The Normandy landings took place on June 6, 1944 – now in April 1944, and although there were still two months before the D-Day of the landing, targeted training had already begun once the landing sites had been identified.

At this time, three units, the 101st Airborne Division, the 82nd Airborne Division and the 29th Infantry Division, formed the Seventh Army.

The role of the Seventh Army in the offensive planned by the Allied command was to attack Utah Beach on D-Day—the 29th Infantry Division would serve as the landing force for the main attack on Utah Beach, and the 101st Airborne Division would be tasked with cutting off German support and disrupting German troops.

Let's start with Utah Beach:

Compared to the sheer cliffs of Omaha Beach, Utah Beach has a very good topography, with low dunes and gentle slopes that make it easier for landing troops to come ashore — but behind Utah Beach is a deadly lowland, where ancient Roman farmers are said to have grazed their cattle.

Behind Utah Beach there are four roads one meter above the ground, and although these roads are narrow and in disrepair, these four roads are the only access to the Germans to support the beach and extend outward after the Allies occupy the beach - because the desert fox Rommel ordered the release of water to flood the land behind the beach, and only these four roads can be used by mechanized troops.

Therefore, these four roads, also known as the Allied embankment passages, were particularly important - once the 101st Airborne Division successfully cut off these four roads, the Germans on Utah Beach would be cut off from support, and the Allied navy and landing force would easily capture it after the beach guards were consumed.

……

The geography of Utah Beach was thoroughly reconnoitred by Allied scouts and reconnaissance planes, except for a few hidden excellent positions that were not discovered, the rest of the arrangements were exposed under the noses of the Allies - for the smooth implementation of the plan, the Allies began targeted exercises in April, and the 101st Airborne Division was taken to Devon County in southwest England, and there is a place called Torlapton Beach in Devon, Devon County, which is very similar to the terrain of Utah Beach -

Between the narrow beach and the interior, there is a shallow lake surrounded by numerous marshes, and two bridges span the beach and the highlands – a cottage setting in Utah Beach, where the entire Seventh Army conducts targeted airborne training.

The exercise, code-named "Tiger," lasted for a very long time, and Company E simulated the D-Day operation on more than one occasion -- they often parachuted in at night to practice seizing and guarding the embankment passage.

It was here that Zheng Yingqi saw an extremely large amphibious landing fleet - it was the landing force of the 29th Division of the Seventh Army, and they were also practicing landing.

It is like an amphibious landing ship force that is going to fill the entire sea, and it seems to be filling the ocean and the sky from afar.

The fleet that was about to land was indeed the largest and most spectacular landing fleet in the world.

Of course, there was also an incident during this period that didn't break out until forty years later:

German torpedo boats infiltrated the landing ships and other large ships of the Fourth Division, and sank two troop carriers and a number of other large ships, killing a total of 900 people – but the incident was covered up and slowly erased from history until forty years later.

April flew by in the exercises, and May arrived.

In the entire E Company, except for Zheng Yingqi, no one knew when their war would break out, but the frequent and continuous targeted drills still made the soldiers of E Company feel the imminent war, but fortunately, with the new company commander Mi Han becoming familiar with E Company, the atmosphere of the entire E Company was finally as normal as an ordinary company - the soldiers did not have to worry that they would be pitted by their company commander and could not find the north, and they did not have to worry that their company commander would take them to death.

May 9th.

On this day, all the personnel of the 101st Airborne Division participated in the offensive rehearsal codenamed "Operation Eagle" -- this rehearsal was different from the previous exercise, and all the units were required to carry out the same operation as on D-Day, that is, what to do "that day", this rehearsal should be done.

The planes they use will all be the planes they flew on D-Day, and even the flight time in the air will be the same as the time in the D-Day operation, and as for everyone's equipment, it will naturally need to be treated according to D-Day.

In the books that recorded history, Zheng Yingqi could not understand how much the Allied army was prepared, but when he was in this era and this operation, he realized the preparation of the Allied army.

As a small combat unit, those preparations that cannot be seen are put aside for the time being, and the preparation of just clothes makes Zheng Yingqi marvel at the full preparation of the allies!

In order to prevent possible chemical weapons damage, the shirts and trousers, vests and long underwear of the combat uniforms distributed to all the airborne troops were impregnated, and although the disadvantage of this was that the body smelled and itched, and the body heat could not be dissipated, no one objected to such care in order to save their lives.

When boarding the plane, Zheng Yingqi was also amused by the "fully armed" comrades-in-arms!

The standard equipment for the vast majority of them were: paratrooper knives, military knives hidden in the collar of their jackets, a compass, two anti-personnel grenades, an anti-tank mine, a smoke grenade, a Jamon bomb, pistols, bullet belts, water bottles, sapper shovels, first aid kits, gas masks, as well as blades, spoons, socks, toiletry bags, maps, three days of K-class dry rations, an emergency hunger bag - all of them had field backpacks on their chests, stuffed with a change of underwear, ammunition. Some people even stuff a tube of explosives into it as much as possible.

By the way, many people choose to bring two or more boxes of cigarettes.

Machine guns and mortars were disassembled diagonally under the spare parachute.

When soldiers go out to fight, they all have a common problem - they are afraid that the ammunition they carry is not enough, and the number of bullets in the bulging field backpack may be too large to make people stunned!

"I feel like I'm at least two adults in weight!" Gordon, who was helped by Zheng Yingqi to step into the C-47, said with difficulty: "I swear, I have jumped so many times, but this time is the heaviest!" I'm worried about whether the parachute will hold me at all. ”

Zheng Yingqi said with a smile: "Don't worry about this, I think what you need to worry about is whether you can have combat effectiveness in the first time after landing on the ground - I think you may have to spend several minutes to unload the weight on your body!" ”

"I guess with my luck, I won't be so bad as to land on the side of the Germans." Gordon wasn't impressed.

In the crowded cabin, everyone saw Zheng Yingqi's lightweight appearance, so they asked curiously: "Jacob, how many things did you bring?" Why do I think you're carrying some sponges? ”

"I just didn't carry anything useless."

"Useless things?" Gordon looked at the weight on his body and said suspiciously, "What's the useless thing?" ”

"Toiletry bags, a change of underwear, emergency hunger bags, socks, spoons, cigarettes, ......" Zheng Yingqi said a bunch of things, and then said in a disgusted tone: "Please tell me, how boring are you on the battlefield to think about changing into a clean set of underwear?" By the way, shave and wash your face? Do you need to bring more magazines to pass the time when you are bored? ”

Everyone in the cabin looked at each other, but it was too late to clean up at this time, so they could only silently write it down, and decided in their hearts that if it was really D-Day, they would sum up the experience of this time - as for cigarettes, well, they must be brought.

The C-47s throughout Operation Eagle took off one after another, and after flying over England for some time, at midnight the group of E Company arrived over their destination and began an orderly airborne landing.

The rehearsal of E Company went very smoothly, but the other companies encountered all kinds of troubles, when they were about to arrive at their destination, they encountered the German bombing of London, anti-aircraft artillery fire to air fire, the German aircraft group did not lose much is not clear, but its own aircraft group was scattered, some threw the paratroopers at the wrong landing site, and some did not find the landing field and threw them indiscriminately - according to later statistics, about 500 people suffered fractures, sprains or other injuries as a result.

To this, Lieutenant Meehan comforted them by saying:

"Traditionally, an unsuccessful rehearsal rehearsal would lead to a very successful first show, so our D-Day must have been a great debut!"

After the rehearsal of "Operation Eagle", E Company thought that they were imminent from the premiere, but they did not expect that the next period of time would still be training - they were practicing how to attack the German positions, rehearsing rapid assembly, and rehearsing the operations after disrupting the formation, and during this time, a lot of "Germans" suddenly appeared in the world they came into contact with.

These "Germans" wore German uniforms, carried German weapons on their backs, and often stopped the Allied soldiers they met, and asked them all kinds of things about the Germans, from weapons and equipment to the establishment - this is to make the attacking troops familiar with the Germans, the number of these actors is very large, so large that Zheng Yingqi always thinks that the Germans occupied England.

[If there were many German troops infiltrating at this time, this scene would have to be watched! 】

Zheng Yingqi often thinks about this - of course, such worries did not happen, and such a move also made the Allies familiar with the German army to a certain extent.

Finally, the tense May passed—after the start of June, the training of E Company came to a complete halt.

And the training stopped, and everyone understood:

The preparations have come to an end, D-Day, it's coming!

Zheng Yingqi also silently sighed, from June 1942 to now, two full years - now, it has finally begun!