As soon as the German combat operations began, it was inevitable that they would encounter the British periphery troops, which Guderian had foreseen for a long time, and in order to better achieve the combat intentions, the German vanguard troops were ordered to do everything possible to use all means to destroy or capture all British units that came into contact, and to delay the British army as much as possible to obtain real battlefield information.

The German vanguard assault forces did a decent job in the early stages of the battle, removing a number of British checkpoints and small posts, and capturing a number of old and weak soldiers, which were set up as part of the air warning system and anti-parachute operations.

But after all, the situation on the battlefield was complicated, and the Germans were not familiar with the place, so it was impossible to do everything in the course of the battle, and as a result, some fish escaped from the fierce fire of the German army.

A light mechanized reconnaissance team of the 1st Panzer Division's 12th Lancer Regiment was dispatched after daybreak to search along the Dover Highway in the direction of Channington, and then turn to the London Highway to locate and contact the unheard follow-up troops, who were now in a critical position and in dire need of supplies and personnel.

The squad consisted of three reconnaissance vehicles, which were actually Bren machine gun trucks equipped with a Beuys anti-tank gun. The three small tracked armored vehicles were heading north along the road at a speed of thirty kilometers per hour, and at this time they no longer wanted to think about mechanical wear and fuel consumption, and the sergeant platoon commander of the reconnaissance squad had just passed the promotion exam, and if nothing else, he would soon become a real army officer, and now was the time for him to show his superiors what he was capable of.

The scout team, eager to get ahead of the road, did not pay attention to the situation around the road, and as a result, it ran headlong into a German paratrooper reconnaissance detachment that was making a forward stop for the roundabout troops.

The German paratroopers who were about to cross the road did not hesitate at all when they saw the British armored vehicles speeding along the road, and they had encountered such troublesome little iron boxes more than once on the French front. They skillfully set up an ambush position at a T-junction next to the woods.

Highway ambush is a very particular tactic, not you lie in the grass on the side of the road to fight cold guns as simple, every force must be fully utilized, all automatic fire and riflemen of the firing line must be scientifically calculated, it is strictly forbidden to appear in the shooting range of their own personnel, so under normal circumstances, highway ambushes only choose to attack on one side, only laymen will play two bread clips, which will cause chaos in the attack order, and even the occurrence of an oolong incident in which their own firepower on both sides of the highway suppresses each other.

This group of German paratroopers had a lot of combat experience, and in countless exercises and actual battles, they had long mastered the methods of dealing with this ironclad car. Wait until finally the first reconnaissance carrier enters the ambush circle. The German paratroopers' weapons opened fire at the same time, and the dense bullets immediately covered the three Bruns, and the German rifle bullets could not penetrate the 12 mm steel plate, and these shots were mainly to interfere with the British soldiers' observation and return fire, and the storm of bullets pinned them down in the three open iron boxes.

The British were blinded at once, and the bullets that hit the perimeter of the observation slit splashed a series of sparks, and no one dared to lie down in that position and look out, let alone poke their heads out of the carriage, and the British soldiers could only bow their heads and huddle behind the armor plates. Stepping on the throttle and lunging forward, ready to wait until you get out of this trap before making plans.

It was true that the German paratroopers could not stop the breakthrough of these small armored vehicles with the small weapons at hand, but these German paratroopers also carried two iron fists. One of the paratroopers was half-kneeling, and directly put his iron fist under his armpit and launched an attack on the first reconnaissance carrier. This is the first time that this anti-tank weapon has fired at enemy units on the battlefield.

With the distance between the two sides less than ten meters, the bullet head of the Iron Fist dragged the smoke and smashed directly on the front armor of the Bren, and then a small explosion occurred, and the hot metal jet broke the driver in two in the chest on the spot. The splatters of metal solution knocked the anti-tank gunners on one side into a sieve, and metal jets and melted armor debris penetrated the second layer of steel plates, setting off a metal storm in the rear compartment of the driver's side. The Bren Heavy in the carriage didn't have time to react, and was immediately doused with the hot metal rain.

The reconnaissance carrier that was hit by the bullet lost control, rushed straight out of the road fork, and flipped into the wheat field on one side, and the ammunition on the car had several small explosions, and then the flames burst from the car, and then the spare oil drum carried by the car exploded, turning the armed vehicle into a hot crematorium.

The second Iron Fist was fired almost simultaneously, accurately hitting the third reconnaissance vehicle, this one from the rear compartment, causing a sound and light effect far beyond the first one. The metal jet shot through the light engine, and then directly ignited the spare oil drum in the compartment on one side, the armored car was immediately wrapped in a hot fireball, the soldiers on the car screamed like crazy, they stretched out their hands stained with burning fuel and grabbed the outer wall of the carriage, desperately trying to escape from the car, but due to the respiratory burns, suffocation and severe pain made them quickly lose the strength to escape, none of these soldiers succeeded, they could only lie on the edge of the car and slowly move their arms in the flames, Making the last struggle.

Although the heart that had been tempered a long time ago was like a stone, in the face of this tragic scene, several paratroopers still felt a little unbearable, and they picked up their guns and shot the three soldiers, relieving the pain of these poor people.

The paratroopers were ready to use grenades to solve the second reconnaissance transport vehicle according to their previous experience, but at this time an accident happened, the driver of this small car was very clever, just when the attention of the paratroopers was attracted by the tragic situation of the first and third reconnaissance vehicles, and the firepower was weakened, he keenly seized the moment of opportunity, and jerked the steering wheel, and the Bren carrier rushed out of the road frantically, and this small off-road vehicle effortlessly passed through the bushes on the side of the road, Right under the noses of the paratroopers, they rushed into the wheat field behind the bushes and fled quickly in the direction they came.

The German paratroopers were dumbfounded, they could only angrily fire a bunch of bullets at the fast-fleeing machine gun car, this kind of car off-road speed is very impressive, the paratroopers rely on their legs can not catch up in any way, and finally the paratroopers have to face the reality and report to their superiors by radio that they may have messed up the mission.

The surviving reconnaissance vehicle sped at full speed in the wheat field for a while, until it was confirmed that it was far away from the ambush site, and then turned around and climbed the Dover Highway again. This time, the rookies were scared. They had never experienced real combat, and it was only after they felt a little safe that the frightened soldiers realized the seriousness of the situation, they were convinced that it was the German army that attacked them, and they had already read the enemy unit identification manual as scouts, and they could recognize at a glance the dress of those men, which was the legendary German paratroopers.

The soldiers did not dare to slack off, and hurriedly retreated at full speed to Dover, where they were to report their findings to the Panzer Division Command, and German paratroopers appeared behind the flanks of Dover. Apparently this was the vanguard of the German landing.

The reconnaissance vehicle finally stumbled back to the starting point, and staggered into the courtyard of the temporary headquarters of the 1st Armored Division, and the commander jumped out of the car before the engine was turned off, and then rushed into the tent of the commander of the reconnaissance group, and shouted at the throat: "Germans, we have encountered the Germans." ”

The men in the tent were stunned by the voice, and several of the officers were looking with neurotic eyes at the little private, who was now on the outskirts of Dover, and the German landing had not yet begun. Where did this bastard see the Germans.

"What's going on, Private James, your name is James." The commander of the 12th Lancers, Lieutenant Colonel Charles, walked up to the soldiers, and after receiving an affirmative answer. The lieutenant colonel nodded in satisfaction. "Looks like I have a good memory, now calm down, Private James, I remember you just set off an hour ago. Go to find the follow-up troops who have lost contact, what happened, and what about your platoon commander, Sergeant Bieber? ”

"We were ambushed by German paratroopers next to the grove near Temple Ewell. Sergeant Bieber and Private Leslie's car was wrecked by the Germans, and I saw that they were all killed on the spot, and I rushed into the wheat field to escape the German pursuit, and to tell the truth I didn't know how to escape alive from that terrible trap, thanks to God Almighty. James was still a little apprehensive at this time, and he quickly drew a cross on his chest.

"Follow me to the division commander, I want you to report this matter carefully to the division commander." Charles felt that this soldier did not seem to be lying, then it meant that there was indeed a German paratrooper operating behind Dover, and he couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat on his forehead when he thought of this, there was nothing more dangerous than the appearance of enemy troops on the most critical supply line after the supply was exhausted, and he felt that he had to let the division commander know about the situation immediately.

The little senior soldier was brought before the division commander, Colonel Evans, who honestly told the Supreme Commander what had happened to him as a reconnaissance platoon. But he made one of the most common mistakes of a reconnaissance infantryman. When encountering an enemy ambush, soldiers often misjudge the actual strength of the opponent because of nervousness and fear, because a large number of bullets fall around in an instant, the side being shot has no chance to carefully judge where the shot came from, many people will think that they are surrounded, and there are enemies on all sides.

This private encountered this standard ambush, he actually didn't see how many enemies there were, he was pressed by the bullet in the cab at that time and didn't dare to look up, so he just roughly estimated the opponent's strength according to the density of the shot, plus the two companion armored vehicles were destroyed by the enemy, he actually didn't see what hit the two vehicles at all, but according to the experience in training, he thought that the German 37mm anti-tank gun was responsible. He then reported to the colonel that they had been attacked by at least one company of German paratroopers, and that the Germans were armed with at least two 37-mm anti-tank guns.

This sergeant thought that he was reporting truthfully and did not add fuel to the fire, but in fact he had misled his boss into the ditch.

Although Colonel Evans did not have much actual combat experience, he was also an elite of the army with a senior commander's education, and after listening to the soldiers' reports, he made his own judgment. Since the Germans sent paratroopers, of course, they were to cut off the logistical supply lines of the troops in the fortress of Dover.

It was impossible to do this with a company of paratroopers, and according to the soldier's description, the paratroopers were probably only a top-notch force, and the Germans might have thrown in five or six times the same force, and according to the soldier's account, the Germans had anti-tank guns, so it was certain that they were glider paratroopers.

Based on the information he had already had, and his own brain supplement, Evans finally determined that there would be no less than one regiment of enemy paratroopers moving in his rear.

So Colonel Evans made the decision that he had to use his strongest armor to completely crush the paratroopers before they cut off their logistical supply lines. (To be continued......)