A few days ago, his Commander-in-Chief of the Territorial Army, Lord Gott, told him that the enemies of Dover are very good at fighting defensive battles. With the limited troops of the British army in the Territory at present, even if they use a large number of National Guard troops as cannon fodder, they cannot defeat them.
The enemy troops who landed at Dover were driven back into the sea.
It can be said that on the Allied side, French General Wei Gang, who was responsible for commanding the Franco-Norwegian Allied Forces, finally had a chance to prove his level as a famous general.
In this battle, Wei Gang made full use of the naval gun suppression firepower provided by the German Navy and established a relatively complete beachhead. Then, he seized the opportunity for German paratroopers to airdrop on a large scale to the rear of Dover to contain the British army.
Taking the opportunity, the troops were dispersed and lined up, and the German troops were consolidated at the landing site, allowing the follow-up troops to assemble smoothly.
When 3 French divisions, 1 Norwegian division, and an elite Norwegian reinforced battalion completely landed on the British mainland, Wei Gang left the Norwegian troops behind without hesitation and led the main force of the French army to move northward to fight with the troops in the north.
Three divisions of German paratroopers merged.
In fact, as the commander of the German 1st Parachute Army, General Stuart had such a good opportunity for the first time to demonstrate the power of his paratrooper theory.
Before this, Stuart and his legendary paratroopers had basically never had such a large-scale opportunity to show off their skills.
The initial operation to occupy the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia was considered by Stuart, who was just a paratrooper division commander at the time, as a combat test. However, the Czechoslovak government's non-resistance and submission made Stuart's troops
Preparation to complete this plan becomes redundant.
In the subsequent battle in Poland, the German mechanized troops advanced rapidly and quickly ended all battles, leaving the paratroopers without the conditions to participate in the battle.
During the Battle of France, the paratroopers showed a small hand in the attack on Belgium.
However, in this Western battle in which Reinhard eliminated the Dutch imaginary enemy, the German paratroopers who could have shown their talents in the Netherlands in history could only show their skills in Belgium and then were overtaken by the mechanized troops.
Leave behind.
Therefore, during the formulation process of the Sea Lion Plan, General Stuart, who had always been cautious and meticulous, suddenly vigorously promoted the German army's consistent bold and adventurous spirit and proposed the "Operation Overlord" as a sub-operation of the first phase.
"Operation Market Garden".
It can be said that the "Operation Market Garden" proposed by Stuart is unique in military history to date.
This is the largest airborne operation in the world since the war began. Prior to this, the exploration and use of multiple paratroopers in various countries had mostly stayed in small groups. The concentrated use of paratroopers in one division was just a blitzkrieg by the German army.
France made its first bold attempt to pass through Belgium.
And now, this record has been broken again by the German army!
Investing 3 paratrooper divisions at once! A unique first tactical initiative in history!
In order to promote the sub-operation in this feint attack plan, Stuart spent all his efforts. Not only did the German Air Force use all its assets for this purpose, but even the French Air Force in Pétain's hands was also involved.
.
Although the French Air Force suffered heavy losses in previous air battles with the Germans, most of them were losses to fighter jets and bombers. As for the transport aircraft in the French Air Force's series, there were basically no injuries.
Even if they were forcibly withdrawn in this way, Germany and France took out a total of more than 5,500 transport aircraft, plus all 1,984 gliders of the German army, and then barely sent three paratrooper divisions to the north and northeast of Dover.
, northwest, achieving the tactical purpose of isolating the Dover garrison.
After all, Lord Gott of the British Army also saw the importance of Dover, so he also deployed the few available divisions here. If he did not rely on paratroopers to destroy the bridges behind the British army in Dover, kilometers,
Destroying their communication with the rear will make this battle even more difficult.
However, from a military sense alone, "Operation Market Garden" was imperfect and even full of flaws.
If it were not for the German airborne troops who lacked heavy equipment, they would have faced the British National Guard who also lacked equipment and had low training levels.
If it weren't for the fact that this group of British militiamen lacked anti-aircraft artillery and their combat level was not even one percent of that of a professional army.
If it weren't for the famous French general Wei Gang, relying on his sophisticated military skills, he could instantly judge the key to the battle situation, abandon the use of a single beach defense, and promptly send his troops north to contain the British regular army in Dover.
Its deadly British armored force.
So, even if this group of elite paratroopers who landed behind enemy lines still achieved sufficient results, they still had to endure a high casualty ratio.
Fortunately, the Vichy government sent the Minister of Defense, General Wei Gang, who was a real man. This time, the risks and shortcomings in Operation Market Garden were made up for.
The success of Operation Market Garden further contributed to the intensification of the offensive and defensive battle at Dover.
On the one hand, by failing to push the Allied landing forces back into the sea, the British army had lost 80% of the effectiveness that the English Channel provided them.
On the other hand, Dover, as the direction of the feint attack, not only fully played its role in attracting the attention of the British army, but also achieved a further breakthrough, isolating and attacking the large British army in Dover, and it is likely that the outcome will be determined.
trend.
This was not over yet. Just when Churchill was worried about where to squeeze out the troops and send them to rescue Dover, a middle-aged general who was Churchill's confidant hurriedly broke into his office.
"Prime Minister! Something bad has happened. The enemy's landing force has penetrated deeply into our territory!" This general, who relied on his identity as Churchill's confidant to sit at the rank of lieutenant general, was not a general at all at this time.
It should be calm: "Our troops are completely unstoppable..."
"I know, I'm thinking of a way!" Churchill waved his hand impatiently, shutting up his lieutenant general, who was useless except for being obedient, and said: "Over in Dover, I have already rebuilt the northern part of the
The 51st Scottish Division has been sent. If the sky doesn't fall, these Scots can still resist for a while."
However, Churchill's confidant did not keep his mouth shut as Churchill hoped: "Prime Minister, the direction I said cannot be blocked is not Dover..."
Then, under Churchill's incredible gaze, the lieutenant general swallowed his saliva and said in panic: "The Germans...a large number of Germans...landed in Portsmouth! According to the front line
The defeated troops reported that those who landed there were all German troops. Moreover, they even used a powerful tank that can dive!"