"Shelling!"

I don't know who suddenly roared in the ear of Admiral Shipper Airborne, and Admiral Shipper, who was directing the operation on a high ground near Port Grace, immediately jumped out of his temporary headquarters, a circular heavy artillery position (only positions, no artillery, here is a reserve position for 203mm howitzers), and stood on a well-realized high ground and headed south. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

In the southern part of Concepson Bay, in the midst of the darkness, there was a sudden flash of yellow light, and the southern sky suddenly lit up like lightning, and then there was a muffled thunderous sound one after another, followed by the sound of a train entering the sky, which was the terrifying sound of a 240mm cannonball flying through the air. The shells fell to the ground, and the whole of Grays Harbor shook. From a distance, the place where the shells fell was like a sudden volcanic eruption, and the column of smoke mixed with the light of the fire rose high and rushed up to a height of half a sky. Within the reach of the explosion, the buildings occupied by the Germans were like papier-mâché, and they were completely wiped out of the world in one fell swoop, leaving only a huge crater.

It was the 240mm heavy guns deployed by the U.S. military on Belle Island that fired, with a total of 12 guns, which is not much, but it was accurate!

Belle Island is located in the interior of Concepson Bay, more than twenty kilometers from the entrance to the bay and about 20 kilometers from Port Grayson, all within the effective range of 240mm artillery shells.

The Americans deployed 12 M2 240mm cannons there in order to block the entrance to the bay with fire and support operations on the west shore of Concepson Bay. Grace Harbor was originally their intended target, and they had already measured and calculated the Zhuyuan, and now they just had to play according to the Zhuyuan, which was naturally extremely accurate.

Fortunately, the 240mm cannon did not fire quickly, and the shells did not fall very densely, which gave the German paratroopers on the battlefield a chance to divert or simply jump into the huge craters to escape. But the huge shells that fell from time to time still shook the German troops attacking Grayshaven. All of them had a panicked look on their faces, as long as these American cannons were not destroyed, it was impossible for Graceport to be occupied by the Germans!

Not far away, near the Graysport airport, the German artillery was also roaring, there were 4 Schneider 1943 105mm mountain guns, 32 Brown M1943 120mm mortars, and more than a dozen captured 128mm and 90mm anti-aircraft guns, forming a considerable artillery group, and the fight was also very vigorous. German shells landed on the piers and beaches of Port Grace that were still under Allied control, sending out a dense and relatively small flash. It looks like the Allied defenders there won't be doing any better, and now they're probably suffering heavy losses. If the American heavy artillery on Bell Island can be suppressed, it should be no problem to occupy the whole of Grace Harbor.

Shipper turned around and shouted to Chief of Staff Cork, who had followed him up to the heights, "Let our men stop the attack and withdraw most of our troops from Grace Harbor...... Wait until dawn. ”

After dawn, Me264 and Br.810 with remotely controlled missile weapons will fly to Newfoundland to help in the battle, and Fokker 636 with rockets will follow. By that time, the Americans' 240mm cannons would not be arrogant.

Colonel Cork said to Shipper at this time: "Admiral, Major General Headert reported just now that the blocking group encountered an American armored division, and it was very hard, and I am afraid that it will not last for 24 hours." ”

Shipper frowned: "How long can it last?" ”

"At most," Mr. Shipper said, "if the Americans had been a little more resolute, they would have collapsed within an hour." ”

"What? An hour? The armored divisions of the Americans are so powerful? "Shipper is a general of the Airborne Forces, not a general of the Panzer Corps, and he has been in the headquarters since the beginning of the war, has never been on the battlefield, and does not know much about American armored divisions, and thinks that he is about the same as Soviet tank divisions.

"Of course," said Colonel Cork, who had a lot of combat experience and had studied the situation of American armored forces. "Their armored division is imitating us, and it is more mechanized than our armored division, and it also has heavy tanks similar to Tiger tanks, which are difficult to deal with."

Shipper felt that the matter was a bit serious, frowned and said, "The 102nd Commando, 103rd Commando, and 104th Commando Battalion must be transferred to Major General Headert." ”

Among the troops parachuted into Newfoundland were five air assault battalions, which were actually airborne composite battalions, and their combat effectiveness was very strong. Now three of the five battalions have followed the operation of Skorzny and have taken Port Carbonier and are currently clearing the area around Port Carbonier. Shipper was going to take out two of them, plus the 102nd Assault Battalion in his hands, and send them together to reinforce Heidt's blocking group.

"So there are 4 assault battalions, more than 100 E-25 and 4 tanks, which should be able to fight an American armored division," Shipper said. ”

"And what about Grace Harbor?" Colonel Cork asked.

"We can only stop the attack," Shipper said after a moment's thought, "and we will not be able to take the harbor unless we destroy the artillery on Belle Island...... Let's wait until dawn when the plane can take off. ”

……

The Americans' armored division had just suffered another small defeat, being ambushed by two dozen E-50 and No. 4H tanks next to a small, ice-floe lake, and a vanguard group dropped 19 destroyed tanks and tank destroyers and fled backwards in disarray.

Unlike the previous defeat of the American troops in the process of fighting and retreating, this ambush battle is a real victory. The US military not only left behind the wreckage of quite a few vehicles and the corpses of soldiers, but also drove back two or three kilometers.

Although the strong American forces were only temporarily driven back, the Germans seized the rare opportunity to pursue and clean up the battlefield.

"The French, will they use HHL anti-tank mines?" Brandt handed an HHL anti-tank mine, which looked a bit like a flashlight, to Mitterrand, who was following him.

"I don't know." Mitterrand shook his head.

"Just put it on the tank armor plate." Brandt took out another HHL anti-tank mine, then ran to a lying M-26 tank and placed the HHL anti-tank mine on the side of the tank on the armor plate. The head of this odd-looking anti-tank mine has 3 pairs of magnets that can be attached to the tank's armor.

Brandt said again: "Then pull the fuse again!" ”

With that, he jerked down the friction fuse on the anti-tank Regan, then ran a few steps quickly and fell to the ground. With a loud "boom", the M-26 tank, which was pierced by shells in the front, completely turned into a mass of burning scrap metal.

Brandt, who got up from the ground, walked up to Mitterrand, who was lying behind a damaged M4A3 tank, and asked, "Will it be used now?" ”

Seeing that the other party nodded, Brandt pointed to a backpack on the side of the tracks of this tank, "There are all HHL anti-tank mines in there, you used them to blow up all the tanks here." ”

"Okay, okay." Mitterrand didn't want to do this errand, but he didn't dare to say no to the vicious Nazi in front of him - just in the battle, he saw Ensign Brandt kill three brave American freedom fighters with an FG42 paratrooper rifle, which was so brutal.

"I'll leave it to you." Brandt gestured to another German paratrooper beside him. "You do it with him, and when you're done, go to the lake and wait for me."

After arranging for the tank to be blown up, Brandt and his twenty or so men continued the search - after a dozen or less than twenty hours of fighting, his platoon now consisted of only 23 men, including one Frenchman, Mitterrand. In addition to the heavy casualties, Brandt and his fighters were exhausted. If you count from the time they boarded the Fokker 42 transport plane, it has been almost 30 hours since they closed their eyes.

Although exhausted, Brandt and his men still had to carry out the task of clearing the battlefield.

Dense gunfire and artillery fire came from the front, as the Schwarzenegger group, which had pursued and defeated the retreating American armored forces, engaged the Americans. From the analysis of the sound of gunfire and artillery, it was still the German side that had the upper hand. But the resistance of the Americans is still fierce and advantageous! Brandt and the others continued to move forward for less than 10 minutes, and in the dark sky ahead, a burst of light suddenly flashed!

"Shelling! Hide! Brandt, who reacted very quickly on the battlefield, immediately reacted, jumped off the road ground with a shout, and then crawled on the cold ground. His soldiers were the same, looking for favorable terrain to hide. Before everyone could hide, the American shells were already whizzing and smashing to the ground. However, it was not Brandt who was bombed, but the Schwarzenegger cluster that was chasing the retreating American troops in front.

"Quick, retreat, get out of here!" Schwarzenegger was also paying attention to the artillery of the Americans all the way, and when he saw the fire in front of him, he immediately gave the order to retreat with the radio on the command car.

After less than a day of fighting with the Americans, what impressed him the most was probably the "artillery doctrine" of the United States. Perhaps the US Army was inferior in number to the Soviet Army, but it seems to have a higher level in terms of application. The artillery and infantry and tanks cooperate very closely (this is because the wireless communication technology in the United States is developed, walkie-talkies are distributed to platoons and even squads, and the company level can call for artillery support, and the fire is on call), and the fight is ruthless and accurate!

In contrast, although the Soviet artillery is quite numerous, it is relatively rigid to use, and the accuracy is not as good as that of the American army, and the coordination with infantry and tanks is even worse.

Obviously, in terms of artillery firepower, the German high command still underestimated the American troops.