January 2, 1943, 10 p.m. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

"There's 60 seconds left to prepare!" Otto. Captain Skorzny got up from his folding chair and walked to the door of the ME323 transport plane.

"Everybody take their seats, check the umbrellas." After giving the order, he forcefully opened the hatch, and a gust of cold wind blew in violently, making everyone in the cabin shiver. The explosion of anti-aircraft shells also became louder, and from the hatch, swarms of gray ME323 transport planes lined up in a dense formation, speeding through the thick columns of sparks and searchlights.

Now tens of thousands of officers and soldiers of the 7th Division of the German Wehrmacht paratroopers have flown over the city of Hartlepool on huge ME323 transport planes and GO242 gliders towed by JU88.

Hartlepool is an ancient port city that emerged in the 7th century, but its place in the shipping industry has long since been replaced by the nearby Middlesbrough, the centre of the British steel industry. Its small port and outdated facilities can only be used for small ships, not large ones. Therefore, the British did not deploy heavy troops in the city (the British also had limited heavy troops and could not be placed everywhere), but they still placed 1 anti-aircraft artillery regiment (also a militia) equipped with QF3 76.2mm anti-aircraft guns, 2 militia regiments attached to the North Yorkshire Division and 1 coastal artillery battalion in Hartlepool.

The QF3 anti-aircraft gun is an old gun from 1914, with limited range and height, and there is no radio proximity fuse, so it is also a scaring thing. After a long day of booming, not a single ME323 transport plane or JU88 aircraft was brought down.

On the periphery of the airborne group, the escorting HE219 fighters were engaged with the British Mosquito Night Combat aircraft, and from time to time huge fireballs flashed in the dark night.

"Everybody follow me! Jump! The green signal light by the door of the plane suddenly turned on, and Captain Skorzny shouted at his men before jumping out of the door first.

The white parachutes resemble huge clusters of dandelions, conspicuous in the night sky, fluttering and swaying, covering the sky, slowly descending towards the land of England.

However, not all of these parachutes were attached to the German paratroopers or their equipment. Eighty percent of the parachutes that fall from the sky are actually deceptive false targets -- just a small parachute with a wooden figure hanging from it.

Looking from the ground into the sky, the airborne force was increased several times, as if thirty or forty thousand German supermen armed to the teeth were descending from the sky, and they were falling everywhere. This will greatly confuse the British forces in Hartlepool and Middlesbrough, causing them to miss out on the best chance to counter-attack!

While the eye-catching airborne operation was underway, near a beachhead near the North Sea, an Italian frogman unit under the command of Major Bogaisse of the Italian Navy was quietly approaching.

Like Italy in history, the "New Roman Empire", which is now thriving, was unable to build up an elite army of millions like Germany. However, this did not prevent the Italians from building up a small elite force.

For example, the Italian Air Force's S.M.79 fleet (now obsolete), the bomber unit equipped with the P.108 heavy bomber, the Italian Navy's battleship unit, several rather elite Italian army divisions, and the mysterious Italian frogman unit.

These Italian frogmen were more likely to outfight their German counterparts in battle, and though they didn't shine in the Mediterranean campaign, they would go down in history tonight.

The 60 Italian frogmen piloting the "Pig" special submarine were quietly surfacing at this time. Looking through the diving goggles worn by Major Bogaisa, the white sand in the distance was covered with thick, long black iron bars. This is supposed to be an anti-landing obstacle, which is stuck in all the places where there are sandy beaches along the coast of England.

This stretch of beach in Hartlepool is no exception, and since 1940 the British have been adding this barrier known as the "rail barricade". Because of its proximity to the heart of the UK's steel industry, there is no shortage of steel rails, so there are now thousands of rails on the entire beach.

These rails are now the target of Major Bogaisse and his frogmen, but they don't need to be destroyed in their entirety, only a few of them, about 300 or so.

This is because the landing will begin around 9 a.m. on January 3, when the tide will begin to rise. Most of the obstacles will be submerged by the sea, but some of them will pose a threat to the landing craft and landing ships, so they must be destroyed with explosives.

And now is the time of high tide, so the rails that need to be destroyed are distributed where the sea and the beach meet.

Major Bogaisai felt that the special submarine he was piloting had hit the sand underwater, he straightened up, and then raised a hand to make a gesture to his subordinates behind him. A group of frogmen all disembarked from the special submarine, bent over or on one knee on the sand underwater, with only half of their heads exposed.

Major Bogaisai slowly stepped back, slowly moving to his deputy's side.

"That's pretty much it, one person has to blow up at least five rails. According to intelligence, there should have been machine-gun bunkers for the British near here, and there should have been patrols. If they find out, we will be fascist martyrs. ”

As he spoke, a column of light from a searchlight suddenly passed nearby, causing a group of fascist frogmen to shrink their heads.

"I won't become a fascist martyr," the deputy smiled, "at most I will be taken prisoner by the British, and I don't know if I will be beaten?" ”

He wasn't kidding, because it was winter, and even wearing special insulated wetsuits couldn't avoid a rapid loss of body temperature, and they couldn't last long in the icy waters.

Therefore, after completing the mission, it is impossible for these Italian frogmen to return to the large submarine off the coast of Britain on the "Piggy" submarine, so they can only find a place to hide near the beach (this beach is more than ten kilometers long and relatively well defended, but as long as this section is passed, there is a place to hide), and the possibility of being hunted and captured by the British is still there.

"There will be no problem," Major Bogaisse smiled, "these Englishmen, although they are against Christ (they blew up the Pope), are still gentlemen...... Well, let's get started now! ”

If this mission had been directed against the Russians, they would certainly not have come.

……

"What? Hartlepool, Scarborough, Grimsby, and Abel and Bangor in Wales all had large numbers of paratroopers from the Germans? Hell, it's impossible! ”

In London, on the ground floor of King Charles Street, in the wartime cabinet headquarters, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill looked at the report sent by his staff and immediately shook his fat head.

It turned out that Hartlepool was not the only city where the Airborne Forces were discovered tonight, but a total of 5 cities reported being attacked by a large number of German Airborne Troops!

And this, of course, is impossible. An air assault on one city would require hundreds of large transport aircraft, while the Germans would need at least 3,000 large transport aircraft to strike at five cities at once. How could the Luftwaffe be so generous?

Moreover, even if the Germans had so many large transport aircraft, they would not be airborne in five cities, but would be concentrated in one place.

"Only one city has actually been assaulted, and the Germans are dropping false targets in the other cities......" Viscount Brooke, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, said with a grim face.

Like Churchill, he thought the Germans would not actually invade, at least not before the spring equinox in 1943.

"Where could it be?" Lieutenant General Stilwell, Chief of Staff of the Allied Forces in Europe, asked.

"Now we don't know," Churchill handed the report to Stilwell, "because the Germans threw foil strips to jam the radar, we don't know exactly how many planes are in the sky." But...... The truth will be revealed in a few hours. ”

"Prime Minister, we must send reinforcements as soon as possible!" "The 24 hours after the enemy landings are critical," Stilwell said...... If we get them on their feet, we're in big trouble. ”

Of course, there are reinforcements, and now there are three or four million people in military uniforms and guns on the island of Great Britain, whether they are militia or regular troops, they can fight after all.

But these people are not the key to the success of the counterattack, the key is the tanks, it is the armored corps!

Because the Germans had armored forces in both the Airborne Forces and the Marine Corps, it was difficult to fight back with infantry, and it was necessary to invest in armored units.

Since the 2nd, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th and other 6 armoured divisions are not on the island of Great Britain (of which the 7th Panzer Division is in India, the 8th Panzer Division is in Canada, and the remaining 4 Panzer Divisions are in Ireland).

Therefore, there are not many armored units available in Qiu Fatzi's hands, in addition to the 2nd Armored Division of the United States, there are only 3 British armored divisions such as the British Praetorian Armored Division, the 1st Armored Division and the 6th Armored Division.

"The infantry may be ordered to go at once," suggested Viscount Brooke, "and reinforcements may be drawn from Birmingham, Liverpool, Sheffield, Norwich and Newcastle." As for the armored forces...... You can always be ready to go. ”

"There won't be a problem with the road, right?" Lieutenant General Stilwell reminded, "The roads in the middle of England have been bombed indiscriminately for the past two days, and many bridges have been blown up. ”

Viscount Brooke frowned and said: "There will definitely be some delay, but it shouldn't be a big problem, after all, the road facilities in England are very good, and the roads that the Germans can destroy in 2 days are limited...... A few bridges are more cumbersome, but pontoons can also be built. ”

"Will you be able to reach your destination within 24 hours?" Churchill asked.

Viscount Brooke shook his head, "I'm afraid the armored forces won't be able to catch up, but the infantry is fine." (To be continued.) )