Student was not in a good mood. He had just passed by the glider to the Netherlands territory and got news of heavy losses from the radio he carried.

Due to interference from air defense fire, a ju-52 transport plane made a mistake when sending paratroopers. 12 fully armed German paratroopers were thrown out of the cabin in confusion, but found that the direction they fell was an aircraft warehouse destroyed by the German bomber that attacked first, burning with raging fire. These German paratroopers slowly fell towards hell in despair. They looked at their feet in horror, and listened to the wind and parachutes leading themselves to the hot core.

This mistake alone cost the German paratroopers to kill 12 people, not including the casualties caused by the fierce counterattacks of the surrounding Dutch defenders.

Most paratroopers landed on the edge of the airport and quickly began to attack. When the first Ju-52 transport aircraft arrived with infantry, the battle was in full swing. Above head, a German FW-190d fighter had just smashed a British fearless fighter into pieces. On this day, 93 of the 125 fighter jets in the Netherlands were shot down by the Luftwaffe, making the record painted on the fighter jets piloted by German ace fighter pilots.

These German planes ventured to land forcibly at the airport, and the roar of Dutch anti-aircraft guns echoed under their feet. The first ju-52 transport plane landed safely, while the second was hit by the anti-aircraft guns, which instantly turned into debris and fire balls, falling to the ground and rolling smoke came out.

About an hour later, almost 100 ju-52 transport aircraft carried three infantry battalions, a total of 1,200 fully armed soldiers, landed at Valhalven Airport. One of the battalions' troops began to cross the streets of the suburbs of Rotterdam and headed north. The mission of these airborne infantry was to reinforce German paratroopers who had penetrated from the Neus Maas River in the middle of the city and captured the Williams Bridge.

The attack method of these German paratroopers was somewhat incredible. They arrived at their destination in old-fashioned seaplanes, where they took advantage of the mist on the water and relied on the old-fashioned Henkel 59 seaplanes (which were also one of the early contrabands in the Wehrmacht) toward the downstream, trying to dock before the Dutch defenders found them.

The German soldiers on the plane quickly inflated the rubber raft and relied on manpower to row towards the shore. After getting ashore, they built simple fortifications on both sides of the shore, established machine gun strongholds to guard the Williams Bridge. In addition, these people also seized the time to build a small floating bridge leading to the island in the heart of the river.

What is surprising is that at first, these German paratroopers did not encounter resistance as invaders. The Dutch who went to work on the Williams Bridge thought that these seaplanes belonged to the British, and some kind Dutch citizens also came forward to help and helped these German soldiers transport supplies to the river beach.

However, the good times did not last long. When the Dutch realized that they had been invaded, they began to fight back fiercely. These German paratroopers were hidden in nearby houses behind the bridge pier, stubbornly blocking the Dutch's attack. There were only a few German troops, but they were highly motivated and well-equipped. They stood firm in places that were vulnerable to attacks from both sides of the Taiwan Strait. Only a few people were confused about whether they could persist.

The Dutch defenders attacked the German positions from all directions, but the Germans relied on their superior firepower to fight back fiercely. The mp-44 assault rifle and the G43 semi-automatic rifle were obviously more suitable for the current situation than the bolt rifle used by the Dutch defenders. Therefore, although three or four German soldiers were killed, the Dutch also left behind more than twenty bodies.

Suddenly, a city tram rang a bell and rushed to the south side of the bridge. In the dutch's stunned, a total of 70 fully armed German soldiers jumped out of the tram and the car that followed behind. These soldiers were a company commanded by the airborne lieutenant Koffin.

Kevin's paratroopers were airborne to the ground in a British football field on the south bank. After landing, they occupied the surrounding buildings and forced the city's trams and several cars. They drove the stunned Dutch civilians out of the car and drove straight to the bridge.

These German paratroopers who came to support occupied the southern end of the bridge, and others ran across the bridge at full speed to support their comrades who were already facing collapse. The artillery fire of the Dutch resisters blocked the infantry battalion who rushed from Valhalvan Airport halfway. They were suppressed by artillery fire on both sides of the highway and had no way to support the German paratroopers in the northern section of the Williams Bridge as planned.

The Dutch did not sit at home and were beaten. On the contrary, they performed much better than the Polish army. All weapons and equipment seemed to have participated in the battle for the Williams Bridge near Rotterdam. Soon, a Dutch patrol boat and a torpedo boat arrived at the Neusta Maras River. The Dutch on the ship bombarded Germany's bridgehead positions with small caliber cannons, and frantically destroyed the seaplanes parked on the water.

But soon the two ships exhausted their ammunition and were forced to leave the area where the fire was fierce. Then the Dutch called a more ruthless character: a destroyer and two gunboats drove from the mooring entrance of the Dutch cape to the narrow water surface. The warships were ordered to shell Valhalven Airport and attack the landing German field artillery and large-caliber mortar units.

But this time the Luftwaffe appeared in time to save the airborne troops that were about to fall into disaster. 20 Stuka dive bombers came over Rotterdam and began to cover German paratroopers to clear the surrounding Dutch army targets. The Dutch Navy's destroyer was forced to leave because once the Luftwaffe discovered the destroyer that fired the artillery, it would definitely sink it. The Dutch fleet did not want to fight against the bomber in narrow waters, so they had to escape in a hurry and did not even have time to fire a shot.

Most of the Dutch resistance troops that day were in a mess. German paratroopers seemed to be everywhere. They blocked roads, occupied fortresses, controlled bridges and railways, and sniped Dutch soldiers in unexpected places. There were rumors everywhere that German paratroopers dressed up as policemen, priests and even nuns. The Dutch defenders were confused by this intelligence. The entire Netherlands was burning, and this war puzzled the defense side, and they did not know how to effectively defend and counterattack.

This was a strategy by General Student. He asked some transport planes to put fake paratroopers in Dutch villages and some other places. The scarecrows were wearing worn uniforms replaced by paratroopers, equipped with simple combustion devices, ignited everywhere to create chaos, and also made Dutch commanders overestimate the size of the German airborne troops.

The battle reached a white heat after a few hours. The Dutch defenders finally found their true threat in the evening. In order to cooperate with the British troops in defense and counterattack, they thought that they had to regain the Dodrecht Fortress Bridge between Rotterdam and Muldike. So they fought the craziest counterattack against the German paratroopers here.

Here, the German paratroopers airborne the troops of two companies. They repelled the Dutch attacks again and again with favorable terrain and advanced weapons and equipment. However, the price was almost unacceptable: a German company commander died in battle, and more than 30 German paratroopers were killed here.

And at the end, the Dutch regained the bridgehead on one side by their own number advantage. They drove the Germans away from one side of the railway bridge and occupied several simple positions. However, these Dutch attack troops did not receive the order to destroy the bridge and could only risk maintaining this situation of confrontation between the bridge.

All of these messages reached Stutdente's ears by radio, who landed with the airborne infantry and established his combat command in a nearby school. He stood on the podium and began to arrange tasks one by one, gathering up the paratroopers everywhere - and his combat staff and officers sat on benches, surrounding him like a group of students who were over-age.

"How many reserve teams do we have?" Student stared at the map in his hand and asked the commander closest to him: "You can go into combat immediately now."

"General, we have a battalion of garrisons nearby, but if we use them, the defense at the airport can only be completed by the remaining two companies - which is very dangerous." The officer immediately stood up and replied.

Student thought for a while, and finally decided to take a gamble: "War itself is the biggest adventure, and there are not so many ways to get the best of both worlds for us to pick and choose."

He glanced at the officer: "Let me lead the troops of this battalion to Dodrecht! Hold on to us until we come here! Take away all the ammunition you can take! By tomorrow night at the latest, I will not have any troops to reinforce you."

"As for orders! General! Ensure the completion of the task!" The officer stood attentively and hurriedly left the command center with his several men.

This is really a gamble. Student now includes his own guards, and only two companies of soldiers are to defend the important Valhalven Airport, which is where his reinforcements and supplies land the next day. The airport is full of Ju-52 transport planes that were too late to fly back to Germany. If something goes wrong, the Luftwaffe will suffer heavy losses.

Taking advantage of the night, he took the risk of sending troops to reinforce the Dodrecht area to regain the position. This news made Student relieve some of his tense mood. Now the only thing he needs to worry about is whether the Dutch defenders will attack the Valhalvan Airport where he is. This night, no one was destined to fall asleep in the Netherlands.
Chapter completed!