Iron Cross

PS: I am writing a book part-time, and my writing time is irregular recently, so the updates cannot be timed. I apologize to all readers, and I will try my best to update it twice a day.

The landforms of the Cyrenaica Plateau are very complex. They are a mixture of various landforms. Some places look flat, but as soon as you go up there, you will know that there is quicksand below. If you step on it, you can sink it all the way to the groin, and even kill people silently. The surface of some places is desert, but underneath is weathered rock formation. This rock formation is so solid that it is impossible to dig infantry trenches, anti-tank trenches and artillery positions with engineer shovels and pickaxes; only in a few places can the sand be removed. It is a soil layer that is convenient for construction. In order to effectively deal with the rock formations, the Italians who colonized Libya for many years took the lead in introducing rock drills driven by air compressors, and dug out fortifications, artillery positions and machine gun bunkers on the stone slabs. To ensure the safety of the main position, they also dug out rock drills in front of the position. A large number of anti-personnel mines and anti-tank mines were laid.

Guderian was very confident in his defense line and seemed to be convinced that the Polish and French brigades could not break in. Although Westphal, Merinzin and others were doubtful, they did not think that this response was wrong - Montgomery Inviting only the Poles and French to play did have a strong flavor of conspiracy. The mature and prudent Bayerlein was worried and sent a telegram to the Flying Fortress Armored Brigade at the center of the defense line, asking them to be ready to attack at any time.

Although the overall design of the Tobruk defense system by the Italians is considered perfect and the military engineering they have excavated is sufficient, their fighting will and experience are not worthy of the defense line they built after a lot of hard work - these fortifications. They did not hold it for long and were easily occupied by the British. However, when Rommel attacked the Tobruk Fortress, the British used these fortifications to hold on for a long time, causing considerable damage to the Afrika Korps. If it weren't for Rommel's clever roundabout attack, outflanking the 8th Army's rear route, and the British General Klopp who was holding on to the fortress, he lost confidence and surrendered, the Tobruk Fortress would never have been so easy to defeat.

Now, it was the Germans' turn to hold the position, and the 21st Armored Division, which was responsible for the defense, was full of confidence - although they were armored divisions, the infantry of the German armored divisions was not weak. The only disadvantage is that the British are familiar with this defense line and know where there may be strong positions - even if the African Army can improve and optimize the defense line system, it will not be able to start over and build fortifications on another landform feature.

Everyone in the African Army headquarters thought that Guderian's purpose of letting the 21st Armored Division hold its position in the east was to hold back the British. The main force will continue to sweep the two flanks of the British army along today's breakthrough tomorrow - this should be the commander's preparation. It was a "surprise" for Montgomery, but Guderian's next order stunned them: "Pull the troops back, let's change the direction and prepare to attack south."

southward?

This seems to be a decision that is difficult for people to understand: fighting to the west is to pursue the victory and use the gap that has been opened to destroy the entire British defense line. Fighting to the east is tit-for-tat and effectively responds to the attack launched by the British. But fighting to the south is What does it mean?

Mei Linjin asked in confusion: "Where is the position occupied today?"

"Give it to the New Zealanders or the Australians - if they want it."

"What? Aren't you going to outflank the left and right wings along the gap?" Bayerlein was anxious. "This is the gap we opened with great difficulty. It would be a pity to give up. I think we should pursue the victory."

"No! You can't do this." Guderian drew two arrows on the map. "What will happen if we fight out like this?"

Everyone was confused: What would happen? Isn't it just to take advantage of the situation to outflank the left and right wings and then sweep the enemy's position?

"What about the troops? The 21st Armored Division cannot move, the paratrooper brigade must guard the fortress, and the Flying Fortress Armored Brigade must serve as a reserve..." Guderian clicked on the small flags of the 4th and 15th Armored Divisions on the sand table, "Even the Tiger heavy armor The battalion is not adapted to long-distance attacks. The only two armored divisions that can be used are only 30,000 people and more than 300 tanks. It is impossible to sweep the British army on the Western Front. When the time comes, they will send two divisions to entangle us, and then the rest. If the troops are cut off in the middle, what do you think will happen?”

Chief of Operations Westphal first saw the clue from the arrows drawn by Guderian: "Then the enemy will separate our two armored divisions from the rest of the troops."

"As a side with few troops but strong combat effectiveness, dividing our troops is a mistake we must not make. Montgomery's tactics are fundamentally wrong - he should not build an encirclement around our defense line. What he should do most is to surround himself The troops gathered into a fist, and then continuously attacked the weak points of our defense line, using continuous attacks in turns to consume our strength." Guderian elaborated on his point of view, "A confrontation of 100,000 and 300,000 is barely acceptable, if he is prepared. If we sacrifice 100,000 people, we may also suffer 30,000 to 40,000 casualties. What do you think will happen then?”

With this explanation, everyone understood: if the African Army loses 30,000 to 40,000 people, it will not be able to maintain such a large front, and will have to be forced to shrink, and then the British will be able to press even tighter - if Montgomery adopts this at all costs With this kind of counterfeit tactic, the Eighth Army could still have 100,000 people left after 200,000 people died. At that time, the African Army would probably only have 20,000 to 30,000 people left, which would not pose a threat to the enemy at all, let alone defend Tob. Rook.

"Then why didn't he do it?"

"First, he was reluctant to pay such a high price because he didn't know whether the head of state would continue to support us. The British felt comfortable fighting the Italians last time and did not want to use this kind of bloody war of attrition; second, the British Waiting for reinforcements - you must have seen the intelligence transferred from China. There are nearly 100,000 British and American troops passing through the Cape of Good Hope to land in Egypt. They are Montgomery's strong backing. "

The reason for not continuing the attack along the gap was immediately explained, but everyone was still full of doubts - why should we go south instead of east to attack the British head-on? Not only are there many enemy forces in the south, but they are also vulnerable to encirclement by enemy forces on the east and west wings. In the previous three weeks of exploratory attacks, the African Army has fought south more than once, and every time it has opened a gap and then been blocked by British aircraft and troops. They rushed to plug the leak but were forced to give up. Everyone found it unacceptable that Guderian still insisted on fighting south.

"Because the enemy has moved... Montgomery, who has lost one division in the west, will transfer some troops from the south to support the western defense line. If my estimate is good, at least one brigade will be transferred. At the same time, since he is attacking in the east, he may still We will mobilize troops from the south, and our troops will not be short. After the heavy armored battalion is repaired in the evening, it can still be used for breakthroughs in this direction tomorrow." Guderian smiled and comforted everyone, "He will fight his, and I will fight mine. , we must concentrate our superior forces to attack. I don't care if we can break through the defense line. I just want to eliminate the British effective forces. If I can capture another division, it will be perfect. That means that the day when the 'big plan' will actually be launched is not far away... "

Speaking of the "big plan", everyone's hearts couldn't help but become hot, and their faces were full of longing...

In order to seize the time, starting at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the Polish and French brigades, under Montgomery's order, swooped toward the position amid the barrage of artillery fire. More than 40 tanks also covered and cooperated with their attack. Some of them are Churchill infantry tanks, and some are General Grant - this kind of tank with two cannons, huge size, but not very flexible in turning. After being repeatedly taught a lesson by the T-34s, the British identified it as more suitable for cover. Infantry attack is not suitable for armored warfare.

Lieutenant General Walster faithfully adhered to Guderian's order, not using a single tank, and even using only a quarter of the 88-gun, and fought around various positions with the enemy in front of him.

In the headquarters, Montgomery was anxiously waiting for news about the leakage of the western defense line and the eastern attack. He needed to arrange the next move based on the progress of all aspects.

"Sir, the gap in the 7th Armored Division is blocked." De Lagan ran over excitedly, waving the telegram and said, "The New Zealand 2nd Division and the Australian 9th Division have joined forces and joined forces to block the gap, and at the same time saved the The rearguard and broken personnel of the 7th Armored Division."

"Did they fight the Germans?"

"We fought... We had a tank battle with each other, and the losses were similar. No one took advantage, but neither the New Zealanders nor the Australians reported encountering that kind of super tank..." De Lagan is not sure now. Whether the situation reported by Major General Langton is true or not is not easy to draw conclusions. He only recounted the latest developments of the battle, "The Germans took the initiative to retreat and disengage. Our officers gave up the pursuit considering the need to restore their positions and accommodate their personnel." "

"How much strength does the 7th Armored Division have left?"

"The two armored brigades suffered heavy losses, with about 20 tanks left. Most of the artillery was still there, but basically all the artillery was lost; the infantry lost about 4-5 battalions, and some other combat personnel were lost - overall In total, we lost about 5,000 people, more than 180 tanks and more than 100 artillery pieces. In addition..." De Lagan's voice became very angry, "We also lost logistics transfer bases. Our people did not have time to destroy them. , the supplies are probably going to be robbed by the Germans.”

"This is dereliction of duty! This is a crime!" Montgomery slammed the table and shouted angrily, "Why not destroy them? Why not arrange reliable forces to guard these supplies? These things do not belong to the 7th Armored Division, but to the 10th Armored Division. The materials needed by ten thousand people in a quarter were transported thousands of miles from the British Empire and the autonomous territories of Canada, South Africa, Australia, India, etc. It was our logistics troops that withstood air attacks by enemy planes, evaded all-pervasive submarine attacks, and They had gone through so much trouble to move here from Alexandria. It was good that they lost everything in one day and even lost it to the Germans. How much trouble did this save the enemy? We became Guderian's supplies. Team!"