Battle of the Third Reich Chapter 80: Behind the scenes story
Germany has been preparing for the landing plan for more than a month. The plan alone has been revised dozens of times. It has successively used hundreds of thousands of laborers, cost tens of millions of marks, and assembled more than 200,000 navy, army, and air forces. , Mobilized more than 300 ships, more than 2,000 aircraft, countless various vehicles and small ships, the morale of the whole army was high, and with all its strength, it launched a thunderous blow toward the British coast. The net hit Cotton with a fist. . . Ah, it was even worse. A fist hit the air, and the German landing command was breathless on the spot.
When Xu Jun received the report, his cold sweat suddenly came down. The first thing he thought of was that this is a trap. The British were trying to lure the enemy into deep. Maybe they had already set up a pocket array, waiting for the German soldiers to go. Drill in.
Xu Jun hurriedly ordered the follow-up troops to step up to keep up, and the fleet and air force immediately launched a search on both sides. But subsequent reports from the navy, army, air force, and paratroopers followed one after another, all swearing that they were not joking. Neither British troops nor militia resistance were found, there were no ambush points, no secret guard bunkers, no landmine barricades, and only two companies of British guards around the landing point, neither machine guns nor artillery. When German infantry rushed in When they were stationed, these British soldiers were still asleep.
In the villages and towns near the landing area, all people went to the house, and there was litter on the street. Many houses didn't even have time to lock the door. There were no people in the area for dozens of miles, and there were no dogs.
Xu Jun was completely confused. He said he would land in hell, he said he would be a beach butcher, he said he would go to the sky with guns and bullets, gunpowder and gunfire, and a sea of blood and corpses. Why did he come here? It changed, hula la launching, hula la landing, hula la marching, making it the same as triathlon, this is too outrageous.
There must be a hidden mystery, it must be the fat man's conspiracy.
Clausewitz said that the victory or defeat of a war does not depend on who does better. But who makes fewer mistakes. The success or failure of many great battles in history is often caused by a series of mistakes. A ditch not on the map, a cavalry commander who lacks a root in his head, and a telegram that was misclassified. A malfunctioning reconnaissance aircraft, any small mistake, will lead to a series of chain reactions, and ultimately cause people to laugh or cry.
And this landing battle will develop into this, everything started with a series of misjudgments by the Germans and the British.
Xu Jun's initial plan is actually the same as Churchill expected. I chose to land on the front line from Dover to Folkestone, one because of the close distance, and the other because the command has conducted research on this, and he believes that the opinions of experts should be followed.
But then he changed his mind because he found a place that seemed more suitable for landing. It is the landing point chosen by the German Army, Deer Beach.
Deere Town is a very old seaside town, where residents live on fishing and planting. This place has a long history. It was a battleground for military strategists a long time ago. The famous ruthless man Henry VIII challenged the French again and again, after taking advantage of the French. He began to worry that the French would retaliate by hitting the strait, and Dill was really an excellent landing point. In the end, Henry VIII built two large sea defense castles on the short two kilometers of coast. . One of them is the three-tiered birthday cake seen by naval combat engineers, Dillburg, and the other is just on the other side of the beach, which is a beautiful medieval square fort, Fort Volman. These two castles face the sea from the south to the north, controlling the entire beach and defending against attacks from the sea.
The front of this beach is wide. The **** is gentle, and there is only a small sand-proof embankment between the beach and the land. After the soil **** is a standard two-lane road leading to Dover at one end. One end leads to Manston. Across the highway, there are endless flat fields with no hills or hills. Along the plain to the west, 20 kilometers from the coastline is the famous city of Canterbury, which is only an hour's drive from London.
In Xu Jun's eyes. This wide and flat beach is obviously more suitable for landing than Dover's cannon-filled cliff fortress and Folkestone, which is densely populated with houses.
However, Xu Jun also considered that since he can think of it, it is of course impossible for the British not to be prepared. The conditions of this place are so good. Originally it was a coastal resort. There were bars and boating clubs on the beach. The waves were low and the waves were low. There were no cliffs and reefs. German soldiers could swim directly ashore if no one stopped them. The British will definitely build a strong defensive position there, and Xu Jun has been fully psychologically prepared for this.
However, because the terrain is very flat, it is very conducive to naval gun fire attacks and air strikes. It is denser than shrubs, full of highlands and hills, and the Dover area, which is full of bunkers and roadblocks, has much more favorable conditions. In the end, Xu Jun finalized the landing area, and then all plans were prepared around this location.
What Xu Jun didn't expect was that he made an empirical error. It is 1940, not 1944. The landing site he believed was not suitable for landing in the eyes of the British at the time. Why? It sounds stupid. The British think the water there is too shallow.
The Royal Navy has been studying landing tactics since the Battle of Gallipoli suffered a severe loss. After more than ten years, it can be regarded as some experience. In their view, Diere may be suitable for the medieval army to land across the sea, but it is definitely not suitable for the modern army to land.
In the Middle Ages, the army landed on rowing boats and sampans. The draft was shallow and the tonnage was small. Dozens of big men could directly row the boat on the beach. The water near Deere is shallow and the waves are slow. There are no reef shoals near the coast. There are only some submarine sandbars with a depth of less than one meter, which are very suitable for boat landing. However, in modern warfare, such shallow beaches have become obstacles. Modern ships generally have a relatively deep draft. Even inland barges must have a draft of about one meter to one meter two, not to mention sea ships.
To land here, transport ships can only dock in deep waters one kilometer away from the coast. The German had to rely on small boats to carry his soldiers and supplies across this one-kilometer-long shallow, and then he could reach the beach, and then he had to pass an 80-meter-wide soft sandy beach before he could step on solid land. Infantry can do so, but armored vehicles, heavy artillery, trucks, various fuel and ammunition supplies, rely on this kind of ferry to land. Even half a day may not be able to go to a camp.
If the Germans choose to land here, they only need a phone call from the coastal observation post, and the British bombers at the nearby air base can arrive in a few minutes to teach the Germans how to drink sea water. And the landing of the German Army. In the absence of vehicles, heavy artillery, and supplies, the National Self-Defense Force was enough to block their offensive, and the British Army who arrived in the end easily resolved the battle.
The British navy believes that as long as the Germans still retain a little bit of military knowledge and reason, they will never choose this kind of dead landing.
However, the British Coastal Defense Command is still more responsible, and it may be to show the Cabinet that it is not for dry food. They still designed a textbook-like coastal defense position system for this beach, and compiled a chart and submitted it to the Prime Minister for approval.
Churchill’s wholehearted consideration at this time was how to deal with the German air strikes. On the shore defense, he had always stubbornly believed that the Germans would land on the front line of Dover. He directly planned the infamous Gallipoli landing battle. The **** massacre that caused him to step down is still fresh in his memory, so he believes that Germans will never choose to land on beaches without port facilities. The British have suffered enough and the Germans will not fail to learn this. So when he saw that document. He asked the secretary to file the file without approval at all. In his opinion, the people below were a little nervous, and completely wasting his energy and time.
What Churchill never expected was that the chart was delivered to Xu Jun's desk in less than three days.
After Xu Jun got the blueprint, he was overjoyed and immediately ordered the combat department to start the combat exercise according to the defensive array map. A bunch of generals and marshals gathered together to repeatedly deliberate, then mobilized infantry exercises and conducted experimental training, and finally the present was born. This landing plan.
In order to prevent the British from discovering their attempts, the Luftwaffe did not dare to conduct low-altitude reconnaissance and could only pretend to pass by occasionally. A lot of investigation photos were taken from a high altitude. Xu Jun and the generals found trenches and air defense bunkers on the photos, as well as traces of bunkers under construction. They found two buildings that looked like heavy fortresses and looked very much like large shore gun bunkers. I also saw the patrol boat on the beach and the anti-aircraft turret trestle extending to the sea.
Most things can be matched with that drawing, which makes the German generals very satisfied. Obviously the information they obtained is true and reliable. Little did they know that when they saw the coastal defense position, there were only the trenches and a few air defense bunkers.
The National Self-Defense Force of Dier Town feels that the scenery here is beautiful, the sky is blue, the white sea is clear and the sand is young, and the **** Germans will definitely attack Dier. So asked the coastal defense command to strengthen defense. As a result, only a drawing was thrown down. The Self-Defense Forces had no choice but to raise funds and prepare their own materials, mobilize all the personnel to do it, and build trenches and positions, but they did not obtain the weapons placed on these positions from start to finish.
The so-called bunkers that the Germans saw were just toilets and kitchens on a few construction sites. The two huge forts were built in the 16th century. They were of pure brick and wood structure and could not hold modern artillery. They could only be used as coastal air defense observation posts and sea observations. Taiwan and the infantry barracks, each fort was stationed with a company of army recruits, not only lacked heavy weapons, but even a rifle could not be equipped with one man. Some people only issued two grenades and a bayonet. Participate in training with wooden sticks.
The patrol boat that the Germans saw was actually an abandoned fishing boat that was towed ashore. The anti-aircraft turret trestle was real, but only the trestle was built, and the anti-aircraft gun was still invisible.
The Germans repeated investigations cautiously several times. After comparing the front and back, they found that there was not much change. On the contrary, there was no trace of the facilities on the drawings. The German didn't turn his mind all of a sudden, and he still secretly praised Britain. The guy is really vigilant, the disguise ability is really good, the cover is seamless, and there is no flaw at all.
A staff officer who had traveled to Deere pointed out that the two fortresses have been standing there for hundreds of years, but the generals of the high command still believe that the British must have fully reformed them long ago. Now those are the two coastal heavy artillery bunkers, because the Germans will definitely do that.
Both Britain and Germany were immersed in their own self-righteousness, so another funny game was staged. Following Xu Jun’s advice, the German High Command used all means to mislead the British. Whether it was deliberate information leaks or dignified landing exercises, they showed the British that they were ready to land in Dover.
Xu Jun even ordered the Air Force to bombard all the coastal cities from Dover to Portsmouth in cold blood. In addition to destroying those dangerous chemical weapons, the main purpose was to make Churchill misjudge the direction of his attack and bring Britain to the end. An armored force and the last mobile infantry force were transferred to the two seaports to ensure that the German troops would not be counter-attacked by the British during the first 12 hours of landing in Dir, so that more troops could land smoothly.
If the German landing force can hold the first 24 hours, as long as the first landing cluster is fully landed, then it will no longer be possible to drive the German army off the sea only with the existing mobile power of the British Army. Xu Jun and the command department spent countless manpower and material resources, tried various tricks, racked their brains, and attracted Churchill's attention to the front line of Dover.
When the latest intelligence showed that the British troops were marching to the two cities of Dover and Folkestone, the whole command room was cheered. Everyone patted each other's shoulders to express their joy and congratulations, and all stood up to Xu Jun applauded and congratulated the head of state on the success of his plan. But what the Germans never expected was that Churchill had never thought about going anywhere from the beginning. He had already bitten the Germans to land in Dover. Whether you deceive or deceive him, he will send troops there. Don't mislead anything.
According to the mistakes, both sides thought they had a good plan. The seemingly perfect match between Britain and Germany seemed to have a strong heart, but they didn't know that it was actually different. They talked about themselves and didn't pee in the same pot.
And Xu Jun’s bombing deception plan caused a chain reaction that he had not anticipated. The British coastal residents were frightened by the indiscriminate terrorist bombing, and fell into a kind of mass panic. The unannounced mass escape broke out.
The villages and cities in the southern coast ~IndoMTL.com~ As long as they are close to the coastline, the local residents decisively abandon their homes and begin to flee inland frantically, including Deere, which is close to the sea. The National Self-Defense Team of Deere Town dragged their homes and embarked on the escape route. The whole town ran clean before it was dark, leaving only the empty trenches and bunkers on the coast.
The army infantry in the two ancient castles did not understand what was going on. They watched the town’s residents rushing away like a herd of migrating animals, leaving only a blank space. The town was there, and it was dark after dark.
In the evening, the Dover Garrison Command issued an order, and the commanders of both companies were summoned to the fort for a meeting, leaving only the bunch of recruits on the spot. As a result, a few good recruits sneaked into the town and smashed the wine cellar of the tavern in the town. Then of course they called friends and friends to have fun together. It quickly became a party for all the infantry in the two forts. The recruits who had long been miserable by the army’s food took the bacon and salted fish found in the warehouses of the town, and ran to the most luxuriously decorated Fort Wolman for a cold dinner. After a drunk carnival, The snoring infantry was lying in every corner of the fort.
Just when everyone was in a drunken dream, the German naval combat engineer sneaked ashore. (To be continued.) xh211
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