The Rise of the Third Reich

The British army under Montgomery's command advanced very fast, almost comparable to the rapid advance of the German mechanized troops. On the morning of May 3, they captured Dundalk at the junction of the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland. By the evening of that day, a tank battalion of the 29th Armored Brigade of the British 11th Armored Division and the cavalry regiment of the 3rd Infantry Division A mixed formation composed of (Motorized Infantry Regiment) had advanced to the north bank of the Boyne River and was blocked by a platoon of the Moonlight Squadron on the outer positions of the northern city of Drogheda.

Seeing the Panzerfaust anti-tank grenade launcher destroying a Crusader 3 cruise tank driving along the road, Private Hans Huth of the Moonlight Squadron jumped out of the foxhole next to the road and quickly Run to a forest to the south.

"Fire, cover Huth!" Sergeant Major William Hoffman, Huth's platoon leader, shouted loudly in the woods. A paratrooper lying in the foxhole next to him immediately fired two long bursts with his FG42 paratrooper rifle, using up all the bullets in the 20-round magazine before stopping shooting. Then Hoffman himself took over the task of covering fire, and also opened fire with the FG42 in his hand, and also fired two long bursts.

The FG42 paratrooper rifle is a special firearm that uses 7 standard bullets and has the functions of a semi-automatic rifle and a light machine gun. This kind of firearm was ordered to be developed by the German Ministry of Defense after the Mediterranean Campaign. At that time, because the prospect of resource supply had become clear, the German Ministry of Defense, which was used to "hard times", also began to spend a lot of money to create a firepower for ordinary infantry. A standard weapon as powerful as a light machine gun. So we invited bids from major German firearms manufacturing companies. The FG42 paratrooper rifle was a product designed by Rheinsteel-Borsig Firearms Company.

Because it used standard bullets, it did not meet Hersman's requirements. What Hersman wanted was an automatic rifle that used intermediate bullets, so he chose the MKB-42 developed by Heinel Company and used 7 intermediate bullets (this is history The early model of the Type 44 assault rifle) automatic carbine is a new generation of standard firearm for the German Army infantry.

But the FG42 is also a good gun. Not only can it fire continuously, providing quite powerful firepower, but it can also perform single-shot precision shooting. Its accuracy is unmatched by cheap guns like the MKB-42, and it can even serve as a sniper. rifle. If the MKB-42 is a cheap and high-quality automatic weapon suitable for large-scale equipment, then the FG42 is a fine firearm. The former is suitable for infantry carrying goods on the road, while the latter is suitable for elites such as airborne troops.

Therefore, Schleicher and Hessmann finally agreed to order tens of thousands of FG42 equipment for the airborne troops, and Otto Skorzeny's Moonlight Squadron was the first batch of troops to be equipped with FG42.

But no matter how good the FG42 paratrooper rifle is, it is still a gun. It is very sharp against British infantry, but it is useless against British tanks.

The anti-tank weapons currently provided by the German Ministry of Defense to paratroopers mainly fall into two categories. One is the recoilless gun, including the 75mm LG40 recoilless gun, the 105mm LG40 recoilless gun and the 150mm LG42 recoilless gun; The second category is the Panzerfaust anti-tank grenade launcher.

In addition, there are some anti-tank grenades, anti-tank mines and other individual anti-tank weapons, which have become useless after the emergence of the Panzerfaust anti-tank grenade launcher.

As for anti-tank guns and artillery such as the 37mm anti-tank gun and the 28mm cone-bore gun, they were replaced by various recoilless guns after the Mediterranean Campaign and disappeared from the equipment list of the German airborne troops.

"Platoon commander, I'll kill that cruise tank, but there are many more of them on the road."

Private Huth ran very fast and was lucky enough not to be hit by the rifles of the British infantry following the tank. He ran smoothly into the woods and reached Sergeant Major Hoffman.

"We can't stop them. Unless there is heavy fire support, those cruise tanks will rush into the streets of Dublin sooner or later." Hoffman said with a frown. He forcefully removed the empty 20-round magazine from the FG42 gun. He pulled it out and inserted another magazine. "Now we have to move our position before the British open fire on us with that damn 105mm self-propelled artillery!"

What Hoffman is talking about is the M7 "Priest" 105mm self-propelled artillery. This self-propelled artillery, which was modified from the chassis of the M3 medium tank, only started production in February 1942. It was sent to the UK by Roosevelt before it was equipped with the US military. It was originally planned to be 120, but 60 M7s sank in the Atlantic Ocean with the ship during transportation (that is, the Battle of the Sea of ​​Fog), and only 60 were shipped to the UK.

However, 12 of these 60 M7 "Priests" caused heavy casualties to the Moonlight Squadron, which was responsible for delaying the British army's march south. In less than a day of battle, more than 50 people were killed by M7s in time and Accurate fire kills or seriously injures.

Hoffman led the front foot to move away from the woods and retreat towards the northern city of Drogheda. The 27th "Priest" self-propelled artillery assigned to the British army opened fire, and the rumble of gunfire reached the salmon dock on the south bank of the Boyne River.

"Is this a 105mm howitzer?" Major Witsch frowned when he heard the sound of the cannon.

"It's a self-propelled artillery!"

"Self-propelled artillery?"

"Yes!" Otto Skorzeny said harshly, "A very abominable weapon. It follows the tanks and mechanized infantry. When they encounter our people ambushing them, they will open fire immediately and kill our Moonlight Squadron along the way. 41 people, and many brave Irishmen were killed.”

There were also brave Irish soldiers who defended Dundalk, and many of them fought with the Moonlight Squadron after the fall of Dundalk. Therefore, Lieutenant Otto Skorzeny now commands a "large force" of more than 1,000 men, otherwise he would not have deployed defenses in Drogheda.

"Major, the British are much stronger now than when they were fighting in North Africa and the European continent!" Otto Skorzeny then said to Major Witsch, "It seems that we have a hard battle in Ireland. Going to fight!"

…

"Steady, steady...stop!"

Lieutenant Rudolf von Ribbentrop waved his hand and directed a No. 3 tank to stop steadily on a flatbed.

The expected landing battle did not happen. Lieutenant Rudolf von Ribbentrop and other German Marine officers and soldiers on the amphibious assault ship Baltic all arrived in Cock Bay without any danger. Then came the unloading and loading of trucks, which lasted from the early morning of May 3 until late at night. Only then did the 22 No. 3 tanks of Trop's 16th Amphibious Tank Company inside be loaded onto the train.

"Division Commander, the four tank companies, the anti-tank gun battalion, and the assault gun battalion are all loaded onto the vehicles. They can set off in half an hour. We will arrive in Dublin before dawn tomorrow."

Colonel Botto von Alberg, chief of staff of the 1st Marine Division, quickly walked into the division headquarters of acting division commander Colonel Walter Wink and reported to him the loading of the tanks.

Colonel Ahlberg was also aboard the sunken Norwegian Sea and fell into the sea with Paulus. But his health was much better than Paulus's, and he didn't suffer any illness after soaking in the sea for several hours. After being picked up, he immediately flew to Cork Bay on a Ju52 transport plane with the division's main staff and reported to the acting division commander, Colonel Wenke.

Shortly after he arrived in Cork Bay, Lieutenant General Sussman (originally Paulus), who was ordered to command all European coalition forces on the island of Ireland (mainly German and Irish forces), issued an order to let the 1st Marine Corps The division immediately mobilized armored troops and anti-tank troops to form an advance submersible team and headed north to reinforce Dublin.

"When will the additional artillery and personnel arrive for us?" Colonel Wenke asked with a frown.

Also falling into the sea with Paulus were several artillery battalions of the 1st Marine Division - Paulus' bad luck was still hanging over this elite German Marine Division!

So now Colonel Wenck does not have a 105mm howitzer, 150mm howitzer, 88mm anti-aircraft gun, nor a Wasp self-propelled artillery. However, the division's anti-tank gun battalion and assault gun battalion successfully arrived at Cock Bay. Therefore, Colonel Wenke still has 6 powerful PAK40 75mm anti-tank guns, 12 PAK38 50mm anti-tank guns, and 18 No. 3 assault guns.

"It will be good to arrive in one week," Colonel Alberg shook his head. "There are too many things and troops to transport. The 3rd Armored Division, the 2nd Marine Division, the Grossdeutschland Brigade and the Adolf Hitler Brigade are From Brest, the 22nd Airborne Division and the Italian 185th Lightning Division will also be transported by air. The Air Force and Naval Aviation will deploy at least three aviation regiments in Ireland before they can take their turn to replenish our artillery. …”

Walter Wenke smiled bitterly and shook his head, "By the time they all arrive, the island of Ireland must have been conquered."

According to the "Sea Lion Plan", the ground forces used to attack Ireland include the German 1st and 2nd Marine Divisions, the Army's 3rd Armored Division, the Grossdeutschland Brigade and the Adolf Hitler Brigade of the Waffen-SS, and airborne troops. The 7th Division, the 22nd Airborne Division, and the Italian 185th Lightning Division, a total of 6 divisions and 2 brigades, with a total strength of more than 120,000. These troops will all be in place (referring to the completion of ship unloading operations) within 1 week after Cork Bay and Dublin are controlled by Germany.

In addition, there are 2 armored divisions and 4 motorized infantry divisions gathered near Brest as reserves, ready to reinforce operations on the island of Ireland. However, on May 3, most of the German officers and soldiers who landed on the island of Ireland did not realize that the Battle of Ireland would eventually become a hard battle and that they would need to use these reserves.