Battle of the Third Reich Chapter 428: Occupy

The occupation of Bolzano did not take much time for the Germans. It was the 106th Infantry Regiment of the 15th Infantry Division of the 7th Army of the German Army that was responsible for the suppression. This is a standard infantry regiment with a three-battalion system. The commander is the newly appointed Lieutenant Colonel Hackland. He is only thirty-two years old at this time, but he is already the recipient of the Oak Leaf Knight's Cross.

Before being promoted, he commanded an infantry battalion in the 236th Infantry Regiment of the 69th Infantry Division. He participated in the offensive and defensive operations on the West Front of London. He showed excellent commanding ability in the battle. Great praise from General Guderian.

The head of state likes to promote young officers like him. This has become a well-known secret in the National Defense Forces. The lower-level officers have room for promotion, which is also a great incentive for the morale of the grassroots troops.

The older generation of officers did not worry about this either. The army is always a place that pays attention to qualifications. Their authority will not be shaken by this. On the contrary, this is obviously a good thing in the eyes of these old Junkers. The increase in the number of senior commanders means that the strength of the National Defense Forces is also growing accordingly.

According to the feedback from the forward scouts, Hacklandor judged that the Italians did not know that the border had been lost. No signs of Italian army activity were found outside Bolzano. At this moment, the city is equivalent to Opened his arms completely to the German army.

The head of the infantry regiment made a bold decision. Instead of deploying the troops outside the city according to the original plan, he took the military train directly to occupy the suburban station, and then used the station as a base and moved along the city streets. Assault from east to west, striving to quickly occupy the entire city before the Italians react.

Hackland's adventure was a huge success. When the city changed hands, most of the local residents were still intoxicated in their sleep. During the entire occupation of the police station, a few minutes of exchange of fire took place, killing several brave Italian police officers and capturing the remaining personnel on duty. In the ensuing time, the Germans were only busy sealing up government offices and material reserves, and drove some Italians who went to the streets to watch the excitement back to their homes.

The mayor and police chief of Bolzano were dragged out of the warm bed by German soldiers, squeezed into military vehicles and sent to the German headquarters. On the way, they tried to understand where these German soldiers were coming from. And why I haven't received any news before.

At this moment, a line of military trains full of German soldiers and equipment, pulling a loud whistle through Bolzano Station, whizzed towards the next Italian city. In the next twenty-four hours, there will be a large number of freight trains arriving in the city. In the plan of the command, a huge logistics center will be established in Bolzano, which will be responsible for all the transportation in the Alpine region. The German occupation forces provided supplies.

Bolzano has another point that the German High Command pays attention to, that is, it has a well-equipped airport and also stationed an Italian fighter squadron.

Italy can be regarded as a big aviation country in Europe. In the early days of aviation technology development, Italian aircraft designers have always been at the forefront of the world. The aircraft designed and manufactured in Italy were once famous for their fashionable styles and excellent flight quality. .

Flying in Italy was a kind of aristocratic sport. Those aristocrats who pursued fashion and chivalry did not hesitate to spend a lot of money in the aircraft industry in order to create the fastest, highest, farthest, and appearance. The most beautiful airplane allows them to show their deep heritage in front of those vulgar European relatives.

At that time, the Italians’ biggest opponents were Britain and France, but the Italians were often able to rely on their superb machining skills and genius imagination to gain the upper hand in every aviation competition.

Unfortunately, all this came to an abrupt end with the advent of the global economic crisis. The Italian aristocracy suffered heavy losses during the crisis, and could no longer afford such a costly but imaginary luxury activity. The development of Italian aviation technology stagnated, and then the Fascist Party came to power. A large number of talented designers who could not understand the dictatorship of Mussolini chose to go to a foreign country. Since then, people can no longer find the design of Italian aircraft. Kind of spirituality.

The topic is a bit far off, let us turn back to the Italian airport in Bolzano. Stationed here is the 362nd Flying Squadron, which belongs to the 52nd Italian Flying Wing. This unit, known as the squadron, was actually missing very seriously. At this time, there were only five aircraft parked in the hangar, and they were all old-fashioned models such as Fiat CR32.

This type of biplane fighter in 1933 is equipped with a 789-horsepower Fiat A30R.A.bis twelve-cylinder water-cooled engine, with a top speed of 360 kilometers per hour and two The machine gun with a caliber of 12.7 mm, whether it is firepower or maneuverability, at that time CR32 belonged to a very good advanced model.

However, today, seven years later, the performance of this aircraft is not even third-rate, but the Italian Air Force is still equipped with almost three hundred such fighters, accounting for four points of the total number of Italian fighters at the time. one.

The 362nd Flying Squadron participated in the previous battle against France. Fortunately, it did not suffer any losses, and of course it did not get any results. After the war entered a stalemate, in order to save precious fuel and parts, this useless squadron was withdrawn from the front line. The Romans threw them to Bolzano, a city surrounded by mountains. A symbolic armed force remains in existence.

When the German infantry entered the airport, all five planes were parked in the hangar. The airport guard was an air defense machine gun platoon equipped with six large-caliber anti-aircraft machine guns. However, because the incident was so sudden, there were only three sleepy-eyed sentinels on duty at the battle position. The German infantry disarmed these without much effort. The armed forces of the people then blocked the remaining soldiers in their barracks.

The pilots of the 362nd Squadron showed extraordinary courage. In their sleep, they were awakened by the noise in the barracks. When they realized what had happened, the pilots didn’t even have time to change their uniforms. They always wore their pajamas. The attacking Germans launched a counterattack. Although they finally had to surrender to the Germans because the bullets in their pistols were exhausted, they did show the backbone of Italian officers in front of the Germans and maintained the honor of the 362nd Flying Squadron.

It is important to point out that in this battle at the airport, no one was killed on either side, only the sole of the Italian ensign was cut by the broken window glass.

The importance of Bolzano Airport was gradually revealed until the end of the war. The Italian Air Force set up a navigation station and radio communication station in this airport. A row of thirty meters long stood at the corner of the airport. Tall steel antenna ~ IndoMTL.com ~ Italy currently has no radar system that can be used, and air navigation basically relies on its own compass and large radio navigation station. The German army not only seized a batch of extremely important navigation materials, but also obtained the passwords and keys currently used by the Italian Air Force and Army.

At 6 o'clock in the morning on the 21st, the German occupation of Bolzano was finally completed, and there was still half an hour before sunrise, and at this time the 222 Infantry Regiment under the 75th Infantry Division , Has completely won the next city Trento.

On the army column immediately behind the 22nd Regiment, the Ninth Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, which belongs to the Ninth Armored Division, was loaded. In the same vehicle, the commander, Lieutenant General Von Hubiji, and his division headquarters were loaded. , Affiliated motorcycle platoon and map drawing unit.

In this operation, the Ninth Armored Division served as the main German assault force in the first batch. According to the plan, it will launch an assault formation in Trento, and then rush out of the Alps along the Adige River all the way south, straight Fly the ancient Italian city of Verona.

On the plan of the German High Command, this goal must be achieved within 36 hours. For the Ninth Armored Division with rich combat experience, this will be a test of the driving skills and combat capabilities of officers and soldiers. test.

The first battalion of the 33rd Armored Regiment that arrived later took another hour to complete the unloading. Prior to this, the heavy armored reconnaissance company of the 9th Reconnaissance Battalion had already been dispatched. They brought a signal unit, one step ahead. Investigative operations started south.

After a busy day and night, the German soldiers are still full of energy and morale. They are looking forward to encountering the enemy and eager to build up their merits in the battle.

A hint of whiteness has appeared in the eastern sky. The dawn of October 21 is approaching, and a new day is ushered in the Apennines. At the same time, the history of Italy has opened a new page.