The Fording River Bridge in southern England.

When the first ray of sunlight shone on the earth, German paratroopers wearing gray airborne uniforms were cleaning up the bodies on both sides of the bridge and on the bridge deck. At this moment, there was an intermittent explosion from the railway line to the south, which also meant that the medicine buried under the railway tracks of the engineer company was detonated by a timer. If the railway wanted to be opened again, it would have to undergo at least half a day of emergency repairs.

The battle for the bridge more than half an hour ago lasted only a dozen minutes, and 2,500 German airborne troops defeated 1,000 British defenders. Judging from the data, it is reasonable for the German side to win. In fact, it was a very fierce and classic battle. After touching seven British postcards along the railway line in a row, the 1st Airborne Regiment led by Lieutenant Colonel Garris and Karen approached the double-track railway bridge more than 150 meters long. According to the information obtained in advance, the British deployed thousands of bridge guards here, including nearly 200 patrol cavalry along the railway.

The German attack began from the east of the bridge, and the British troops guarding the bridge were basically half the west of the bridge. When Garris's airborne regiment was deploying attack preparations, probably because they could not communicate with the postcards along the line, the British bridge guard sent a team of cavalry to march south, and there were several communication soldiers riding bicycles to check the telephone line. Seeing this plot, Garris made a quick decision to issue an order for a strong attack, and the twenty unlucky cavalry and communication soldiers immediately fell under the dense firepower of the German airborne troops.

Taking advantage of the unpreparedness of the British bridge guards, half of the soldiers in Garris's hands immediately launched a charge to the east side of the bridge, and the 30 mortars in the regiment also bombarded the garrison barracks and fortifications made of sandbags in the east of the bridge. Because the incident suddenly happened, the British soldiers who were shelled were either in disheveled or empty-handed, while the brave soldiers rushed out of the barracks with rifles in pairs of shorts and armed with bullet belts on their shoulders. The German rifles, pistols and grenades were greeted by them. Ruger pistols also played a huge role in this battle. After the war, some people said that the paratroopers equipped with Ruger 08 had the combat effectiveness of 3-5 ordinary soldiers in close combat and melee.

From shooting the first cavalry to capturing all the garrison fortifications and barracks in the east of the bridge, it took Garys' commando only 5 minutes, but the first batch of paratroopers who tried to rush across the bridge were blocked by several heavy machine guns on the west side of the bridge. The tactics of fire suppression of the paratroopers' machine guns and grenades failed to work, and the battle was once in a bad situation for the Germans. Fortunately, the paratroopers behind arrived in time with mortars, and a round of artillery bombed the British machine gun fire point in the west of the bridge to the point of silence.

The battle after that was not smooth. As soon as the vanguard of the Garis Airborne Regiment rushed across the bridge, he was attacked by British cavalry from the west of the bridge. A considerable number of casualties were caused in this process. The British cavalry, who were also untidy, had sabers but no whip or barefoot, even rushed to the bridge deck for a while, but the fierceness of these cavalry did not escape the joint attack of German machine guns and grenades. More than 200 cavalry and their war horses died together. After that, the remaining British troops quickly retreated westward, while Garys' airborne did not continue to pursue. The battle at the Fording River Bridge was immediately over. A total of 76 German soldiers were killed, while the British army lost more than 700 people. The more than 200 fled British soldiers ran westward without looking back until they disappeared from the sight of the German soldiers.

"Lieutenant Colonel, what should the residents of the town do?"

Karen and Lieutenant Colonel Garys stood on the roof of a barracks on the east side of the steel bridge. The paratroopers had already used sandbags to set it up as a machine gun fire point. The town of Fording Bridge, which is only a little larger than Wood Town, was almost built next to the Fording River Bridge. There are some residential houses in the east and west of the bridge. There are three or four hundred houses in the whole town. It seems that there are no less than a thousand residents here. In this fierce battle, the residents of Fording Bridge Town seemed to be quite cooperative. Until the end of the battle, no one went to the bridge to assist in the battle. Most of the residents who were awakened by the gunshots were just watching the battlefield from afar. After dawn, a few bold guys tried to approach the bridge. After seeing that there were soldiers wearing eye-catching gray German military uniforms near the bridge, these people immediately turned around and hid at home to lock the door.

After carefully observing the surroundings of the bridge, Garris decided to let his soldiers enter the town.

"There are no good fortifications around this bridge. We should expand the defense scope to this town! The first battalion uses the bridge as the base to defend, the second battalion enters the urban area on the east side of the bridge with civilian houses as the defensive position, and the third battalion goes to the urban area on the west side of the bridge! As long as the residents of the town do not resist, we will not make things difficult for them, but if anyone dares to resist, they can use force if necessary! Also, the engineer company began to bury the piers and bridge decks, ready to detonate the bridge at any time! The British can repair it in one day. If the bridge is blown up, the British will not want the train to pass for a week!"

"Lieutenant Colonel, please forgive me for asking more questions. How long do we have to stay here?" Karen knew that no matter whether there were any bridge defenders who had escaped before, the British troops would launch an attack on it soon. Although there were a lot of medicine in the ammunition depot here, there was very little ammunition that could be used by paratroopers. In addition, the caliber of the two sides' guns were different, so the airborne regiment could only rely on the ammunition it carried on to fight until the airship and plane dropped subsequent paratroopers and ammunition, or the landing troops came to pick them up.

"It will take as long as you can!" Garys said with a serious expression. This sentence means that the airborne regiment will likely hit the moment when the ammunition and food are exhausted. If he and his soldiers knew that the British planned to let millions of troops gather through the bridge to the periphery of Bonesmouth Beach before dark, they would be so surprised that they could not speak. Even if one of them breathed a breath, they could blow them back to Germany.

South England, Plymouth Military Harbor.

The artillery fire in Bonemouth, more than 200 kilometers away, is everywhere, but this military port is like a paradise, without worrying about being attacked by war. The naval officers and soldiers on the docks and warships do not have the passion for fighting, and more people just waste their time. As for the boilers that have fired from the midnight, it seems to be just used to keep the sailors warm. There is still a lot of snow left on the top of the warship turret, the superstructure, the docks, the trestles and the city. The black smoke coming out of the warship chimneys did not bring much vitality to the port, and there was a dead quiet everywhere.

The current British Navy Secretary, Lord Fisher, the local fleet, had moved his command to the fleet's flagship, the armored battleship "Entertainment". This is an old battleship launched in 1904 and has a displacement of only 14,000 tons. The main gun is a 305mm caliber naval gun on two twin turrets. Although the speed can reach 21 knots, the armor of the warship is not worthy of the title of "armored battleship". A 280mm or 305mm German armor-piercing shell can silence its main gun, and a 533mm German torpedo can make it unable to move. Even Fisher himself had to admit this.

Fisher naturally had his helplessness to choose the old warships that were transferred to the Pacific region to scare the people of Asia and America as their flagships. Although there were 8 other battleships, 7 cruisers, 16 destroyers and lightning strikers in this military port at this time, all of which were old warships, each with larger age than the other, and most of them were old coal-fired boilers, which greatly polluted the environment. In addition, the French fleet severely damaged two British battleships when they forced their way out of the port, sinking and wounding one cruiser and a dozen small ships. After suffering two heavy blows in the North Sea, the strength of the British navy did not recover with time. Under the strict seal of the German Navy, even the parts and supplies for repairing the warships were now severely short of components and materials.

Fisher glanced at the piles of telegraphs on his desk, but his head was covered with a cloud of mud. The special fleet exchanged for two precious colonies basically couldn't catch up with this anti-landing battle. What's worse was that even Fatty Qiu, who claimed to be a world figure in a few years, had a life and death unknown. As soon as dawn, the German Hippel raid fleet began to launch artillery fire at the naval fortress at Rodel's port. The commander of the Rodel Fortress sent three telegraphs in one breath. The situation there became worse with the German fleet firing again and again. The commander in the last telegraph even claimed that he would soon be forced to give up the fortress, so that the Hippel fleet would be able to sail closer to the port and directly smash the shells onto the transport ship full of arms in the port.

As for Bonesmouth's situation, it was even worse. Although Fisher failed to make an accurate judgment, he was puzzled and despised by the Army's stupid behavior of transferring the main force to Brighton. Heg also called himself and asked Fisher to lead the fleet to launch an assault from the German landing fleet.

"You must know that there are half a high seas fleet and three German aircraft carriers there. At this time, the Germans must have deployed a large number of submarines in the English Channel. In such a clear weather, our last few poor warships were probably sunk by the opponent's planes and submarines before they could see the shadow of the enemy warships!" Fisher was both angry and funny at Heg's request. The German fleet should have laughed when he did not come to sank the Plymouth Harbor. However, he finally agreed to launch an attack on the German army and navy near Bonesmouth under the cover of darkness, but he did not guarantee that the attack could achieve any effect.

General Hegel on the other end of the phone seemed full of confidence. It seemed that he had seen the millions of troops and the navy join forces to make the situation of landing in the German army. Fisher could only smile silently. This action would undoubtedly exhaust the last drop of blood of the British Empire Navy.

"Lord, send a telegram from Port Rodel!" The communication officer walked in from outside in a hurry. This was the fourth telegram to urge the soul.

"read!"

Fisher looked at the calm harbor outside the porthole with his hands behind his back, expressionlessly. He hoped that time would go back, even if he was allowed to go back 4 months ago, at least at that time the Navy would not have to hide in the harbor so frustratedly.

"The Rodel Patrol Fleet sent 12 lightning strike ships to attack the German fleet half an hour ago. Facing 2 German battleships, 3 cruisers, 5 aircraft and specific number of ominous submarines, this brave and great attack unfortunately failed, and none of the lightning strike ships survived! At present, the German fleet is still launching artillery bombardment on our fortress. Our military fortifications are seriously damaged and lack of firepower, so we may not be able to continue to hold our position!" At the end of the day, even the communications officers were surprised.

"It seems that the Germans must have taken over our arms ships!" When they were unable to save them, Fisher decided to give up. Although there were 100,000 troops stationed in northern Scotland, they could not swim across the cold sea to Lewis Island, and they could not use rifles to resist the cannons of the German fleet. The British mainland was like a seemingly tight fence at this time, but in fact they had been pierced by the Germans.

South England, Bonesmouth Beach.

The most spectacular and fierce landing operation has just begun. The flat beach, which is more than 700 meters wide at the westernmost end of Bonesmouth, has been shortened to about 70 meters due to high tide. The first German soldiers who climbed to the beach were advancing towards the breakwater, and the machine gunners were lying in larger craters to suppress the British troops on the breakwater. At this time, the British firepower on the breakwater basically came from those Indian Assassin. General Cosmo's main defenders were still rushing to the beach from the temporary camp, and Casper's reserve team was defeated under the fierce attack of the 2nd and 3rd German airborne regiments. The so-called reserve team's combat effectiveness was less than half, and reinforcement of the beach was even more fantastic.

After the landing ship number 129 stopped 20 meters away from the beach, the suddenly dropped bow landing ladder slapped heavily into the sea water half a meter deep, and the cold sea water was splashed several meters away.

"go ahead!"

Amid the rumbling engine and the clanging sound of tracks, a "Stone II" tank slowly drove onto the landing ladder board. The thick steel plate silently endured an 11-ton steel giant beast. The tracks and load-bearing wheels of the tank began to contact the seawater. When the tracks touched the mudstones on the seabed, the seawater on it just exceeded the entire load-bearing wheel. After leaving the landing ladder board, the "Stone II" rolled over the slightly soft beach without stopping and drove forward.

Lieutenant Saches, who only poked out the turret above his eyes, opened his eyes wide and looked at the magnificent scene. The bullets flying by overwhelmed almost did not threaten the hard armor of the tanks. The poor Indian soldiers did not know what anti-tank guns were. When landing ships arrived at the near-shore beach one after another, more and more tanks and infantry landed. Soon, dozens of landing ships successfully sent landing soldiers to the beach. Nearly 2,000 German infantry and more than 20 tanks advanced quickly after wading on the water.

Compared with those fast-advanced infantry, the tanks advanced a little slower. Although the steel load-bearing wheels tried hard to guide the tracks and the mud and sand at the rear of the tank were constantly raised by the tracks, under this terrain conditions, the speed of "Stone II" was only 12 kilometers per hour, and the speed of "Stone I" was only a pitiful 8 kilometers per hour. Fortunately, they were all moving forward like turtles in the tortoise and hare race.

"Aim at the target and prepare to fire!"

With Saches' order, his tank stopped moving forward. The point where the tank gun pointed was the first barrier encountered by the landing troops - a seawall that had been cut into more than 1 meter high by shells. In one of the machine gun battle positions made of sandbags, a water-cold Maxim was roaring desperately. The German infantry who kept charging at gunpoint was hit by its bullets. The attacking queue suddenly slowed down its advancement less than 20 meters away from the seawall. Several attacking German soldiers had covered their chests and fell down with regret before throwing out the long-handled grenade in their hands. From the telescope, Lieutenant Sachees could clearly see the faces of several Indians wearing big turbans behind Maxim, as if they were ravaging the German warship artillery fire on them and their companions before they vented.

"Damn Indians, go to hell!"

The tanks, from the barrel to the track, suddenly shook with the launch of the shells. Coupled with the white smoke emitted from the muzzle and the barrel, the familiar feeling made every tank's hand excited. At a distance of 60 meters, the shells of the 37mm tank gun accurately hit the British machine gun battle position in less than 0.1 second. After a not-severe explosion, the Maxim heavy machine gun was gone, and a small bloody headscarf was floating in the air.

The shell shell fell on the bottom of the tank and made a crisp and pleasant sound. The gunner stuffed the next high-explosive shell into the barrel as fast as possible. Saches' tank did not start again, but turned the muzzle to another place with heavy rifle fire on the breakwater. Seeing the cannon on the opponent's steel monster aiming at him at such a close distance, several Indian soldiers there were staring at this side.

After a red explosion flame, several bloody headscarves fell from the sky.

After the landing tanks used their own tank guns to clear the British fire points on the beach and the breakwater at close range, the infantry's offense became smoother again. The long-handled grenades flying to the top and back of the breakwater can even be described as flying all over the sky. In addition to the mortars that shot from the beach one after another, the first line of defense guarded by Indian soldiers on the west end of Bonesmouth beach finally completely collapsed.

When the German military flag fluttered in the wind was planted with a broken seawall, the generals on the "Border Governor" applauded the soldiers who fought bravely on the front line. Guderian, who was commanding the battle in the front, did not relax at all. The battle to attack the slopes in the central Bonemouth was still ongoing. It is also very important whether the small dock on the east side of the beach can be completely occupied. Otherwise, the engineers would have to spend at least half a day to build a new trestle. How much counterattack force the British army could invest in the first time is still an unknown number for the German landing troops.
Chapter completed!