New World War II Eagle Strikes the Sky

Today is the day of action, but from the very beginning, this action showed a lot of signs of trouble.From the second half of the night, an unexpected night fog covered Caen Airport.The thickness of this fog is only about twenty meters.Standing on the tower of the airport and looking out, the scenery is really good. There is a light blue sea of ​​clouds and mist slowly undulating under your feet, and you can see the bright stars all over the sky when you look up.But if you look at it from the ground, you will be surrounded by a gray area, and you can hardly see anything clearly.Although lights were on on the runway, the visibility was not good enough.Although it is barely able to take off, the efficiency of the plane's dispatch has been greatly reduced.

This also caused the attack aircraft cluster of the 21st Attack Aircraft Wing to attack nearly half an hour later than scheduled.

However, the main force of the 82nd Airborne Division boarded in the United Kingdom.There is no fog at UK airports.The soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division boarded the plane on time, and then flew towards the target area under the gaze of the stars.When the transport fleet they took crossed the line of control between the Allied forces and the German forces, they were not discovered by the Germans.This is mainly because as the Allied forces advanced step by step in Europe, a big gap was opened in the German army's relatively complete radar system.

But when the fleet was approaching the target area, they were still fired by German anti-aircraft guns.Several c-47 transport planes were hit, and the paratroopers on these transport planes had to pick up parachutes in advance.

But generally speaking, the transport fleet went smoothly. Under the escort of the P-51 fleet of the Ninth Air Force, they arrived in the scheduled airspace and started the airdrop.In fact, such a large-scale use of airborne troops by the Allied forces was indeed beyond the expectations of the Germans.Therefore, the 82nd Airborne Division was not attacked by the German army when it was airborne. If there was any problem, it was that the wind was slightly stronger than expected, so that the soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division scattered when they landed. Bigger than expected and takes more time to put together.In addition, some unlucky soldiers fell into the river. Compared with the British umbrellas, the American umbrellas are more complicated and difficult to untie, at least with one hand.As a result, several paratroopers were killed by the American-style parachute-this is all the casualties of the first batch of parachuted soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division.

The paratroopers who landed began to move towards their respective goals.Their first objective was to capture two bridges across the Mütz-War Canal, each near Greve.This goal was also carried out extremely smoothly, because the Germans were insufficiently prepared for the airborne landing of the Allied forces. Both bridges had only platoon-level garrison troops equipped with ordinary weapons. Basically, there were no heavy weapons, only a few It's just a mg-42 machine gun.Therefore, although the German garrison estimated that they would be the target of attack after seeing the parachutes of the Allied forces, it was impossible for such a weak force to block the 82nd Airborne Division.The soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division found that the quality of these German troops was also very problematic.When they use the mg-42 machine gun, they don't even know that every time they shoot one or two bursts, they should immediately change to another shooting position.You know, although the airborne troops have no heavy weapons, they still have mortars.As a result, these mg-42 machine guns of the German army only fired two shuttles before they were blown into the sky by the falling mortar shells.

Without the support of the mg-42 machine gun, the German infantry could not compete with the elite American paratroopers. The rate of fire of the m1 semi-automatic rifle is much higher than that of the Mauser 98k in their hands. More importantly, when a shot is missed and a second shot is needed, the Americans do not need to let the butt leave like the Germans Shoulder to pull the bolt, then aim again, but only need to adjust the reticle slightly to fire the next shot.

The number of U.S. troops is more than that of the Germans, and their firepower is even more fierce. The Germans stayed behind the sandbags and felt the American bullets flying over like raindrops, making them completely unable to lift their heads.Occasionally, a few Germans who tried to return fire were quickly knocked down by bullets from several rifles.

The Americans quickly approached the Germans, and then threw grenades towards the German sandbag bunkers.Then rushed to the bridge.At this time, most of the Germans had either swallowed their last breath or had only one breath left, but there were still some Germans wielding engineering shovels and rushed towards the Yankees.If their opponents are the Russians who believe in "bullets are fools, bayonets are heroes", they may be happy to compare the Mosin Nagan with the triangular army thorns with the German engineering shovel.But Americans have no such hobbies.Although the m1 semi-automatic rifle can also be equipped with a bayonet, in the eyes of Americans, the biggest use of this bayonet is to open the damn spam cans, not to fight the enemy desperately.For close quarters combat, the Americans have a better weapon - the m1911a1 pistol.

The U.S. Army has always had a tradition of allowing soldiers to buy weapons for themselves.For a long time, the gang of gentlemen in Congress have regarded cutting down the army's military expenditure as their bounden duty. As a result, for a long time, the weapons equipped by the U.S. Army have been the cheapest on the market.As the saying goes, cheap goods are not good, so the soldiers of the US military simply can't trust the things the government prepares for them, and often buy a batch of weapons for themselves when they are about to go to the battlefield.After World War I, the U.S. Army was cut down to only 10 people, and most of their weapons were packaged and sold to "peace-loving" people around the world.Of course, they had to pick better products. As a result, what was left for the American soldiers was what they picked.After entering the army, some soldiers found that the gun they used was older than their own age.As a result, soldiers who had no confidence in the goods purchased by the government simply paid for arming themselves. Of course, pistols became a common weapon for American soldiers. It has become a tradition for every soldier to own a pistol. .

After the start of World War II, the Army had sufficient military expenditures, so of course it would no longer cheat its own soldiers on firearms, and Uncle Sam, who respected tradition, simply unified the standard of pistols for soldiers to provide better logistics.In this way, almost every soldier has an m1911a1 pistol in his hand.

Facing the Germans swooping up with their engineering shovels held high, the Yankees quickly took out their m1911a1 pistols.This pistol chambered in .45 caliber bullets has a superior stopping action.Generally speaking, even a strong man like Rambo, as long as he has not been injected with a lot of amphetamines and received such a bullet in the torso, he can only fall down immediately.Unlike gadgets with 9mm caliber, it often happens that the enemy is hit several times, and the enemy still has the strength to fight back.As a result, a few brave Hans died heroically for their country in the crisp gunfire of the m1911a1 pistol, just as General Patton expected.

Quickly occupying these two bridges, the 82nd Airborne Division was off to a good start for the operation.Immediately afterwards, the main force of the division also quickly occupied the Grosbeek Highway and set up a blockade here.Even the 508th Paratrooper Brigade, which was unable to launch an attack on the target due to communication failures in the original history, did not encounter any trouble this time-just after Ron slapped the British in the face, the Americans went back and gave it to them. His troops were equipped with double sets of radios, and the liaison officer of Ron's 21st Attack Aircraft Wing brought two more sets of communication equipment. As a result, there was indeed a problem with one set of radios, but fortunately the other sets The radio still works.As a result, this force also launched an attack on time, and successfully captured the 600-meter-long Nijmegen highway bridge with only one squad of Germans.

Just as they occupied the bridge on the front foot, a German SS armored battalion appeared here on the back foot.If they had moved a little later, they might not have been able to take down the bridge.But now it's too late to become a German.Although the paratroopers lacked anti-tank weapons, it was impossible for a single battalion of armored forces to take the bridge back.

At this time, the attack aircraft of the 21st Attack Aircraft Wing finally arrived at the target area.Although there were only four PA-38 attack planes in the first batch, their appearance immediately panicked the German armored forces who were launching a tentative attack on the bridge.

In the salvo of rockets fired by several pa-38 attack aircraft, the German armored battalion began to retreat.Eventually they left four armored vehicles and fled back.In fact, if the bridge hadn't been suddenly attacked by the German large-caliber suppression artillery, forcing those planes to immediately carry out the task of searching for the artillery, they might have to pay a greater price to escape unscathed.

Afterwards, as the fog at Caen airfield cleared, more attack aircraft and bombers arrived in the area, and the Germans, perhaps restrained by these aircraft, did not attack the 82nd Airborne Division for the remainder of the day. fight back.

"Hurry up, move fast!" Sergeant Neymar is leading his squad to dig a bunker at the bridge head, "Move faster, we must dig the fortification well before dark, otherwise, at night, the Germans will ask It's your life."

Although the German armored battalion that appeared in the morning failed to take the bridge, it also surprised the Americans.According to American intelligence, there should be no German armored forces in this area.Obviously, as Ron accused, when formulating the attack plan, the Allied forces did not understand how many troops the Germans had and how they were deployed.

"Obviously, that armored force just passed by temporarily, and it just happened to run into it. Their attack was not the kind of prepared attack. The Germans didn't react at that time. But at night, the Germans will definitely launch an organized counterattack We must withstand their counterattack! This will be a decisive night." General Gavin, the commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, said to his subordinates.