The Rise of the Third Reich

Just when the British military command was temporarily confused about where the German airborne target was, Captain Otto Skorzeny and his paratrooper brothers had already landed on British soil. And began to form temporary commando teams, and then pounced on the targets they had planned to fight for.

Skorzeny, who had long been an airborne veteran, landed on the ground very smoothly. An FG42 hanging on his body was not blown away by the wind, and the two grenades and magazines hanging on his chest were also there. The only thing that made him dissatisfied was that he didn't know where he had landed? Because when he jumped from the plane just now, the wind in the sky was really strong - there was no way, the weather in January was like this!

"Damn the wind, today is really not a good day for skydiving!" Skorzeny took a compass and looked at it with the map for a long time, then opened the scenery comparison manual and looked around, and finally made sure One thing is that he must be on British soil now.

There was a rapid and rapid sound of gunfire not far away. It was not fired by the FG42, nor was it the harsh sound of the MG42 machine gun tearing through linen. It sounded a bit like some kind of submachine gun firing, and the German paratroopers didn't have such outdated things as submachine guns.

So Skorzeny was very careful, bent down, holding the FG42, and walked from the place where he landed to a farmland full of grass. Here he found a German paratrooper holding a pistol, looking at him nervously - not all paratroopers would parachute with FG42, only experienced veterans would do so, and recruits would put FG42 away. Airdrop it into the weapon storage bucket, and only carry a pistol and grenades.

"Thank God, you are a German officer and you have an FG42. I think I am saved." The soldier seemed to be so happy that he almost rushed up to hug Skorzeny.

"Ta-ta-ta..."

Another burst of intensive gunfire rang out.

Skorzeny quickly lay down in the grass, but the very young-looking German paratrooper who only had a pistol was relatively calm.

"Sir, there are two confused British guys. I think they are militiamen. They are firing at me with two Sten submachine guns, but they are at least 500 meters away from me."

500 meters is a distance that a submachine gun cannot hit the target at all. Infantrymen who have received sufficient training will not shoot randomly like this. It not only wastes bullets, but also exposes the target.

"Okay, I'll kill them!" Skorzeny nodded, crawled forward in the grass, climbed to a field ridge, and then raised his head to watch.

Sure enough, there was a flash of muzzle flash in the distance, about 450 meters away. He immediately raised his FG42, aimed at the place where the muzzle flash flashed, and fired a short burst. Then he saw another flash of muzzle flash. It was obvious that an idiot was shooting randomly. He was not polite and immediately turned the muzzle and fired again. Then there were no more gunshots, replaced by screams and calls for help in English.

"Help, help, I was hit, God, I'm going to die..."

"Follow me and see if I can get you a useful Sten submachine gun." Skorzeny greeted him, fixed the bayonet on his FG42, then jumped up and ran forward with his body bent. He quickly ran to two British militiamen who were knocked to the ground.

One of the British militiamen fell to the ground motionless and seemed to be dead. Skorzeny shot him without hesitation, and then put his bayonet against another militiaman in his forties who was screaming. Chest.

At this time, the paratrooper with only one pistol also followed up, picked up the two Sten submachine guns thrown on the ground, and found two bullets from the corpse and the screaming living person. Clip and 2 hammer-like anti-tank grenades.

"Hey, British, where are we?" Skorzeny asked loudly in English with a fierce look. "Answer quickly!"

"Are you German? Are you German? Are you really German?" The British militiaman did not answer Skorzeny's question, but asked instead.

"We are German paratroopers!" Skorzeny said, "Answer my question! Quick!"

The British suddenly shouted: "Oh, God, how is this possible!? Aren't you about to starve to death? Aren't you about to have a revolution? Why are you coming to the UK? Now the Americans have come to support you. How dare you come to England?”

Skorzeny frowned. This British soldier was very dishonest and needed to be punished. He immediately gave an order to the paratrooper who picked up two submachine guns: "Soldier, beat him! Beat him hard!"

"As you command, sir!"

After the inhumane prisoner abuse incident, Skorzeny quickly learned that he was in the territory of a small town called Erwick west of Hartlepool. It's not too far from Hartlepool, only 5 kilometers at most. The planned beachhead for the Marine Corps landing is 5.6 kilometers northeast of Erwick.

The wounded British militiaman belonged to an infantry company of the North Yorkshire Division. His company was stationed in Bucks Town. The company's task was to protect a coastal artillery company deployed in Bucks Town. Next to a forest outside, there is a very concealed position and four 8-inch howitzers, all of which are aimed at the beach and the sea 3 kilometers away.

Tonight, the platoon of this unlucky British soldier was ordered to patrol between Erwick and Hartlepool, and happened to encounter an airborne landing, so he spread out in squad units to attack the German paratroopers who had just landed. But at the beginning, all they encountered were wooden men, so the squad leader of the British soldier took it lightly and divided his squad into groups of two and asked them to look around. The result is tragic...

Knowing where he was, Skorzeny didn't have time to listen to the injured British soldier's nagging, and directly knocked him unconscious with the butt of his rifle (it was such a cold day, and this guy was shot, so he probably wouldn't survive) ), and then led the paratrooper toward Hartlepool Beach in the northeast.

They did not encounter any more British soldiers along the way, but they did encounter a lot of German paratroopers who were blown away by the strong wind. Skorzeny gathered them together, and there were 22 of them including himself. Most of the paratroopers were veterans and carried FG42 rifles with them. A few skirmishers also obtained British submachine guns or rifles. In addition, two paratroopers found a storage bucket containing mortars and artillery shells.

The group of people headed northeast again, trying to occupy the position outside Bucks Town where four 8-inch cannons were placed - these were four 200mm-level heavy cannons! If you open fire while the Marines are charging onto the beach, the consequences will be disastrous!

…

The size of the artillery position is not small. Four cannons are placed in four field artillery bunkers connected by communication trenches. There is also a bunker for stacking ammunition in the middle of the four artillery bunkers, which are also connected by communication trenches and artillery bunkers.

In other words, once the war started, the British artillerymen operating these four cannons would be able to bombard the beachhead with cannons without having to climb out of the trenches. And because the cannon is placed in a bunker (actually a big pit), it is difficult to destroy unless it is directly hit by a German naval gun.

There is also an anti-aircraft machine gun position near each of these four cannons, holding four Vickers 0.5-inch anti-aircraft machine guns, which can shoot aircraft and deal with infantry.

In addition, there is an infantry circular position around each of the four artillery bunkers, with half a platoon of infantry guarding each. The circular positions are also connected by communication trenches and artillery positions.

From a distance, you can tell that such an artillery position is a big trouble. If it cannot be captured in time, thousands of German Marine brothers will be killed by those four cannons tomorrow morning.

Skorzeny observed the artillery position close to it for a while, then retreated to a small wood where two dozen German paratroopers were hiding, and then called everyone together.

He said: "The opponent has at least one artillery company and two infantry platoons. Currently, there are 4 identified artillery bunkers and 4 anti-aircraft machine gun bunkers."

"So the other side has overwhelming strength and firepower advantages?" A sergeant major frowned and reminded, "I'm afraid it will be difficult to succeed in the attack."

"No matter what, we have to attack!" Skorzeny said. "We don't have communications troops among us, so we don't have a radio to contact others to help. We can only use firefights to make some noise. Even if we can't succeed, we just need to If other German paratroopers are attracted, this artillery position can be taken down no matter what."

There are at least tens of thousands of German paratroopers landing near Hartlepool. As long as more people can be attracted for reinforcements, this artillery position can naturally be captured.

"Okay, Captain, but how are we going to attack? They have positions and they have machine guns set up."

"The four anti-aircraft machine guns are not the problem," Skorzeny shook his head. "The problem is the two platoons of British militiamen covering the artillery. As long as they are dealt with, we have 16 FG42s. Are we afraid that we will not be able to fire four anti-aircraft machine guns?" "

There are more than 80 people in the two platoons, plus the guard platoon of the Coast Artillery Company. There are almost more than 100 infantrymen in this artillery position. It is a bit difficult to deal with them with 22 German paratroopers.

"But how are we going to deal with those two platoons?" someone asked immediately.

Skorzeny thought for a moment, "Let's lure them out!"

"How to lead?"

Skorzeny pointed at the paratrooper carrying two Sten submachine guns and said: "Use the Sten submachine guns and Lee-Enfield rifles... We will let the British in the artillery position hear a battle." A battle between German rifles, machine guns and British Sten submachine guns!"