson was even more shocked and angry when he learned about it.