Chapter five hundred and forty seventh landing exercise
Before the deadline for launching the landing operation in the UK came, the No. 3 submersible tank, as a new weapon of the German army, carried out a small-scale operation on Pearl Island in northern Germany in order to improve the victory of the war before launching the landing operation.
A secret simulated landing drill.
The sea where the exercise is located is not calm, the waves are getting bigger and bigger, and "rumbling" sounds are constantly heard in the distance.
On the sea 3 nautical miles north of the coastline of Pearl Island, three German battleships were arranged in a straight line on the sea. The rolled up waves roared and hit the hull of the battleships, releasing a terrifying sound.
The sound of crashing waves.
Although the landing site chosen by Reinhardt was an area where the British army had neglected to guard against, the Allies still brought out Germany, France and Italy this time, with a total of 9 battleships, 2 shallow water gunboats, 16 cruisers, and 45
Destroyers, as well as 6 large aircraft carriers and 14 escort aircraft carriers, formed four fire support groups to provide naval gun fire support for the four landing beaches in the arc from the Thames River to Portsmouth.
During the exercise, because the Italian and French fleets had not yet arrived, the German army used its own three battleships to participate in this simulated exercise.
The German Army sent a Type III submersible tank to participate in this performance.
The modified Panzer III has extraordinary amphibious capabilities. Thanks to the unremitting efforts of the young engineer Anderson, after taking over the modification task of the Panzer III, he enhanced its diving capabilities, which allows the tank to dive
The depth has increased to 5 meters!
This drill is also to prove whether the modified Panzer III tank indeed has such diving capabilities.
During the exercise, the German transport ship drove the Panzer III tank out of the ship with the assistance of the German landing soldiers dozens of meters away from the coastline. Each Panzer III tank also successfully used its
Excellent concealment and diving abilities, and can move forward normally in the water.
It wasn't until the Panzer III tank exposed its gun barrel that the drill soldiers guarding the cab discovered their traces.
After boarding the shoal, the first thing that caught the eyes of the German Panzer III tank drivers was the seemingly non-threatening logs. These logs were placed in front of them harmlessly, like lambs to be slaughtered, waiting.
It was crushed by the heavy armor of the Panzer III tank.
According to Reinhardt's request, all the contents of this exercise were not told to the participants in advance. The purpose was to restore the authenticity and suddenness of the battlefield, so no one knew how many mysteries were contained in these pieces of wood.
From the tank driver's perspective, it seems that these logs are just obstacles used by the British army to block the bullets of the landing troops or serve as bunkers. If the German drivers really deal with it in this way, then what awaits them will be death in the exercise.
result.
Unfortunately, the leading troops of the Panzer III tanks participating in the drill did not know the power of this kind of thing, so they just ran over it and were eliminated from the drill early.
A Panzer III tank driver ignored these pieces of wood and rushed straight towards them. Then, he heard the news that he was eliminated on the communication channel.
It turns out that these logs are all simulated with jumping mines. Once triggered, the explosion will kill all the people around. This is also very threatening to tanks. Those Panzer III tank drivers who did not believe in evil just now, if they encounter
In actual combat, it might be a disaster.
As for the cleaning of this kind of mechanism, the landing party also found a trick. They used naval guns or aircraft carrier-based aircraft to carry out rapid bombing, clearing one obstacle after another. Only after they were cleared, the tanks were able to move again.
Hit the road.
Fortunately, the land, air and sea forces were closely connected during the exercise, and bombers and naval guns soon cleared the way for the Panzer III tank, allowing the Panzer III tank to continue moving forward.
After passing the mine jumping level, the next thing that greeted the No. 3 tank was the anti-tank mine buried in the sand. The density of anti-tank mines was so high that almost the entire sand was filled with anti-tank mines.
The shadows and fuses exposed by them look like willow saplings artificially planted on the sand from a distance. The density is so high that one can imagine.
Of course, this is a simulation exercise with increased difficulty. On a real battlefield, it should be easier.
Based on these German tank soldiers' understanding of British anti-tank mines, they also understood that this kind of anti-tank mine was powerful enough to pose a considerable threat to tanks.
Since they had never had any experience in landing operations, their first wave of landing exercise troops were not equipped with engineers capable of clearing these mines. In desperation, the commander of the participating landing party made an inspired decision to send out those few
The No. 4 diving tank in the lead drove straight forward, hoping to use the losses of these tanks to open a path for them.
These Panzer IV tanks have been baptized by anti-tank mines, and each one has been declared eliminated. So far, only half of the first batch of tanks landed by the German army have not been declared eliminated.
After that, the surviving tanks became cautious and continued to move forward steadily.
However, it was not over yet. Suddenly, something similar to a door panel appeared in front of them, and the German soldiers found that after the tank hit these things, it became difficult to reverse and unable to leave, as if the floor was pinched. At this time
, the German tank soldiers in the tank had to think of a way to get the tank out and continue moving forward.
Looking back, on the beach along the coastline, there were densely packed "wrecks" of tanks that were standing still. The position where the forward No. 3 tanks were trapped was about 150 meters away from the beach.
In other words, it is almost impossible to rely on German infantry to save those Panzer III tanks. Because before they arrive here, the landing soldiers will not have any bunkers. In other words, during this 150-meter journey,
, all of them acted as living targets for the defenders.
Looking at the bombers from both sides flying past the sky, the German army soldiers on the ground fell into despair for a moment. Suddenly, they discovered that there were huge circular patterns drawn on the sand, with words in German inside.
The word crater is written on it - isn't this a bunker!
Although different from the real situation, these crater patterns are also "temporary foxholes" created after simulated bombing and are allowed to be used.
In this way, the infantry will find bunkers and can continue to advance.
However, because the intensity of the exercise was deliberately increased, these areas with dense crater patterns were still too far away from where the tanks were trapped, and the German Panzer III tanks were still unable to pass through.
What stopped them was that Reinhardt copied some native methods based on later historical documents that the British had not been able to use at the time.
