The British 30th Army finally eliminated the Germans who ambushed it and captured more than 30 Germans. However, he paid the price of ten tanks and armored vehicles, and hundreds of casualties, and the speed of the march was slowed down. And thereafter, the British were very careful when they passed through any small town on the march. Always let the armoured units stop farther away, and then let the infantry approach in a skirmish formation and take the high ground - even if a large crowd of inhabitants has already run out to welcome them.

As a result, the British army advanced more slowly. Even so, along the way they were constantly blocked by German troops. After nightfall, it was often attacked by German mortars. The pace of the army's advance was much slower than planned required.

On the other hand, the place of engagement was already very close to Germany, especially the location of the British 1st Airborne Division, which was just across the river from the German mainland. Compared to the sluggish British ground forces, the Germans were able to replenish their forces more quickly. Although most of these troops are some supplementary soldiers, either half-old men or half-grown children. In terms of combat effectiveness, compared with the British paratroopers who were all jīng sharp, the combat effectiveness was very problematic. But with the heavy weapons and numerical superiority, at least there is no problem in holding the bridge.

By the next day, the British 1st Airborne Division had already felt that it was difficult to take the bridge with its existing forces, and the scouts had noticed that the Germans had planted explosives on the piers of the Anheng Bridge. In this way, even if the British army captured the bridgehead, it may not be able to take the bridge completely.

However, the British were still unwilling to give up, and they decided to drop paratroopers on Anheng again, this time with the Polish 1st Airborne Brigade. To be sure, the soldiers of the 1st Polish Airborne Brigade performed well in previous air battles, no less than the British paratroopers, but this time they were very unlucky. Their airborne field was originally under the control of the British, but just a few minutes before the airborne landing began, the Germans concentrated an "armored division" and launched an attack on the British paratroopers who occupied the area, supported by ten tanks. At that time, paratroopers on the ground tried to call air support. But something terrible happened, and the 22 radio contact planes in their hands could not be contacted by the bombers in charge of transit. The electronic liaison aircraft, converted from a Lancaster bomber, was so busy that it was unable to respond immediately to calls from the ground. As a result, of course, air support was not called, and the paratroopers with only light weapons naturally could not hold this airborne landing site. This airborne field fell into the hands of the Germans.

The consequences of the fall of the airborne field into the hands of the Germans were unusually serious, because in a few minutes the Polish 1st Airborne Brigade was to land here. The British paratroopers again tried to get in touch with radio and command centers or liaison planes, but they were unsuccessful, and a tragedy played out right under their noses.

The transport group, ignorant of changes on the ground, threw Polish paratroopers, who also did not know anything about the situation on the ground, in their predetermined positions.

The white umbrella flowers bloomed in the air, and the Polish paratroopers hanging under the parachutes may still be thinking that the ground is full of British friendly troops, and after they land, they will quickly organize their teams with their help, and then join the battle, seize the target, and finally, maybe they will have the opportunity to fight back to their hometown and rebuild a great Poland with Pingduzhenlu.

However, what greeted them below was not the greetings of their comrades-in-arms, but a deadly rain of bullets. As soon as the Germans occupied this airborne field, a large number of paratroopers were parachuted here. The Germans immediately used all available weapons to fire frantically at the Poles, who were still hanging under parachutes, unable to return fire or dodge, and the net of fire made of 20 mm machine gun shells, 7.92 mm machine guns and rifle bullets immediately caught these poor Poles.

Most of the Poles were reduced to corpses before they could fall to the ground. Before the Poles who had managed to land alive had time to cut off their umbrella belts, they picked up their guns and found that several guns were already aimed at him.

A whole airborne brigade, just like that, was annihilated without even daring. Such losses gave the British a blow to the head. The British continued to hold out at Anheng for two days, and launched several sneak attacks during the night, including crossing the river with rubber boats and attacking from the other end. But these attempts failed. As the Germans replenished more and more troops, the 30th Army of the British Army could not advance faster until it had far exceeded the scheduled time specified by Montgomery, and the 30th Army had just arrived at the position occupied by the 82nd Airborne Division, which was still a long way from Anheng, where the British 1st Airborne Division was located.

Obviously, the British 1st Airborne Division was already in a predicament, and now it was not only impossible for them to continue the attack, but they even had to retreat, otherwise this force would probably have to be completely surrendered to Anheng.

Although the 1st Airborne Division hoped that the 30th Army would be able to take advantage of the British Empire and pull its brothers, the 30th Army obviously would not be able to reach it after holding out for another 5 minutes. So, the 1st Airborne Division began a difficult retreat. Along the way, the Germans pursued at the tail end, while the 1st Airborne Division had to constantly break its tail to survive. In the end, although they fled under the pursuit of the enemy, they also suffered heavy losses. Also in the retreat were the American 101st Airborne Division. Because of the failure of this operation, the Allies never launched a large-scale airborne operation again.

This defeat dashed the Allied hopes of "ending the war by Christmas". The Allied children were destined to never have the opportunity to return home to their families before Christmas. And Marshal Moder, the master of defense, once again won a defensive battle with a bad hand. Now that the front has temporarily stabilized, the noose around the necks of the Germans has loosened a little, and the Germans have also won a short respite.

But just because the soldier can't go back to the United States for Christmas doesn't mean Ron can't go back. In fact, he had just received an order: "Give the troops to Boeington, go back to the United States to meet General Arnold, and then go to the Pacific Ocean to prepare for the strategic bombing of Rìben." ”

The order came to Ron almost at the same time that Field Marshal Montgomery gave the order to retreat. Ron knew that in General Arnold's view, the air confrontation in Europe was over, and now Ron continued to stay in Europe, only to give a hand to the ground forces there. General Arnold did not want to continue to waste his Jīng soldiers in Europe. He has now demonstrated in Europe how air power can transform the battlefield. And now, he wants to prove in rì that air power alone can also bring down a country. If this can be proven, the post-war Army Air Corps will surely be able to realize its dream of becoming the air force of Dúlì for many years. And this will also determine the place of General Arnold in military history.

In early October, Ron boarded a C-54 transport plane, took off from England, and returned to the United States again.

The first thing I did after returning to China was, of course, to write a letter to my parents and Nadya. But now was not the time to go back to see them, for he still had official business, and he had to report to General Arnold first.

It was already past three o'clock in the afternoon when Ron arrived in Washington, D.C., and he did not see General Arnold that day. But General Arnold's man who greeted him told him that General Arnold was going to invite him to his house on Sunday, that is, tomorrow. It is said that General Arnold also has some friends who will also attend the party.

Since you are going to visit someone's house, it is not good to be empty-handed, and the necessary gifts must always be prepared. But Ron is really not very familiar with this set, what should he buy as a gift? If it's really close to Christmas, it's better to say that whoever doesn't want to buy some Christmas gifts can just mean it. But it's only October, and Christmas is still far away, so why not give it away?

In the end, Ron gritted his teeth and pulled out one of his collectibles, a gold-plated P08 pistol. It was given to him by General Collins when he visited him in the hospital after he was honorably wounded in Cherbourg. It is said that it was originally in the collection of the German commander stationed in Cherbourg, and that he gave it to General Collins voluntarily, perhaps willingly.

Around nine o'clock the next morning, General Arnold arranged for a car to pick up Ron. The car took Ron with it and soon arrived at General Arnold's house.

General Arnold's residence was not particularly large, (of course, it was not particularly large compared to the Americans) only a small two-story building and a small garden. Of course, it is said that General Arnold's house in the countryside of his hometown is much larger than that.

General Arnold set up a table and chairs in the small garden, on which several people were now seated. But Ron didn't recognize anyone else except General Arnold.

Ron's leg injury has healed a lot, and now he can basically walk without a wheelchair and on crutches. So he walked over with his cane, then stood upright and gave a military salute to General Arnold.

"Hehe, our battle hero is back! Well, another Purple Heart. Arnold laughed, "You're also a general, how can you keep getting hit by enemy infantry?" ”

"Ah, General, I really don't blame me this time, it's purely a matter of luck. In fact, I have always been very honest, and I rarely appear in the enemy's shè. Ron smiled too.

"Really?" Arnold stared at Ron, as if he didn't believe it, "When I'm your age, I can't help but run into someone's shè. Then he half-turned and said to the men who were sitting there:

"Let me introduce you to the hero of our air force, the first pilot to receive the Medal of Honor, and the youngest general in the army aviation."