"Sir, we hope to take part in the evening battle. "Just after Ridgway had deployed the overall tactical requirements for the night and arranged for the team to execute them, Adjutant Leng Buwei and the commander of the Army Aviation, Colonel Ron, found him and made a request to join the battle.www.biquge.info

In addition to the safe return of transport planes and heavy bombers with long ranges, Arnold also sent a large number of P-51, A-26 and other planes to provide air fire support, and in the evening, these pilots who ran out of fuel abandoned their planes and parachuted, and then the personnel were successively collected by the airborne division, and this move alone lost nearly 300 planes (voluntarily abandoned, shot down by the Germans, crashed due to accidents for various reasons, etc.), but everyone thought it was worth it. Without the cover of aerial fire, the 82nd Airborne Division was only afraid that it would be directly beaten into a swarm by the Germans.

More than 200 crew members escaped safely after landing and were picked up by ground forces, and the rest either fell into the sea and drowned, or were captured or killed by the Germans.

"You guys?" Ridgway looked at them with a puzzled look, and he remembered that before leaving, General Arnold had told him that he must protect the pilots from harm.

"Although we don't have planes now, at least we are still an army, we can shoot and fight, we also have to compete with the Germans, we don't want to be idle and waiting for you to save us, and we don't want you to be distracted by us."

"But......" Ridgway told Arnold of his arrangement, and comforted the other party, "you have worked hard all afternoon, let us come to the airborne division in the ground battle." ”

"I understand, we are volunteering to join the Airborne Division, as long as you give us weapons and supplies, I promise not to cause you trouble."

Ridgway thought for a moment, and felt that it seemed inappropriate to refuse help from others at such a critical juncture, and that in the event of their defeat, the fate of the pilots would not necessarily be good - although he had told him that the parachuted pilots could surrender to the Germans immediately if the situation was unfavorable, but on the whole, no one wanted to be prisoners.

He immediately stretched out his hands and clasped them tightly with the other party: "Welcome to join the 82nd Airborne Division temporarily, it is an honor to fight side by side with you, during the day you are in the air, we are on the ground, and at night we will fight the Germans together on the ground!" ”

"Yes, sir! It's cool to see you fight in the afternoon, you're a real general, unlike those pot-bellied generals who only point fingers in the office. ”

Knowing that all the pilots had joined their ranks, the remaining soldiers of the 505th Regiment were thunderous with joy and high morale, but the good times were short-lived, and as soon as 10 o'clock passed, Lieutenant Colonel Baker's fatal blow began to be launched.

The Germans knew they were outnumbered and had limited time, so they had to choose a smart way of attacking, and night fighting was a new subject for everyone, but for the German marines, who were mainly veterans, it was much quicker and more effective to adapt.

With a "boom", a high-explosive shell exploded on the US defense line, and then the characteristic weaving sound of MG42 began to sound, mixed with the sound of G43 and Garand rifle firing, and at the same time, a large number of flares also began to fly over, illuminating the central part of Bermuda in a miserable white, and you could clearly see the running figures on the airborne division's position.

Not to be outdone, the US troops immediately returned fire with ferocious firepower, several machine guns fired long tongues of fire, desperately suppressing the advance of the German troops on the opposite side, and the recoilless guns fired as if they didn't want money, and they didn't care whether they were aiming or not, they fought first and then then spoke -- this is the firepower doctrine that the US military has always emphasized.

"Do you see the target clearly?"

"I can see it clearly."

"Okay." Captain Lindemann waved his hand fiercely, "5 rapid fire, release!" ”

Hearing the "whoosh" sound that broke through the air, Li Qiwei's face changed greatly, of course he knew what it was - this was the characteristic whistling sound of mortars, the king of support firepower in close combat.

The two German infantry battalions had a total of 12 80mm long-barreled mortars, which played little role in daytime operations, and there were not many opportunities to show up, and there were only 9 left after the air raid. By night, Baker had his first tactical strategy: first use tank and infantry feints to lure the enemy to reveal the position of the firing point, and then let the assembled mortar units cover the fire. After the five rapid firing rounds, the officers and men of the US forward positions that had just been exposed were all shrouded in the blast and the flying shrapnel.

"Damn it!"

The U.S. military knew that the German marines did not have any other barreled artillery except for 88mm guns and tank guns, and at most there were some recoilless guns, so they couldn't help but take it lightly, forgetting that the German army was still equipped with mortars at the battalion level, and the density was quite high, and there were 9 guns in one go, and what was even worse was that these mortars were directly pushed to a distance of more than 1,000 meters and fired, which was to bully the U.S. military for not suppressing firepower from a distance.

If the Eastern Front gathers 9 mortars together and uses them in such a big way, it will not take long to attract the opponent's long-range artillery fire or air strike, but now the 82nd Airborne Division has no way to use mortars, and the German artillery fire is fired at least 1000 meters away, although theoretically the US army's own 60mm mortars or M18 recoilless guns can cover this distance, but the aiming requirements are too high, and now the black light blind fire is not clear at all. And if the U.S. military dares to fire flares to expose the position, more intense mortar fire will only follow immediately.

This round of covering fire caused the Americans to lose more than 60 men, and the forward line of defense suddenly became thin, and taking advantage of this open gap, the German troops who had begun to feint immediately rushed over under the cover of tanks. War seems to have regressed to World War I mode, when infantry charged behind tanks.

Colonel Carney saw the crisis at the front and immediately adjusted his tactics, not rigidly filling the gap - under the cover of German tanks and mortar fire, no number of people could fill the gap, and he asked the troops to get out of the way, let the Germans in, ready to fight in close combat.

Sure enough, when the German infantry troops advanced more than 200 meters in front of the defensive line, the Germans stopped the pace of attack, and the mortars who had shifted their positions again fired rapidly according to the target indication -- the tank commander had already told the mortar company behind him the direction of the target by radio.

But the results of this battle were relatively small, and the well-behaved American troops did not open fire in a uniform manner, but fought piecemeal, and it seemed that there were troops deployed in every corner -- Lieutenant Colonel Baker, who was commanding in the back, his heart sank suddenly, which not only meant that the enemy had more than he thought, but also that the enemy had immediately adapted to the rhythm just now, and that there would be big trouble in the next attack.

Sure enough, as the two sides fought each other in close quarters, the U.S. forces began to achieve continuous results, although the tanks did their best to cover the infantry assault, but the Bazooka or recoilless guns were not able to stop the No. 4 tank, 2 brave American soldiers hid in a crater blown up by a heavy bomber during the day, and hit the German tank almost 10 meters away, although they were quickly torn to pieces by the accompanying German soldiers, the tank was helplessly reimbursed.

The most up-and-forth on the battlefield is the explosion of American melon grenades, which is much more explosive than the long-handled grenades commonly used by German infantry, and can be thrown in various postures, and the shortcomings of the throwing distance are no longer obvious when the short hand is in close combat, and what is even worse is that throwing melon grenades is the housekeeping skill of the 82 Airborne Division, which is very skillful in use, and the officers and soldiers are almost conditioned reflexes. Whether it's a tank, an armored vehicle, or a German infantry, it's a grenade.

Tank No. 4 is not afraid of grenades, but it is a bit troublesome for the armored car to encounter this thing, especially when one open-top SDK.251 compartment is directly poured into one, and all the German soldiers on it are reimbursed.

Time passed minute by minute, and the German attack force had changed 3 waves, but it seemed that it had never been able to cut through the defense line of the American army, let alone divide and encircle, and the brave American soldiers also fought with fire, gritted their teeth, fought to the death, and made the Germans taste the bitterness with endless side-firing firepower.

From 10 o'clock to 12 o'clock, although the Germans advanced the front about 1,800 meters and killed (wounded) at least 600 American troops, they also paid the price of more than 200 casualties, 4 tanks, and almost all the reimbursements of armored vehicles, while the resistance of the 82nd Airborne Division continued.

If Lieutenant Colonel Baker had enough time, he would definitely not choose to fight such a battle, as long as he dragged the opponent and slowly consumed the opponent with long-range firepower, he believed that he would be able to win the opponent at a lower cost, but the problem was that what he lacked the most was time, as long as the sky was bright, the air attack of the American army would roar, and he could not afford to wait for it.

"Let the troops shrink down first, adjust the offensive line, and divide a company to make a detour to the left flank." In the dark of night, he set his eyes on the right flank of the American army, where the fire did not seem to be so fierce, and he wanted to cut off the retreat of the American troops in front of him by outflanking.

"But the pressure on the enemy is too little in this way, and the enemy is easy to detect our movements."

"The mortar company stepped forward, ran out all the ammunition, and used the explosive barrage to cover the movement of the assault troops......"

Pieces of shells fell again, the German troops began to slowly retreat, the surviving American officers and soldiers on the position were all greatly relieved, just now this round of attack was really thrilling, the German fierce firepower and ubiquitous tactical penetration caused them great pressure, although the strength was twice as large as the other side, but it gave people the feeling as if they had been pressed and beaten by the Germans, and there was no chance to breathe. In order to destroy the enemy's heavy equipment, the paratroopers who went forward paid a heavy price.

"Sir, the enemy can't move......"

Li Qiwei shook his head: "Far from this time, the enemy is brewing the next attack. ”

"What are we going to do?"

"Let the front-line troops retreat and move to the 3rd line positions."

"Ah...... Why? (To be continued.) )