Reborn South Africa as a police officer

Chapter 2354 Unlucky Paratrooper

For Captain Smith from the Cape, the operation of the British [-]st Airborne Division was an unmitigated disaster.

Captain Smith is a Cape native, 50.00% Boer, 20.00% English, and 20.00% French.

Educated in Cape State, Smith joined the Southern African Army after high school as a regular airborne before retiring four years later to work for the Umbrella Corporation.

After the outbreak of World War II, the United Kingdom recruited people of British descent from all over the world to return to the United Kingdom to join the army. At that time, southern Africa had not participated in the war. Smith returned to the United Kingdom and successfully joined the Second Airborne Brigade of the British First Airborne Division.

The encounter of the [-]st Airborne Brigade at the Pendergolan Bridge did not attract the attention of Alexander and Montgomery.

Both Alexander and Montgomery believed that the sudden appearance of the Germans was the main reason for the setbacks suffered by the [-]st Airborne Brigade.

After all, the size of the German paratroopers was limited. The Allied forces launched landing operations in multiple locations at the same time. The German paratroopers could not cover all the battlefields, which gave the Allied forces the opportunity to continue to carry out airborne operations.

On May 5th, a day generally considered inauspicious by Europeans, the Second Airborne Brigade was dispatched to carry out an airborne landing on the Brimasso Bridge in a glider.

Unlike the Pendergolan Bridge, the Brimasso Bridge is closer to the coastline, and the Second Airborne Brigade has the cover of the Allied fleet, which theoretically increases the chances of success for the Second Airborne Brigade's operations.

Tomorrow and accident, never know which will come first.

Undoubtedly, the accident happened again.

The glider of the Second Airborne Brigade had not reached the coastline when it was suddenly hit by ground anti-aircraft fire.

No, the glider is still at sea, so the anti-aircraft firepower must not come from the ground, but from the fleet.

The problem was that the Italian navy didn't fight at all due to lack of fuel.

So there is only one answer, that is, what is firing on the [-]nd Airborne Brigade is the Allied Fleet.

Through the porthole of the glider, Captain Smith clearly saw that a C47 transport plane towing the glider, both wings were hit by anti-aircraft guns at the same time, and the left wing was broken from one-third of the way. .

In this case, almost no one can survive.

"Are the navy puppies crazy? Why did they attack us?" Smith was dumbfounded, and the sergeant next to him cursed.

"God, I'm going to die, who can help me, I don't want to die in this iron coffin—" Some soldiers lost their emotions and cried loudly.

"Quiet, quiet, keep calm—" Captain Smith reminded loudly, the sound was not very effective in the noisy cabin.

An anti-aircraft shell fitted with a time-delay fuze exploded near the glider in which Captain Smith was traveling, further evidence that the bombardment came from Allied warships.

Before the outbreak of World War II, the radio proximity fuze was invented in southern Africa, that is, a radio distance measuring system was added to the fuze, and when an object was found in the flight of the shell, it would explode, thus avoiding early and late explosions and effectively improving hit rate.

Prior to this, the shells used by anti-aircraft guns were either trigger fuzes or mechanical time-delay fuzes.

As the name suggests, the trigger fuze will explode as long as it touches the target.

The mechanical delay fuze is an alarm clock installed in the shell, and it will explode when the time comes.

Before the use of radio proximity fuzes, it took 2000 to 3000 rounds to shoot down an aircraft.

With the use of radio proximity fuzes, downing an aircraft was reduced to about 700 shells.

To Captain Smith's relief, the glider they took was also produced in southern Africa, and the fuselage was specially reinforced, which greatly improved the survival rate of the paratroopers in the cabin.

In this contest of spear and shield, both the glider and the anti-aircraft gun were injured. Although the paratroopers were safe and sound, the tail of the glider was also damaged.

The C47 pilot who was dragging the glider also realized that something was wrong and changed direction in time to leave the range of the Allied fleet's anti-aircraft fire.

This was only temporary. The Allied forces provided cover for the Sicily landing operation with too many warships, and the transport plane encountered another fleet not long after it left.

The pilot of the transport plane was very smart this time, and adjusted the course early to avoid the range of the warship's anti-aircraft fire. This adjustment has been carried out five times, not to mention the expected airborne time has been missed, and the direction has also deviated seriously.

Captain Smith didn't know that the transport plane had deviated from its course, and in the C47 ahead, the pilot was confirming with the navigator how far he was from the target.

The weather was bad that day, with thick clouds and high winds making navigation even more difficult.

Not long after the transport plane entered the coastline, it started to rain again. The sky and the ground were covered with dense fish shreds. The navigator couldn't see the reference objects clearly and lost his direction completely. This made the pilot very annoyed.

"You are the navigator. Now you tell me that you don't know where we are. How did you become the navigator?" The pilot questioned the qualifications of the navigator.

The navigator was a young man wearing glasses. He held a magnifying glass in one hand and a map in the other. He glanced at the rain outside the porthole and then at the pilot, with a dazed expression on his face.

"Sorry sir, I just graduated from middle school and only received three months of assault training, and I've never been on a plane before—" The navigator was at a loss, not knowing what to do.

"Damn—" The pilot was about to collapse, the navigator is an inexperienced guy, what should we do?
"Our fuel has reached the warning line. If we continue to fly, we will not be able to return to the base." The co-pilot frowned, and they encountered a new problem.

Although the Allied forces had plenty of fuel, they could not be wasted casually. Before the transport plane departed, the fuel was calculated accurately, and a part of the margin was left. If there were no serious accidents, it would be enough for the transport plane to complete its mission.

In order to avoid the warship, the transport plane made five turns during the flight. The fuel consumption was serious and it had reached the warning line.

"What should I do?" The captain was sweating profusely.

"We must return immediately—" The copilot's eyes were like poisonous snakes.

After five seconds of ideological struggle, the captain finally made a choice.

"Okay, we've hit our target, the glider is starting to disengage—"

British paratroopers are sitting in the glider, but the C47 is the property of the US federal government.

"Yes sir, disengaging the glider—" the first officer said solemnly.

The navigator's face was full of surprise, his mouth was opened, but he didn't say a word.

Captain Smith did not yet know they had been abandoned.

The tail of the glider was damaged, and after it separated from the transport plane, it began to spin and fall at a speed of one hour. The paratroopers in the cabin were thrown totters and rolled into a ball.

If this continues, the plane will definitely be destroyed.

Smith struggled to open the cabin door, dragged a paratrooper over, and shouted in his ear.

"Jump, jump now, or you're dead—"

"It's raining outside, we'll die if we jump out now—" the paratrooper held on to the cabin door and didn't let go.

Smith didn't talk nonsense, he put his foot on the paratrooper's butt, kicked the paratrooper directly, and then the next one.

Jumping out of the cabin does not mean escaping from the sky. Skydiving in rainy weather is very dangerous. Fortunately, it is only drizzle. Even so, two paratroopers failed to open the parachute smoothly, and fell straight down screaming.

Captain Smith fulfilled his duty, and after kicking all the paratroopers down, he was the last one to jump out of the cabin.

At this time, Captain Smith was only about 500 meters above the ground, which was a very dangerous height.

Fortunately, Captain Smith successfully opened the parachute.

Then Captain Smith was horrified to find that even the paratroopers who successfully opened their parachutes were being shot crazily by ground anti-aircraft fire.

Pilots can not shoot at pilots who have already parachuted, but ground anti-aircraft gunners will not let go of paratroopers who have parachuted. This is a good opportunity to attack paratroopers, and there is no need to attack paratroopers themselves. Huge umbrella flowers are a better target.

When paratroopers are at their most vulnerable in the air, the only thing Captain Smith can do is pray.

It is estimated that God was moved by Captain Smith's sincerity, and Captain Smith landed smoothly, but because he jumped out of the cabin in a hurry, Captain Smith did not have time to bring his equipment bag, so the only thing Captain Smith can rely on now is the pistol he carries with him.

For a pistol, whether it can hit the target at a distance of more than 30 meters depends entirely on luck, and its power is too small. Unless a shot is fatal, the enemy will have the ability to fight back.

Captain Smith was experienced and did not act rashly. Before he had time to put away his parachute, he took off his parachute bag and fled directly into the nearby forest.

Captain Smith, who was full of luck, found a dead paratrooper in the woods and got the paratrooper's equipment bag.

The paratrooper died in a miserable state. The parachute bag was not opened at all. His upper body was hung on a thick branch, and his body was broken in two.

Lieutenant Smith tearfully licked the bag and got a dagger, a spade, a Sten submachine gun, and six magazines.

The shape of the Sten submachine gun is peculiar. Its magazine and feeding method are copied from the German P38. The magazine is out of the side of the gun, but it is perpendicular to the gun body like the automatic rifle in southern Africa. The reason is that the British think it is more convenient. Used in trenches.

If the magazine is perpendicular to the gun body and used in the trenches, the shooter will have more body area exposed to the trenches, which increases the probability of being hit.

This kind of concept cannot be said to be wrong. The problem is that the thinking of the British is still in the period of World War I, and they have not considered the probability of trench warfare in World War II at all.

Compared with automatic rifles in southern Africa and the Thomson in the United States, the Sten submachine gun is low in cost, simple in structure, and easy to mass produce. The cost of a gun is only 9 US dollars. This is probably the real reason why the UK chose the Sten submachine gun.

The Sten submachine gun is composed of 47 parts. The structure is very simple. Most of the components are stamped. Only the bolt and the barrel need to be machined. steel pipe.

Because the cost is too low, the Sten submachine gun has a nickname called "Woolworth toy gun".

Woolworth was an American merchant who sold small items for 5 to 10 cents.

At the same time, because the English name "Stens" of "Stens" is similar to the pronunciation of "stinky" in English, the Stens submachine gun has another nickname "stinky gun".

Many officers and soldiers of the British army will pretend to cover their noses and snort when they pass the Sten submachine gun that is being packed out of the box: "The smell is unbearable."

These are minor glitches.

The biggest problem with the Sten submachine gun is that its safety device is very unreliable, and it will go off with a slight touch. Many British soldiers were wounded or even killed by their own submachine guns before they reached the front line.

Captain Smith had served in the southern African army, and he could not see a weapon that was forced out of the war, such as the Bodeng submachine gun.

In Captain Smith's unit, soldiers equipped with Sten submachine guns usually walk at the forefront of the team to avoid accidentally injuring their comrades.

Many British officers and soldiers even believed that if they encountered the German army, they would throw the Sten submachine gun in their hands, and there would definitely be misfired bullets hitting the enemy.

At this time, the umbrella flowers of the paratroopers could no longer be seen in the sky, the sound of gunfire gradually faded away, and there were dense footsteps outside the woods. It was obvious that the enemy was searching for the surviving paratroopers.

Captain Smith hid in a bush with his Sten submachine gun, and could hear footsteps getting closer.

If the enemy finds out, then do your best for the Queen.

Captain Smith took out two hand grenades and checked the Sten submachine gun and pistol in turn, preparing for a bloody battle to the end.

Murphy said: "If there's a chance that something could go wrong, no matter how small that possibility is, it's going to happen.

Putting this sentence on the Sten submachine gun, it means: If the Sten submachine gun can go off, then it will go off.

Captain Smith accidentally triggered the safety device while checking the Sten submachine gun.

bah—

The gunshots were especially sharp in the silent woods.

There was a short pause in the sound of footsteps, and then they extended to both sides of the bushes where Captain Smith was.

Captain Smith was full of despair. This kind of reaction speed was definitely an elite force. Captain Smith didn't even hear the order from the officer, which showed that it was a subconscious reaction.

"Throw out the gun, raise your hands and surrender, or you'll taste the flamethrower." Suddenly a voice came.

Captain Smith's first reaction was to forget—

Then Captain Smith realized that the other party seemed to be speaking French.

The Germans and Italians will definitely not use French to persuade them to surrender, and they must use English.

Chinese is too complicated for Germans and Italians.

"I am Captain Smith of the [-]nd Airborne Brigade of the [-]st British Airborne Division. I will not surrender!" Captain Smith volunteered to identify himself.

No one spoke for a while.

Damn silence.

In fact, only ten seconds passed.

But to Captain Smith's feeling, at least an hour has passed.

"Uh, you should come out first, I have to confirm your identity." The French accent finally spoke, and the air seemed to be full of embarrassment.

"I am a southern African, and I will never surrender!" Captain Smith did not yield.

"Well, I'm also from southern Africa—" The French accent changed to Chinese.

"What the hell is going on with you?" Captain Smith jumped up immediately and cursed.

(End of this chapter)