Iron Cross

The 22nd Armored Brigade, another tank unit of the British 7th Armored Division, had worse luck than the 4th Armored Brigade. The latter only ran into a Tiger company, while they ran into the 501st Heavy Armored Battalion, which had all the main forces of the battalion. With the cooperation of a company of No. 4 tanks, Major Ruedel wiped out the entire 22nd Armored Brigade in a neat and tidy manner, but there were also casualties among the Tigers: a Tiger was penetrated by a 17-pound gun hidden in a corner at a distance of 1,000 meters. The members evacuated safely; another one had worse luck and was directly hit by a large-caliber howitzer, killing all the members of the vehicle; the third one unfortunately ran over an anti-tank mine, and the track was blown off and could not move. In addition to these three Tigers, the German army also lost 5 No. 4 tanks, but their record was equally brilliant. Except for 7 Shermans that finally escaped, all the other 96 Sherman or Churchill tanks put into battle by the 22nd Armored Brigade were annihilated.

After the threat of tanks was eliminated, the next battle was easier to fight. German armored grenadiers could be seen everywhere on the battlefield. They broke into the positions under the cover of tanks and used MG42 machine guns to wantonly reap the lives of British soldiers who refused to surrender. Although they were also in a miserable state, the Desert Rats lived up to the title of ace division. They did not collapse instantly like the colonial troops or the allied troops but chose to resist firmly. The British soldiers used grenades, rifles, machine guns, mortars and all other weapons they could get their hands on to stubbornly block the German tank wave. They had never fought so tenaciously and bravely. In this dying counterattack, the German army still lost a lot of tanks and armored vehicles, some of which were even blown up by grenades by British suicide squad members. But in the face of superior armored firepower, this struggle was doomed to be futile. One of the Queen's Infantry Battalion insisted on resisting stubbornly with a section of trenches and fortifications. When they were discovered by the German rocket artillery company, they were immediately taught a lesson by firing a volley of Himmler's organ. To paraphrase Lieutenant Colonel Merlinzin, after 400 rockets were fired, the whole world suddenly became quiet...

Although they resisted stubbornly, the 7th Armored Division, which had lost all its armored forces, could not stop the pace of the German attack. By 2 o'clock in the afternoon, all the positions of the division collapsed, countless tanks, trucks and armored vehicles were burning, and a large number of British soldiers were lying on the ground. In the desert, the whistling sound of artillery shells continued to sound, but most of it was only the firepower of the German army. The British artillery positions had been riddled with holes by the German tanks that had broken in and lost the ability to fight back. Large pieces of metal fragments or debris were scattered on the battlefield - gun bolts, engine pistons, water tanks, suspension devices, steering wheels and shrapnel were scattered like rain on the vast desert. The British infantry, artillery, engineers, and baggage soldiers who had lost their positions and had no defenses rushed to escape. The entire Tobruk Western Front battlefield was shrouded in a cloud of smoke, with flames and explosions everywhere, and wounded soldiers with broken limbs and injured bodies everywhere.

During the fierce frontal battle in the morning, Guderian also specially asked the 21st Armored Division to organize a large-scale outflanking operation, with the goal of occupying a large supply station in the desert more than 70 kilometers away from the British army. To this end, Major General Bismarck not only carefully selected the rapid reaction force, but also brought a large number of empty trucks to prepare for the capture of spoils. Originally, they thought that getting some fuel supplies, some Argentine beef, Canadian butter, authentic American cigarettes, milk and canned food would be enough. If they could also capture some British jam and chocolate candies, it would be almost perfect.

The result was several times richer than they had imagined. The British logistics department, which was busy pouring gasoline and burying explosives, was frightened by the machine guns of the Type 4 tanks and armored vehicles, and drove away in trucks without looking back. When the German officers and soldiers opened the semi-buried underground warehouse, everyone couldn't help but gasp. The richness of the contents and supplies inside was almost blinding: more than 30 armored vehicles, trucks and various accessories - from spark plugs to lampshades, from engines to tires, all were available, various brands of lubricants and gasoline, various types of cannon barrels and shells, mines, explosives, desert tents, mosquito nets, pesticides to kill bedbugs, military rations, radios and batteries, military uniforms and boots, bugles and even Scottish bagpipes, as for rations such as chocolate candies, whiskey, cigarettes and tobacco, they were neatly stacked on the shelves. The soldiers also found sealed tin cans of the British Empire's most famous black tea, coffee, butter and Cheese, movies and books for the soldiers to entertain themselves, shiny aluminum tableware, bacon and canned fruit, barbed wire, machine tools and oxyacetylene welding tools for repairing tanks, oxygen generators, bitter water desalination agents, jewelry and rifles to win over Arabs, helmets, kettles and compasses, concentrated feed for camels - although the desert mainly relies on vehicles for transportation, camels are obviously a good substitute, as well as various medicines, surgical instruments, plasma, and even an X-ray machine was found...

Major Siegfried, the commander of the armored grenadiers battalion, asked the logistics officer who came with the team in an unbelievable tone: "The British have so many supplies for a division? Are they here to fight or to go on vacation?"

The latter shrugged and replied humorously: "Who knows? But I only know that these are all ours..." After that, he looked at the trucks and armored vehicles parked outside, and then looked at the officers and soldiers who came with him, frowned and said: "Is it enough with our few vehicles?"

This was obviously not enough. Even with the trucks in the British inventory, it was not enough to move these things away. However, the clever Siegfried immediately thought of a good idea. He emptied all the armored vehicles. Except for the drivers, the other spaces were used to store things. As for the infantrymen who originally came with armored vehicles, they were asked to take tanks back. Even so, those bulky machine tools and maintenance equipment could not be moved. In the end, all the things that could not be moved, including the X-ray machine, were blown into pieces in a reluctant look...

Afterwards, they realized that this was not the supply warehouse of the 7th Armored Division at all. It was the general warehouse and logistics transit base of the entire British Army on the Western Front. It was to supply 6 divisions and 100,000 people together. Because the 7th Division had the strongest combat effectiveness, and the German army had never attacked in this direction, and the terrain was conducive to digging warehouses, they chose this place. Unexpectedly, the materials that had been stockpiled for 2 months finally fell into Guderian's hands.

Montgomery almost collapsed when he received the news from Landon that the tank units of the 7th Armored Division were completely wiped out and the positions were lost. From 6 o'clock in the morning to now, only 10 hours, the entire armored division was finished, and the order he gave to Landon was to hold on for at least 48 hours. The armored units of the New Zealand 2nd Division and the Australian 9th Division, which were rushing to rescue, had not even had time to collide with the German army, but had received the officers and soldiers who had retreated from their own positions.

De-Lagan frowned and said, "Lanton reported that the Germans deployed a new tank. They are indestructible and bulletproof. All our tanks can't do anything to them. Two armored brigades were written off in this way..."

"Humph! Indestructible, bulletproof, is this a monster?" Montgomery exhaled from his nose in hatred, "They said the same thing last time they encountered T-34, and they said it again this time. Our commanders are used to shirking responsibility with such excuses. No matter how strong the Germans are, they are just tanks."

"What should we do now? Continue to send two divisions to support as planned?"

"We must fill this loophole, otherwise we will The gap is too big. "Montgomery sighed, looked at the map and said, "What if the German forces break out from the gap and can easily outflank the left and right wings? What should we do then? Retreat across the board?"

De-Lagan remained silent: Retreating across the board is definitely not a good idea. London was already deeply dissatisfied with the Eighth Army for not being able to take Tobruk as soon as possible and only choosing to besiege it. If it can't even maintain the encirclement now, it will be even more furious. This is much more terrible than losing a Seventh Armored Division, not to mention that the entire encirclement is now a line. Once the German army launches an attack, it will cause a chain reaction, and the situation will be too bad.

"General Ted replied to us that the Sky Force can be dispatched." After thinking for a long time, he didn't find any good ideas, so he could only tell Montgomery the positive information.

"Landon's latest report says how many German troops are attacking him?"

"Still maintain that statement - at least 500 tanks, 50,000 to 60,000 people."

After the top secret was destroyed, the British did not know Guderian's situation very well, but the approximate number of people could still be judged. They believed that the total strength of the German army was between 100,000 and 120,000. Montgomery did not believe Landon's judgment at first. He thought that Guderian could not use half of his troops to break through the attack, so his remaining defense line would be very fragile and difficult to maintain. But the facts in front of him made him unbelievable: in just one day, the 7th Armored Division with nearly 20,000 people and 200 tanks was destroyed - even if it is not said that the whole army was annihilated, it can be said that it has lost its combat effectiveness. He knew the combat level of the division. If Guderian did not concentrate 2-3 times the troops, he would never believe that the 7th Armored Division would be easily broken through by him.

Montgomery walked to the map again and thought hard. All the combat staff in the command center did not dare to say a word, but just quietly waited for the commander's judgment.

"If Guderian really pulled out at least two armored divisions to carry out the western offensive, then he shouldn't have many troops left behind?"

"I think so." De-Lagan understood Montgomery's idea and asked tentatively, "You think..."

"All mobilizations and deployments in the west remain unchanged, and the east should adopt a more active response strategy." Montgomery had an idea in his mind, and the orders were immediately passed down.