stonecrandall Chapter 654
Chapter 654
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: 0.055s Scan: 0.050sFour artillerymen hurriedly pushed the 2-pound gun onto the position and aimed at the nearest tank.
The unusual movement on the British position attracted the attention of the German army. A large number of bullets were fired in this direction. Corporal John heard a series of screams coming from all around. Many people screamed and fell down. The wounded soldiers screamed heartbreakingly in the trench!
The tank on the opposite side seemed to have sensed the danger. Its turret quickly turned and soon aimed at the anti-tank gun that was aiming at itself!
Boom!
Boom!
Almost at the same time, the British anti-tank gun and the German tank gun opened fire at the same time. The shells fired by both sides left a trail of white smoke in the air and crossed each other!
Boom!
Under the horrified expressions of dozens of British soldiers, the anti-tank gun that they had placed high hopes on was blown to pieces by the German shells.
Corporal John saw that at least two of the four gunners were blown away by the blast, screaming in fear in the air, and then fell hard behind the position without making any movement.
Corporal John didn’t bother to check whether the artillerymen were dead. He was more concerned about whether the shell hit his enemy! There were many British soldiers who had the same idea as Corporal John. Following their curious gaze, a white dot appeared under the turret in front of the German tank that was hit. The white dot was where the British anti-tank gun hit just now.
However, the tank was not destroyed and was still approaching their position at a very fast speed.
The British soldiers were stunned one by one. Many of them had just witnessed their own shells hitting the enemy. They opened their mouths and were about to cheer and celebrate, but they didn’t expect the enemy to be unscathed and rushed up again!
The shells they fired failed to penetrate the armor of the German tanks. After hitting the target, they ricocheted, leaving only a shallow dent after the violent collision, and then disappeared!
However, the German artillery fire destroyed their only anti-tank gun. The small gun had been torn into pieces, and the gun carriage and gun body were blown apart and could no longer be used!
Da Da Da!
The British soldiers were still in a daze. The German soldiers would not be polite to them. The machine gun on the tank turret was high above and fired at the British soldiers in the trenches without hesitation.
Several German soldiers also rushed out from behind the tank. They quickly threw dozens of grenades towards the British trenches!
Boom boom boom!
The familiar explosion sounded again. In the horrified eyes of Corporal John, he saw his companions being blown into the sky!
……
Steiner put down the telescope in his hand and breathed a sigh of relief.
The German army had broken through the British line of defense and was attacking the third line of defense. The British firepower was weakening. Under the light of the exploding shells, he saw many British soldiers with terrified expressions on their faces, running away!
For these British troops, they lacked effective means to deal with German tanks, so when the German tanks landed and charged them, they were actually defeated!
Among the 40 tanks that launched the first wave of attacks, only four tanks lost their combat effectiveness. One of them broke down on the beachhead due to mechanical failure, another was hit by a mine bomb on the track and was being repaired, and two were destroyed by British soldiers’ explosive packs when they were close to the enemy trenches.
It was obvious that the British troops on the battlefield had no combat experience. Although they organized resistance, the resistance was not strong and obviously had no rules. Except for the Maple Leaf Country regiment on the second position that caused some losses to the German army, the British troops on other battlefields were quickly defeated by the German army.
Steiner was a little surprised at first, but after thinking carefully for a while, he felt that it was natural.
The British army has never been taken seriously, and their main resources have been poured into the navy.
For a maritime power country, with limited resources, they will definitely give priority to the development of the navy.
After the navy is developed, the number of resources allocated to the army will be very high, and it will be impossible to maintain a strong army.
The size of the British army was not large to begin with, and the outbreak of World War II was too sudden for them to expect, so their country’s standing army was less than one million, of which 350,000 were deployed to the Benelux battlefield, and the whole army was destroyed in Dunkirk.
Most of the less than 500,000 remaining army troops in the mainland are concentrated in the capital Fog City and the main battle zone of Dover in the south. There are many army troops allocated to other areas, but there are few veterans.
And even these veterans still do not have strong combat effectiveness in the eyes of the German army.
During the Gallic Campaign, the German army had fought against the armies of four countries. Regarding the strength of the British army, the German army generally believed that their combat effectiveness was not as good as that of the French army, and was probably about the same as that of the Belgian army.
The veterans of the British army are only at this level, let alone their new recruits!
On the contrary, the army of the Maple Leaf Country is quite brave, which is a bit unexpected.
Steiner did not have time to think so much. More than half of his troops were still on the landing ship and had not disembarked. He had to get his troops off the ship as soon as possible, otherwise, there would be too few troops landing on the shore to expand the position, and if the troops did not disembark, the subsequent support troops would not be able to quickly support them.
The news of the German landing in Bournemouth has probably alarmed the British government. They will definitely mobilize a large number of troops to reinforce here at the first time. Now the German army’s primary task is to expand the beachhead and establish a relatively safe landing site to create conditions for the subsequent landing of friendly forces!
Therefore, taking the beachhead is only the first step. Establishing a position and blocking the enemy’s attack is the most critical step!
If they can’t stop the enemy, then the current victory will become meaningless, and his army may be annihilated by the enemy on this beach!
……
The news of Steiner’s successful landing was immediately transmitted back to Berlin. In Berlin’s headquarters, the commanders of the three armed forces, the army and the air force, and the head of the Third Reich, Mainz, were anxiously waiting for news from the front.
Landing in Bournemouth is definitely a risky move. The German army cannot be protected by the main fleet of the navy when landing here. If an enemy fleet rushes into the British Strait from the south, then all of their hundreds of landing ships will be in trouble!
So the British Strait never thought that the German army would take such a big risk to land here!
It is precisely because of this huge risk that the enemy was also careless, allowing the German sneak attack to succeed, and their first batch of troops successfully landed!
“The British navy should be ready to move. Contact Nimitz immediately and ask his fleet to move south!”
“Before that, Goering, the safety of the navy is entirely in your hands. I don’t want to see any British warships enter the British Strait from the south!”_