On the morning of August 31, at the positions of the German 1st Army Corps, more than 300,000 men of the 1st Army Corps had already completed their landing at Margate. Over the past few days, they had continued advancing toward Canterbury, with their vanguard now less than five kilometers away.
At the artillery positions, more than a thousand guns of various calibers had been rolled out. These were the artillery pieces equipped by the infantry divisions under the 1st Army Corps.
Farther out at sea, large numbers of German Navy warships were also present. There were new dreadnoughts equipped with 380mm Main Guns, as well as Pre-dreadnoughts armed with older 280mm main guns. In the coming battle, these warships would provide the 1st Army Corps with powerful fire support, smashing open the British defenses for the attacking German forces.
At the forward positions, more than two hundred tanks from the German Army's 1st Armored Division waited quietly. The tank crews were eating breakfast. Once the order came, they would immediately launch their attack, using the Steel Torrent to crush the British defenses and clear the way for the troops behind them.
In the direction of Dover, the German Army's 2nd Army Corps had likewise made thorough preparations. The more than two hundred tanks of the 2nd Armored Division would also serve as the 2nd Army Corps' fist in this operation.
At seven thirty in the morning, the German bombardment began. The two corps attacked along two directions, massing more than two thousand artillery pieces to hammer the British fortifications. Although German naval gunfire and bombing had already nearly destroyed the British defenses before this, the British would always work through the night to patch them up after each destruction. Though the repaired fortifications were greatly reduced in defensive strength,