The decisive battle against the Third Reich - Chapter 914

c911 Japanese group

This tactic has many names, such as the “roller tactic” used by the Chinese Expeditionary Force led by Liao Yaoxiang in Myanmar, and the “magnetic tactic” used by Ridgway Ridgway when facing the Chinese Volunteer Army in North Korea. In fact, they are all this type of defense. evolution.

The battle situation was indeed as Qin Chuan speculated. The U.S. military landed on the Brittany Peninsula in the early morning of the third day… Nothing could stop the U.S. military from landing on the Brittany Peninsula. No matter what was there, it was used by the U.S. military. The naval guns and bombs exploded back and forth several times, and then burned again with incendiary bombs. From a distance, the entire peninsula looked like a mountain of flames.

After the U.S. infantry landed and built a defense line, they dragged the artificial port of “Mulberry A” to the Brittany Peninsula… This “Mulberry A” was made of thousands of containers, and then covered with several meters of thick concrete. Reinforced concrete, in addition to warehouses, lifting facilities, docks, etc., it is like an island.

It is said that in order to build the two artificial ports “Mulberry A” and “Mulberry B”, more than 20 ships sank due to accidents alone.

The role of the artificial port is indeed amazing. After it is towed to the Brittany Peninsula, large ships no longer have to worry about the depth and shallowness of the water. They dock directly at the pier of the artificial port and use the facilities on the artificial port to transport materials and The equipment was lifted in batches to the artificial port and then sailed to the Brittany Peninsula.

In just one day, the equipment, personnel and supplies of the 4th Armored Division of the US 3rd Army successfully landed and occupied the Brittany Peninsula with the help of “Mulberry A”.

The next day, when the U.S. 6th Armored Division landed on the Brittany Peninsula in the same way, the 4th Armored Division crossed its own defense line and took a detour toward the German “Atlantic Barrier”, also known as “Utah Beach.”

In this regard, Montgomery also had a fierce debate with Patton… Montgomery believed that the defense of the Brittany Peninsula must be further consolidated before launching an attack on the German army. Otherwise, if the German armored forces attack with the 4th Armored Division and the 6th Armored Division suddenly launches an attack on the Brittany Peninsula before it has time to deploy, the two US armored divisions are likely to be annihilated.

This was also what General Eisenhower and General Bradley were worried about, because they knew the damage done by German tanks.

“If the German armored divisions attack towards the Brittany Peninsula, nothing can stop them!” Montgomery said: “We should learn from the lessons of previous failures. Two infantry divisions collapsed under their counterattack. Our Air power will be ineffective because enemy and friendly tanks are mixed together, and the Germans will fight all the way to ‘Mulberry A’ and steal all supplies!”

“It was under your command that such a thing would happen!” General Patton responded without any sign of weakness: “I will order bombers and fighter jets to create a dividing line between the enemy and ourselves, and move all tanks south of the dividing line. Destroy them all!”

Patton’s response was simple, crude, but effective.

But this is also one of the reasons why he has been questioned in the domestic media.

In the end, Eisenhower decided to let Patton do it, so the tanks of the 4th Armored Division and the infantry “rumbled” toward “Utah Beach.”

The subsequent results of the battle surprised Eisenhower and others. The 4th Armored Division easily occupied “Utah Beach” without encountering any resistance.

When Montgomery and others demanded to consolidate their positions and fight steadily, Patton insisted on being different.

“No, we are going to attack!” Patton said: “Because it is obvious that the Germans have retreated and this is the time for us to pursue!”

Patton said to his men: “I ask you to remember, don’t worry about the damn flanks. We do need to be vigilant about the flanks, but we must not let this stop us from moving forward. We in the Third Army do not do such things. Let the Germans Worry about their flanks, we don’t. Besides, I don’t want anyone to tell me: ‘We are holding our ground. We don’t have to hold anything, let the Germans hold it. We have to keep moving forward! , move forward!”

But the reality is not as simple as Barton thought.

As mentioned before, when the U.S. military rushed to the German defense line after going through all the hardships of clearing mines, paving roads, and building bridges, they found that it was already dark and unable to launch an attack.

Not only were they unable to launch an offensive, they also had to start guarding against the German counterattack… Because once the US military lost the cover of air power at night, the German “Tiger” and “Panther” were unbeatable.

The U.S. military did not even know how high the ground was and launched several attacks, but the results were predictable. They were not good at night fighting and fled back in despair after leaving behind a piece of tank wreckage.

What surprised Patton was that the German army seemed to have no interest in engaging the US military because the German army did not pursue the victory and launch a counterattack against the US military.

The situation with the British army on the other side was different.

The German 10th SS Armored Division launched several counterattacks against the British troops who launched an attack after hearing the news, killing the British troops and causing heavy losses.

This also made Montgomery very angry. He angrily said to Patton: “I said, we should consolidate our positions and then attack!”

Of course Patton would not give in. He retorted: “Look at the record of the 3rd Army. Great General Montgomery, we are advancing at a speed of 30 kilometers per day. We are invincible and invincible. If you think this is wrong, …Then, either the Germans are afraid of us, or the British don’t know how to fight!”

Montgomery was speechless, because the facts were before his eyes: the US military’s attack went very smoothly.

Patton and Montgomery certainly didn’t know one thing: the German army did this intentionally, with the purpose of attacking Charles de Gaulle and supporting Giraud.

If the battle continued like this, the next battle would develop as Qin Chuan planned.

However, something went wrong in the middle.

It was a village called Mortré, where the German 275th Infantry Division on the right wing of the 21st Armored Division was attacked by the US 34th Infantry Division… This may be because the US military saw that the German army on the opposite side did not have many tanks, and was unwilling to follow the German army day by day, so they couldn’t wait to launch a large-scale attack at night.

The US military soon found out that they were wrong.

Because the German army was equipped with a large number of rocket launchers, while the US tanks could not play a big role at night.

After more than an hour of fierce fighting, the US 34th Infantry Division left a pile of corpses and retreated.

There was nothing wrong with this, the problem was that the German 275th Infantry Division surrounded a battalion of US troops.

There was nothing wrong with this, it was normal to surround the enemy in a battle.

The problem was that the U.S. military sent a very strong and special force… the 442nd Regiment composed of Japanese Americans to rescue the besieged U.S. troops.