Next, the first to launch the attack was the Allied paratroopers.

The reason why paratroopers had to go to the battlefield first was because their mission was to contact the French guerrillas, and then cooperate with the guerrillas to capture important rear targets and block German reinforcements to ensure the success of the frontal landing.

Simply put, it is to destroy and guard bridges and transportation hubs to prevent the German front-line troops from reinforcement.

Because of the demand for this mission, they must attack a few hours in advance... Otherwise, the enemy reinforcements have been on the road and occupied or strengthened the defense of important targets, and the parachute will lose its meaning.

There were three paratrooper divisions in the Allied forces that carried out airborne, namely the British 6th Airborne Division, the US 82nd Airborne Division and the 101st Airborne Division.

Brigadier William was the first commander of the 101st Airborne Division, and he decided to airborne with his soldiers to France in this battle.

"I don't want to lose this opportunity!" Brigadier General William said to the staff: "Think about this, you may have the opportunity to be the first American to set foot in France and liberate them, that's enough!"

But in fact, the real reason is not this. William believes that this operation is full of danger... Due to the particularity of this mission, they must parachute in the dark from late at night to 3 am.

Although they got an accurate diagram of the sign with a safe range of airborne points, parachutes were descending in the dark, who knew where they would land.

Before boarding the plane, Major General William shouted to his subordinates who were fully armed and painted his face dark: "Remember, contact the French guerrillas, they are more familiar with the terrain than we do! After landing, find any troops you can find, and join them!"

"Yes, sir!" his subordinates answered in unison.

“Are you ready?”

"Yes, sir!"

"Good luck to you, God is with you!" Brigadier General William ordered: "Come on the plane!"

"Yes, sir!" The American soldiers responded, and then lined up in neat formations and boarded the transport plane in the sea breeze with raindrops.

Then, amid the "rumble" of the engine, the transport plane roared up and flew towards France.

In order to put three paratrooper divisions into the battlefield at one time and burst out with strong combat effectiveness in a short period of time, the US military prepared 1,100 C47 transport aircraft for these three airborne divisions.

If each C47 can carry 28 people, these 1,100 aircraft can carry 30,000 people.

But there are not so many soldiers in actual combat. The 101st Airborne Division has only 6,600 combatants, and the 82nd Airborne Division has 7,000 people. The 6th Airborne Division of the British Army has a little more, with 9,000 people.

However, because the transport aircraft also carries the ammunition and supplies needed by the airborne troops, 1,100 C47s are also necessary.

The transport plane "rumbling" into the air, covering the entire sky like black bats flying out of the magic forest, and the darkness even obscured the moonlight in the sky.

In front of them, a large number of bombers arrived first and carried out large-scale bombings to the site where they were expected to parachute.

On the one hand, this is to attract German air defense firepower to cover paratroopers' airborne, and on the other hand, it is to hope that bombing can detonate as many landmines as possible on the landing ground.

However, the transport aircraft group was still bombarded by dense and violent anti-aircraft artillery fire. One C47 after another burst out a dazzling flame in the air, disintegrating in the air or falling to the ground with a roar.

"Damn German!" Brigadier General William cursed: "I'll ask for their anti-aircraft shells!"

In France, for the Allied forces, there was almost no need to worry about anything else except the German air defense artillery.

This is what makes William feel strange... The "ne-blasting fuse anti-aircraft shell" that the United States has developed for several years is still a high-level secret when used against Japan on the Pacific battlefield. It must ensure that the enemy cannot obtain the shells before it can be used.

However, the Germans have used it in large quantities in Africa.

There are also amphibious tanks, amphibious landing ships, etc., which are surprisingly consistent with the equipment that the United States is developing or preparing to put into mass production.

This made the United States think that it was a spy who had been involved in the Germans among scientific researchers.

But after analyzing it, I feel that something is wrong... If there are German spies, the R&D progress will be slower than that of the United States. After all, the United States' industrial capacity at this time is no exaggeration to say that it is the world's number one.

Therefore, Germany cannot always develop and mass-equip these things before the United States.

The final result is... coincidence.

In other words, both American and German researchers thought of going together.

So, there is a scene like this, the Germans' "near-explosive anti-aircraft shells" shot down C47s like they had eyes.

Fortunately, there were too many C47s flying in the air, so the US military finally arrived at its destination and carried out parachutes.

The parachute went smoothly, because of the large landing range, and indeed, as the guerrillas reported... no mines, no barbed wire, nothing.

William ordered the paratroopers to find equipment to gather while looking at the surrounding environment.

At this time, he couldn't help but feel a little strange. Such an empty and flat area is obviously suitable for airborne, so why are the Germans not at all prepared for this?

"Be careful!" Brigadier William felt a faint ominous feeling.

At this moment, he suddenly heard a faint sound of water coming from several directions.

Brigadier William's first reaction was that it was the sound of waves.

But after thinking about it, I felt that something was wrong. This airborne point was at least thirty kilometers away from the coastline, and it was impossible to hear the sound of waves.

The next second, Brigadier General William quickly understood, because someone had already reported to him on the walkie-talkie: "General, the sea water is constantly pouring towards us, and this area is about to be submerged!"

"Get out of here!" yelled Brigadier General William, then ran in the opposite direction of the water voice with the paratroopers.

But everything seemed too late, and the sea water quickly passed through the ankles, then the calf, and then to the knees.

When they reach their knees, the speed of movement has been seriously affected, especially the paratroopers are carrying equipment and ammunition... Because the paratroopers are fighting deep behind enemy lines, they always prepare more ammunition, and these ammunitions will obviously become a burden to them.

The sea water continued to surge, gradually passing through the waists of the paratroopers who were rushing to escape.

At this time, they face a difficult choice:

Should I continue to carry equipment like this or throw it away?

The former may be drowned immediately by sea water, while the latter is similar to waiting for death... No one can confront the German army without discarding equipment.

In the end, Major General William chose the latter.
Chapter completed!