The decisive battle against the Third Reich

Major Kleiman quickly sent a platoon to take over the high ground that could guard the airdrop point, and then the main force of the army moved towards the Iraqi airport without stopping.

The key to airborne combat is speed. Needless to say, the reason is that the vast majority of paratroopers land in the middle of the enemy. That is to say, they are surrounded by the enemy at the beginning of the battle. If they do not take advantage of the enemy's reinforcements before they arrive, they can quickly attack them. If the target is attacked, the paratroopers will probably never reach the target, even though the target is very close.

"Well done, Second Lieutenant!" Major Kleiman walked to Qin Chuan under the protection of several guards carrying submachine guns and said, "If we let that group of Greek soldiers occupy that place and suppress us, maybe we will never I can't even get out of that farmland. I can't imagine that our reconnaissance plane ignored that high ground..."

"You can't blame them, sir!" Qin Chuan replied: "The high ground is covered with vegetation. Looking down from the air, it is almost integrated with other places. It is difficult for them to find anything!"

"You are right!" Major Clayman said: "But their mistake almost harmed all of us and even the entire plan. These fools flying in the air should be responsible for this!"

As he spoke, Major Kleiman looked into the sky, where dozens of fighters and bombers were flying to the Iraqi airport and bombing it.

Qinchuan felt that Major Clayman was right... If the First Infantry Battalion was wiped out in the farmland, the Iraqi airport would be completely in the hands of the British army. In this way, British fighter planes, bombers, The transport planes can take off and land freely on Crete, so the entire plan of the German and Italian troops against Crete will go bankrupt.

Therefore, there are no reasons or excuses for war, and there is no such thing as "justifiable circumstances", because any small mistake may lead to the loss of the whole game.

But what Qinchuan and Major Kleiman did not expect was that this was not the only intelligence error made by the German and Italian troops. Their judgment on the defense of the Iraqi airport was also wrong...

Everyone, including Qin Chuan, thought that the Greek army's defense was the weakest.

It is normal to think so, because Greece has surrendered at this time, and the Greek soldiers seem to have no reason to continue fighting. Secondly, the Greek soldiers have poor equipment. As mentioned before, they even use the British soldiers captured from the Italian soldiers. rifle. Rommel even very carefully obtained from the Italian army the performance data of this rifle and other Italian weapons that Greek soldiers might equip. The result of the analysis was that the German paratrooper battalion could easily defeat the Greek battalion.

Thirdly, the Greek soldiers are poorly trained... Most of the Greek soldiers on Crete are militias temporarily formed by the British army, and a considerable part of them are refugees who fled from the main Greek island.

then……

Without thinking, Rommel set the main attack direction of the 1st Infantry Battalion at the location of the Greek Battalion, which was east of the Iraqi Airport.

But when the Germans came into contact with the Greek battalion, they discovered that this was not the case.

The firepower of the Greek battalion was very fierce, and the organized defense was also very orderly. They set up mortars behind the wall to continuously fire shells at the Germans, and rifles and machine guns fired through the holes in the wall. .

Of course, what is more important is that these Greek soldiers fought bravely.

The German attack was launched under the cover of air power... Since most of the British fighter planes were on the island of Malta, the German army temporarily gained air superiority.

Rommel's original idea was that the 1st Infantry Battalion would quickly tear apart the Greek infantry battalion's defenses and break into the airport under the cover of air power, and then use the airport's buildings to implement defense and control the airport.

There was nothing wrong with this idea, because the paratroopers had to find a defensive position that was beneficial to them. Otherwise, without heavy weapons, tanks, or fortifications... the enemy would only be annihilated if they surrounded them.

The problem is that the Greek camp, which was originally considered unworthy of mention, is like a steel plate. German fighter planes and bombers bombarded the Greek camp and the wall indiscriminately. At the same time, the German army launched fierce charges but was beaten back several times...Greece Soldiers can always climb out of the broken walls and set up rifles to organize defense.

"They are not like militiamen who have never fought in a war!" Major Clayman shouted angrily: "Our intelligence is wrong again!"

Major Clayman was right. These Greek soldiers were actually veterans who had participated in the Greek Campaign. They had defeated the Italian army in Greece and even fought against the German army. It was not until Greece surrendered that they fled to Crete and Armed in the hope of one day fighting back to liberate Greece.

For such a force, and they also occupy favorable terrain, it is of course difficult for the German army without tanks and heavy weapons to break through their defense lines.

In fact... the weakest defense at the airport is the British army. The British 14th Infantry Division is stationed on Crete as a reserve force. If the German army attacks in any other direction, although the British army in these directions The equipment is better than that of the Greek army and even has tanks and armored vehicles, but it may have collapsed long ago under the indiscriminate bombing by German fighters and bombers.

And just like this delay, the British troops from other directions surrounded them.

"Major!" the scout reported amidst the artillery fire: "The British are coming from the south and the north, each with two companies, equipped with tanks and armored vehicles!"

"Stop them!" Major Clayman ordered through gritted teeth.

The situation is obviously developing in a direction that is not conducive to the German army, especially at this time when the German fighter planes and bombers are out of service... As mentioned before, the German fighter planes and bombers have a short range and can fly to Crete 300 kilometers away. There was only a few minutes of air time behind the island, so it was difficult to provide continuous fire support for the Germans.

On the other side, British Colonel Smith, who was in charge of the defense of Iraq, was very confident about this battle.

"What are the Germans doing?" Colonel Smith put down his telescope and said with some confusion: "They want to break through our defense line with this small force?"

This made Colonel Smith feel insulted... The Germans also looked down upon the British 14th Infantry Division. Only one battalion of infantry dared to challenge the airport defended by three battalions, and the British soldiers There are more than ten tanks inside.

"I'll give them a good look!" Colonel Smith said to himself, and then ordered: "Order the artillery to aim at their anti-tank guns... blow up their anti-tank guns, they are our tank tracks. It’s minced meat, do you understand?”

"Yes, Colonel!" The staff officer immediately conveyed Colonel Smith's order.