Battle of the Third Reich

The occupation of Bolzano did not take much time from the Germans. The task of suppressing was the 106th Infantry Regiment of the 15th Infantry Division of the 7th Army of the German Army. This is a standard infantry regiment with three battalions. The commander is the newly appointed Lieutenant Colonel Hackland, who is only thirty-two years old at this time, but is already the recipient of the Oak Leaf Knight's Cross Medal.

Before he was promoted, he commanded an infantry battalion in the 236th Infantry Regiment of the Sixty-ninth Infantry Division, participated in the offensive and defensive operations of the London West, and showed excellent commanding ability in the battle. The general praised it vigorously.

The head of state likes to promote officers as young as he has. This has become a well-known secret in the National Defense Forces. Subordinate officers have room for promotion, which is also a great incentive for the morale of grassroots troops.

The older generation of officers did not worry about this. The army is always a place where qualifications are important, and their authority will not be shaken by this. On the contrary, this is obviously a good thing in the eyes of these old Junkers, senior commanders. The increase in the number of officers means that the strength of the National Defense Force is also increasing accordingly.

Judging from the feedback from the forward scouts, Hackland said that the Italians did not know that the border had been lost. No signs of Italian military activity were found outside Bolzano. At this moment, the city is completely Opened his arms.

The commander of the infantry made a bold decision. He did not deploy the troops outside the city according to the original plan, but took the military ranks directly to occupy the suburban station, and then used the station as a base, along the city street from east to west Assault, and strive to quickly occupy the entire city before the Italians react.

Hackland’s adventure was a huge success. When the city changed hands, most of the local residents were still drunk in their sleep. During the entire occupation of the police station, there was a few minutes of crossfire, killing several brave Italian police officers and capturing the remaining duty personnel. In the following time, the Germans were only busy sealing up government agencies and material reserves, and rushing some Italians who ran down the street to watch the bustling Italians back to their homes.

The mayor and police chief of Bolzano were dragged out of the warm bed by German soldiers, stuffed into military vehicles and sent to the German headquarters. On the road, they desperately wanted to understand where these German soldiers came from. And why did you not receive any news before.

At the moment, a line of troops filled with German soldiers and equipment, pulling the bright whistle through Bolzano station, whistled towards the next Italian city. In the next twenty-four hours, a large number of freight trains will arrive in the city. In the plan of the headquarters, a huge logistics center will be established in Bolzano, responsible for all the Alpine region. The German occupation forces provided supplies.

Bolzano also has one thing that the German Army Command attaches importance to, that is, it has a fully equipped airport and also has an Italian fighter squadron.

Italy can be regarded as a major aviation country in Europe. In the early days of aviation technology development, Italian aircraft designers have always been at the forefront of the world. The aircraft designed and manufactured by Italy was once famous in the world for its fashionable style and excellent flying quality.

Flying in Italy at that time belonged to a kind of noble sport. Those nobles who pursued fashion and chivalry were not hesitant to spend a lot of money in the aircraft manufacturing industry, in order to create the fastest, highest, farthest, and most beautiful appearance. Airplanes can allow them to show their deep heritage in front of that group of rough European relatives.

At that time, the biggest opponents of the Italians were Britain and France, but Italians were often able to rely on their superb machining technology and genius imagination to prevail in an aviation competition.

It is a pity that all this came to an abrupt end with the advent of the global economic crisis. The Italian nobles suffered heavy losses in the crisis and can no longer afford such expensive and expensive luxury activities. The development of Italian aviation technology has stalled, and then the fascist party came to power. A large number of genius designers who can’t understand Mussolini’s dictatorship have chosen to travel far away from other countries. Since then, people have never looked for Italian aircraft design. Kind of spirituality.

The topic is a bit far away, let us turn back to the Italian airport in Bolzano. Stationed here is the 362nd Flying Squadron, affiliated with the 52nd Flying Wing of Italy. This unit, known as the squadron, is actually very short of staff. At this time, there are only five aircraft parked in the hangar, and they are all old-fashioned models such as Fiat.

This 1933-shaped biplane fighter is equipped with a 789-horsepower Fiat t-type 12-cylinder water-cooled engine, with a maximum speed of 360 kilometers per hour and two 22.7 mm calibers. The machine gun, whether it's firepower or maneuverability, belonged to a very good advanced model at the time.

But today, seven years later, the performance of this aircraft is not even third-rate, but the Italian Air Force is still equipped with almost three hundred such fighters, accounting for a quarter of the total number of Italian fighters at that time.

The No. 3, No. 2 Flying Squadron participated in the previous battle against France. Fortunately, it did not suffer any losses. Of course, it did not receive any results. After the war entered a state of stalemate, in order to save precious fuel and parts, this squadron, which was useless for combat, was removed from the front line, and the Roman side threw them to Bolzano, a city surrounded by mountains, as A symbolic armed force remains.

When the German infantrymen entered the airport, all five aircraft were well parked in the hangar. The airport guard was armed with an anti-aircraft machine platoon equipped with six large-caliber antiaircraft machine guns, but because the incident was too sudden, there were only three sleepy sentries on duty in the battle position, and the German infantry relieved them without effort. The armed forces then blocked the remaining soldiers in their barracks.

The pilots of the 362nd Squadron showed extraordinary courage. They were awakened by the noise of the barracks in their sleep. When they realized what was happening, the pilots had no time to change their uniforms. They only attacked the Germans in their pajamas. A counterattack was launched. Although they eventually had to surrender to the Germans because the bullets in the pistols were exhausted, they did indeed show the strength of the Italian officers in front of the Germans and maintained the honor of the 362nd Flying Squadron.

In particular, no one of the two sides died in the battle at the airport, only the sole of the Italian second lieutenant was cut by the broken window glass.

The importance of Bolzano Airport was gradually revealed until the late war. The Italian Air Force installed a navigation station and radio communication station in this airport. A row of steel with a height of 30 meters was set up at the corner of the airport There is no antenna system that can be used in Italy. Air navigation basically relies on its own compass and large radio navigation station. The German army not only seized a number of extremely important navigational materials, but also obtained the passwords and keys currently used by the Italian Air Force and the Army.

At six o'clock in the morning on the 21st, the German occupation of Bolzano was finally announced, half an hour before sunrise, and the 222nd Infantry Regiment under the 75th Infantry Division was now complete. He won the next city, Trento.

The ranks behind the 22nd and 22nd regiments were loaded with the 9th Armored Reconnaissance Battalion belonging to the 9th Armored Division. The same vehicle arrived with the commander Lieutenant General Feng Hubiji and his division headquarters and subsidiary motorcycles. Line up and map the detachment.

In this battle, the 9th Panzer Division served as the first batch of German assault main force. According to the plan, it will launch an assault formation in Trento, and then rush south along the Adige River out of the Alps to the Italian ancient city. Verona.

In the German military command plan, this goal must be achieved within thirty-six hours. For the ninth armored division with rich combat experience, this will be a test of the driving skills and combat capabilities of officers and men.

The first battalion of the 33rd Armored Regiment arrived in an hour before it was unloaded. Prior to this, the heavy armored reconnaissance company of the 9th Reconnaissance Battalion had been fully equipped. They took a signal unit and launched southwards one step ahead. Investigation action.

After a busy day and night, the German soldiers are still in high spirits and morale. They look forward to encountering the enemy and eager to establish their merits in the battle.

A hint of fish belly has been revealed in the eastern sky, the dawn of October 21 is approaching, a new day is ushered in the Apennine Peninsula, and a new page of Italian history has also been opened.

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Thank you for your support and encouragement. (To be continued.)

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