The decisive battle against the Third Reich - #933 - Chapter 930 Garden

I’m on holiday, so I’ll try to update five times tomorrow. I don’t know if it can be done, because it requires an adaptation process to restore the state of the fifth watch. Of course, if you have a monthly pass, the soldier’s status will recover quickly.

There is no doubt that the British 1st Parachute Division suffered heavy casualties. On the first day of the battle, the British 1st Parachute Division lost two-thirds of its strength, with only more than 3,000 people remaining from more than 10,000 people. Most of them were blown away by the wind while parachuting and did not have time to join the main force.

Similarly, the U.S. 11th and 17th Parachute Divisions were not much better, especially the 11th Parachute Division. They parachuted to the Rhine River, but were surrounded by German mechanized troops and fought on the river bank. Many U.S. soldiers abandoned their equipment. Escape by swimming across the Rhine.

These are not problems. As mentioned before, it is normal for paratroopers to be surrounded by the enemy. It is still strategically significant for them to persist in fighting when they are surrounded, even if they suffer heavy losses. For example, they can delay the enemy’s strength or influence German transport and more.

The problem was Operation Garden within Operation Market Garden.

In this plan formulated by Montgomery, although Operation “Market”, that is, parachute operations, is difficult, Operation “Garden” is the focus… In principle, parachute drops serve the purpose of Operation “Garden”, which is the offensive of ground troops. .

Operation “Garden” was carried out by the British 2nd Army, which was responsible for crossing the Ardennes area to contact the Allied airborne troops.

According to Montgomery’s original plan, the British 2nd Army would use the British Guards Armored Division as the forward and charge along Route 69. The infantry and follow-up troops would follow up and attack the Ardennes area with the US 17th Airborne Division.

In this way, it is expected to be able to rendezvous with the US 17th Airborne Division on the second day of the operation, and arrive at the defense area of ​​the US 11th Airborne Division on the fourth day of the operation at the latest, and then after arriving at the defense area of ​​the British 1st Airborne Division , the US and British airborne troops will accompany the Guards Armored Division’s offensive to quickly break through the German hinterland from the Arnhem bridgehead.

But first, the US 17th Airborne Division was surrounded by the Germans after landing and suffered heavy casualties. The US 17th Airborne Division was in a state of self-protection throughout the battle and was unable to cooperate with the British 2nd Army to attack the Ardennes area.

As a result, the British 2nd Army was blocked by the Ardennes area stationed by the German 2nd SS Armored Division, the 719th Infantry Division and the 84th Infantry Division and was unable to move… In terms of strength, the British 2nd Army had nearly 100,000 men. The German army only had more than 30,000 troops, and the British army obviously had a clear advantage.

But as mentioned before, the Ardennes area is not suitable for mechanized troop operations, and the German army has been equipped with a large number of STG44s. Its firepower of 30,000 people is not much weaker than that of the British army of 100,000 people. It can even be used frequently in jungle operations. leading.

Intelligence about the battle situation on the front line reached Montgomery’s command headquarters, and beads of sweat immediately dripped from Montgomery’s forehead.

If it was an accident that the Allied airborne troops suffered heavy casualties when surrounded by the Germans, then it would be a nightmare for the Allies if the British 2nd Army could not break through the Ardennes area.

The reason is simple. All the paratroopers airdropped to the Netherlands by the Allied forces, their hope of survival was based on the British 2nd Army being able to break through the enemy’s defense lines.

Otherwise, those airborne troops can only be slowly eaten up by the German army.

That was 34,600 Allied soldiers, and they were all elites. Montgomery just threw them into the enemy’s encirclement… This was simply letting them die.

So there is no doubt that if this comes true, the British army can indeed shock the world with this battle, but it will not be a victory but a disastrous defeat.

“Do we still have airborne troops?” Montgomery asked.

“Your Majesty Marshal!” the staff officer replied: “We do still have an airborne brigade as a reserve force, but…”

Montgomery knew what the staff officer meant by “but.”

If the German army had a large number of armored forces in the Netherlands, it would not make much sense to put airborne troops into the theater, because the point is that they have no equipment to deal with tanks.

“We need a force to flank the Ardennes area!” Montgomery said: “Only in this way can the 2nd Army break through and get in touch with the airborne troops!”

“Your Excellency, Marshal!” the staff officer objected: “The Second Army is attacking along Highway 69, which means that our strategic target has been exposed, and the Germans will definitely be prepared!”

Montgomery couldn’t help but nodded after hearing this.

Although he didn’t want to admit it, his reason told him that what the staff said was reasonable. In this case, no matter how many airborne troops were invested, there would be no return.

“Your Majesty Marshal!” After thinking about it, the staff officer suggested: “Why don’t we bomb the German Ruhr Industrial Zone? On the one hand, this will hinder the Germans from transporting supplies, and on the other hand… we can release the Ruhr Industrial Area False news of a large-scale airborne landing in the area forced the Germans to return to the Ruhr area!”

“Good idea!” Montgomery nodded and said: “The Germans don’t know that we no longer have airborne troops available!”

“Yes!” That’s what the staff officer meant.

Therefore, Montgomery immediately called Eisenhower, hoping that the US bomber brigade could cooperate with the British army’s operations.

At this time, Eisenhower certainly knew that the war situation was not good, but although he was dissatisfied with Montgomery’s various mistakes in this battle, he still chose to support him… Eisenhower was the Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces, and he had to do What is important is to try to coordinate the British and American forces to win victory instead of complaining.

A few hours later, a formation of 50 B17 bombers flew towards the Ruhr Industrial Area in Germany… This was the bomber Eisenhower had tried his best to mobilize.

The reason is that all airports are occupied due to Operation Market Garden, and there are C47 transport aircraft preparing for the second airdrop of supplies everywhere, some of which are also equipped with gliders.

Leading this bomber formation was Colonel Roy of the US Army, who had piloted bombers to bomb enemy targets dozens of times in Africa.

But sometimes experience has two sides… Because according to Colonel Roy’s experience, as long as the B17 flies at an altitude of 10,000 meters, the Germans have nothing to threaten them.

For this reason, Colonel Roy also joked to his subordinates on the walkie-talkie: “Hey, gentlemen, do you know how important this mission is? We are bombing the German industrial area. Do you know what this means?”

After a pause, Colonel Roy continued: “This means that if we do a good job, the Germans will have no weapons to use!”

Roy’s men all responded, “Wow, does this mean…we might be the ones to end the war?”

“It’s possible!” Colonel Roy replied: “If you accidentally destroy their ammunition depot or the entire tank factory!”

The soldiers couldn’t help laughing.

Roy and his men were completely unaware that the German radar station had captured their fleet.