Imperial Overlord

Lyman was carrying his beloved STG-44 assault rifle, standing among his comrades, and before jumping off the plane, they were in a cabin.

Only one soldier was killed by a bullet, and the rest were still there, which made Lehmann look good.

Some people found something to eat from a few abandoned farmhouses nearby, but most were left hungry.

They don't carry a lot of supplies, and they carry more bullets than they eat. So now they can only starve, waiting for the second batch of airborne troops to arrive on the battlefield.

The good news is that they control a large area of ​​safety, at least allowing follow-up reinforcements and more glider troops to arrive safely.

"What good things have you found? Squad leader." The morning fog had cleared, and they could see a lot of scenery on the island of Malta.

Of course, I also saw the wreckage of the smoking plane, as well as various British artillery and anti-aircraft guns that were also blown up into wreckage.

"Most of the weapons have been found, and we have also captured some British anti-aircraft machine guns and anti-aircraft artillery. The other party is obviously strengthening the defense here." Hearing Lehmann ask himself, the paratrooper squad leader said with a smile.

He had a cigarette in his mouth, which was the most pleasant pastime on the battlefield. There are not many people who can have such a good thing as cigarettes. It is also a symbol of luck to enjoy such a good thing on the battlefield.

During the airborne just now, the German paratroopers found troops from the British Commonwealth on the battlefield.

These troops came from far away India. Although their combat effectiveness was not strong, they were quite unfamiliar faces.

It was precisely because these troops were temporarily reinforced here that the German airborne encountered resistance from the enemy—there were originally not so many troops here.

"Boom!" Before the two of them could talk too much, a cannonball fell on a high ground controlled by paratroopers in the distance.

The two of them shrank their necks, bent down subconsciously, found a temporary hiding place, and squatted down.

Soon, the British artillery bombardment fell like raindrops. Although the number of British defenders on this island was not large, they were equipped with a large number of cannons.

So after getting the specific news of the German paratroopers' attack, the British didn't show the slightest politeness, turned their guns around, and bombarded the German defensive positions with their 25-pounder field guns.

The caliber of this new type of field gun is actually not large, only a little more than 87 mm, which is similar to the caliber of the famous German 88 mm anti-aircraft gun.

However, the German 88mm caliber cannon is an anti-aircraft gun, while the British 25-pounder field gun is a curved fire support weapon.

"Enemy artillery! Hidden!" The squad leader lay down behind a slope, and then leaned on his steel helmet to loudly remind the surrounding friendly troops.

Few idiots waited for their superiors to remind them that almost a second after the shells fell, there were few idiots who continued to stand in the German paratroopers' positions.

"Boom!" The second shell followed, and the Maltese Islands offensive and defensive battle kicked off the real prelude.

The artillery bombardment of the British fell intensively, and the soil was like a plough on a position just occupied by the German paratroopers.

The German paratroopers tried their best to find a place to hide their bodies, waiting for the hellish enemy to bombard them.

Except for the shelling and explosions one after another, most of them didn't waste their saliva. The place was quiet and scary. Everyone held their weapons, squinting and praying that no shells would land on their side.

"I knew that what those pilots said was bullshit! What they said was never done." There are always exceptions, and Lyman is a special case who keeps complaining.

He also lay down beside his squad leader, listening to the sound of cannonballs flying overhead and exploding in the distance, feeling the hot wind blowing over his back in horror.

"Damn it! The British are really timid. They can't see their infantry. It's very easy to shoot." The squad leader also cursed when he heard Lyman nagging beside him.

Troops from a nearby airborne battalion were preparing to attack Mgarr, a fringe village that controlled the plains.

They saw the shelling from behind, and then 500 men stormed into Mgarr, occupying this small village with only one defense company in it.

After taking control of Mgarr, the German paratroopers did not stop, and continued westward along the road. At 10 a.m., they extended their defensive zone to Mellieha.

This terrified the British defense forces on the island of Malta. They couldn't figure out the scale of the German airborne, and could only rely on the speed of the German attack to make a rough judgment.

Originally, British intelligence thought that Germany would not risk attacking Malta, or they said that to any overseas base that might be attacked.

After all, in July of the 1940s, the British mainland stood in front of the strong man of the Third Reich like a girl without clothes.

Unless Churchill really won the British air battle and found out that Germany, the strong man, was actually not up, the British did not have any idea of ​​​​strengthening their troops overseas.

So at this time, the British intelligence agency estimated the size of the German landing force in Malta to be about 20,000 people.

Note that this is the size of the landing force, so the British placed their defenses in the northeast direction where the Germans might land...

As a result, the Germans were ready to drop about 10,000 paratroopers on the island of Malta, and in the later stages almost 20,000 Italian landing troops.

It must be said that the British had a deep understanding of the maritime transport capabilities of the two countries in the Axis, Germany and Italy, so they easily guessed the scale of sea landings.

Unfortunately, although the British could guess what kind of **** the Germans and Italians wanted to do by looking at the butts of the Germans and Italians, they still missed the powerful German airborne troops.

"Bastard! Where's our support? Okay, what about our support?" Lyman shouted loudly, squinting his eyes as he felt like he was about to be buried in the mud thrown up by the cannonball.

He needs to vent the fear in his heart. After all, being pressed and beaten by the enemy is not a very good feeling.

The past few minutes may have been longer than a century for the German paratroopers, or for the German paratroopers guarding the area south of Mgarr.

The British shelling was intermittent, but the trouble for the Germans was real.

Before the sound of howling on his side landed, a different sound came from the sky. It was a long neigh that came from hell.

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu..." The voice was so harsh that everyone couldn't help but look up at their sky.

The British stationed on the island of Malta can be said to be very familiar with this voice, because in the past week, it was this long cry that brought them complete mental and physical damage.

Similarly, the German paratroopers are so familiar with this chirping sound that hearing it is as intimate as hearing the birdsong of their hometown.

"Stuka!" A German paratrooper couldn't help shouting loudly to the sky. Similarly, Lehmann opened his mouth wide and shouted: "Stuka!"

When the morale was suppressed by the artillery fire, the confidence of the German paratroopers, which was infinitely squeezed, was rebounded and released at this moment.

They cheered against the sky, celebrating that their own plane was diving down in the sky, wanton attacking those targets who were just invincible just now.

With the cry of "Stuka", with the real cry of Stuka, the shelling of the German paratroopers came to an abrupt end.

In the same way, the explosion sound continued, and it seemed to be more rhythmic, violent and violent than the previous shelling.

The difference is that the sound of the explosion is getting farther and farther away from the German paratroopers, and the smoke rising in the distance shows that the enemy just now is receiving their punishment in the reincarnation.

"Looks like ~www.wuxiaspot.com~ at noon, we can try Rabat." The squad leader got up from the ground and shook the dirt on his body.

I have to say that, unlike the decent German soldiers in the movie, the image of the German paratroopers is actually closer to another adjective: sloppy.

They had slender wooden-handled grenades stuck to their waists, their steel helmets and military uniforms were covered in dust, their weapons straddled diagonally, cigarettes in their mouths, and messy beards...

It's just that these sloppy soldiers may be the most powerful and most combative troop so far.

Because to become German paratroopers, these soldiers have undergone more rigorous training than the Wehrmacht, and they have more combat literacy, and they are no worse than any opponent.

Many people applauded the performance of American paratroopers in 44 years, thinking that it was the pinnacle of paratrooper combat. They were besieged by the Germans, but refused to surrender until reinforcements fought back.

But the American paratroopers, the German paratroopers, have done something even more fantastic in 40 years - they parachuted to the roof of the enemy's fortress, and captured the enemy's heavily fortified fortress with grenades and explosive packs!

"Look! Our reinforcements are here!" Lyman also got up from the ground, brushed off the dirt from his body, pointed to the direction of the sky, and said to his squad leader with a smile.

Above their heads, the second wave of paratroopers, dragging gliders, had already reached the designated position, and they were carrying out larger-scale airborne operations.

Compared with the mature Normandy airborne, or the larger-scale city garden operation behind, the German airborne troops are still very creative at this time.

Their paratrooper weapons are delivered separately. In addition to the paratroopers, they also like to use unpowered gliders to transport more paratroopers who can't parachute to supplement the paratroopers' battlefield.