New World War II Eagle Strikes the Sky

Compared with the 82nd Airborne Division, the British 400st Airborne Division had much worse luck.The weather conditions over the target area were not good, and the clouds were very low. After arriving at the approximate position, the transport fleet had to drop the altitude to a dangerous 42 meters before they could find the target.And at this height, not to mention anti-aircraft guns, even the German mg-[-] machine guns can hit them.Since the beginning of strategic bombing, the Germans have produced a large number of various anti-aircraft guns.With the disappearance of the Luftwaffe, Germany's air defense almost entirely depends on these anti-aircraft guns.

This also brought about a consequence, that is, the number of German anti-aircraft guns was astonishing. When the transport fleet lowered its altitude to search for targets, a group of bombers flew into the killing range of the German anti-aircraft guns.

The German anti-aircraft artillery unit was quite calm, and it didn't start to fire violently until the plane was fully within the effective range.The first round of shooting knocked down two transport planes and damaged at least three transport planes.After being hit like this, the transport fleet became a mess, and as a result, two more transport planes crashed due to the collision.When the transport fleet finally escaped the killing range of the anti-aircraft guns, 3 transport planes had been lost.

It was a real hit.In order to avoid similar situations from happening again, when the transport planes identified the ground position, they were a lot rougher, and as long as they reached a roughly similar position, they dropped the paratroopers.

As a result, after the paratroopers landed, it took an extra hour and a half to gather the soldiers.And in order to ensure the safety of the next batch of airborne troops when they airborne, half of these airborne troops will be left to protect the airborne site.The other half (the [-]st Airborne Brigade) is moving towards the goal - the Anheng Bridge.

In order not to alert the Germans immediately, and to avoid the known anti-aircraft guns, the British army chose a landing point a little far from the target. After landing, the first airborne brigade had to march 13 kilometers to reach the target.However, now, the British don't know, because of the lack of intelligence work before the war, the British don't know, just near their airborne site, is the second SS soldier who the Germans just transferred to wait for the country to send weapons. Garrison of the Armored Corps.

As soon as the British airborne began, the Germans took notice.At that time, the German "armored forces" who had no tanks at all, who were waiting for tanks from China, were taken aback. Many Germans thought that the Allied airborne troops were coming for them.

In fact, it was not just the "armored troops" of the German army who thought that the British were coming for them. A team of paratroopers landed not far from the headquarters of Marshal Model.The incident startled Mordel.Someone told Model that on the Western Front, the enemy's intelligence system is quite strong. In countries such as France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, there are spies working for the British and Americans everywhere, or those who sympathize with the Americans and the British. common people.Coupled with the sky full of reconnaissance planes, every move of the German army can easily be spotted by the Americans and the British.The unsuccessful counterattack launched by Marshal Kruger not long ago illustrates this point: Kruger took all possible measures to ensure the suddenness of this offensive, but the fact is that the Americans and the British People have already prepared anti-tank fortifications and waited there.

Therefore, Marshal Model has every reason to believe that the Allied forces knew their location through some means, so they sent airborne troops over to catch him.Model even remembered that during the Battle of Moscow, the German army had sent airborne troops to launch a surprise attack on Marshal Zhukov's headquarters, but it failed only because of a wrong judgment on the strength of the Soviet army's headquarters.And Model looked at the troops around him, well, the number is really not that many, compared to the fact that the British airdropped a lot of troops, if they were really surrounded by them, I'm afraid I'd really want to be a prisoner up.There has never been a captive marshal in German history—oh no, that coward Paulus was.But I must not be such a coward.

"I will fight to the last moment." Mordel said to himself, stroking the Luger with its ivory handle.

Of course, being able to avoid the enemy is better than dying for the country anyway.So Model ordered immediately: transfer immediately.The headquarters suddenly became flustered, and the things that could not be packed in time, especially those documents that were too late to take away, were all burned.

Model got into a barrel truck, and everyone else got into the car, and the convoy quickly left the headquarters and began to move in other directions.Model knew that on the Western Front, where the Allied forces had absolute air supremacy, it was a very risky behavior for convoys to appear on the road during the day.The unlucky Rommel suffered such a loss twice. According to Rommel's experience, it is better to take a barrel car. This kind of car is too common, and the Allied forces generally do not regard it as the first target.

Just when Model was in a hurry to transfer the headquarters, the British were also worrying about the Type 22 radio communication machine.As Ron said in advance, the iron mines in that place caused great interference to the radio, so that the range of the Type 22 radio communicator, which had a very limited communication distance, was even smaller.

But this time the British were prepared. According to the Americans' suggestion, the British modified a Lancaster bomber.The modified Lancaster bomber had been circling the airborne troops.Its task is to provide an intermediary for the communication of the airborne troops. When the airborne troops on the ground cannot send a report to the distant headquarters, they can change the channel and send a report to this closer aircraft, and then this aircraft The plane then relayed the message to headquarters.There is no doubt that in doing so, an intermediate link is added and efficiency is reduced, but it is better than no signal.

However, the British still underestimated the seriousness of the problem. Almost all the Type 22 radio communicators in the hands of the troops of the [-]st Airborne Division could not be directly contacted with the headquarters, and even their communication with each other was problematic.And all these signals have to be relayed through such a Lancaster. The people on this Lancaster are almost busy, but there is still a serious jam in a large amount of information.

As a result, it took more than an hour for the [-]st Airborne Brigade to move towards the goal.However, it had been three hours since they landed.

The British only walked less than a kilometer towards the Anheng Bridge before encountering the German army.After being in chaos for a while, the 2nd Armored Army began to send reconnaissance troops to the British side, and then the two sides collided head-on and started fighting.

This fight will be endless. The British have no heavy weapons, and the German armored troops have no armored vehicles, and they are also a group of light infantry.In battles between light infantry, it has always been difficult to decide the outcome in a short period of time.As a result, they were beaten away, and the British hadn't reached the bridge until dark.

After changing the command center three times, Marshal Model finally understood that the British were not coming for him, but for the bridge.This was not because he was slow, but because he couldn't believe that when he was almost desperate to defeat the enemy, the enemy actually gave him such an opportunity directly.

"The enemy's paratroopers are here to capture the bridge. Gather the troops and hold the bridge, and they will lose!" In the new command center, Marshal Model was issuing orders, "Send a message to Marshal Rundstedt for the The command of the 4nd Panzer Corps of the SS has been assigned to me completely. The enemy troops are advancing along the Dutch road. This road is well known to me. It has only two lanes. The soil is very soft, and any vehicle that goes on it will sink in. The tracks of the American m[-] tanks are very narrow, and they will sink in, and those of the British are no exception. This means that they cannot leave the road at all. Blocking the road will effectively stop them. Buy time for us to eliminate those paratroopers. I order..."

……

Due to organizational problems, the British 30th Army delayed its departure for several hours, and soon they discovered that the situation was not right.The land on both sides of Route 69 is gradually declining, and now the road is almost one meter above the ground.And this height difference is still expanding.

"Damn the Low Countries!" Tank soldier Victor cursed.He knew that if the height difference between the road and the ground widened a little, once he tried to drive his Churchill tank off the road when he was under attack, he might be turned upside down.However, once the enemy is engaged in battle, the formation must be formed, otherwise everyone will be crowded on the road, and the consequences will be unimaginable.

Obviously, Victor was not the only one who discovered this problem. In fact, even a driver like Victor could feel the problem. It would be strange if the officers above couldn't find it.then……

……

Several c-47 transport planes flew over the formation of the British 30th Army, and they were surprised to find that the British stopped again.

"Hey buddy? What are the British doing?"

"I don't know, just leave them alone! We are only responsible for sending these things to the 82nd Airborne Division."

……

The 82nd Airborne Division of the U.S. Army is busy consolidating the bridgehead position.The Germans have been shelling the bridge continuously, and the attack aircraft of the 21st Attack Aircraft Wing are circling around trying to find the German artillery positions.However, there are forests everywhere nearby. Although PA-38 dropped a lot of bombs, according to them, they have already killed many enemy cannons, but all kinds of shells will continue to fall to the first place. 82nd Airborne Division.Therefore, those guys in the aviation team had to admit that most of the targets they killed were probably false targets.You know, the Germans don't care about the patent issue at all. After they discovered the inflatable false target of the US military, they immediately went over there without any integrity. Even Ron had to admit that the matter of identifying the false target is now Under the advanced technical level, it is really not something that aviation can solve.

"Brothers, come on. The position must be set up before dark. Damn... why haven't the barbed wire, mines, and anti-tank guns been delivered yet!" the battalion commander Lumas who was in charge of guarding the bridgehead complained.

"Battalion Commander, the things are here!" A soldier ran over and said to Commander Lumas.

"Okay! Set it up quickly!" Lumas looked at the soldier and found that his expression was wrong, so he asked again: "What's the matter? What happened?"

"Commander, the things have been delivered, but the things they sent were not what we wanted, they sent the wrong things