The Normandy landing took place on June 6, 1944. It is now April 1944. Although there are two months left before the D-D date of the landing, after the landing location was determined, targeted training has begun.

At this time, the 101st Airborne Division, the 82nd Airborne Division and the 29th Infantry Division formed the Seventh Army.

The role of the Seventh Army in the offensive set by the Allied Command was that on the D-Day, the 29th Infantry Division of the Attack on Utah Beach would be the landing force that mainly attacked Utah Beach, while the 101st Airborne Division was responsible for cutting off German support and disrupting German subordinates.

Let’s talk about Utah Beach first:

Compared to Omaha Beach, which has cliffs, Utah Beach has a very good terrain. Low sand dunes and soothing slopes make landing troops easier to get ashore. But behind Utah Beach is a deadly lowland, which is said to be grazing behind the beach.

There are four roads one meter above the ground behind Utah Beach. Although these roads are narrow and disrepaired, these four roads are the only passages that the German army supports the beach. After the Allied forces occupied the beach, the only passages extending outward because the desert fox Rommel ordered the water to flood the land behind the beach, and only these four roads can be used by mechanized troops.

Therefore, these four roads, that is, the embankment passages mentioned by the Allied forces, are particularly important. Once the 101st Airborne Division successfully cuts off these four roads, the German troops on Utah Beach will cut off support, and the Allied navy and landing forces will easily capture this place after consuming the power of the beach guards.

...

The geographical environment of Utah Beach was thoroughly investigated by Allied scouts. Except for a few hidden excellent positions that were not discovered, the rest of the arrangements were exposed to the eyes of the Allied forces. In order to implement the plan smoothly, the Allied forces began targeted exercises in April, and the 101st Airborne Division was taken to Devon, southwest England. There is a place called Thirapton Beach in Devon, which is very similar to the terrain of Utah Beach.

There is a shallow lake between the narrow beach and the inland. There are many swamps around the shallow lake, and there are two bridges across the beach and the highlands. It is simply a cottage environment for Utah Beach. Therefore, the entire Seventh Army carried out targeted airborne training here.

This military exercise code-named "Tiger" lasted for a very long time. Company E simulated the combat situation on D-day more than once and often performed airborne at night to practice seizing embankment passages and guarding embankment passages.

It was here that Zheng Yingqi saw an extremely large amphibious landing fleet, which was the landing force of the 29th Division of the Seventh Army, and they were also practicing landing.

The amphibious landing ship troops, which were about to fill the entire sea, came from afar, as if they were about to fill the ocean and the sky.

The fleet that was about to land was indeed the largest and most spectacular landing fleet in the world.

Of course, there was an incident that broke out until forty years later:

The German torpedo boats crept into the middle of the landing ship carrying the Fourth Division and other large ships, and sank two troop transport ships and some other large ships, causing a total of 900 deaths, but this incident was covered up and was not slowly turned out from history forty years later.

April passed by during the exercise and May arrived.

In the entire E Company, except Zheng Yingqi, no one knew when their war would break out, but the frequent and targeted drills still made the soldiers of the E Company feel the imminent war. Fortunately, as the new company commander Mihan became familiar with the E Company, the atmosphere of the entire E Company finally became as normal as an ordinary company. The soldiers don’t have to worry that they will be trapped by their company commander, and don’t have to worry that their company commander will take them to die.

May 9.

On this day, all personnel of the 101 Airborne Division participated in the offensive rehearsal code-named "Operation Eagle". This rehearsal is different from the previous exercises. All units require actions like D-Day, which means, what should be done "that day" and what should be done for this rehearsal.

The planes they use will be the ones they ride on on D-Day, and even the flight time in the air must be the same as the time during D-Day operations. As for everyone's equipment, they naturally need to be treated according to D-Day.

In books that record history, Zheng Yingqi did not understand how much the Allied troops prepared, but when he was in this era and in this action, he realized the Allied troops' preparations.

As a small combat unit, those preparations that cannot be seen for the time being, just the preparations on clothing will make Zheng Yingqi amazed at the full preparations of the Allied forces!

In order to prevent possible chemical weapons damage, the tops and pants of the combat uniforms distributed to all airborne soldiers, the vests and long underwear inside were all impregnated. Although the disadvantage is that the body smells, itchyness, and body heat is difficult to dissipate, in order to save lives, no one has objected to this kind of care as much as possible.

When boarding the plane, Zheng Yingqi was also amused by his "fully armed" comrades!

The standard features of most of them are: paratrooper knife, military knife hidden in the collar of the top, compass, two anti-injury grenades, an anti-tankre, a smoke bomb, a Ganmon bomb, pistol, ammunition belt, kettle, engineer shovel, first aid kit, gas mask, as well as blades, spoons, socks, toilet bags, maps, three-day K-class dry food, an emergency hunger bag, everyone has a field backpack on their chests, and the field backpack is stuffed with changing underwear and ammunition. Some people also stuff a tube of explosives in it as much as possible.

By the way, many people choose to bring two or several boxes of cigarettes.

Machine guns and mortars are broken down and diagonally spread diagonally below the backup umbrella.

When soldiers go on war, they all have a common problem that they are afraid that they will not carry enough ammunition. The number of bullets in the bulging field backpack may be astonishing as it may be!

"I feel like I have the weight of at least two adults!" Gordon, who was supported by Zheng Yingqi and stepped into the C-47, said with difficulty: "I swear, I jumped so many times, this time is the heaviest! I am now worried about whether the parachute can hold me."

Zheng Yingqi smiled and said, "Don't worry about this. I think what you need to worry about is whether you can gain combat effectiveness as soon as possible after landing. I think you may have to spend several minutes to remove the weight on your body!"

"I think with my luck, it won't be so bad that I landed next to the Germans." Gordon didn't care.

In the crowded cabin, everyone saw Zheng Yingqi lifting lightly and asked curiously: "Jacob, how many things did you bring? Why do I feel like you brought some sponges?"

"I just didn't carry anything useless."

"What useless?" Gordon looked at the weight on his body and said in confusion: "What useless thing?"

"Washing bags, changing underwear, emergency hunger bags, socks, spoons, cigarettes..." Zheng Yingqi said a lot, and then said in a disgusting tone: "Please tell me how bored you are on the battlefield, so you think of changing a clean set of underwear? By the way, shave your beard and wash your face? Do you also need to bring more magazines to pass the time when you are bored?"

Everyone in the cabin looked at each other, but it was too late to clean up at this time, so they could only remember it silently, and decided in their hearts that if it really came to D-day, they would like to summarize their experience this time. As for cigarettes, well, that is something they must bring.

The C-47s in the entire "Operation Eagle" took off one after another. After flying over England for a period of time, the E-Company fleet arrived over the destination at midnight, and then began an orderly airdrop.

The rehearsal of E Company was very smooth, but other companies encountered various troubles. When they were about to arrive at their destination, they encountered a German bombing of London. Anti-aircraft artillery fired at the air. It was not clear whether the German aircraft group had suffered losses, but their own aircraft group was dispersed. Some people threw paratroopers in the wrong landing site, and whether they found the landing site and threw them all in a rampage. Afterwards, statistics were made that about 500 people were broken, sprained or otherwise injured.

In response, Lieutenant Mihan comforted them and said:

“According to tradition, unsuccessful rehearsals will lead to a very successful first show, so our D-Day must be a wonderful premiere!”

After the preview of "Operation Eagle", E Company thought that they were imminent before the premiere, but unexpectedly, for the next period, they were still training them to practice how to attack the German positions, practice quickly assemble, and practice disrupting the organization's battle. During this period, many "German" suddenly appeared in the world they came into contact with.

These "Germen" wore German uniforms and wandered around with German weapons on their backs. They often stopped all the Allied soldiers they met and asked them about the Germans. From weapons and equipment to organization, they all asked about the actors prepared to make the offensive troops familiar with the Germans. The number of these actors was very large, and Zheng Yingqi always thought that the Germans occupied England.

[If many German troops sneak in at this time, there will be a scene to watch!]

Zheng Yingqi often thought about this, and such worries did not happen, and such actions made the Allies truly familiar with the German army to a certain extent.

Finally, the tense May passed and after June began, E Company's training stopped completely.

And training stopped, everyone understood:

The preparations have come to an end completely. Day D is coming!

Zheng Yingqi also breathed silently, starting from June 1942 to the present, and finally starting for two years now!
Chapter completed!