GBP Chapter 319: Battle of Paris
Chapter 319: Battle of Paris
On the 12th, Allied forces swept across the Cotentin Peninsula like a whirlwind. Dollmann's counterattack at Lessey was a desperate attempt, ultimately failing. After commanding his troops to break out, Dollmann took his own life in a small room in the command room, becoming the highest-ranking German general to die on the Western Front.
The British army took advantage of the offensive to capture Caen. The British 8th Army, which landed, advanced along the highway line and occupied Pont-l'Évêque. It continued to advance towards Deauville and Honfleur. Their goal was to capture the important port city of Le Havre and thus seize the Upper Normandy region.
On the 15th, the Allied forces completely occupied the area, and the size of the landing force had snowballed to more than 80, basically obtaining the depth area planned for the battle, which also marked an overwhelming victory in the Battle of Normandy.
On the German side, Field Marshal Rundstedt was dismissed as Supreme Commander of the Western Front, and Rommel was not appointed Commander-in-Chief as he had hoped. The new Commander-in-Chief was Field Marshal Otto Moritz Walter Model, known as the Grand Master of the Eastern Front's defense. He was accompanied by seven elite German grenadier divisions and one heavy artillery division. These troops were to be deployed around Paris.
The German army secretly maneuvered, tightly encircling the Allied landing area. Meanwhile, Yang Hong had already led the 5th Army Group's marines on landing craft, heading for the Mediterranean. According to the latest Allied battle plan, Kuang Zhengqi was appointed frontline commander of the Allied forces in Italy. His 3rd Army Group was withdrawn from the Turkish battlefield, and together with Yang Hong's 5th Army Group, they formed the main force of the Italian theater. Since Yang Hong had been appointed Assistant Chief of the Allied General Staff, he resigned his position as Commander of the Army Aviation Corps, but did not return to the 5th Army Group.
All signs indicate that Liao Yaoxiang will take over his command as commander of the 5th Army Group. Liao Yaoxiang, however, expressed a remarkably open-minded attitude towards becoming a subordinate of his former subordinate, Kuang Zhengqi. He fully understood that he could not match Kuang and Yang in both combat prowess and strategic planning. Assuming the command of an army group was perhaps the highest military rank he could achieve.
As expected, upon arriving in Sicily with the 112th and 113th Armies, Yang Hong received new appointments from Allied Headquarters and the Flower Clan. He was appointed Deputy Representative of the Flower Clan to Allied Headquarters and Deputy Chief of Staff of the Allied Forces, one of the highest positions held by the Flower Clan within the Allied Forces. A similar position was held by Huang Wei, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Soviet High Command on the Eastern Front. He was also relieved of direct military command and appointed Deputy Representative of the Flower Clan to the Soviet Union, represented by the veteran general Zhu D.
In August 1946, the Third Reich engaged in two major battles on the Western and Eastern Fronts, respectively, against the Allies and the Soviets. The Western Front, known as the "Battle of Paris," saw Field Marshal Model demonstrate his masterful command. Despite a completely inferior air force, he employed an assault group consisting of seven grenadier divisions and four tank divisions to break through the Allied front at Legler, inflicting heavy damage on the Allied eastern flank. On the western front, the British Eighth Army and the US Third Army, lured deep into the enemy's territory, were attacked by German tanks, which outnumbered them by several orders of magnitude. A sudden surge of short-range missiles dealt a devastating blow to the Allied forces. Subsequently, concentrated German helicopter gunships, providing cover for the tanks, encircled the Fifth and Eighth Armies from both flanks.
Yang Hong, who had just returned to the High Command as Deputy Chief of Staff, was temporarily transferred to the eastern front to participate in the command. Based on his assessment of the German counterattack's trajectory, he decisively ordered Patton's Third Army to retreat to Rouen and the British Eighth Army to break out of the encirclement and retreat to the town of Bernay. Simultaneously, he ordered the US 3st Airborne Division to land again and establish a foothold in Le Nabourg in the center of the battle line. After three days of fierce fighting, the elite SS Grenadier Division, known as the German "Das Reich," ultimately failed to break through the 8st Division's defenses, forcing the Allies to retreat to their established defensive line and stabilize their position.
Initially, commanders including Patton were deeply dissatisfied with Yang Hong's risky and drastic retreat. Patton even defied orders and ordered a division of the 3rd Army to defend Evreux. As a result, within a day, the division found itself surrounded by German forces on multiple fronts. Fortunately, Yang Hong discovered the situation in time and rushed directly to Patton's headquarters, issuing extremely strict orders. He then organized over 100 armed helicopters to provide low-altitude support and fought their way out. This US division may become the first US division-level unit to be completely wiped out since World War II. Even so, the division lost nearly half its combat effectiveness. Patton was later demoted from General of the Fifth Army Group to Lieutenant General of the 5th Army Group.
At this point, the Allied high command finally realized the Germans' sinister plot. The Germans had meticulously planned a Western Front assault against the US 7th Army at Legler, misleading the Allies into believing the main force of the German counterattack would be concentrated in the west, aiming to seize Lower Normandy.
然而，事实却是德军主力第 1、15 和新组建的 23 集团军兵分三路，如猛虎下山般迅猛突进。在神秘武器的强力加持下，他们以惊人的速度对东路威胁巴黎的英军第 8 集团军、加拿大第 4 军、澳大利亚第 17 军，以及巴顿美军第 5 集团军群的第 3 集团军构成了合围之势。
The situation in the Battle of Paris took a sharp turn for the worse, forcing the Allies to retreat nearly 300 kilometers westward from the area surrounding Paris, ceding nearly square kilometers of territory. The German army, however, seized upon this opportunity to claim a decisive victory over the Allies on the Western Front.
However, this battle also exposed the German army's ultimate secret weapon and exposed the main German forces on the Western Front. Although the Allies suffered some losses, these losses were not fatal.
More importantly, this battle awakened the Allied leadership from the euphoria of the Normandy landings. They realized that relying on just one or two victories was insufficient to defeat the Germans, especially such a formidable force. Eisenhower and other senior generals finally realized that the Soviets on the Eastern Front were not to be underestimated. Even with inferior equipment to those on the Western Front, they were still able to achieve impressive results. This undoubtedly demonstrated the strength of the German army and the bravery of the Soviets. A thorny and arduous journey lay ahead if they were to defeat the fascist Third Reich in one fell swoop!