The Rise Of Australasia-Chapter 1154 - 867: Going Through Belgium

Chapter 1154: Chapter 867: Going Through Belgium

It had become clear that the Germans had been prepared to forcibly pass through Belgium even before asking for permission. Although the United Kingdom and France unequivocally expressed their support for Belgium, and Belgium had announced its determination to protect its territory at all costs, these seemed utterly insignificant in the face of Germany’s strategic goals and interests.

Moreover, since Germany was already at war with the United Kingdom and France, why should it care about the diplomatic threats from its enemies?

The German government ignored the threats from the United Kingdom and France and the reactions of the Belgian government, and immediately declared war on Belgium as soon as the 24-hour deadline had passed.

At the same time, about ten thousand German troops marched magnificently into Belgium and launched an attack directly on the Belgian border troops.

The actions of the German Army were so swift that they far surpassed the expectations of the United Kingdom, France, and Belgium.

Although the Belgian government had started an emergency mobilization after the ultimatum was issued, it was absolutely impossible to mobilize many troops within one day.

Simply mobilizing a batch of weapons and equipment from the arsenal required a certain amount of time, let alone distributing these to tens of thousands of new recruits and deploying them to the battlefield.

The reality was that, after the Belgian borders were violated, the Belgian recruitment offices had managed to mobilize fewer than fifty thousand new recruits.

A large portion of these new recruits had not even received their weapons and equipment, and even their military uniforms varied in size, fitting poorly.

The German Army was not going to give the Belgian Army a chance. As the saying goes, “Strike the iron while it’s hot.” The German Army launched a massive offensive, raining down shells as if to deliver a fatal blow to the Belgian troops.

At 5 a.m. on May 22nd, in the still dim light of dawn, the German Army had already initiated their attack.

Hundreds of bombers, protected by several times their number of fighter aircraft, marched proudly towards the Belgian military stations and airports.

Although the Belgian government had long put its troops on combat readiness and the frontline troops had transported a large amount of weaponry ammunition, ready for war,

the problem was that due to the Belgian government’s earlier declaration of absolute neutrality, the country nationwide had made no preparations for war.

Even before the final German ultimatum had arrived, the Belgian attitude towards the war was to simply watch a good show unfold.

But what the Belgians hadn’t anticipated was that the war, like a raging fire, was destined to burn those neighbors, like Belgium, who were in close proximity.

Furthermore, due to the absence of any major war for an extended period, Belgium’s war and mobilization systems had essentially become decayed.

Although the government had early on warned the border troops that the German Army might launch an attack after 24 hours,

these Belgian border troops clearly were not sufficiently prepared. When the German Army launched their attack, a considerable number of Belgian soldiers were still in their sweet slumber.

It hadn’t occurred to them that the Germans were a meticulous people, and if they said they would attack, they certainly would.

Although the Belgian Army had also strengthened and rebuilt their border defenses, one day was obviously not enough to make much difference.

When faced with the enemy’s massive bombardment and the attack of bomber planes, the function of the Belgian border defense installations became negligible.

The good news was that the target of most of the German bombers was not the Belgian defense lines, but rather the Belgian airfields and barracks.

The bad news was that Belgium, being a rather small country with already a limited number of military airfields, could not withstand such a massive attack by Germany, and most of its airfields were destined to be destroyed.

This also meant that after this round of air raids, Belgium did not have any chance of resistance in the skies.

This 𝓬ontent is taken from fгeewebnovёl.co𝙢.

But on the other hand, even if the Germans had not bombed the Belgian military airfields, Belgium would not have been able to compete with the German Army in the skies.

As a small country sandwiched between major powers, and facing another across the sea, these three powers would not allow Belgium to possess a strong air force.

Moreover, because of Belgium’s earlier declaration of absolute neutrality, it had massively cut its military budget.

This resulted in Belgium having one of the lowest investments in air force among the small European countries, with the number of military airplanes being less than fifty.

It is worth mentioning that in the previous World War I, Belgium had occupied a small part of German territory.

This provoked the German Army to have a strong desire to fight against Belgium, for in the eyes of the Germans, allowing a small country to occupy their territory was an absolute humiliation.

The unprepared Belgian troops stood no chance against the fully prepared German Army.

In less than a day, the German Army had completely recovered their territory and pushed the front line to Liège.

Liège is one of the more famous urban cities in Belgium. Here lies one of the few large fortresses of Belgium, Liège Fortress.

Clearly, the Belgian military also wanted to concentrate its defensive strength on its key fortifications, to delay the German invasion as much as possible, seeking time for British and French support.

But the Belgians ignored one fact, that is, over twenty years had passed since World War I.

During World War I, Liège Fortress held back the Germans for quite a long time. But in World War II, the widespread use of airplanes, combined with the bombardment of a large number of firearms, made the seemingly sturdy Liège Fortress hold out for less than three days.

The Germans suffered over ten thousand casualties to take down this strong fortress and then advanced along the river towards Namur.

Four days after the outbreak of the German-Belgian war, the French Army set out from Sedan, heading north along the river, in an attempt to assist the Belgian military.

But by this time, the German Army had already reached Namur and launched a fierce attack on the urban city.

When the Frenchmen arrived near Namur along the river, they received bad news: the Germans had already captured Namur and were already heading north, attacking Belgium’s capital city, Brussels, in full force.

In less than five days, the Germans had conquered the two military strongholds of Belgium and were about to reach Brussels, which proved the strength of the German Army.

Although the Belgian military numbered less than 100,000 soldiers, they also had strong fortresses for defense.

And due to Belgium’s relatively small territory, relying on fortresses made defense easier.

Yet the fact that the German Army managed to beat the Belgian military forces back step by step in such a short period already proved the might of the German Army.

With the rapid advance of the German Army exceeding the expectations of the French Army, the French general in charge of supporting Belgium had no choice but to change his orders.

The French forces supporting Belgium consisted of 12 divisions, amounting to over 150,000 troops.

Under the orders of the French General, about fifty thousand headed west towards Charleroi, seeking an opportunity to enter Brussels from the rear and help the Belgians hold the capital city.

The remaining hundred thousand temporarily stationed themselves on the riverbanks, waiting for the German Army to truly set their sights on Brussels. When that time arrived, the French Army planned to take the opportunity to recapture Namur and Liège Fortress, aiming to cut off the supply and retreat lines of the Germans invading Belgium, ideally encircling the German forces altogether.

Up to that point in the war, neither France nor Austria had achieved a substantial victory in battle.

This had caused considerable frustration for the French Army. They wanted to prove that the French forces were not subpar and could still strike a fatal blow to the powerful German Army through strategic planning.

To ensure that the plan was fail-safe, this French General reached out to the domestic government and General Staff for more Air Force resources and requested the General Staff to dispatch another troop to protect his flank.

Getting the nod of approval from the French General Staff excited the General greatly. After all, he saw this plan as foolproof, where the narrow territory of Belgium could become the Germans’ graveyard, crushing the myth of German invincibility.

On May 27, 1936, the German Army approached Brussels and immediately launched a comprehensive attack.

On the map, one can see that the urban cities of Charleroi, Namur, Leuven, and Antwerp are relatively close to one another.

To ensure their attack was unstoppable, the German Army left nearly a hundred thousand troops to defend Namur and deployed a significant number of airplanes for patrols between Charleroi and Namur, all to guard against the French Army.

Thanks to a multitude of reconnaissance airplanes, the German Army quickly discovered the movements of the French forces. The Germans were surprised to find that the French seemed to have split into two groups, targeting both Namur and Brussels.

This coincided perfectly with the intentions of the German Army, and upon confirming the French plan, they actually reduced their patrol flights to avoid alerting the enemy.

On May 28, after confirming that the Germans had commenced a full-scale attack on Brussels, the French Army began their assault on Namur.

To the surprise of the French forces, not only were the German soldiers stationed in Namur numerous, but they also slightly surpassed them in firepower.

The French Army’s notion of quickly capturing Namur and Liège not only failed to materialize but they also found themselves trapped around Namur.

Over an hour after the French Army’s attack, a great number of German airplanes arrived at Namur and engaged in fierce air combat with the French aircraft.

It should be noted that the French had deployed a considerable number of airplanes in the southern region against Italy and had achieved no small measure of success.

But as a result, France didn’t have many airplanes available for the war in the north. Even with certain support from Britain, the total number of airplanes that France could deploy was still only around 1,000.

Germany was different. Having made ample preparations for the war, Germany manufactured close to 3,000 airplanes within six months and had also seized nearly 1,000 airplanes from the Poles.

This caused Germany’s airplane reserves to break through 4,000, and even if halved, with over 2,000 airplanes still available for the attacks against Belgium and France.