The retreat of the US 5th Infantry Division was unsurprisingly thrown into chaos:

Landing craft braved shells and bullets to rush to the beach, loaded with soldiers who were about to withdraw, but were covered by German fire.

This is an artillery unit deployed by the Germans about five kilometers in the rear...... Normally, they hide in bunkers and do not move, even when the enemy lands.

The reason is that once it is moved, it is very likely to be detected by Allied fighters and implement fire suppression.

However, when the US landing craft come ashore intensively to evacuate the US soldiers, it is worth even risking being discovered, because this can cause several times or even dozens of times the casualties to the US military force.

As a result, shells whizzed in, blowing up columns of water on the beach and seawater, and sinking and overturning the landing craft one by one.

Coupled with the rain of bullets fired at them by German tanks and soldiers hiding in fortifications, the entire beach was churning around like a pot of boiling water, and the American troops in it were like ants on a hot pot, scurrying around, screaming and wounded, and even many people desperately jumped into the sea and swam in the opposite direction...... They don't care if they survive the waves or not, they just want to get out of this hellish world as soon as possible.

Eisenhower looked at the map in front of him with a gloomy face, and from time to time a staff officer handed him a telegram and reported the casualties, but Eisenhower did not even want to hear it anymore...... He was already a little numb.

At this time, the landing operation was only five hours, and if we count the airborne troops, it was only eight hours from the time the airborne troops carried out the airborne operation, but the casualties at this time far exceeded the pre-war estimate of 24 hours of casualties.

The heaviest casualties were undoubtedly the 4th and 5th Infantry Divisions attacking the "Utah Beach", whose casualties have now reached more than 9,000, and many are missing, and some continue to be pinned down on the beach and unable to move...... Few soldiers were able to recover.

The number of casualties on this one beachhead alone is equal to that of the other four beaches combined.

In addition, the exact situation of the three airborne divisions that were airborne to the rear of the line of defense is not yet known...... Because they were scattered all over the place, they didn't know what was going on with each other.

But Eisenhower knew that if the Germans were prepared, that is, if they knew that the Allies were going to land around the Brittany Peninsula, the three airborne divisions would be more than lucky.

"General!" At this time, Montgomery hurried into Eisenhower's headquarters.

"Monty!" Eisenhower said with a straight face: "You came just in time, I think our strategic deception has failed, how do you think we should clean up this mess in front of us!" ”

"That's what I'm here for!" Montgomery said, "Because I heard that you ordered the 4th and 5th Infantry Divisions to retreat......"

"I don't have any other choice, Monty!" Eisenhower replied: "Their opponent is the 21st Panzer Division, and I can't watch them slaughtered!" ”

"General!" Montgomery objected: "But if we abandon 'Utah Beach,' we will expose the flanks of the 'Omaha Beach' landing force to the Germans, followed by 'Golden Beach,' 'Juno Beach,' and finally 'Sword Beach,'......"

"I know, Monty!" Eisenhower said, "But do you have a better way?" As you know, our intelligence is grossly lapsed...... The enemy is not stationed at the 'Atlantic Barrier' with some coastal defense divisions with poor combat effectiveness, maybe this is true, but the coastal defense divisions are only used by them to deal with our bombing, and then the more combat-effective troops immediately take over the fortifications of the coastal defense divisions, and we cannot break through their defensive lines, especially the 'Utah Beach'! ”

"Of course I do, General!" Montgomery replied, "So, but we can't just throw in the towel!" ”

"Do you have anything better?" Eisenhower spread his hands.

"There's no better way, but we can try!" Montgomery pointed to the map and said, "We can partially withdraw the troops at 'Utah Beach,' and then use naval artillery and air bombardment to hold off the German 21st Panzer Division at 'Utah Beach,' so that they cannot reinforce troops from other directions and pose a threat to our landing operations." As long as there is a breakthrough in other directions, then you can immediately go around the back of 'Utah Beach' and surround it! ”

Eisenhower thought about it for a moment, then said hesitantly: "Naval artillery and air power...... Monty, that means we're going to hurt our own people! ”

"That's fire cover for them!" "If we hadn't done this, they would have suffered much more casualties," Montgomery said. ”

Montgomery was clearly an excuse, but he was correct from a practical point of view: casualties were inevitable for the American troops at Utah Beach, and the difference was only between death at the hands of the enemy and at the hands of his own people.

In the case of the former, not only would the casualties be greater, but the Allies would not have been able to strike at the Germans on the defensive line.

The latter is the opposite.

So, anyone who can do addition and subtraction knows what to do at this time.

After thinking about it, Eisenhower nodded and agreed to the plan.

Major General Logan, who was on the front line under German fire, received only one brief order: "We will suppress the enemy's fire, order your men to hide in place!" ”

"Fire suppression?" Major General Logan asked suspiciously, "What kind of fire suppression?" ”

But he didn't get any answer, and the phone on the other side was already hung up.

However, there was no need for a reply, because the whistling of cannonballs was already heard in the air.

Rear Admiral Logan easily knew from its whistling and direction that it was a large-caliber naval gun coming from the sea, so he hurriedly shouted around: "Get down, hide!" ”

Along with naval artillery, thousands of fighters and bombers of all kinds were bombed, and in fact, the United States and Britain gathered a total of 2,077 bombers at this moment...... They will continue to bomb the "Pacific Barrier" for up to two hours in the future.

The first sorties were RAF Halifax and Lancaster heavy bombers, and they were ordered to carpet bomb the German army by dropping bombs at a depth of one kilometer from the coastline.

Needless to say, they bombed the remnants of the 4th and 5th Infantry Divisions.

They had to do this, because if they didn't, they would not be able to effectively kill the Germans stationed at the "Atlantic Barrier".

Whether the 4th and 5th Infantry Divisions survive or not depends only on God forbid. ()

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