Iron Cross

Brig. General Brown hastily sent a telegram to the division headquarters and the army headquarters, requesting accelerated assistance for the brigade to be surrounded, and then led the 24th Armored Brigade tank troops to turn around to deal with the German tanks behind him, hoping to gain the upper hand in a one-on-one battle.

This decision was not a reckless move without any consideration. On the contrary, Brigadier Brown judged from the dust on the battlefield and the situation observed through the telescope that the enemy tanks should not exceed 100. He believed that there was still a chance to fight to the death. He felt that his armored forces still had a little advantage - the backbone of the armored forces of the entire brigade was composed of 3 tank squadrons, equipped with three types of tanks, Crusader, Sherman and General Grant, respectively, with one type for each squadron. No matter which of these is not at a disadvantage when facing enemy tanks, there is still a great chance of winning if it faces the Type 3 tank or the Italian tank, given that there are not too many enemy tanks behind him - even if it is not equal to our side, it is not much more than our side. In addition, both sides are mobile operations, and the Germans do not have the cooperation of anti-tank guns on the preset positions. He does not think he is at a disadvantage, and subconsciously believes that this battle is still worth fighting.

What he was most worried about was whether the infantry could withstand the impact of the two armored divisions in the east. If the infantry fought harder, maybe they would have a chance to turn around and deal with the enemy in the east after repelling the German tanks behind them. As long as they could hold on until the division commander or the army group sent troops, today's predicament would naturally be resolved.

But when he saw the German tanks coming from the opposite side through the telescope, he couldn't help but be confused: Did the Germans have new tanks again? Whether it was the No. 3 or No. 4 or the Italian M41, he was very familiar with it, but he had never seen this kind of tank in front of him, not in the North African battlefield, and even less in the French battlefield that year. Judging from the appearance of the tank, it didn't quite conform to the style of German tanks. If those tanks were not clearly painted with iron cross patterns, and they kept firing at their own side while marching, he thought he must have made a mistake with some friendly army.

He felt vaguely uneasy. In addition to the carefully prepared traps and this batch of new tanks with completely different appearances, what other actions did the Germans have that he didn't know about?

Considering that the bright antenna of the command vehicle was too eye-catching in the open field, he asked the driver to find a relatively safe place to observe the battlefield situation. Richardson drove another armored vehicle and followed closely not far from him. The only four Crusader tanks of the reconnaissance company had also been added to the queue of the first-line tank duel, which made Brigadier General Brown feel a little relieved. This bastard captain finally did something wise.

When the opponent fled in a hurry at the beginning, the 35th Armored Regiment under Collingwood had no intention of speeding up to catch up. Instead, it used its firepower and mobility advantages to continuously sweep away the isolated trucks, armored vehicles and some artillery forces that attempted to resist stubbornly around, and at the same time let its own armored vehicle formation collect prisoners and clean up the battlefield. Because he was very sure that if the opponent did not want to hit the two armored divisions that had been ready for battle at the mountain pass, they would return sooner or later. So when the tank formation of the 24th Armored Brigade reappeared in his sight, he did not show any surprise, but felt that this was justified.

After this ordeal, the British's already chaotic formation became even worse. As for the variable that they did not dare to attack the two armored divisions in the east but returned to fight, Guderian had already considered it in advance. Brigadier General Brown probably thought that the 35th Armored Regiment of the 4th Armored Division was weak and could be bullied, and had no idea how hard a steel plate he had kicked.

"Come on." Collingwood sneered. In his eyes, the credit of the 35th Armored Regiment's first battle was basically in his hands. "It's time for you guys who don't know the height of the sky and the depth of the earth to experience the essence of armored warfare."

"Linear formation, cover each other, and maximize firepower." He calmly issued the first order. When designing the plan before the battle, he and his men had a full discussion. Considering the factors of pure tank warfare in open areas, Collingwood chose a linear formation instead of the standard wedge breakthrough formation used to attack infantry positions, which is more conducive to exerting the firepower of his own tanks.

On the other hand, the 24th Armored Brigade was eager to retreat at the beginning. Halfway through the journey, they found the enemy in the east and turned back to deal with the enemy behind them. The team was in a mess, and all the normal formations and marching sequences were completely disrupted. After receiving Brigadier General Brown's order to turn around and fight, all kinds of tanks spontaneously lined up to meet the enemy. There was no formation at all. It seems more appropriate to describe them as a swarm of bees. Fortunately, the 24th Armored Brigade has also been tested by wind and rain. No tank was afraid of death and shrank back, but they all drove forward at full speed, which made Brigadier General Brown feel much better. He desperately called the commanders of the three squadrons on the radio to pay attention to maintaining the formation, but the problem was that these commanders could not find their men themselves, so they could only do their best.

The German T-34 group was leisurely setting up their positions, while the British tanks drove at full speed, and the distance between them gradually shortened.

The Crusader tanks, due to their speed advantage, rushed to the front, and there were also several General Grant tanks in the middle, which were arranged in a trapezoidal formation. The power and defense of these American-made tanks were mediocre, and they were even more powerful when accompanying infantry. However, their appearance was too burly and their center of gravity was too high, making them easy to be discovered by the enemy and used as targets. In addition, the 75mm tank gun was installed on the body of the vehicle, which greatly limited the shooting range. Sometimes the body position had to be adjusted for shooting. If it was a normal battle, Brigadier General Brown would not dare to push these "seven brothers' coffins" to the front line to act as spearheads, but now there was no choice but to hope for their luck.

Sergeant Dais commanded a Crusader to stop 1,200 meters away from a T-34. As the commander, he keenly observed that the turret of the German tank opposite was still pointing to the 10 o'clock direction on the left front, as if it was attacking the other tanks of the side and did not pay attention to his arrival. This was a good opportunity. He immediately adjusted the turret position and the firing angle of the gun and began to try to shoot. With a "boom", the shell exploded less than 20 meters in front of the T-34, and some fragments hit the enemy's body, but this did not cause any damage to the T-34, but instead reminded the enemy.

Dice saw clearly that the enemy's turret quickly turned around and the muzzle was also pointed at his side, but he was unmoved. He calmly told the gunner to slightly adjust the firing angle and quickly fired the second armor-piercing shell. With a "bang", the second calibrated shell really hit the enemy's front armor. Des clenched his fist, expecting a penetration, but he was disappointed. The shell was bounced away at once.

"So bad luck?" He was shocked, "Come again."

He didn't believe that his luck would continue to be bad. Considering that the opponent was about to open fire, he immediately ordered the driver to move forward to close the distance and get rid of the opponent's aiming. At this moment, the T-34's counterattack shells whizzed over, passed over the head of Dess's Crusader, and exploded in the distance. ,

"Boom", "Boom" The Crusader tank gunner's hands felt hot, and he fired 4 times in a short period of time. Two of them hit the T-34, one hit the front armor and bounced off, and the other seemed to hit the turret, but no damage occurred. At this time, the estimated distance was less than 1050 meters.

"Damn, how can the enemy tank's armor be so thick? It's catching up with our Matilda." Dess cursed and directed the driver to continue driving forward. When he wanted to fire the 7th round, he was finally not so lucky. The T-34 found the target, and the 76.2mm armor-piercing shell whizzed over, and one shot penetrated the poor front armor of the Crusader and caused a violent explosion.

Sergeant Dais's battle process was just a microcosm of the two sides' fighting process. Brown saw clearly in the telescope that at a distance of about 1,000 meters, neither the Crusader nor General Grant could cause enough damage to the other side. No matter how they fought, the enemy's tanks were intact and just bounced the shells lightly. As long as his tanks were hit by the enemy, they would basically be destroyed.

His heart sank suddenly, and the feeling of uneasiness became stronger and stronger. The sound he heard in the headset made him even more at a loss.

"Damn, what kind of tank is this enemy, why is it so hard?"

"There must be something wrong with these damn tanks today."

There was also a tank commander who couldn't help crying in the headset, and it was an extremely desperate voice: "I have pulled to 800 meters, why can't I penetrate it? He was hit 3 times, 3 times..."

Then there was a "boom", and Brigadier General Brown knew that this poor tank was destroyed again.