The Third Reich: I Became Emperor

At the US military headquarters, Admiral Patton looked at the map with a bad look on his face. Before he came, he thought the British army was useless, but after he came, he found that they were even more useless. They were even worse than the army far away in North Africa. This was the so-called local force. Their combat effectiveness was not even as good as that of second-rate countries. They were beaten to the capital by the enemy in just one week.

This was simply a shame. What made him even more angry was that in order to defend London, the British army actually blew up all the bridges on the Thames.

Admiral Patton was completely confused now. What was the point of fighting? It would be better to surrender. He was already a little desperate, and even felt that these 200,000 people might not be able to hold on.

He was an offensive general and was not familiar with this kind of defensive war. Now he was helpless to see Lord Gort playing the turtle shell.

But he couldn't just watch London fall, so he had to think of another way. Building a pontoon bridge was impossible because the German army on the opposite side was also waiting for them to build a pontoon bridge.

"Street fighting is not something we are good at. If we continue like this, we will only be wiped out."The chief of staff next to him said with a frown while looking at the map.

"I know what you said, but are we just going to give up London?" Admiral Patton sighed,"We can't lose this place, at least not in our hands, otherwise it will be hard to explain."

"I didn't expect the British army to be so weak. I thought Montgomery could at least show some offensive momentum, but as you can see, the British army had no will to fight."

"A unit without the will to fight can't be counted on at all. I talked to Montgomery about this and he was also helpless."

"What should we do now?"The chief of staff asked curiously.

"Just hold on first, I don't have any good ideas." Admiral Patton shook his head and smiled bitterly.

"However, we cannot leave our boys idle. Tell them to use artillery to cause trouble to the other side, or send a small force to launch a surprise attack.

Although Admiral Patton can't do anything to the other side now, he can still harass them from time to time. We can't give the enemy on the other side a safe way to gather their forces.

"In addition, let the troops have a good rest. We will have a tough battle next."

……

At six o'clock in the morning, when the sky had just brightened, all the German soldiers were at their most exhausted, but they were awakened by a burst of artillery fire, and even the wake-up call was omitted.

Fortunately, the attacking German troops were all elite troops, and they were very familiar with this kind of night training, especially this kind of raid, which they encountered frequently, so everyone was on edge at night.

When the shelling just started, Major General Steinner, the commander of the Viking Division who had just arrived at the defense line, reacted immediately.

Fortunately, air-raid shelters were also set up on the positions, and the losses were not great, but even so, the damage from the shelling was not small. The artillery of the US military was all 150mm howitzers, and one shot could hit a basketball court.

It can be seen that this time a huge investment was made, and the 150mm howitzers were used right from the start, which shows the cruelty of this war.

After arranging the defense, Major General Steinner looked at the map and judged where the enemy's artillery positions were from the landing point of the shells. The enemy's artillery positions must be removed, otherwise it would be very unfavorable for the subsequent river crossing operations.

"Division Commander, 9th Grenadier Regiment"

"Hello, it's me!"Major General Steiner took the phone and said in a deep voice

"Boom!"The continuous bombardment on the other end of the phone made the sound not very good. It was always a buzzing noise. I couldn't hear what was said on the phone at all. After a while, I could barely hear it clearly.

"Commander, it's me, the commander of the 9th Grenadiers Regiment, I've spotted a small enemy attack."

"Yes, please rest assured, I will make sure that the position is not lost, please rest assured."

Colonel Franco, the commander of the 9th Grenadiers, hung up the phone, and the second battalion commander came to report:"Commander, our artillery can't hit the enemy at all."

"What's going on? Is the range not enough?"Colonel Franco asked hurriedly

"No, the enemy is on the reverse slope, we can't hit them at all."The second battalion commander said helplessly.

Hearing this, Colonel Franco's face turned ugly. They clearly had artillery, but they couldn't reach it. He was just very curious about how the US military got the reverse slope. Did they build it themselves?

Generally, reverse slopes often appear in mountain offensive and defensive battles. This is clearly a street battle, how could there be a reverse slope?

"Bring me the map." Franco told the chief of staff to spread out the map, and then he looked carefully with a magnifying glass, and soon found a place marked as Primrose Hill.

"It's only 78 meters, but they can create a reverse slope? The commander on the other side is quite capable."Franco said with a depressed look after seeing the height of Primrose Hill. The reverse slope artillery position made his howitzers useless, and the only thing that could be effective was the large-caliber mortar.

But his grenadier regiment was not equipped with large-caliber mortars, or the entire landing force was not equipped with them. After all, who would have thought that the enemy would create a reverse slope position? The general 82mm mortar was generally ineffective, and at least a mortar of more than 100 mm would be effective, but they were not equipped at all.

"Damn it, are we just going to passively take the beating?" The second battalion commander next to him also saw it and said with a somewhat unhappy expression.

"We can only report it to the division commander and let them find a solution."Colonel Franco said helplessly.

Soon, Major General Steiner of the division headquarters got the news. He was also surprised. They even used a 78-meter-high hill, which showed that the other commander was quite capable.

It was not something that ordinary commanders could do to make perfect use of the terrain. Even he did not expect the other side to set up a reverse slope.

"Reverse slope artillery positions, large-caliber mortars, does our division have them?" Major General Steiner asked

"No, the entire landing force should not have any, only the French 80mm mortar, the range is completely out of reach."The chief of staff thought for a while and said.

Hearing this, Major General Steiner's face was not good either, he sighed and said:"Send a telegram to the headquarters, they will solve it, and notify all troops to hold their positions"

"Yes!"

On the front line, the 9th Armored Grenadiers were hiding in the air-raid shelters and dared not move. After all, it was a matter of life and death, so they could not be careless. Fortunately, the anti-aircraft guns were dug very well.

Several soldiers were squeezed into the narrow air-raid shelters. There were about a hundred such air-raid shelters on the entire battlefield. Although they were built with wood, the effect was still good. No matter how fierce the enemy's artillery fire was, there was only a slight vibration in the cave, which was very strong.

"Squad leader, the firepower of the US Army is even stronger than that of the S Army. Look, it has been bombing for almost half an hour and there is no sign of stopping."A soldier asked

"They are all 150mm howitzers, which are quite powerful, but they have too much ammunition. They are really rich and powerful, and there is no sign of stopping the fire."The sergeant squad leader looked at the young face and said

"Check your equipment. The artillery fire is about to end. A small group of enemies is approaching."

"yes!