Chapter 888: Chapter 18 The ceaseless palpitation in your heart is the waves of the Baltic Sea

August 4th, early morning, Norman Duchy.

The Division Commander of the 21st Armored Division met with the Deputy Commander of the 506th Paratrooper Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division in a house.

The Deputy Commander was lying on a table, with a makeshift splint made from wood found somewhere on his right leg, and blood continuously dripped from the bandage onto the table.

“Oh,” he said in Aunsa language, “isn’t this the Prosen General who drove us into the outer woods after a night of fierce fighting, congratulations. But our boys will continue to block you behind the hedgerows outside. You will step into a green hell!”

After a brief pause, the Deputy Commander continued: “Leading them is Captain Evans, and I know him, he graduated at the bottom of his class at West Point Military Academy! He will thrash you like the nemesis of Prosens on the Eastern Front!”

The Division Commander sneered, dismissing the words of the captive.

However, the hedgerows were indeed a troublesome problem.

The characteristic of the Norman Duchy’s terrain is that there are a large number of hedgerows, some places are impassable for people.

The hedgerows obstructed the view, making it very difficult for the armored troops to utilize their long-range firepower.

But conversely, it was also very difficult for the anti-tank gun crews to spot armored troops from a distance. The anti-tank gun crews had an advantage in direct confrontation with the armor, primarily because they could conceal themselves well with camouflage and fire first from a distance.

Memoirs of old WWII tank operators often emphasized that a well-hidden anti-tank gun posed a greater threat than enemy tanks.

The presence of hedgerows meant that anti-tank gun crews had to engage in close combat with tanks, and once they discovered each other, the tank’s armor and machine-gun firepower would have the advantage.

Deputy Commander: “What’s ahead is your hell!”

After hearing the translation, the Division Commander sneered at the Deputy Commander: “We know you are already out of anti-tank weapons, the contact with the 400th Division from the beachhead hasn’t been interrupted, you haven’t fully controlled the beachhead, and can’t have enough weapon support.”

The Federation’s paratrooper Deputy Commander laughed loudly before the translator could finish: “My boys have explosives and grenades, and they will use their courage to stop you. Just wait and see! And don’t underestimate the industrial capacity of the Federation!”

——–

August 4th, 0430 hours, Omaha Beachhead.

The Prosen coastal defense captives gathered on the beach, anxiously awaiting their fate. If it were the attacking Prosen army, they would likely already be digging their graves–the Prosen army executed prisoners of inferior races during attacks to avoid logistical strain.

But the Allied Forces had not done so, at least not yet.

Suddenly, a captive pointed at the sea, shouting: “Oh my God, what is that?”

All the captives stood up, watching the approaching monstrosity on the sea.

The sinking box pier of the Chad Sarkeans, an ugly monster created by the Federation’s industrial capability.

This colossal entity had no power for long-distance navigation, being towed by 20 tugboats across the channel, it started the engines stacked on it when approaching the beachhead.

After the sinking box reaches the shore and water is injected to sink it, the engines would provide power for the cranes on the pier.

Now, the monstrosity charged towards the beach.

The anti-tank obstacles on the beach were already completely cleared by engineers with explosives last night.

The piled bodies had not yet been fully gathered, only the tags of the fallen had been hastily removed.

The sinking box pier crashed directly onto the corpse-laden beach, crushing helmets and flesh alike.

The captives behind the sand dike fled in terror, but heard the sound of Federation soldiers chambering their submachine guns.

The translator fired a shot into the air to stabilize the prisoners and shouted: “Don’t run back, the sinking box pier won’t crash into the sand dike! This place is safe.”

At this time, the sinking box pier had already hit the sand dike, and the water pushed by the pier splashed over and drenched the captives.

Then the secure points on the pier ignited the charges, using gunpowder to shoot all the steel bars into the sand.

The explosion sound scared the captives into diving to the ground, too afraid to move.

Then the pumps started operating, injecting water into the sinking box.

At this time, a second sinking box pier landed on a more easterly beach.

Half an hour later, the improvised pier was completed, the first Freedom Ship docked directly, trucks drove from the ramps onto the long ramp bridge, continuously driving onto the beach and into the interior through roads opened by the engineers.

The Prosen captives watched all this in stunned silence.

They didn’t know that a total of four such improvised piers had been completed, and Freedom Ships were continuously delivering troops and vehicles onto the land.

Of course, these are makeshift measures, to truly resolve the logistical issue, they needed to take Camembert. Its port could supply the millions-strong army pushing into the Carolingian heartland.

——–

Captain Evans was in the woods outside the town with the remnants of the 506th Battalion, checking the anti-tank weapons at their disposal.

“Let’s retreat, Captain.” a sergeant suggested on behalf of everyone, “We have no anti-tank means left, even the grenades are all used up, and the grenades we have now are captured from the enemy before retreating.”

“Yeah, the enemy’s stick grenades aren’t as convenient to use as our grenades.”

“But they’re pretty easy to throw.”

“Silence!” Captain Evans raised his voice, “We cannot retreat, the beach is right behind us. If the enemy’s armored forces reach the beach, it will cause massive casualties to the landing friendly forces. According to the orders we’ve received, as long as we hold out until the afternoon, we’ll receive armored support–”