By the time Pointon swooped down towards the convoy, the convoy had already seen the swarm. Visit to download txt novel // It's just that at such a distance, the convoy has no time to dodge the attack of the swarm. But the half-tracked quadruple 20mm anti-aircraft gun turned its barrel and swept wildly towards Boynton's fighter. However, there is still a big gap between these 4 20 guns and the 6 20mm rifled guns of the P81 in terms of firepower. In addition, the self-propelled anti-aircraft guns at that time were still quite primitive, and the height and direction had to be cranked by hand. It is often difficult to keep up with the movement of enemy aircraft.

Like now, although the 20mm self-propelled anti-aircraft gun fired, most of the shells fell behind the Boyynton fighters. As soon as Boyynton fired, the slow-moving self-propelled anti-aircraft guns were almost completely unable to dodge. The combined speed of the 6 rifled guns was 6,000 rounds per minute. The dense rain of bullets immediately knocked the halftrack to shreds.

While Boyynton had taken out the self-propelled gun, several other planes opened fire with their targets in mind. The entire convoy was beaten into a dead snake, and one car after another was set on fire. However, in the midst of this, Rommel's inconspicuous barrel car survived. At least in the first round of attacks, no one noticed the barrel car

Now the enemy aircraft has completed the first round of attacks and is climbing high, preparing for the second one. At least, Rommel was safe until the enemy dived down a second time. His barrel car carefully bypassed the burning SDKFZ234/2 "PUMA" 8-wheeled wheeled armored vehicle and approached the roadside drain. Obviously, the people in the car were going to jump into the drainage ditch and hide while the enemy plane had not yet turned back.

Just as the barrel car stopped next to the gutter, the SDKFZ234/2 "Puma" 8-wheeled wheeled armored vehicle not far from him suddenly exploded. After being hit and caught fire, 50-mm shells stored in the car exploded. The shock wave from the explosion lifted the 700-kilogram barrel truck and snapped upside down in the gutter.

……

"What? Marshal Rommel was attacked and wounded? …… So what about the counterattack tomorrow morning? ”

"The marshal said that the counterattack cannot be delayed, and it must be launched tomorrow!"

……

The news of Rommel's wound undoubtedly undermined the morale of the Germans further, but it was also impossible to abandon the prepared counterattack for this. After paying such a big price on the road to Caen, the Germans had to fight anyway.

After nightfall, the tanks at the various assembly points began to move, and they left the woods and began to move along the road. Wittman's Tiger had undergone emergency repairs and was put into battle again, reappearing in the attacking queue. The so-called draped in battle is really real. Tracks that had been blown up in the air raid, as well as damaged load wheels, were hung on top of the tank to provide additional defense. Today, the Tiger tank can no longer provide near-absolute security as before. The armor-piercing power of the British's 17-pounder gun was quite amazing, and even with ordinary armor-piercing shells, it could easily penetrate the Tiger tank at a long enough distance. And the Americans' 76-mm guns, at a distance of 800 meters, also have a considerable chance of directly penetrating the front armor of the Tiger tank. So now, the members of the Tiger tank always like to hang some messy things outside the Tiger's armor to provide a little extra defense. Although they knew that even so, they still couldn't resist the attack of the "Firefly's" 17-pounder gun, especially when the "Firefly's" 17-pounder gun used gold coin bullets and tungsten alloy armor-piercing shells, the power was comparable to that of the Tiger King's long-barreled 88 gun, which was by no means solved by stacking a few load-bearing wheels on the front armor.

In front of the tank group, German sappers were busy demining the roads. The British retreated some distance back during the night and temporarily disengaged with the Germans. And the Germans soon discovered that the British had planted a large number of anti-tank mines on the roads before retreating. Apparently, the British were prepared for a possible armored assault by the Germans. Otherwise, they would not have been able to do so, and the mines they had planted would have become an obstacle not only to the Germans, but also to the actions of the British in the future. But this approach also proves that the British have very limited forces on the beachhead, especially their armor. Otherwise, the British would have preferred to crush the German assault with their own armor than to lay a large number of mines on the roads that everyone was going to use, interfering with everyone's right of way.

If they insist on the assault, they may still not be able to achieve their goal after paying a heavy price, but if they do not launch an assault, then it will be difficult for the Germans to use the main forces to defend Cherbourg due to the pinch of the British army. Once Cherbourg changed hands, there was no chance that the Germans would be able to drive the enemy into the sea. And this means that Germany is once again caught in the dilemma of fighting on two fronts, and the final defeat is only a matter of time. So, if you think about it from the Nazi point of view, or more specifically, from Hitler's point of view, it's very obvious what decision to make.

In order to improve the efficiency of demining, the Germans not only used professional engineers, but also used a lot of ordinary infantry to help them. It's just that the British planted anti-tank mines at the same time, but also laid some anti-infantry mines, which greatly increased the difficulty of the work of the engineers, and the time was tight and the task was heavy, so casualties and accidents continued to occur.

By not fearing casualties, the Germans barely completed most of the demining tasks by the stipulated time. However, if the radish is fast and the mud is not washed, omission is inevitable. So, on the road, Wittmann saw a lot of tanks that were damaged by pressing on mines and then pushed directly to the side of the road.

On this night, British bombers appeared much more frequently than the night before, and the endless bombing almost never stopped along the way. The effectiveness of these bombings, carried out in the conditions of blinding in the black light, was not high, and the number of tanks actually lost as a result of the bombing was quite limited. But such bombing slowed down the march of the Germans. By the time they arrived at the location of the planned attack, it was already 3 o'clock in the morning. In another half an hour, the influence of the sun will be there. By that time, both the bombers and the battleships anchored in the Strait would be able to deal a fatal blow to the Germans.

An hour and a half is indeed a little short for the Germans, but it is not completely hopeless. As long as they can cut into the British positions before dawn and complete the division of the British army, after dawn, the two armies will have a staggered situation, and the British attack planes/bombers and the huge guns of the battleships will face the dilemma of accidentally injuring their own people as soon as they open fire.

Before reaching the position where the attack was launched, the Germans had already suffered certain losses. Many tanks damaged by mines or bombardments are actually quite lightly damaged, and can be re-entered with a little repair. But in order to grab time, these vehicles were mercilessly left on the side of the road. Now, after numerous difficulties, the tanks of the Germans could finally face the enemy's lines head-on.

Under the moon, the line of defense of the British loomed. The British did not fail to consider transforming some of the German fortifications in Normandy into fortifications facing the mainland. But these fortifications did not work well. Because these fortifications were built with the German counterattack in mind if they were occupied by the enemy. Therefore, from the perspective of the mainland, their positions are quite bad, and basically the shè world is narrow. After research, the British determined that these fortifications were basically useless except for anti-artillery holes. Therefore, now the fortifications of the British are basically built temporarily.

Because of capacity constraints, the British were unable to transport large quantities of reinforced concrete ashore. So, the fortifications of the British were mainly civil structures. Theoretically, there is a limit to the extent to which such fortifications can be fortified. It should not be impossible for the Germans to break through it, even if the time is only one and a half hours.

The British used bulldozers to push out several anti-tank trenches in front of the position, and used the pushed soil to build tank bunkers. These tank bunkers are actually a thick earthen wall. The height of the earthen wall is approximately the same as that of the M4 tank. And behind this earthen wall, the British built a wavy and undulating road. When the British "Firefly" tank climbed to the crest of the wave, its hull hid behind the earthen wall, and only the turret was exposed. And when it descends along the wave-shaped road to the trough, you can't see anything when you look at it from the outside. In this way, the "Firefly" tank inherited from its prototype M4 tank, the hull is too high, and the weaknesses that are easily exposed are basically not a problem. However, the advantages of the small frontal projection of the turret and the large depression angle of the gun of the M4 series tank have been perfectly demonstrated.

In this way, with the approximate parameters reported by the observers, the "Firefly" tank, hiding behind the earthen wall, after being ready, could quickly drive up to the crest of the wave, expose the turret, and fire at the enemy tank. Once the cannon is fired, the Firefly tank can quickly drive down the trough and disappear behind the earthen wall. So that the German tanks trying to counterattack could not find their target at all.

The design actually originated from the Middle East wars decades later in another time and space. In that war, the Israeli army on the Golan Heights used similar fortifications to hold off enemy tanks that were far outnumbered by themselves. At the meeting two days ago, Ron remembered this example and brought it up as his own idea. This suggestion was well received by the British. Thus, this tactic, which had only appeared in another time and space until the seventies, appeared on the beachhead of Normandy.