Chapter 1199 Landing in North America 15

Flare after flare fell from the sky, illuminating the sky west of Cartwright Fishing Port, which was occupied by the "Prince Friedrich's Infantry Regiment of the British Royal Army Hanover". Above this pale sky, hundreds of C-47 transport planes were circling and roaring. The light and the roar reached the Cartwright Fishing Port, alarming the White Russian officers and soldiers who were resting - they had been quite lucky in the past two days. Because the strategy of pretending to be the British army worked, there was no fierce exchange of fire in the Cartwright area. The officers and soldiers of the British (Canadian) Second Independent Paratrooper Brigade had no energy to attack at all, and they withdrew to Paradise River after firing a few shots. The Canadian army, which was fine, showed the momentum of the Italians.

The next two days, the 21st and 22nd, were also peaceful, and the British troops in the Paradise River area did not even send reconnaissance troops to the east. Just when Reinhardt and Ribbentrop Jr., who was later in charge of commanding a regiment-level group, thought that they would not experience a hard battle in Labrador, a place where no one lives, the American paratroopers arrived.

"Damn it, it's the paratroopers!" When Ribbentrop Jr. and Reinhardt came out of the hidden command post, they saw the parachute flowers illuminated by flares at a glance.

"And there are a lot of them! Very many..." Reinhardt was also shocked by the momentum of the airborne in front of him.

He and Ribbentrop Jr. never thought that the enemy would actually use a large-scale airdrop to send troops to the Labrador battlefield where transportation is extremely inconvenient. Looking at the current momentum, the airdropped troops are probably only 20,000, right? This is the scale of nearly 2 divisions. It's easy to drop so many people from the sky, but it's difficult to maintain their high-intensity combat along the coast of Labrador.

It's at least 1,000 kilometers away from Quebec (Quebec City) and Maine, USA, and there are no railways or roads available. All logistical supplies must be transported by air or airdropped, so how many transport planes will be needed to deliver them?

"It seems that we have a war to fight!" Reinhardt, a newcomer on the battlefield, said to Ribbentrop in an excited tone.

But the latter seemed a little solemn, nodded and said: "There is a big battle... Reinhardt, go to the headquarters and send a telegram to tell them about the US airdrop. I hope the superiors have been prepared for this situation, otherwise we will be miserable."

At this moment, to the east of Cartwright Fishing Port, on the sea near Hare Bay, which has been completely controlled by the White Russian and Finnish troops. Although it was late at night, the transfer and beach operations were still in progress. The Bremen and Europa, which were bombed a few days ago, entered Hare Bay and anchored near the beach, using the searchlights on the ship to illuminate the surrounding water as if it were daytime. With the help of searchlights, the cranes on the decks of the two amphibious assault ships were constantly lifting vehicles and supplies from the ships to the landing craft on the water, and then transported them to the beach by the landing craft.

In addition to these two giant ships of more than 40,000 tons, there were two tank landing ships with a displacement of several thousand tons on the beach of Hare Bay. The bow hatches had been lowered, and a large number of soldiers were transporting boxes of supplies and ammunition from the tank landing ships like water, loading them onto the trucks next to them and transporting them away.

While the beach was still busy unloading, the nearby sky and sea shrouded in darkness flashed with balls of fire from time to time, streaking chains of fire, accompanied by loud rumbling and rumbling noises.

A fierce sea and air battle is now underway!

Since the European coalition landed in Hare Bay in Labrador, the US Air Force stationed in Newfoundland has sent aircraft to carry out air strikes during the day and at night. On the night of the 23rd, it was not only the American air force that came, but also several destroyers with an unknown number of PT torpedo boats arrived near Hare Bay, and were now exchanging fire with the German destroyers and S-100 torpedo boats guarding there.

At the same time, fierce fighting broke out in the air. Three squadrons of He219 "Owl" night fighters flew from Nuuk Airport in Greenland. Although the number was small, it also caused considerable damage to the American medium and heavy bombers that came to drop "bat" bombs. However, "bat" bombs still fell on the flight decks of the Bremen and Europa, and huge fireballs exploded from time to time. Although it would not cause major damage to the huge amphibious assault ship, it still greatly affected the transfer and beach operations.

In the bridge of the Bremen, Admiral Burchardy, the commander of the landing fleet, and Rear Admiral Xue Allen, the commander of the landing force, both seemed very anxious at this time. It was not because of the fierce fighting at sea and in the air that they were anxious, but because they had just received a report that the US military was making a large-scale airborne landing.

This is really unexpected news! At least the two of them were not mentally prepared at all!

The landing in Labrador was just a feint, so not many troops were deployed, only two brigades. And the commander of this landing operation was a rear admiral, who had no idea how to fight on land?

As for the commanders of the two brigades that had already landed, they were only colonels in the army and colonels in the SS. And they were not commanding the reliable German army, but the Russian and Finnish army, so their combat effectiveness was still quite doubtful.

So after learning about the large-scale airborne landing of the US military, Rear Admiral Xue Allen immediately sent an urgent telegram to the Marine Corps Command for help.

And their urgent telegram soon turned into a harsh phone ring, waking up the Imperial Marshal Hessman who was sleeping with Chloe in his arms.

"Robert, what did you say?" When Hersman picked up the phone receiver, the early morning sunlight had already shined through the thin curtains into his and Chloe's bedroom - because of the time difference between Germany and North America, now It was already early morning on April 24th.

"Ludwig, the Americans have invested a large number of airborne troops in Labrador, about 2 divisions."

"Two divisions?" Hersman sat up from the bed and woke up his wife Chloe beside him. Chloe knew that her husband had military duties, so she didn't say anything. She just kissed Hersman on the cheek, put on her pajamas and went to the bathroom to wash up.

"There are at least two divisions, all airborne." Marshal Gram said on the phone. "If you include the Canadian troops in the Paradise River area, the total strength is probably close to three airborne divisions."

"This is a good thing!" Hessman immediately made a judgment. "The Americans must transport a large amount of supplies, equipment and ammunition to the three divisions, and also dispatch fighter planes to cover their actions. This will make Newfoundland The already insufficient aviation force on board has become even more tense!”

"But our troops are also under great pressure. We only have two brigades there, and they are all foreign troops."

"There will be reinforcements," Hersmann said. "The SS England and SS Scotland are in Iceland. I will send them to Canada immediately."

The SS England and SS Scotland were both units composed of volunteers from the Fascist Party in the UK. Because he was loyal to Adolf Hitler, he was not included in the establishment of the British Royal Army and could be used for the Canadian expedition.

According to the plan, these two authentic British teams would be used for the occupation of Newfoundland, and if possible, they would be used as the vanguard of the march into the Canadian hinterland.

"Okay." Marshal Graham agreed to Hessman's arrangement. "Now we still need a commander who can command these landing forces... I don't think Rear Admiral Xue Allen can do this."

Rear Admiral Xue Ailun is an expert in landing warfare. His professional knowledge only reaches the beach, and he does not know how to fight a land battle.

"That's right," Hessman thought for a moment, "I will find a famous general for the landing force."

"Famous general?" Gram asked, "What kind of famous general?"

Hessmann already had a candidate in mind, "How about Alexander?"

"Alexander?" Graeme was stunned, "Alexander Lyle or Alexander von Falkenhausen?"

"It's Marshal Harold Alexander," Hessman replied.

"What? That British Marshal?" Marshal Graham looked very surprised.

"Yes, that's him!" Hersman said with a smile, "Who else is more suitable than him? All the British troops in Canada know him, right?"

The idea of ​​using a British marshal to be the nominal commander-in-chief of the European Expeditionary Force in Canada had already been proposed when the "Fort Gotch Plan" was being formulated. Of course, the German General Staff did not want the British marshal to actually take power, but wanted him to face the flag. This will at least make the British army in Canada lose their fighting spirit - it should be unrealistic for Canadians to fight against the Queen's army for the United States.

As for the general candidate to actually command, Hessmann had already thought about it, which was General Rommel, who until now was not qualified to be a marshal.

"Okay," Marshal Graeme said on the phone, "Marshal Alexander is also fine, but the question is, has he agreed?"

"Not yet," Hersman said. "No, I will convince him. There is no problem at all. He will definitely agree because he has no choice now."

Herschmann planned to leave for England in person later to convince Queen Elizabeth and Marshal Alexander. Although the British had not been very interested in attacking the United States before, the situation was different now because the war had reached Canada. If Elizabeth and Alexander refused to come forward, it was uncertain who would control Canada after the war.

In addition, Britain still relies on Germany in India!

He added: "As for the temporary commander in the direction of Labrador, I plan to let Major General Stauffenberg serve. He is now in Iceland and is responsible for commanding the SS British Brigade (composed of the English Regiment, the Scottish Regiment and the Welsh Battalion). ). I think he will be a suitable candidate.”