The decisive battle against the Third Reich - #930 - Chapter 927 Ambush

Major William was right, they were airborne troops.

The difference between airborne troops and other troops is that their mission is one-way… it is impossible to jump back into the plane after jumping out of the plane.

In other words, there is only one way for the airborne troops to complete their mission and wait to meet friendly forces. Otherwise, they will only be surrounded by the enemy or annihilated.

In fact, the airborne troops were surrounded by the enemy from the moment they landed. The problem was that the Allied airborne forces were large in scale. They believed that their forces were enough to defeat the German army in the Netherlands and occupy the main transportation routes.

Of course, this is just “think”.

Thinking of this, Major General Redrick ordered: “Act as planned!”

“Yes, sir!” Major William responded and conveyed the order.

The 1st Parachute Brigade has three battalions, namely the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Parachute Battalions.

Because it is the main offensive force, the 1st Parachute Brigade also strengthened the 11th Airborne Battalion… The Airborne Battalion is also a glider airborne unit. Because it is airborne, it can carry some jeeps, mortars and even howitzers. Class equipment, these are definitely heavy weapons for paratroopers.

The British army has the 1st Parachute Battalion in the front, the C and D companies of the 2nd Battalion on the left, A and B companies on the right, the 3rd Parachute Battalion as the reserve, and the 11th Airborne Battalion in the rear along the road. Attack on Arnhem Bridge.

The first one to start was the 11th Airborne Battalion. They quickly set up mortars on a hill about two miles away from the bridge, and then fired a barrage of shells at the German troops stationed at the bridge… This can be regarded as artillery preparation or Suppressed, although there is a big gap compared with the Allied forces’ usual artillery preparations, it is still a luxury for the airborne troops.

Then the 1st Paratrooper Battalion took the lead in launching an attack on the bridgehead where the German troops were stationed.

The German army’s firepower was very fierce, repelling the 1st Parachute Battalion’s charges several times. The 1st Parachute Battalion suffered heavy casualties in just ten minutes of fighting.

But this made Major General Redrick feel a little relieved… The Germans did not have an ambush, otherwise an ambush would have appeared by now.

What Major General Redrick didn’t expect was that on the south side of the Arnhem Bridge, Qin Chuan was observing all this with a telescope in the jungle.

He could tell from the British army’s battle sequence that the British army was ready to retreat at any time… There was only one paratrooper battalion in the front and the main attack, and the other three paratrooper battalions were covering or following up in the rear.

This shows that the British commander is a cautious person, or he saw something.

Therefore, Qinchuan immediately asked Eberhard to order the armored troops to stand still.

After a while, the British army was indeed fooled.

Major General Redrick loudly ordered over the walkie-talkie: “The Second Paratrooper Battalion will follow and quickly occupy the northern section of the bridge. The Third Paratrooper Battalion will pass through the bridge and attack to the south. Be careful, the Germans must not blow up the bridge!”

“Yes, sir!”

…

Several battalion commanders responded and immediately directed their troops to launch a storming attack on the bridge.

The battle situation did not surprise Major General Redrick. After an all-out attack, the German troops in the northern section of the bridge quickly turned around and retreated due to the disparity in strength. Several bunkers at the head of the bridge were also destroyed by the British army using “Bazooka” rocket launchers.

Just when Major General Redrick thought that the troops would soon occupy the bridge, a creepy motor sound suddenly came from behind him… Major General Redrick was very familiar with this sound. It was the tank that the paratroopers were most worried about encountering. , and the deep and powerful sound of the motor seems to be that of a heavy tank.

“God!” Major General Redrick turned around to look for the source of the motor sound, but there was nothing except a few shabby houses that had been knocked upside down by the bombing.

But the sound of the motor is real, getting louder and more numerous.

Then Major General Redrick understood…this was indeed a trap.

At that moment, Major General Redrick felt cold all over his body, and his head felt dizzy, and he almost fell down at his command post.

But Major General Redrick knew that he could not fall. The next second, he grabbed the microphone and shouted with all his strength: “Retreat, this is a trap… Retreat immediately!”

But it was already too late. With a rumble, five tanks rushed out of the dilapidated wooden house.

Major General Redrick’s guess was correct. They were indeed heavy tanks, and they were “Tiger” tanks that made the Allies fearful.

Five tanks drove onto the road one after another, pointing their dark gun barrels at the stunned British soldiers of the 11th Airborne Battalion, and then “boomed” with a burst of artillery, and the forced soldiers of the 11th Airborne Battalion were fired. Artillery pieces, jeeps, and three howitzers were blown up and down.

Then the machine gun rang out quickly. It was the “Tiger” directional machine gun. A flurry of bullets flew towards the British soldiers with a whistling sound, beating them to the point of being turned upside down and miserable.

The hiding of tanks is a big problem for the German army, because as mentioned before, the Netherlands is a country with a very low average altitude. Any hole dug will be filled with water. Tanks, especially “Tiger” tanks, are almost impossible to dig holes. way to hide.

In this case, it can only be hidden by ground buildings.

But it is also not easy, because the British army will definitely send scouts to conduct reconnaissance, and it is impossible for them to miss a few “Tiger” tanks in the building.

Unless…these buildings were collapsed buildings, they couldn’t scout them.

Therefore, Qinchuan faked several buildings in the north of the bridge that had been bombed by Allied fighter jets and bombers.

In order to make them look more realistic, Qinchuan even had people sprinkle some blood around the buildings to make it look like the Germans were relying on these buildings to fight Allied fighter planes and were eventually bombed and destroyed.

The blackened charcoal, the still smoking wood, and the remaining red walls… everything looked so realistic that the British were completely deceived by this illusion.

As a result, five “Tiger” vehicles suddenly appeared next to them.

In fact, there were actually six “Tiger” tanks. One of them had an engine failure and was trapped inside, unable to move. The tank crew could only stay in the tank and stare, unable to do anything.

The driver inside was so angry that he stamped his feet. In his words, there was a lot of delicious food in front of us, but we could only watch others eat it.

The commander even wanted to let the “Tiger” gun tank rotate a few times to break free from the camouflage on it and join the battle, but finally gave up… The “Tiger” was expensive equipment, and he did not dare to take risks with this method. , otherwise this may be the last time the commander commands the “Tiger”.

The situation on the other side of the bridge was similar. When the British army was attacking the other side of the bridge with all their strength, several tanks suddenly appeared in front of them with the sound of “clack, clack, clack” tracks, and a large number of infantry followed behind them.