The gunships continued their assault for the better part of fifteen long, gruelling minutes, during which time many of the original twenty-four had been forced to terminate their attacks and head east once more as their ammunition ran out. As the remaining aircraft of III./SHG1 finally turned away and made their way back toward the French coast in loose formation, they were passed by their colleagues from II Gruppe, flying in the other direction. Strung out in a long line, two-dozen of the SH-6C Drache helicopters drew to within a few thousand metres of the Port of Dover before a single order from their commander brought them all to a complete halt. Another moment or two and they were joined by a single NH-3D utility helicopter, which aligned itself to the southern end of the formation and also assumed a stationary, holding position. The line of aircraft was clearly visible to observers on the Western Heights, below the Drop Redoubt, and it was a sight that instilled much foreboding as the choppers hovered in place as if waiting for something to happen… which was exactly the case.
Gustav first shell struck completely without warning, within minutes of the appearance of the second wave of waiting gunships, the seven-tonne armour piercing round landing perfectly on target. The southernmost of the two guns at Battery 672(E), Gustav had fired upon the huge and complex fortifications that stretched across the top of Dover’s Western Heights, many of which were connected by a maze of secret tunnels.
The northernmost section contained the Drop Redoubt, a large, pentagon-shaped fortress dug into the top of the hill and surrounded by a deep, dry moat, built with the purpose of protecting the port from landward attack. Its last official garrison had been withdrawn around the turn of the century, but a squad of Royal Commandos had secretly taken up residence there following the outbreak of war in 1939, tasked with the sole duty of destroying the harbour in the event of an invasion.
The shell struck the outer fortress at the southern end of the moat, quite close to a protruding casemate known as Caponier 2. It easily penetrated the brick and earth walls, punching deep into the earth below, and the subsequent explosion, although relatively small in comparison to the guns’ high-explosive rounds, was still sufficient to create a substantial camouflet beneath the Redoubt’s southern corner. The ground disappeared beneath that part of the structure, collapsing into a crater several metres deep and taking a large section of Caponier 2 and the adjoining fortress wall with it. As the detonation occurred underground, there was surprisingly little smoke or flame, but a thick plume of dust rose into the sky nevertheless, billowing upward as solid fortifications were reduced to useless rubble.
Observers aboard the hovering NH-3D relayed some minor adjustments, and Dora fired second 7-tonne shell a moment later that fell forty metres north-north-west and tipped a similarly large section of wall and fortification into the western side of the dry moat in a pile of dust and debris. Gustav’s second shell struck four minutes later, followed soon after by another shell from Dora, both of which landed inside the central walls of the Redoubt, sending larger sections of the 150-year-old fortress tumbling into deep underground craters and leaving the entire area partially obscured by spreading clouds of dust and smoke.
What was less apparent to the external observer was the damage also being wrought to the complex maze of secret underground tunnels that criss-crossed the entire area beneath the Western Heights, and linked the Redoubt with the Citadel and Centre Bastion complexes. The terrible subterranean shockwaves produced by just those four shells were powerful enough to collapse many tunnels in the immediate vicinity and seriously weaken many others at far greater distances to the point of being unsafe. All of that was collateral damage however, as the initial purpose of the shelling had been to neutralise the commando squad stationed within the Redoubt and prevent them interfering with the integrity of the harbour below. The fire mission had been a complete success in that respect: those few men inside the fortress who’d not been killed in the first blast had certainly been wiped out by the following three.
In the fifteen minutes that followed, the next six shots from Battery 672(E) shifted their aim to the port area itself. This time, both guns again fired the same proximity-fused ‘airburst’ shells they’d used to good effect on the beach defences earlier that morning… this time, those same shells were instead targeted at high-density urban and commercial city areas. Still not completely recovered from the damaged suffered during the artillery duel of weeks earlier, Archcliffe Road and Limekiln Street again felt the huge guns’ wrath as blasts rocked the area, demolishing entire blocks of houses and leaving just empty, rubble-strewn landscapes in their wake. Hawkesbury, Bulwark and Snargate Streets suffered similar fates, the smoke and fires that ensued adding to the dark haze of blackness already collecting over the port area as a result of the air attacks.
The shelling of the town had been intended to serve several purposes. Firstly, it’d helped to spread panic and terror throughout the crowds clogging the congested streets heading out of the city, which not only tied up desperately-needed troops and kept them away from their defences, but also helped to prevent the approach of any reinforcements that might seek to launch a counter attack in the hours to follow. Secondly, it’d also helped subdue any defenders still within the port area who’d managed to survive the bombings and rocket attacks and were still in hiding awaiting a chance to strike back. Lastly, the bombardment also directly aided the masses of troops now heading directly for Dover with the intention of capturing the harbour intact. The cliffs around Dover had made a hovercraft assault impossible, and something quite different had been required to solve the problem of getting troops on the ground quickly to secure the port. As had been the case further south at Folkestone, supply vessels and transports were also enroute for Dover and due to arrive within a few hours, but the task of paving the way and providing them with safe harbour fell to the newest combat units of the Waffen-SS: 1st SS Flieger Division.
As the bombardment finally lifted, the waiting gunships immediately powered in once more and began to patrol freely over the harbour and town centre, ready to attack anyone foolish enough to fire on them, but also taking care not to engage any targets further away. There’d already been a huge loss of life from the shelling and air attacks, but these deaths and injuries had been considered an unfortunate necessity that was an incidental side effect of the assault’s true purpose. There was no intention to target civilians directly, something that’d been made completely clear right from the very top, and the SH-6C pilots therefore took great care to cause as little damage to non-military personnel as was possible.
As the Drache gunships circled over the area, more helicopters appeared on the horizon and swarmed in toward the port in formations of dozens at a time. More than a hundred NH-3D helicopters swept across the waters of The Channel as wave after wave came in low against the eastern horizon. Vast areas around the harbour had been flattened completely by the huge airburst shells, and these blast sites now provided the approaching helicopters with almost perfect landing sites.
As they drew closer, the aircraft would break into groups of three or four at a time, each touching down on the uneven, rubble-covered ground just long enough to deploy a squad of airborne infantry, then powering away into the sky once more to make way for the next flight. Many of the landed troops took up positions to form a defensive perimeter around the Harbour, finding plenty of wreckage and uneven ground for use as cover. Several squads turned back toward the docks, accompanied by experienced pioneers tasked with ensuring that any demolition charges or booby traps that the British might’ve left were disabled safely.