The decisive battle against the Third Reich - Chapter 961

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Based on Qin Chuan’s idea, the German soldiers also invented various other “wooden stake shells”.

For example, in response to the US military’s tactics of reconnaissance and rapid passage, the German soldiers invented a suspended “wooden stake shell”… This requires a little craftsmanship. Simply put, it is to calculate the buoyancy of the wood pile so that the buoyancy of the wood pile is equal to the total weight of the shell and the wood pile. In this way, the “wooden stake shell” tied together is suspended in the water instead of floating on the water surface. It is even difficult to detect its existence from the water surface unless it is washed out of the water by the current.

Of course, it will also reach the designated area and explode like other “wooden stake shells”.

The US military has come up with many ways to try to change all this.

For example, they sprinkled barbed wire into the river… This seems to be very effective because it can indeed stop those “wooden stake bombs”.

But first of all, this operation is done upstream of the river, that is, within the range of the German army’s firepower, so it must pay a certain amount of casualties to achieve it.

Secondly, the effect of this method is only temporary… Although the “wooden stake bomb” was stopped, there was nothing to stop it from exploding, so the barbed wire was quickly blown into pieces, and the “wooden stake bombs” that followed continued to float down one after another.

The most serious thing is that the US military has few amphibious landing ships, and they cannot afford such losses.

Even this kind of “wooden stake bomb” appeared on Shambher Island…

In some ways, Shambher Island is not suitable for “wooden stake bombs” because the “moat” in front of Shambher Island has a slow flow rate and a narrow river channel of only more than 50 meters.

But as long as you are willing to think, you can always come up with a solution.

The German soldiers on Shambher Island improved the “wooden stake bomb” into two parts, one is the “anchor” and the other is the “bullet body”.

“Anchor” sounds nice, but it is actually a stone used to sink in the water.

The “bullet body” is similar to the “wooden stake bomb”, but it is not controlled by a delayed fuse, but by an electric wire.

Ropes of varying lengths are tied between the “bullet” and the “anchor”… The length is calculated, and the length of the rope is determined by the position where the “wooden stake bomb” is expected to stop.

After it is made, you only need to throw it into the river, and then the “wooden stake bomb” will move down with the water flow until it is pulled by the rope and stops and floats at the designated position.

Simply put, it is a simple “mine” that is invisible and laid in the river.

These “mines” may not be used to deal with other things, because even the German soldiers themselves are not sure where these “mines” are, so of course they cannot be detonated when the enemy ships pass directly above or near them.

The problem is that the Allies used amphibious tanks with extremely poor anti-sinking performance for the forced crossing… Because of their own weight (combat weight 33.6 tons), they can only float on the water because of the buoyancy provided by the fragile outer tents. The slightest wind and waves or shaking and water ingress will cause them to sink.

The worst thing is that the US military is still unaware of these actions of the German army.

“General!” The staff officer said to Patton: “It will be dark in two hours. It seems that we should withdraw the 17th Armored Regiment!”

“Withdraw?” Patton said: “They blocked the river with artillery shells. Do you think we can still withdraw the armored regiment?”

The staff officer was speechless.

But it was certainly not a solution to go on like this, because the armored regiment would be in danger once it got dark. The Germans might launch a sneak attack on the 17th Armored Regiment from any direction, and tanks would hardly play a role in the dark, especially when ammunition was insufficient.

After thinking about it, Patton ordered: “Let the transport plane drop ammunition for them. Tell Nathan to occupy Shambher Island in the shortest time, otherwise he will be surrounded by the Germans!”

“Yes, General!”

It is not a good idea to transport supplies to the 17th Armored Regiment by airdrop.

This is not because the airdrop target is unclear.

In fact, pilots can easily find the airdrop site in the air… It is in the center of the three “islands” of the Metz Fortress, and more than 100 tanks of the 17th Armored Regiment are gathered in rows.

The problem is that the supplies cannot be accurately delivered to the center, where the 17th Armored Regiment is located, during the airdrop. They will always deviate from the airdrop point due to altitude, wind direction and other issues.

As a result, most of the supplies either fall on the three “islands” where the Germans are stationed or fall within the range of the German firepower control.

In the former case, the Germans smiled and said that it was a gift from Roosevelt to bribe them, hoping that they would show mercy to the American soldiers… Although most of these supplies are useless, because the different standards make the Germans unable to use bullets and shells, unless they make those shells into “wooden stake bombs”.

In the latter case, the American soldiers have to work hard to take back the supplies… Sometimes they consume more ammunition to take back the supplies than the supplies themselves.

However, in the end, the 17th Armored Regiment still accumulated enough ammunition to launch an attack.

At this time, Colonel Torres gave Colonel Nathan, the commander of the 17th Armored Regiment, a suggestion.

“I don’t think you should attack!” Colonel Torres said, “On the contrary, you should defend and use your ammunition to organize defense… Otherwise, if you fail to capture Shambher Island, then everything is over. Your ammunition is not enough to hold on until the next day. Then you will face two choices, either surrender or be annihilated by the Germans!”

Colonel Torres’s suggestion was contrary to General Patton’s order, and Colonel Nathan did not take this suggestion to heart.

“Last time, we almost succeeded!” Colonel Nathan replied, “I believe it will be easier this time. As long as we take Shambher Island, I believe the German supplies and the fortifications of Shambher Island will solve all the problems we face!”

However, a few minutes after Colonel Nathan ordered the attack, he completely changed his mind.

The US military’s attack was still the same as before, using amphibious landing ships carrying infantry to launch an attack in front, and then amphibious tanks followed behind to force a crossing… As long as the amphibious tanks landed, it would be difficult for anything to stop the impact of its tracks, armor and firepower.

However, just as the amphibious tanks entered the river, the river suddenly burst into a series of water columns, and more than a dozen amphibious tanks disappeared from Colonel Nathan’s sight in an instant.

“Stop the attack!” Colonel Nathan shouted angrily: “Stop the attack! Damn it, the Germans’ bombs are everywhere!”