On June 19, 1944, the day when the US military successfully cut off the Cotentin Peninsula, making Cherbourg completely an isolated city, the storm season finally arrived. Winds up to level 8 were howling on the strait,

Waves several meters high were set off. This was an unmitigated disaster for ships operating in the strait.

Jim was originally a sailor on a shrimp boat in Florida. After the war started, he entered the Navy and became a sailor on a tank landing ship. Early on the morning of the 19th, the Navy had already received a warning of strong winds. So he was supposed to set off.

Returning to the UK, all the ships transporting more supplies were grounded, as was the tank landing ship Jim was on. All the ships were anchored in sheltered places as much as possible. Of course, such a place is not

There are not many, or even many, places that are really suitable for anchoring. Therefore, some ships that are not very important can only park in the more dangerous open sea.

Unfortunately, the tank landing ship Jim was on was one of the less important ones. In order to avoid danger, the personnel on the tank landing ship left the ship and boarded land. As for the poor ship, they had to leave it to fate.

In the morning, the wind became stronger, the waves on the sea became bigger and bigger, and more and more white foam began to appear on the top of the waves. Jim stayed in a bunker left by the Germans, from where he could overlook

Strait. He saw that the ship he was on was swaying in the wind and waves. If the anchor chain hadn't held it tightly, he didn't know where it would have floated.

However, as the wind and waves increased, the situation of the boat became more and more troublesome. After a big wave, Jim saw that the boat seemed to have moved backwards.

"Oh no, the anchor has broken down!" Jim couldn't help shouting.

The so-called anchor movement means that the anchor's grip is insufficient. When the sum of external forces such as wind and current on the ship is greater than the grip generated by the anchor and anchor chain, the anchor will move on the seabed, and the ship's anchor will no longer be able to fix the ship.

, the position of the ship will also move accordingly, and the ship will drift with the wind and move in the sea. The seabed conditions near Normandy are not particularly suitable for anchoring, so it is not surprising that such a phenomenon occurs.

The anchorage of a ship often leads to major accidents such as the ship being stranded and collisions with other ships. Now, there are several ships in the leeward direction of the ship, and collision accidents may occur. But now on the ship

There is no one at all, so it is impossible to make any remedial measures. Everything can only be left to fate.

The moving speed of the ship gradually accelerated. At this time, perhaps the anchor suddenly caught something on the seabed. The ship suddenly stopped, and the bow sank suddenly towards the sea. An oncoming

The big wave crashed directly onto the bow of the ship.

"Oops, the anchor chain is going to break!" Next to Jim, another sailor, Romney, made this judgment.

Just as he expected, the bow of the ship suddenly lifted upwards, and the entire bow almost completely left the sea, revealing the red anti-rust coating, and the stern was deeply submerged in the sea water. Then the ship

It drifted along the direction of the wind, and its speed became faster and faster.

"We're about to hit him!" Jim almost didn't dare to look any further.

Just as he expected, the tank landing ship's butt slammed into the bow of a transport ship, and then the two ships drifted down together in the direction of the wind.

"There's water in the stern of the boat! You see the boat's hull is a little tilted."

"There's no way to save it!"

"Damn it, those boats passed towards Mulberry A!"

The "Mulberry" artificial port is the most critical thing in the entire Normandy region. Most of the various materials needed by the landing troops were sent ashore through it.

"The structure of the Mulberry A artificial port is very solid, so it should be fine," one person said.

"I hope so. I dare say that there would be absolutely no problem if a ship like this collided with it. You have never seen how big those caissons are and how thick the steel structures under those floating docks are! But today, with such wind and waves

…God bless America.”

The two ships hit the floating dock of Mulberry A Artificial Port heavily one after another. The dock shook for a moment, and then dispersed. The steel boxes floating on the water hit the nearby dock again...

…

Later that day, Ron received such an order. This order required the 21st Attack Wing to temporarily stop attacks in the direction of Cherbourg and transfer all strike forces to attack the road system from Germany to France.

Come.

"Why did such an order come suddenly?" Ron felt strange. Isn't the Eighth Air Force currently busy with this job? So he continued to look down. In the situation report that was sent with the order, he learned that

contains some content like this.

During the storm, the Mulberry A artificial port was seriously damaged. The floating pier disintegrated, the caisson broke, and the cross-shaped steel parts collided with each other and were seriously damaged. It was almost as if it was destroyed. The Mulberry B artificial port on the British side

Because the port has a better sea-based structure, it has escaped the difficulty and suffered little losses, but its throughput capacity will also be compromised in the short term.

At the landing beach, the Allied forces had a total of 7 tank landing ships, 1 large personnel landing ship, 1 oil tanker, 3 barges, 7 trawlers, 67 landing craft were sunk by strong winds, 1 cruiser and 1 ferry were damaged by each other.

Some ships were damaged by collisions, and some ships were injured because the turbulent winds and waves detonated hydraulic mines deployed by the Germans. The violent storm also threw nearly 800 ships onto the land. Judging from the current situation, the unloading work may have to be stopped for at least 4

to 5 days.

Seeing this, Ron immediately understood the dangerous situation of the Allied forces. The supplies of all landing troops were almost interrupted. If the Germans launched another counterattack at this time, would the Allied forces who had lost their supplies still have the strength to withstand it?

It is really difficult to say what the German attack will be, or what the price will be to pay to withstand such an attack.

"Fortunately, the German military forces nearby also suffered heavy losses, and I'm afraid they won't have the strength to launch a large-scale attack." Ron thought this, feeling quite lucky. But he immediately saw such information again.

Based on aerial reconnaissance and other intelligence, the German army transferred from Hungary the 9th and 10th SS Armored Divisions that had just been withdrawn from the Soviet battlefield and were reorganized, and were preparing to use them on the Normandy battlefield.

To be honest, these two armored divisions are still incomparable with the SS’s flagship units such as the SS’s Flag Guard, Reich, Skeleton, and Viking. But you must know that there is really nothing special among the top 10 divisions of the Waffen-SS.

Rotten stuff. If it hadn't been for this storm, Ron wouldn't have worried at all about what these two armored divisions could have done. With the overwhelming material power of the Allies, let alone two second-rate SS armors

Division. Last time, the Allied forces withstood the attack of the Imperial Division and the Flag Guard Division. Now, after so many days, more troops have landed on the European continent, and the scope of the beachhead has also continued to expand. Under normal circumstances,

Even if the Skeletons and Vikings are mobilized, the Allies will be confident that they can withstand it.

But it's really hard to say now. After losing the port, if the Allied forces lacking supplies are attacked by enemy armored forces, the result may be quite tragic.

Now Ron immediately understood the meaning of the order, which was to use air superiority to prevent the enemy from transporting troops to Normandy through the road system. This was the top priority now.

After reading all the information silently, Ron said to Scott: "Scott, go prepare and notify all officers above the squadron to hold an emergency meeting."

"Okay, General!" Scott saluted him and walked out.

…

From this day on, in the northern part of the Normandy Peninsula, you can hardly see the Allied combat aircraft that could be seen at any time before. The advancement of US ground forces has also slowed down significantly. And on the roads and railways from Germany to France

Above the line, the number of combat aircraft is increasing rapidly.

The bombers of the Eighth Air Force bombed almost all roads, railways, and bridges in sight. But to be honest, their heavy bombers are really not very efficient when attacking point targets such as bridges.

.For example, a railway bridge in the west of Paris, the B-17s bombed it five or six times but failed to really blow it up. And the bridge, whether it is a road bridge or a railway bridge, once it is destroyed, it will be repaired much slower.

For other targets, it is obvious that attacking bridges is the most effective method to achieve the purpose of delaying the Germans.

In order to perform the blockade mission, the 21st Attack Aircraft Wing received more attack aircraft, first of all the AC-47 attack aircraft. The pilots required for this aircraft can directly call on the transport aircraft pilots of other units, while candidates such as gunners are in

There are many of them in the Eighth Air Force. Just the day after Ron received the order to block the road, six more modified AC-47s were sent to the 21st Attack Wing. Their existence

This made it almost impossible for the Germans to move during the day.

But at night, the weakness of the ac-47 is very obvious. This aircraft has no self-defense capability. This problem is not obvious during the day, because the German fighter jets have long been beaten silly. But at night, the problem arises, Germany

Human night fighters are still quite active. If something like the AC-47 encounters the German night fighters, it will be a dead end. Moreover, they do not have the ability to accurately attack and destroy bridges. However, another batch of

The arrival of aircraft changed this situation. This aircraft is the PA-47 attack aircraft modified from the P-47.
Chapter completed!