Chapter 26 August's Wheat

Although Logan hadn't been in Germany for long, he was influenced by those around him to be very punctual, whether attending classes or keeping appointments. For his 22nd birthday, he received a Glashütte watch (a well-known German brand, not a paid advertisement, hehe). Coincidentally, when he crossed to this era, he found that "Hans Logan," his original counterpart, also used a Glashütte watch. The craftsmanship and accuracy were the same, but the military version had the German eagle emblem and a special serial number engraved on it. Despite its large circulation, it remained a valuable collectible after the war.

Like the previous two combat operations, Logan would periodically check his watch, especially at certain key moments. When the British ships across the strait ceased their bombardment, he once again glanced at his watch: it had been 8 hours since the first German fighter jet arrived at the Isle of Wight, and nearly 7 hours since the first paratrooper landed on British soil. In other words, from the moment the British confirmed the German attack target as the Isle of Wight to the deployment, mobilization of troops and ships, boarding, assembly, and launching of the attack, it was just a little less than half a day. It was difficult to say whether this efficiency was high or low, but being an hour earlier or later could result in significantly different outcomes.

When more than thirty British ships sailed in formation towards the coast, Logan didn't hastily dispatch the elite vanguard armored company from the Fuhrer's Guard stationed in Newport to support them. Instead, he requested Galand to send out several fighter jets to comprehensively scout the activities of the British forces in the Solent Strait. Considering the scale of this British fleet, the British forces were fully capable of rapidly organizing two or even more such fleets. Considering that the British successfully evacuated 150,000 experienced expeditionary troops from Dunkirk, they were not likely to lack infantry at the moment, but rather armored forces would be in short supply!

After about 5 minutes of waiting for the British bombardment to cease, Logan calmly ordered his paratroopers to return to the harbor. The port painstakingly established by the British was reduced to ruins under the bombardment of British warships. This scene seemed somewhat ironic, but the large number of ruins and rubble piles provided excellent cover for German machine gunners, artillery crews, and "Thor's Hammer" troops.

The first thing Logan did when he approached the dock was to observe the composition of the British landing fleet through binoculars. As the commander of the entire "Fortress" operation, his courageous move to be on the front lines was somewhat reckless, but the main reason for making such a decision was to personally observe the development of the battle to compensate for his lack of combat experience, especially in direct combat.

In his line of sight, two large warships resembling cruisers were anchored about three to four kilometers from the shore, seemingly observing from a distance. Escorting the landing ships approaching the port were a sleek destroyer and two minesweepers, with their gun barrels aimed at the docks on both the east and west banks. As for the landing ships sailing across the bay, Logan felt as if he were seeing the scene of Dunkirk port again. Compared to the lavish behavior of the Americans who poured a massive number of landing craft into action in the later stages of World War II, the British, whose national power was declining, once again commandeered various civilian ships, including ferries, barges, and yachts, interspersed among them. This contrasted with the few British small transport ships with neat lines.

If he had an artillery group, even just a dozen infantry guns, he could make the British cry for mercy, even though ground artillery was of lower priority in the "Fortress Operation"—ranking just above infantry but below anti-aircraft guns, air force fuel, and armored units. Even if the landing fleet could safely make a round trip that day, they would need at least until the next day to transport troops to the island!

Therefore, the first batch of British ships approached the harbor without any resistance. However, before they could fully dock, the British destroyers and minesweepers that had been circling nearby swiftly opened fire. The shells fell quickly and accurately into the harbor area, causing several buildings that had not yet collapsed to crumble, and the gunfire reignited a warehouse storing large quantities of unfinished wheat, filling the streets with a strange aroma. The rubble piles that had previously erupted with intense firepower undoubtedly became the focus of British artillery fire, and the 120mm shells fired by the destroyers could sometimes dislodge entire piles of rubble with a single shot. Anticipating this, Logan had intentionally deployed his No. 4 tank and two captured Vickers machine guns on the high ground south of the harbor, and this firepower was more than sufficient to deal with the defenseless civilian ships and British transport ships equipped only with machine guns (there were probably no specialized tank landing ships at this time)!

Seeing the first batch of British ships leaving the harbor one after another, the German machine gunners and mortar teams instinctively reduced their firepower output, changing ammunition and shifting positions, most of which were carried out according to Logan's pre-deployment plan. At almost the same time, the intense gunfire from the opposite shore gradually subsided—Schultz's forces on the opposite side had a larger number and the same level of equipment as Logan's, and with the advantage of defense, dealing with a few hundred landing British soldiers was also a trivial matter. Moreover, the mortar shells they fired seemed to have luckily ignited a British transport ship.

In his line of sight, that object became a burning floating object!

As Logan had anticipated, with the first batch of ships leaving the dock and the second batch of ships not yet arriving, the British destroyers and minesweepers circling nearby suddenly opened fire, with shells quickly and accurately falling into the harbor area. Several buildings that had not yet collapsed collapsed, and the gunfire reignited a warehouse storing large quantities of wheat, filling the streets with a strange aroma. The piles of rubble that had previously erupted with intense firepower undoubtedly became the focus of British artillery fire, and the 120mm shells fired by the destroyers could sometimes dislodge entire piles of rubble with a single shot. Seeing this, some German paratroopers, who hadn't retreated in time, inevitably suffered some casualties, and those shells that deviated slightly landed beside the dock, scattering body fragments in the air, evoking a sense of melancholy...

To avoid the British shelling, Logan retreated a hundred meters from his observation position and set up a telescope behind a rubble pile. Probably due to the heavy losses suffered by the first wave of landing forces, this round of British shelling lasted longer than the previous preparation, but without the participation of the cruisers, their destructive power on the entire harbor area was far less than before. Just as the sound of gunfire was gradually fading and the second batch of landing ships were about to reach the dock, two red signal flares suddenly rose from the north.

In the end, the British didn't put all their eggs in one basket. Watching the signal flares slowly descending, Logan suddenly wondered: Who was the commander of this British joint operation? Some renowned veteran or a newcomer to the military world like himself? Was he a mediocre commander or a cunning and experienced player?

Unable to figure it out, Logan proceeded with his pre-planned arrangement, dispatching a platoon of reserve troops northward. Though they only had four MG34s and a few "Iron Fist" weapons, dealing with the small group of British soldiers climbing the cliffs shouldn't be a problem!

After adjusting his deployment, Logan refocused his attention on the dock area. There, hundreds of British infantry soldiers, wearing Tommy helmets, wielding rifles with bayonets, and flaunting their sexy leg hair, continued to advance. The bloody scene in the dock area seemed to only slightly slow their progress!

Although the British naval bombardment had not caused significant casualties to the German forces, its tactical effectiveness was quite remarkable. Due to the retreat of the German machine gun and mortar positions, these British infantrymen did not suffer the same intense barrage as their comrades upon disembarking. They quickly occupied the entire dock area and utilized any available cover, such as shell craters and rubble, to set up machine gun positions. Subsequently, infantrymen with bayonets advanced towards the inner harbor area in a looser formation.

Seeing several machine gun teams back in position within his line of sight, Logan once again drew his Luger 08 and fired off two shots diagonally. The noise echoed in his ears. In his mind's eye, he faintly pictured the scene of diligent farmers harvesting wheat once again...