Two Hundred and Forty-Three Gambles

Student was not in a very good mood. He had just landed on the territory of the Netherlands with the glider, and he got news of the heavy losses of troops in various regions from the radio he carried. [First release]

Due to the interference of anti-aircraft fire, a ju-52 transport plane made a mistake when delivering paratroopers. 12 fully armed German paratroopers were thrown out of the cabin in a daze, only to find that they fell in the direction of a plane that was attacked first. The aircraft warehouse destroyed by the German bombers was burning with raging flames—these German paratroopers fell slowly towards hell in despair. They looked at their feet in horror and let the wind and parachute take them to the hot core.

For this mistake alone, the German paratroopers paid the price of 12 deaths, which does not include the casualties caused by the violent counterattack of the surrounding Dutch defenders.

Most of the paratroopers landed on the edge of the airfield, and they quickly began their attack. When the first Ju-52 transport aircraft arrived with infantry, the battle was in full swing. Overhead, a German FW-190D had just smashed a British Dreadnought to pieces. On this day, 93 of the 125 fighter jets in the Netherlands were shot down by the Luftwaffe, which became a record and was painted on the fighter fuselage driven by the German ace fighter pilot.

These German planes risked a forced landing at the airport, and the roar of Dutch anti-aircraft guns echoed under their feet. The first ju-52 transport plane landed safely, but the second one was hit by an anti-aircraft gun, instantly turned into fragments and a ball of fire, and fell to the ground emitting billowing smoke.

About an hour later, almost 100 ju-52 transport planes carrying three infantry battalions, a total of 1,200 heavily armed soldiers, landed at Valhaven Airport. Units of one of the battalions began to move north through the streets of the Rotterdam suburbs. The task of these airborne infantry was to reinforce the German paratroopers who came across from the New Maas River in the center of the city and captured the Williams Bridge.

The way these German paratroopers attacked was somewhat incredible. They arrived at their destination in an old-fashioned seaplane, where they relied on the old-fashioned Heinkel 59 seaplane (this kind of aircraft was banned by the Wehrmacht in the early days) through the fog on the water. One of the products) headed downstream, trying to land before the Dutch defenders found them.

The German soldiers on the plane quickly inflated the rubber raft and rowed to the shore relying on manpower. After going ashore, they built simple fortifications on both sides of the bank and set up machine gun strongholds to guard the Williams Bridge. In addition, these people took the time to build a small pontoon bridge leading to the island in the middle of the river.

Surprisingly, the German paratroopers met no resistance as invaders at first. The Dutch who went to work through the Williams Bridge thought that these seaplanes belonged to the British, and some kind-hearted Dutch citizens stepped forward to help these German soldiers transport supplies to the river beach.

But the good times didn't last long. When the Dutch realized that they had been invaded, they launched a fierce counterattack. The German paratroopers took cover behind the piers and in nearby houses,

Tenaciously blocking the attack of the Dutch. There are not many German troops, but they have high fighting spirit and are well-equipped. They stand firm in places that are vulnerable to attacks from both sides of the strait. Only a few people feel confused about whether they can persist.

The Dutch defenders stormed the German positions from all directions, but the Germans relied on superior firepower to fight back fiercely. The MP-44 assault rifle and the G43 semi-automatic rifle were obviously more suitable for the current situation than the bolt-action rifles used by the Dutch defenders, so although they were killed Three or four German soldiers were killed, but the Dutch also left more than two dozen corpses.

Suddenly, an inner city tram rang its bell and sprinted towards the south side of the bridge. While the Dutch were stunned, a full 70 heavily armed German soldiers jumped out of the tram and the cars behind it. The soldiers were a company commanded by Airborne Lieutenant Keffin.

Coffin's paratroopers were parachuted to the ground in a soccer field on the South Bank, where they landed, occupied surrounding buildings, and seized the city's streetcars and several cars. They kicked the stunned Dutch civilians out of their cars and drove straight for the bridge.

The German paratroopers who came to support occupied the southern end of the bridge, and others ran across the bridge at full speed to support their comrades who were already facing collapse. The frantic artillery fire of the Dutch resisters blocked the infantry battalion that was rushing over from Valhaven Airport halfway. They were suppressed by artillery fire on both sides of the road, and there was no way to support the German paratroopers on the northern section of Williams Bridge as planned.

The Dutch didn't sit at home and get beaten. On the contrary, they didn't know how much better they performed than the Polish army. All weaponry appears to be involved in the battle for the Williams Bridge near Rotterdam. Soon, a Dutch patrol ship and a torpedo boat rushed to the Neue Maas River. The Dutch on board bombarded the German bridgehead with small-caliber cannons, frantically destroying the seaplanes parked on the water.

But soon the two ships ran out of ammunition and were forced to leave the area of ​​​​the fierce exchange of fire. Immediately afterwards, the Dutch transferred a more ruthless role: a destroyer and two gunboats sailed from the berth of Cape Holland to this narrow water. The warships were ordered to bombard the Valhaven airfield, attacking German field artillery and large-caliber mortar units that were landing there.

But this time the German Air Force appeared in time to save the airborne troops that were about to fall into disaster-20 Stuka dive bombers came over Rotterdam and began to cover the German paratroopers to clean up the surrounding Dutch army targets. The destroyers of the Dutch Navy were forced to leave, because the Luftwaffe would surely sink the destroyer if it spotted the firing destroyer. The Dutch fleet did not want to fight the bombers in the narrow waters, so it had to flee in a hurry without even having time to fire a shot.

Most of the Dutch resistance that day were in disarray. German paratroopers appeared to be everywhere, blocking roads, capturing forts, controlling bridges and railways, and killing Dutch soldiers in unexpected places. Rumors spread everywhere that German paratroopers had dressed up as policemen, priests and even nuns, and the Dutch defenders were bewildered by the intelligence. The whole of the Netherlands is burning. This kind of war confuses the defensive side. They don't know how to effectively defend and counterattack.

This was a ruse of General Student. He had some transport planes drop fake paratroopers short on Dutch villages and whatnot. These scarecrows wore worn-out uniforms replaced by paratroopers, equipped with simple incendiary devices, ignited everywhere to create chaos, and made the Dutch commanders overestimate the size of the German airborne troops.

The fighting reached a fever pitch after several hours. The Dutch defenders finally found their real threat in the evening. In order to cooperate with the British forces in the defense and counterattack, it occurred to them that the Dordrecht fortress bridge between Rotterdam and Moordijk must be recaptured. So they had the craziest counterattack against the German paratroopers here.

Here, the German paratroopers parachuted troops from two companies, and they repelled the Dutch attacks again and again by virtue of their favorable terrain and advanced weapons and equipment. But the price was almost unacceptable: a German company commander was killed, and more than thirty German paratroopers were killed here.

And in the end, the Dutch took back the bridgehead on one side by virtue of their numerical advantage. They drove the Germans away from the side of the railway bridge and occupied several simple positions, but these Dutch attacking troops did not With the order to destroy the bridge, they can only take the risk of maintaining this confrontation across the bridge.

The news reached Student by radio, and he landed at Valhaven with the airborne infantry and established his operational headquarters at a nearby school. He stood on the podium and began to assign tasks one by one, gathering the paratroopers who were everywhere-while his combat staff and officers sat on the bench, surrounding him like a group of overage students who repeated a grade.

"How many reserves do we have in hand?" Student stared at the map in his hand and asked the commander closest to him: "The ones that can be put into combat right now."

"General, we have a battalion of garrison troops nearby, but if we use them, then the defense of the airport can only be completed by the remaining two companies - this is very dangerous." The officer immediately stood up and answered road.

Student covered his mouth with his hands and thought for a while, and finally decided to take a gamble: "War itself is the greatest adventure, and there are not so many ways to get the best of both worlds for us to pick and choose."

He glanced at the officer: "You immediately lead the troops of this battalion to Dordrecht! Stand there until we rush over! Take all the ammunition you can take away! Tomorrow night at the latest , I don’t even have any troops to reinforce you.”

"Obey! General! Guaranteed to complete the task!" The officer stood at attention and saluted, and hurriedly left the command post with several of his men.

This is really a gamble, Student now counts his own guards, and there are only two companies of soldiers to defend the important Valhaven airfield, and this airport is his second day reinforcements and supplies where it landed. The airport was full of ju-52 transport planes that were too late to fly back to Germany. If something went wrong, the Luftwaffe would suffer heavy losses.

Taking advantage of the darkness, he took the risk of sending reinforcements to the Dordrecht area to take back the position. This news relieved Student to some extent. Now the only thing he needs to worry about is the Dutch defenders Will it attack the Valhaven Airport where he is located? No one fell asleep to the German paratroopers destined to be in the Netherlands that night.

And another person who couldn't sleep because of excessive tension, in the stone castle far away in Germany, Akado suffered from insomnia, he stared at the battle map until dawn, and even when Anna came in to persuade him, he didn't say a word. This is a big gamble, betting on the fate of a country and a nation.

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