Chapter 126: The Second Battle of Normandy (2)
We are faced with an existential choice. You should know how valuable intelligence is in war. For this reason, I think that there should be no special arrangements for Coventry other than normal defence, as if we were not aware of anything. I am sure that on the day of victory, people will understand our decision. β
Menzies, still hoping to reduce some of the damage, asked, "Is it possible to secretly evacuate some of the old people, the children and the sick and wounded in the hospital?" But Churchill flatly refused: "This will create chaos, an uncontrollable chaos, and will destroy the 'super secret'!"
The will of the Prime Minister finally conquered the silent crowd.
So, at about 7 p.m. on November 14, 1940, under the silver moonlight, a large number of German bombers flew over Coventry as scheduled, the first target was the waterworks, then the power plant, the gas plant, the telephone office, the sewers and the transportation system...... The aim of the German army was to make the city "bleed" and paralyzed.
In 10 hours, German bombers arrived in batches, like shuttles weaving nets, not sparing any corner of the city. Then, the cold winter wind blew the fireball in all directions, the whole city fell into a sea of fire, the fire truck drove to the street, and the rubber tires were immediately burned and melted by the embers on the ground, and they could only crawl on an empty iron wheel. St. Mark's Church, built in the 14th century in the centre of Coventry, an artistic gem that England is proud of, was also struck by ***, and the fire lasted until midnight, and the dome of the church collapsed and the arches collapsed, leaving only the four remnants of the wall and a bell tower.
From 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. the next morning, the Germans dropped a total of 50,000 bombs, including 30,000 bombs. German pilots said in their eyewitness accounts that when the plane flew to the British coast, 180 kilometers from Coventry, they could still see the flames of Coventry, and "the city must be finished".
Coventry was indeed close to "death": the city center was razed to the ground, a third of the factories were destroyed, military production was paralyzed, 584 citizens were killed, 4,800 were injured, and 12 factories producing aircraft parts were seriously damaged. After that, because Coventry still had production capacity, the German aircraft visited it several times, and by the time of a major bombing in April 1941, the ground facilities were basically destroyed, 50,000 houses were reduced to ashes, only 30 of the original 3,000 houses in the city center remained, and the prosperous city of 250,000 people became a "dead city", and Coventry became synonymous with "extreme destruction" in English.
But Coventry's sacrifice was of great value: relying on the help of "super-secrets", the British got out of the initial predicament, and after winning the Battle of Britain, they won the Battle of the Atlantic and the North African counterattack.
In May 1941, the British Navy sank the German battleship Bismarck, which was more powerful than any British battleship, through "super-secret" intelligence. This battleship, which was given the name of Prussia's "iron-blooded prime minister", is the pride of the German Navy, with a displacement of 53,000 tons, a speed of 30 knots, 8 381 mm guns, more than 40 small and medium-caliber high-level dual-purpose guns, and 4 seaplanes, and 320 mm at the thickest part of the side armor, known as the "unsinkable sea fortress".
In May 1941, the "Bismarck" secretly entered the Atlantic, intending to strike another hard blow at the British convoy in order to completely cut off Britain's maritime lifeline. After the defeat of France, Britain won the Battle of Britain, but its situation was still critical, and the Atlantic sea lines on which it depended were extremely vulnerable. Countless British merchant ships were sunk by German submarines, and the rate of about 500,000 tons per month skyrocketed. As an island nation, Britain can only wait for the death of an external supply of supplies.
The British were overwhelmed by the elusive German submarines in the Atlantic, and Britain's shipbuilding speed was not enough to make up for the losses at sea, and if the "Bismarck" reappeared in the Atlantic, Britain's maritime lifeline would undoubtedly be in danger of being completely cut off. To this end, the British decided that the "Bismarck" must be destroyed at any cost before it reached the Atlantic.
During this period, "**" continued to receive telegrams between the German side and the "Bismarck." Finally, in May 1941, the British waited for this day. After clarifying the "Bismarck's" plan of action, the British Navy formed an assault formation and immediately set off from the Scapa Bay base in northern Britain and took a shortcut to the southern tip of the Danish Strait to intercept the "Bismarck."
During the journey, the battleship "Bismarck" did not escape the pursuit of the British fleet, despite the control of the lights. The Germans did not know that any "confidential" telegram sent from the "Bismarck" was already known to the British.
The Royal Navy sent eight battleships and battle cruisers and two aircraft carriers, about half of the Royal Navy's strength, to finally sink the Bismarck. And the moment the "Bismarck" sank into the Atlantic, the Germans never understood why so many British warships quickly gathered around it and dealt it a fatal blow.
Later, the British destroyed the German fleet "Ettap". Although Germany later doubted whether the navy's code had been cracked, a commission in charge of investigating the matter ruled out the possibility of the "mystery" being leaked in several investigations.
After the Battle of the Atlantic, in November 1942, in the El Alamein battlefield in North Africa, the intelligence provided by "super secret" played a major role. Because British General Montgomery was well aware of the strategic and tactical planning, strength deployment, and logistical supply of Rommel's Afrika Korps in advance, the German army lost 60,000 men and more than 500 tanks in just 13 days, causing the "Desert Fox" to suffer a crushing defeat in the African desert.
Three years later, the British and American million-strong armies returned to the European continent from Normandy and attacked Germany with a devastating force. At the dock in Cherbourg, France, Churchill took Menzies and others and walked down from the warship with great pride: "Remember, since Coventry, we have been holding the pulse of the Germans to fight this world war!" β
The current Normandy position fortifications have been jointly defended by the revolutionary army and the German army, Li Ming Hitler personally began to inspect the Normandy position, continued to strengthen the fortifications, and let him meet the standards if he did not meet the standard, near Normandy, France, Heili Hitler and Li Ming discussed the beginning of these days, densely placed a large number of wire ropes, iron chains, and steel wire nets to intercept submarines, and as long as the Allied transport ships, destroyers, and steamers near the sea were electrified, the ships would be electrified and destroyed, and several large generators of the German army began to generate electricity, and there were many power grids, and it was difficult to set up an Allied landingγγγγγγ
Even if the German army set up so many obstacles, it could not absolutely block the Allied landing, if the ship hit the power grid, the power grid would also be crooked, in March 45, the Allied Navy approached the Normandy Sea, and it was impossible not to admit that the Allied forces were strong, and countless Allied landing ships appeared on the sea, the British ships were equipped with machine guns, Lee looked at the Allied ships with binoculars, the Eastern Front was still commanded by Hitler, a large number of German troops were transferred to support the Eastern Front battlefield, and the polar bears were making trouble over there.
In the east, Hitler mobilized the 5th SS Tank Division, the 17th Army and the 29th Army of the Nazi Army's motorized troops, the 8th Tank Division, railway artillery support, the German Infantry 17th Army, a Japanese Allied Army, 6 regiments of the police force, a large number of puppet army troops with almost 800,000 troops, the Arctic Ocean Navy of the Revolutionary Army and the Stalin, Lenin had a fierce battle in the waters of the North Sea, the polar bear tried to take the naval forces of the Revolutionary Army in one fell swoop, recaptured the Trans-Siberian Railway, and forced the opening of the second battlefield, after the First Front of Ukraine suffered losses from that time, Zhukov attacked again and threatened to take revenge on the German-Chinese troops, and the two sides fought fiercely near the Rhine on the German border, with heavy artillery fire, and the 1st and 3rd armies of Belarus, the 5th Panzer Corps in Moscow, and the 3rd Panzer Corps violently advanced towards the German positions near the Rhine, and then were bombed by the 41st Bomber Air Service Regiment of the German Air Force, Hans Ulrich Rudel, who came to reinforce them
The Air Force was the ace pilot of the German army.
Hans Ulrich Rudel was born on July 2, 1916 in Conradsvaldau, Silesia, into a clergyman's family. His grades in school were terrible and he had only a limited education. He was a kid when the Nazis came to power, so he was indoctrinated with a lot of Nazi theories. He was interested in sports, but he didn't do well in school.
In 1936 he enlisted in the Luftwaffe while continuing to develop his athletic talents as a cadet. After passing a flight training course and becoming a pilot, he submitted an application to learn dive bombing techniques, but it was returned. As a substitute, he was trained to fly reconnaissance aircraft.
In September 1939, he carried out long-distance reconnaissance flights in the Polish campaign. On October 11 of the same year, he was awarded the Iron Cross of the Second Degree. At the same time, he continued to apply for flight lessons on the Ju87 "Stuka" dive bomber.
In May 1940 he was approved for Stuka dive bomber training, after which Rudel was sent to the Stuka Flying Wing in Stuttgart.
At 3 a.m. on June 23, 1941, he flew his first dive bombing mission. Over the next 18 hours, he flew a total of four combat missions. On July 18 of the same year, he was awarded an Iron Cross of the First Class.
On December 24, 1941, Rudel flew his 500th mission on Christmas Eve. On 30 December, he received the gold German Cross from General Richthofen, and Rudel was sent to Graz to train the new Stuka crew.
On January 15, 1942, he was awarded the Knight's Cross. At his own request, he returned to the Eastern Front in June 1942