Shadow Spy

Chapter 456 The success of the battle has flaws

In response to various "foreseen" situations, Li Junhao first modified the organization of the artillery support fleet in the previous plan. Among the artillery support fleet originally assigned to Omaha Beach, there was only one American New York-class battleship "Texas" as the main firepower ship. ", this battleship has a full load displacement of 3.1 tons and five twin turrets with a total of ten 14-inch (356mm) guns, which is not enough to suppress the German coastal defense batteries!

He was arranging the "Texas" to specifically deal with underwater obstacles and bunkers on the coastal defense line. He insisted on removing a British Nelson-class battleship "Rodney" from the Eastern Task Force to join the artillery formation, responsible for suppressing the German coastal defenses. The task of the gun - this is a super battleship with a full load displacement of 3.8 tons, and has three triple mounts with a total of nine 16-inch (406mm) cannons!

To this end, he specially dispatched the latest MK-8 armor-piercing projectile from the United States. Each projectile weighs up to 1225 kilograms, contains 180 kilograms of explosives, has a muzzle velocity of 762 meters/second, and has a maximum range of 42-45 kilometers and can penetrate 9-meter-thick concrete wall or 486-mm-thick vertical armor to ensure the effective destruction of German forts.

Secondly, he equipped the helicopter group accompanying the attack with 70mm rocket nests, rockets equipped with white phosphorus warheads, and 12.7mm aviation machine guns to deal with the German defensive bunkers and trenches from the air; high-speed armored speedboats were arranged to patrol the coastal waters, Use its four 4mm rapid-fire guns to provide medium-range fire support to the landing troops.

In addition, while equipping the landing troops with amphibious tanks and armored vehicles, he also came up with a new high-speed beach vehicle - an armored chassis beach vehicle equipped with a high exhaust pipe, with a wading depth of 1.2 meters and can be dropped directly Go to the shallow water area of ​​​​the beach; it has a crew of two to three people. The front is equipped with 14mm armor and can defend against 12.7mm heavy machine gun bullets. It is equipped with a 75mm direct-aiming recoilless rifle, a second-generation bazooka rocket launcher, and a 40mm automatic grenade launcher. , 20mm machine guns and other heavy weapons, blasting cord throwers with a range of 200 meters (used to clear landmines)...

Individual soldiers are equipped with the latest thickened steel helmets and body armor, and all use automatic weapons-M2L carbines and lightweight versions of M1918A5 automatic rifles.

In order to reduce the weight of the soldiers, the soldiers who rushed to the beach as infantry only carried a basic amount of ammunition and gas masks. The required follow-up ammunition was specially arranged for helicopters to be air-dropped...

It can be said that Li Junhao has used all the equipment and tactics that can be thought of and used!

What he didn't know was that the senior leaders of the Allied Expeditionary Force were a little dumbfounded by this operation, because this configuration was too luxurious and must be useful, but... it was too expensive! Not only are the British now unable to afford it, but even the generals of the U.S. Army are envious of it!
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Under Li Junhao's powerful operations, the Normandy landing battle in this world had a different result!

After the D-Day landing battle began, Omaha Beach, which was originally considered the most difficult to capture by the Allies, became the earliest place to end the battle. In only five hours, the 11th and 12th troops of the 13st Marine and Army Corps, which were the main attackers, The [-]th brigade basically successfully occupied the German coastal defense line, and then the [-]th brigade landed and started to attack forward...

Immediately following the landing were two light armored regiments of the 1st Infantry Division of the U.S. Army, which immediately followed the road opened by the 13th Coastal Brigade; then, a U.S. engineer regiment landed and immediately erected a steel trestle on the beach...

At 14:[-] in the afternoon, the first trestle bridge was erected!

At 16:24, two regiments of the US 12th Infantry Division landed and took over from the [-]th Brigade of the First Army to guard the beach landing site.

At 18:1, the U.S. 11st Infantry Division all landed and immediately moved forward, replacing the 13th and 21th Marine and Land Brigades in front of the sudden attack, and rejoined their own light armored regiment... By 1:35, the 20st Infantry Division expanded forward again A depth of [-] kilometers. At [-]:[-] that night, other naval and land forces participating in the battle also successfully completed their missions, taking four other beachheads and opening up enough landing sites forward...

At this point, the first wave of landing operations was successfully concluded, and the navy and land forces began to count casualties and retreat to rest and recuperate.
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The Allied Expeditionary Force Headquarters and its superior, the U.S.-British Joint Chiefs of Staff Conference, were surprised at how smoothly the beach landing operation went. The landing commander, General Panson, personally modified and finalized the operational plan, which was taken separately from the "Overlord" plan. Come out and be studied by the top leaders of the two countries and militaries!

Word spread, and the U.S. Marine Corps became famous in one battle!

Previously in the Pacific theater, the sea and land fought brilliantly in the Mariana Islands campaign, but it was only the US military's independent action, and its reputation did not radiate to the allies. This time it was different, the United Kingdom, Canada, Free France and Western Europe in the United Kingdom. The exile governments of various countries learned about the war situation immediately, and they were all surprised!

Therefore, the name of Ognyan Lee Panson, the youngest general in the United States and the first general in the history of sea and land, quickly spread throughout Europe.

At this time, Li Junhao did not accept the congratulations from everyone at the headquarters. Instead, he personally led the Guard Battalion to collect the remains of the dead officers and soldiers at the five beachheads...
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In this battle, although adequate preparations were made in advance, casualties could not be completely avoided. The land and sea officers and soldiers who were the beach troops suffered 377 deaths and 1241 injuries!

Among the 46 officers who died, the one with the highest military rank and position was a major battalion commander of the 32nd Brigade of the Third Army.

Among the five beaches, the one with the greatest casualties was not Omaha as previously expected, but Swade Beach in the east, accounting for nearly one-half of the total casualties! For this reason, Major General Harry Schmidt, commander of the Fifth Army, specifically approached Li Junhao to admit his mistake.

Li Junhao did not blame Schmidt, because he had already understood the battle situation at the first time. The incident was caused by the British army's mistake. The support fire of one of its destroyers deviated from the target. A salvo fired 12 8-inch (203mm) The artillery shells directly wiped out half the company of the 51st Brigade of the Fifth Army!

Rear Admiral Schmidt, who was on the support ship at the time, led his guard company and tried to find the cruise captain, but was stopped by other officers. Now the captain has been retired early and sent away by the British Royal Navy.

In Li Junhao's heart, this matter was unacceptable, so he went directly to the British naval commander Ramsay and asked him to hand over the British captain! Of course the other party disagreed and said that it had been punished internally...

Li Junhao looked at the other party coldly and said: "Nick, send a telegram back to China to convey my order. The Marine and Land Command Guards were dispatched to seize and confiscate 10 military support warships for the British as compensation for the accidental killing of our officers and soldiers. The price!”

"NO! You can't do this!" Ramsay immediately became anxious!

(End of this chapter)