"As you said earlier, we only have one infantry division near Bitawale."

"I didn't say the odd soldiers would come from near Bitawale." Manstein laughed "sinisterly".

"And where did your 'surprise soldier' come from?" Leon asked with interest.

Manstein had whetted the appetite of the crowd and stood up, strolled to the map, pointed to a place, and said: "This is where my 'wonder soldier' comes from!" ”

"Southern Front?!" The crowd looked at the place to which Manstein was pointing and was astonished.

"Haha, your 'odd soldiers' refer to the airborne troops on the Southern Front, right? Interesting, worthy of Manstein! Leon thought carefully for a while, and laughed, "The airborne troops fighting on the southern front were suddenly airdropped on the northern front, and a surprise attack across the whole country, I think Norway will definitely be frightened by your move." ”

The other officers also understood Manstein's intentions and could not help but show admiration.

Manstein's tactics of mobilizing troops on the southern front across the entire country to surprise the cities on the northern front were something they could not think of and did not dare to think of, because this tactic violated the laws of previous wars, but it was undeniable that this bold approach could indeed achieve miraculous results under the current circumstances.

Dare to think outside the box in a given situation, this is why Manstein is Manstein.

"Since everyone has no objections, then the issue of the 128th Division will be handled by Manstein." Leon stood up, walked up to Manstein, patted him on the shoulder, and said, "You will immediately rush to the headquarters of the Twelfth Army and assist them in taking southern Norway." After the Norwegian campaign is over, the Empire will hand you a heavier burden, and I hope you will be prepared first. ”

Listening to the Führer's words, he means that he is going to promote me back to the rank of commander of the group army! God, you can finally return to the front line and take charge of the troops! Manstein thought happily.

"I will not be dishonored! My Führer! Manstein saluted Leon, then turned and walked back to his seat and sat down.

"Well, the problem of the Twelfth Army is solved." Leon also sat back in his seat and said to everyone with a smile, "Next, the Thirteenth Army, do you have anything to report?" ”

……

A day later, Manstein flew to the headquarters of the German Twelfth Army in Karaszok, Finnmark, Norway, as a special envoy of the Führer, and temporarily took over the command of the 127th and 129th Infantry Divisions besieging Sekemu, the 128th Infantry Division, which was retreating, and the 7th Airborne Division of the Luftwaffe, which had been ordered to stand by on the Southern Front, and personally directed them to complete their plans.

After the various units participating in the operation clarified the mission requirements, the battle plan, which was named "ball lightning" by the Supreme Command, began to unfold in an orderly manner.

The 128th Infantry Division discarded all its heavy equipment according to the plan, and turned from an orderly retreat to a panicked "rout", pretending to be heavily damaged by the defenders of Bitavaler, luring the two Norwegian divisions behind it to pursue.

The two Norwegian divisions behind them did not catch up with them as excitedly as Manstein thought, but stopped on the spot and began to pack up the heavy equipment abandoned by the Germans.

If the Norwegian troops chose not to pursue the 128th Infantry Division, the 7th Airborne Division might encounter the two Norwegian divisions that were the main force of the Vitawal garrison when they landed in Bitawal, and the effectiveness of the entire plan would be greatly reduced or even failed.

But fortunately, the total annihilation of the German 128th Infantry Division was full of temptation for the defenders of Bital, so the two Norwegian divisions hurriedly picked up the heavy equipment discarded by the 128th Infantry Division, and then embarked on the pursuit of the 128th Infantry Division again.

Seeing that the Norwegian army had finally taken the bait, Manstein couldn't help but sigh and began to carry out the next step of the plan - an airborne raid.

The more than 8,000 soldiers of the 7th Airborne Division had already been prepared, and after receiving the order to attack from Manstein, they immediately boarded the transport planes in an orderly manner, and a huge group of more than 100 transport planes flew towards the northern line under the cover of more than 80 ME109s.

The Norwegian Army Aviation and Naval Aviation (Norway did not have an air force like the United States in World War II, only the Army Aviation Units and the Navy Aviation Units under the Navy, and it was not until 1944 that the Army Aviation and the Navy Aviation were merged into the Royal Norwegian Air Force) immediately took off their only dozens of fighters to intercept the German air group.

However, the Norwegian side did not know that these German planes were carrying airborne troops, let alone that the target of these planes taking off from the southern front was the northern front on the other side of the country, and they thought that these planes were carrying bombs, and the Luftwaffe wanted to carry out a round of in-depth bombing.

Therefore, after being violently attacked by the German ME109 fleet escorted by the Norwegian Army and Hainan Airlines, they decisively chose to flee and let the Luftwaffe continue to go deep into their own depths.

Anyway, there is nothing important in the depth of my house, so you can blow it up, the Norwegian military thought.

The German fleet was relieved to see that the Norwegian plane had consciously given way, and it seemed that the Norwegian side did not know that the plane was carrying paratroopers, because if they knew, they would definitely fight to destroy the landing voyage to intercept the German plane.

After all, Germany would have to pay sixty or seventy paratroopers for one German transport plane, and their dozens of fighters could definitely replace one or two thousand German paratroopers.

The altitude of the German fleet was maintained at 6,000 meters, and the anti-aircraft guns on the ground posed no threat to them at all, so after evading the interception of Norwegian fighters, the road behind was smooth sailing.

Norway is not a large country, only 387,000 square kilometers, so the German fleet flew from the southern tip of Norway to the northern tip of Norway in just over 2 hours.

After descending to only 1,000 meters above the ground, the soldiers of the German Seventh Airborne Division flew out of the cabin and rapidly approached the ground, and finally turned into white umbrella flowers in the air at 500 meters.

The city of Bitawal was originally defended by nearly 40,000 soldiers, but due to the successful diversion of the German army, there were now only more than 6,000 soldiers left in a brigade of Bitaval, and in the face of the surprise attack of the elite airborne troops of the German army, they only held out for an hour, and then abandoned their positions and fled to Shipten, which was dozens of kilometers away.

After learning that their hometown had been occupied, the main force of the defenders of Bitawal, who was pursuing the 128th Division, immediately turned around in anger and killed the city of Bitawale, in a vain attempt to regain their position.