The Rise of the Third Reich

The British troops stationed in North Yorkshire were completely stunned. Their place was not an important place, so it had been a neglected corner since the outbreak of the war. It had not been bombed by the Germans, and there were also not many British troops deployed on the North Yorkshire coastline.

The North Yorkshire Coast Guard Command is currently responsible for commanding the defense of North Yorkshire. In addition to the local county divisions in North Yorkshire, the forces under its jurisdiction are a Coast Artillery Command (with five Coast Artillery Battalions under its jurisdiction), an Air Defense Command group (equivalent to an anti-aircraft artillery division) and a native militia command and an infantry brigade garrisoning Middlesbrough.

Among them, the Yorkshire Division was originally a militia, also known as the Home Army. Before the outbreak of the war, a county division usually consisted of 2-3 regular battalions and a bunch of native battalions. The North Yorkshire Division was also organized in this way. However, the current North Yorkshire Division is no longer the one before the war. After the Battle of France, the county divisions of the British Home Army were all reorganized into regular armies, with designations such as the 1st Infantry Division and the 2nd Infantry Division. At the same time, the British formed a new county division and recruited a group of older, middle-aged men to make up the numbers.

The current North Yorkshire Division was formed at that time. It currently has 2 urban brigades (Hartlepool Brigade and Middlesbrough Brigade) and 12 regiments or battalions - these regiments and battalions are actually a kind of organization. , the units at the lower level are companies, and the units under the two city brigades are battalions. According to German standards, the units under the jurisdiction of this county division should be 2 infantry regiments, several independent infantry or cavalry battalions, as well as artillery, engineering, supply, reconnaissance and other units directly under the division headquarters.

After the start of the Irish Campaign, the possibility of invasion of the British mainland was already very high, so the British established local militia headquarters in various counties and began to organize even more unreliable militias - all of which were deceived. Grandpa's old man and women who volunteer to defend the country often use "XX Volunteer Corps" in their designations. These were a dozen volunteers commanded by the North Yorkshire Native Militia Command.

In addition to the unreliable militia division and the even more unreliable Volunteer Corps, there are three more reliable units under the command of the North Yorkshire Coast Guard Command, one is the North York Air Defense Group; the other is the North York Coast Artillery There are three shore artillery battalions under the headquarters; one belongs to the 160th Brigade of the 5th Division. These troops are regular troops, have received relatively rigorous training, and are the backbone of North Yorkshire's defense.

However, on the night of January 2nd and the early morning of January 3rd, most of the troops under the command of Major General Scott, Commander of the North Yorkshire Coast Guard Command, whether they were reliable regular troops or unreliable militiamen, were all thrown into chaos. confusion.

Especially in Hartlepool, near the coast, almost all troops reported being besieged by superior German forces and must receive reinforcements immediately!

"How many German airborne troops are there? Why are all places being attacked?" Major General Scott was furious in the headquarters in Middlesbrough, and the faint sound of gunfire could be heard from time to time.

"Call the Eastern Coast Defense Command! Ask them when they can send reinforcements? The Germans are definitely going to land at Middlesbrough and Hartlepool!" he shouted loudly to his chief of staff, Colonel Kent. He said, "Call Coastal Aviation Command again and ask them to send planes to search the sea off North Yorkshire!"

"Commander, there is something wrong with the phone! We have no way to contact the Eastern Coast Defense Command and the Coast Aviation Command!" Colonel Kent reported helplessly a few minutes later, "It may be that the German paratroopers cut off the phone line. We and Hartlepool Many troops have also lost contact."

"Hell! Use a telegram to contact the Eastern Coastal Defense Command and the Coastal Aviation Command! Then send someone to check the line!" Major General Scott ordered loudly,

"Boom! Boom! Boom..." The loud noise of exploding artillery shells suddenly came from outside the headquarters.

"What's going on? Are the Germans firing? Has their fleet already arrived?" Major General Scott was shocked, "Go and find out!"

"Yes!" A staff officer hurriedly ran out of the headquarters to investigate what happened. Not long after he left, a call came from the North York Coast Artillery Headquarters, reporting that artillery was being fired to bombard downtown Middlesbrough. It is likely to be an 8-inch howitzer battery under the jurisdiction of the Coast Artillery Headquarters! This company was deployed near Hartlepool Beach, and somehow it started bombarding its own people?

"Damn it!" Major General Scott almost jumped up. "It was German paratroopers who captured four 8-inch howitzers! They must be taken back immediately! Order the Hartlepool Brigade to recapture or destroy those four 8-inch cannons at all costs! "

"But Commander, we can't contact you..."

"Use wireless telegraphy, and if that doesn't work, send out communications troops!" Major General Scott ordered angrily.

It turned out that Skorzeny's plan to lure the enemy was successful. They first deceived half of the platoon, wiped them all out, then changed into British uniforms, then tortured the prisoners of war to obtain the password, and finally succeeded in the raid. The British artillery position outside Bucks Town captured four 8-inch cannons.

Soon after, the headquarters of the German 7th Parachute Division contacted Skorzeny and others, and also sent an airborne artillery company to use the four captured 8-inch cannons to bombard the city of Middlesbrough 15 kilometers away. , resulting in great confusion.

At this moment, the Hartlepool Brigade stationed in Hartlepool was unable to launch a counterattack to recapture the four precious cannons.

Because the German 7th Paratrooper Division has captured most of the city - although the weather conditions are not suitable for airborne landings, the combat effectiveness of these tens of thousands of elite paratroopers is still very impressive. The few thousand men of the Hartlepool Brigade and the Hartlepool Yeomanry could not withstand it alone.

When four 8-inch cannons began bombarding downtown Middlesbrough, fierce street fighting was taking place around the headquarters of the Hartlepool Brigade. The commander of the Hartlepool Brigade, an elderly colonel (permanent rank captain) who participated in the First World War, has now returned to the company commander and is leading his own brigade personnel and those who came from nowhere. The German paratroopers who came out were fighting fiercely.

He commanded 7 infantry battalions and 1 artillery battalion (coastal artillery and anti-aircraft artillery were not under his control), in addition to 2 infantry battalions and 2 artillery batteries (with 12 25-pound guns) deployed on the beach. , all were besieged!

As for the Hartlepool Volunteers, most of their people do not live in the military camp, but are militiamen who go home to live their lives. They were all sleeping at home when the Germans airborne. There was no organization at all at this time, and only a small number of people spontaneously joined the battle. However, these unorganized and undisciplined resistance are equally dangerous to the British and German troops in Hartlepool!

Because in the dark, the unorganized volunteers couldn't tell who was British and who was German, and often fired randomly, making the already chaotic battlefield even more chaotic. In many places, there were even exchanges of fire between volunteers and "regular militiamen."

On the early morning of January 3, 1943, we arrived in Hartlepool amidst this chaos. And along with the morning sun came a huge German fleet that almost covered the ocean outside Hartlepool!

…

"Boom boom boom..."

"The angel announced to Mary that she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Answer: May the Lord grant you the virtue of humility, so that everything may be done according to the Lord's will..."

Rudolf von Ribbentrop was sitting in the commander's seat of a Tiger G tank, and the rumbling sound of artillery and the chanting voice of an Austrian were constantly heard in his ears.

The sound of gunfire came from outside the tank landing ship. The two battleships Gneisenau and Schlieffen and three other Deutschland-class armored ships were using their main guns to bombard the beachhead of Hartlepool, which was Rudolf von Lee. The place where the tank company led by Bentrop would soon land.

At the same time, eight 8-inch howitzers placed at the port of Hartlepool and the mouth of the River Tees (the south bank of the River Tees is Middlesbrough) were also desperately firing back. Shells continued to fall around the landing ship, causing water columns to reach a height of more than ten meters.

The Austrian chanting is the gunner of this Tiger G tank. His name is Friedrich Hester. He is a devout Catholic and is currently reciting the "Ave Maria". Probably he wanted to ask the Virgin Mary to forgive him for the crime he was about to commit, and by the way, bless him to go to heaven later, right?

While Hearst was chanting endlessly, the gunfire from several German battleships and armored ships on the sea had swept the beach where the British troops were stationed several times. The ship responsible for minesweeping also cleared the sea near Hartlepool Beach.

The first wave of infantry landing craft on the beach took advantage of the rising tide and began to quickly attack the beach.

These infantry landing craft are B-type landing craft with a light load and displacement of 6 tons. They are equipped with a 230-horsepower diesel engine and have a maximum speed of 8 knots. They can carry half a platoon of officers and soldiers or 3.6 tons of cargo.

The first batch of forty landing craft rushing to the British coast were lined up in two rows, with a horizontal distance of no more than 10 meters, almost rushing to the beach side by side. Twenty or thirty meters away from the shoreline, the bottom of the boat rubbed against the seabed. Then the rectangular bow gangplank was suddenly lowered, and the group of German marines plopped into the knee-deep water like dumplings, wading hard through the sea and staggering toward the British land.

At this moment, the remaining British firepower points on the beach also opened fire. Strings of machine gun bullets rolled across the beach like tongues of flame, mowing down the German soldiers who were wading in the water. However, the remaining people did not hesitate at all. They held their weapons and fired back while struggling to move forward.

Behind them, several T2 fire support ships had already approached the beach, and the rocket launchers and 88mm high-and-flat dual-purpose guns installed on them were also in full fire, once again shrouding the beach where the British troops were stationed in a hail of fire and bullets.