＜ Episode 227 >
June 6, 1941, on the coast of Jelena, southern France.
Guns of various calibers and air bombs razed the coast.
While the shells were falling, the landing craft were steadily approaching the shore.
– Kwaang!
And, of course, the coastal artillery fired counterattacks.
“It’s a bombardment!”
“30 seconds ago!”
“Antonov! It is not good to stay in the open field for a long time. I will lead my men into the blind spot of the enemy machine gun seat as fast as possible, and take the lead when charging.”
“All right!”
“Boris, just before we reach the shore, a friendly rocket ship will tear it up! After the rocket fire, I have to request firepower support by radio, so stay close to me!”
“Yes!”
“Alec, don’t try to save your allies when they fall in the open air. If the medics die, we’re all f*cked. Whatever you do, as long as you get to safe cover, if I fall, don’t try to rescue me, the second-in-command lead.”
“All right.”
“Ten seconds ago!”
In an instant, a cannonball fell right nearby, creating a large splash of water.
“Damn it, their heavy artillery is still intact.”
At least 200mm or higher, the captain, who judged that, gripped the gun tightly.
“Good luck, see you all alive!”
“Wow.”
At that moment, a rattling sound was heard and the landing craft stopped.
– Kwakwawkwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!
Thousands of 300mm rockets were fired in unison, hitting the entire beach. It was a power that was difficult to guarantee survival even if it was stuck in the fortification camp.
-Tata ta ta ta ta ta tata! Tata ta ta ta tata!
The sound of machine guns rang out fiercely.
– Kwaang! bang!
“It’s a landmine!”
“Don’t look back! run!”
“Scatter! Climbers! Don’t stick together!”
In just tens of seconds, a significant number of soldiers fell. However, the other soldiers each hid themselves in various obstacles.
“Get off the beach! Are you going to search all over here?”
– Kwaang!
At that moment, several guns fired directly at the machine gun positions that were fired at them. Maybe it wasn’t a large caliber gun, so the Torchika wasn’t completely destroyed, but the gunner was killed, so the fire stopped.
“Now! charge!”
-Tatattattattattattatta!
“Other machine gun positions are shooting this way!”
“Keep running! Go into the square!”
“It’s a train!”
“f*cks, where are you squatting and now you’re crawling?”
It wasn’t too late, but it seemed like a thousand years to the Russians crouching under the barbed wire.
– Kwaang!
A T-32-100 tank rolled out of the landing craft.
-bang!
One of the machine gun positions flew with gunfire. Anti-tank gunfire intermittently flew in, but all bounced and bounced off.
After that, the trains rolled out one after another.
“In front of the Engineers!”
“Explode!”
Engineers loaded explosives and detonated them to break the barbed wire, and the tanks took the lead, and the infantry broke through the defenses next.
“Flame thrower! In front of the flamethrower!”
“Roast those bastards alive!”
Throwing grenades at machine gun positions and burning them with flamethrowers, soldiers running through the trenches poured submachine gun fire on the Germans generously.
From the moment they landed on the shore to the neutralization of the enemy’s positions, everything happened in an instant, yet at the Jelena point there were already thousands of casualties.
However, the number of troops deployed by the Russian army was much larger than that.
***
The coast of southern France was actually not so well-defended.
In fact, there were some unavoidable aspects. According to a common lesson from the two great wars, an enemy landing can never be successful in modern warfare.
The only successful case of an amphibious operation so far has been that of the Japanese military in the Pacific. Gallipoli, where hundreds of thousands of British troops lost their lives in World War I, and Calais in World War II, in which most of the amphibious forces were killed or taken prisoner, were all unsuccessful. Even the Russians carried out an airlift operation and occupied a port, and then occupied Cyprus with massive air support and armored forces. The landing operation had many flaws.
And even though the Japanese army completely seized control of the sea and deployed a large number of battleships, they inflicted heavy casualties on the weak Philippine and American forces, and in some battles the landing itself failed.
The current evaluation that the Japanese army succeeded in the offensive was mainly due to the surprise effect at the beginning of the war. It was self-evident when looking back on the disastrous failures.
Then, it is clear that the effect of refusal of landing will be excellent with the current coastal artillery, machine guns, and anti-tank gun positions alone, but should we spend time and materials with the aim of stopping a virtually meaningless offensive with already insufficient materials?
The German and British forces, according to these tactics, in modern warfare, the only possible amphibious landing would be to send in paratroopers, etc., or to assault the coast where there were literally few troops, and then massively provide air support to port facilities that would allow for continuous replenishment. It was concluded that it was only possible to take over with naval support.
And paratroopers are basically infantry. Even if it were to carry out an airborne operation, even if the airborne unit was a Spetsnaz, it would not be possible to face tanks with their bare body. Isn’t Spetsnaz a human made of flesh and blood?
In other words, when the armored units returned to the strategic reserve conduct an airlift operation, they rush to crush the enemy airborne units and strengthen the defenses of the port, not only from the sea but also from the land.
Along the coast, several coastal artillery positions are built on a small scale, trenches or open trenches with machine guns are built, anti-tank barriers are laid, and barbed wire and minefields are created.
That was all. No more defenses were built, and no need was felt.
In fact, Russia also mobilized a large number of fighter engineer tanks and airlifted Spetsnaz to destroy coastal artillery, but suffered quite a few casualties only in establishing a bridgehead off the coast, so it was not particularly wrong.
The problem was that there was a way to destroy the common sense of the German army.
‘For example, something like this.’
After being liberated from the post of commander of the German military junta and appointed commander of the amphibious assault in southern France, Rokosovsky toured the prefabricated port.
This opportunity might be the last chance for him to recover his honor.
He was stuck in the rear as the commander of the military government and was called back to the front line saying that he needed a commander for the amphibious operation. It also played a key role in the offensive that could end the war.
There are no two distractions.
“The transport has departed from Genoa.”
“We must thoroughly check each unit’s ammunition and fuel levels and report them, so that counterattacks at the end of the offensive like the last time should never happen again.”
“Reconnaissance reports that enemy armored units are moving rapidly…”
“A friendly cavalry can handle that much. The front isn’t that wide yet, and if you say it’s a good place to hit, the path is clear.”
Lokosovsky, who pointed out several points on the map, nodded.
“Let’s make this a lethal zone. Repel the attack of the enemy cavalry and then advance.”
The landing was successful, but the strategic goal was not achieved.
Now it was only up to him to complete the mission while keeping his men alive.
***
“General Manstein, go to the south and annihilate the enemy landing forces, immediately attack and push the enemy forces to the shore to annihilate them. ”
At Hitler’s orders, Manstein rebelled.
“Sir, it is difficult to land and maintain a large force with Russia’s naval forces ascertained so far. No matter how much they disembark, they cannot supply enough supplies to the troops that have landed so far. Better to strike when they can’t outrun their size and run out of ammunition and fuel, bolstering their defenses as they did last time and defending the main ports and the rear of the Maginot line with cavalry.”
“So was it successful? Then why was Frankfurt lost? Manstein, did you say that you were successful when you ran across the Rhine in a hurry, and then came back alone with your underwear soaking wet?”
“Sir, that is the enemy’s completely unexpected new weapon and miscalculation of the enemy’s power scale……”
“Shut up! When did the Russians ever move as you predicted? They are definitely tributes! The real offensive is how to break through the Maginot line! Most of the enemy forces are bluffing, and if we keep our armored reserve in check until the enemy’s supply capacity is insufficient, as you said, the Russian army will destroy the Maginot Line, and our tanks will be slapped in the back of the head! Then it’s over! National Socialism, and you too! Germany too! They’re like idiots and idiots who can’t see even an inch ahead!”
“You are talking too much.”
“This war has been me and his fight from the beginning, Ubermensh can understand Ubermensh’s thoughts, so what do you guys say about it? Do you yourself feel like ubermensch? Do you think you can sit in my seat and lead this war? yes?”
“Is that possible!”
“Look at their movements! Their strategy is simple! It is the standard of siege and annihilation of the opponent with hammer and anvil tactics based on low agility and mobility that will rip and destroy any traps so that deceptions and traps do not scatter them! But now these guys come and write a trick? Aren’t you guys unaware of the least way to analyze your opponent? Model!”
“Yes, sir.”
“How is the battle situation on the Maginot Line?”
“The troops deployed to the Maginot Line are engaged in a bloody battle. Considering the fact that almost all facilities are underground, fixed, and the current communication is not smooth, there is not much I can do in defense of the Maginot Line itself. If you allow the armored units to maneuver, they will be able to maneuver and defend the dangerous area within the defense line…”
“I can’t allow that. If you use up your troops like that, what are you going to use to counterattack?”
“However……..’
“The armored corps in the rear are all deployed for a counterattack, so we can’t take them out.”
“As the enemy has landed, and considering the situation in which the Maginot Line collapses in a short time without inflicting as much damage to the enemy as expected, if the enemy reaches the end of the offensive without breaking through the Maginot Line, the original plan was to mobilize armored units to counterattack and annihilate the enemy’s main force. You can’t just stick with the plan.”
“Then, if there is any other way to win the war, let me tell you, do you use armored units for defense rather than attack? So it goes without saying that you can repel the enemy, but you can’t annihilate it! Do you expect the Panzer Corps to be intact enough to continue fighting even after engaging the Russians!”
In front of the immovable Hitler, the model was choked. You don’t even do mobile defense, and only the infantry defend the line of defense? Even though you’re the commander of an armored unit, do you want to focus on maintaining the fortifications rather than dispatching the armored units?
Having a reserve is certainly important, but that doesn’t mean you have to keep all your tanks in the rear.
However, Hitler refused to be able to allocate even a single tank for mobile defense missions and gave unrealistic orders, which made him go crazy.