Chapter 173
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"Quickly, quickly, lower the hatch, and take advantage of our vanguard to drive the Italian army out of the first line of defense, and hurry to land."
A major officer shouted loudly to the soldiers around him. Following his shout, the soldiers behind him immediately lowered the hatch, fully armed and cautiously rushed out of the landing ship, and rushed towards the occupied beach.
However, on the ravaged beach, these landing soldiers were not at all relaxed. After all, the defenders on the beach were not vegetarians. Dense gunfire continued to be heard, and many soldiers' landing craft were sunk or overturned by the waves.
Many soldiers were either hit by artillery fire or their boats capsized and sank to the bottom of the sea and drowned.
After all, there are only a few people who can swim, and they are not professional navy. Everyone in the Marine Corps has been trained in water skills.
So as soon as they landed, hundreds of soldiers died in the sea, turning the entire sea water blood red. However, in the face of such a harsh landing operation, the cruisers behind the landing ships immediately used their naval guns to frantically bombard the defenders on the beach.
Although the caliber of the cruiser's naval guns was not large, they had a fast firing rate. It didn't take long for the bunkers and artillery positions on the beach to be almost destroyed. For a while, thick smoke billowed.
Many soldiers were killed in the explosion, and some were burned alive. They wailed in great pain on the battlefield, and finally gradually burned into firemen and became a corpse.
"Where's the minesweeper? Hurry up and clear all the mines."
"Where are the engineers? Speed up and clear the minefields on the beach so that our troops can land as soon as possible. Otherwise, we will lose to other troops. We must be the first to occupy Sicily."
Each unit has its own competition. After all, no one wants to fall behind, so they all want to speed up. Fortunately, their scale is also very large this time, so the landing speed is also very fast.
Especially since the beachhead positions were bombed to pieces by naval guns, it is not very difficult to land now.
"Damn it, the enemy's naval guns are too powerful. What should we do now? If we continue to fight like this, I'm afraid we will be wiped out."
"Let's retreat then? I don't want to be killed by those naval guns."
"We can't retreat. There are too many enemies."
"Please save me, I don't want to die"
"Go away, don't come over here"
"Retreat! Enemy planes are coming!"
"Oh my god, why are there so many planes? Surrender now!"
"No, there is a supervisory team behind us."
"No matter what, I surrender, I don't want to die here."
Faced with the fierce 120-degree offensive of the enemy, the Italian soldiers who had lost their will to fight all shouted in panic.
Especially after they saw the densely packed planes, the defenders were so scared that they turned pale and shouted in fear.
Unfortunately, there were supervisory teams behind them, and it was impossible to escape. As long as they crossed the retreat line, they would be shot on the spot, and the surrendered soldiers would not have a good end.
After all, the fighting is crazy now, who cares whether you surrender or not, maybe it's fake, so the enemy troops frantically shot and killed the defenders who rushed out. At the same time, the Italian command was anxiously listening to the staff officers' reports on the landing situation on each beach in a daze.
But the more he listened, the more panicked he became, and he was even a little frightened.
"What should I do? What should I do now? How could this happen? Why are there so many landing troops? Are they going to annihilate us all?"
Especially when he heard that there were enemy troops everywhere, his heart was like falling into an ice cave, and he was extremely frightened.
"What should we do now?"The combat staff officer next to him asked anxiously.
"Should we evacuate or notify the Germans?
Several combat staff officers said this, which annoyed the Italian commander. However, he also knew that the situation was critical, so he asked,"I want to know how many troops the enemy has mobilized for the landing?"
Soon, the staff officer next to him gave the answer and said,"The army alone has almost 300,000 people, not including the Marines. The air force has more than 2,000 fighter planes, and the navy has almost hundreds of warships."
Hearing this number, the Italian commander was stunned. He didn't expect the enemy to be so large.
"Damn it, how did they dispatch so many troops to land? I only have two divisions, how can I fight them? The German army only has three divisions, with a total of only 100,000 people, how can I fight them?"The Italian commander shouted loudly
"Sir, except for the three German divisions, the combat effectiveness of our two units is not very high. It is okay to fight a favorable battle, but it is simply suicide in a high-intensity battle."
"Yes, now I am committing suicide."
""Sir, let's withdraw first."
After hearing the specific numbers of the enemy, not only the Italian commander was discouraged, but other staff officers were also terrified.
"Now, it is not so easy to retreat. The enemy will not let us retreat so easily."
"There are also German troops behind us, they are staring at us covetously, if we retreat now, we will be courting death."
A combat staff officer still has some strategic vision, and said helplessly immediately. After hearing this, everyone frowned, after all, he was telling the truth.
"What should we do now?"The Italian commander asked
"Let the German army rush over to stop the landing troops. I hope they can stop the enemy's advance."The combat staff spread his hands helplessly and said��.Hearing this, many people looked like they were tempted. After all, under the current situation, only the German army had the ability to stop the enemy's attack.."It seems that this is the only way to do it. Inform the German army and tell them that we can't hold on."
Yes!" At this time, the US Army's 1st Infantry Division led two artillery battalions, two infantry regiments, and a tank battalion to successfully land on the beach and slowly move towards the Italian airport.
Of course, it takes more than an hour to walk to the airport, and there is a village on the way that they need to occupy before they can continue to move forward.
However, this village has been baptized by their air force, so the damage they can cause to them is limited, so the US military did not care too much.
In their impression, as long as they rush over, the defending Italian army will definitely surrender.
In fact, they thought correctly. The defending Italian army was indeed ready to surrender and waited for the US army to arrive. However, what surprised these Italian soldiers was that they did not wait for the US army, but waited for the German army led by Lieutenant General Ziegler to arrive in the town.
Less than one-fifth of the 37th Infantry Division led by Ziegler were veterans, and the rest were new recruits.
Lieutenant General Ziegler naturally understood the idea of his superiors, which was to allow these new recruits to quickly learn practical experience on the cruel battlefield, so that they could grow up quickly and become veterans with certain combat experience.
Originally, they should have completed three months of recruit training and then been assigned to the front-line troops. However, due to the tight schedule of the war, they were not given enough training time. They were directly sent to Italy after only one and a half months of training.
Fortunately, in addition to these new recruits, there are hundreds of Tiger and Panther tanks, a batch of AK-47 assault rifles and a small number of MP-40 submachine guns, hundreds of mortars of various calibers, and the overall firepower is several times stronger.
Otherwise, Lieutenant General Ziegler would like to quit. After all, compared with the US military, his troops are too new. Such troops will definitely be a waste of time when facing the US military.
"Hurry up, everyone, build a defense line here as soon as possible, and get the Italian army's defense position drawings, and let them go to the rear to transport them, don't get in the way here"
"Humph, these guys have lost their will to fight. It is completely useless to keep them. Let's drive them all away to avoid causing us trouble."As soon as he arrived at the headquarters of the small town on the island, Lieutenant General Ziegler took over the defense of the village. As for the Italian troops
, they did not even have the right to resist. Everyone silently carried out his orders without any hesitation or complaint.
Because they all knew that if they did not obey his orders, they would be severely punished or even shot.
Even the Italian troops could only accept it silently. Anyway, as long as they were not allowed to fight, they would do anything. They already hated fighting. In their opinion, fighting had nothing to do with them.
The new recruits on the German side still had some emotions, because they were still a little nervous.���The old soldiers were very excited, and even excited. They were eager to try and see how strong the U.S. military was.
The positions were quickly built, and the positions of light and heavy machine guns, mortars, and a small number of bazookas were all deployed, ready to wait for the enemy to arrive.
""Commander, what should we do now?" a combat staff officer asked. He didn't know much about the upcoming battle, so he naturally asked.
"I think we should engage in a direct war of attrition with the U.S. Army, and even use our advantages to defeat them directly."A staff officer put forward his own opinion.
Many people agreed with this plan, but some people refuted that their strength was limited, while the enemy's strength was unlimited.
A war of attrition was not good for them, and the best way was to think of other ways.
""Commander, I think we should let the enemy's vanguard attack first, and then the main force will encircle and annihilate them quickly. In this way, the enemy's main force will be completely wiped out, and the offensive will definitely be temporarily suspended." Another staff officer put forward a different opinion.
Upon hearing this, Lieutenant General Ziegler's eyes lit up and he thought this plan was very good, because it could play to their own advantages. To be honest, most of the troops in his hands were recruits. If they really fought a frontal battle, they might not be able to hold their positions. If they encircled the left and right, they might be able to catch the enemy by surprise.
"With the second option, we must wipe out the enemy as quickly as possible and in the shortest possible time, and we must not give the enemy a chance to escape. Lieutenant General Ziegler said with a wave of his hand.
""Understood."
After the battle plan was drawn up, the logistics department began to distribute ammunition. The frontline soldiers immediately opened all the ammunition boxes, and the machine gunners quickly inserted the bullets into the machine guns and checked the machine guns to prevent jams.
As for the infantry, they stared at the enemy in the distance, while the snipers looked for their own positions and waited for the enemy to arrive.
The artillery in the rear also began to arrange artillery positions, waiting for orders at any time.
The tank soldiers checked the tanks with peace of mind, refueled the tanks, and were ready to go, ready to launch a surprise attack on the enemy at any time.
Many of the soldiers responsible for defending the front were veterans, and the new recruits were all He was transferred to the two wings by Lieutenant General Ziegler. After all, the front would bear the greatest damage, so he had to ensure the safety of the position.
In order to ensure the success of the frontal blocking, Lieutenant General Ziegler personally led the troops in command. Fortunately, there were a hundred Tiger and Panther tanks behind him, which was his biggest killer. In addition, each infantry squad had two bazookas, and the infantry also had AK-47 assault rifles, so Ziegler was still very confident.
He believed that with so many advanced weapons, he would definitely be able to hold the position. As for the Italian troops, they were all driven to the rear. Their task was to transport weapons and ammunition to the front line.
"Report to the division commander, everything is ready."When everything was ready, the chief of staff came to report.
"Very good, now we just need to wait for the enemy to arrive." Lieutenant General Ziegler nodded with satisfaction and said,"Order the troops to rest and replenish their energy immediately. If the battle starts, they may not have time to eat."
""Yes, division commander." The chief of staff nodded and turned to leave to convey the order.
Watching the chief of staff leave, Lieutenant General Ziegler stared at the map. The location of the village where he was located was very important and must be defended, otherwise the airport would be lost, and the situation in the entire Sicily would be in danger.
"Come on, let me see how strong the U.S. military is."
The German army is setting up defenses here, and most of the troops of the U.S. First Division have landed on the other side. As for the soldiers who have not yet completed the landing, they continue to land and transport weapons and equipment ashore.
However, the troops who have completed the landing found that they have very few heavy weapons, especially anti-tank weapons, which are basically non-existent.
As for the required tanks, trucks, heavy artillery and other heavy weapons and equipment, they are all on the landing craft and have not kept up at all.
Because they were only concerned with transporting personnel to land, they didn't think about transporting heavy weapons first. After all, in their eyes, the Italian troops defending the beachhead had been killed, and there was no need to rush to transport heavy weapons first. Letting personnel land first was the most important thing.
As a result, most people had landed, but there were not many heavy weapons.
The most important thing is that the location they chose to land was not good. There were sandbanks, rocks, reefs, etc. everywhere, and they could hit the bottom if they were not careful.
"Damn it, order the engineers to immediately build a pontoon dock and transport the heavy weapons to the shore. We need to continue to move forward."The commander of the 1st Division of the US Army, Allen, said angrily.
""Yes." The chief of staff next to him responded.
The further they pushed in, the more likely they would encounter the main force of the German army. It was absolutely impossible for them to defeat the German army with only the light weapons in their hands, because according to intelligence, the German army had at least one armored division. According to the German army's organization, an armored division had at least 300 tanks. With the combat quality of the German armored division, it was impossible to win without 1,000 tanks.
This was also the reason why Commander Allen was angry, so the chief of staff immediately ordered the engineers to build a pontoon bridge without saying a word.
"It still doesn't work. There are not enough people. Send a telegram to the commander and ask for reinforcements."For some reason, Division Commander Allen's eyelids kept twitching. Although he believed in God, he still had some superstitions. He always felt that there was a giant beast waiting for him ahead. With the few troops he had, it would be impossible to win.
So after thinking about it, he finally decided to ask Eisenhower for reinforcements.
After all, the number of German troops he would face was still unknown, and he must have sufficient reserves. If something unexpected happened on the battlefield and there was no follow-up support, it would be a huge threat or even a disaster.
If things went wrong, the First Division might be wiped out here. When he thought of this, Division Commander Allen felt deeply worried.
That's why he immediately dispatched more troops to Eisenhower as a reserve as soon as the landing was successful.
There was no way. The strength of the German army was already deep.���The people's hearts were proven by tens of millions of troops, so when they faced the German army, they were very cautious and tried to use their own advantages to expand the battle.
Eisenhower readily agreed to the request of Division Commander Allen, and tried every means to withdraw some troops from some troops that had not yet landed to serve as a reserve for Allen's First Division.
Among them was the 17th Infantry Division. The landing mission of this division was ranked third, which was basically equivalent to having no mission. As a result, Eisenhower made a phone call and directly asked them to land and put them under the command of the First Division.
"Asshole, why should we command the First Division?"
"Just because they have a higher number, we have to obey their orders?"
"Alan is such an idiot, he can't command at all"
"The First Division is nothing but trash."
The frontline troops all have their own pride. Although the 17th Infantry Division is not an ace unit, it is also an elite unit. It has participated in many battles and has made great achievements.
So now when they heard the order to obey the command of the First Division, they were naturally very unhappy. After all, the First Division relied on itself as a son, and its combat effectiveness was not strong.
The record was not much worse than theirs, which was why the 17th Division was very unhappy when they heard this order.
"Humph, it’s only because they are his biological sons, otherwise are they worthy of being the trump card?"
"Never mind, just obey orders."
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