Chapter 259 Counterattack 4

By September 6, 1939, the Luftwaffe had already become the master of the Polish sky. Due to the emergence of the Fokker Zero, a long-range escort fighter, the performance of the Polish Air Force was worse than in history. The P.11 and P.7 could have relied on their medium and low altitude flexibility to fight with the BF-109. But now they had to be shot down by the Fokker Zero, the king of medium and low altitude combat.

So when Major General Theodore von Hipper was flying above the clouds in a Ju52 transport plane, he was not worried about the threat of Polish fighters at all - if they existed, the 36 Fokker Zeros on escort missions would easily deal with them.

However, he was still somewhat uneasy about this airborne landing behind enemy lines. Because the destination of the airborne landing, Lviv, was too far to the east - this airborne landing was more of a "strategic mission" than a "tactical mission". The purpose of spreading the war to the Polish Free State of Ukraine was to stimulate Stalin and force the Soviet Union to declare war on Poland immediately, thereby greatly improving the strategic isolation situation currently faced by Germany.

Therefore, the airborne troops had to take great risks!

The risk came not only from the geographical location of Lviv being too far east, which made it impossible for the German ground forces to join the airborne troops in a short period of time, but also from the fact that Germany did not have enough transport aircraft to airdrop enough troops to Lviv at one time.

At present, the most transport aircraft in the German Air Force is the Ju52. This simple and sturdy aircraft is easy to produce and relatively cheap. Therefore, it was favored by the German Air Force before the war, and more than 1,000 aircraft were ordered, produced by Junkers and the BF-FK Consortium. Currently, more than 500 aircraft have been delivered. 394 of them will participate in the Lviv airborne.

However, the carrying capacity of the Ju52 is far from satisfactory, far less than that of four-engine transport aircraft such as the Ju90 and Fokker F.36. A Ju52 can only carry a little more than 4 tons of cargo, 13 paratroopers or 18 infantrymen. That is to say, 394 Ju52s could only drop more than 7,000 paratroopers to Lviv. In the actual Lviv airdrop operation, these 394 Ju52s carried about 6,000 fully armed paratroopers (from the 1st Paratrooper Regiment and the 1st Miuta Regiment) and 240 tons of cargo (mainly ammunition and supplies).

In addition, the German Air Force also mobilized 232 He-111 medium bombers to tow the DFS-230H glider. The net weight of this H glider is only 860 kilograms, and it can carry up to 1,230 kilograms of cargo or 8 fully armed soldiers.

1,856 officers and soldiers of the Great German Infantry Regiment commanded by SS Colonel von Stockhausen were riding in these H gliders. These 1,856 people were not all the personnel and equipment of the Great German Infantry Regiment, but only the three infantry battalions of the Great German Regiment. This regiment is not an ordinary infantry regiment, but an independent regiment with an artillery battalion (4 infantry gun companies, 4 88mm infantry guns, 12 37mm anti-tank guns, 6 75mm mountain guns carried by special vehicles) and an assault engineering battalion.

As for the artillery battalion and assault engineering battalion of the Great German Regiment, they are not in the sequence of the first wave of airdrop troops. According to the plan, they will be airlifted to Lviv by Ju52 transport aircraft after the first wave of airdrop troops occupy the Lviv Airport. Moreover, before the German armored forces (19th Armored Corps) assaulted near Lviv, the more than 9,000 people of the "Miuta Cluster" could only rely on air transport and airdrops to maintain combat.

And their enemies may be as many as tens of thousands!

At this time, the loudspeaker on the plane suddenly sounded, and the voice of the Ju52 captain came: "We have arrived above the target!"

...

Lviv has arrived!

Below the plane where Major General Theodore von Hipper was riding was the only large airport in the Free State of Ukraine-Lviv Airport. Because the Poles concentrated all their aircraft on the western battlefield, there was no aircraft or advanced anti-aircraft guns on this dual-use military and civilian airport. There were only a few old anti-aircraft guns left over from World War I. A squadron of Fokker Zeros dropped 30 kg bombs on the anti-aircraft gun positions (a Fokker Zero can carry 2 bombs), and used machine guns and machine guns to randomly fire for a while, completely suppressing the firepower on the ground.

The airdrop operation can begin.

The plane that Major General Hipple was riding on was shaking constantly, and all the paratroopers had stood up and checked their equipment for the last time. Miuta's special forces and paratroopers were the elite of the German army, but their current equipment was also limited compared to ordinary infantry. Most people used Mauser P-38 submachine guns, but Mauser 98K was not brought when parachuting. These rifles were loaded into the "weapon equipment container" together with MG-34 machine guns and 81mm mortars for airdrop. The paratroopers only carry MP-38 (only experienced paratroopers can carry MP-38 when parachuting), pistols and grenades.

In addition, the recoilless guns and anti-tank guns for paratroopers are still under development. Therefore, the 1st Paratrooper Regiment and the 1st Miuta Regiment did not carry artillery other than mortars for airdrops - these two troops also have artillery battalions, but they are mountain artillery battalions and ordinary anti-tank artillery companies drawn from mountain troops, equipped with 75mm mountain guns and 37mm anti-tank guns.

They will be airlifted in by Ju52 after the airborne troops occupy the Lviv airport.

The red indicator light on the plane began to flash, which was a signal for the airdrop to begin.

A second lieutenant standing at the door of the aircraft cabin shouted an order: "Check the equipment for the last time! Everyone confirms the parachutes! Start!"

"No. 1! It's over!" "No. 2! It's over!" "No. 3! It's over!" "..."

When the green light came on, the major pushed open the hatch, and the cold wind rushed in, making everyone stagger.

"Start parachuting!" Then the captain shouted, "No. 1! Jump!"

The first Miuta warrior stepped out of the cabin in one step. The Miuta unit has a very long history, dating back to the end of World War I. Twenty-one years of development have made this unit synonymous with the elite of the German Wehrmacht. The paratroopers who now belong to the Air Force and the Marine Special Forces who belong to the Navy are actually derived from Miuta troops.

Parachute airdrop is just a piece of cake for these military elites.

Countless white flower-like parachutes soon appeared in the sky, blooming one after another, and soon filled the entire sky. The Ukrainian Defense Forces around Lviv Airport seemed to have never existed. Facing the dense parachutes, the firepower on the ground was pitiful.

Soon, German soldiers landed on the ground in broad daylight, began to form temporary combat groups, and pounced on important targets near the airport.

…

September 6, 1939, 6pm British time.

At this time, nearly 8,000 elite German troops had occupied Lviv Airport and a large area around it - this was a very big event, and it meant that the Soviet Union would soon attack Poland!

But because the Polish government was on the way to escape, the entire Polish army was in chaos. Therefore, this crucial news was not notified to London in time.

Therefore, the plan to "take advantage of" the sky over the Netherlands to bomb Berlin has not been cancelled-if the Soviet Union declares war on Poland within a few days, then destroying the neutrality of the Netherlands would be a very stupid thing!

But the British government did not know about this, and Major General Arthur Travers Harris, the commander of the 5th Bomb Group in charge of bombing Berlin, did not know that he was doing a very stupid thing.

At this time, he was summoning the captains of his eight bomber squadrons to arrange flight routes and bombing missions for Berlin.

"What? Flying over the Netherlands?" A squadron leader immediately objected, "The Netherlands declared war on Germany?"

"No."

"Then the Netherlands declared war on us?"

"nor."

"Then what are we doing? Flying 96 Wellington bombers loaded with bombs over a neutral country?"

"Yes!" Major General Harris nodded, "This is an order!"

"So... what should we do if we are discovered by the Dutch?"

"They won't find it," Harris said. "The Netherlands doesn't have radar, so it's difficult to detect bombers in the sky at night. Moreover, they don't have night fighters, so even if they find them, they can't shoot you down."

"But they have a Fokker D.21, which is a very good aircraft. If they take off to intercept, they might be able to spot us in the air."

One squadron leader expressed his concerns. Although the Netherlands does not have radar or night combat aircraft, the Fokker D.21 can also fly into the sky at night and can fight with the cooperation of ground searchlights.

"What if a Fokker D.21 fires at us?"

"Then fight back!" Major General Harris said, "This is nothing special. The Dutch are already pro-German!"

There was no formal order to "fight back" - the "passage" to the Netherlands was "accidental". The flight instruments of the 96 bombers failed at the same time, so they flew into the sky of the Netherlands.

However, the Chief of Staff of the Royal Air Force, General Newport L., gave a "hint" when issuing the order. The British Empire did not mind the Netherlands siding with Germany!

Because the Netherlands has little force, anyone can easily defeat it. If there is a war with the Netherlands (Belgium joins Britain and France), the coalition forces will definitely be able to enter Germany through Dutch territory before the end of September. In this way, Germany will have to transfer its main force back from Poland...Germany will be trapped in a two-front war!