Take Taobao to fight against Japan

Among the troops on the western front, a total of 38 infantry divisions and garrison divisions were deployed on the coastline, defending the more than 3000-kilometer coastline from the Netherlands and Belgium to the Atlantic coast of France and to the Mediterranean Sea.

There are 8 divisions deployed in the Netherlands and Belgium, and another 17 divisions are distributed in southern France.

There are only 300 divisions on the coastline of more than 6 kilometers in Normandy, and 4 of them are garrison divisions.

From these data, it can be seen that there are many reasons why most of the German fortresses in the Atlantic Ocean do not constitute a "line of defense", but only protection.

The direct consequence of this phenomenon of widely distributed forces is that it is impossible to concentrate superior forces to annihilate the enemy.

Of course, this is by no means to say that the Atlantic Fortress, which spent a lot of manpower, material and financial resources, is useless and completely worthless.

In fact, on the coastline of many key defense areas, there are concrete bunkers and fortifications all over, which can be described as terrifying and indestructible with firepower.

It's just that passive defense means being passively beaten. Even if the German army's current defense of the Atlantic Fortress doubles, it is impossible to guard this long coastline tightly.

As the largest country in Western Europe, France has a long coastline and numerous ports. Since it faces Britain across the sea, the coast of France is undoubtedly the most ideal landing site for the Allied forces.

For this reason, the German army gathered heavy troops in this area, and its key defensive areas were Dunkirk, Calais, Boulogne and the port of Le Havre.

Centered on Calais and Boulogne, the German army built four large naval forts, as well as a large number of various small and medium-sized forts.

The most heavily defended is undoubtedly Dunkirk in front of you. The fortifications surround the entire town and extend for 5 kilometers along the coastline.

Standing on a high ground, Rommel stared at everything in front of him with a solemn expression.

On the coastline directly in front is a typical group of fortifications. On the beach, there are wooden obstacles, barbed wire, minefields, and then a 4-meter-high anti-tank wall.

Further back, there are carefully built and camouflaged bunkers and forts.

In order to confuse the Allies, the Germans camouflaged both the bunkers and the forts, often disguising the entire bunker group as a seaside town.

For example, the outer walls of forts or bunkers were painted in the shape of various civil houses, or camouflage nets were added, and some simpler ones were directly painted with mud on the outer walls of the fortifications to be consistent with the surrounding landforms.

Some fortifications facing the sea will paint windows and doors on the outer walls to disguise themselves as beach houses.

Most of some artillery positions are buried underground, only the barrels are exposed to the ground. In order to avoid the Allied bombing, camouflage nets or tents are hung on these barrels.

The fortifications must be fully integrated with the terrain. Fortifications that do not have high requirements for sunlight and ventilation are all buried underground, and the top is as flat as possible with the surrounding horizontal lines.

At the same time, in order to reduce the hit rate of the Allied bombers, the air-to-air cross-section of the fortifications should be as small as possible.

Fortresses, ammunition depots and other key targets of the Allied Forces have stricter cross-section requirements. The principle of their design and construction is not to hinder the gunner from operating the artillery.

The fortifications on the Atlantic Fortress can be divided into the following categories: open bunkers, bunkers, forts, closed bunkers and observation posts, and of course various anti-landing obstacles, such as anti-tank trenches, "dragon teeth", various minefields wait.

It can be said that the German army used every means when building these fortifications of the Atlantic Fortress, whether it is protection, firepower or concealment, they have been fully considered.

It’s no wonder that the U.S. military said after investigating the Atlantic fortresses after the war, thanks to the early landing in Normandy, these fortresses are really terrible.

However, at this moment, facing these impregnable defensive fortress systems, Rommel did not have much confidence and confidence, and some were only worried and panicked.

According to intelligence, the landing operation of the Allied forces to open up the second battlefield on the European continent is already on the verge of coming out, and it may become a reality within a few days.

However, the German army is in an embarrassing situation in terms of strength and technical equipment. At the same time, it is impossible to judge from which area the Allied forces will carry out the landing operation, which makes Rommel even more uncomfortable.

Although in addition to the army, the German navy and air force also have a large number of bases along the Atlantic coast.

Therefore, the number of German air and naval units on the Atlantic Fortress is also quite large, but in terms of numbers, the naval coastal artillery and air force anti-aircraft artillery units account for the majority of the naval and air forces.

Although the 3rd Air Force of the German Air Force is located on the Western Front, it is directly under the command of the Air Force Commander-in-Chief Goering. It has 815 aircraft of various types under its jurisdiction, and the reliability rate of the aircraft is less than 50%, and only about half of them under the best conditions The flying is suitable for combat.

德国在海峡地区的海军兵力计有:100艘左右各式潜艇、8艘驱逐舰和大型鱼雷艇、5艘小型鱼雷艇、34艘鱼雷快艇、262艘扫雷艇和巡逻艇。

What's more terrible is that the German Navy only has 4 torpedo boats, 15 speedboats, and 6 gunboats in the Normandy area.

Although there are naval forts on the shore, the navy does not have its own reconnaissance aircraft capable of reconnaissance.There is no doubt that it is very difficult to deal with the landing of the Allied forces with such naval and air forces and equipment.

As early as September 1941, the Soviet Union proposed to the United Kingdom to open a second battlefield in Europe to implement a strategic pincer attack on Germany, but at that time the United Kingdom was simply unable to organize such a large-scale strategic landing operation.

In the first half of 1943, the situation on the Soviet-German battlefield was very serious. The German army had already entered Stalingrad. The Soviet Union strongly urged Britain and the United States to launch a landing operation in Europe to contain the German army and reduce the pressure on the Soviet army.

The United Kingdom had to hastily dispatched an assault force of 6018 people to land in Dieppe, France. The result was a disastrous defeat, with 5810 casualties, and the casualty rate was as high as 96.5%.

Afterwards, the United Kingdom took advantage of Dieppe's failure and insisted on postponing the landing on the European continent on the grounds that the complexity and danger of large-scale amphibious landings must be carried out with caution.

In fact, on the one hand, Britain wanted to take advantage of the Soviet-German struggle to reap the benefits of the fisherman, and on the other hand, it wanted to use the power of the United States to restore the traditional power of the British Empire in North Africa and southern Europe before the war.

It was not until May 1943 that the Anglo-American Washington Conference finally made a decision to land on the European continent in May 5 and open up a second battlefield.

After another year of preparation and planning, the Normandy landing operation plan code-named "Operation Overlord" has been freshly released, and the specific action time is set for the early morning of June 1944, 6.

Chapter 1587

On the outskirts of London, England, somewhere in a military camp.

"Military seat, has the specific action plan been finalized?"

As soon as Sun Fumin, the commander of the Huben Expeditionary Army, returned to the camp, Zhao Mingruo, Yan Chaoren, Zhou Zhen and others who had been waiting for a long time rushed forward to greet him

Facing everyone's expectant eyes, Sun Fumin nodded with a smile on his face and said, "Well, it's settled, let's go, let's go into the room and talk!"

"Good! Good!"

"Looking at the appearance of the military seat, we have been assigned an offensive mission!"

"Military seat, can we talk now? What is the specific content of the Overlord's action plan?"

"We are in charge of attacking that area?"

Zhao Mingruo and others surrounded Sun Fumin with smiles and walked back to the military headquarters. After closing the door, they couldn't wait to ask questions.

After the Battle of Tunisia and the Landing of Sicily, the Chinese Huben Expeditionary Army led by Sun Fumin had been resting for more than half a year, and basically had nothing to do.

It was not until two months ago that all members of the Huben Expeditionary Force were transferred to the British Isle, and were preparing to participate in the upcoming Normandy landing.

After being idle for more than half a year, Zhao Mingruo and others were naturally uncomfortable. They had long thought that they could go on the battlefield again and defeat Nazi Germany earlier, so that the Allied forces could concentrate all their strength and go back to deal with the Japanese devils.

Everyone on the earth knows that there were three main countries in the Axis camp during World War II: Germany, Japan, and Italy.

However, compared with the stubborn Nazi Germany and Japanese devils, Italy signed an unconditional surrender document as early as September 9 last year, formally surrendering to the Allied Forces, and then declared war on Germany and became a member of the Allied Forces.

The Allied forces landed on Sicily in July 1943, which can be regarded as a major historic feat of the Allied forces. So far, the long history of the Allied forces being beaten by the Axis powers in North Africa has finally come to an end.

The territory of Italy invaded by the Allied forces shattered all illusions of Mussolini, and it was impossible for him to restore the so-called "Roman Empire".

But here comes the problem. Since the Allied forces have already reached Italy, why didn't the Allied forces led by the United States and Britain go directly northward from Italy to attack Germany instead of asking Normandy in western France to open up a second European battlefield?

Looking at the world map, you can see that landing from France seems to be more strenuous than landing from Italy. Not only does it require a series of twists and turns, but the risk and difficulty of landing operations will be much greater.

Moreover, attacking the German mainland from Italy also has the effect of "encircling Wei and saving Zhao", and France is naturally liberated.

That's right, at the beginning, many senior leaders of the Allied Forces, represented by the British Prime Minister, really wanted to open up a second European battlefield from Italy.

However, this strategy aroused vigilance and criticism from the Soviet Union, and strongly opposed it.

The same is true in fact, the seemingly perfect strategy is actually not so easy to use.

Although the Allied forces have landed in Italy, if they attack Germany from Italy, the Allied forces will face two insurmountable difficulties.

The first major difficulty: Italy's cheating terrain.

Although Italy surrendered in 1943, the head of state supported Mussolini to become a fascist puppet regime in northern Italy.

The steep Alps Mountains are still controlled by the Axis powers, which caused great difficulties for the Allied forces to go north.

Italy is obviously a dead end. The Apennine Peninsula is mountainous and hilly, and the rivers are vertical and horizontal. This is very troublesome for the mechanized troops of the Allied forces.

At the same time, the Germans built a very strong Gustav Line of Defense, which ran through the entire central part of the Apennine Peninsula.

The defensive design of this line of defense comes from the famous German general Kesselring, whose defensive skills are comparable to Marshal Mandel in the German army.

The central part of the line of defense he designed was Cassino Mountain, which looked out from the center and could be strong on the left and right. The German divisions deployed on both wings could rely on the terrain to fight steadily.

The third Battle of Cassino, launched by the Allied Forces with all their strength, was about to succeed when Germany actually transferred the [-]st Paratrooper Division directly from the Leningrad front.

This division can be regarded as one of the strongest combat units in Germany. After the gang of desperadoes arrived at the Cassino line of defense, they laid mines everywhere. As a result, most of the Allied personnel who participated in the attack lost their arms and legs after the war.

Finally, in the fourth storm, relying on the brave performance of the Polish Carpathian Division and the New Zealand Army, it was possible to break through this line of defense by filling in with human lives.

The German army voluntarily abandoned this line of defense due to insufficient troops, but the Allied forces were also soberly aware that if this continues, they may not see the Rhine in this lifetime.

Because, in front of the Alps, the threat to the Allies is greater and more insurmountable.

The second biggest difficulty is undoubtedly the logistical problems faced by the northern expedition to Germany from southern Italy.

If it lands in Italy, Britain is bound to serve as the main logistics base and military source.

In this case, the Allied forces must transport supplies from the British and American mainland through the Strait of Gibraltar, and the logistical supply line will be thousands of kilometers long.

At that time, when the United Kingdom wants to cross the long supply line in the Mediterranean Sea, it will inevitably be attacked by German submarines infinitely.

Since the beginning of World War II, the situation in Britain has been very bad. Not only were many cities bombed by Germany infinitely, but also suffered infinite attacks from submarines.

For a period of time, the British Prime Minister didn't bother to look at the loss data, only how many cargo ships were launched.

Under such circumstances, if you go to Italy to transport supplies, it will probably lead to the loss of Britain's war potential.

Compared with Italy, Normandy and the British mainland are only separated by hundreds of kilometers of the English Channel, and the consumption and risk of opening up a second battlefield are much smaller.

In addition, there is another factor outside the battlefield, that is, time is a more critical killer.

At present, the Soviet army has made great strides to regain lost ground. If the Soviet army enters Berlin, Europe will inevitably be dominated by the Soviet Union.

Both the United Kingdom and the United States know that for them, if the war drags on longer, the more various domestic conflicts will increase.

Therefore, it is much more difficult to open up a second European battlefield in Italy than it is to open a second battlefield in northern France!

Sun Fumin smiled and replied: "Operation Overlord has been finalized, just as the chief executive predicted before, the Allied forces will officially implement the landing operation on June 6, and the landing site is set in Normandy, France.

The first wave of attacks focused on five beaches: Omaha Beach, Utah Beach, Swald Beach, Gold Beach and Juno Beach.

And our Huben Expeditionary Army was listed as the first attack sequence, responsible for the main attack on Gold Beach! "

"Wow, is it really D-Day?"

"The chief seat is so powerful, it was already counted a year ago!"

"Yes, yes, the chief seat is really a god!"

After Sun Fumin's words fell, the room couldn't help but exclaimed, Zhao Mingruo and others all extended their thumbs up from the bottom of their hearts.

Chapter 1588

A year ago, the Allied Forces set up a special joint combat command and began to formulate relevant landing plans. The first thing they had to do was to determine the most suitable landing site.

As for the selection of the landing site, the Allied forces have done a lot of preliminary work over the past year, and while maintaining high secrecy, they have made many strategic deception deployments.

For example, from the false information passed on to the Calais landing, to the use of various means to confuse the German army.

For example, in order to deceive the enemy into believing that the landing site was Calais instead of Cotaine, the Allies fabricated a Dover-based 1st Army Group, which was larger than Montgomery's 21st Army Group, and appointed Patton Served as the commander-in-chief of the group army group, etc.

At the same time, in order to avoid the leakage of the attack time, the Allied forces designated this day as D-Day. From September 1943 onwards, all planning documents of Operation Overlord used Neptune.

So until now, the senior generals within the Allied Forces have been able to obtain truly accurate information.

"Well, in terms of strategic vision, the chief executive is indeed unmatched!"

Sun Fumin nodded in conviction, and then stood in front of the operational military map in the war room, selling it now, "The landing site on the coastline must meet the following three conditions: first, it must be within the radius of fighter jets taking off from British airports; The voyage distance should be as short as possible, and there should be a large port nearby.

Based on these conditions, there are three suitable areas along the 480km coastline from Vlissingen in the Netherlands to Cherbourg in France, namely the Constantin Peninsula, Calais and Normandy.

"The terrain of the Constantine Peninsula is narrow and it is not convenient to deploy large troops, so it is definitely not possible."

"Calais and Normandy have their own advantages and disadvantages. The advantage of Calais is that it is only 33km away from the UK and is close to the German mainland.

But its shortcomings are also obvious: the German army has the strongest defensive force here, the defenders are elite troops, the fortifications are complete and solid, and there are no major ports nearby, and there is also a lack of inland communication lines, which is not conducive to the development of depth after landing. "

"Although Normandy is far from the UK, its advantages are obvious. First, the German defense is weak. Second, the terrain is open and 30 divisions can be deployed at the same time. Third, it is only 80km away from Cherbourg, the largest port in northern France...."

"Therefore, Normandy is undoubtedly the most ideal place for the Allied forces to land!"

Sun Fumin paused deliberately, and then said excitedly, "I have to say that the British and American intelligence work of the Allied Forces is indeed very good. Until now, the Germans still keep their eyes on the Calais area, and they are convinced that we will definitely start from there." Attack.

Moreover, according to reliable information, the German army has relaxed its vigilance, and even Rommel went back to his hometown in Germany for vacation with confidence. "

Zhao Mingruo said with a smile: "This is called attacking by surprise. If it were, I would never have imagined that the Allied forces did not launch their attack in May when the weather was the best, but chose the beginning of June when the weather was bad!"

Regarding all possible situations of the landing of the Allied forces, the Germans did not fail to predict, because operations have high requirements on weather and geographical factors, so the German army paid close attention to May, which is very suitable for landing in France, and more than half of that month can be described as the perfect time. Good timing.

However, General Eisenhower, who was in charge of the Allied forces, seemed to have no intention of taking advantage of these good times.

When all the good days passed in the quiet years of the Allied forces, the Germans breathed a sigh of relief. They were almost sure that the Allied forces had no plans to land in a short time.

After all, for the next half month, the weather was very bad, and the sea was so stormy that the German army had to withdraw the patrol ships in the strait.