The decisive battle against the Third Reich - #931 - Chapter 928 Village

The panicked British army used all the equipment they had at hand to shoot at these tanks… grenades, submachine guns, and rocket launchers.

But all the efforts were in vain, and the “Tiger” was still slowly approaching them with the infantry.

Among them, the rocket launcher might still be a threat to the “Tiger”. In history, the US military actually used the “Bazooka” rocket launcher to destroy the “Tiger” in the Battle of Sicily, but it was later discovered that the rocket launcher happened to hit the observation hole of the “Tiger”.

“Retreat!” Colonel Stephen, who was in charge of commanding the troops to attack, shouted. He decisively gave up the mission when he saw the “Tiger” because he knew that the mission of occupying the bridge was simply a joke in front of the “Tiger”.

“These damn intelligence officers!” Colonel Stephen cursed as he led his troops to retreat: “They told us that there were no enemy armored forces here and then threw us here…” Colonel Stephen was stunned halfway through his curse, because he saw that the road behind him had been blocked by five “Tiger” tanks at some point, and the 11th Airborne Battalion, which was responsible for the rear, had been beaten terribly… Originally, Stephen hoped that the 11th Airborne Battalion could use their firepower to cover the troops’ retreat. Looking at the surrounding terrain, it was empty. Although Stephen knew that the German “Tiger” could not catch up because of the soft geology, almost everything within sight was within the range of the “Tiger” machine guns and artillery fire. After thinking for a while, Colonel Stephen ordered: “Surrender, boys!”

“But Colonel…”

“Follow the order!” Colonel Stephen said: “If you still want to see your family, raise your hands. There is no point in fighting anymore!”

After a pause, Colonel Stephen shouted: “Quick, white flag! Tell them we surrender…”

Colonel Stephen’s behavior does not seem to be in line with the identity of a soldier, especially since he is a colonel.

But in fact, his choice is rational, because the battle situation is indeed as he said, and there is no point in fighting anymore.

Major General Redrick is still unwilling.

On the one hand, he still has a chance to escape… This is determined by his relatively backward position.

On the other hand, Major General Redrick believes that he should warn the 2nd Paratrooper Brigade and even others who are stationed in place of this news, otherwise they will attack the targets like the 1st Paratrooper Brigade, and these targets are actually traps, and even their traps are the same…using collapsed buildings to hide tanks.

Major General Redrick guessed correctly. The traps set by the Germans in all directions were indeed the same, because there was no other camouflage method in the Netherlands except for similar methods.

But this does not mean that these traps are ineffective, because the Allies did not have time to warn others after discovering these traps.

Redrick hoped to do this, so he led his troops to retreat in the direction of the 2nd Paratrooper Brigade.

The 1st Paratrooper Division is indeed an elite force of the British Army. Although they knew it was useless, they still used their rifles and machine guns to shoot at the German tanks in order to cover the commander’s retreat.

A guard drove a jeep in the chaos and stopped in front of General Redrick. After Redrick got in the car, he stepped on the accelerator and sped away from the tank… The guard driving the jeep had good driving skills, sometimes zigzagging left and sometimes right to make the tank unable to aim.

But the guards obviously underestimated the quality of the German tank crews… Those who can drive the “Tiger” tanks are veterans who have been through many battles, especially the 21st Armored Division. They certainly have ways to deal with this kind of “zigzag” escape.

A tank slowly adjusted its turret. This was the gunner estimating the approximate position where the jeep would pass next, and then aiming the muzzle at this position in advance and waiting for the target to enter his firing range.

People always have a kind of inertia. They will do the same repetitive actions subconsciously, especially in tense battlefield situations.

This makes the direction of the jeep not untraceable.

Sure enough, a few seconds later, the jeep crashed into the sight of the tank gun, and the tank fired a shell with a “bang”… The shell rotated at high speed and headed straight for the jeep. With a violent explosion, the jeep was torn into pieces before it was blown up.

The British soldiers looked at the jeep that turned into a ball of fire and then fell heavily from the air, and soon fell into despair.

The British 1st Paratrooper Brigade, the main force of the 1st Paratrooper Division, which was called the “Red Devils” because of its bravery in fighting with red berets, collapsed in less than an hour of fighting.

The north bank of the Arnhem Bridge was full of British soldiers’ bodies, as well as piles of wounded soldiers who surrendered and screamed with broken hands and feet… The brigade had more than 3,000 people, except for a small number of stragglers who escaped, most of them were killed or captured at the Arnhem Bridge.

However, this was just the beginning.

Colonel Selter, the commander of the 2nd Paratrooper Brigade, was ordered to garrison 10 kilometers north of the Arnhem Bridge. Their mission was to receive the second batch of airborne supplies and assemble the subsequent paratroopers.

But…

“Fuck you!” Colonel Selter cursed at the water in the pit after digging a few foxholes: “No one told us this would happen!”

This was a mistake that should not have been made, because any Dutchman or even anyone who had been to the Netherlands knew this.

But Montgomery was too eager to launch this attack; as he said, “it had to be quick, or the opportunity would slip away.”

Montgomery was even more worried that German armored forces would be stationed in the Netherlands, which would make it impossible to implement the entire plan, and Britain would also lose this opportunity to attack Germany.

Therefore, they didn’t even know that the terrain here was not suitable for building fortifications.

“Maybe we should find a higher place!” Colonel Selter said to the staff: “At least we don’t have to be here! Otherwise, we will have to fight the enemy in the water!”

The staff officer agreed: “The water will slow down our movement. This is indeed not an ideal position!”

“Colonel!” At this time, a soldier shouted to Selter: “Germans, they are coming!”

Selt hurriedly bent over and ran for a while, then lowered his body and raised his binoculars to look in the direction of the soldier’s shout…

“Damn it!” Selter cursed: “There are at least two battalions of Germans, and what’s worse is that they have armored vehicles!”

Paratroopers are only equipped with light weapons, and it is difficult for them to penetrate the armor of armored vehicles.

After looking at the direction of the German army, Selter asked: “Is there any place behind us that we can defend?”

“A village, Colonel!” the staff officer replied, “two miles away from us!”