A series of huge explosions shook the entire airport. When the smoke and dust from the explosions dissipated, Boedon saw that the entire airport had changed: on the 88mm anti-aircraft gun positions on the left and right sides of the airport runway, the 88mm anti-aircraft gun positions that were originally erected there were

The millimeter anti-aircraft guns were knocked to the ground by the shock wave of the explosion, and some anti-aircraft guns were even knocked over by the air waves.

It was thrown dozens of meters away from the position, and an 88mm anti-aircraft gun was thrown high, and then the barrel fell down. The long barrel was inserted straight into the ground, but the heavy gun base instead

Lifting it high in the sky is exactly in line with the famous saying of Zhang Bangchang, a famous poet of the Republic of China: "One day, if you turn it upside down, it will become thinner at the bottom and thicker at the top."

As for the German fighter jets originally parked on the apron, the situation was even more tragic. The aircraft were already light, had wings, and had a large wind-receiving area. All of them were blown dozens or hundreds of meters away by the shock wave.

And without exception, the wings and tail fins were broken off, and the already filled fuel mailbox was detonated in the explosion, so most of the fuselage only had some fragments left.

"This airport will definitely not be of any use today." Boeing looked down at the devastated airport from the air, shook his head, and said to the other fighters, "There is nothing to do if we stay here, we'd better go back. Go back.

Hang some bombs, maybe you can still have time to blow up the German assault troops."

…

Although the Luftwaffe fighter jets did not arrive as scheduled, the German assault was already imminent and had to be launched. After making so many sacrifices, it was possible to gather the strength of the five armored divisions. How could it be possible because of the Air Force?

Give up due to frustration. Besides,

All German commanders, from Field Marshal Kruger to every private in the German attack force, everyone knows that the air force is absolutely unreliable. Probably Hitler was the only one in Germany who believed that the air force could temporarily serve as an assault force.

Put up a protective umbrella.

According to the plan, the assault will start in the early morning. Before it is fully light, they will break into the US military's formation and try to fight against the US military. In this way, the US heavy bombers will be completely useless, and the US and British forces will

It will be quite difficult for attack aircraft to operate in such a situation.

On the other hand, for this operation, the German army also greatly increased the number of anti-aircraft guns, especially self-propelled anti-aircraft guns. Not only did they go to great lengths to transport many new self-propelled anti-aircraft guns from the country, but they also used various existing towed anti-aircraft guns.

It was mounted on various chassis they found, such as a half-track chassis, a 38t tank chassis, and even an Opel truck chassis.

In addition to anti-aircraft guns, various machine guns have also been fully utilized. The mg-131 13mm aviation machine gun brought from the Air Force warehouse was welded to an iron frame and then installed on an Opel truck as an anti-aircraft machine gun.

; In addition, the Army's own mg-34 and mg-42 have also been installed on anti-aircraft racks

, mounted on trucks or even BMW R75 motorcycles. Of course, the Germans also understand that the 7.92 mm machine gun bullets of mg-34 and mg-42 are obviously not powerful enough now. Using them to eat those attack aircraft is basically useless.

It’s not much different from tickling. But considering some p-

The 51 fighter also likes to come as a guest attack aircraft. Use this to hit the P-51. If, by chance, it happens to hit the radiator on the belly of the P-51, it is still very useful. And in order to increase deterrence, Germany

People also changed the ratio of tracer bullets to ordinary bullets, from 1:5, that is, every five rounds of ordinary bullets

The clipping of one tracer bullet was changed to 1:3, that is, three ordinary bullets with one tracer bullet. This actually reduces the lethality, because the lethality of tracer bullets is not as good as ordinary bullets. But this can allow the anti-aircraft machine gun to shoot

The firepower appears more intensive, and therefore can more effectively interfere with the attack actions of enemy attack aircraft.

In addition, the Germans also brought double copies of various smoke-generating devices. However, the wind at the preset breakthrough area was a bit stronger that day. Winds of about level 3-5 are expected to quickly disperse the smoke.

.

Although it is said that five armored divisions were invested in this counterattack, including many ace troops of the Waffen SS. In fact, in the previous battles and subsequent transfers, most of these troops were seriously damaged.

The total number of tanks in the five armored divisions is only more than 300. Fortunately, judging from the results of radio monitoring, the US military opposite them is not very strong, with only one infantry division.

In order to achieve surprise, the reconnaissance activities usually carried out before the counterattack were also prohibited. As a result, the German army knew almost nothing about the forward deployment of the US military. In particular, they knew absolutely nothing about how the US military deployed minefields.

At 3:30 in the morning, half an hour before the all-out attack began, the German army sent engineers to the front line of the US military to find and mark US minefields. Half an hour was obviously not enough time to complete such a task, so by

Before the attack began, the German engineers did not discover many minefields. This was also expected by the Germans. Theoretically, the US military, which has a comprehensive advantage, should not sell as many landmines as the Soviets did in Kursk.

In addition, the US military probably does not have time to set up so many minefields.

In addition, in order to ensure the suddenness of the assault, the artillery fire that is essential when launching an attack under normal circumstances has also been compressed. Under normal circumstances, to launch an assault of this scale, there should be at least an hour of artillery preparations. If it was the Soviet Union

It is normal for people to prepare for artillery fire for up to 3 hours. But now, the time for artillery fire has been compressed to fifteen minutes. If the enemy has decent fortifications, it is almost impossible for such artillery fire to cause much damage to the fortifications.

destroy.

At 4 o'clock in the morning, the German attack officially began. The German army concentrated all the artillery they could muster. In addition to conventional suppressive artillery, even 88mm anti-aircraft guns and 75mm anti-tank guns were used to attack the enemy.

Artillery shells poured down from the US military position.p

The AK-40 anti-tank gun has a limited elevation angle and cannot launch grenades far enough under normal circumstances. For this reason, the Germans also specially built some slopes and placed these 75mm guns on them, relying on this method to raise the gun.

elevation angle to obtain sufficient range.

At this time, the German infantry units had already entered the attack position. They were less than a kilometer away from their attack target, so their various mortars also joined the artillery preparations.

Although the German artillery fire was short-lived, it was very fierce. Amidst the roar of the artillery, the Germans' trump card-the armored troops appeared.

Wittmann and his Tiger tank rushed to the front. His comrades spread out on the left and right sides and rushed towards the enemy's position. This attack seemed to exceed the enemy's expectations, so they did not wait until they crossed the first trench.

At that time, he didn't even have any Tiger tanks.

was attacked. However, his teammates were not so lucky. On his right, a Tiger tank ran over a mine, its tracks were blown off, and several road wheels were also blown up. It seemed that the engineer

The range of minefields we temporarily marked is not accurate.

The U.S. military did not seem to have many troops deployed in the first line of defense, so the German army broke through three trenches in one breath. By the time the sun rose, they had broken through the U.S. military's first line of defense. But this achievement did not faze Wei.

Terman felt happy. On the contrary, he had an ominous premonition that the mouse was being stared at by the cat.

Compared to Wittmann, who only had a bad premonition, Marshal Kruger, known as "Smart Hans", broke through three trenches when he learned that the armored forces encountered little resistance, and these three trenches were

When the defensive force in the trenches was only about one to one and a half battalions, the marshal had already determined that the Americans had long been prepared for this desperate assault on the Germans, and his army had already fallen into the American

A human trap. He was sure that somewhere ahead, the Americans must

There will be a real line of defense, and on the road from the first line of defense that has just been conquered to that line of defense, there must be anti-tank mines everywhere. By this time, it was already dawn, but the German army failed to go as planned.

If they form a crisscross situation with the US military, they will inevitably be attacked by the Allied forces. If they are rational, they should terminate the attack plan now, quickly switch to defense, or even prepare to retreat immediately. However, Marshal Kruger is now

Can such a decision be made?

Kruger knew that he could not make such a decision. If he could make such a decision, he would have withdrawn his troops across the Seine River. Now, even if he knew that the US military was prepared, he could only bite the bullet and go ahead.

Went down.

Just as Kruger expected, when the German armored forces advanced in depth, various minefields appeared first. Those anti-tank mines were buried underground, and when the infantry walked over them, due to the pressure,

Not enough, they didn't react at all, but once the tank pressed on them, there was a loud noise.

What's even more terrible is that Allied bombers appeared. However, the Allies seemed to have underestimated the advancing speed of the German army, so these four-engine big guys passed over the advancing armored troops and dropped their bombs on them.

Behind them. Listening to the violent explosions coming from behind, Wittmann secretly let out a sigh of relief. He had seen the power of these heavy bombers with his own eyes. If he was bombed like this, even if it was a powerful

The Tiger tank can only be turned into parts again.

Wittmann also knew that the bombing by these bombers meant that the follow-up troops would never be able to follow up. As a result, if they encountered the enemy's defensive position, it would be very difficult to form a breakthrough.

The mines along the way caused the number of German tanks to continue to decrease. In fact, the damage to these tanks was not serious. If they were repaired, they could return to the battlefield in a few hours at most. However, Wittmann knew that these tanks were definitely not like this.

opportunity. Allied attack aircraft will definitely not let go of these tanks that have lost their ability to move.

Along the way, the German army temporarily lost more than 30 tanks due to landmines. Most of these tanks were the more elite Tiger tanks and Panther tanks that led the battle. The US military's second line of defense finally appeared in front of them.
Chapter completed!