In the early hours of May 4, 1942, Lieutenant General William von Sussmann, knowing that his strength was not enough to hold Dublin, made a rather risky decision to fight a counterattack north of Dublin.
From a military point of view, this adventure is not nonsense, because the situation on the battlefield is not transparent.
Unbeknownst to the British on May 4, Lieutenant General Sussman's armored forces consisted of only eight tank companies, four of which belonged to the 1st Marine Division plus 10 assault gun batteries. 14 companies of tanks and assault guns are actually not too few, and if these 14 companies belong to the army armored forces, they are not weak.
The 25-ton H tank No. 4 is now the standard for the Wehrmacht's armoured units, with 22 tanks per company.
Anti-tank guns, but also with enough tungsten alloy armor-piercing shells.
With eight companies of Type 4H tanks, Lieutenant General Sussman would have been able to defeat Montgomery's 11th Panzer Division outside Dublin.
Unfortunately, Susman's eight tank companies had only Type 3 amphibious tanks and Type 38TS airborne tanks.
Moreover, of the 10 assault gun companies in his hands, only 3 assault gun companies belonging to the 1st Marine Division are equipped with relatively strong No. 3 assault guns, and the other 7 companies belonging to the 7th Division of the Airborne Forces are equipped with Weasel 2 tank destroyers.
The Weasel 2 is based on the chassis of the eliminated No. 2 tank and is equipped with a 75AK40246 gun, with a total combat weight of only 108 tons, which can be carried by the Type 323 transport aircraft, so it has become an anti-tank weapon used by the Airborne Forces.
However, although the firepower of this Weasel 2 tank destroyer is strong, its armor is very thin and it is open-topped.
Therefore, in the Battle of Dublin, which began on the afternoon of May 4, Lieutenant General Sussman's available armor forces were mainly 88 No. 3 amphibious tanks, 88 38T tanks, 18 No. 3 assault guns and 60 Weasel Type 2 tank destroyers, a total of 254 tank self-propelled guns.
The number of tank self-propelled guns in the possession of an armored division is about the same, and in addition, 48 two-wing HS123 attack aircraft of the Marine Corps have been transferred from amphibious landing ships to Dublin, where they can provide air support along with the Fokker Zeros flying from Brest.
However, the British would certainly also be in charge of the Mustang and Spitfire, so air support could not be expected to play much of a role, at least until a large number of combat aircraft were deployed to Ireland, and Germany would have little air superiority on the island of Ireland.
The armored group commanded by Colonel Walter Wink said that the Wink cluster was opposed by the British 11th Panzer Division, which was commanded by Major General Michael Omer Clegger, who had fought Rommel in North Africa.
Although he was a defeated subordinate of the German armored forces, he had the experience of losing battles.
Therefore, after being transferred back to his homeland, he was not demoted, but became the commander of the powerful 11th Armored Division.
The 11th Armored Division is one of the strongest master-level units of the British Army at present, with three brigades, including the 22nd Armored Brigade, the 29th Armored Brigade, and the 131st "Queen" Brigade, which is one more brigade than the standard British divisional troops.
And the two armored brigades are also very well established, each of which consists of two tank regiments and one motorized infantry regiment, as well as an artillery regiment.
According to the data on the compilation table, each tank regiment has 3 tank squadrons, each with 52 tanks, 10 armored vehicles and 575 officers and men.
That is, each regiment has 156 tanks, and 1 armored brigade has 312 tanks.
The 11th Panzer Division, which has the 22nd Armoured Brigade and the 29th Armoured Brigade, should have 624 tanks at full strength, and although the tanks of this division are not fully equipped, there are still as many as 466 tanks that can be activated before the start of the battle on the morning of May 4, including 155 Churchill 2 infantry tanks, 143 Crusader 2 cruiser tanks, and 168 American-produced 3 Grant Lee medium tanks. 7 "Priest" self-propelled guns, so the total number of tank self-propelled guns that Major General Clegg had before the start of the battle on the morning of May 4 was up to 502 units, which far exceeded the opponent's 254 units.
In addition, the British infantry who participated in the Battle of Dublin, which began on 4 May, far outnumbered their opponents.
Montgomery's 12th Army alone consisted of seven infantry divisions, including the 3rd Infantry Division, the 7th Infantry Division, the 49th "West Redding" Infantry Division, the 51st Highland Division, the 52nd Lowland Division, the Downshire Division, and the Armaghshire Division, plus the infantry belonging to the 11th Panzer Division, and the total strength of the British infantry that began to be engaged in the Battle of Dublin from May 4 was as high as 120,000, which was far more than the less than 30,000 infantry possessed by the Germans' one naval division and one airborne division.
However, Montgomery, who was cautious in his military efforts, did not know that he actually had an overwhelming superiority in troops.
The 29th Armored Brigade, the main force of the brigade-level tactical cluster composed of the 11th Armored Division and the 3rd Infantry Division of the British Army, which was somewhat Germanophobic, was also accustomed to naturally choosing to retreat after being blocked by German armored forces outside Dublin, and retreated to the town of Sworth, 10 kilometers north of Dublin, to set up defenses, and put on a posture of preparing to be beaten.
Colonel Waltwinck, who commanded the armoured group to follow to the town of Sworth, seized the opportunity and decided to continue the offensive while the main British forces were not ready.
Before the offensive began, Colonel Wink called the commanders of 8 tank companies and 10 assault gun companies to his headquarters.
He told the 18 company commanders: "Now the main force of the British is moving south from Northern Ireland, and they want to defeat us and take back Dublin before our large force lands on the island of Ireland."
But we don't want to give Dublin to the British, and we don't want to be surrounded by the British in a city that is very difficult to defend.
So I decided, after consulting with Lieutenant General Sussman, to attack first and strike hard at the vanguard of the British, so that they would misjudge that we were stronger than them. ” Dublin is not enough to defend on the ground, because Dublin is surrounded by plains and has good transportation facilities, which is very conducive to the roundabout advance of mechanized troops.
If Sussman and Wink wanted to hold out, then their army would be surrounded and beaten by the British.
However, Sussman and Wink did not want to hand Dublin to the British.
Because now Ireland has declared its independence and has applied for membership in the European Community.
Irish Prime Minister Valera even went to Berlin to worship the pier and hug his thick legs.
At such a time, the loss of the capital of the Republic of Ireland must be a great disgrace for Germany, and there is no precedent for the capital of the European Community country to be captured by the enemy until the end of the world war Therefore, Sussman and Winck thought of beating the vanguard of the British, so that the opponent would overestimate their own strength and adopt a defensive approach.
Colonel Walter Wynck then told his men of his disposition: "To the east of Swarthtown is the sandy beach and the Irish Sea, and the armoured forces cannot pass through, so the direction of attack is a large potato field to the west of the town, and from the right flank of the British, it is in a posture to encircle Swarthtown."
So that the British will most likely retreat, and then we will pursue under the cover of HS123. ” "Carl, is the oil ready?"
When Lieutenant Rudolf von Ribbentrop returned to the company, he saw his platoon commander, Second Lieutenant Karvizel, sitting next to the tracks of a No. 3 tank, eating.
The food was marching rations, which the troops had received from the field cooking company before they set out from Ducock Bay, and they were cooked food that did not need to be cooked.
A daily ration usually consists of 700 grams of rye bread, 200 grams of cooked meat, most of the time various sausages, 60 grams of butter, 9 grams of coffee, 10 grams of granulated sugar, and 6 cigarettes.
Sometimes I would give some biscuits, boxes of chocolate, and a flat round box with 8 triangular pieces of dark chocolate and egg packs.
Before Lieutenant Ribbentrop's company set out from Cork Bay, each officer and soldier received seven days' rations, which would have kept them from needing to be replenished for the coming week.
"It's all up," said Second Lieutenant Wiesel, who shoved a large piece of black bread with sausage and butter into his mouth, chewed vigorously a few times, and swallowed it with bitter coffee.
"Of the 21 tanks, one tank was destroyed on the way from Dublin to Swarthtown, and it was enough to drive us to Belfast."
"All right, get in the car," waved Lieutenant Ribbentrop, "let's set off Karl, your platoon will take the lead, pass through the potato fields in battle formation, and make a detour back to the side of Swarthtown. ” Now there are not enough officers in the German ground forces, and there is usually only one platoon commander under a company who is an officer, and the other two are sergeants.
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The platoon with the officer as the platoon commander is usually a platoon, and it must be the most combat-effective platoon in the whole company, and it must rush to the front when fighting.
However, Ensign Wiesel's platoon did not go far before it came under attack in the field west of Sworthtown.
Several strings of tracer shells shot out from the direction of Sworthtown, one of which hit the side armor of a tank in a platoon commanded by Second Lieutenant Wiesel, and then a 40 shell came at it, which instantly set the hapless tank on fire.
"Alert all attention to the presence of Crusader tanks" Second Lieutenant Calvizel, half outside the turret, saw very clearly and found that 40 shells were fired from several "haystacks", which were apparently camouflaged tanks.
"Behind the haystacks, counterattack and take out those tanks, quick" Second Lieutenant Wiesel ordered loudly, 5 No. 3 tanks stopped their advance, turned their turrets to aim at the haystacks, and first fired from coaxial machine guns, and then 50 tank guns t1706231537: