Iron Cross

Faced with the almost rogue style of the Bf-219 Commando, Royal Air Force Colonel Thomas, who was commanding in the air, was furious, but he had no choice. Now the fleet faced a bigger problem: allowing some fighter jets to turn around and engage with enemy aircraft. Fighting is not a smart idea. Leaving too little is almost useless. If too much is left, if the opponent cannot be defeated quickly, the remaining fuel will be difficult to ensure the smooth return of these interceptor aircraft. Even if they parachute, it is almost impossible to do so in this desert area. It is no different than waiting to die; and if the entire fleet speeds up to escape, the engine power consumption will increase at an accelerated rate, and the range will also be reduced. Moreover, the fighter jets cannot abandon the bombers and attack the fleet and escape first, which is equivalent to abandoning themselves. comrades.

The remaining British aircraft were obviously panicked. They had never expected to encounter such a thing on their way back. After more than 2 hours of fierce fighting, they were not only running low on fuel and ammunition, but also mentally exhausted. And judging from the way they defeated the rearmost aircraft of our side, it was obvious that these were a group of veterans - and they were an opponent that no one wanted to face. Although there are fighter jets with more remaining fuel that spontaneously stay behind, and there are also handsome warrior fighter-bombers with relatively wide ranges that join the team, their number is obviously not enough, and in order to intercept and block Garland's air commando team, they must enter Dogfighting, and this is the favorite combat mode of the Bf-219 veterans, and fighter-bombers such as the Handsome Warrior are not the opponents of pure fighters. After more than ten minutes, the Garand Commando shot down 18 aircraft one after another without any losses.

Thomas really had no choice but to order three air force squadrons mainly equipped with P-40\\P-38 fighter jets to stay behind, because these two aircraft had the most fuel remaining, and the other aircraft accelerated to leave. These three squadrons had 36 aircraft at full strength. After the fierce battle in the morning, there were still about 27 aircraft left. The commander almost had a death mentality to fight with the German air commandos. This played into Garland's plan-he No matter how good the temporary squadron was, it couldn't take down the large British cluster of more than 300 aircraft. By about 11 o'clock, all the British aircraft left to block the attack were shot down, and the German air commando lost only 2 aircraft.

The British pilots used their own tragic blood to compose the most tragic scene in the air battle in North Africa.

At noon, Montgomery received the telegram from General Ted. After reading it, he couldn't calm down for a long time. Seeing that he was in a low mood, de Lagan comforted him: "Although the Air Force suffered heavy losses, the situation on the southern battlefield can still be maintained. , Once the troops of the 10th Armored Division arrive in the afternoon, the overall battle situation is expected to be reversed quickly. "

Montgomery shook his head: "It's not that simple. Although the situation reported from the front line exaggerated Guderian's troops and equipment, it can still be seen that the German army has invested a lot of troops in the south. This is completely different from the previous few offensives that were only superficial. It cannot be reversed by the 10th Armored Division, they need more support."

"This..." De Lagan thought for a moment and found that there really was no force to be used. After the 7th and 8th Armored Divisions collapsed and the 151st Infantry Brigade was defeated, it was necessary to maintain the strength of the entire defense line. The situation became stretched. Although the 51st Highland Division was on the way to reinforcements, it would take at least 2 days for the main force of the entire division to arrive, and one 51st Highland Division alone would not be able to make up for the current strength gap.

"Report, the Australian 9th Division commanded by General Leslie Mosshead sent a telegram. They continued to advance 15 kilometers. They did not find any large German troops and encountered only sporadic resistance. However, they are currently facing two large minefields. District, engineers are speeding up demining, please tell me what to do next?”

Montgomery immediately rushed to the map to check the situation and found that the Australian 9th Division was deeply embedded in the German outer defense circle. If the New Zealand 2nd Division, which was cooperating on the flanks, also advanced, they could immediately break through the outer defense circle and even capture the German army. Zara – This was something they had been wanting to do for a few weeks but hadn’t been able to do it. He raised his head and glanced at De Lagan, and found that the latter's eyes were also full of enthusiasm.

"It seems that Guderian did transfer the troops from the western defense zone to the southern front to attack. This is an unexpected surprise." Montgomery thought for a moment and said, "Order: The New Zealand 2nd Division captures Jazala as soon as possible and attacks the German army. The inner defense circle forced Guderian to return reinforcements, and at the same time asked the 1st South African Division to fill the battlefield gap after the advance of the two divisions, and the 201st Guards Brigade accelerated reinforcements in the southern defense area."

At Adem's temporary headquarters, Bayerlein said worriedly: "Sir, the British are advancing very fast and have occupied Jazala. Should we ask the Flying Fortress Armored Brigade to attack? "

Guderian stared at the map carefully, shook his head and said, "The Flying Fortress will not move for the time being. Let the 21st Armored Division detach an armored battalion and a grenadier regiment to block the attack near the inner defense circle."

"Then they don't have enough strength left in the East."

"No! Enough!" Guderian laughed confidently, "Montgomery has stopped attacking in the east because he is afraid of our attack in the south."

This laughter confused Bayerlein: "Are we going to continue attacking the 44th Infantry Division on the opposite side this afternoon?"

"Of course! Make the noise louder, weaken and destroy the enemy forces as much as possible, but don't really break them up - this will force Montgomery to send a steady stream of reinforcements."

Bayerlein couldn't keep up with the opponent's rhythm: "You don't want to break the southern defense line?"

"I never considered it."

Bayerlein was surprised. This was very different from what he had imagined: "What do you think?"

"The south is just a cover now, used to attract the attention of the Eighth Army. My next goal is here..." Guderian's hand gestured on the map.

"But the direction of Jazala, does it really not matter?"

"The more intense we fight in other places, the more suspicious Montgomery will be. The inner defense circle is not so easy to break through." Guderian comforted his men, "You will be responsible for commanding the south in the afternoon, and I will turn to the east."

In the afternoon, the 10th Armored Division, which was hurrying slowly, finally arrived at the southern battlefield. Montgomery and De Lagan also breathed a sigh of relief, watching the 10th Armored Division say "...it has not been attacked by the enemy for the time being, but each of them The units were reporting that the artillery fire ahead was extremely fierce—more intense than any attack in the past three weeks!" The two of them were still feeling uneasy. The Desert Air Force conducted another air raid on the battlefield in the afternoon. After learning from the experience and lessons learned in the morning, General Ted reduced the number of bombers this time and increased the escort density and intensity of fighter jets. Although the safety was improved, the intensity of the strike was not. also lowered.

The German army still dispatched more fighter jets to fight, but careful people will find that the number of German fighter jets seems to be smaller than in the morning, especially in the morning when the Garand Commandos used obscene tactics to kill more than 50 enemy planes on the southern front. No trace in sight.

At 4 o'clock in the afternoon, just as the British aircraft on the southern front completed the battlefield air strikes and began to return one after another, a shocking bad news was delivered to the Eighth Army Headquarters - 15 minutes ago, a huge formation of German bombers and dive bombers was covered by a large number of German fighter jets. Suddenly, air strikes were launched to attack the troops on the eastern battlefield. At the same time, the German armored forces that had been dormant behind the battle line were also launched to attack the French and Polish brigades that had just entered a defensive state. These two brigades had been greatly weakened in the previous attack and were unable to parry. Although they quickly received tank support from the 1st Armored Division, which was originally preparing to outflank the flanks, the Germans dispatched only fresh troops. Even the Flying Fortress Armored Brigade serving as a reserve force also appeared on the battlefield.

Under the lightning attack of two German bomber wings, an armored brigade, and half an armored division, before 4:30, the French and Polish brigades, which had relatively weak fighting will, collapsed first, and then this atmosphere infected the 1st Armored Division, this division's tanks suffered a lot of losses in air raids, and suffered successive losses in head-to-head armored encounters, and their position became unstable. They could only give up several front lines of defense to the enemy, and at the same time kept calling to Montgomery. support.

Fifteen minutes later, the 44th Division and the 2nd Free French Brigade, which had been fighting bloody battles in the southern position, also reported to Montgomery that they were unable to maintain the situation. They handed over the main defense line to the 10th Armored Division that had just arrived and then withdrew. Now it was the turn of the troops. The division came to accept the successive attacks of the Tiger Armored Battalion, T-34 and No. 4 Tank Battalion, not to mention that there were "ground-washing" weapons like Himmler's organ watching covetously. The poor 10th Armored Division continued to fight for two days. After being transferred back and forth, the overall condition has not yet been restored and a fierce battle has begun. The entire division is miserable and can only grit its teeth and persevere to the end. At the same time, it does not forget to ask the headquarters for the 201st Guards Brigade to come up as soon as possible for support.

Almost at the same time, the New Zealand 2nd Division and the Australian 9th Division sent telegrams: The headquarters has captured Jazala, but encountered stubborn resistance from the German army during its attack on the inner defense circle. The progress is currently slow, and they request grace time.

Montgomery and De Lagan were stunned: they had not expected Guderian's strange style of play - he ignored the more important Tobruk Fortress and the internal defense circle, and instead fought in the east and south, attacking the British. As far as the army is concerned, everything is going well in the western war, but the east and south have turned into a decline, which is completely beyond their imagination.

A more difficult choice was before them: Should they adjust their forces to strengthen defense and calmly deal with attacks from the east and south, or should they ignore the east and south directions and resolutely launch a general attack on Tobruk?