Standing in the rubble just a step away from the dock, Logan had a cigarette dangling from his lips as he calmly watched the massive British bomber formation roar overhead. As he expected, not a single bomb fell on the port of Cowes. It wasn't that the British were unaware of its fall; rather, there were more valuable targets ahead awaiting their attention.
Just over half an hour ago, telegrams had arrived successively from the 1st Battalion, which had occupied Portsmouth Harbor, the headquarters of the Fuhrer Guard Regiment, and the Naval Command: the German convoy transporting the vanguard landing force had finally overcome the fierce British air and sea interception and arrived at the Isle of Wight. Along the way, they had lost one destroyer, three minesweepers, and three torpedo boats. In this operation that many German officers considered "impossible to accomplish," the German Navy personnel had displayed astonishing courage and selflessness to ensure the safety of the landing fleet. With the desperate protection of the German Luftwaffe, the transport fleet had only lost two cargo ships and a barge, and most of the crew who fell into the water had been rescued by accompanying ships!
Logan's plan had taken into account various possible scenarios, and the most ideal condition was for both Portsmouth Harbor and Ryde Harbor to be "open" to the German landing fleet. This would allow over 3,000 soldiers and a large amount of equipment and supplies to be transported ashore within four hours. However, Ryde Harbor, damaged by the British defenders, was now unusable, leaving only Portsmouth Harbor with its facilities intact. Under these circumstances, the larger ships in the German fleet directly entered the harbor to unload troops and equipment, while the smaller ones had to unload the landing force on the picturesque resort beaches. Nevertheless, the unloading of troops and equipment was significantly delayed!
Seeing the British bomber formation approaching from the north, Logan could almost guess the thoughts of the British commanders with his toenails. Indeed, a fleet of British ships had set sail from Portsmouth Harbor towards Cowes, but the formations of Stuka dive bombers and naval torpedo bombers flying from northern France, along with the German warships escorting them, were already waiting in anticipation. Additionally, prior to the operation, the German Navy had dispatched 19 submarines into the English Channel—mostly small to medium-range submarines—but the experienced crewmen would not show mercy when facing British warships!
With such a three-dimensional blockade in the air, on the sea surface, and underwater, even facing the main British fleet might not have been disadvantageous, let alone considering the early bombings by the German Luftwaffe. The expensive and powerful naval beasts were currently amassed in Britain itself, blocking the passage of German surface vessels into the Atlantic. The largest tonnage ships of the Royal Navy in the English Channel, namely the cruisers around 10,000 tons...
As the British bomber formations appeared, German fighters took off from Newport Airport to intercept them as usual. Now with sufficient fuel and ammunition, the only concern was the fatigue of the pilots from continuous combat. However, ambitious German ace pilots like Galland would undoubtedly be ecstatic to see so many British bombers—after all, in the historical Battle of Britain, they had fought against British fighters while burdened with the task of escorting bombers. As for the later Allied bombing of Germany, bombers like the Lancaster and B-17 had much stronger defensive firepower than the light and medium bombers now present!
Halfway through his cigarette, Logan saw the disarrayed British bomber formations splitting in two under the interception of German fighters. The smaller group headed straight for Newport Airport, while the larger group flew southeast—the direction of Cowes Harbor!
"All right, everyone, back to work!"
Logan loudly called out to the paratroopers around him. In the battle to capture Eastbourne Harbor, he had lost fewer than 20 soldiers in total, compared to the more than 40 lost by Schultz's unit, which had advanced towards Cowes Harbor. However, it was difficult to judge whether Logan or Schultz had superior command skills, considering the different numbers of British defenders on both sides, as well as the decisions of the British commanders and the morale of their soldiers. Therefore, it was difficult to conclude who was better between Logan and Schultz in terms of command skills!
According to Logan's original plan, after capturing Eastbourne Harbor, he would withdraw some paratroopers to support Lieutenant Jensen and his 2nd Parachute Company in Wootton Harbor to the east. But just as he had assembled two infantry platoons and a Panzer IV tank ready to depart, Stefenberg sent a telegram from the airport. He had used a recently repaired British armored car and two trucks to transport an infantry platoon and two 50mm mortars to Wootton Harbor. Wheels were always faster than walking. The ten-kilometer journey from Newport Airport to Wootton was almost complete by the time Logan finished two cigarettes. With the reinforcement of troops and weapons, Lieutenant Jensen, who had already gathered over a hundred paratroopers, took the initiative to launch a fierce attack on the port area with the armored car as the vanguard. Within ten minutes, they captured the port, which was slightly smaller than Cowes, and captured over forty British officers and soldiers. However, they also suffered heavy casualties, with 37 killed and 29 injured.
As the Battle of Wootton Harbour ended in a disastrous victory for the German forces, the eight ports on the Isle of Wight—Yarmouth, Newtown, Wootton, Cowes, East Cowes, Ryde, Newport, and Bembridge—are now all in German hands. Although there are dozens of beaches along the long coastline of the Isle of Wight, large and medium-sized ships cannot directly dock there. Infantry and light weapons can be transported to the beaches via small boats, but large quantities of fuel and other heavy equipment still need to be loaded and unloaded through the docks. Therefore, Logan believed that these ports, especially Yarmouth, Cowes, East Cowes, and Ryde, with better geographical conditions, would become the targets of the British army's counterattack across the sea!
While arranging the defense of the dock area, Logan also dispatched soldiers riding motorcycles with signal guns to deploy lookout posts to the north of East Cowes. Although there are no beaches in that direction, cliffs two to three meters high cannot prevent small groups of British troops from landing in small boats: the so-called dam breaking due to ant holes. If such small units were to suddenly strike from behind at the most critical moment of the battle, it would be terrifying to think about!
As the roar of a large group of aircraft filled the sky again, Logan was nibbling on biscuits with cold water. He looked up and saw the disorganized formation of British bombers returning to their base on the opposite shore from south to north. The formidable momentum had completely disappeared, with several planes trailing faint smoke from their tails, indicating the extent of the damage suffered at Bembridge Harbour.
Indeed, Logan's observation and judgment abilities on the battlefield were quite accurate. The paratrooper unit that captured and occupied Bembridge Harbour quickly sent a telegram: under the powerful resistance prepared by the German Air Force, the British bombing fleet suffered the loss of 30 aircraft, but their desperate breakthrough still achieved some results: two of the three docks were bombed, and two of the German ships unloading supplies in the harbor were severely damaged. The Fuhrer's Guard Flag Detachment, which had already landed or was about to land, also suffered some losses. Of course, this could not stop the first organized armored unit of the German Army—the Fuhrer's Guard Flag Detachment Armored Company 1, which had already landed on the Isle of Wight. After replenishment in June and July, this company had become the most elite armored company in the Waffen-SS, equipped with eight Panzer IV D tanks, six Panzer III F tanks, 24 wheeled and half-track auxiliary vehicles, with a total strength of over 140 personnel, and eighty percent of the newly added personnel had undergone training for more than six months (thanks to the favoritism of the Fuhrer, the Waffen-SS always had priority in personnel and equipment supplies, which was quite enviable!).
Upon receiving the news of the safe landing of the Fuhrer's Guard Flag Detachment advance team, Logan breathed a long sigh of relief. It should be noted that the Isle of Wight has a total area of 381 square kilometers, more than 1.5 times that of Malta, with a length of 36 kilometers from east to west and a width of 22 kilometers from north to south. If fully armed infantry were to maneuver, it would take three to four hours for a round trip, while mechanized troops, under the condition that the roads are not completely blocked, would only take at most one hour!
"There's an aircraft!"
The light call of his adjutant, Bren Hartmann, made Logan shift his gaze from the map to the sky. To the north of the harbor, a light gray, biplane fighter was flying low. It was so quiet that it was often overlooked when people were fully focused on other things.
Logan took a glance through his binoculars. "Gladiator," an old biplane fighter, the "abandoned child" of technological progress. More than a month ago, when he and his soldiers were evacuating aboard the captured British minesweeper, it was this type of aircraft that first spotted their whereabouts. Clearly, the British pilots at the time were not fooled by Logan's small stratagem, and the subsequent naval and aerial battles almost doomed the German paratroopers' victory - something Logan still deeply resented!
"Those who are eating, keep eating, and those who are working, keep working! Don't mind it!"
Although these words carried a hint of disdain, they were not without reason. Only that lone "Gladiator" could be seen leisurely circling in the air. Perhaps it was wary of the ground-based anti-aircraft firepower, or perhaps it was cautious of potential dives from German fighters from afar. It maintained an altitude of several hundred meters until it suddenly dove down, pulling up its nose sharply until it was just three or four dozen meters above the river surface, swiftly streaking past the harbor's anti-aircraft defenses. At such close range, the German paratroopers on the dock could even see the complex expression on the face inside the cockpit.
There weren't many German paratroopers still active on the dock, and as for the Number 4 tank that had performed admirably in the previous battle, it was now quietly parked behind a warehouse to the south of the harbor. The formidable vanguard armored unit of the Führer Guard Regiment had already landed, but Logan wasn't in a hurry to deploy them to the front lines of each port. Until more reinforcements arrived, this powerful armored force would be assigned to the Newport Harbor area - the island's administrative center and transportation hub, facilitating support for any area of the island.
After hastily filling his stomach, Logan couldn't help but light another cigarette, but before he could finish it, some gray dots appeared on the sea surface. With three fingers, he flicked the cigarette into the distance, took a deep breath, and said, "Everyone, attention! The Brits are about to shell us, take cover! Everyone, take cover!"
Within two minutes, there was not a soul on the dock, including the last sentry responsible for vigilance. All the paratroopers withdrew to the fields to the south of the harbor - facing the British warships, hiding in seemingly sturdy warehouses would undoubtedly be extremely foolish behavior, and Logan was not the kind of commander who would recklessly let his tanks engage in a naval artillery duel.
The German fighters on patrol near the Newport airfield had obviously also noticed the fleet on the sea surface. They reported the situation to the ground forces via radio: approximately 40 ships were spotted in the northern sea area, including... 3 large ships, the rest were small vessels... 6 to 7 warships were identified, with the lead estimated to be a cruiser. Attention, the lead warship has opened fire!
As soon as Logan left the harbor area, large-caliber shells whistled in. Judging from the momentum, the caliber of the firing naval guns was far less than what Logan had encountered in the battle against the battleships at Monk, but it was still a huge threat to the ground forces. Explosions reverberated one after another, the entire ground trembled slightly, and the towering flames seemed to engulf everything in the harbor area, while the billowing smoke turned the two ports of Cowes into visible beacons of fire...
Sitting or crouching in relatively safe fields, the paratroopers were probably all feeling fortunate that they had chosen the right commander: strong in attack, timely in withdrawal, and when the British infantry finally landed, they should still be able to slaughter them with ease? Many words
The successive explosions dominated both shores. Logan had previously ordered Schultz to withdraw via radio, and at this moment, he wasn't too worried about the safety of his comrades. He gradually inferred the enemy's operational plan from the bombardment of the British ships: it seemed that the British were preparing to launch simultaneous landing operations at Cowes and East Cowes, two facing ports. If they could take both ports in one go, they could transport a large number of ground forces ashore in a short time, then spread out on both sides to capture Newport Harbor along with the airport to the south, and then swiftly drive the German troops landed at Brading Harbor into the sea!
The battlefield is a game of wits, comparing the quality of troops, the level of equipment, and the ability of commanders on both sides to strategize. Although Logan was a novice who could be at the mercy of others on the chessboard, his extensive foresight, especially his understanding of the wartime situation, remained his greatest characteristic distinct from the many dazzling generals of this era. Moreover, after two "tightrope" special operations, his grasp of timing had become stronger and stronger, often revealing his skill in calmness.
The intense shelling lasted only about ten minutes, and the two ports of Cowes were already obscured by raging flames and billowing smoke. Although this scene was somewhat expected, Logan couldn't help but marvel at the power of the navy - a military superpower striving to stand at the top of the world must have top-notch naval, land, and air forces, especially with technological advancement. The roles played by the navy and air force will far exceed those of the traditional army...