When the battle broke out in the port, a combined fleet consisting of five battleships, three aircraft carriers, seven tank landing ships, six amphibious combat ships, 21 cruisers, and 85 destroyers arrived about 25 kilometers south of Toulon.
On the sea.
Further forward, we will enter the shooting range of the 340mm naval gun. Fleet Commander Mike Tolan is cautious. Allied fighter jets can easily attack the Germans at this distance.
At six o'clock sharp, the first wave of troops participating in the attack boarded the landing craft and launched an attack on the preset landing site.
All landing craft in Operation Dragoon were provided by Southern Africa. The largest landing craft can accommodate two tanks, and its strong power can allow the landing craft to rush directly to the beach.
Of course, if it hits the beach, the landing craft cannot escape from the beach without the help of large machinery. This seems like a waste, but compared with the efficiency, everything is worth it.
"You were never so generous in Normandy -" General Henry Wilson from the United Kingdom said sourly. The British army did not send troops to participate in the "Dragoon" operation, but there were still observers.
When de Gaulle proposed the "Dragoon" plan, he was strongly opposed by Winston. Winston even declared that the "Dragoon" plan was a "hopeless and ineffective" landing operation.
At the same time, Winston said that it was unacceptable to transfer British troops from Italy and North Africa to France.
De Gaulle and Patton did not have much expectations for the British. Even if the Americans did not participate in Operation Dragoon, it would not have much impact.
"You can't blame us. We once offered to provide all the landing craft that you don't need." Mike Tolan was not nervous and was in the mood to settle accounts with Henry Wilson.
"That's because your asking price is too high!" Henry Wilson was angry. The British also knew that the landing craft in southern Africa were useful, but unfortunately they couldn't afford them.
Don't underestimate a small landing craft. The technology content is not low at all. The landing craft specially designed to transport infantry is even powered by electricity. Its performance is perfect, and even Americans are coveted.
Needless to say, Britain.
When it comes to the navy, the British Empire was once the most powerful in the world. Just a few years later, the British Royal Navy cannot even build a landing craft. Who is to blame?
Anyway, southern Africa cannot be blamed.
"The Germans have deployed mines on the coastline, and we happen to have a secret weapon specifically designed to deal with mines!" Alexander Patch, commander of the US Seventh Army, was so confident that he dispatched an unmanned landing craft that could carry four tons of explosives, and
It can still be controlled remotely. In Patch's words, this kind of landing craft can blast a channel for landing troops.
"Oh, why didn't you bring out your unmanned landing craft when we were in Normandy?" Wilson was even more angry. Who are these people?
No matter how loud the newspapers are, they can't hide the fact that the Normandy landings have been progressing slowly up to now.
Now when it comes to "Dragoon", both southern Africa and the United States have come up with secret weapons. This is simply a humiliation to the British Empire.
"At that time, our unmanned landing craft had not yet been built -" Patch looked at the sky, squinting at 45 degrees.
This reason is too perfunctory. "D" Day has only passed less than ten days. How can American technology advance so fast in ten days?
It probably takes more than ten days to make it from the United States and then transport it to the Mediterranean.
"Is this thing reliable?" Mike Tolan hesitated. In previous trainings, the Americans had never taken out unmanned landing craft. This confidentiality work was done very well.
"Absolutely reliable. We have successfully developed this thing in the last century. Those tourist submarines you got in Lake Nyasa are all leftovers from our fun-" Patch was proud, and Tolan's expression was as dark as a
Bottom of the pot.
Listen to this, this remotely controlled unmanned submarine is the one that Nikola Tesla publicly displayed in the Central Park Lake in New York.
This is indeed true. It happened in 1898 at the end of the last century, more than forty years ago.
Nikola Tesla has a lofty status in southern Africa and can be called the Tarzan Beidou in the scientific and technological world. His affairs in the United States and his grievances with Edison have long been known to everyone in southern Africa.
Southern Africa has made rapid progress in science and technology in recent years, especially in electronics. We must thank Nikola Tesla for his contribution. The Southern African Navy has also benefited a lot.
Among other things, Tesla Research Institute is deeply involved in various electronic equipment currently used by the Southern African Navy. Many projects are even completed independently by Tesla Research Institute.
"Yes, yes, you are very powerful. Even amphibious tanks have submarine capabilities and can sink directly to the bottom of the sea as soon as they hit the water." Wilson turned into a cannon, full of anger in his mouth.
This time it was Patch's turn to look as black as the bottom of a pot.
Wilson was satirizing the U.S. military's landing in Normandy. 27 of the 32 amphibious tanks sank as soon as they were launched due to strong wind and waves.
These sunken amphibious tanks are still underwater. The tank crews were all killed because they could not open the hatch cover. The reason announced by the US military was that they accidentally hit a German mine and sank. This reason can be perfunctory to the public, but it cannot be hidden from senior Allied generals.
"This guy has such a bad mouth, let's tie him up and throw him into the sea!" Lieutenant General Devers, commander of the U.S. 6th Army, and Lieutenant General Leclerc of the Free France whispered.
"Wow, you are the following criminal-" Leclerc was shocked. Two lieutenants conspired to tie up an admiral and throw him into the sea. It was simply appalling.
"This thing hasn't been technically verified yet. Can it be used directly in combat?" Oscar, the chief of general staff responsible for formulating the action plan, questioned, not believing in the Americans' wireless remote control technology at all.
What do you think of Americans’ wireless remote control technology——
If Americans really valued Nikola Tesla's technology back then, Nikola Tesla would never have had the chance to go to southern Africa.
The remote-controlled submarine that Nikola Tesla publicly demonstrated back then was actually just a small toy with really low technical content. It doesn’t need to be compared with the military submarines in southern Africa, even compared with the tourist submarines in Lake Nyasa.
, the gap is roughly equivalent to the first aircraft built by the Wright brothers, compared to the Super Flying Fortress in southern Africa.
Last year the Germans used remote-controlled bombs to blow up the Italian Roma, and then the Americans experimented with their pure azimuth.
The results were equally touching, and pure azimuth never appeared on the battlefield again.
It is said that the U.S. Department of War has now axed this project and shifted its focus to trying to obtain related technologies in Germany or southern Africa.
Now the Americans once again took out their secret weapon. Oscar's first reaction was that the Americans were acting evil again.
"We have experimented many times, and the success rate is extremely high and the effect is very good." Patch vowed. He seemed to have forgotten that he just said that this was just made.
Mike Tolan was silent, with heaven and man at war in his heart.
Don't let it be used.
It's too demoralizing for Americans.
Let it be used——
This thing sounds unreliable.
After Nikola Tesla arrived in southern Africa, his first project was a bomber program related to unmanned control.
This plan has now become the most famous zombie project in southern Africa, because the results derived from this plan are countless, and the plan itself is far away from success.
A giant like Tesla has spent decades and billions of dollars on remote control technology, but has yet to succeed.
The Americans have now come up with something they can fight with.
Fine.
Mike Tolan is still quite curious.
"Then give it a try -" Mike Tolan gave Oscar a look as he spoke.
Oscar understood and turned around to make arrangements.
It has to be said that the Americans are really uncreative. No one can remotely control such a high-level Zentraedi star technology, but the result is a black and airtight iron lump, which looks almost like a large torpedo.
Seeing the unmanned landing craft successfully launched into the water and speeding towards the coast at full speed with a long water line behind him, responsible for dealing with possible German submarines, Mildreiser, the commander of the destroyer squadron protecting the fleet, was extremely nervous.
"Send a signal to all destroyers. Now focus on these big torpedoes. I hope this thing can be more reliable." Mir observed closely with a telescope.
"The speed is okay -" Deputy Commander Schmidt was also nervous.
"The angle is okay -" John Christian, captain of the destroyer "Calm down" where Mil was located, breathed a sigh of relief.
Before taking a breath, the unmanned landing craft that had just escaped less than a nautical mile made a turn on the sea and suddenly rushed straight towards the fleet.
"What the hell is going on?" Mike Tolan yelled.
Patch was dumbfounded. The fleet was full of battleships and aircraft carriers, arranged quite densely. There were four tons of explosives on the unmanned landing craft. No matter which one was hit, they would have to walk around without food.
"You are an undercover sent by the Germans!" Wilson also yelled. "Undercover" is an adjective for southern Africa, and the British are accustomed to using "mole".
"Open the gun, open fire on the destroyer, sink it - cruiser, all ships attentive -" Oscar didn't bother to curse, the chief of staff was responsible for wiping his butt.
To deal with this kind of iron bastard stuck to the sea, destroyers are really useful. Other warships do not have many weapons that can deal with small water targets because their sides are too high.
The performance of the destroyers in Southern Africa is still very reliable. To deal with small surface targets, naval guns and other cannons are used to fight mosquitoes. The best ones are the close-in defense guns modified by Super Gatling.
Gatling, like Maxim, had a bad fate. This is generally the case with super-era weapons. If the supporting facilities cannot keep up, it is impossible to exert full strength.
Engineers in southern Africa installed a power supply system for Gatlin and installed it on helicopters and destroyers. It is very effective against small targets.
Thanks to the well-trained gunners in southern Africa, the out-of-control unmanned landing craft was quickly sunk. Apart from startling the Marines who had just boarded the landing craft, it did not cause more serious consequences.
Now Mike Tolan is extremely convinced that the problem must be solved by the Marines and the paratroopers who have parachuted into the Toulon area.
The airborne troops were also unlucky.
Although there was no storm here in Toulon, there was thick fog. The fog had not lifted at 6 o'clock in the morning. The transport aircraft pilots relied on their superb skills to safely deliver the airborne troops to the Toulon area.
Although the thick fog caused inconvenience to the airborne troops, it also had a serious impact on the German troops in Toulon. The sight of German ground anti-aircraft firepower shooters was blocked, which provided the best cover for the airborne troops.
Of course, there were disadvantages. After the paratroopers jumped out of the cabin, they discovered that there was still strong wind. Some unlucky paratroopers were blown more than ten kilometers away from the target by the strong wind. Many paratroopers fell into the vineyards on the outskirts of Toulon, and some fell onto the roof.
Fortunately, the German defenses in this area were weak, so they did not cause greater losses.
During the entire airborne process, there were only 230 casualties among the two paratrooper regiments and one infantry regiment flying gliders. Compared with the Battle of Sicily, this was negligible.
Captain Jack of the 401st Parachute Regiment fired a signal flare and a green smoke bomb after landing. After seeing the signal flare, nearby paratroopers would concentrate on the location of the green smoke bomb.
Jack was not very lucky. He landed by a small river and dropped his equipment bag in the river. The first person to find Jack was not the paratroopers, but the local guerrillas in Toulon.
The guerrilla surprised Jack when he appeared.
The guerrilla was actually an African-American. He was wearing a pair of slippers, a dirty white striped robe, a pair of boots hanging around his neck, and an old Martini Henry rifle on his shoulder.
Leading a mule, he suddenly appeared in front of Jack.
"Southern Africans? Americans?" the guerrilla stammered in English.
"It doesn't matter which country I am from, as long as you are not German, we are friends." Jack said in French, holding the handle of the pistol at his waist. If the guerrilla in front of him wanted to take a gun, Jack was confident that he would kill him instantly.
The military pistols in southern Africa are quite powerful and can kill lions at close range.
Of course you have to shoot a lot.
"That's great, you are finally here, God bless -" the guerrillas cried with joy, and then the scene became slightly awkward.
When the guerrillas appeared, Jack was lying by the river, sticking his butt out and using branches to fish out his equipment bag.
This posture is really not very decent.
"I'm here to help you -" The guerrillas moved quickly, without taking off their clothes, directly jumped into the river and fished out Jack's equipment bag.
"Thank you -" Jack felt mixed when he took it. The airborne troops were said to be in the sky and on the earth, and there was nothing they could do about a small river. This shows that there are specialties in the art.
"You're welcome, we should be the ones thanking you. Without your help, we couldn't drive away the Germans. The damn Germans took away our property, our women, and even the livestock -
—"The guerrillas talked a bit too much, and Jack was in a more complicated mood.
Even if the Germans don't come, real French women won't choose African Americans as partners.
There is no such thing as political correctness at this time.
