The division is equipped with about 230 armored vehicles of various types [all of which are equipped with flamethrowers or machine guns, mortars and 75-mm cannons], and in summary, the division has great mobility and unparalleled firepower!

The 107th Division was supposed to be a German reserve armored unit, and Rommel gave an order, and they were hurriedly sent to the front before the training was over, and the Leopard tank had not even had time to paint the number on the turret. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Initially, the 107th Division was ordered to be transferred to the Eastern Front instead of the Western Front, but at that time, Führer Rommel had been arranging the Western Front to lure the enemy deeper, and they were transferred to the Western Front because of the strategic need to gather and annihilate.

Just in time for Operation Market Garden, on Monday, September 18, seventeen long military trains stopped at the Vienero station, and Colonel Tsaien stepped out of the train to look around, the whole station was empty, and the surroundings were very quiet.

There was a routine air raid that day, and all the station employees stayed at home and did not go to work. He had to rush to the headquarters of the army group, where he met General Weissman from the general staff of the army group.

He promised that the 107th Division would be supplied with sufficient fuel and would be thrown into battle as a unit, rather than one by one, and that was exactly what Cai En insisted on.

His insistence was not unreasonable, because the situation in the vicinity of Adthofen was already very dangerous and his division was the rescue, because Rommel concentrated most of his forces on the Maginot Line and the Ardennes Forest, and the German army in the Netherlands had less than one division, and all of them were World War II troops.

However, it took a long time for the equipment to be unloaded, and the 86th Army had to wait until all the equipment of his division was unloaded.

However, shortly after he spoke with Weisman, the commander of the Eighty-sixth Army, General Field, called and ordered him to advance "immediately" towards Edthofen, and Tsaien was furious with this stupid order, but there was nothing he could do, only a few Leopards and half-tracks were unloaded, and if he advanced rashly now, his division would be eaten by the enemy little by little, and he decided to ignore it for the time being and continue to wait for the equipment to be unloaded.

At the same time, due to the constant harassment of Allied aircraft, the work of unloading the equipment was intermittent and did not go well.

Later in the evening, Weisman personally called Zeon and ordered him to advance on Edthofen "immediately" and that there was no room for bargaining. Zein had no choice but to execute.

The target is a town named San, and since the road to Nijmegen passes right on the right side of the city and the bridge across the Wilhelmina Canal is the key, the order is simple: take and hold the city! In the Helmond area, the 21st Parachute Battalion, commanded by Hevis, was to be reinforced to the division.

In the early hours of the morning, the engines of the Leopard tank, the No. 4 assault gun and the half-track began to roar, and Tsai set off with his troops, only part of the division had so far been ready for battle, and the rest of the equipment was still being unloaded.

It was a peaceful morning, with a thin layer of mist in the air, and the countryside was stunning: scattered farmhouses dotted the endless fields and pastures, and birds singing in the woods. The war looks so far away from here, what a stark contrast! But soon the people were stunned by the loud sound of engines, and the Germans came.

The difference was that this time the Germans did not retreat to Germany on stolen bicycles or livestock, but marched in the opposite direction - Edthofen - to see what they were equipped with: tanks, rocket launchers and artillery! After a brief stop at the 107th Division in Helmond, the reinforced paratroopers climbed into tanks and marched with the 107th Division, and in the afternoon, the Germans reached Nuenen

It was a smooth march without any trouble. Thirsty and hungry, the German soldiers knocked on the doors of their inhabitants to beg for food and drink, while the residents of Nuenen realized that war had once again befallen them.

At the same time, the Allied operation "Market Garden" did not go well. After some Allied forces entered Belgium and advanced to the Dutch border, the British Second Army's Guards Tank Division engaged in a series of fierce battles with the Germans on the way to Edthofen.

Nine Sherman tanks were destroyed by German assault guns, 75mm anti-tank guns, and "Iron Fist Bazookas" in the fierce battle, and the Allies spent huge casualties to break these German blockades, and that night the British finally reached the south of Edthofen and rested there for a night, precious time quietly passing away.

The next morning the British tank units south of Edthofen were again delayed: some German reservists armed with 88-mm guns held the entire Thirtieth Army at bay for several hours.

Why didn't the 101st Airborne Division come to help? They had by this time liberated Edthofen and made radio contact with the British in the Thirtieth Legion, and no one knows why they did so little until now.

Thankfully, however, on September 19 the Allies finally made some progress, and a Bailey steel bridge was erected at Sang, allowing tanks and trucks of the Thirtieth Army to pass through to the north in order to rescue the British paratroopers in Nijmegen and Anheng.

There, the British were fighting fierce battles with the 9th and 10th Elite Panzer Divisions of the Second Panzer Army under the command of General Bitrich, as well as the Dutch SS troops, all of whom were veterans of the Eastern Front and had just fought the Battle of Normandy.

For the British Second Army, the bridge across the Wilhelmina Canal at Mulberry was the most important, and the British came with a beautiful quick assault: fifteen kilometers in an hour! The British tanks reached Hraf, near Nijmegen, and made contact with the 82nd Airborne Division,

But they came to a halt again - this time because they had to cross the 10th SS Panzer Division and the Vaal River.

Edthofen on September 19 became a sea of joy, the Germans were finally gone, the lovely Americans and the English came, the Dutch girls kissed the GIs, everything looked good, but the streets were crowded with people, and the traffic jams were consuming time little by little [I'm sure everyone has seen "Band of Brothers" and has a direct feeling about it].

The next night was a disaster: to everyone's surprise, German bombers bombed Edthofen. This was not a blind revenge, but had a clear tactical objective, that is, the ruins of Edthofen would force the British Second Army to spend more time passing through the city in order to delay its advance to Nijmegen and Anheng in the north.

The Germans at Sang were fighting the paratroopers of the US 101st Division, and they were told that a German tank unit would attack from the east, but nothing turned out. (To be continued.) )