The decisive battle against the Third Reich - Chapter 930

c927 ambush

Major William was right, they were paratroopers.

The difference between paratroopers and other troops was that their mission was one-way… it was impossible to jump back to the plane after jumping off.

In other words, paratroopers had only one way to go, complete their mission and wait to meet friendly forces, otherwise they would be surrounded or annihilated by the enemy.

In fact, the paratroopers were surrounded by the enemy from the moment they landed. The problem was that the Allied airborne forces were large in scale, and they believed that their forces were enough to defeat the German army in the Netherlands and occupy the main traffic routes.

Of course, this was just “belief”.

Thinking of this, Major General Redrick ordered: “Act as planned!”

“Yes, sir!” Major William responded and passed on the order.

The 1st Paratrooper Brigade had three battalions, namely the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Paratrooper Battalions.

Because it was the main attacking force, the 1st Parachute Brigade also had an 11th Airborne Battalion… The Airborne Battalion was a glider airborne unit. Because it was an airborne unit, it could carry some jeeps, mortars and even howitzers, which were definitely heavy weapons for the paratroopers.

The British army launched an attack along the highway to the Arnhem Bridge with the 1st Parachute Battalion in the front, the C and D companies of the 2nd Battalion on the left, the A and B companies on the right, the 3rd Parachute Battalion as the reserve, and the 11th Airborne Battalion as the rear.

The 11th Airborne Battalion was the first to fire. They quickly set up mortars on a hill about two miles away from the bridge, and then fired a piece of artillery shells at the German troops stationed at the bridgehead… This can be regarded as artillery preparation or suppression. Although it is a big gap compared to the Allied forces’ usual artillery preparation, it is still a luxury for airborne soldiers.

Then the 1st Parachute Battalion took the lead in launching an attack on the bridgehead where the Germans were stationed.

The German army’s firepower was very strong, and they repelled the charge of the 1st Parachute Battalion several times. The 1st Parachute Battalion suffered heavy casualties in just a dozen minutes of fighting.

However, this made Major General Redrick feel relieved… The German army had no ambush, otherwise the ambush should have appeared at this time.

What Major General Redrick didn’t expect was that on the south side of the Arnhem Bridge, Qin Chuan was holding a telescope in the jungle and observing all this.

He could see from the British army’s battle sequence that the British army was ready to retreat at any time… Only one parachute battalion was in the front to attack, and the other three parachute battalions were covering or following up in the rear.

This shows that the British commander was a cautious person, or he saw something.

So, Qin Chuan immediately asked Eberhard to order the armored forces to stay put.

After a while, the British army was fooled.

Major General Redrick gave a loud order on the walkie-talkie: “The second paratrooper battalion follows up and quickly occupies the northern section of the bridge. The third paratrooper battalion attacks from the south through the bridge. Be careful not to let the Germans blow up the bridge!”

“Yes, sir!”

…

Several battalion commanders responded and immediately commanded their troops to launch a strong attack on the bridge.

The battle situation was not unexpected to Major General Redrick. After the full-scale attack, the German troops in the northern section of the bridge quickly turned around and retreated due to the disparity in strength. Several bunkers at the bridgehead were also destroyed by the British army with “Bazooka” rocket launchers.

Just when Major General Redrick thought that the troops would soon occupy the bridge, a creepy motor sound suddenly came from behind him… Major General Redrick was very familiar with this sound. It was the tank that the paratroopers were most worried about encountering, and the low and powerful motor sound seemed to be a heavy tank.

“God!” Major General Redrick turned his head to look for the source of the motor sound, but there was nothing except a few dilapidated houses that were bombed to the ground.

But the sound of the motor was real, and it was getting louder and louder.

Then Major General Redrick understood… This was indeed a trap.

At that moment, Major General Redrick felt cold all over and dizzy, and almost fell on his command post.

But Major General Redrick knew that he couldn’t fall down. The next second, he grabbed the microphone and shouted with all his strength: “Retreat, this is a trap… Retreat immediately!”

But it was too late. With a “rumble”, five tanks rushed out of the broken wooden house.

Major General Redrick guessed correctly, they were indeed heavy tanks, and they were the “Tiger” that made the Allies terrified.

Five tanks drove onto the road one after another, pointing the black gun barrels at the stunned British soldiers of the 11th Airborne Battalion, and then “boom boom” a burst of gunfire, and the mortars, jeeps, and three howitzers of the 11th Airborne Battalion were blown to pieces.

Then the machine guns started to sound. It was the Tiger’s directional machine gun. A volley of bullets flew towards the British soldiers with a whistling sound, knocking them to the ground. It was a horrible sight.

The hiding of tanks was a big problem for the German army, because as mentioned before, the Netherlands is a country with a very low average altitude. Any pit dug would be filled with water. Tanks, especially Tiger tanks, could hardly be hidden by digging pits.

In this case, they could only hide in ground buildings.

But this was also not easy, because the British army would definitely send scouts to conduct reconnaissance, and they would not miss several Tiger tanks in the buildings.

Unless… these buildings were collapsed and they could not conduct reconnaissance on them.

So, Qin Chuan forged several buildings that had been bombed by Allied fighters and bombers in the north of the bridge.

In order to make them look more realistic, Qin Chuan even had people sprinkle some blood around the buildings, making it look like the German army was relying on these buildings to fight against the Allied fighter planes, and was eventually bombed and destroyed.

The charred charcoal, the smoking wood, and the remaining red walls… everything looked so realistic that the British were completely deceived by the illusion.

So, five “Tiger” tanks suddenly appeared beside them.

In fact, there were actually six “Tiger” tanks, one of which had an engine failure and was trapped inside and could not move. The tank crew could only stay in the tank and stare blankly and could not do anything.

The commander was so angry that he stamped his feet inside. In his words, there was a lot of delicious food in front of us, but we could only watch others eat.

The commander even wanted to let the “Tiger” gun tank turn a few times to get rid of the camouflage on it to participate in the battle, but he finally gave up… The “Tiger” is an expensive equipment, and he dared not take risks with this method, otherwise this might be the last time the commander commanded the “Tiger”.

The situation on the other side of the bridge was similar. When the British army was attacking the other side of the bridge with all their might, suddenly several tanks appeared in front of them with the sound of “clattering” tracks, and followed by a large group of infantry.