The Rise of the Third Reich

The airport Brandt was preparing to lead people to attack was called Grays Harbor Airport, located near Grays Harbor on the west coast of Concepcion Bay. Grays Harbor is close to Concepcion Bay and is located between two peninsulas extending into Concepcion Bay. Viewed from the air, the terrain looks like an open pair of scissors.

The terrain at the two pointed ends of the "scissors" is very dangerous, with cliffs tens of meters above the sea. Only a small number of troops are needed to guard it, and there is no possibility of landing. Moreover, the pointed heads of the two "scissor" peninsulas are also covered with large areas of virgin forest, which is very conducive to the concealment of the troops. Moreover, the entrance to the harbor (between the two tips of the "scissors") is very narrow, only 1,300 meters wide, and can easily be blocked by M1 cannons (240mm caliber), mines and torpedo boats.

Therefore, from a military perspective, Grays Harbor is difficult to capture from the sea. Therefore, the Americans do not deploy many troops here. The ground forces only have an infantry battalion, an anti-aircraft artillery battalion, a British Canadian militia battalion (to guard the port area of ​​Grays Harbor), and a coastal artillery company (equipped with 4 guns). 240mm cannon), and a tank company equipped with M4 tanks.

As for the "heavily guarded" airport that Brandt planned to take people to capture, there were only two anti-aircraft artillery companies guarding it, and there were no tanks or other armored vehicles.

When Brandt, with more than a hundred of his men, pulled a 105mm recoilless rifle and approached the airport, two 127mm anti-aircraft guns and four 90mm anti-aircraft guns deployed near the airport were firing. But the target is not an aircraft in the sky, but the ground near the airport.

It turned out that someone had arrived one step ahead of Brandt and was attacking from another direction, trying to seize the airport. The defenders at the airport had no choice but to use their 127mm and 90mm anti-aircraft guns as howitzers, firing high-explosive shells to bombard the attacking German troops.

However, these anti-aircraft guns were not very accurate and failed to block the attack of the German paratroopers. When Brandt's men approached the airport from the east, near the woods to the west of the airport, the unique sound of MG42 tearing linen cloth had already sounded, and it seemed that German paratroopers were launching an attack. Soon, Brandt also heard a dense explosion. It was not the explosion of 127mm artillery shells and 90mm artillery shells, but the explosion of 80mm mortars.

"Spread out, spread out the formation, and prepare to attack." Brandt ordered the more than 100 people following him to spread out. At the same time, he ordered the recoilless rifle team: "Put up the LG45 recoilless rifle and prepare to attack." What a high-explosive bomb...how many rounds are there?”

"Only 24 rounds."

"It doesn't matter, wait until you see the red flare and fire at the American position." Brandt said, "fire out the 12 high-explosive bombs as quickly as possible."

"Understood."

Brandt asked again: "Signal Corps? Has the Air Force contacted them?"

"Sergeant Major, we have made contact. There are 8 Fokker 636s, all equipped with rockets."

"Not bad." Brandt nodded, then gestured to several platoon leaders and squad leaders leading the troops, and shouted: "Start! Start!"

The attack began immediately, and there was no sneak attack. More than a hundred people set up a skirmish line and advanced in a wide-open manner. After walking for a while, you can see the barbed wire fence on the edge of the airport.

"Bang!" On the opposite side of the barbed wire fence, an American defender opened fire. Fortunately, he used a rifle instead of a machine gun, and his shots were not accurate. However, the advancing German paratroopers still lay down one after another, while aiming ahead with their FG42 paratrooper rifles. Several MG42 machine guns were set up, and their muzzles were pointed forward. Brandt sent several more soldiers to crawl forward and use large iron pliers to cut the barbed wire.

Probably because they found someone cutting the barbed wire fence, an ambushed M2 large-caliber machine gun started firing. The bullets hit the sandy ground with a "chug, chug" sound, stirring up clusters of smoke columns. One of the MG42 machine guns that had been waiting for a long time immediately let out a roar of tearing linen, and the FG42 paratrooper rifle also began to make a crisp and continuous burst of fire. Soon the American machine gun was silenced, and there was no second machine gun to fire, and no gunshots from the M1 rifle were heard.

"Sergeant major, it's done!" At this time, the soldier responsible for cutting the barbed wire had completed his task.

Brandt took out a flare gun, pointed it forward, and then shouted an order: "Bolor Cluster, attack!"

The Boral Cluster is a temporarily formed platoon-level cluster, one of the three platoon-level clusters in Brandt's hands.

About thirty crawling German paratroopers jumped up, formed a paratrooper line, and charged forward with FG42 rifles in hand. All the MG42 machine guns also fired at the same time, and tongues of flame passed in front of the US military position.

At this time, the American counterattacks with machine guns and rifles also started, but Brandt was a little disappointed. The American bullets were very sparse, and there were obviously not many defenders. He exhaled softly, then pulled the trigger of the flare gun, and a red flare was fired. Seeing the signal flare, the 105mm recoilless rifle that had been ready for a long time immediately started firing rapidly. 18-kilogram grenades exploded one after another around the US military positions. When one grenade exploded, a large ball of dirt, sand, gravel and other miscellaneous things were thrown into the sky. The huge power stunned half of the platoon of American soldiers who were holding their positions. They were not battle-hardened veterans. Many of them retreated into the trenches and did not dare to come forward. The defensive firepower suddenly weakened. Taking this opportunity, the charging German paratroopers had arrived in front of the US military position. More than twenty M39 oval grenades were thrown out and landed accurately in the US trenches. They would duck their heads to avoid them. The Americans were staggered by the 105mm grenade.

Brandt, who was half-crouching to watch the battle, saw the situation ahead, and then listened to the sound of gunshots. He already knew that the invincible German Superman had won again. He thought: This kind of thing is probably inevitable. After all, the paratroopers are veterans who fought bloody battles with the Soviet Red Army on the Eastern Front. Their actual combat effectiveness on the battlefield is not comparable to that of Americans who have never been on the battlefield.

"Sergeant Major!" Someone shouted at Brandt at this time, "We have taken the position!"

"Okay! Well done!" The expression on Brandt's face changed, and he looked like a vicious Nazi (he is actually a non-partisan), "Let the Boral Cluster stay here, and the others will follow me. Onward! Long live Germany! Long live the victory!”

"Long live Germany! Long live the Emperor! Long live victory!"

Hearing the cheers of the Germans, the Frenchman Mitterrand's face turned slightly pale. This was not his first time on the battlefield. In 1940, he participated in the war with the Germans and was a prisoner of war. But he felt that the German guy who caught him in 40 years was obviously not as powerful as the German guy now...

The Nazi paratroopers were advancing, and Mitterrand could only follow them as a French fascist. When passing in front of the American trench that had just been captured, he saw the bodies of two Germans lying on the ground, and he felt a little relieved. A little better. But then he saw more American dead bodies and prisoners of war with frightened expressions on their faces. He also saw American arms scattered everywhere, including machine guns, rifles, submachine guns, and even a few German guys playing with them. A 60mm mortar had just been set up - Mitterrand did not remember the Americans firing mortar shells. This gun was probably captured before it had time to fire.

After crossing the barbed wire fence and trenches, Mitterrand saw an airport covered with more than a dozen huge craters. The airport's tower, simple hangar, warehouses, and personnel dormitories were all bombed into ruins. It's obviously unusable. He also saw many crawler-type engineering vehicles and trucks containing soil and gravel thrown at the airport. They were supposed to be equipment used to fill holes, and they were all abandoned at the airport intact.

There is also an anti-aircraft gun position in each of the two corners to the south of the airport. There are about a dozen 127mm and 90mm anti-aircraft guns firing grenades continuously, but the shots are not accurate at all. Just as Mitterrand followed the Germans into the airport, he heard a rumbling explosion behind him. Looking back, he saw that it was an American shell falling outside the trench line that had just been occupied - —That’s where Brandt’s company-level cluster was located before.

Obviously, the Americans were completely confused, their command was chaotic, and they even lost the direction of the artillery attack.

"Sergeant Schumacher, take your people and bring the 60mm mortar to attack the anti-aircraft gun position on the right!" Brandt felt that he should continue to take risks. He divided his two platoon-level clusters into two and attacked two anti-aircraft artillery positions that were at least company level. If the Soviet Red Army was guarding there, then the seventy or eighty Nazi paratroopers would have suffered heavy casualties, but the Americans here seemed unlikely to be able to fight.

What happened next proved that Brandt's judgment was correct. More than a dozen American heavy anti-aircraft guns were fighting from beginning to end, and their 40mm "Bofors" guns were originally a great threat to the infantry, but They have been shooting in the air - there are more than a dozen Fokker 63 guns in the air at this time.

What made Brandt even more lucky was that the Americans actually watched the German paratroopers approach their anti-aircraft artillery positions and calmly set up 60mm mortars and 105mm recoilless rifles - which was equivalent to allowing the enemy's infantry to directly attack I touched the door of my artillery position! The occurrence of such a situation can only show that the US military guarding the airport is not a well-trained elite. Most of them are just some anti-aircraft artillery troops who have no field experience and insufficient training.

As a result, dozens of 105mm and 60mm artillery shells were bombarded into the two ring-shaped anti-aircraft artillery positions of the US military. Take it down.