Student was not in a good mood, and as soon as he landed on Dutch territory with the glider, he received news of the heavy losses of troops in various regions from the radio he carried.

Due to the interference of anti-aircraft fire, a Ju-52 transport plane made a mistake when delivering paratroopers, and 12 heavily armed German paratroopers were thrown out of the cabin in a daze, only to find that they had fallen in the direction of an aircraft warehouse destroyed by the first German bomber, where a raging fire was burning - these German paratroopers slowly fell into hell in despair, and they looked at their feet in horror, listening to the wind and parachutes to lead them to the scorching core.

With this mistake alone, the German paratroopers paid the price of 12 killed, not counting the casualties caused by the fierce return fire of the surrounding Dutch defenders.

Most of the paratroopers landed on the edge of the airfield, where they quickly began their offensive. When the first Ju-52 transport aircraft loaded with infantry arrived, the battle was raging. Overhead, a German FW-190D fighter had just smashed a British dreadnought to pieces. On this day, 93 of the 125 Dutch fighters were shot down by the Luftwaffe, and the battle was painted on the fuselage of the German ace fighter pilot.

These German planes ventured to force their landing at the airfield, and the roar of Dutch anti-aircraft guns echoed under their feet. The first Ju-52 landed safely, while the second was hit by anti-aircraft guns, instantly turned into fragments and fireballs, and fell to the ground emitting billowing smoke.

About an hour later, almost 100 Ju-52 transport planes carrying three infantry battalions and a total of 1,200 heavily armed soldiers landed at Valhawin Airport. Units of one of the battalions began to pass through the streets of the suburbs of Rotterdam, moving north. The task of these airborne infantry was to reinforce the German paratroopers who had crossed the Neumass River in the center of the city and captured the Williams Bridge.

The German paratroopers attacked in an unbelievable way, arriving at their destination in an old-fashioned seaplane, where they took advantage of the fog and relied on the old Henkel 59 seaplane (one of the early Wehrmacht contraband) to head downstream, intending to dock before the Dutch defenders spotted them.

The German soldiers on the plane quickly inflated the raft and rowed to the shore with manpower. Once ashore, they built improvised fortifications on both banks, machine-gun strongholds to guard the Williams Bridge, and a small pontoon bridge to the island in the middle of the river.

It is surprising that at first these German paratroopers did not meet resistance as invaders. The Dutch who passed the Williams Bridge to work thought that the seaplanes were British, and some well-meaning Dutch citizens stepped forward to help the German soldiers carry supplies to the river beach.

However, the Dutch realized that they had been invaded and began a fierce counterattack. The German paratroopers took refuge behind the piers and in nearby houses, stubbornly holding back the Dutch attack. The Germans were few in number, but they were highly motivated and well-armed, and they held out where they were vulnerable to attacks from both sides, and only a few people were confused about whether they could hold out.

The Dutch defenders stormed the German positions from all directions, but the Germans relied on superior firepower to return fire, and the MP-44 assault rifle and G43 semi-automatic rifle were obviously more suitable for the current situation than the bolt rifles of the Dutch defenders, so although three or four German soldiers were killed, the Dutch also left behind more than two dozen corpses.

Suddenly, a city tram rang its bell and slammed into the south side of the bridge. In the stunned eyes of the Dutch, 70 heavily armed German soldiers jumped out of the tram and the cars that followed. The soldiers were a company commanded by Lieutenant Kefin of the Airborne Forces.

Kefen's paratroopers were parachuted to the ground in a soccer field on the south bank, landed and occupied surrounding buildings, then forcibly requisitioned the city's streetcars and several cars. They drove the stunned Dutch civilians out of their cars and drove straight to the bridge.

The German paratroopers who arrived to support occupied the southern end of the bridge, while others ran across the bridge at full speed to support their comrades, who were already on the verge of collapse. The frenzied fire of the Dutch resisters cut off the infantry battalion that had arrived from the Valhawin airfield. They were pinned down on both sides of the road by artillery fire, and were unable to support the German paratroopers on the northern section of the Williams Bridge as planned.

The Dutch did not sit at home and be beaten, on the contrary, they were much better than the Polish army. All weapons and equipment seem to have taken part in the battle for the Williams Bridge near Rotterdam. Soon, a Dutch patrol boat and a torpedo boat arrived at the Nueva Maas, and the Dutch on board bombarded the German bridgehead positions with small-caliber cannons, frantically destroying the seaplanes that were parked on the water.

However, the two ships soon ran out of ammunition and were forced to leave the area where the heavy fighting was raging. Then the Dutch brought in an even more ruthless role: a destroyer and two gunboats drove from the berth of the Dutch headland to the narrow water. The ships were ordered to shell the Valhavin airfield and attack the German field artillery and large-caliber mortar units that were landing there.

But this time the Luftwaffe appeared in time to save the airborne troops from the impending disaster - 20 Stuka dive bombers came to the skies over Rotterdam and began to cover the German paratroopers to clear the surrounding Dutch army targets. The destroyers of the Dutch Navy were forced to leave, because the Luftwaffe would surely sink the destroyer as soon as it spotted the destroyer that opened its guns. The Dutch fleet did not want to confront the bombers in the narrow waters, so they had to flee in a hurry, without even having time to fire a shot.

Most of the Dutch resistance that day was wolfless. German paratroopers seemed to be everywhere, blocking roads, capturing fortresses, controlling bridges and railways, and sniping Dutch soldiers in unexpected places. German paratroopers were rumored to be disguised as policemen, priests and even nuns, and the Dutch defenders were overwhelmed by this information. The whole of Holland was burning, and this kind of war left the defending side confused, and they did not know how to effectively defend and counterattack.

This was a ploy by General Steward. He had some transport planes empty the fake paratroopers in the villages of the Netherlands and elsewhere. Dressed in the worn uniforms of paratroopers and equipped with improvised incendiary devices, the scarecrows set fire to chaos and caused the Dutch commanders to overestimate the size of the German airborne forces.

The battle reached a fever pitch a few hours later. The Dutch defenders finally found their real threat by late evening. In order to cooperate with the British forces in their defense and counterattack, they thought that they had to recapture the Dordrecht fortress bridge, which was located between Rotterdam and Muldijk. So they made the most frantic counterattack against the German paratroopers here.

Here the German paratroopers parachuted two companies of troops, which, with their favorable terrain and advanced weaponry, repelled one attack after another by the Dutch. But the price was almost unacceptable: a German company commander was killed in battle, and more than 30 German paratroopers were killed here.

And in the end, the Dutch, by virtue of their numerical superiority, recaptured one side of the bridgehead, and they drove the Germans away from the side of the railway bridge and occupied a few improvised positions, but the Dutch attacking forces were not ordered to destroy the bridge, and could only risk maintaining this situation of confrontation across the bridge.

The news reached Student's ears via the radio in Guò, where he landed with the Airborne Infantry in Valhavin and established his operational command at a nearby school. He stood on the podium and began to assign tasks one by one, gathering the paratroopers that were everywhere - while his operational staff and officers sat on benches, surrounding him like a group of over-age repeaters.

"How many reserves do we have?" Studentt asked, staring at the map in his hand, to one of the nearest commanders, "to be ready for immediate combat now." ”

"General, we have a battalion of garrisons nearby, but if they are used, then the defense of the airfield will have to be done only by the remaining two companies - this is very dangerous. The officer immediately stood up and replied.

Student covered his mouth with his hand and thought for a while, but finally made up his mind to take a gamble: "War itself is the greatest adventure, and there are not so many ways to pick and choose the best of both worlds." ”

He glanced at the officer: "Take the battalion at once, and rush to Dordrecht! Hold out there until we come! Take all the ammunition you can with you! I won't have any troops to reinforce you until to-morrow night." ”

"Yes!General!Promise to complete the mission!" The officer saluted and hurried out of the headquarters with a few of his men.

It was a gamble, and now with only two companies of soldiers to defend the important Valhavin airfield, including his own guards, the next day he had reinforcements and supplies. The airfield was full of Ju-52 transport planes that had not had time to fly back to Germany, and if something went wrong, the Luftwaffe would suffer heavy losses.

By night, he had ventured to recapture his position by sending reinforcements from the Dordrecht area, and the news had eased some of the tension in Student, and now his only concern was whether the Dutch defenders would attack his Valhavin airfield. The night was destined for the German paratroopers in the Netherlands, and no one slept.

And the other man who could not sleep because he was too nervous, far away in the stone fort in Germany, Accardo had insomnia, he stared at the battle map until dawn, and even when Anna came in to persuade him, he did not say a word. This is a big gamble, betting on the fate of a country and a nation.