Three days before the British troops boarded the glider, Rokossovsky's troops stopped attacking.
Even Montgomery knew that he was going to land from Hamburg, and Dönitz naturally would not ignore it. The German Navy's Operation Hannibal was still transporting German overseas immigrants back to the country. In order to strengthen Berlin's defense, Heinrich
Xi also tried every means to move the German army back to Berlin, so the German army's defense did not just stick to it, but defended and attacked, and fought back and forth with the Russians.
Rokossovsky's troops stopped attacking, and the German army on the opposite side launched a counterattack. The offensive was directed by German Field Marshal Walter von Brauchitsch.
Brauchitsch was born into a noble Junker family with a prominent family background. His father was once a general of the Prussian Imperial Cavalry. After graduating from the military academy, he served in Queen Elizabeth's 3rd Fusiliers' Guards and participated in the First World War. After the war, he served as a German 100,000-man soldier.
A member of the Defense Force remains in office.
In 1931, Brauchitsch served as the director of artillery of the German Army and was promoted to general in 1936. A year later, due to serious conflicts with members of the Workers' Party, he was transferred to the Leipzig Military District, which was in charge of establishing armored forces, as commander.
As a representative of the Junker aristocracy within the German Army, Brauchitsch had an extremely sharp conflict with the Workers' Party. When he was the commander-in-chief of the East Prussia Military District, whenever there were any public events in East Prussia, he would only invite party figures to events.
, Brauchitsch always refused; and when SA and SS personnel asked for support, Brauchitsch did not cooperate at all.
Because of Brauchitsch's lack of cooperation, he was even reported to the top brass of the Army. Even Mustache knew about Brauchitsch's conflict with the Workers' Party.
Mustache knew it, but had no way to solve it, because at that time the Junkers aristocracy still had a huge influence on Germany, and Mustache only obtained the support of the military after reaching a tacit understanding with the Junkers aristocracy.
This is also the reason why Brauchitsch repeatedly attempted suicide but remained unharmed.
Although Mustache does not like Brauchi, he still wants to use Brauchi's influence.
In the year when Brauchitsch was transferred to the Leipzig Military District, the conflict between Brauchitsch and his wife broke out. Brauchitsch asked for a divorce from his wife, and his wife Elisabeth von Kalestadt asked for an alimony.
This gave Brauchic a headache.
At this time, Field Marshal Keitel provided help to Brauchitsch on the condition that Brauchitsch would succeed Fritsch as commander-in-chief of the German Army.
This appointment was not because of Brauchic's irreplaceable ability, but because of Brauchic's influence. Mustache also needed such a person to take responsibility, so Brauchic took office.
In the German Army, although Brauchitsch had huge influence, he had no command power and even little voice. As early as the beginning of 1940, Brauchitsch suggested that Mustache choose to fight against Russia carefully, but this suggestion did not work.
Adopted by Mustache.
Brauchitsch knew the consequences of attacking Russia, so he took the initiative to resign to Mustache, but Mustache did not approve it because Brauchitsch was still valuable at this time.
It was not until after the defeat of the Battle of Moscow that Brauchitsch was dismissed from his post by Mustache on the grounds of defeat. In order to shift all the responsibility to Brauchitsch, Mustache even publicly denounced Brauchitsch as a "futile and cowardly wretch."
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After that, Brauchitsch was idle until the front advanced to Berlin. Mustache thought of Brauchitsch again, hoping to use Brauchitsch's influence on the German army to inspire the German army's sense of honor and fight to the end for the Third Reich.
As the commander-in-chief of the German Army, Brauchitsch may indeed be incompetent.
However, as a front commander, Brauchitsch is still competent.
This is of course also related to Rokossovsky’s deliberate release of water.
In short, after the German army launched a counterattack, the Russian army was quickly defeated, so the originally safe landing site became a cemetery for the British army.
As mentioned above, when the German army began to form armored forces, Brauchitsch served as the commander-in-chief of the Leipzig Military District, so Brauchitsch had considerable experience in commanding armored forces.
Like the Spring Offensive, when the British 1st Airborne Division was airborne, there happened to be a German armored unit nearby.
Unlike the airborne troops in southern Africa, the British 1st Airborne Division was not equipped with heavy weapons. Those airborne with the troops did not even have heavy artillery, and their vehicles were only light off-road vehicles.
For the German armored forces, airborne troops lacking heavy weapons were a complete gift from heaven.
Brauchic must have complained about being idle for more than three years.
Now Brauchitsch finally had a chance to vent. He vented all his grievances on the blind British airborne troops, so Humphrey and his comrades were unlucky.
"Wait Swift, I will definitely rescue you -" Humphrey hoped that Swift's voice could be lowered, because his screams were so loud that the birds in the trees were frightened.
Flying.
At this time, the landing site was in chaos, with broken aircraft and broken gliders everywhere. One glider failed to control its attitude when landing and plunged to the ground. The entire fuselage was squeezed into scrap metal with a thickness of no more than one meter.
, only part of the tail wing is still intact.
Needless to say, none of the airborne troops in the cabin were spared. Humphrey didn't bother to check. He untied Swift's straps, hoping to drag Swift out.
At this moment, gunshots suddenly rang out intensively.
"All those who can still fight must evacuate. We must arrive at the assembly point as soon as possible." The sergeant major shouted in a hissing voice, not caring about the injured at all.
"Sir, what should we do with Swift?" Humphrey was in a dilemma.
"Don't leave me, I can still fight, I can help you load bullets -" Swift suddenly stopped feeling pain.
"If you want, you can stay with him!" The sergeant major did not force him, and everyone knew the consequences of staying.
The current German army is already a beast of trouble and will not abide by any principles of engagement. The prisoners of war on both sides have only one fate, which is to be executed on the spot.
"Let's go Humphrey, you can't save everyone-" A kind-hearted airborne soldier reminded Humphrey that being a saint at this time will lead to a very tragic end.
"Don't leave me Humphrey, we are brothers, I will be grateful to you, I will give you all my money -" Swift does not want to stay and wait for death. If he must stay, Swift
I hope someone can die generously with him.
Humphrey looked at Swift who was pleading and couldn't help but turn around and leave.
The Germans were advancing very fast, and the gunshots were getting closer and closer. Humphrey dragged Swift behind a big tree, picked up his Sten submachine gun, and prepared to fight the Germans to the end.
Swift also picked up her own Sten.
However, Swift did not aim his gun in the direction where the Germans might appear, but at Humphrey.
"What are you doing?" Humphrey couldn't believe it.
"If you want to leave, I will beat you to death -" Swift didn't know what brain circuit he had to think like this.
Humphrey's face was filled with disbelief.
Bang——
A stray bullet hit the tree trunk next to Humphrey, sending sawdust flying everywhere.
Humphrey was startled and rolled and crawled to hide behind the tree trunk.
Swift was also startled and subconsciously turned the gun. When he looked back, Humphrey had disappeared.
"Asshole, you coward, come back quickly -" Swift yelled desperately. At this time, there were dense footsteps next to him. Swift didn't see anyone and couldn't tell the difference between friend and foe. He held his head in his hands and trembled all over.
I can't even hold the gun steady.
A Mauser bayonet still dripping with blood appeared in front of Swift.
Swift raised his head, and standing in front of him was a German soldier with a murderous face, who was giving Swift a weird smile.
"etc--"
As soon as Swift opened her mouth, a bloody bayonet was stabbed at her.
It doesn't hurt, it really doesn't hurt at all.
This was Swift's last realization.
Humphrey ran very fast. He joined a group of retreating British paratroopers and headed for the assembly point where red smoke rose.
Everyone was in such a state of confusion that one second lieutenant whose arm was injured had no time to bandage it, and the wound was still bleeding.
"I made a g-" A paratrooper stepped on a stone, and the stone suddenly became loose. The paratrooper twisted his foot and fell to the ground.
Humphrey went to help the paratrooper, but was pushed away by the paratrooper.
"You guys go away quickly, I'll cover you -" The paratrooper whose name I don't know is the real soldier.
Humphrey was shocked again. They are all people, why is the gap so big!
"Go quickly, go quickly - we are all bound to die!" The second lieutenant did not stop. If the Germans caught up, no one would survive.
Humphrey gritted his teeth and turned around, burying his head and running wildly.
Fierce gunfire came from behind again, ending with the explosion of a grenade.
Although the 1st Division suffered heavy casualties, thousands of men arrived at the assembly point.
Their situation was very bad. They had no heavy weapons and little ammunition supplies. Humphrey carried six magazines and four grenades with him.
Including the magazines in the Sten submachine gun, Humphrey carried more than 200 rounds of ammunition.
It seems like a lot, but for a Sten submachine gun, it only takes 20 seconds to use up all these bullets.
The location was not very good, and Humphrey didn't have time to dig foxholes. Fortunately, there were many trees and rocks, so Humphrey found an air raid between the rocks and trees as his position.
"Bullets must be used sparingly. We must hold on for at least 24 hours before we can wait for reinforcements." The sergeant major next to him took out all the grenades and put them beside him. He also took out a dagger and stuck it on the tree trunk next to him.
Just as Humphrey took out his dagger, another group of broken soldiers came over. The paratrooper running at the end was shot by the Germans in the distance, and his body was only three meters away from Humphrey.
Humphrey's eyes were fixed on the direction where the German troops appeared, not on the corpses.
He actually wanted to go over and take the bullets and grenades from the corpse.
The Germans did not give the British troops a chance to replenish their ammunition. Soon a group of German troops were chasing after them. Humphrey took a closer look and saw that they were either old men with wrinkles on their faces and white beards, or freckles and acne on their faces.
of children.
Considering his age, Humphrey was not too sad.
The battle has reached this point, and both sides are exhausted.
Ta-ta-ta - 牖
The sound of the Sten submachine gun is very clear, the recoil is very small, the muzzle has almost no obvious jump, and the trajectory is straight. From these perspectives, the Sten is an excellent submachine gun.
Of course, there are also shortcomings, the most serious one being too little power.
The Sten submachine gun uses pistol bullets, its effective range is only a pitiful 200 meters, and it causes very little damage to people.
The 200 meters of a submachine gun is different from the 600 meters of a rifle.
The rifle's 600 meters is an approximate number, which means that it can still achieve the desired killing effect at a distance of 600 meters. In fact, the bullet can fly one or two kilometers and still has lethality at this distance.
The 200 meters for a submachine gun is 200. Don't count on it beyond this distance. The bullets don't even know where to fly, so there is no need to consider the lethality.
In forest operations, battles often occur within tens of meters, or even within ten meters. At this distance, the power of the Sten submachine gun can still be guaranteed.
In order to save bullets, Humphrey did not sweep, but used long bursts of fire. He only knocked down one German soldier and lost the target in front of him.
The Germans were not completely wiped out. A few lucky guys hid behind bunkers in time and escaped this intensive wave of fire.
The sergeant major had experience in dealing with enemies behind bunkers. He put down the Sten in his hand, picked up a grenade and threw it, deliberately holding it for two seconds before throwing it.
Sure enough, the grenade did not hit the ground at all and exploded in the air. The two German soldiers were blown out from behind the bunker by the shock wave.
After another burst of gunfire, everything finally calmed down.
Humphrey waited for a minute and found that there was no movement on the other side, so he crept out from behind the tree.
"Go back—" the sergeant major shouted in a low voice.
Humphrey lowered his head subconsciously, and a bullet flew past his head.
Then Humphrey heard the gunfire.
Damn sniper!
The sergeant major is not in a hurry to shoot. The jungle battle is all about patience.
The Germans are also patient because they also have more powerful weapons, such as tanks.
How can the armored forces not have tanks? Even if the Germans are short of fuel, the tanks can still be driven. I don’t know where the German fuel factories are.
Most of them are in underground hollows, otherwise there is a high probability that they will not be able to escape the Allied strategic bombing.
Seeing the roar of the tank coming from the opposite side, the sergeant major pulled Humphrey and quietly retreated.
There was no way to withdraw. The temporary position had to be abandoned. Letting the paratroopers face the tanks would mean death.
They didn't retreat far. During the battle just now, the paratroopers set up another line of defense in the rear.
Humphrey and the sergeant major were reminded by the paratroopers to carefully avoid the minefields. Mines were the most powerful weapon against tanks.
Of course the terrain is too.
Tanks in the forest face many more difficulties than paratroopers. There are many places where tanks cannot climb at all.
It is precisely for this reason that the paratroopers have the confidence to deal with the Germans in the forest.
However, Humphrey and the others were also unlucky. As the number of German troops increased, the space for the paratroopers to move became smaller and smaller. If reinforcements could not arrive in time, the paratroopers would eventually be surrounded and annihilated by the German troops.
