London, United Kingdom.

Tobias and a dozen other captured commandos did not yet know that the Germans had successfully landed, and not far behind them was a row of British soldiers with rifles.

"Sacrifice your life for the country and die a well-deserved death!"

Tobias's tone was full of haughty stubbornness, and when the sound of the British pulling the bolt of the gun came, not a single commando was trembling or crying, and everyone was silently praying that their army would be able to raze the island once and for all.

A crisp burst of gunfire rang out, and the blue sky above the people was still cloudless, and the sun was still shining.

Looking down from a very high vantage point, in this irregularly shaped part of England that looks like half the size of a screen, a tiny but massive yellow team is heading in all directions towards a nondescript southern beach area. On the beach, which was not much bigger than a fingernail, countless gray particles were also trying to move inland, and the dense ships crowded the blue sea near the beach.

This is the scene of the much-anticipated Anglo-German war.

Off the coast of Bonemouth, in the German fleet, which had re-entered a state of slow sailing, the tension had long since dissipated with the sea breeze, and only the piles of shells and bullet casings on the deck of the battleship had not yet been cleared, still reminding people that a very fierce naval and air battle had just been fought here.

The three aircraft carriers are again grouped about 10 nautical miles from the beach, all carrier-based aircraft have resumed take-off and landing, and waves of bombers are flying in formation to the beach. On the deck of the "Prince", the maintenance crew was still repairing the large hole that had been smashed by the British bomb, and as for the fighter and attack aircraft pilots who had just experienced the battle of life and death, most of them were calmly enjoying morning tea and snacks at this time, while their landlines were either refueling or undergoing emergency repairs.

At 10 o'clock in the morning, a second wave of bombers and transport planes from Cherbourg appeared over the fleet, and the roar of hundreds of engines running at the same time was so loud that the naval officers and men on the warships saluted the Luftwaffe air force that had come from afar. The number of aircraft in this wave is still more than 800, and they are divided into three echelons according to their respective tasks, the first echelon is the 5 attack aircraft squadrons responsible for opening the road, which are responsible for covering the follow-up aircraft group and providing fire support to the ground forces; The second echelon is a squadron of 13 bombers on pure bombing missions, which will bomb British rail lines and towns near Bonemouth; The third echelon is 500 transport planes carrying the second wave of 2,500 airborne troops and a large amount of ammunition, and the paratroopers will be airdropped near the Fording River Bridge, and the ammunition will be airdropped to the 1st Airborne Regiment stationed at the Fording River Bridge and the 2nd and 3rd Airborne Regiments attacking the British defenders' reserves.

In the camp of the British garrison reserves, about eight miles from Bonemouth Beach, groups of disheveled British soldiers marched toward an open space in the center of the camp with their hands raised in the air, while the victorious German paratroopers stood proudly on the rooftops and on the side of the road, looking at the dejected captives with extremely indifferent eyes.

Although it was a great victory to be proud of, most of the German soldiers did not show the joy of victory, and they also paid a considerable price for it. The assault on the camp lasted more than an hour, with 5,000 German airborne troops successfully crushing more than 20,000 British troops here, 460 paratroopers killed and 535 wounded, and both airborne regiments losing nearly 20% of their combat strength and running out of ammunition.

Except for more than 6,000 British troops who retreated in the direction of the beach, the rest of them were either killed or taken prisoner by the Germans, and the prisoners alone were nearly twice the full strength of the 2nd and 3rd Airborne Regiments, much to the surprise of most German generals. In addition to the prisoners, the Anglo-German casualty ratio of nearly 8:1 in the battle was also breathtaking. The British forces that were attacked by surprise did not organize an effective counterattack from the beginning to the end, and when the British commander, General Casper, took the lead in withdrawing, the British resistance became even more chaotic. It was not until near the end of the battle that the British made a more effective defense in the southwest corner of the camp, where they held out for about a quarter of an hour, and were finally forced to lay down their arms because of the lack of reinforcements and ammunition inside.

There, the barracks destroyed by grenades and mortar shells were the most numerous, and the bodies on the ground were the densest, and almost half of the casualties of the German paratroopers were there. As a result, before the battle was over, the field hospital in the camp was full of wounded soldiers. Fortunately, the British built a large field hospital in the camp, and the medicine and equipment were sufficient, and most of the wounded soldiers were treated in time.

In a barracks strewn with paper, Lieutenant Colonel Nicklaus of the 2nd Airborne Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Edgar of the 3rd Airborne Regiment, and Captains Thorn and Crade, known as the Navigator and actually "British Sleepers", sat around a fireplace. This was originally General Caspar's headquarters, and his staff officers didn't even have time to destroy the documents here because of the haste with which they evacuated, but unfortunately the firepower map of the Bonemouth Line was meaningless to the Germans.

Lieutenant Colonel Nicklaus, who is in his early 40s this year, has a typical Germanic face, with a hawk-like sharp gaze and a hooked nose, and at first glance he looks like an officer with Prussian aristocratic blood. He picked up the coffee pot on the stove and poured a cup for everyone, and the room was filled with a strong aroma of coffee, as if the British knew that there would be a visit, and this headquarters had all kinds of tea, coffee, champagne, snacks, canned food, etc., and it was not a problem to hold a small dinner.

The nearly 10,000 British prisoners were naturally enclosed in the open space like cattle and sheep, but whether the two airborne regiments organized defense on the spot or flanked the remnants of the defenders with the landing force, these four German officers were still waiting for orders from their superiors. In a nearby room, the British didn't even have time to take the transmitter with them, and there were ready-made antennas on the roof, but unfortunately the paratroopers did not find the codebook for British military communications here. The two airborne regiments carried a total of 4 transmitters, two of which were broken during landing, and together with the British transmitters, it soon became a full-fledged command of the German airborne forces.

After the officer had silently drunk half a cup of coffee, the telegram from the "Frontier Governor" was transferred to Nicklaus, and it took him half a minute to read the paper, which had written most of the pages of text.

"His Highness praised us for a very beautiful assault, crushing more than 2 divisions of the British defenders at the cost of less than 1,000 casualties, and even His Majesty the Emperor arrived to great satisfaction! However, Your Highness wants everyone to understand that the British army is not as weak as it seems, and we cannot afford to slack off in the battles that follow! Nicklaus passed the telegram to Lieutenant Colonel Edgar, an aristocratic officer in his 40s, but whose dark blue eyes and slightly brown hair made him more of a romantic Frenchman.

Edgar twitched every word of the telegram very carefully, and it was only two minutes before he passed the document to Captain Shee, a spy who usually disguised himself as a dentist.

"You can also see the progress of the fighting, many British soldiers were captured in their sleep, many of them fought without even weapons in their hands, they fought very tenaciously, and very few surrendered voluntarily. If we had attacked the French camp in this case, I think the battle would have ended in about half an hour! I think His Highness's meaning boils down to two points: first, to strengthen the guard of British prisoners, as soon as reinforcements appear, these people will be ready to move, so it is necessary to deploy more machine guns around them; Secondly, our transport planes will soon drop ammunition on us, and we must be ready to receive the airdrops as soon as possible, and we should also strengthen our defenses here to cut off the retreat of the British troops going to the beach to support us, and ensure the total annihilation of all the defenders in the Bonemouth area! ”

Lieutenant Colonel Nicklaus took a sip of his coffee cup, the coffee tasted and was so hot that it was a pleasure to be able to hide by the fire and drink hot coffee in winter.

"I agree! It is true that we cannot drag so many prisoners and wounded to the beach now, but it is still necessary to send a small force to harass the British troops who are going to the beach to support, so that the British can feel that they are being attacked from both sides, and this will greatly reduce the pressure on our frontal troops! ”

"I just want to remind you that there are still a small garrison and a large number of British militia in the nearby towns and villages! In addition to these scattered troops and the defenders heading to the beach, we don't have to worry about other British troops attacking before the Fording River Bridge is lost! After reading the telegram, Captain Xie Ding and Captain Clad did not express an opinion, although Captain Xie Ding did not seem to be very comfortable with the British militants in the nearby British villages.

"Then each of our two regiments will send one battalion to build fortifications, one battalion to advance in the direction of the beach, and the rest of the troops will be responsible for guarding the prisoners and guarding patrols!" At this time, Lieutenant Colonel Edgar finally realized the truth of the saying "when the soldiers are used, they hate the few", 2 airborne regiments are far from enough to launch a campaign, but unfortunately the transportation capacity and logistics supplies greatly limit the number of paratroopers invested in an airborne operation.

Nicklaus gently put down the coffee cup in his hand, he straightened his collar briefly and stood up with his military hat, "Gentlemen, then let's act!" Lieutenant Colonel Edgar, you are in charge of commanding the troops here, and I will lead my troops to advance towards the beach! ”

After donning their flat-topped short-brimmed military caps, the officers returned to the cold outside, with half a pot of hot coffee on the stove.

Bonemouth, England.

Four armored vehicles with forked antennas stopped in front of a field tent behind a small hill that appeared to be a regimental headquarters, and on top of the hill some officers were watching through telescopes and periscopes.

"Colonel, why are you here in person!"

Seeing the figures coming down from the armored car, all the people in the tent stopped what they were doing, and the leader of them was an army major.

"Don't worry, I don't think the British are going to threaten here! The environment and location here are good, and my division command will move here from the beach! ”

Like the other officers, Guderian wore a gray overcoat and a flat-topped short-brimmed military cap, and was actually no warmer in an armored vehicle than outside, and he had a pair of black leather gloves on his hands. Now that his order has been given, the officers and men on the armored vehicles quickly began to set up, and these four armored vehicles plus a few tents are a temporary command center.

After a very brief pleasantry, Guderian walked straight to the front of the map in the field tent, "Major, what's going on up ahead?" ”

Dense gunfire was coming from the front of the hill, and it sounded like the battle was raging. Not long ago, there had been an exchange of fire between the vanguard of the mixed armoured division advancing north and the forward of Cosmo's unit rushing to the beach, and follow-up units from both sides joined the encounter.

"Report to the Colonel that our 2nd Assault Battalion initially met the British cavalry in Area 103, which numbered about 1,200 cavalry, and then retreated to Area 117 to form a defensive position. After our 1st Commando Brigade and 12 tanks arrived, we organized a counterattack according to the orders of the division headquarters, successfully repelled the British cavalry and annihilated more than 300 cavalry of the opposing side. Then a large number of British infantry joined the battle, and the battle lines of the two sides are temporarily stable between areas 104 and 89, the British army has the advantage in numbers, and our army is on the defensive! ”

While the Major was speaking, another group of planes flew over them. After the Battle of Bonemouth, Britain had completely become the domain of the German air force, and the naval carrier-based bombers, who could only stand by in the air battle, began to show their skills again.

"Well, the British don't have many heavy weapons! I guess their artillery is left in artillery bunkers behind the beach, so we don't have to worry that they will be supplemented by heavy artillery fire in the attack! But alas, our artillery will not be delivered until noon! ”

Guderian's watch was now 10:15 a.m., nearly two hours before the so-called noon, and judging by the exchange of fire between the two sides, the British were indeed predominantly small arms. In the shelling of the German battlefleet, it was indeed a fool for the British to abandon their artillery and retreat to a distance from the beach, but it also showed that the British and German coastal defense had long had very different strategies, and the British despised the fortresses and fortress guns on the basis of their own powerful fleet, and when the Germans came, their coastal defense forces were almost defenseless. If the British had attacked, I am afraid that it would have been the German shore artillery units that were putting on a show.

"Colonel, didn't the British leave a lot of artillery on their positions? We can drag them over and use them for the time being! "In the encounter, the side with the superior artillery is superior in both attack and defense, and the major's starting point is still good, but Guderian shook his head resolutely.

"The road conditions are terrible, we can't get soldiers or tanks to pull those cannons for a few kilometers, and we don't have enough artillery in our hands, and when our trucks come up, the artillery and artillery of the artillery regiment will follow! Until then, let's use the guns on the tank for the time being! Adjutant, how many tanks and armored vehicles have arrived in the combat area now? ”

Guderian's lieutenant was a blonde boy about his age, and in this mixed panzer division, the officers in the panzer units were generally of low age, while the traditional infantry units had many veterans. The Major who had just answered his question looked to be in his forties, and it was indeed a strange thing to be commanded by someone far younger than himself.

"At least 40 tanks and 10 armored vehicles!" The adjutant spoke and carefully counted them, and it was determined that there were only so many combat vehicles in the area at the moment.

"It's too slow! Pass my order, follow-up tanks and armored vehicles should speed up and rush to the combat area! Guderian's gaze returned to the map, and in addition to the infantry regiment of the major in front of him, there were several other assault battalions belonging to other regiments in the vicinity, and about 3,000 German soldiers were deployed on a front about three miles wide, and their defensive task was quite difficult in the face of the superior British forces.

"According to the reports provided to me by the reconnaissance airships and carrier-based reconnaissance planes, this British force is about 20,000 people, which is much more than our troops here, fortunately the British commander does not seem to intend to start a battle with us here, I think his aim is to repel us as soon as possible and retake Bonemouth! It's a pity that the British don't know what is going on on the beach, and our number of landings has already exceeded 30,000, and by noon this number will increase to more than 50,000! And a good news for everyone......"

Guderian glanced up at the officers in the tent, everyone was waiting for his next step.

"Our paratrooper unit parachuted into the rear of the enemy in the early hours of the morning has successfully routed the British reserves and completely cut off the retreat of the British army in front of us! At the same time, our valiant paratroopers also captured the Fortin River Bridge, the only railway bridge from the outside world to Bonemouth! ”

Most of them only knew that they had paratroopers, but few had seen them parachuted and trained, and they only had guesses about the purpose of the paratroopers, and some even thought that these paratroopers had gone directly to Birmingham to capture George V alive.

After cheering everyone up, Guderian began to assign tasks:

"The infantry companies held their positions and made more use of the terrain and machine guns and mortars to deal with the British army, while the armored assault group took the initiative to launch a small-scale attack on the British army instead of attack, but the distance of the advance should not exceed 2 kilometers, so as not to fall into the heavy encirclement of the British army! Hold out for 2 hours, and this British army will be in our pocket! ”

"Yes!" The crowd replied with great vigour, and the staff officers were busy broadcasting orders over the radio, while the officers who had just reported to the front with their troops immediately rushed to the front with their troops.

In a few moments, all the tanks and armored vehicles on standby near the regimental headquarters were in motion. Amid the rumbling of engines and the clanging of tracks, tanks ran over the snow-covered ground and moved forward, armored vehicles followed, and groups of soldiers with rifles rushed to the battlefield with their heads held high.