Chapter 84: The Surprise Attack (I)
The history of the German paratroopers is actually not very long, from the first formation in 1935, it is only five years old. In fact, the history of the actual formation of the German Airborne Forces was only two years, and the previous three years were spent in the process of continuous experimentation and exploration.
Hitler first saw the paratrooper in a news report from the Soviet Army, in which the Soviet Union was ahead of all other countries, and while other countries were still studying the possibility of airborne troops, the Soviet Union had formed the world's first airborne troops.
At that time, Hitler had just developed the Nazi Party into the largest opposition party in Germany, and was still leading the Nazi Party parliamentarians to block the Hindenburg cabinet, and he had not even absorbed the power of the parliament, let alone intervened in the construction of the army.
By 1935, however, Hitler had been in power for four years, and it had taken him and his government four years to not only wipe out the huge deficit, but also to restore Germany's national power in its fullest. At this time, Hitler immediately launched the German paratrooper formation plan, and he was enthusiastic about all the latest military technology, because he believed that these new technologies and tactics could offset the shortcomings of the German ** army.
The tactics of the Soviet paratroopers could not be replicated, and the Russians had always brazenly flaunted their terrifying demographic superiority in the army, and they could easily assemble several paratrooper divisions and then throw thousands of them where their superiors wanted them to go.
Germany obviously couldn't do this, because the international situation at that time was not ideal for Germany, the strength of the German army was extremely weak, and before restoring military strength, Hitler needed to keep quiet and not too much to stimulate Britain and France, so all the new concept troops at that time were formed with the concept of less but fine.
The German paratroopers were the elite of the elite, especially as the strongest ground attack force under Luftwaffe Field Marshal Goering, and together with the Air Force Infantry Division, they became the marshal's memorial. German paratroopers received the highest priority in terms of treatment and equipment, with independent artillery, communications and engineering units.
At the same time, they also received the most rigorous training, from parachute to airborne, from positional warfare to mountain warfare, to ensure that the paratroopers were able to fight on all terrain.
In addition to regular paratrooper combat training, some paratroopers also voluntarily undergo special operations training, which does not look like training soldiers, but training armed spies. They will learn to drive armed vehicles, various explosive techniques, use of special weapons, individual combat, map recognition and drawing, wilderness survival, and other skills. After these soldiers are trained, they will become the backbone of the company. They did their best to pass on the skills they had learned to their comrades in the same unit, and eventually most of the paratroopers learned one or two special operations techniques.
Now, when it was time to put the results of these trainings to the test, Major Parague decided to embark on a tactical adventure.
The farm is no small and has a large two-storey main house and three rows of barns, as well as a 60-metre-square yard where six Bedford QL transporters and a Wolseley 18 are parked. One of the Bedford trucks was also towing an MK1 25-pounder howitzer.
This kind of main artillery, which was thrown everywhere in Dunkirk, has become a rare thing in Britain today, and the whole country may not be able to gather a hundred guns. Due to the shortage of rare metals. The production of artillery in Britain was very slow, and the quality of the guns was degraded very abstinently, and it is said that there was a batch of 2-pounder guns that had just left the factory, which the British Army directly refused to accept. No amount of artillery can make a soldier kill himself with this.
The gun in front of me should have been made before the war in terms of condition, with complete accessories and good maintenance, as long as it is loaded with shells, it can be fired immediately. Three of the six trucks were loaded with supplies and ammunition. Among them were half a cart of 87.6mm shells, and looking at the strange caliber, Parague was sure that he would not understand the British way of thinking in his life.
The other two trucks were filled with crates of cans and spirits. There were also plenty of cured meats and fresh vegetables, and the Germans also found more than a dozen boxes of cigarettes and cigars, and even a box of silk** and women's cosmetics with a made-in-America label. In addition to these things, there were entire boxes of unopened rifles and bullets of various calibers underneath.
There was an underground deal involved in which the lieutenant colonel had been stealing military supplies on his behalf, as well as smuggling that would have ended up on the black market in Canterbury that night if he had not encountered German paratroopers.
Due to the British government's strict restrictions on price fluctuations, a large number of goods have flowed into the black market, and merchants are always profit-seeking, don't expect them to have much patriotism. As soon as the UK government issues a price restriction order for a certain product, this kind of thing will quickly disappear from the market. It's not because the goods are in short supply, but because they all go to the higher-priced black marketeers, who raise the prices accordingly, and the citizens who suffer from supply constraints will not hesitate to use their savings to buy these goods.
The soldiers who died in the barn were half an infantry platoon plus an artillery detachment, and these poor fellows were being transferred to Canterbury on orders from the Army Command to replace a field heavy artillery company stationed there. The British Army was desperately trying to strengthen the defenses of the Dover area, and it was obviously a waste to have a heavy artillery battery in Canterbury, but in order to comfort the local city government, the Army tried to make it as normal as it could be.
Originally, there were only four trucks in the convoy, and the lieutenant colonel had to stuff two trucks into them to carry smuggled goods under the pretext of transporting supplies. They had set out the evening the previous evening, and one of the trucks broke down halfway through, and because it was getting late, the convoy had all run into the farm for the night under the orders of the lieutenant colonel, and had planned to send the car to Dover the next morning to get replacement parts and hit the road, and the soldiers would not have thought that they would never have a chance to wake up again from this sleep.
Parag came up with a risky plan, he called all the non-commissioned officers and key soldiers for an operational meeting, at which the specially trained soldiers pointed out some loopholes in the plan and added to it, and finally everyone agreed on the plan, and began to prepare for immediate implementation.
Parag selected fifty paratroopers with advanced special operations training and fluent English from his 430 paratroopers and put them in British soldiers' uniforms.
The paratrooper battalion commander was glad that the British soldiers were sleeping during the raid, and because they were in their own country, the soldiers habitually took off their uniforms, so the uniforms were still clean and tidy, not contaminated or damaged by blood.
After putting on the military uniform. The paratroopers began to put on British equipment, wearing infantry shovels and bayonets on their belts, gas mask bags and large bullet bags unique to the British army hanging from their chests, wearing MK1 steel helmets, and holding Enfield rifles in their hands, a standard British infantry appeared in front of the German paratroopers.
The paratroopers hid machine guns with iron fists and disposable flamethrowers between the trucks, and several machine gunners also quietly hid in the stacks.
Decided to lead the team himself, he changed into a British second lieutenant uniform, he went to the middle of the courtyard and began to check the results of the paratroopers' dressing. There was also the British lieutenant colonel standing beside him.
"Lieutenant Colonel Charlie, what do you think of my soldiers, is there any problem?"
"Very good, exactly like the British soldiers, I don't see any difference at all." The British lieutenant colonel replied with a flattering smile.
Lieutenant Colonel Charlie had now completely figured it out, and he began to resolve to be a hardcore traitor.
This British ** officer has no other way out, not to talk about the fact that he has confessed so much confidential information to the German army, and once his theft of military supplies and investment in the black market business in the past few months is revealed. What awaits this one is absolutely a catastrophe.
Lieutenant Colonel Charlie actually wanted to get out of this kind of business for a long time, but because the black market merchants had already taken his handle, those black market merchants had a huge underground network, and they were all ruthless. By the time the lieutenant colonel reacted, he was already deep in the mud and couldn't get off the thief ship.
And for now, it seems that the Germans have begun to attack, and the British Empire is already doomed. As a mid-ranking officer in the British Army, he knew a lot about the inside of the army, and Lieutenant Colonel Charles had little hope of resisting the German invasion from the beginning. If he hadn't been entangled in the underworld, he would have found a way to get out of the army and run abroad to enjoy life with the huge amount of money he had accumulated over the past few years.
Lieutenant Colonel Charles believed that there was no doubt that the German team would win the war, and that it was only a matter of time before Britain surrendered. Now that it's in the hands of the Germans, why can't you turn this into your own chance.
The German major in front of him made it clear that the Germans are always generous to their collaborators and will never let their friends suffer. Now the Germans must be in great need of a collaborator like himself, who was familiar with the British and had a great deal of local relations, and Lieutenant Colonel Charles believed that he would be of great use to the Germans, and he even began to look forward to how much he would receive from the Germans after the war, perhaps not only in terms of economic benefits, but perhaps even to take a place in the post-war British government.
"Very well, Lieutenant Colonel, I think you should know what you have to do, and if this operation is successful, I will report to my superiors the help you have provided in this operation, and Germany will not treat any friend who is willing to cooperate, and you will be rewarded in ways you can't imagine. But if this operation fails because of you, I think you understand what to expect. Parague curled the corners of his mouth at the Englishman in front of him.
"I am very willing to work with the German army, and it is an honor for me to be able to serve the German army. Mr. Major's planning was so thorough that I could not see any loopholes at all, and the soldiers were very successful in disguise, their English was very standard, and with my decades of experience in the British Army, I could not see the slightest flaw, and with my help, the operation would have been easily victorious. You know, I've had some deals with the logistics officer at the Kent base, he's been buying some in-demand items from me, and I've heard that his brother-in-law is also on the black market in London, and I've brought a cart of good wine and food with me, and he's going to be very interested. "Charlie completely threw away his temperance and began to think on the side of the Germans.
"Very good, Lieutenant Colonel, I look forward to your performance, all aboard! Let's go. Paraagher waved to his men, and the paratroopers quickly climbed onto the British truck.
Soon, four trucks slowly drove out of the farm, led by the Wolseley sedan. The damaged truck and the artillery trailer were left in the yard, and the remaining paratroopers unhooked the artillery tow hook and laid the 25-pounder gun in the center of the yard, and the paratroopers began to unload the shells from the truck and stacked them next to the artillery, and an observer climbed onto the roof of the farmhouse and monitored the convoy with binoculars.
I saw that the small convoy turned a corner after driving onto the road, and walked on the dirt road leading to the gate of the base, the convoy stopped at the gate of the base, and seemed to be negotiating with the sentry, and it was not long before the convoy restarted and drove into the base in a big way. (To be continued, please search, the novel is better and updated faster!)