The decisive battle against the Third Reich - #962 - Chapter 959 Shambher Island

“Continue the attack!” General Patton ordered: “You only have this one chance!”

“No, General!” Colonel Nathan refused to execute the order: “There is no point in attacking. Do you know what we need? We need a minesweeper!”

What Colonel Nathan said may make sense, because he does not know how many “mines” like before are in the river, and he also does not know whether the Germans are continuing to put supplementary “mines” into the river… If these factors exist, This means that no matter how many amphibious tanks are launched into the water, they will be bombed and sunk. Even if a few tanks are lucky enough to land on the other side, they will not be able to cause much impact on the German army.

This is also one of the functions of “mines”. It will intimidate the enemy like landmines. More importantly, this kind of psychological intimidation will make the enemy afraid to act rashly.

However, objectively speaking, Patton’s order was correct.

As commanders on the front line, Colonel Nathan and Colonel Torres considered more tactical issues. When the tactical attack encountered difficulties, they would naturally think that Patton was ordering them to do something meaningless when they were helpless. attack.

But in fact, Patton was thinking from a strategic direction… He had been worried about the German reinforcements.

If this opportunity to capture Chambier Island is lost today, then German reinforcements may enter Chambier Island.

To a certain extent, reinforcements may not be a big problem, because Allied fighter planes bombed traffic lines dozens of kilometers outside the Metz Fortress as early as the day, and night fighters also implemented blockades at night.

In this case, even if the Germans can reinforce the Metz Fortress, they will only be light infantry, and there will be no mechanized troops and armored troops that can pose a great threat to the US military.

What Patton is worried about is the German “controllable rocket”… Patton learned from the Soviets that the German “controllable rocket” weighs 11.7 kilograms, which is more than 20 kilograms. An infantryman can march with it on his back. The Germans only need to bring dozens of “controllable rockets” into the Metz Fortress to pose a serious threat to the 17th Armored Regiment in the middle.

Of course, “controllable rockets” can be suppressed. General Patton received this information from the Soviet Union: “Controllable rockets” require real-time control by the controller. During this period, he only needs to find the position of the controller and use firepower to suppress and interfere with it. , the hit rate of “Controllable Rockets” will be reduced in stages.

Thinking of this, General Patton ordered Colonel Nathan in an unquestionable tone: “I don’t care what your reasons are, execute the order, or you will come back and go to court-martial!”

With that said, General Patton hung up the phone.

Colonel Nathan on the other end of the phone was stunned for a moment and complained: “This guy is simply crazy. He regards us as a tool for him to fight for power with Montgomery!”

It can also be seen from this that the overt and covert fighting between Patton and Montgomery subtly had a negative impact on the Allies.

But after all, Colonel Nathan still had to carry out Patton’s order, but this time he chose to discuss the attack plan with Colonel Torres.

“We have to attack!” Colonel Nathan said: “The general may have his reasons, and we also have our difficulties. But, I just want to know, what should we do if we have to attack?”

“Sir!” Colonel Torres replied: “I don’t know if this method will work because I haven’t tried it!”

“God, by any means, say it!” said Colonel Nathan.

“We bomb the river!” Colonel Torres replied: “Use artillery, explosive charges, or even aerial bombs from airplanes. If there are German shells in the river, then they will be detonated or something else. I think This will cause some damage to the ‘mines’ they place in the water and reduce our losses!”

“Good idea!” Colonel Nathan nodded.

Then, Colonel Nathan immediately contacted the headquarters and asked them to send bombers to bomb the river.

“They have to drop bombs into the water!” Nathan said, “The more the better, and then we can attack!”

This is indeed a good idea, because the German “mines” on Chambord Island are fixed with ropes and connected with electrical wires. They will be thrown into the air during the fierce bombing to tear off the ropes or even die.

Just like now, more than a dozen bombers lined up in a long line and dived down from the sky with roaring sounds, and then one after another they dived towards the river and dropped their bombs… In the towering water columns, the German troops were stationed in the water. The “mine” was cleared.

German soldiers could detect this from the electrical wires connected to the simple “mines”.

“They are coming!” the baker shouted to the German soldiers behind him: “Anti-tank team, pay attention to the blind spots of the tanks! We can repel them once, and we can also repel them a second time!”

After a pause, the baker added: “The Americans are at the end of their game. Their transportation channels are blocked by us. Victory belongs to us!”

“Victory belongs to us!” the German soldiers responded in unison, and then prepared rocket launchers, anti-tank grenades, etc.

The battle started the moment the amphibious landing craft rushed up.

The amphibious landing ship is also a big trouble for the German army. The reason is that it has thickened steel plates on the front, and most of the German equipment and even machine guns cannot penetrate its front armor.

(Note: Due to the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles before the war, the German army’s machine gun caliber was only 7.92MM. Although the rate of fire was high, its penetration was not comparable to the 12.7MM caliber heavy machine guns of the United States and the Soviet Union.)

Fortunately, there is still a key problem with the amphibious landing craft, which is its weakness that has not been solved…if the tires are blown out, it will be unable to maneuver, and then German firepower will destroy it from the side.

After a while, destroyed U.S. amphibious landing ships were parked in front of the German defense line. U.S. infantrymen used the wreckage of the amphibious landing ships as cover to shout and fight back while building fortifications.

Under their cover, US tanks with tents slowly landed one after another, and then with the help of infantry, the tents were deflated to reveal the true form of the “Sherman” tank hiding inside.

Qin Chuan, Colonel Slain and others looked at the battle situation on Chambier Island with telescopes on Little Sorsey Island.

The island of Chambier was more than three kilometers away from the island of Petit Sourcy, and they could provide little reinforcements for it.

Whether they can block the offensive of the US armored forces only depends on them.