The Rise of the Third Reich

"121 paratroopers? Blocking a large number of American tanks here?" Brandt looked at his boss and smiled bitterly: "Lieutenant, it seems we will die on Newfoundland."

"Don't worry, there will be armored forces to support us." Brandt's boss assured us, patting his chest, "The ZSO523 transport plane has sent us a lot of tanks and tank destroyers. With them, the Americans are no match for us! "

"That would be great." Brandt was still not optimistic about the Nazi invasion of Newfoundland, but he still nodded to deal with his boss.

"No problem," the company commander said with a smile. "The tanks and tank destroyers that support us will arrive soon, and they will also send us some supplies and additional weapons."

The tanks, tank destroyers, supplies and additional weapons that the company commander mentioned arrived soon. There is 1 No. 4 H tank and 1 E-25 tank destroyer... so few that it makes people a little panicked, but there is no other way. Who asked Admiral Hipple to devote only one assault battalion to defense? This assault battalion only has 14 operational E-25 tank destroyers and 15 Panzer 4H tanks. It is not easy to send a tank and a tank destroyer to Brandt's company.

There were a little less tanks and tank destroyers coming to support, but the supplies, weapons and ammunition sent were still satisfactory. Three American Dodge trucks arrived along with the two tanks/tank destroyers.

Two of the trucks each pulled a 57mm anti-tank gun - weapons captured from the Americans. The carriage also contained many 57mm artillery shells, 50 anti-tank mines, 50 anti-infantry mines, 2 M2 Browning large-caliber heavy machine guns and thousands of machine gun bullets, as well as 2 60mm mortars and 100 Multiple rounds.

The contents of another truck stunned the German invaders - it was a full truck of U.S. Army K rations. It was captured from the air base occupied by Brandt and others. These rations are packed in large wooden boxes with the "KS" mark on them.

Inside the box is a day's worth of marching rations for 12 people. Including butter, biscuits, cheese, sugar, jam, instant coffee, chocolate, chewing gum, canned ham, canned luncheon meat, canned beef, milk slices, cigarettes, can openers, spoons, napkins, matches, etc. These delicious things are packaged in brown, green and blue boxes. They are generous in portion and taste very good. They are much better than German field rations. Although the supply situation in Europe is much better now than in history, It is still far behind compared to the United States.

After enjoying a box of American rations (a box contains 36 rations, which is enough for 12 people to eat for a day, but Brandt’s people took it out and shared one portion each, regardless of how many people there were, and everyone was full), The Germans, who had regained their strength and motivation, began to deploy defenses.

Brandt's platoon was arranged in the middle of a 2-kilometer-long defensive zone, with 36 officers and soldiers plus a 57mm anti-tank gun and a 60mm mortar (neither the 57mm gun nor the 60mm mortar had dedicated gun crews. Instead, paratroopers with artillery training were assigned to guard a front line of about 700 meters. The two tanks/tank destroyers were not under the command of Brandt, but were controlled by the company commander, and a platoon as a reserve was temporarily placed behind the main defensive position.

It is said to be a defensive position, but in fact there are no fortifications, just some foxholes and two artillery bunkers built with sandbags for the 57mm gun. The 60mm mortar is placed behind the main position to provide support firepower. As for the 100 landmines, they were all buried in front of the 700-meter-wide defense line.

In addition to a 57mm recoilless rifle, Brandt's soldiers also had some Panzerfaust anti-tank grenade launchers that could be used against American tanks. These "Tekken" are the latest model of Tekken-150, with an effective range of up to 150 meters and an armor-piercing depth of 220mm. In other words, within a range of 150 meters, German paratroopers are not afraid of any American tanks.

While the German paratroopers hurriedly deployed their defense lines, dozens of kilometers away, on the highway, the American armored troops marching with their car lights on formed a marching team that could not be seen at a glance. Major General Maurice Ross, commander of the 16th Armored Division of the U.S. Army, was sitting in a jeep, proudly talking to an adviser wearing a Soviet Red Army uniform next to him (because the U.S. Army was extremely lacking in experience in mechanized warfare, Roosevelt introduced it while he was still alive) Many Soviet advisers) said: "The Germans must not know that we have deployed so many tanks on Newfoundland, otherwise they would never dare to drop the paratroopers. This is great, my tank troops can sweep across those There are not many paratroopers with heavy equipment, and they will lose this battle."

The Soviet adviser nodded. Major General Ross was absolutely right. The Germans on Newfoundland are lost. Even if they land 100 or 200 tanks, it is impossible to defeat the US military with more than 2,000 tanks/tank destroyers. Even if the Germans can send an armor Master, they can't win either.

However, out of "awe" of the German army, the Soviet adviser kindly reminded: "General, the German infantry also has strong anti-tank capabilities. Their Iron Fist anti-tank grenade launchers are very powerful. They once made the Soviet Union's The tank troops suffered a lot."

"We are not afraid," Major General Ross turned around and pointed at an M4A3 Sherman tank with a bulletproof grille welded to the front armored steel plate. "We have found a way to deal with the Iron Fist, and... we still have There are many tanks, enough for us to withstand an equipment loss rate of more than 100%!”

Theoretically, the Americans have endless tanks! Because the foundation of the tank industry is the automobile industry and tractor industry. The United States' capabilities in these two aspects far exceed those of Europe. As early as 1929, the United States' automobile production exceeded the 5 million unit mark, while Europe only just exceeded one million vehicles (including half-tracks) in 1944. Production mark. This 5-fold gap determines the United States' huge advantage in producing armored vehicles.

In the past 1944, the U.S. arsenal produced 22,000 M4 series medium tanks, 7,000 M10 tank destroyers, 2,000 M36 tank destroyers, 1,500 M26 heavy tanks, and 10,000 M3/M5/M24 series tanks. Light tanks, 2,000 M18 tank destroyers. If you include the production of M7 self-propelled guns, M12 self-propelled guns and various self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, in 1944 the Americans successfully produced a total of 55,000 tanks/tank destroyers/self-propelled guns!

Moreover, the United States also had a total production of tanks/tank destroyers/self-propelled artillery in 1943 that was no less than that in 1944. In the first few months of 1945, the United States' arsenals were also operating at full capacity.

Most of these tanks/tank destroyers/self-propelled artillery that have been continuously produced still exist, either equipped with troops, or placed in warehouses for backup.

The number of tanks/tank destroyers/self-propelled artillery currently owned by the U.S. Army and Marine Corps (including inventories) has long exceeded 100,000! And every month, 4,600 brand-new tanks/tank destroyers/self-propelled artillery roll off the production line.

Faced with so many tanks/tank destroyers/self-propelled artillery, it is simply impossible to defeat all the German troops landing in North America. And the Americans are not afraid of losing equipment at all - they can produce equipment for 10 armored divisions a month, and there are still 200 armored divisions' equipment in stock, so they are not afraid of consumption at all.

Of course, tank soldiers who drive tanks are not so easy to produce. So if all 25 German armored divisions were really sent to North America, most Americans would not be able to bear it. But where can armored divisions be transported to North America so easily? Those are heavily armored units. One division would probably require hundreds of thousands of tons of cargo ships to load them, and it would be a joke to transport them by air.

Even if the Germans barely transported dozens to more than a hundred tanks to Newfoundland using giant transport planes, they were not armored divisions...An armored division not only includes tanks/tank destroyers, but also a large number of transportation, auxiliary and Fire support equipment, as many as 2,000 vehicles of various types! In addition, it also has a large number of spare parts and spare vehicles. Only in this way can the armored division's continued operations be guaranteed.

The current approach of the Germans is to maintain combat effectiveness for 2-3 days, which cannot withstand long-term consumption.

So Major General Ross's confidence is not unreasonable! From the perspective of fighting a conventional war, it is impossible for the United States to lose on Newfoundland.

…

"Colonel, we defeated them!"

At the same time, outside a forest outside Port Carbonir, a major of the German Airborne Forces was shouting excitedly at Colonel Skorzeny.

Just now, an armored cluster consisting of more than 80 E-25 tank destroyers and No. 4 H tanks started a fierce battle with dozens of American tanks/tank destroyers outside Port Carbonir. With the help of night vision goggles and the powerful anti-tank firepower of the E-25, the battle was fought without any suspense and victory was quickly won. The Americans abandoned thirty-four blazing tanks and retreated into the urban area of ​​Port Carbonir in panic.

"It seems that the Americans have relied too much on their tanks and tank destroyers," Skorzeny said to the major next to him while holding a night market telescope to watch the retreat of the US military. "They are not behind the mesas around the port. We have to build strong fortifications, so now we can only retreat to the municipal government... But this arrangement is normal. The front of the platform is a cliff, and it is impossible to land on it. Although the back of the platform is relatively flat, how could they think of us. Are tanks falling from the sky behind them?"

He paused and ordered loudly: "Let brothers prepare, we are going to attack Port Carbonir!"