"What?!" Dowding stood up abruptly, his eyes wide with shock as he glared at the officer in front of him, roaring, "Say that again?!"
The officer swallowed nervously and stammered, "The Germans have destroyed all our radar stations."
"All our radar stations?!" Dowding felt dizzy, slumping back into his chair in despair, staring blankly at the ceiling, muttering, "How is this possible? How could the Germans know the locations of all those radar stations?!" If one or two radar stations were discovered and destroyed, that would be understandable, but for all of them to be destroyed simultaneously was beyond belief.
"Could it be..." the officer ventured cautiously, "that there's a German spy within our ranks..." Before he could finish, Dowding gave him a fierce glare, and he dared not continue.
Because of Churchill's paranoia about finding this elusive German spy, the entire air force was thrown into turmoil by the intelligence department. Not just the air force, but the army, navy, and other government departments were under the strictest scrutiny, with even Dowding himself being questioned several times. Now, the mere mention of the word 'spy' triggered an allergic reaction.
The officer shrank back, whispering, "Or maybe the Germans have mastered divination and calculated the positions of these radar stations."
Ridiculous!
But Dowding, already exhausted in spirit, didn't bother to reprimand him. He waved his hand, dismissing the officer, then stared blankly at the ceiling.
After an indeterminate amount of time, Dowding sighed heavily, reluctantly picking up the phone to call the Prime Minister's Office at Downing Street. "Prime Minister, our radar stations..." He gritted his teeth, delivering the dire news that all radar stations had been destroyed.
There was heavy breathing on the other end of the line. After a long pause, Churchill, his voice hoarse, finally spoke, "What's your take on this?"
Dowding gave a bitter smile in his heart; what could he think? "Perhaps..." he didn't know what to say next, only lamenting the doom of the British Empire. Then he heard Churchill's low voice say, "Well, that's how it is then," before hanging up.
"???" Dowding stared at the receiver in confusion for a few seconds, unsure of what Churchill meant by those words. He couldn't call back to ask, so he put down the phone with a puzzled look. As Churchill had said, "Well, that's how it is then," with the radar stations destroyed, what more could be done? Britain no longer had the resources to rebuild them.
While Dowding was sighing in frustration, Sergeant Herta of the German paratroops was sitting in the shaking cabin of a transport aircraft, squinting at the combat map in his hands. The roar of the engines filled the cabin, but the paratroopers seemed accustomed to the noise, with many closing their eyes to rest.
Suddenly, an earsplitting electric bell rang out, accompanied by flashing red lights. Herta folded the map, struggled to his feet, and shouted, "Prepare to jump! Check your gear!"
The paratroopers in the cabin helped each other stand, checking their equipment. Once everyone was ready, Herta forcefully opened the cabin door.
Whoosh!
A blast of freezing cold air rushed into the cabin, causing everyone to shiver.
Herta steadied himself against the airflow with great effort, shouting, "Our mission is to capture the town below and cut off British reinforcements to the beach! We might encounter their armored units; find those weapon crates as soon as we hit the ground!" Suddenly, the aircraft shook violently, simulating dodging anti-aircraft fire from below, causing the paratroopers to sway and curse.
Soon, the plane steadied, and the red light above the door turned green. Herta pushed out a crate containing MG3 machine guns, Panzerfaust anti-tank rocket launchers, and other heavy weapons.
"Begin jump!"
With his command, one after another, paratroopers leaped from the aircraft. After the last one had jumped, Herta followed. In a fraction of a second, he felt a strong force pulling at his body as the parachute hook, still attached to the plane, opened his parachute under the combined forces of the aircraft's movement and his descent.
He saw paratroopers who had jumped before him not far away and others jumping from different transport planes, their parachutes blooming into white flowers in the sky. First dozens, then hundreds, then thousands.
Soon, his feet hit the ground with a thud. He quickly unhooked his parachute, drew his FAL semi-automatic rifle from his leg bag, loaded it, and equipped himself with the rest of his gear.
Just as he gathered the nearby paratroopers to advance towards the town, the sound of engines came from above. It was a helicopter acting as an exercise judge, with a loudspeaker blaring, "Your unit was hit by British ground fire during the drop, suffering 30% casualties. Leave the dead soldiers behind and continue!"
"Damn, that's too much, losing a third right after we land?" Herta spat in frustration, gesturing to some paratroopers. "You guys stay here and play the wounded; the rest follow me to attack."
While Herta led the remaining paratroopers towards the town, high-ranking generals in Berlin's Supreme Command were conducting a simulation for the invasion of Britain.
"Use thermobaric bombs to clear the minefields on the beach." Mines work by being triggered by pressure; dropping mine-clearing thermobaric bombs over minefields would trigger the mines with the bomb's explosive pressure, providing rapid mine clearance on the battlefield. "The explosion can also clear various obstacles."
"What about underwater obstacles?" Anti-landing defenses aren't just on the shore; underwater, there are mines, stakes, and floating barriers.
"The frogmen have conducted several secret reconnaissances; there are no underwater obstacles at our landing sites. After all, Britain's resources are scarce. Moreover, Britain doesn't know that we don't need to capture their ports."
In traditional beach landings, the landing points are near enemy ports to facilitate rapid reinforcement and resupply, preventing the initial wave from being wiped out or pushed back into the sea. But enemies aren't fools; they would heavily defend these strategic points, making a successful landing at great cost, if possible at all, and even if successful, the ports might already be destroyed, rendering them useless.
Fortunately, Wilhelm knew about the Normandy landings from the original timeline, meaning there was no need to risk capturing enemy ports; they could build their own. By disregarding the need for ports, the Germans could choose landing spots far from Britain's heavily defended areas.