The decisive battle against the Third Reich - Chapter 899

c896 opportunity

In fact, there is no need to think about this at all. What will greet them on the battlefield will definitely be bullets and artillery shells.

The question is how concentrated and prepared these bullets and shells are.

The situation made Major General Jayton, commander of the US 4th Division, ecstatic. They were responsible for the landing of “Utah Beach”.

“Utah Beach” is a 15-kilometer-long beach in the eastern part of the Brittany Peninsula. The beach itself is a yellow sand wave with a slight slope, crisscrossed by many creeks. The Germans established a 270-360 meter long beach on the beach. A meter-deep barrier was followed by a concrete barrier built by the Germans.

The landing on “Utah Beach” is obviously very important, because once the US 4th Infantry Division successfully lands here, it can immediately move westward to cut off the retreat of the German troops stationed on the Brittany Peninsula… Just like before In other words, the Brittany Peninsula is like a rhinoceros horn stretching into the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by sea on three sides and connected to the European continent on one side.

But precisely because of this, the US military expected that the US 4th Infantry Division would be blocked by powerful German firepower when it landed.

The reason is simple. When the U.S. 4th Infantry Division lands, it will naturally be within the angle of German firepower and will be attacked by German troops from the French coast and the Brittany Peninsula.

But this is not the case.

They encountered only scattered resistance from the German army. Compared with other places, “Utah Beach” was simply a quiet beach. In front of the US 4th Infantry Division, there were only obstacles and minefields that were blown up and down.

Major General Jayton reported to Eisenhower: “I simply cannot believe that all this is true. The enemy either suffered heavy casualties under our bombing, or was paralyzed by fright!”

Major General Jetton’s guess was correct. The German 715th Coast Defense Division stationed at “Utah Beach” was stationed at “Utah Beach”. Although most of them were Germans, most of them were older and had no combat experience, and their combat quality was generally poor.

At this time, they had been paralyzed by the deafening artillery fire from the Allies, and they had been huddled in the bunker and did not dare to move.

Human fear is sometimes a very strange thing. It can force people to make some choices that seem stupid to escape reality.

Just like now, the German soldiers of the 715th Coastal Defense Division actually understand that there is no hope of continuing to retreat like this. The obstacles in front of the beach cannot help them drive away the enemy. They can only survive if they stand up to resist. , otherwise… the enemy will quickly clear obstacles and mines, and then rush to their fortifications to stuff grenades and explosive packets inside.

But the officers and soldiers of the 715th Coastal Defense Division just didn’t dare to do this.

They saw several tanks suddenly appearing in the waves, spitting flames and firing artillery shells. They were so frightened that their feet became weak and they could not obey their orders. Even if some people muster up the courage to fire a few rounds of bullets and artillery shells towards the beach, they will soon become the “outstanding birds” and be suppressed by the firepower of the US military.

This is like another way of telling German soldiers… that it is correct not to shoot or to fire.

A considerable number of the German soldiers were ready to hang out the white flag and surrender early when the Allied forces came up.

This made the U.S. military’s attack on “Utah Beach” the smoothest… On the 15-kilometer-long beach, the U.S. 4th Division spent only 197 people basically clearing obstacles or attacking for more than an hour. After arriving at the “Atlantic Wall”, they had even begun to accept prisoners of war and built bunker fortifications on the “Atlantic Wall”.

This was something neither Rommel nor even Qin Chuan expected.

Although they have not pinned their hopes on the Coastal Defense Division at all… to a certain extent, the Coastal Defense Division is just cannon fodder, placed on the front line to deal with Allied bombing.

But they did not expect that there would be German troops facing the enemy and they would not dare to shoot or fire at the enemy in the complete bunker fortifications. It took just over an hour for the US military to break through the “Atlantic Barrier” and outflank Britta. dangers on the Nepalese peninsula.

“These bastards!” Rommel was so angry when he received the report: “Their division commander reported to me a few minutes ago that they were doing their best to resist the Allied attack!”

This is obviously a lie. The commander of the 715th Coast Defense Division obviously lost control of the troops the moment the Allied forces landed. For some reason… he was worried about being punished for cowardice. What’s more, the commander of the German Coast Defense Division also did a good job He planned to surrender to the Allies, so he used the trick of lying about the military situation to hold back Rommel.

Until a communications soldier was surprised to find that the US military had appeared in front of the bunker fortifications and the 715th Coastal Defense Division basically made no resistance, even if it was only symbolic.

Rommel turned his attention to the rear on the defense map.

Lurking behind the Brittany Peninsula is the 21st Armored Division… After the 21st Armored Division rushed to the front line, it was equipped in Paris as quickly as possible and rushed to the Brittany Peninsula to lurk.

Time was so tight that the Allies launched their attack on the third day.

So he didn’t think much and made a call to the 21st Armored Division headquarters.

“Immediately launch a counterattack against the Allied forces landing on the Brittany Peninsula!” Rommel ordered: “Drive them back to the sea!”

“Yes, General!” General Strike responded, and then issued the order via radio.

Qin Chuan was also a member of the attacking force.

This was mainly because the time was too short. Rommel could not find well-trained infantry who could perfectly cooperate with the armored forces… In the end, he had to return the 1st Infantry Regiment to allow the 21st Armored Division to exert its fullest potential. combat effectiveness.

At this time, the 21st Armored Division was somewhat different from the 21st Armored Division on the Eastern Front… They received 30 “Leopard” tanks and 15 “Tiger” tanks during this change.

After all, this is France. Compared with the Soviet Union, France’s advantage is that it has short transportation supply lines and is easier to obtain supplies… Of course, this is only to a certain extent, because the supply lines have been bombed by the Allies, so supplies are still not easy.

“We should wait!” Qin Chuan suggested to General Strike when he received the order.

“Wait a little longer?” General Strike said: “No, we can’t wait any longer. If we wait any longer, the Americans will soon occupy the bunker fortifications and capture our coastal defense division!”

“I think we won’t attack until then!” Qin Chuan replied.

“Why?” General Strike asked doubtfully.

“Because that will be the time when Americans are at their lowest vigilance!” Qin Chuan replied: “At the same time, there will be a large number of German prisoners mixed with the American army. It will be difficult for them to control them, and it will be difficult for American pilots to distinguish between ourselves and the enemy!”

General Strike couldn’t help being stunned when he heard this… What Qin Chuan said did make sense, but he completely ignored the coastal defense division.

But having said that, the existence of such a coastal defense division seems to be irrelevant to Germany at all.