It's a holiday, and I'll try to watch five more tomorrow. I don't know if I can do it, because it takes a process of adaptation to restore the state of the five watches. Of course, if there is a monthly pass, the soldier's state will be restored quickly.

*************

There is no doubt that the British 1st Parachute Division suffered heavy casualties, and on the first day of the battle, the British 1st Parachute Division lost two-thirds of its strength, leaving only more than 3,000 of more than 10,000 people. And most of them were blown away by the wind during the parachute jump and did not have time to join the main forces.

Similarly, the 11th and 17th Parachute Divisions of the United States were not much better, especially the 11th Paratrooper Division, which parachuted into the vicinity of the Rhine River, only to be surrounded by German mechanized troops and fought on the banks of the river, and many American soldiers abandoned their equipment and swam across the Rhine River to flee.

None of this is a problem, as mentioned before, it is normal for paratroopers to be surrounded by the enemy, and it is still strategic for them to continue fighting while they are surrounded, even if they suffer heavy losses, such as holding back enemy forces or affecting German transports.

The problem lies in the "garden" operation within the "market garden" operation.

Montgomery formulated this plan, although the "market" operation, that is, the parachute operation, was the difficulty, but the "garden" operation was the main point...... In principle, parachutes are in the service of the "Garden" operation, that is, the offensive of the ground forces.

Operation "Garden" was carried out by the British 2nd Army, which was responsible for making contact with the Allied Airborne Forces across the Ardennes.

According to Montgomery's original plan, the British 2nd Army would charge along Route 69 with the British Guards Panzer Division as the vanguard, followed by infantry and follow-up units, and flank the Ardennes with the US 17th Airborne Division.

In this way, it is expected that the US 17th Airborne Division will be able to join forces on the second day of the operation, and the US 11th Airborne Division will be able to reach the US 11th Airborne Division defense area on the fourth day of the operation at the latest, and then after arriving at the British 1st Airborne Division, the US and British Airborne Forces will accompany the Guards Panzer Division to attack from the Arnhem bridgehead and quickly break through to the German hinterland.

But first of all, the US 17th Airborne Division was surrounded by the Germans after landing and suffered heavy casualties, and the US 17th Airborne Division was in a state of self-protection throughout the battle, and it was simply unable to cooperate with the British 2nd Army to flank the Ardennes Mountains.

As a result, the British 2nd Army was blocked by the German SS 2nd Panzer Division and the 719th and 84th Infantry Divisions in the Ardennes Mountains...... In terms of troops, the British 2nd Army had nearly 100,000 men, while the German army had only 30,000 men, and the British army obviously had a clear advantage.

But as mentioned before, the Ardennes Mountains are not suitable for mechanized troops, and the German army has been heavily equipped with STG44s, and its firepower of 30,000 people is not much weaker than the British army's 100,000 troops, and even in jungle warfare, it can often occupy an advantage.

Information about the situation at the front reached Montgomery's headquarters, and beads of sweat immediately flowed from Montgomery's forehead.

If it was an accident that the Allied airborne troops were surrounded by the Germans and suffered heavy casualties, then the British 2nd Army's inability to break through the Ardennes would be a nightmare for the Allies.

The reason is simple, all the airborne troops that the Allies airdropped to the Netherlands, their hope of survival is based on the British 2nd Army being able to break through the enemy's defenses.

Otherwise, those airborne troops could only be slowly eaten up in the encirclement of the Germans.

That's 34,600 Allied soldiers, all of them elite, and Montgomery threw them into the enemy's encirclement...... It's literally sending them to their deaths.

So there is no doubt that if this is true, the British army will indeed be able to shock the world with this battle, but not with a victory but with a crushing defeat.

"Do we still have airborne troops?" Montgomery asked.

"Your Excellency, Marshal!" The staff officer replied: "We do have an airborne brigade as a reserve, but ......"

Montgomery knew what the staff officer meant when he said "but."

If the Germans had a large number of armored units in the Netherlands, it would not make much sense to throw the Airborne Forces into the theater of operations, since the point was that they did not have the equipment to deal with tanks.

"We need a force to flank the Ardennes!" Montgomery said: "Only then will the 2nd Army be able to break through and get in touch with the Airborne Forces!" ”

"Your Excellency, Marshal!" The staff officer objected: "The 2nd Army is attacking along Route 69, which means that our strategic objectives have been exposed, and the Germans will definitely be prepared!" ”

Montgomery nodded his head.

Although he did not want to admit it, reason told him that what the staff officer said was reasonable, and that no matter how many airborne troops were invested in this situation, there would be no return.

"Your Excellency, Marshal!" After thinking about it, the staff officer advised: "Why don't we bomb the Ruhr industrial area of the Germans?" This would on the one hand hinder the Germans from transporting supplies, and on the other hand...... We can spread the false news of a large-scale airborne landing in the Ruhr industrial area and force the Germans to return to the Ruhr area! ”

"Good way!" Montgomery nodded and said: "The Germans don't know that we don't have airborne troops left to use!" ”

"Yes!" That's what the staff officer means.

So, Montgomery immediately called Eisenhower, hoping that the American bomber group would cooperate with the British army.

At this time, Eisenhower certainly knew that the situation was not good, but although he was dissatisfied with Montgomery's mistakes in this battle, he still chose to support him...... Dwight D. Eisenhower was the commander-in-chief of the Allied forces, and what he had to do was to try to coordinate the victory of the British and American forces rather than complain.

A few hours later, a formation of 50 B17 bombers flew towards the Ruhr industrial area in Germany...... This is already the bomber that Eisenhower mobilized with all his might.

The reason for this is that all the airports are occupied by Operation "Market Garden", and they are full of C47 transport planes preparing for the second airdrop, some of which also carry gliders.

Leading this bomber formation was Colonel Roy of the United States, who had piloted bombers in Africa to bomb enemy targets dozens of times.

But sometimes there are two sides to experience...... Because according to Colonel Roy's experience, as long as the B17s fly at an altitude of 10,000 meters, the Germans have nothing to threaten them.

For this reason, Colonel Roy also joked to his subordinates on the walkie-talkie: "Hey, gentlemen, do you know how important this mission is?" We are bombing the industrial areas of the Germans, do you know what this means? ”

After a pause, Colonel Roy continued: "This means that if we do a good job, the Germans will have no weapons to use!" ”

Roy's men replied, "Wow, does that mean...... Are we in danger of being the ones who ended the war? ”

"Possibly!" Colonel Roy replied: "If you accidentally destroy their ammunition depot or the entire tank factory!" ”

The soldiers burst out laughing.

Roy and his men were completely unaware that their group had been captured by the German radar station.