"General, General Rommel is calling!" Just as Guderian was thinking about how to capture Bradford, the staff officer next to him temporarily brought Guderian back to reality.
"Read!" Guderian had already guessed what kind of news this was. Rommel lived up to his expectations and had arrived in Leeds. Sure enough, the staff officer opened the telegram and read, "General Guderian, the 7th Armored Division Rommel is still an hour away from Leeds! I heard that you encountered some trouble in Bradford, I don't know. Can you help me with your actions?"
Guderian closed the telegram and smiled silently, disapproving of Rommel's teasing. Although he encountered some troubles in the hilly areas, Guderian still had strong confidence in his army. This is the last heavily guarded city on the road to Scotland. As long as this is captured, Guderian's armored group can rush into unprepared Scotland. Although the British government has mobilized nationwide, Scotland's strength is far less powerful than that of England due to its distance from the battlefield. Guderian believed that as long as he opened the road to Scotland, Scotland, which accounts for more than one-third of the British territory, would change its color in a month.
"Attack!" With Guderian's calm order, the German army's attack on the city of Bradford began. Montgomery had evacuated the elderly, children and women in the city to a safe place a few hours ago. In this city with a population of 300,000, there are about 100,000 people still in the city. Except for the soldiers of Montgomery's Fifth Army, they are all young men who voluntarily stayed to help the British soldiers defend the city.
"We must withstand the German attack. There are not many places in Britain that we can lose!" Montgomery said to the officers at his headquarters, "The attacking force now is Germany's most elite armored force. It can compete with such an army." The two armies are fighting against each other! You should be proud and let people see that our British combat effectiveness is no worse than that of Germany!"
"Long live Britain, long live His Majesty the King!" All the officers stood up together and shouted together with the sound of neat boots.
The Fifth Army also had more than 30,000 people. Although it lost some outside the city, Montgomery still believed that with an army of 30,000 people, it would be easy to hold it for a month, let alone a few days. What's more, there are tens of thousands of young men in the city who are cooperating to defend the city. In just one battle, they will all become qualified warriors, Montgomery thought secretly.
After successfully withstanding the bombing by the Luftwaffe, the British soldiers calmly waited for the German army's attack. Although the British soldiers had never fought in street fighting, the model of dividing into several combat groups was still conceivable to the British. Montgomery took the entire Black Fufu City was divided into two combat areas, and the troops that had fought against the armored group from the mountains were organized into reserve groups. After this bombing, they did not wait for Guderian's attack. Many soldiers only frequently saw the light reconnaissance aircraft of the Luftwaffe. This was Guderian's special order to investigate because he was worried that the terrain in the city had been changed after the bombing.
At Guderian's insistence, Walter Schmidt could only agree and shoulder the responsibility of making the request to the Air Force. Although the gap between the Wehrmacht and the Air Force is not as big as it was historically, it is better for people from the SS to do this kind of thing. Since I have an SS person by my side and he is a heavyweight, why not use it?
After investigating the situation in the city, Guderian, who already knew Montgomery's deployment, ordered the troops of the 19th Armored Corps under his original command to be divided into three parts and attack Bradford City from the east, south, and west. The German soldiers, who were marching in neat steps, entered Bradford City with their heads held high. The moment they entered Bradford City, they immediately became cautious and looked around, looking for possible hiding places of British soldiers.
The German soldiers all remembered the first sentence in the street fighting manual, "In street fighting, all civilians who help the defenders can be regarded as armed personnel of the other party, because you don't know whether the civilians in your eyes will pick up the weapon at the next moment." The gun fights you!" It is said that this street fighting manual was written by the national leader of the armed SS. This sentence is the only one on the first page. You can imagine how important this sentence is.
It is said that when the manual first came out, it was criticized by many people. It seems that Guderian, his own leader, made very sharp criticism at that time. Standing behind Guderian were Rundstedt and Manstein. A bunch of people, but in the end it was nothing. It is said that the lessons of the Battle of Warsaw silenced the opposition.
The first wave of attacks was based on the 10th Armored Division of the 19th Armored Corps, which was originally from the Armored Group. Their mission was to capture the street positions east of Bradford, which was once the center of the British textile industry. Although it has declined now, many huge factories are still located here. The task of the 10th Armored Division was to compress the defensive positions of the British troops guarding the iron bridge, preferably by allowing its own troops to control the bridgehead on one side. This allows his troops to completely seize the railway bridge. If the railway line connecting Bradford City to the outside world can be cut off, it will definitely be great news for the capture of Bradford City.
The people responsible for guarding the railway bridge are the troops directly under the Fifth Army. This unit is one of the few British soldiers who followed Montgomery to escape from the Battle of Dunkirk. Obviously Montgomery also knows how important the location of the railway line is. . The attacking German soldiers had just finished the battle on the mountain half an hour ago. Then they immediately arrived with reinforcements non-stop. The arrival of this force gave the originally weak offensive force a shot in the arm. The commander of the offensive force, Stadler, immediately arranged for the force to enter the offensive position. Just when the troops had just entered the bunker, the British soldiers seemed to have discovered something unusual here.
The first wave of attacks by German troops began. However, this attack by the German army appeared to be very low-key. Apart from a few mortar shells, there was no artillery support, but a large number of assault troops poured into the defense area established by British soldiers like a tide. Soon the British soldiers on guard discovered these "intruders". With a cry of "enemy attack" and a blast of submachine guns, a brutal street battle officially began.
The long-term latent preparation made the charging distance very short, and the British soldiers discovered the abnormality a little late. While the defending British soldiers were firing, the German attack here set off a tidal wave of attacks.
"Pull mines! Pull mines for me!" A man who looked like a British commander rushed into a building that looked like a grocery store with a submachine gun and shouted loudly inside. The flying bullets whizzed past his left shoulder and hit the door of the building with a pop. The Germans who suddenly appeared shot the British officer lying on the ground dying, and then rushed over. Another house filled with gunfire.
Although the German soldiers had an absolute advantage, facing this street battle, they had superior numbers and firepower, just like a boxer with a strong body facing a ball of plasticine. Every room, every window, every corridor, and even every sewer has become a murderous battlefield.
Half an hour, one hour, two hours, in the battle to seize the train station, the German soldiers felt unparalleled difficulties for the first time. Although the British soldiers were inferior to them in every aspect, they used their familiarity with the terrain here to unlimited Closed the gap with the German soldiers. The well-hidden British appeared like rats from places where it seemed impossible to ambush, shooting at them with weapons in their hands. Often when an inexplicable gun battle ends, most German soldiers still don't know that the British are there to attack them. Landmines and various well-concealed explosives can be seen everywhere. The soldiers struggled on the narrow and rubble-strewn terrain. Long rifles and clumsy machine guns were useless here. The two sides relied more on grenades, pistols and daggers to fight.
The battle continued like this, and both sides paid a heavy price, but for the British defending soldiers, the situation became worse and worse, because compared with the German soldiers, they were much worse in all aspects. When they could no longer hold on, Guderian's order temporarily saved the lives of these British soldiers.
The difficult fighting here finally caught Guderian's attention. Although German soldiers encountered stubborn resistance elsewhere, they finally made some progress. However, here they could only hear casualty reports, not any good news. As expected, the armored group is still not suitable for such a thing. If I had known, Lampard should have sent the Armed SS to join the attack on Britain. I heard that the Armed SS is unique in dealing with street fighting, Guidry An An sighed.
Although it was a headache for this kind of thing, compared with his ease in armored combat, Guderian obviously didn't have many options for street fighting. After scratching his head for a long time, Guderian thought of a solution that was not a solution, and replaced him!
"Let's switch to the Greater German Infantry Regiment! Fortunately, we brought them here this time! I heard there is news that they are preparing to change into a division. This may be the last time I use them!" Guderian said with emotion. .
Withdrawing the attacking soldiers at such a moment may have been a mistake that Guderian made only a few times in his life. However, Guderian also had his own reasons. Compared with the lives of British soldiers, the lives of his own soldiers were obviously more important. Much more precious, Guderian would not fight like this. Moreover, armored groups are not suitable for street fighting in the first place, and their strength should be reserved where they are needed more. On the contrary, replacing it with the Grossdeutschland Infantry Regiment, which has been engaged in urban street fighting, may achieve unexpected results.
In this way, the British defense along the railway station was about to collapse, and miraculously saved a life. Just before the surviving soldiers had time to take a breath, whether it was luck or misfortune, the Grossdeutschland Infantry Regiment was ready.
As a unit named after Germany, the Grossdeutschland Infantry Regiment looks quite good. Even when Guderian ordered the attack, the soldiers of the entire unit behaved in an orderly manner, marching towards the battlefield in neat steps. For those who don’t know I thought they were going for a military parade rather than fighting, but if you think that the Grossdeutschland Infantry Regiment just looks good, you are totally wrong. Anyone who dares to look down on this force will pay the price.
Soldiers of the Grossdeutschland Infantry Regiment wore shoulder patches with "GD" embroidered on them, and armbands with the Gothic letters "Grossdeutschland" embroidered on them. The British scouts quickly noticed this unique unit and immediately wanted to report to the commander guarding the train station. The commander did not dare to neglect and reported to his superiors because the location of the train station was very important. The railway was cut off and the entire city of Bradford was completely isolated.
This news finally reached Montgomery, because Montgomery once said that any situation about the Eastern Railway Station must be reported to him. In fact, when the war was tense, Montgomery was already preparing to send reinforcements there, but Guderian ordered The troops retreated first. Montgomery gave up.
After learning the news, Montgomery carefully thought about the rumors about the German army in his mind, and finally exclaimed for a long time, "Grossdeutschland Infantry Regiment! Send a regiment of reinforcements to the train station immediately, go quickly!"
Standing in a safe area, looking at the already messy train station through the telescope, Colonel von Stockhausen smiled lightly and said, "One hour! I hope to use a victory to witness the transformation of the Grossdeutschland Infantry Regiment into a division!" "
"As you wish, my commander!" the officer next to him said. In the eyes of these people, the German flag had been planted here.
Colonel von Stockhausen is not like the soldiers of the armored group. From the very beginning, Colonel von Stockhausen mobilized artillery units belonging to the Grossdeutschland Infantry Regiment. There are only a few units in the entire Germany. How could such a powerful formation as the Grossdeutschland Infantry Regiment be used in Hit? When Hitler was in power, the Grossdeutschland Infantry Regiment naturally served as a model division. Later, Hitt? Although Le is dead, it does not mean that the Grossdeutschland Infantry Regiment has become a motherless child. In view of the strong performance of this unit in history, Lin Wei has always been in awe of this unit, so he still has a lot of supplies for this unit. Concerned, many newly manufactured weapons are given priority to be supplied to the Grossdeutschland Infantry Regiment.
"Prepare for bombardment!" Colonel von Stockhausen ordered confidently. At this time, the troops sent by Montgomery had already set off and were rushing to the train station. However, I didn't know whether Colonel von Stockhausen could bring in British reinforcements. of front occupied train station.
Colonel von Stockhausen showed no mercy. Twelve 105MM howitzers and the 640th Assault Artillery Battery belonging to the Grossdeutschland Infantry Regiment conducted artillery fire. The 1st Infantry Battalion and 2nd Infantry Battalion, which were the second wave of attack forces, were waiting quietly within their defense lines. They waited for the end of their suppressive artillery fire. As soon as the suppression was over, they rushed to occupy the British defensive positions that had been destroyed by their own artillery fire.
"The 3rd and 4th Infantry Battalions are ready to support the battlefield at any time!" Colonel von Stockhausen completed his deployment with such a sentence.
The powerful shelling lasted for a full half hour. At this time, other armored group troops did not forget to increase pressure in other areas in order to prevent British troops in other areas from supporting the railway station. This allowed the Grossdeutschland Infantry Regiment's attack to proceed relatively smoothly.
"God - Honor - Motherland!" The attacking first and second battalions of the Grossdeutschland Infantry Regiment shouted their regiment training and quickly rushed into the battlefield. This time the Grossdeutschland Infantry Regiment fully learned the lesson from the failure of the last armored offensive. They did not devote the entire battalion and entire company to these dark streets and buildings. Instead, squads and platoons were used as the core of combat. Multiple simultaneous small-scale penetration tactics.
As a result, the defense system constructed by British soldiers using mines, machine guns and snipers was attacked by tactics such as the Grossdeutschland Infantry Regiment. It seems very difficult to defend. Facing the German troops coming from all directions, the few remaining soldiers seemed too weak in defense. Coupled with the lack of effective supporting firepower. Therefore, the British army was in an unfavorable situation from the beginning. Several key defensive points were breached by German troops. The defense line is in danger of being fully penetrated by the opponent.
The soldiers of the British army were quickly compressed into a small area by the experienced soldiers of the Grossdeutschland Infantry Regiment; "Concentrate the artillery and bury these British soldiers! It is their honor to die on the battlefield!" As Feng Under the orders of Colonel Stockhausen, the British soldiers who were still resisting were buried in the ruins by a burst of shelling.
"Colonel! A large number of British troops appeared about a thousand meters away from us. There is about a regiment. It seems that they are coming for us!" Bad news appeared in the staff officer's mouth, but looking at the staff member's expression, his face There was no sense of nervousness at all.
"They should be reinforcements to support the train station, but it's a pity that they arrived late!" Colonel von Stockhausen said regretfully, "Now it's up to us to defend! Look at the British's offensive capabilities. Order the troops to defend on the spot!"
"Yes, Colonel!" The staff officer happily accepted Colonel von Stockhausen's order.
"MD, didn't you mean Hit? Did you strangle him to death? Why are the Germans still using the swastika flag!" the British commander spat fiercely and said, "Report to the commander that the train station has been occupied by German troops!" This British Of course the commander didn't know that Wilhelm II had actually thought about changing the flag back, but now that Germany has been at war, he has not taken any action.