January 2, 1943, 10 p.m.
"There are 60 seconds left to prepare" Captain Otoskolzny got up from his folding chair and walked to the door of the 323 transport plane.
"Everybody take their seats, check the umbrellas."
After giving the order, he forcefully opened the hatch, and a gust of cold wind blew in violently, making everyone in the cabin shiver.
The E323 transport aircraft lined up in a dense formation, speeding through the thick columns of sparks and searchlights.
At present, tens of thousands of officers and men of the 7th Division of the German Wehrmacht paratroopers have flown over the city of Hartlepool on huge Type 323 transport planes and GO242 gliders towed by JU88.
Hartlepool is an ancient port city that emerged in the 7th century, but its place in the shipping industry has long since been replaced by the nearby Middlesbrough, the centre of the British steel industry.
Its small port and outdated facilities can only be used for small ships, not large ones.
Therefore, the British did not deploy heavy troops in the city, and the British heavy troops were limited and could not be placed anywhere, but they still placed 1 anti-aircraft artillery regiment equipped with QF3 type 762 anti-aircraft guns in Hartlepool, which was also a militia, 2 militia regiments belonging to the North Yorkshire Division and 1 coastal artillery battalion.
The QF3 anti-aircraft gun is an old gun from 1914, with limited range and height, and there is no radio proximity fuse, so it is also a scaring thing.
Neither the E323 nor the JU88 were down.
On the periphery of the airborne group, the escorting HE219 fighters were engaged with the British Mosquito Night Combat aircraft, and from time to time huge fireballs flashed in the dark night.
"Everybody jump with me" The green signal light next to the door suddenly turned on, and Captain Skorzny shouted at his men before jumping out of the door first.
The white parachutes resemble huge clusters of dandelions, conspicuous in the night sky, fluttering and swaying, covering the sky, slowly descending towards the land of England.
However, not all of these parachutes were attached to the German paratroopers or their equipment.
Among them, 80 parachutes falling from the sky are actually confusing fake targets, just a small parachute with a wooden figure hanging from it.
Looking from the ground into the sky, the airborne force was increased several times, as if thirty or forty thousand German supermen armed to the teeth were descending from the sky, and they were falling everywhere.
This would greatly confuse the British forces in Hartlepool and Middlesbrough, causing them to miss out on the best chance to counter-attack While the eye-catching airborne operation was underway, near a beachhead near the North Sea, an Italian frogman unit under the command of Major Bogaisse of the Italian Navy was quietly approaching.
Like Italy in history, the "New Roman Empire", which is now thriving, was unable to build up an elite army of millions like Germany.
However, this did not prevent the Italians from building up a small elite force.
For example, the Italian Air Force's S79 fleet is now obsolete, the bomber unit equipped with 108 heavy bombers, the Italian Navy's battleship force, several rather elite Italian army divisions, and the mysterious Italian frogman unit.
These Italian frogmen were more likely to outfight their German counterparts in battle, and though they didn't shine in the Mediterranean campaign, they would go down in history tonight.
The 60 Italian frogmen piloting the "Pig" special submarine were quietly surfacing at this time.
Looking through the diving goggles worn by Major Bogaisa, the white sand in the distance was covered with thick, long black iron bars.
This is supposed to be an anti-landing obstacle, which is stuck in all the places where there are sandy beaches along the coast of England.
This stretch of beach in Hartlepool is no exception, and since 1940 the British have been adding this barrier known as the "rail barricade".
Because of its proximity to the heart of the UK's steel industry, there is no shortage of steel rails, so there are now thousands of rails on the entire beach.
These rails are now the target of Major Bogaisse and his frogmen, but they don't need to be destroyed in their entirety, only a few of them, about 300 or so.
This is because the landing will begin around 9 a.m. on January 3, when the tide will begin to rise.
Most of the obstacles will be submerged by the sea, but some of them will pose a threat to the landing craft and landing ships, so they must be destroyed with explosives.
And now is the time of high tide, so the rails that need to be destroyed are distributed where the sea and the beach meet.
Major Bogaisai felt that the special submarine he was piloting had hit the sand underwater, he straightened up, and then raised a hand to make a gesture to his subordinates behind him.
A group of frogmen all disembarked from the special submarine, bent over or on one knee on the sand underwater, with only half of their heads exposed.
Major Bogaisai slowly stepped back, slowly moving to his deputy's side.
"That's pretty much it, one person has to blow up at least five rails.
According to intelligence, there should have been machine-gun bunkers for the British near here, and there should have been patrols.
If they find out, we will be fascist martyrs. ” As he spoke, a column of light from a searchlight suddenly passed nearby, causing a group of fascist frogmen to shrink their heads.
"I won't become a fascist martyr," the deputy smiled, "at most I will be taken prisoner by the British, and I don't know if I will be beaten" He wasn't kidding, because it was winter, and even wearing special insulated wetsuits couldn't avoid a rapid loss of body temperature, and they couldn't last long in the icy waters.
Therefore, after completing the task, it is impossible for these Italian frogmen to take the "Pig" submarine back to send them to the large submarine off the coast of Britain, so they can only find a place to hide near the beach, which is more than ten kilometers long and relatively tightly defended, but as long as this section is passed, there is a place to hide, and there is still the possibility of being hunted and captured by the British.
"There will be no problem," Major Bogaisse smiled, "these Englishmen, although they are against Christ, they blew up the Pope, but they are still gentlemen, okay, let's get to the action now" If this mission had been directed against the Russians, they would certainly not have come.
"What the hell is it that Hartlepool, Scarborough, Grimsby, and Abel and Bangor in Wales all have a large number of paratroopers from the Germans, it's impossible" In London, on the ground floor of King Charles Street, in the wartime cabinet headquarters, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill looked at the report sent by his staff and immediately shook his fat head.
It turned out that Hartlepool was not the only city where the Airborne Forces were found tonight, but a total of 5 cities reported being attacked by a large number of German Airborne Troops And this, of course, is impossible.
An air assault on one city would require hundreds of large transport aircraft, while the Germans would need at least 3,000 large transport aircraft to strike at five cities at once.
How could the Luftwaffe be so generous Moreover, even if the Germans had so many large transport aircraft, they would not be airborne in five cities, but would be concentrated in one place.
"Only one city was actually assaulted, and the Germans were dropping false targets in the other cities," said the Chief of the Imperial Staff, Viscount Brooke, with a grim face.
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Like Churchill, he thought the Germans would not actually invade, at least not before the spring equinox in 1943.
"Where will it be?"
asked Lieutenant General Stilwell, Chief of Staff of the Allied Forces in Europe.
"Now we don't know," Churchill handed the report to Stilwell, "because the Germans threw foil strips to jam the radar, we don't know exactly how many planes are in the sky."
But in a few hours the truth will be revealed. ” "Prime Minister, we must send reinforcements as soon as possible," Stilwell said, "and the 24 hours after the enemy landing are critical, and if we get them on their feet, we will be in big trouble." ” Of course, there are reinforcements, and now there are three or four million people in military uniforms and guns on the island of Great Britain, whether they are militia or regular troops, they can fight after all.
But these people are not the key to the success of the counterattack, the key is the tank, it is the armored corps Because the Germans had armored forces in both the Airborne Forces and the Marine Corps, it was difficult to fight back with infantry, and it was necessary to invest in armored units.
Since the 6 armoured divisions of the 2nd, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th are not on the island of Great Britain, the 7th armoured division is in India, the 8th armoured division is in Canada, and the remaining 4 armoured divisions are in Ireland.
Therefore, there are not many armored units available in Qiu Fatzi's hands, in addition to the 2nd Armored Division of the United States, there are only 3 British armored divisions such as the British Praetorian Armored Division, the 1st Armored Division and the 6th Armored Division.
"The infantry may be ordered to go at once," suggested Viscount Brooke, "and reinforcements may be drawn from Birmingham, Liverpool, Sheffield, Norwich and Newcastle."
As for the armored forces, they can be ready to go at any time. ” "There will be no problem with the roads," Lieutenant General Stilwell reminded, "the roads in the middle of England have been bombarded indiscriminately in the past two days, and many bridges have been blown up, will the large army still be able to pass?"
Viscount Brooke frowned and said: "There will definitely be some delay, but it shouldn't be a big problem, after all, the road facilities in England are very good, and the roads that the Germans can destroy in 2 days are limited to a few bridges, which are more troublesome, but pontoon bridges can also be built." ” "Will you be able to reach your destination in 24 hours?"
asked Churchill.
Viscount Brooke shook his head, "I'm afraid the armored forces won't be able to catch up, but the infantry is fine." ” t1706231537: