Chapter 762 Landing in England VII

The British troops stationed in North Yorkshire were completely stunned. Their place was not an important place, so it had been a neglected corner since the outbreak of the war. It had not been bombed by the Germans, and there were also not many British troops deployed on the North Yorkshire coastline.

The North Yorkshire Coast Guard Command is currently responsible for commanding the defense of North Yorkshire. In addition to the local county divisions in North Yorkshire, the forces under its jurisdiction are a Coast Artillery Command (with five Coast Artillery Battalions under its jurisdiction), an Air Defense Command group (equivalent to an anti-aircraft artillery division) and a native militia command and an infantry brigade garrisoning Middlesbrough.

Among them, the Yorkshire Division was originally a militia, also known as the Home Army. Before the outbreak of the war, a county division usually consisted of 2-3 regular battalions and a bunch of native battalions. The North Yorkshire Division was also organized in this way. However, the current North Yorkshire Division is no longer the one before the war. After the Battle of France, the county divisions of the British Home Army were all reorganized into regular armies, with designations such as the 1st Infantry Division and the 2nd Infantry Division. At the same time, the British formed a new county division and recruited a group of older, middle-aged men to make up the numbers.

The current North Yorkshire Division was formed at that time. It currently has 2 urban brigades (Hartlepool Brigade and Middlesbrough Brigade) and 12 regiments or battalions - these regiments and battalions are actually a kind of organization. , the units at the next level are companies, and the units under the two city brigades are battalions. According to German standards, the units under the jurisdiction of this county division should be 2 infantry regiments, several independent infantry or cavalry battalions, as well as artillery, engineering, supply, reconnaissance and other units directly under the division headquarters.

After the start of the Irish Campaign, the possibility of invasion of the British mainland was already very high, so the British established local militia headquarters in various counties and began to organize even more unreliable militias - all of which were deceived. Grandpa's old man and women who volunteer to defend the country often use "XX Volunteer Corps" in their designations. These were a dozen volunteers commanded by the North Yorkshire Native Militia Command.

In addition to the unreliable militia division and the even more unreliable Volunteer Corps, there are three more reliable units under the command of the North Yorkshire Coast Guard Command, one is the North York Air Defense Group; the other is the North York Coast Artillery There are three shore artillery battalions under the headquarters; one belongs to the 160th Brigade of the 5th Division. These troops are regular troops, have received relatively rigorous training, and are the backbone of North Yorkshire's defense.

However, on the night of January 2nd and the early morning of January 3rd, most of the troops under the command of Major General Scott, Commander of the North Yorkshire Coast Guard Command, whether they were reliable regular troops or unreliable militiamen, were all thrown into chaos. confusion.

Especially in Hartlepool, near the coast, almost all troops reported being besieged by superior German forces and must receive reinforcements immediately!

"How many German paratroopers are there? Why are all places being attacked?" Major General Scott was furious in the headquarters in Middlesbrough, and the faint sound of gunfire could be heard from time to time.

"Call the Eastern Coast Defense Command! Ask them when they can send reinforcements? The Germans are definitely going to land at Middlesbrough and Hartlepool!" he shouted to his chief of staff, Colonel Kent. He said, "Call Coastal Aviation Command again and ask them to send planes to search the sea off North Yorkshire!"

"Commander, there is something wrong with the phone! We have no way to contact the Eastern Coast Defense Command and the Coast Aviation Command!" Colonel Kent reported helplessly a few minutes later, "It may be that the German paratroopers cut off the phone line, and we have no contact with Hartlepool." Many troops have also lost contact."

"Hell! Use a telegram to contact the Eastern Coastal Defense Command and the Coastal Aviation Command! Then send someone to check the line!" Major General Scott ordered loudly,

"Boom! Boom! Boom..." The loud noise of exploding artillery shells suddenly came from outside the headquarters.

"What's going on? Are the Germans firing? Has their fleet already arrived?" Major General Scott was shocked, "Go and find out!"

"Yes!" A staff officer hurriedly ran out of the headquarters to investigate what happened. Not long after he left, a call came from the North York Coast Artillery Headquarters, reporting that artillery was being fired to bombard downtown Middlesbrough. It is likely to be an 8-inch howitzer battery under the jurisdiction of the Coast Artillery Headquarters! This company was deployed near Hartlepool Beach, and somehow it started bombarding its own people?

"Damn!" Major General Scott almost jumped up, "It was German paratroopers who captured four 8-inch howitzers! They must be recaptured immediately! Order the Hartlepool Brigade to recapture or destroy those four 8-inch cannons at all costs! "

"But Commander, we can't contact you..."

"Use wireless telegraphy, and if that doesn't work, send out communications troops!" Major General Scott ordered angrily.

It turned out that Skorzeny's plan to lure the enemy was successful. They first deceived half of the platoon, wiped them all out, then changed into British uniforms, then tortured the prisoners of war to obtain the password, and finally succeeded in the raid. The British artillery position outside Bucks Town captured four 8-inch cannons.

Soon after, the headquarters of the German 7th Parachute Division contacted Skorzeny and others, and also sent an airborne artillery company to use the four captured 8-inch cannons to bombard the city of Middlesbrough 15 kilometers away. , resulting in great confusion.

At this moment, the Hartlepool Brigade stationed in Hartlepool was unable to launch a counterattack to recapture the four precious cannons.

Because the German 7th Paratrooper Division had captured most of the city - although the weather conditions were not suitable for airborne landing, the combat effectiveness of these tens of thousands of elite paratroopers was still very considerable. The thousands of people of the Hartlepool Brigade and the Hartlepool Volunteers alone could not resist.

When four 8-inch cannons began to bombard the city of Middlesbrough, fierce street fighting was taking place around the brigade headquarters of the Hartlepool Brigade. The brigade commander of the Hartlepool Brigade, an elderly colonel (permanent rank is captain) who participated in the First World War, is now a company commander and is leading his brigade personnel in a fierce battle with German paratroopers who came out of nowhere.

He commanded 7 infantry battalions and 1 artillery battalion (coastal artillery and anti-aircraft artillery were not under his control). Except for the 2 infantry battalions and 2 artillery companies (with 12 25-pound guns) deployed on the beach, all of them were besieged!

As for the Hartlepool Volunteers, most of their troops did not live in the barracks, but were militiamen who went home to live. When the Germans landed, they were all sleeping at home. They couldn't organize themselves at all, and only a small number of people spontaneously joined the battle. However, this unorganized and undisciplined resistance was equally dangerous to the British and German troops in Hartlepool!

Because in the dark, the unorganized volunteers couldn't tell who was British and who was German, and often fired randomly, making the already chaotic battlefield even more chaotic. In many places, there were even exchanges of fire between volunteers and "regular militia".

In the early morning of January 3, 1943, they arrived in Hartlepool in this chaos. And with the morning sun came the huge German fleet that almost covered the sea outside Hartlepool!

…

“Boom boom boom…”

“The angel announced to Maria that she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Response: May the Lord grant me the virtue of humility, and everything will be in accordance with the Lord’s will…”

Rudolf von Ribbentrop sat in the commander’s seat of a Tiger G tank, and heard the rumbling sound of artillery and the voice of an Austrian chanting.

The sound of artillery came from outside the tank landing ship. The two battleships Gneisenau and Schlieffen and three other German-class armored ships were using their main guns to bombard the beachhead of Hartlepool, where the tank company led by Rudolf von Ribbentrop would soon land.

At the same time, the eight 8-inch howitzers placed at the port of Hartlepool and the mouth of the Tees River (Middlesbrough is on the south bank of the Tees River) were also desperately firing back. Shells kept falling around the landing ship, stirring up water columns as high as more than ten meters.

The Austrian who was chanting was the gunner of the Tiger G tank, named Friedrich Hurst, a devout Catholic, who was now reciting the "Ave Maria". Perhaps he wanted to ask the Virgin Mary to forgive the crime he was about to commit, and to bless him to go to heaven later?

While Hurst was chanting endlessly, the gunfire of several German battleships and armored ships on the sea had swept the beaches where the British troops were stationed several times. The minesweeping ships also cleaned up the sea near Hartlepool Beach.

The first wave of infantry landing craft on the beach took advantage of the rising tide and began to quickly attack the beach.

These infantry landing craft were all light-loaded B-type landing craft with a displacement of 6 tons, equipped with a 230-horsepower diesel engine, with a maximum speed of 8 knots, and could carry half a platoon of officers and soldiers or 3.6 tons of cargo.

The first batch of 40 landing craft that rushed to the British coast were arranged in two rows, with a horizontal interval of only 10 meters, almost rushing to the beach shoulder to shoulder. Twenty or thirty meters away from the shoreline, the bottom of the ship rubbed against the seabed. Then the rectangular bow springboard was suddenly lowered, and the German Marines of the brigade jumped into the knee-deep water like dumplings, wading through the sea and stumbling towards the British land.

At this time, the remaining British firepower points on the beach also opened fire, and a string of machine gun bullets rolled across the beach like a tongue of fire, sweeping down the German soldiers who were wading in the water. However, the remaining people did not hesitate at all, holding their weapons, firing back while struggling forward.

Behind them, several T2 fire support ships had approached the beach, and the rocket launchers and 88mm dual-purpose guns installed on them also opened fire at full power, once again shrouding the British beach in a hail of fire and bullets.