The decisive battle against the Third Reich - Chapter 931

c928 village

The panicked British troops shot at these tanks with all the available equipment in their hands… grenades, submachine guns, and rocket launchers.

But all efforts were in vain, and the “Tiger” still slowly approached them with the infantry.

Among them, the rocket launcher may still be a threat to the “Tiger”. Historically, the US military actually used the “Bazooka” rocket launcher to destroy the “Tiger” in the Battle of Sicily. However, it was later discovered that the rocket launcher happened to hit the “Tiger”. ” observation hole.

“Retreat!” Colonel Stephen, who was responsible for commanding the troops to attack, shouted. He decisively gave up the mission when he saw the “Tiger” because he knew that the task of occupying the bridge was a joke in front of the “Tiger”.

“These damn intelligence agents!” Colonel Stephen cursed as he led the troops back: “They told us there were no enemy armored forces here and then threw us here…”

Colonel Stephen was stunned when he was halfway through cursing, because he saw that the road behind him had been blocked by five “Tiger” vehicles at some point, and the 11th Airborne Battalion in charge of the rear had been beaten terribly… Originally Stephen also hoped that the 11th Airborne Battalion would use their firepower to cover the retreating troops.

Looking at the surrounding terrain, it was completely empty. Although Stephen knew that the German Tigers could not catch up because of the soft terrain, almost everything within sight was within the range of the Tiger machine guns and artillery fire.

After thinking about it, Colonel Stephen ordered: “Surrender, boys!”

“But Colonel…”

“Execute the order!” Colonel Stephen said: “If you still want to see your family, raise your hands. There is no point in continuing the fight!”

After a pause, Colonel Stephen shouted: “Quick, white flag! Tell them we surrender…”

Colonel Stephen’s behavior seemed unbecoming of a soldier, especially as a colonel.

But in fact, his choice was rational, because the battle situation was indeed as he said, and there was no point in continuing the fight.

Major General Redrick was still unwilling.

On the one hand, this is because he still has a chance to escape… This is determined by his relatively backward position.

On the other hand, Major General Redrick believed that he should warn the 2nd Parachute Brigade and even others who were stationed in place about this news, otherwise they would foolishly attack the targets like the 1st Parachute Brigade, and these targets were actually Traps after traps, even their traps are the same… using collapsed buildings to hide the tanks.

Major General Redrick guessed this correctly. The traps set by the German army in all directions were indeed the same, because in the Netherlands there was no other way to camouflage other than similar methods.

But this does not mean that these traps do not work, because the Allies did not have time to warn others after discovering these traps.

Redrick hoped to do this, so he retreated with his troops in the direction of the 2nd Parachute Brigade.

The 1st Parachute Division is indeed an elite unit of the British army. Although they knew it was useless, in order to cover the commander’s retreat, they still used their rifles and machine guns to shoot at the German tanks.

A guard drove a jeep in front of General Redrick in the chaos. After Redrick got into the car, he stepped on the accelerator and sped away from the tank… The guard driving the jeep was quite good at driving, and sometimes Walking in a zigzag pattern from left to right makes it impossible for the tank to aim.

But the guards obviously underestimated the quality of the German tank crews… Those who can drive “Tiger” tanks are all veterans, especially the 21st Armored Division. Of course, they have the ability to deal with this kind of “zigzag” escape method.

A tank slowly adjusts its turret. This is the gunner’s estimate of where the jeep will pass next, and then he aims the muzzle at this position in advance and waits for the target to break into his firing range.

People always have a kind of inertia, and they subconsciously do the same repetitive actions, especially in tense situations on the battlefield.

This makes the Jeep’s direction not without a trace.

Sure enough, a few seconds later, the jeep crashed into the sight of the tank gun, and the tank fired out the shell with a “bang” sound… The shell rotated at high speed and went straight to the direction of the jeep. With a violent explosion, the jeep was blown up before it was blown up into the sky. Already torn apart.

The British soldiers looked at the jeep that turned into a ball of flames and then fell heavily from the air, and soon fell into despair.

The British 1st Parachute Brigade, the main force of the 1st Parachute Division known as the “Red Devils” because of their bravery in red berets, collapsed in less than an hour of fighting.

The north bank of Arnhem Bridge is littered with the corpses of British soldiers, as well as piles of surrendered soldiers and wounded soldiers holding severed limbs and screaming… There are more than 3,000 people in the brigade, except for a small number who have become scattered. Except for the soldiers who escaped, most of them were killed or captured at Arnhem Bridge.

However, this is just the beginning.

Colonel Selter, the commander of the 2nd Parachute Brigade, was ordered to garrison 10 kilometers north of the Arnhem Bridge. Their task was to receive the second batch of airborne supplies and to assemble the paratroopers who came later.

but……

“Fuck you!” Colonel Selter cursed at the water in the foxholes after digging several foxholes: “No one told us that this would happen!”

This is a mistake that should not be made, as any Dutch person or even anyone who has been to the Netherlands knows this.

But Montgomery was too eager to launch this attack. As he said, “it must be quick, otherwise the opportunity will slip away from his hands.”

Montgomery was more worried that the German armored forces would enter the Netherlands, which would make the entire plan impossible to implement, and Britain would lose the opportunity to attack Germany.

So, they didn’t even know that the terrain here was not suitable for building fortifications.

“Maybe we should find a higher place!” Colonel Selter said to the staff: “At least not here! Otherwise, we will have to fight the enemy in the water!”

The staff agreed: “Water will slow down our actions. This is indeed not an ideal position!”

“Colonel!” At this time, a soldier shouted to Selter: “Germans, they are coming!”

Selter hurriedly bent over and ran for a while, crouched down and raised the telescope to look in the direction of the soldier’s shouting…

“Damn it!” Selter cursed: “There are at least two battalions of Germans, and what’s worse is that they have armored vehicles!”

The paratroopers are only equipped with light weapons, and it is difficult for them to penetrate the armor of the armored vehicles.

Looking at the direction of the German army, Selter asked: “Is there any place to defend behind us?”

“A village, colonel!” The staff replied: “Two miles away from us!”