Chapter 36: Paratrooper's Woes

The Slaughterhouse of Lepetah was soon to shock the world. The true "culprit" behind this classic landing operation had orchestrated events from behind the scenes hundreds of miles away, commanding another battle before dawn arrived.

Here, the attackers outnumbered the British forces on the front line of Lepetah, while the defenders, both in number and firepower, were inferior to the German forces at Lepetah's front. However, this seemed to be a rather peculiar battle. The attackers coming from all directions belonged to hundreds of different units, yet they shared a common title: the British Home Guard!

For the British secondary forces, namely the massive militia groups, the intelligence Logan had in hand indicated their formation in June, training starting in July, and by August, over 1.5 million people were equipped with various makeshift weapons. However, from the weapons captured during the Cardiff street battles, it seemed that only a small portion of the militia was equipped with M1903 Springfield rifles and the temporary M1917 rifles from the American World War I era. There were even "Chicago typewriters," the beloved submachine guns of gangs, but the rumored British bootleg version of the Molotov cocktail was not found—Logan speculated that this was probably due to the "distance" from the potential landing area of the German forces near Cardiff.

The scarce artillery could not provide effective support for the brave militia, but their greatest advantage lay in their familiarity with the terrain—Cardiff's administrative area covered 190 square kilometers, exactly half the size of the Isle of Wight, but it lacked natural barriers like the Solent Strait. Apart from the ports facing the Bristol Channel, the other three sides were relatively flat areas, with roads encircling the city for 50 kilometers. If 5000 paratroopers were evenly distributed along the entire defensive line, there would only be one person every 10 meters. As a result, the outcome was that the defensive line was broken up by groups of British militia charging in, leaving some German soldiers to watch helplessly as their opponents left heavy footprints on their territory, while others found themselves idle on the battlefield.

To avoid such a situation, at the beginning of the operational planning, Logan devised a tactic of focusing on defense and using points to connect lines. Three defensive zones were delineated along the 50-kilometer-long defensive line: the southwest facing the sea, with few towns, and directly west of Swansea port and the Bucconbecken mountains. This zone was classified as third priority, with 50 soldiers per kilometer and 3 tanks deployed in the entire zone; winding tributaries of the Taff River guarded the eastern side of Cardiff, although it was only a dozen meters wide at its widest point in Cardiff, and it was a small drought, with water only a meter deep and a gentle flow, but it still provided decent terrain conditions for defense, so this section was classified as second priority, with 100 soldiers per kilometer and 5 tanks deployed in the entire zone; finally, the north side facing the Welsh hinterland, with neither terrain advantage nor facing the depth of Wales, was classified as first priority defense zone, where the main force and firepower of the paratroopers were deployed, commanded by Colonel Bruno Brouil, the commander of the 1st Battalion of the 7th Paratrooper Division.

On each defensive line, German staff officers studied and planned based on aerial photographs, so the paratroopers almost completely occupied the highways, hills, and some buildings according to the predetermined plan, fully utilizing the terrain to build defensive positions, and controlling other areas not directly garrisoned within machine gun range. In addition, they also deployed alert minefields in some areas where infiltration by British troops was possible. Moreover, each tank was properly utilized—either buried in the position as a powerful forward firepower support point or hidden behind the front-line position, conducting mobile combat operations with greater mobility than infantry. However, it is worth mentioning that due to the limitations of airborne operations, each tank could only serve as a gun platform in place after exhausting the gasoline in the fuel tank until the landing forces brought ammunition supplies!

As Logan and his staff anticipated, the alert of the German airborne assault on Cardiff quickly spread throughout Wales and England. From around midnight onwards, British militia began to appear to the north and east of Cardiff, and their successive attacks were repelled by the dense German firepower, but casualties were relatively low. By around 3 am, two British regular army battalions arrived late, entangled with several times their number of militia, launching a massive attack. However, when the German tank guns sounded, those militia seemed to have been hit by a magic spell that weakened their morale and slowed their actions, leaving their regular army brothers to advance alone. In this battle, British casualties finally exceeded five hundred.

"Sir, there are a large number of British forces appearing to the west! Captain Barkoen requests us to send reinforcements quickly!"

When the communications officer delivered this report, Logan had just finished his third cup of strong tea for the night. It must be said that staying up late was a very tiring thing, and staying up late continuously was even worse.

"To the west? Daron or Swansea?" Logan glanced at the map. There should be no British militia assembly point on the ground, but the first batch of German paratroopers had landed at Cardiff Airport over six hours ago, and it was not entirely impossible for the British to come from another direction.

"No rush, I'll go see first! Tell Captain Scherme to have his mobile unit ready to move at any time!"

"Yes, sir!"

Putting down his simple teacup, Logan only brought one guard, and with the driver, the three of them sped off in a bucket car towards the western position of Cardiff.

The locations of each key defensive position were clearly marked on the high-level operational map, so Logan could easily find Captain Barkoen's headquarters. This brave paratrooper officer, along with Scherme, had accompanied him to Berlin for decoration, and both had been promoted. But for now, Barkoen still served as a company commander, while Scherme had become a deputy company commander in the 7th Paratrooper Division.

Not yet close to the defensive position constructed around a three-story building, the light and brisk sound of MG34s could already be heard. Logan instructed the driver to stop the bucket car behind the street corner and went ahead with the guard.

"Who goes there?" a vigilant paratrooper responsible for guard duty noticed the two dark shadows approaching from behind.

Logan responded in German, "It's me, Colonel Hans Logan! Where is Captain Barkoen?"

"Colonel Logan? The captain is in the room on the second floor to the west, but it's very dangerous there. The British keep shooting bullets from across the ditch!" The paratrooper cautioned carefully.

Drawing his Luger P08 from its holster habitually, although this pistol was of little use in medium to long-range trench warfare, Logan, amidst the dense gunfire, quickly ascended the stairs of the building. The building, with its quaint style, seemed to have been around for some years, but its large stone structure had always been quite sturdy. Even with iron fists or small-caliber artillery, it might not be possible to break through its main walls.

"Captain!" Even before entering the room, Logan experienced the "danger" mentioned by the paratrooper below. Bullets kept piercing through the windows, hitting the ceiling one after another. Captain Barkoen, a sturdy figure, was squatting helplessly behind the window, holding the handset of the telephone in his hand.

"Who's there?"

"It's me, Hans Logan! How's the situation?" Logan crouched down and moved slowly towards him.

"Ah? Colonel? Why did you come here?" Barkoen quickly put down the phone. "The British firepower isn't dense, but the shooting is extremely accurate! We've lost 14 soldiers already, and it's probably difficult for the remaining men to defend against a large number of British attacks!"

"How do you know it's a large number of British? Did you see them charging?" Logan asked intuitively.

"Listen! The rifle fire is so intense! There must be at least forty or fifty rifles, and there were a few Browning light machine guns just now, which only stopped firing recently!" Barkoen explained.

Logan tried to glance out the window to see the situation ahead, but was immediately stopped by the captain. "Be careful, Colonel, the enemy's rifles are extremely accurate! I suspect they are well-trained marksmen, maybe from one of the Royal British regiments!"

Since the preparations for the Battle of White Island began, Logan had been studying some intelligence about the British Army. The organization of the British Army was indeed quite different from other countries; they often organized their forces based on battalions, bypassing regiments to form brigades or divisions, and each battalion had its own unique title, such as the Royal Scots Regiment, the Royal Rifle Corps, the Duke of Wellington's Regiment, the Third King's Own Light Dragoons, and so on. These units were strangely divided into Royal Armoured Corps, Guards regiments, regular infantry, and logistical units. As Barkon had mentioned, each unit had its own traditional characteristics, with some being particularly skilled in marksmanship!

After some thought, Logan said, "As long as they don't attack, we won't make any rash moves. I suggest... firing the machine guns or mortars every two minutes to keep them under pressure!"

"That's a good idea! But just to be cautious, I think..."

Knowing that the captain was requesting reinforcements, Logan interjected with humor before he could finish, "I only brought one soldier with me, so with me included, we can act as two ordinary soldiers!"

After a moment of hesitation, Barkon reluctantly said, "Alright, Colonel, we'll make do with what we have!"

"The mobile unit is our last resort!" Logan murmured softly.

Although Barkon faithfully followed orders, even Logan was surprised at the enemy's precise marksmanship in the night battle. If it weren't for the fact that the British hadn't shown any technology beyond their time, he might have suspected they had access to advanced equipment like night vision goggles!

After a few minutes outside, Barkon returned with urgency in his voice. "Sir, we've lost two officers and four soldiers again. Everyone is pinned down in their defensive positions and can't move. And we've observed... someone trying to cross this ditch from the north!"

Under the cover of night, Logan didn't personally see this so-called ditch, but from the aerial photos, it should be less than two meters wide, one of the most common semi-natural, semi-artificial ditches in Britain. As there was a row of houses on the side of Cardiff and the opposite side was relatively open, it was chosen by the German staff as a defensive point.

The attackers were not numerous, but they could gain an advantage with their superior marksmanship. This indeed posed a problem for Logan - reinforcing with additional troops would be difficult to make a significant impact on defense, and it might even increase casualties unnecessarily. However, if they didn't reinforce, the defending forces would eventually be overwhelmed, and if these sharpshooting British soldiers crossed the defenses and entered the city, it would be a real headache for him!