Chapter 760 Landing in England 5

January 2, 1943, 10 p.m.

"60 seconds left to prepare!" Captain Otto Skorzeny stood up from his folding chair and walked to the hatch of the Me323 transport plane.

"Everyone, take your positions and check your parachutes." After giving the order, he pulled the hatch open with force, and a gust of cold wind blew in, making everyone in the cabin shiver. The explosion of anti-aircraft shells became louder. Looking out of the hatch, groups of gray Me323 transport planes were arranged in dense formations, quickly passing through the clusters of blooming sparks and thick beams of searchlights.

Now, tens of thousands of officers and soldiers of the 7th Paratrooper Division of the German Wehrmacht have flown over the city of Hartlepool on huge Me323 transport planes and Go242****** towed by Ju88.

Hartlepool is an ancient port city that rose in the 7th century, but its position in the shipping industry has long been replaced by the nearby British steel industry center Middlesbrough. Its small port and outdated facilities can only be used to deal with small ships, not large ships. Therefore, the British did not deploy heavy troops in the city (the British heavy troops were limited and could not be placed everywhere), but they still placed two anti-aircraft artillery battalions (also militias) equipped with QF3 76.2mm anti-aircraft guns, a militia brigade affiliated with the North Yorkshire Division, and a coastal artillery battalion in Hartlepool.

The QF3 anti-aircraft gun is an old gun from 1914, with limited range and altitude, and no radio proximity fuse, so it is just a scare thing. After a long time of rumbling, no Me323 transport plane or Ju88 plane was shot down.

On the periphery of the airborne aircraft group, the escorting He219 fighters were fighting with the British Mosquito night fighters, and huge fireballs flashed in the dark from time to time.

"Everyone follow me! Jump!" The green signal light next to the plane door suddenly lit up, and Captain Skorzeny shouted to his men, and then jumped out of the door first.

The white parachutes were like a group of giant dandelions, very conspicuous in the night sky, floating and swaying, covering the sky, and slowly descending towards the land of England.

However, not all of these parachutes were hung with German paratroopers or their equipment. 80% of the parachutes falling from the sky were actually deceptive targets - just a small parachute with a wooden man hanging on it.

Looking up at the sky from the ground, the airborne force was multiplied several times, as if 30,000 to 40,000 German supermen armed to the teeth were falling from the sky, and they were falling everywhere. This would greatly confuse the British troops in Hartlepool and Middlesbrough, and make them miss the best opportunity to counterattack!

While the eye-catching airborne operation was going on, an Italian frogman unit commanded by Major Borghese of the Italian Navy was quietly approaching near a beach near the North Sea.

Like Italy in history, the now thriving "New Roman Empire" also has no way to build millions of elite armies like Germany. But this does not prevent the Italians from building a small number of elite troops.

For example, the Italian Air Force's S.M.79 fleet (now eliminated), the bomber unit equipped with P.108 heavy bombers, the Italian Navy battleship unit, several elite Italian army divisions, and the mysterious Italian frogman unit.

The combat effectiveness of these Italian frogmen mostly exceeds that of their German counterparts. Although they did not shine in the Mediterranean Battle, they will go down in history tonight.

The 60 Italian frogmen driving the "Pig" special submarine were quietly surfacing at this time. Looking out from the diving goggles worn by Major Borghese, the white sand beach in the distance was full of thick and long black iron bars. This should be an anti-landing obstacle. All places with beaches along the coast of England are full of such things.

This beach in Hartlepool is no exception. Since 1940, the British have been adding obstacles called "rail forts". Because this place is close to the steel industry center of the UK, there is no shortage of materials for rail forts, so there are already thousands of rail forts on the entire beach.

These rail forts are now the target of Major Borghese and his frogmen, but they do not need to be destroyed in full, only some of them, about 300.

Because the landing operation will start at around 9 am on January 3, when the tide begins to rise. Most of the obstacles will be submerged by sea water, but some of them will pose a threat to landing craft and landing ships, so they must be destroyed with explosives.

Now is also the time of high tide, so the rail forts that need to be destroyed are distributed where the sea and the beach intersect.

Major Borghese felt that the special submarine he was driving hit the beach under the water. He straightened up and raised one hand to gesture to his subordinates behind him. A group of frogmen all got off the special submarine, bent over or kneeling on one knee on the beach under the water, with only half of their heads exposed.

Major Borghese slowly retreated and slowly moved to his deputy.

"It's almost here. One person must blow up at least five railroad forts. According to intelligence, there should be British machine gun bunkers and patrols nearby. If they find us, we will be fascist martyrs."

When he was talking, a beam of light from a searchlight suddenly passed by nearby, scaring a group of fascist frogmen to shrink their heads.

"They won't become fascist martyrs," the deputy smiled, "at most they will be captured by the British as prisoners, and I don't know if they will be beaten?"

He was not joking, because it was winter now, and even if they wore special thermal diving suits, it was impossible to avoid rapid loss of body temperature, and they could not last long in the cold sea water.

So after completing the mission, these Italian frogmen could not take the "Pig" submarine back to the large submarine that sent them to the British coast, so they could only find a place to hide near the beach (this beach is more than ten kilometers long and the defense is relatively tight, but as long as you pass this section, there will be a place to hide), and there is still a possibility of being hunted down and captured by the British.

"It won't be a problem," Major Borghese smiled, "Although these British are against Christ (they blew up the Pope), they are still gentlemen...Okay, let's start now!"

If this mission was aimed at the Russians, they would definitely not come.

…

"What? Hartlepool, Scarborough, Grimsby, and Abel and Bangor in Wales all have a large number of German paratroopers? Damn it, this is impossible!"

In the headquarters of the wartime cabinet in the basement of King Charles Street in London, British Prime Minister Churchill glanced at the report sent by the staff and immediately shook his fat head.

It turns out that the city where airborne troops were found tonight was not just Hartlepool, but a total of 5 cities reported being attacked by a large number of German paratroopers!

And this is of course impossible. It takes hundreds of large transport aircraft to launch an air assault on a city, and to attack 5 cities at the same time, the Germans need to invest at least 3,000 large transport aircraft. How could the German Air Force be so generous?

And even if the Germans had so many large transport aircraft, they would not airdrop to 5 cities separately, but would concentrate them in one place.

"Only one city was actually attacked, and the Germans should have dropped false targets in the other cities..." Viscount Brooke, the chief of the Imperial General Staff, said with a sullen face.

Originally, like Churchill, he thought that the Germans would not really invade, at least not before the spring equinox in 1943.

"Where will it be?" Lieutenant General Stilwell, Chief of Staff of the Allied Forces in Europe, asked.

"We don't know now," Churchill handed the report to Stilwell, "because the Germans threw aluminum foil strips to interfere with the radar, and we don't know how many planes are in the sky. But... the truth will be revealed in a few hours."

"Prime Minister, we must send reinforcements as soon as possible!" Stilwell said, "The 24 hours after the enemy lands are critical... If they are allowed to gain a foothold, we will be in big trouble."

Of course, there are reinforcements. There are at least three or four million people wearing military uniforms and holding guns on the British Isles. Regardless of whether they are militia or regular troops, they can always fight.

But these people are not the key to whether the counterattack is successful. The key is tanks and armored troops!

Because the German airborne troops and marines have armored forces, it is difficult to rely on infantry counterattacks. Armored troops must be deployed.

Since the 2nd, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th Armored Divisions are not on the British Isles (the 7th Armored Division is in India, the 8th Armored Division is in Canada, and the remaining 4 Armored Divisions are in Ireland).

Therefore, Fatty Qiu does not have many armored forces available. In addition to the 2nd Armored Division of the United States, there are only three British armored divisions, including the Guards Armored Division, the 1st Armored Division and the 6th Armored Division.

"Order the infantry to go immediately," Viscount Brooke suggested, "and draw troops from Birmingham, Liverpool, Sheffield, Norwich and Newcastle to reinforce. As for the armored forces... they can be ready to go at any time."

"Will there be any problem with the roads?" Lieutenant General Stilwell reminded, "The roads in central England have been bombarded these two days, and many bridges have been destroyed. Can the large troops still pass through?"

Viscount Brooke frowned and said, "It will definitely take some time, but it shouldn't be a big problem. After all, England's road facilities are very good, and the roads that the Germans can destroy in 2 days are limited... A few bridges are more troublesome, but pontoon bridges can also be built."

"Can we reach the destination within 24 hours?" Churchill asked.

Viscount Brooke shook his head, "I'm afraid the armored forces will not be able to make it, but the infantry will be fine."