The decisive battle against the Third Reich - Chapter 897

c894 parachute

Next, the first to attack were the Allied paratroopers.

The reason why the paratroopers had to enter the battlefield first was because their mission was to get in touch with the French guerrillas, and then work with the guerrillas to capture important targets in the rear and block German reinforcements to ensure the success of the frontal landing.

Simply put, it was to destroy and hold bridges and transportation hubs so that German frontline troops could not be reinforced.

Because of the requirements of this mission, they must attack a few hours in advance…otherwise, the enemy’s reinforcements are already on the way and have occupied or strengthened the defense of important targets, and the parachute drop will be meaningless.

There were three paratrooper divisions implemented by the Allies, namely the British 6th Airborne Division, the US 82nd Airborne Division and the 101st Airborne Division.

Brigadier General William was the first commander of the 101st Airborne Division, and he decided to parachute into France with his soldiers during this battle.

“I don’t want to lose this opportunity!” Brigadier William said to the staff: “Think about this, you may have the opportunity to be the first American to set foot in France and liberate them, that’s enough!”

But in fact, the real reason is not this. William believes that this operation is full of danger… Due to the special nature of this mission, they must parachute in the dark between 12 o’clock in the middle of the night and 3 o’clock in the morning.

Although they had an accurate map of the safe drop points, parachuting in the dark, who knew where they would land.

Before boarding the plane, Major General William shouted to his subordinates who were fully armed and had their faces painted black: “Remember, contact the French guerrillas, they are more familiar with the terrain than us! After landing, find any troops you can find, and then join them!”

“Yes, sir!” the subordinates replied in unison.

“Are you ready?”

“Yes, sir!”

“I wish you good luck and God be with you!” Brigadier General William ordered: “Get on the plane!”

“Yes, sir!” the American soldiers responded, and then they lined up in neat formation and boarded the transport plane in the rainy sea breeze.

Then, amid the “rumble” of engines, the transport plane roared and flew towards France.

In order to be able to put three paratrooper divisions into the battlefield at once and burst out powerful combat effectiveness in a short period of time, the US military prepared 1,100 C47 transport aircraft for these three airborne divisions.

If each C47 can carry 28 people, these 1,100 aircraft can carry 30,000 people.

But the actual number of soldiers is not that many. The 101st Airborne Division has only 6,600 combatants, and the 82nd Airborne Division has 7,000 combatants. The British 6th Airborne Division is slightly larger, with 9,000 men.

However, because the transport aircraft also carries the ammunition and supplies needed by the airborne troops, 1,100 C47s are also necessary.

The transport plane flew “rumblingly” in the sky, filling the entire sky like black bats flying out of an enchanted forest. The dense darkness even blocked the moonlight in the sky.

In front of them, a large number of bombers arrived first and carried out large-scale bombing towards the location where they were expected to parachute.

On the one hand, this was hoped to attract German anti-aircraft firepower to cover the paratroopers’ air landing, and on the other hand, it was hoped that the bombing would detonate as many landmines at the landing site as possible.

However, the transport aircraft group was still bombarded by intensive and violent anti-aircraft fire. One C47 after another burst into a dazzling fire in the air, disintegrated in the air or fell to the ground with a roar.

“Damn Germans!” Brigadier General William cursed: “I want their anti-aircraft shells!”

In France, for the Allies, Allied aircraft had almost nothing to worry about except German anti-aircraft guns.

This is what makes William feel strange… The “proximity fuse anti-aircraft artillery shell” developed by the United States for several years was still a high-level secret when it was used against Japan in the Pacific battlefield. It must be used to ensure that the enemy cannot obtain the artillery shell. .

However, the Germans have already used it in large quantities in Africa.

There are also amphibious tanks, amphibious landing craft, etc., all of which are surprisingly consistent with the equipment that the United States is developing or preparing to put into mass production.

This time, the United States thought that there were German spies among the scientific researchers.

But after analyzing it, I feel that something is wrong… If there are German spies, then the research and development progress will be slower than that of the United States. After all, the industrial capability of the United States at this time is no exaggeration to say that it is the first in the world.

Therefore, it is impossible for Germany to always develop and equip these things in batches before the United States.

The end result is…coincidence.

That is to say, American scientific researchers and German scientific researchers all want to work together.

As a result, there is a scene like this now, where the German’s “proximity-explosion anti-aircraft shells” shot down C47s one after another as if they had eyes.

Fortunately, there were too many C47s flying in the air, so the US military finally reached its destination and parachuted.

The parachute drop went smoothly, due to the large landing area, and as the guerrillas reported…no mines, no barbed wire, nothing.

William ordered the paratroopers to look for equipment and assemble while looking at the surrounding environment.

At this time, he couldn’t help but feel a little strange. An open, flat area like this was obviously suitable for airborne landings. Why were the Germans not prepared for this at all?

“Be alert!” Brigadier General William had a vague feeling of ominousness.

At this moment, he suddenly heard the sound of water rushing from several directions.

Brig. General William’s first reaction was that it was the sound of waves.

But he thought about it again and felt that it was not right. This airdrop point was at least 30 kilometers away from the coastline, and it was impossible to hear the sound of waves.

The next second, Brigadier General William quickly understood, because someone had reported to him on the walkie-talkie: “General, the sea water is constantly rushing towards us, and this area is going to be flooded!”

“Get out of here!” Brigadier General William shouted, and then led the paratroopers to run in the opposite direction of the water sound.

But everything seemed too late. The sea water soon covered the ankles, then the calves, and then the knees.

When it reached the knees, it had already seriously affected the speed of movement, especially the paratroopers were still carrying equipment and ammunition… Because the paratroopers were fighting deep behind enemy lines, they always prepared more ammunition, and these ammunition would obviously become a burden for them.

The sea water continued to surge up, gradually covering the waists of the paratroopers who were fleeing in a hurry.

At this time, they faced a difficult choice:

Do they continue to carry the equipment like this or abandon the equipment and escape?

The former might be drowned by the sea immediately, while the latter would be like waiting to die… No one could fight against the German army without equipment.

In the end, Major General William chose the latter.

Because… he believed that not all paratroopers and supplies were dropped in this area, and they could also contact the guerrillas and then contact the headquarters to ask them to airdrop another batch of ammunition.