Chapter 240: Heavenly Soldiers and Heavenly Generals

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“On your feet,” with a single command, the soldiers sitting on the grass began to slowly climb up. On their backs were their parachute packs, and over their torsos were tactical vests, hung with grenades, bayonets, and canteens. Below were ammo pouches, field tents and raincoats, various food items, and other miscellaneous gear.

This was the standard configuration for a German paratrooper, meticulously trained completely according to the Führer’s requirements. Two out of every ten of these men had a specialty in demolitions, and another two had received training in radio operation. Nearly half of these men were equipped with the newest MP-44 assault rifle, while the other half used the G43 semi-automatic rifle and the MG42 machine gun.

Here, it is necessary to explain why this machine gun, which was born in 1932, was called the “42.” This was entirely an expression of Führer Akado’s personal whim. He was very fond of the MG42 general-purpose machine gun from another timeline, so he named the machine gun that was born under his supervision the MG42.

And the successful development of Germany’s MG42 was actually an important breakthrough in firearms production technology. The designer of this machine gun, Grunow himself, was not a firearms designer; he was an expert in metal stamping technology.

When Akado found him, he believed from a professional point of view that the traditional firearm manufacturing process—that is, using machining, taking a solid piece of metal and using lathes, milling machines, etc., to cut away the unnecessary parts—was a method that not only wasted materials but also took a lot of man-hours and could hardly meet such a need.

In this traditional manufacturing process, the metal utilization rate was only about twenty-five percent. So he advised Akado that it was an inevitable trend for machine guns to be manufactured using metal stamping processes. The Führer was very satisfied with his concept and ordered him to be in charge of the design work for the new machine gun. In practice, the MG42 produced using metal stamping processes not only saved materials and man-hours but was also more compact, which was very practical for a Germany that was short on metal resources.

However, when the MG42 was first born and equipped to the troops, in the eyes of the Western spies lurking in Europe, this was actually a crudely made weapon, a patchwork of a number of iron sheets and an iron pipe. At that time, a flurry of reports flew to Washington and London, all with the same content: Germany was on its last legs; they were extremely short of raw materials; even the machine gun, the core of their tactics, was being manufactured with such simple and crude technology.

When this machine gun was in use, it was described by the German military with three superlative adjectives for its excellence: “the shortest time, the lowest cost, but the most outstanding weapon.”

The MG42’s rate of fire was a minimum of 1,200 rounds per minute and a maximum of 1,500 rounds per minute. When the rate of fire of a machine gun exceeds 1,000 rounds per minute, the human ear can no longer distinguish individual gunshots. The sound of an MG42 firing is not the “rat-tat-tat” of a Czech or Browning machine gun, but the “whirring” sound of a high-speed chainsaw, a bit like the sound of tearing a large piece of linen cloth.

Because of the MG42’s high rate of fire, with each short burst from the shooter’s trigger, 12 to 15 bullets could be fired. If an unlucky soldier were to be shot by an MG42, he would be hit by several bullets in an instant, and his chances of survival would be minimal. In actual combat in Poland, the MG42, due to its high rate of fire, was not only adept at dealing with small groups of targets but was also very effective against group targets.

The German paratroopers helped each other to form up in lines and began to board the Ju-52 transport planes waiting for them in an orderly manner. One plane could carry 12, that is, one squad of fully armed German paratroopers, and could also drop two large supply bundles at the same time. To transport more paratroopers into the enemy-occupied zone at once, these Ju-52s also towed a wooden glider, which carried six additional soldiers.

The German army had mobilized 610 Ju-52 transport planes in one go to transport the prepared paratrooper units. In this battle, Germany would drop 10,000 paratroopers into the Netherlands in one go, and the subsequent second wave of the attack would be no less than this number. This operation would be the largest-scale airborne operation in human history up to that point. Germany had mobilized a total of two parachute divisions, a total of 30,000 men, to ensure the foolproof capture of the whole of the Netherlands.

And taking the Netherlands would be the key battle for the success of the entire Western Front offensive. Von Rundstedt was very clear that if they failed to occupy the Netherlands in the first instance, then as a giant port, Britain would be able to transport batch after batch of troops to the European continent. The entire Army Group B would lose its numerical advantage, and the entire Operation Sickle Cut would be declared bankrupt.

Therefore, this time, General Student was ordered to complete the most arduous airdrop mission. His paratroopers had to cooperate with the German Army Group B on the main front to capture the Netherlands in the shortest possible time. Student had even personally gone to the Felsennest a few days ago to confirm all the attack targets with the Führer, Akado.

Borol, as a veteran with combat experience, was now the leader of a parachute squad. This time, with great experience, he had fixed his rifle to his chest instead of tying it to the luggage bag on his leg. He straightened the magazines and hand grenades on his chest, confirmed the position of his pistol, then drew his bayonet, carefully inspected it, and fixed it back to the position on his shoulder.

The parachute squad he commanded consisted of himself, four other veterans, and seven new recruits. This was considered the best possible configuration that could be put together now. As the squad leader, he had to guard the position by the plane’s door, so his soldiers all walked ahead of him. Soon, he had helped the second to last soldier to climb onto the plane with some difficulty. Then it was a bit difficult for him to get on the plane himself. The people above had to use all their strength to pull him up.

With the movement of the plane, they all knew that their plane had already taken off. Through the fuselage windows on both sides, Borol could clearly see another plane flying on their side. Soon, their plane’s wings were cutting through the white clouds, and in the distance, at least a dozen Ju-52s could be vaguely seen flying in formation.

On the constantly bumping plane, Borol was confirming his attack target with his assistant squad leader. The noisy sound made their conversation very loud.

“After we land, if you can’t find me, then set up a defensive position here first, and then gather as many troops as possible,” Borol said, drawing a mark on the map with a thick pencil. “We must occupy this village, do you understand?”

“Our platoon’s mission is to occupy the village here and to build an outer defensive position to protect the large bridge,” his deputy shouted. “But if it’s just us, we won’t have enough men to take this village.”

“Don’t worry, the air force won’t drop us in a random place this time!” Borol said with a loud laugh. “In my absence, if you don’t have enough men, you are responsible for leading the men back to the bridge to report to the battalion headquarters. No problem, right?”

“Alright,” the assistant squad leader replied loudly.

“Entering Dutch airspace, gentlemen! Watch your safety belts,” the plane’s co-pilot said, turning his head and shouting a reminder to the paratroopers behind him through the open rear door. “A warning just came from the air force. The Dutch air defense forces are attacking us.”

“Check your safety belts! I need you to be firmly secured to the plane! There will be enemy artillery fire in a moment. Everyone, don’t be nervous…” Borol had not finished speaking when a shell exploded in the air not far away. The huge explosion could be heard clearly even in the noisy cabin.

“Don’t panic! Hold your positions!” Borol struggled to his feet, walked to the vicinity of the cabin door, and, holding on to the handrail, stared at all his subordinates. “This density of anti-aircraft fire is impossible to hit our plane!”

And just as he was saying this, a glider being towed behind a Ju-52 transport plane flying to their left was hit by a shell. The six German paratroopers inside were scattered in the sky, covered in flames, and the glider was left with only a section of its nose still being towed behind the Ju-52.

“Someone start a song!” Borol asked loudly, feeling that God was playing a joke on him, a little helpless. A soldier began to sing the German paratrooper’s song, but Borol rejected it. “We’ve sung that too many times! Change it!”

“Ah, who is it that marches in enemy territory, and sings the devil’s song?” a veteran holding an MP-44 began to sing.

“This one’s good!” Borol nodded in agreement, and then began to sing along himself. “A soldier stands on the bank of the Oder River, humming silently. Whistling, we walk back and forth. And the whole world may curse or praise us—let them do as they please. No matter where we are, let us continue to march forward! And the devil laughs like this: Hahahahaha.”

With the song, everyone’s mood seemed to have improved slightly. The new recruits also began to sing along to this German paratroopers’ march, “Green Devils”: “We fight for Germany, for freedom and for honor. We will give the enemy no rest, no matter how far the march, we will quickly throw ourselves into battle. Resolute, always ready for battle, attacking in the day and in the night! Firmly, bravely, grip your rifle, assault the enemy’s positions! With a roar of ‘Heil Führer,’ we face death. The enemy is finally cleared, bodies piled like mountains. No matter where we are, let us continue to march forward, we continue to march forward. And the devil laughs like this: Hahahahaha.”

The song was sung over and over again. As time went on, the red preparation alarm in the cabin lit up. Borol gave a loud command. “On your feet!”

The plane was shaking constantly. All the paratroopers were on their feet. They checked their gear, tightening the straps on the miscellaneous equipment they were carrying for others. The red light on the plane flashed continuously, a very clear reminder to the paratroopers in the cabin that this trip to the Netherlands was a very dangerous mission.

Seeing that everyone was standing, Borol continued to give his command loudly. “Final equipment check! Everyone confirm your parachutes! Begin!”

“Number one, check!” “Number two, check!” “Number three, check!” … “Number eleven, check!”

“Gentlemen, get ready! We’ll continue this song when we jump! Now, let’s go down and meet our Dutch enemies,” Borol shouted.