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Lying on the wet and cold soil, watching the bullets fly less than half a meter above the head, listening to the symphony-like gunfire, different people will have different feelings, some are passionate, some are nervous, and some are comfortable, and in Major Craig's opinion, the most important thing is to achieve victory at the minimum cost!

After giving the British soldiers on the other side of the breakwater a grenade, more than 800 soldiers of the Craig assault battalion got up and continued to advance, many of them were knocked down by British bullets as they crossed the breakwater, and many more rushed to the British positions behind the breakwater with rifles like tigers. The machine guns of the British roared desperately, but by this time it was no longer to avail, more and more German soldiers crossed the breakwater into their trenches, and face-to-face white-knuckle battles soon unfolded in the positions.

This was the second landing operation in which Major Craig and his men had participated, the previous one in glorious Bonemouth. At that time, they rushed to the beach as the first wave of storming troops, fighting alongside a large number of tanks and armored vehicles and thousands of infantry, with the mighty Scheer fleet behind them. This time, the Heydrich fleet was their solid backing, but they were surrounded by far fewer companions than the previous ones - the first landing force was a vanguard tank battalion and two infantry regiments of more than 3,000 soldiers. On the transport ships in the back, on standby was the second wave of landing forces consisting of 5 armored battalions and 12 infantry regiments.

The waters in the North East of England in April were clearly not as cold as those at Bonemouth Beach in December, and Craig's boots and trousers were mostly soaked when they waded to land, but this had little impact on the fighting. After a full day of shelling and bombardment by Heydrich's fleet, the British fortifications were badly damaged, and dozens of gaps were blasted out of the long breakwater. The defenders' fire was sparse under the close fire of a group of German destroyers, and Major Craig's battalion lost less than a platoon of soldiers before it hit the beach, while in Bonemouth the casualties were nearly three times as high as here.

On the beach near the breakwater. The British set up some obstacles that could hold back the German tanks, but unfortunately due to the rush of time and limited experience, the wooden barriers that remained after the shelling of the German fleet did not serve the effect that the British expected. In the first wave of 10,000 tanks, except for 3 that stopped in the sea and 2 were damaged by British fire, the remaining 25 tanks all slowly but smoothly crossed the beach area. Under the cover of their 37-mm tank guns and 7.92-mm machine guns, the landing German infantry drove the British out of one position after another.

"Lieutenant! Lieutenant Luke! Craig shouted to one of his company commanders, "Take your men and go behind that hill to the north!" There were artillery positions for the British, damn it. They have been shooting at our landing ships! ”

The muddy lieutenant looked in the direction indicated by the major, "Yes! ”

A large group of infantry wearing M16 steel helmets and rifles with long bayonets swarmed in that direction. In this unexpected landing operation, the German soldiers far outnumbered the British defenders in terms of preparation and morale. In a short time, a dense burst of gunfire and the explosion of a number of grenades rang out, and about a quarter of an hour later, another point of fire threatening the defenders of the landing ship was eliminated.

The battle spread rapidly from one British position to another like a downwind fire, and as the battle progressed, the British retreated. By 3 a.m. on 22 April, the German assault forces had succeeded in driving most of the British troops from the front-line defensive positions on Grimsby Beach, and the remnants of the defenders had retreated to the ruined city and built a new line of defense farther away from the beach. After this. The German troops, having landed, began to clear the battlefield. At the same time, efforts are being made to consolidate and expand their own landing grounds. The second wave of landing troops and follow-up equipment was carried to the beach in an orderly manner, and a solid front facing the inland direction was being established on the basis of the original British defensive line.

"Guys. Can I help you? ”

In a not-so-noisy position, a tank lieutenant poked out of his turret and asked a group of infantry next to the tank, who looked to have gained a lot of gains, dozens of British soldiers crouching on the ground with their heads under their bayonets.

"Mr. Ensign, I'm afraid you're late!"

A man who looked like a non-commissioned officer walked out of the infantry, he looked around and spread his hands helplessly, the battle here had been settled ten minutes ago.

At this time, the three tanks behind also stopped one after another, and it looked like a standard independent tank battle company.

"No way! Our 'war horses' are climbing too slowly! The second lieutenant reciprocated with the same frustration, and his task was to assist the infantry in capturing the British position behind the breakwater. Because, according to the reports of previous reconnaissance aircraft, the positions here are relatively strong. As it stands, the infantry of these assault battalions is doing well.

The British soldier crouching on the ground looked quiet, and occasionally one or two people looked up at the side, and then hung their heads in frustration.

The German lieutenant on the tank jumped off the tank with great vigour, and then walked up to the group of British prisoners, and to everyone's surprise, he suddenly said in standard English:

"Tell me, where is your headquarters?"

The pitiful-looking British soldier at his feet looked up at the German in black uniform in shiny leather boots in front of him, his English clearly surprised the POWs as much as the tank behind him.

"I ...... I do not know! ”

The young British soldier had a sad face. I saw that the German lieutenant's face turned from sunny to gloomy, and that expression was terrifyingly gloomy. He suddenly crouched down and whispered:

"If my tank accidentally crushes you, I'm afraid no one will care about this little accident!"

The British soldier was stunned, pondering the other man's words, his eyes gradually filled with fear.

"You also saw that even if you don't tell me, our army will be victorious! However, if you do me this little favor, you can save your own life! The lieutenant leaned his face closer to the other and stared into the other's eyes, "Tell me gently, okay?" ”

"Two miles northwest from here, that's our division headquarters!" The British soldier said this quickly and slightly, and then felt relieved.

"Okay, thank you!"

The second lieutenant stood up, looking in the direction the British soldier had said, and the landing force did not seem to have advanced there - according to the prior landing plan, the troops would advance inland by the armored forces after occupying the front-line positions of the LinkedIn Army, and it seemed that most tanks and armored vehicles had spent too much time landing and crossing the breakwater.

The ensign quickly climbed into his tank and waved at his tank, "Forward!" ”

"Fiction is real, reality is fiction!"

This may not be difficult to understand for Hamilton and his generals, but they seem so stupid and helpless in front of the enemy who has flexibly used this tactic. General Roy was the first to reflect on this, and he failed to pick out the right one from the multitude of intelligence - by April 21, almost the whole world had heard the news that the Germans were going to make a massive landing behind the British lines. And the number and location of the landing were varied, but until the time of the campaign, not a single German soldier had boarded the northern French port. Therefore, General Roy made the judgment that the Germans would not carry out the landing, and General Hamilton made the final disposition on this basis. Until the beginning of the campaign, the British did not draw a single soldier from their frontal line to strengthen the coastal defense. In fact, 15 German infantry regiments and 2 panzer regiments were boarded in batches at Southampton and Portsmouth, and all transports left port for the French coast before turning away from the coast before finally joining the Heydrich fleet off the coast of Grimsby on 19 April.

But. The British generals did not think that the defeat was due to their own stupidity. It was nothing more than a "trick on the part of the Germans". With a telegram from the commander of the Grimsby garrison, the gloomy expression on General Hamilton's face finally changed slightly, and he hurried to the battle map to study it carefully.

"General Roy. It seems that you understand quite right, the Germans simply stayed on the beach and not moved on! ”

"Yes, Honorable General!"

Roy puffed up his chest and regained his self-confidence before boosting the morale of his generals and soldiers.

"In that case, we can even ignore the German rats that have landed, or have General Bitta send some cavalry to keep an eye on them, while our reserves can be used entirely on the frontal front, filling in the holes in the line or even launching a counterattack! Anyway. We need to hurry! ”

"Cavalry? We should mobilize heavy artillery to ...... who have landed" General Bita was about to say something, but when he saw General Roy give him a small look, thinking that he was still "guilty", General Bita sat down helplessly.

"Well, let's give the Germans a surprise counterattack! General Bita, send your cavalry to support General Bruce while the rest of the troops turn to ...... Over here! Rally here! ”

General Hamilton's finger rested on a small dot on the map, an unknown hamlet about 100 kilometres west of Oxford, where the River Thames bends. Rushing rivers pass through it to the southeast, and mountains are not far to the west and north. The village, which was now near the centre of the line, was still in British hands, garrisoned by General Laurinson's 2nd Army - an army group composed entirely of native British soldiers, about 40 percent English, a similar number of Scots, and a small number of Welsh and Irish - despite the dire situation in Ireland, with the violence instigated by the Germans, the British High Command decided to trust the Irish soldiers in its own army.

"We must launch a counterattack before dawn, otherwise after dawn the Germans will join the battle with planes and airships, and we will lose a lot of troops in the war of movement!" The general added, "Use both of our reserve armies!" As long as the Germans are driven back to their starting positions before dawn, then the war will continue until the situation turns in our favor! ”

Although they didn't know when there would be a turnaround, the generals of the command still carried out the order with confidence.

"Corporal, take your men to clear this trench!"

The sergeant, who had a pretty mustache, didn't bother to wipe the sweat from his forehead, and waved his men into a trench they had just occupied—a German-standard infantry trench set up halfway up a hill with its wings extended to the back of the hill, and the British deployed an infantry battalion and heavy machine guns on a defensive front more than 500 meters wide. Due to the steep slope, the tanks attacking with the synchronized forces could only provide fire support at the foot of the mountain, and the German infantry had to brave the hail of bullets to climb the uphill. Before the German battle flag was planted on the top of the hill, more than 400 young Germans sprinkled their blood on the hillside.

The soldiers quickly and carefully cleared the trench strewn with corpses and bullet marks, including the British who had died in the artillery fire and the German soldiers who had died in the white-knuckle battle, and the fierce fighting made the soldiers extremely resolute, and their bayonets were stuck in the fallen British corpses again and again to ensure that they captured only corpses and prisoners.

Standing on the top of the mountain and looking at it, the tide of countless M16 steel helmets or spire helmets is surging northward, this scene is enough to make people's blood boil, let alone as a glorious part of it.

The mustachioed sergeant was looking forward to a bright future, and the company's communications soldiers trotted all the way.

"Sergeant, we are connected to the order to stay and defend on the spot, and your platoon is responsible for digging trenches on the north side of this mountain! The company commander said that the trenches should be dug at least, and half meters, and it is better to be able to dig up to 2 meters! ”

"Digging trenches?" The surprise was clearly written on the mustache's thin face, "I heard you right! We're on the offensive! ”

"Sergeant, although I don't understand it very well, but this is an order from my superiors, there will be no mistakes, let's carry it out seriously!" The signal soldier shook his head as he spoke, and then ran towards the other platoon.

"What the hell!" The mustache looked into the distance in confusion, and it looked like the vanguard was about to attack the British positions there. Although he didn't quite understand the order from the command, the mustache still got his soldiers into action, digging trenches was a time-consuming and laborious task.

The same order reached all the front-line attacking forces of the German army, and after the capture of the British positions, about a fifth of the soldiers, except for the wounded and the soldiers guarding the prisoners, were left to build defensive positions in the opposite direction - to defend against a possible desperate counterattack by the British.

Not far in front of this hill, the slowly flowing river is gradually dying red with blood, and the river eventually joins the famous Thames.