Reborn South Africa as a police officer

Chapter 2573
After a winter's rest, Gerd von Rundstedt made a comeback, came out for the third time, and once again served as the commander-in-chief of the German Army's Western Front.

After experiencing last year's assassination incident, Mustache urgently needs Lundstedt's influence to regroup the army.

Lundstedt did not disappoint Mustache's trust. He personally acted as the presiding judge, heard the assassination case of Mustache, and presided over Rommel's state funeral on behalf of Mustache.

When Normandy landed, Lundstedt and Rommel had serious differences, and the conflict between the two finally ended in Rommel's "suicide".

I don't know if Lundstedt felt his lips were dead and his teeth were cold at Rommel's funeral.

After returning to the Western Front, Lundstedt worked hard to adjust the defense line, using the dense water network in the Netherlands and the Rhine, the largest river in Western Europe, to deploy defenses, hoping to delay the speed of the Allied attack as much as possible.

As for victory, forget it. After a difficult 1944, even the most optimistic Germans do not think that Germany can finally win the war.

The only difference is that the time of defeat is sooner or later.

In the winter that just passed, the Allied forces on the Western Front had many discussions about the spring offensive. Montgomery proposed that they could land on the coast of Germany and go straight to the hinterland of the German army.

This crazy plan was strongly opposed by both Patton and Eisenhower.

Rockets in southern Africa are not as accurate.

Lundstedt was able to withstand the pressure of Mustache and withdraw the German army to the Rhine, which was completely beyond Patton's expectations.

Is the accuracy of the German V2 rocket already so high?
If this is the case, then the Southern African Expeditionary Force really needs to speed up the recovery operation.

More importantly, not long after the battle began, the German army captured the Allied combat order from a downed glider, and General Kurt Student, commander of the German Airborne First Army, immediately went to see the commander of Army Group B. Commander Model made targeted arrangements according to the orders of the Allied Forces, and tried his best to prevent the airborne troops of the British and American Allied Forces from converging with the ground armored forces, which brought great difficulties to the offensive of the British and American Allied Forces.

The point is to be reasonable.

You must know that when Mustache gave orders to all the German troops before, no matter under any circumstances, he asked the German troops to organize defenses on the spot, and would rather annihilate the entire army than take a step back.

This is not to say that compared with the British and American coalition forces, the luck of the Southern African Expeditionary Force is still good.

It is good to have confidence, but it is not good to have confidence inflated to this extent.

That's right, even with the solid Maginot Line, the Germans couldn't deal with the alternating attacks of superior air and armor forces in Southern Africa.

Even without an attack, the Southern African Expeditionary Force only needs a long-term siege, and it can kill the German troops in the Maginot Line of Defense.

The 1st Airborne Division was indeed unlucky. A large number of jeeps and other heavy equipment were lost due to the crash of the glider, and most of the communication equipment was also unusable. What was even more unlucky was that there happened to be a German army stationed near the target Arnhem. The 1st Airborne The division was hit head-on by the Germans.

During the Battle of France, 70 French troops were trapped on the Maginot Line and watched as the German army invaded France through Belgium. They were eventually dumped and wiped out.

When he was in Yalta, Winston laughed at the Russians every day for their heavy losses, the unreasonable fighting, and no progress at all for five years.

And a more serious mistake is that Montgomery and Patton seem to have a soft spot for the airborne troops. After the failure in Sicily, Montgomery and Patton sent the US 101st Airborne Division, the 82nd Airborne Division, and the British 1st Airborne Division, as well as a Polish paratrooper brigade, were concentrated in an attempt to use paratroopers to break through the German defense system.

The British-made Grand Slam is still very useful when dealing with solid fortifications.

This is not red alert.

Like many previous battles, this battle started again by mistake.

On March 3, the attack officially began.

Now it was the British army's turn to take action, but their performance was not as good as that of the Russians. Rock blushed for Winston.

To deal with armored units equipped with heavy tanks, there is no doubt that they will die.

In the first 72 hours of the battle, the US 101st Airborne Division and 82nd Airborne Division lost more than 4000 people, most of whom were caused by parachuting.

This is very strange. Is one billion dollars a year not enough for American suppliers to maintain a rocket engine production line?
"It's not just V2 rockets, but German jet bombers reappeared, and remote-controlled bombs also appeared on the battlefield. The difficulties we face are increasing day by day." Yang Smotz worried that the Southern African Expeditionary Force would encounter the same dilemma as the British and American coalition forces.

The V2 rocket is an upgraded version of the V1 rocket, with improved range and power. At the end of last year, the Germans began to use the V2 rocket to attack London. However, according to feedback from various channels, the accuracy of the V2 rocket is not enough and needs to be improved. .

But the German troops defending Vienna were still very tenacious.

It was precisely because he understood this that Lundstedt withdrew all the German troops. This not only preserved the vitality of the troops, but also could fight with the Southern African Expeditionary Force on the preset battlefield, which was more beneficial to the German army.

British troops in London.

The artillery and military vehicles of the airborne troops may still play some role against ordinary German infantry.

Before the offensive was launched, Montgomery, who had unprecedented confidence, even said triumphantly: We can definitely end the battle before the arrival of summer and occupy Berlin before the Russians.

A total of 3.5 troops participated in the airborne. In addition, there were 568 artillery pieces, 1927 military vehicles, and 5230 tons of combat supplies.

After "close and friendly" discussions, the Allied forces on the Western Front finally decided to launch an attack on Germany by land. Among them, the Southern African Expeditionary Force would start from Belgium, go around the Maginot Line of Defense, and launch an attack directly on the German mainland.

When fighting on German land, don't think about supporting war with war. Patton and Eisenhower even believed that the German army might even implement scorched-earth tactics to counter the Allied attacks.

Leaving aside the number and equipment of the airborne troops, if Marshal Malinovsky, who is fighting fiercely in Vienna, can also have such a large-scale air force, then Malinowski may be able to wake up from his dreams.

Now the V2 rocket can hit the floating bridge, which surprised Rock.

Barton did not expect Lundstedt to be so decisive.

The British and American coalition forces cleared the German army in the Netherlands at the first time, and advanced northward along the coastline. The advantage of this is that they can get the help of the superior navy and air force of the Allied forces, and they can pass through coastal ports and the well-developed railway network in Germany. , Guarantee the logistics of the Allied forces as much as possible.

Speaking of engines, Rock remembers news that the United States had asked Russia to buy rocket engines, and the Americans had even rented Russian launch vehicles, which alone cost about $10 billion a year.

Taking the middle figure of 400 meters, it means that the whole process from jumping out of the cabin to landing on the ground takes about 1 minute.

Montgomery ignored the fact that the Austrian servant army in Austria was indeed hopeless.

But for paratroopers, this is the fateful minute.

"There are many rivers in the Netherlands. It is now spring, and the ice and snow have melted. Those rivers have become natural anti-tank trenches-smaller canals, and engineers can build pontoon bridges. Larger rivers such as the Rhine and Waal have basically no pontoon bridges. Possibly, even if the construction is barely completed, it will be blown up by the German V2 rockets—" Yang Smother was regretful, he wished he could fly to San Roque to command the battle now.

"So, the airborne troops of the British and American coalition forces are surrounded, and the ground troops are unable to advance. Who made this plan? Why is this happening?" Rock was very sad.

It doesn't matter if you lose, he's used to it anyway.

Montgomery didn't dare to laugh. This was another reckless gamble of his. If he won, Montgomery would become a famous player of the generation.

"Wait, you just said V2 rocket?" Rock was surprised.

"Yes, just yesterday, the German army used V2 rockets to destroy one of our pontoon bridges." Yang Smozi was also surprised when he saw the news.

Of course, this cannot be entirely blamed on Montgomery. Judging by the news from Austria, the Axis forces have now completely lost confidence, and entire regiments and divisions surrendered to the Allies, and sometimes they even took the initiative before the Allies arrived. Shut yourself up in a barracks and take a prisoner without firing a shot.

The upgraded version has never been heard of, and Rock doesn't remember Germany having a V3 rocket.

In order to deliver these troops and materials to the scheduled location accurately and at the scheduled time, the British and American coalition forces used almost all their possessions, including more than 5500 transport planes, 2596 gliders, and more than 8000 fighter jets and bombers.

After the spring offensive was launched, the Southern African Expeditionary Force set out from Belgium according to the scheduled plan, went around the Maginot Line, and launched an attack on the hinterland of Germany.

It was so difficult for the Allied forces to land in Normandy, where the German army's defenses were weak, but the difficulty of launching a landing battle on German territory would increase countless times.

Objectively speaking, after the training of the Battle of Sicily and the Normandy landings, the airborne troops have made great progress. They advanced smoothly in the early stage of the campaign. Although the casualties were a little bit larger, they all completed the planned goals.

The Rhine is the largest river in Western Europe. It originates in the northern foothills of the Alps in Switzerland, flows through Liechtenstein, Austria, France, Germany and the Netherlands in the northwest, and finally flows into the North Sea near Rotterdam, with a total length of 1232 kilometers.

In order to achieve the suddenness of the battle, Montgomery and Patton learned from the "leapfrog tactics" that the Allied forces in East Asia played an important role in attacking Japan. Three airborne, captured the bridge over the Rhine.

For other arms, 1 minute is not too long.

When the U.S. military was airborne, they practiced high-altitude skydiving, with a skydiving height of 366 to 457 meters, much higher than the standard skydiving height of 244 meters in World War II.

Without the Saturn V, let's see how the Americans go to the moon.

There are also reasons for the high casualties.

Of the three airborne divisions of the coalition forces, the 101st Division had the closest airborne location, and the 82nd Division was slightly farther away. The airborne locations of the British [-]st Airborne Division and the Polish Paratrooper Brigade were the farthest from the starting point, and the tasks were the heaviest and most dangerous.

Coincidence makes sense.

According to the plan, the British and American allied forces launched an attack from the Netherlands. Patton and Montgomery, the crouching dragons and phoenixes during the Battle of Sicily, teamed up again to prepare to sweep the German army in the Netherlands and insert only the hinterland of Germany from the Netherlands.

"—This should be just a coincidence, or an upgraded version of the V2 rocket." Sidney Milner was once the director of Brad's office, and he is no stranger to Germany's technological capabilities.

Just a week before the Allied attack, Rundstedt made adjustments to the German defenses. In the planned landing area of ​​the British and American airborne troops, the German army had deployed two armored divisions of the 2nd SS Panzer Corps and the 1st Airborne. Part of the Army Group.

The recycling operation, like the paperclip in the United States, aims to collect scientific talents from Europe, as well as related technologies, and bring them and them back to southern Africa.

Lundstedt did not want to make the same mistakes as the French. Before the Southern African Expeditionary Force was dispatched, Lundstedt voluntarily abandoned the Maginot Line, withdrew all German troops across the Rhine, and relied on the Rhine to organize the defense line.

It is known that the paratroopers are in the air and descend about six meters per second.

This is actually reasonable. After all, there are many rivers in the Netherlands. The large rivers include the Rhine, the Waal, and the other three canals. It really works wonders.

In order to better coordinate the offensive, the Southern African Expeditionary Force and the US military headquarters in Europe are both located in San Roque.

The progress of the two forces in the first 72 hours was relatively smooth, but as the German army made targeted arrangements for the Allied attack, the Allied ground forces advanced slowly, and the logistics of the airborne troops also began to have problems, and the offensive was forced to stop.

The "Grand Slam" is the British-made ten-ton bomb.

"Send a telegram to Barton and ask him to find von Braun as soon as possible. Even if he can't bring von Braun to southern Africa, at least he can't let von Braun go to the United States." Regardless of whether it is a coincidence or not, Rock first sent Let's talk about Saturn 5 dead.

"We have to speed up. According to information from Brad's office, Lundstedt has ordered that all bridges on the Rhine River be blown up if attacked." Guy was very worried. Heavy weapons, more than the Anglo-American forces, rely more on the role of bridges.

"Blow it up - those bridges on the Rhine, our heavy tanks may not be able to pass at all." Patton didn't care, the bridge technology in southern Africa is still very good, the British and American troops are not capable of erecting pontoon bridges on the Rhine, the southern African The African Expeditionary Force took it easy.

"Then we'll build plank roads and keep secrets, and send troops to steal bridges. If we can, we'll grab them. If we can't, we'll build pontoons." Guy has a strong ability to adapt, and he cooperates well with Barton.

"Where is our air force? When will it be dispatched?" Patton was eager to try. His British and American counterparts had already "shown their skills" on the battlefield, and it was time for the airborne troops from southern Africa to make their debut.

(End of this chapter)