The decisive battle against the Third Reich - Chapter 903

c900 retreat

This is the first principle of the German armored division’s combat, try to fight close to the enemy.

Because only in this way can we avoid the air attack from the German army as much as possible.

But the US military seems to be prepared for this… or the US military’s tactics should be like this, find the enemy and then guide the artillery or fighter jets to destroy the enemy.

Therefore, the US “Sherman” did not dare to move forward after advancing about 100 meters, but kept firing artillery at the bunker’s firing holes under the beach.

Qin Chuan knew the US military’s intention… This was a fire test, they hoped to lure out the German tanks.

Although doing so would be very risky for the “Sherman” tank, because it could not fight against the German “Tiger” or “Panther” at all.

But once the “Tiger” was deployed, it would form a situation where the “Tiger” would be against the “Sherman”, and the US fighter planes would attack the “Tiger” under the guidance of the infantry… that is, “the mantis stalks the cicada, and the oriole is behind.”

This idea is indeed good, but what the US military did not expect is that the German army did not need to deploy tanks to destroy these “Shermans” at all.

“ME63!” Qin Chuan ordered.

Immediately, a combat team took out the ME63 and set it up outside the firing hole… This setting was a bit troublesome, because the ME63 could not be set up directly on the firing hole. The enemy would find it and fire a large number of bullets and shells in this direction. If the ME63 was hit and exploded, the people in the bunker would be finished.

So the combat team had to set up a few shell boxes first, and then aim the warhead at the firing hole at a suitable distance to prepare for firing.

“Fire!” With Qin Chuan’s order, the ME63 went straight to the target with a wisp of green smoke, and then there was a “boom” and it accurately hit a “Sherman” tank.

“Sherman” only emitted a little green smoke at first, and soon flames appeared and then a raging fire ignited… “Sherman”, known as the “Lonson lighter”, really lived up to its reputation and caught fire as soon as it was hit.

The US military soon panicked. Some people seemed to have received some information from the Eastern Front, so they shouted: “That’s the German’s ‘controllable rocket’. Our opponent is from the Eastern Front!”

“God, they can easily destroy all our tanks with this thing!”

…

This sentence is right, because the next second, a burst of “chi chirp” whistling sounded on the battlefield, and one ME63 after another with a long and curved tail went straight to the US tanks.

Some ME63s even passed the tanks and went straight to the landing craft on the beach, and then “boom” blew up the landing craft and made people and horses turn over… But Qin Chuan thought that this part of the ME63 should not have hit the target, and then the operator controlled it to go straight to the landing craft behind the tank.

For a while, the beach fell into chaos again.

Then the US tanks “rumbled” and led the soldiers to charge forward.

This choice was correct. They had no other choice but to move forward. Otherwise, their fate would only be to be destroyed one by one by the ME63s shot from the enemy’s direction.

Therefore, sometimes having an advanced equipment is not only an advantage in itself, but also a considerable initiative in tactics… Just like now, the German army can attack and defend, while the US army is forced to attack by a small ME63.

With General Stryker’s order, the battle instantly entered a white-hot stage.

First, the bullets poured out from the bunker like raindrops, pressing the US soldiers to the ground and unable to move.

Then the tanks “rumbled” out from behind the bunker fortifications. After they adjusted their body state and angle, the muzzles sprayed flames and hit the “Sherman” tanks rushing forward along the passage into balls of fire.

Soon they were usually blocked by the wreckage of the “Sherman” tanks, and then the German tanks aimed their gun barrels at the landing craft and US soldiers on the seashore…

The battle was almost a replica of the US 4th Infantry Division, and the US 5th Infantry Division paid the price for Eisenhower’s rash attack.

“General!” Major General Logan, commander of the 5th Infantry Division of the United States, reported to Eisenhower while lying on the beach: “We can’t break through the enemy’s defense line. In fact, the enemy is slaughtering us, just like the 4th Infantry Division…”

“Why is this happening?” Eisenhower shouted angrily: “We have air superiority. As I said, you have to use fighter planes and pay attention to coordination with the aviation team!”

“We don’t have the opportunity to use fighter planes at all!” Major General Logan replied: “General, they have “controllable rockets” that can destroy our tanks at a long distance. The offensive tactics we have planned are obviously not feasible. We are forced to launch an attack on the enemy’s defense line…”

Then Eisenhower understood.

“Controllable rockets…” Eisenhower cast his eyes on Halke and said: “That’s something that only exists on the Eastern Front!”

“What’s their hit rate?” Halke asked.

“The tanks of the 5th Infantry Division are almost scrapped. What do you think?” Eisenhower replied angrily.

“That’s the 21st Armored Division!” Halk silently put his pipe in his mouth and said, “We know from the Soviets that although the ‘controllable rocket’ is simple to make, it requires a long time of training to operate. The high hit rate means that they are likely to be the same troops on the Eastern Front… In other words, the Germans transferred not only the ‘legendary sergeant’ from the Eastern Front, but also the 21st Armored Division and of course the 1st Infantry Regiment! And they are at ‘Utah Beach’!”

Eisenhower nodded solemnly, and after a moment of silence, he continued: “This means that it is difficult for us to successfully land at Utah Beach!”

Halk agreed with this.

There is no doubt that the 21st Armored Division is the ace unit of the German army. It has fought from Africa to the Eastern Front and now appears at Utah Beach. With such quality and equipment, plus they also have the solid fortifications of the “Atlantic Wall”. It is probably harder than climbing to the sky to break through their defenses.

“Order the 5th Infantry Division…” Eisenhower ordered with a dead face: “Withdraw from Utah Beach!”

“But General…” The staff looked at Eisenhower in confusion.

“Execute the order!” Eisenhower said.

“Yes, General!”

The order to retreat was quickly issued to the 5th Infantry Division.

Major General Logan looked back at the sea behind him and the many landing craft that had capsized with black smoke, and his mouth was open for a long time.

In this case, retreating is almost the same as the whole army holding on here or charging forward meaninglessly.

It is obvious that Eisenhower wanted to evacuate as many troops as possible.