The Rise of the Third Reich

On January 1, 1943, the German and Italian air forces went against the norm and carried out an unprecedented daytime bombing of the British hinterland. Starting at 8 a.m. that day, a group of bombers taking off from air force bases along the coasts of France and Belgium formed a huge fleet of more than 1,000 aircraft. From an altitude of 10,000 meters, they passed through the southern region of England where air defense firepower is intensive, and penetrated deep into Liverpool, Central England, and Places like Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds and Hull.

However, what surprised the British was that these bombers that penetrated deep into the British hinterland did not drop bombs in several densely populated large cities, but focused on bombing railways, kilometers, transportation hubs and bridges.

Moreover, some German aircraft carried remote-controlled gliding bombs, dropped them from a height of less than 6,000 meters, and accurately hit several important railway bridges and road bridges in central England. Land traffic in southern Britain was suddenly interrupted!

What's even more disgusting is that after the remote-controlled glide bombs and ordinary heavy bombs were dropped to destroy road bridges, many SD-2 "Butterfly" bombs were dropped. This is a cluster bomb. Each bomblet weighs only about 2 kilograms and has two single wings like butterfly wings (used to reduce the falling speed), hence the name butterfly bomb.

This kind of bomb has a delay fuse and a counter-operation fuse (actually a kind of booby trap). They will fall on the area that has just been bombed to delay the opponent's repair work. Because a large number of "butterfly bombs" appear in the bombed areas, It caused great disturbance to the British engineers and emergency repair personnel around the destroyed transportation facilities, so the repair work was carried out very slowly.

While German aircraft were bombing indiscriminately, the British Fighter Command seemed helpless.

It turned out that in the past two or three years, the Luftwaffe had not organized any large-scale bombing of Britain. There are two main modes of British air warfare. One is small-scale harassment attacks that occur at high altitudes and at night; the other is a war of attrition that occurs in the Channel area (including ports, airports and radar stations near the Channel). The scale of a single battle Usually not very big either.

Therefore, RAF Fighter Command lacked experience in countering large-scale air attacks, and its fighter squadrons were scattered around London (the focus of harassing air attacks), near the English Channel, and in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Special nearby.

And because the Spitfire, the main fighter of the Royal Air Force, has a very short range, fighter jets deployed in various places rarely engage in coordinated operations. The Fighter Command also lacked experience in organizing large-scale air interceptions, so it was somewhat unprepared to face a large number of enemy aircraft groups escorted by a large number of fighter jets.

In addition, starting in the autumn of 1942, the German Air Force and Naval Aviation began to use the Fokker Zero D to implement early clearance tactics, which also caused heavy losses to the already weak Royal Air Force. Many experienced pilots lost their lives in combat in October, November and December, and coupled with a lack of fuel for pilot training, the quality of RAF fighter pilots declined further.

Before the massive attack by the German and Italian Air Force on January 1, 1943, the Fokker Zero D deployed at coastal airports in France and Belgium also launched a massive attack and carried out a round of "early clearance."

So when thousands of large German and Italian aircraft flew over southern England, only dozens of P47s and P51s flown by American pilots took off from airports near London to intercept. But in the face of the dense German and Italian fighter jets and bombers that fill the sky, what role can dozens of P47s and P51s play?

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On the night of January 1, 1943, the big shots from the British High Command and the Allied European Command stayed up all night, meeting to study the purpose of the large-scale air raid launched by the German and Italian coalition forces.

In Wilhelmshaven, which is more than 300 nautical miles away from the British Isles, the landing group of the German Marine Corps has completed boarding, and the supplies and equipment have been loaded. One by one, the ships are sailing out of the heavily guarded military port and starting to sail outside the port. The formation was carried out, and all work was carried out strictly according to the timetable set by the 7th Army Headquarters, headed by General Hader.

In the air, Luftwaffe and naval aviation night planes flew along patrol routes in groups, guided by radar stations, to intercept and destroy all enemy reconnaissance aircraft trying to approach Wilhelmshaven.

On the North Sea farther away from Wilhelmshaven, hundreds of large and small combat ships have formed several large formations, or patrolled around, searching for British submarines that might be close to Wilhelmshaven. Or circle on the water at a speed of 5 knots, waiting for the landing fleet to be organized at sea.

The wind and waves on the sea are still a bit strong, and the sea state is about level 3-4. With the help of the moonlight, you can see the up and down waves beating against the side of the ship. The landing ship of several thousand tons kept swaying with the waves, but to Marine Corps Captain Rudolf von Ribbentrop, who had received strict sea training, such waves were nothing.

He was wounded again at the Battle of Kronstadt last autumn and lay in the hospital for half a month before recovering. After recovering, he did not return to his old army, but was transferred to the newly formed 516th Heavy Armor Battalion - a heavy armor battalion exclusive to the Marine Corps, equipped with lightweight Tigers G tank.

Compared with the 56-ton Tiger E tank currently used by the Army, the Tiger G tank used by the Marine Corps has thinner armor. The armor on the top and bottom of the body has been reduced from 102mm on the E type to 82mm ( 45-degree inclination), the armor on the side of the car has also been reduced from 82mm on the E-type to 70mm (20-degree inclination), and the armor on the lower side of the hull has been reduced from the E-type's no bevel), and the armor on the gun mantlet and turret front is also smaller than that on the E-type The shape is 10-15mm thinner.

The chassis, engine and gearbox of the Tiger G have also been lightened to a certain extent, and more alloy materials have been used. When the Tiger was designed, the supply of non-ferrous metals in Germany was still relatively tight, so alloy materials were limited. The use of rare metals has made many components used in the tank chassis overweight because there are no rare metals, and the reliability cannot meet the requirements. However, on the latest Tiger F-type (another upgraded version of the E-type) and G-type, the reliability of the chassis and power system has been greatly improved, and the weight has been reduced.

After a series of "lightweight" modifications, the Tiger G's overall combat weight has changed from E The 56-ton model was reduced to 48 tons.

In addition, the ammunition load of the Tiger G has also been reduced, from 87 rounds of 88mm shells to 70 rounds (the number of machine gun ammunition remains unchanged). The saved space is used to increase the fuel tank capacity, making the Tiger G's travel Compared with the E-type, it has been significantly increased, with the highway range increased to 300 kilometers and the off-road range increased to 210 kilometers.

And because of the weight reduction, the maximum speed of the Tiger G is also faster than that of the E. The maximum speed on the road reaches 40 kilometers per hour, and the maximum off-road speed reaches 21 kilometers per hour.

Of course, such a "shrunken Tiger" cannot be compared with the original Tiger in terms of sturdiness, but compared with the No. 3 amphibious tank originally used by the German Marine Corps, it is more than a little stronger.

"Our Marine Corps finally has a decent tank. It would be great to have it on Kotlin Island (Kronstadt)."

On the tank deck of the heavily shaking tank landing ship, Captain Ribbentrop and a sergeant major named Hank Scheibler (a platoon leader) were walking on a platform as if they were walking on flat ground. Weaving between Tiger tanks, inspecting vehicle preparations before landing.

"Install the side skirts and bullet-proof grilles," Ribbentrop ordered. "It says that the British militia may be equipped with anti-tank grenade launchers similar to Panzerfausts and 75mm guns capable of firing armor-piercing shells. I I don’t want the precious Tiger to be damaged by the British militiamen stationed on the beach.”

"Yes, Captain." The sergeant major immediately ordered Scheibler to the soldiers who were strapping glove boxes behind the tank body.

"And these glove boxes must be fastened with straps," Ribbentrop said. "Don't drop them in the water. In addition, the fuel, batteries and ammunition must be checked again, and the spare fuel tanks must be filled." Full."

Little Ribbentrop suddenly put on an extremely proud face, raised his voice, and said to the busy officers and soldiers: "Everyone, this battle to land in England will be the pride of our lives, and we will be our sincerity." The first foreign troops to set foot on the coast of the British Isles after the conquest of Man! Our descendants will be proud of our heroic achievements, and people a thousand years from now will also know our feats. We will be the heroes of the Thousand Years Empire! Brothers, do your best!"

When Rudolf von Ribbentrop was delivering a speech, Major General Walter Wink, commander of the 1st German Marine Division, was on the battleship Gneisenau, studying the just Received the latest version of the bombardment and landing plans.

Because the climate over the North Sea is so changeable, the specific plans for "Operation Norman" have been changing.

According to the latest weather forecast, the 7th Army Headquarters made the decision to conduct air assaults and beach landings at the same time. The 7th Paratrooper Division will conduct an airborne landing in Hartlepool, a port city in central England near the North Sea, to cooperate with the landing group to seize the city and port.