Chapter 432 Parachute

Montgomery knew very well that once the German army entered Catania, the British army would fall into a very embarrassing situation.

This embarrassment came from two aspects.

On the one hand, it was public opinion... After liberating Catania, the British actively provided Catania with various assistance, such as medical treatment and rescue for the injured people, and food relief for the people, and also brought administrative officials into Catania to implement management.

This measure was first implemented by the US military. In order to improve its international image and gain more support from local people, the United States recruited management talents in industry, economy, transportation, etc. in the army, so that after they captured a city, they could use these talents to manage the city reasonably and restore the city to normal order as soon as possible.

This is also one of the reasons why Montgomery deliberately let the US military capture the unknown town... From the perspective of British interests, of course, the image of the United States cannot be greatly improved and surpass Britain.

So, Montgomery followed the example of the United States and recruited some management talents to govern Catania.

Of course, propaganda work must also keep up, and there are even war correspondents from various countries following up in Catania.

If Catania is occupied by the Germans and even the journalists fall into the hands of the Germans, how can it be explained in public opinion?

On the other hand, there is the military aspect.

If the Germans occupy Catania, should we fight or not?

If we fight, there will inevitably be bombing, and the target of the bombing must be civilian houses.

If we don't fight, we will have to let the Germans control the transportation lines!

At that time, the British army may have only one choice, that is, to drive the troops into the city and engage in street fighting with the enemy.

But Montgomery certainly knew what this meant.

"Immediately order the Australian 6th Infantry Division to reinforce Catania!" Montgomery ordered.

The Australian 6th Infantry Division had a lot of experience in street fighting in North Africa, so it was most appropriate for them to carry out this task.

"Yes, General!" Deguingan responded and passed on the order.

But things did not go smoothly. Twenty minutes later, Deguingamp came to Montgomery with a telegram and reported: "General, Major General Joshua sent a telegram that the 6th Australian Infantry Division was blocked and could not be withdrawn for the time being!"

"What blockade?" Montgomery asked: "We have occupied all the key points along the way!"

"But we did not occupy every tunnel, General!" Deguingamp replied: "There are still jungles, and many Germans are hiding in them! Until now, they have come out to bury mines, blow up bridges, and sneak attack our troops on the high ground. Even several high grounds have been taken back by the Germans!"

"Another tunnel!" Montgomery gritted his teeth.

He had already suffered a loss on the Gabes Line. He thought that because of the success of the "Mincemeat Plan", the Germans in Sicily were not prepared for this. Unexpectedly, this thing that gave Montgomery a headache appeared again.

Of course, because the German army was short of troops on the front line of Mount Etna, the British army was not unable to come down, but the speed would be slowed down.

However, this is the purpose of the German army... to delay the speed of the British reinforcement of Catania, and then the German troops can take Catania first.

"Parachute Brigade!" Then Montgomery ordered: "Send the paratrooper brigade immediately!"

Only one of the two brigades of the British 1st Airborne Division was dispatched, and the other brigade was on standby in Malta as a reserve.

"But, General!" Deguingan said: "It's night now!"

Deguingan said this because the previous airborne landing in Sicily was not smooth... In fact, it should be said that it was a complete failure.

"Catania is a plain!" Montgomery said: "There will be no problem with parachuting or airdropping there!"

"Yes, General!"

So, a parachute regiment and an airdrop regiment took off from the Malta airport one after another.

This time, Montgomery greeted the British and American fleets, saying that a transport aircraft group would fly over at around 11:10... Montgomery had been frightened by the accidental damage to the aircraft group by the warship last time, or it can be said that he had learned a lesson from experience.

On the other hand, Montgomery also contacted the defenders of Catania and told them not to accidentally hurt friendly forces.

However, what Montgomery did not expect was that his move actually helped the German army a little.

Coincidentally, the Italian "Lightning Division" that took off from Tunisia also happened to fly over the US fleet during this period... The US fleet took it for granted that it was the British paratroopers that Montgomery said were going to reinforce a certain place, so they did not shoot.

Then the transport plane of the "Lightning Division" flew over Catania again, and the Catania garrison also thought it was the British 1st Airborne Division. Not only did they not use anti-aircraft guns to fight back, they also did not take any precautions against the Italian army that parachuted directly into Catania.

Colonel Will, the commander of the 2nd Brigade of the 70th Infantry Division of the British Army stationed in Catania, just complained when he saw the parachutes in the sky: "Didn't they say they would drop outside the city? Why did they change to drop inside the city? Don't they know it's dangerous?!"

Colonel Will was right. There were many buildings in the city that were fatal to paratroopers, such as pointed roofs, clotheslines, bamboos towering up to the sky, etc. Even a tall house could be dangerous because the parachutes would directly hit the walls.

In addition, it was not convenient for the troops to assemble in the city, especially at night.

Therefore, the correct way to provide parachute reinforcements should be to parachute in an open area outside the city, and then march into the city after the assembly is completed.

Direct parachuting in the city is generally only used when attacking the enemy, because it will catch the enemy off guard. If there are troops outside the city to cooperate, they can attack from both inside and outside.

The staff officer replied to Colonel Will at this time: "Colonel, you must know that it is night now, and we have not turned on the lights. It is difficult for them to distinguish between the city and the outside in the air!"

Colonel Will nodded with an "Oh", and then ordered: "Prepare the car and let the car soldiers pick them up. It seems that they will be in trouble!"

Colonel Will was thinking about the "British paratroopers" who might be injured. Colonel Will even asked people to call the medical soldiers to prepare.

But soon, Colonel Will found something wrong, because gunshots were heard in Catania shortly after the paratroopers landed.

"What's going on?" Colonel Will asked, "Why are you shooting?"

"Colonel!" A signalman ran up to Colonel Will breathlessly and reported, "Italians... They are Italian paratroopers!"