British weather forecast 15-day query
Due to the success of the Normandy landing, the allied forces achieved brilliant results throughout France and Belgium, and the Germans were frustrated everywhere, which led to the fanaticism of victory sweeping the allied commanders at all levels.
According to Montgomery, commander-in-chief of the British army, the British army has taken control of Brussels, the capital of Belgium, and started to enter the port city of Antwerp. The Germans are now on the verge of collapse, so the critical turning point of the war has arrived. Now is a good time to storm the enemy. If we are allowed to act, we can not only reach Ruhr, the main economic base of German industrial development, but also go straight to Berlin as soon as possible. "
However, Eisenhower, as the supreme commander of the allied forces, clearly saw that the main problem of constantly attacking the Germans was the lack of seaports. Although the allies have sufficient supplies, the 450-mile supply line can never meet the four group armies advancing at full speed. "Without solving the problem of material supply, it is only whimsical for any army to attack Berlin." So, he resolutely rejected Montgomery's suggestion. However, Al Hao Wei also knew that the differences between him and the most respected general in Britain were getting bigger and bigger, and Montgomery would never let go easily, so he decided to do Montgomery's work by himself and let him give up this unrealistic idea anyway.
When they met, Montgomery still talked about what he called "one-way attack". Although Eisenhower has been listening attentively and sometimes even nodding his head to show his understanding, he has not changed his original position at all. He firmly denied Montgomery's military plan, calling it "all-round advance" and stressed that the port of Antwerp must be unimpeded before the allies could attack Germany and carry out a large-scale and large-scale storm.
At this time, Montgomery played a decisive trump card: the Germans were using some parts of the Netherlands to launch a new V-2 rocket to London, which caused unprecedented losses to the British Empire and the whole country was in a panic. It is necessary to capture the Netherlands as soon as possible to solve the urgent need. He suggested using the newly formed Allied Airborne Forces 1 to carry out intensive surprise attacks and occupy a series of important bridges in the Netherlands, especially the Rhine Bridge in Anan, so as to open a passage for the tanks of the British Second Army to advance northward. The tanks can cross the occupied Rhine Bridge at full speed, then rush into the Ruhr area and seize the heart of Germany. ...
Montgomery's proposal is actually a bold and ingenious copy of his original plan, but Eisenhower was attracted by Montgomery's vivid description. He thinks this is a brave and imaginative action plan. Although there was some conflict with his original idea, he weighed it repeatedly and finally agreed.
Montgomery's plan was finally named after the code name "Market Garden". "Market" represents the airborne action of airborne troops, and "Garden" represents the storm of armored forces on the ground. Although Montgomery's troops will face stubborn resistance from the Germans, he is convinced that behind the front line of fierce fighting, the Germans have little power in the Netherlands. But Montgomery also thought it was necessary to attack within a few days as soon as possible, otherwise it would be too late for German reinforcements to arrive, so he chose September 17, a Sunday as the day to start the operation.
According to this action plan, the airborne troops who carried out this campaign were Allied Airborne Forces 1 under the command of General Britten, which consisted of the 82nd Airborne Division of the US Army and 1kloc-0/ Airborne Division, British Army1Airborne Division and Polish1Airborne Brigade. The transport planes involved in air transport were transferred from the 9 th Air Force of the US Army and the 38 th and 46 th Air Groups of the Royal Air Force. Allied forces need to parachute 35,000 armed men, which is almost twice the total number of paratroopers and gliders used in Normandy landing. These personnel also need to be equipped with various motor vehicles, artillery and equipment.
In order to transport these great forces to different targets 300 miles away, we must use every glider we can command and have a huge fleet of 2,500 planes. The glider carries one-third of the airborne personnel and the rest parachutes. In addition, at least 1500 fighters are needed to escort the air fleet. In short, the airborne personnel almost used more than 5,000 aircraft of various types. In order to avoid the chaos caused by darkness, Admiral Brayton ordered an attack during the day. This is really an unexpected decision!
For Brayton, his airborne plan is based entirely on the existing air transport capacity. He must send three semi-airborne personnel to the landing target in three days. The danger is great, because German reinforcements may arrive at the target area of "Market Garden" ahead of time, faster than anyone expected. Another possibility is that bad weather may hinder subsequent airborne personnel. But in Brayton's view, such a large-scale airborne operation will inevitably take some risks, so General Brayton appointed Lieutenant General Browning to command this military operation. General Browning is the commander of British 1 Airborne Forces, and the first senior British general to advocate airborne tactics. He is optimistic that this large-scale air strike will end the war.
Allied airborne assault targets are divided as follows: Major General Taylor's 10 1 airborne division is responsible for completely capturing and guarding all bridges in the 15 mile section from Eindhoven to Wiggle to ensure the advancement of the Second British Army; Brigadier General Gavin's 82nd Airborne Division is responsible for controlling the bridge on the Mas River near Graf and the bridge on the Val River near Bamen, and seizing and guarding the highlands near Buick, Gruz; Major-General Robert urquhart's 1 Airborne Division and Major-General Sozabowski's 1 Polish Parachute Brigade are responsible for occupying the road bridge on the Anan Rhine River and building a bridgehead on the north side of the river to ensure that ground troops can enter the northern plain of Germany.
In the madness of the allied forces, two senior officers always kept a clear head and felt uneasy about the airborne operation. One is Admiral Miles Dempsey, commander of the British Second Army, who got the latest information from the Dutch resistance. Between Eindhoven and Anan, that is, the area where the British planned to mainly airborne, the German troops suddenly increased, which meant that the British airborne might be much more difficult than expected, but this information did not arouse Montgomery and his assistants' vigilance. In an optimistic atmosphere, people completely forgot this important message.
The other is Major General Brian urquhart, the young British Army Intelligence Director. He got a similar message. After comprehensive analysis, he thinks that there are at least two German armored divisions in some places in Anan, but the number and exact number are unknown. Nevertheless, this information still made his hair stand on end, because the fatal weakness of the "Market Garden" action plan was to assume that the Germans could not resist effectively. 15, less than 48 hours before the "Market Garden" operation, the reconnaissance plane sent by Major General Brian urquhart confirmed that his fears were completely justified. The photos clearly show that Anan does have a large number of German tanks! He hurried to General Browning's office and put the photo on the table.
"Please ask the general to have a look."
Browning looked at the photos one by one with a disdainful face.
Urquhart was surprised. Nothing seems to shake the determination of these commanders.
At the same time, on the other side of the English channel in French territory, Eisenhower's chief of staff, Lieutenant General Smith, was listening to the report of his intelligence director, Major General Strong. There is no doubt that Anan has German armored forces, the number of which is the 9 th SS armored division and the 10 armored division. Both generals felt that the situation was very serious, but at the same time they thought it was not hopeless, so Smith suggested to Eisenhower to modify the action plan of "Market Garden".
Eisenhower faced Montgomery, and it was not good for British commanders to tell them how to command their troops. Now that Montgomery's operation has been approved, it is not good to cancel the airborne operation. He said to Smith, "If it is necessary to change the plan, it should be up to Montgomery himself." . Smith rushed to Brussels immediately and informed Montgomery of this information, but Montgomery was too confident to turn a deaf ear to all these suggestions. The action of "Market Garden" is bound to fail.
Allied 1 Airborne paratroopers and airborne infantry are assembled at the 8th Air Force Base in Britain and the 6th Air Force Base in America. They got everything ready, and all kinds of equipment were loaded on the plane, from guns to jeeps. Everything is ready except the east wind.
The generals in the high command are anxiously waiting for the weather forecast. The airborne operation will take at least three full days. On September 16, meteorologists issued an early warning. Within three days, the combat area was clear in Wan Li and cloudless in Wan Li. At the headquarters of Allied Airborne Forces 1, General Breier made a quick decision and approved the implementation of "Market Garden" in September 17. In order to successfully implement the first large-scale daytime airborne assault of the Allies, the Allies made full preparations for air fire. 16 On the night of September, the Allies dispatched 282 bombers of various types to attack German airports, anti-aircraft gun positions and fortifications, dropping bombs 1 180 tons.
17, at the British glider bases in Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire, the noise of the huge fleet was deafening, and the strongest and largest airborne troops in history took off and flew towards the target. The operation lasted from dawn to noon.
First of all, 1400 allied planes violently bombed the positions of German anti-aircraft guns, including 852 B- 17 bombers and 147 fighters dispatched by the Eighth Air Force of the United States, which bombed more than 1 10 German military targets on the north-south route, and the British troops dispatched/kloc. In the final stage of air fire preparation, the 2nd Tactical Air Force of the British Army dispatched 120 bombers and raided the German reserves in Nijmegen, Anan and its northwest area. Subsequently, more than 20,000 fighter planes, 51/kloc-0 motor vehicles, 330 artillery parts and 590 tons of equipment were launched one after another. 2023 planes, gliders and other tractors carrying troops gathered in the sky, with fighters and fighter-bombers on their upper, lower, left and right sides. There are so many planes, it seems that the allies are going to use planes to pave a road to Holland.
Allied aircraft formations fly along two routes, with the 82nd Airborne Division of the US Army and the British Army 1 Airborne Division on the north road and the US Army10/Airborne Division on the south road. Although German anti-aircraft guns shot down many planes, the allied fleet remained in neat formation. At about 12, Anan, a city that was almost saturated after being bombed for three hours, has turned into a sea of fire. The streets are full of craters and rubble, and countless black columns are soaring into the sky.
10 1 The airborne division was very successful. According to the original plan, the casualties were expected to reach 3%, but among the 6,695 people who actually boarded the plane, 6,669 people landed safely, and the two regiments of the 82nd Airborne Division landed safely at both ends of Glenek, but they transported 424 people from 10 1 Airborne Division. All the crew members are dead. At the same time, General urquhart's 5 1 Airborne Division landed safely.
During the two days of airborne in June 5438+07 and June 5438+08, the allied parachute dropped 20 150 people, the glider dropped 4378 1 person, and another 505 people were dropped by transport planes, totaling 34,876 people. In addition, 568 guns, 65,438+0,927 vehicles and 5,230 tons of war materials were airlifted.
On the Dutch-Belgian border, near the canal, the commander of the British army, Admiral horrocks, watched the huge allied fleet fly over his tank cluster, which indicated that the air raid had begun. At 2pm 15, horrocks gave the order: "Garden" troops attacked. 350 cannons fired at the same time, and tons of shells flew to German positions.
However, the Germans seem ready. They hid in cleverly disguised fortifications, first let go of the tanks in front, and then suddenly fired from behind. In less than two minutes, they destroyed nine tanks of the British vanguard on the roadside. It seems that Germany's national defense force is much stronger than the allies expected. General horrocks initially asked his test tanks to advance 65,438+03 miles to Eindhoven in three hours, but in fact they only advanced seven miles. "
The US 10 1 Airborne Division captured four bridges in Eindhoven and bridges on the Wilhelmina River and the Val River, and then joined the advance troops of the British Second Army at the end of the second day of the campaign. On the third day, after the U.S. 10 1 Airborne Division suppressed the fierce counterattack of the Germans, at the last moment, the 24-kilometer-long highway was ensured to be unblocked with the troops of 1 1 Battalion, and the British armored forces were advancing to the 82nd Airborne Division of the U.S. Army in Naimegan through Eindhoven and Wigel.
The 82nd Airborne Division successfully parachuted on the first day of the campaign and occupied two bridges near Graves. Then they fought for three days and nights until the second British army arrived. After completing the preparations for capturing Nimigan Bridge, the 82nd Airborne Division finally captured the well-defended Nimigan Bridge after several days of fierce fighting.
The British 1st 1 Airborne Division is very difficult. Shortly after Anan's airborne landing, the first echelon of the division was countered by the Germans. Where did the British know that German Marshal Mo Deer and airborne expert General Stunt were sitting in Anan, commanding two tank divisions of the SS? On the one hand, the British army should stick to the airborne field, on the other hand, it should attack the Anan Bridge several kilometers away. By the time the second echelon of the British army arrived at the airborne field, the airborne field had been occupied by the Germans in half, so we had to brave the German artillery fire and force the plane to land in the German tank-occupied area. You can imagine how dangerous this is. As a result, the British suffered heavy casualties.
When the British captured the Anan Railway Bridge, the Germans took the lead, blew up the bridge and seized the Anan Highway. They fought fiercely with the Germans guarding the bridge, and finally defeated the Germans in the north of the bridge. However, German reinforcements arrived in the south of the bridge, and the British army was unable to attack, so they had to turn from defending to attacking. 1 On the evening of the 9th, the troops of the British1Airborne Division were forced to retreat to the narrow circular position between the landing area and the target of Anan Bridge, and were violently attacked by the Germans from time to time.
On September 2 1 day, Polish paratroopers 1 brigade landed on the south bank of the Rhine River in an attempt to seize the Anan Bridge and rescue the besieged British 1 airborne division. However, the situation that the British 1 Airborne Division was surrounded by divisions did not improve, and Anan did not take it.
At this point, after five days of fierce fighting, the fierce trend of the allied air-ground joint assault was greatly weakened, and all airborne commanders felt very difficult and complained. Due to the tenacious resistance of the Germans, the allied attack was blocked, and the allies lacked close air fire support and coordination. Therefore, the attack speed of the ground troops was extremely slow, especially the British 1 Airborne Division, which was struggling and was rushed to the circular position arranged between the West Oljesbike and the Helvedov Ferry in Anan. After fierce fighting, the troops guarding the North Pier of the Rhine Highway were completely annihilated. The other part was forced to enter the rectangular defensive position less than 65,438+0 km wide along the river, about 2 km deep into the city of Oljesbike. What's more, they have lost the crossing field. If this situation continues, tens of thousands of allied forces will face the danger of total annihilation.
Montgomery hesitated, and finally reluctantly decided to quit the fight. The British 1 Airborne Division began to retreat across the river on the night of 25th, but two hours later, the Germans discovered the British attempt, so they violently shelled the crossing field and blocked the British 1 Airborne Division. As a result, only more than 2,400 people from the British 1 Airborne Division crossed the Rhine and joined the Second Army, and all the 6,000 people left behind were captured.
In this way, the largest airborne operation in human history ended in failure and became the most tragic airborne operation. As a result of the "Market Garden" operation, although the allied forces advanced 96 kilometers and relieved the threat to Antwerp, they failed to attack the final main assault target, that is, they failed to capture the Rhine Bridge near Anan and failed to provide the bridgehead expected for expanding the results.
In 9 days, allied airborne troops and ground troops lost * * * 17000, of which 1 kloc-0/airborne division and the 82nd airborne division suffered nearly * * * casualties 10000, while the British1airborne division had few troops left.