Chapter 472

The British clearly felt that the unit they were attacking was not their old rival, the Italians. Just like on the football field, the opponent changed from the soft Chinese team to the hard German team, the British suddenly found that the enemy in front of their position changed from the soft Italian army to the tough German.

This is a painful experience of being suppressed from every detail, and the good habits developed by the Italian North African troops before have become the life threatening symbols of every soldier or officer of the British * team at this moment.

The precise German shelling sent a direct greeting to the British garrison's position, and some British soldiers who didn't evade were so confused that they were sent to heaven by the shells. No one believed that the Italian shelling would be so accurate, and no one believed that their camp had been marked on the map by German commanders.

The ensuing German attack made the British extremely painful. The feeling of gunfire was almost the same as hell. The weapons in the hands of German soldiers had absolute advantages in all aspects, such as faster rifles, better performance machine guns, and even more convenient and effective rocket launchers.

When a British commander who was used to standing in the position and watching his opponent with a telescope was shot through the lungs by a German sniper, the British officers fully remembered that 550 meters was not a safe distance, at least when facing a German sniper.

"Medical guard! Medical guard! Major GERT is hit! He's hit A soldier was holding the officer who had just been punched through the chest, shouting. This shot came very suddenly. If the other side had machine guns or rifles to try to open fire on them, he swore that he would definitely take major GERT to hide, but that shot suddenly appeared and directly hit major GERT.

Not far from the position, the German's special machine gun fire still kept coming. The soldier was a little at a loss when he watched major GERT, who was constantly spitting blood, kicking his legs and struggling.

Several British soldiers came running with special big brim helmets and kept shouting some words to remind their companions: "the Germans are attacking! Their tanks are in front! Get out of here! If you run late, you will be captured by the German! My God, their guns are accurate. "

At the end of the horizon, you can see that German tanks are organizing attacks. Those tanks have very low shapes, but the German tanks are obviously much better than the scrap iron in the hands of Italians. These unique German tanks can fire far away and destroy the British defensive positions with grenades.

"Boom!" Not far away, a British tank fired. Just after the soldier ran for a few minutes with a major who had been outgassed and outgassed, he saw the British tank's counterattack. More than a dozen British Matilda tanks appeared on the sand dunes, ran over the dwarf plants in the desert and rushed to the German tanks.

But then he saw an unforgettable scene. One armor piercing bullet directly smashed the front armor of a Matilda tank, which was famous for its heavy armor. The powerful impact force made the whole tank slightly deformed, and the subsequent violent explosion lifted the turret of the tank out.

500 meters away, one shot through the armor of the Matilda tank? This is a joke for British tankers in North Africa. The poor little Italian tank was not the opponent of Matilda's tank at all, so the thunderbolt made the British soldiers around stand still. It was only when the second British tank was destroyed that everyone remembered that they were still running for their lives.

"What did you say? I beg your pardon? Make it clear? Did the Italians fight back? a german? How can the German fight back... You confirm it for me! If you don't know anything, you shout for reinforcements. How can I give it to you? " The British general, who was very angry, hung up the phone.

He went to the front of the map and confirmed the situation of the battlefield with his combat staff. The frontal position of the British garrison was broken down, which he could not imagine. He managed this line of defense for a month, but it took only an hour to break it down.

However, this was not the main reason for his anger. He was angry that the troops of the two divisions on his front line had not found out who the opponents were and how big their forces were. All the troops are responding that they have suffered heavy losses, but there is no way to explain how many troops have attacked them.

"The counterattack armored forces were forced to retreat 1 km to the East. At least the other side's armored forces should be German. The commander of our tank forces reported that the opponent should have a battalion of tanks, about 30 in number." The staff officer said to the old general with a few messages he had just received.

"Major GERT, the first commander of the 90th division, has just died." The old general sighed and said sadly, "I have a good talk with him. He's a good guy. It's a pity. "

Just as the old general was remembering his friend, a telegraph operator handed the latest report to the staff officer. The staff officer compared it on the map, and then drew several thick lines on the map with a blue pencil.

"The enemy broke into the joint of the two divisions, and established a very perfect two wing defensive position here and here. Italy could not make such a smooth attack. This unit belonged to the German." The staff officer looked at the old general, then pointed to the thick lines and said, "the other side has about a infantry regiment and an armored battalion in the front. There is a battalion here, and there should be a regiment on the flank... This is an infantry division." The Veteran General shook his head, pointed to the rear of the German offensive troops, and said with great confidence: "they will not put in all the troops to attack. I think there is a tank division waiting for us to fight back!" He was sure that he had information about the size of the German army. He guessed that Germany should have an armored division and two infantry units. Because of the supply problem, these units could not be used to attack at the same time, so he was sure that the German units in front of his position were an infantry division and an armored division. In this way, the reserves in his hand are obviously not enough to fight back. He can only start to withdraw according to the plan in advance. But Montgomery's conjecture made him hesitant. If the German army really only had so much in front of him, what else would he consider? The counterattack would be OK. As long as he was in the consumption state of equal value exchange, he would be sure to win. However, he has to be cautious. After all, he is holding the British main force in North Africa. If anything goes wrong, even pulling him out and shooting him will not save the deterioration of the situation in North Africa. So after thinking for a while, he decided to keep his strength according to his original meaning“ Order the troops to retreat! Let's go back to Tobruk! " The Veteran General beat his fingers on the table for a few minutes, but still gave the order to retreat. Instead of taking the risk of counterattack, he decided to avoid the German limelight and lengthen the German supply line. His decision was very correct. There was no need to waste limited supplies and troops for the sake of winning or losing. The real defense line of the British * team is in Tobruk. They can now retreat and throw thousands of miles of yellow sand to the Germans. It's a very good deal anyway. At the same time, in the German front command, general Friedrich was looking with his back at the battle map in front of him, which marked the situation of the two sides“ The expected British counterattack has not come, which is not good news for us. " He was worried because Rommel's 7th armored division had not yet appeared on the battlefield“ Is our attack not strong enough? The British are not in a hurry to put in their reserve forces yet? " The staff officer was also puzzled about the current chaos, constantly sketching his guess on the map: "if they keep the reserves, general Rommel will be in a very dangerous situation." Frederick shook his head. He firmly believed that his attack was very sharp. If he was commanding from the opposite side at this time, he would certainly push his reserves to the front line, because if it was later, these reserves would not be able to save the current battlefield situation. Thinking of this, Frederick frowned and focused on the wedge-shaped breach of the 7th German army. Then he picked his eyebrows and said, "there are two situations of not joining the reserves at this time. The first is that the British have no reserves; The second is that the British did not want to stick here... "Speaking of this, he seemed to grasp some key things, carefully arranged his ideas again, suddenly hit the table and cried out:" no! The English are going to run Having guessed what the British commander thought, Friedrich also had to admire the wisdom of the British commander. He saw his own dangerous situation and wanted to adopt a safe tactic of retreat. So he hastened to order: "we are going to change general Rommel's battle plan. Now we must join our preparations and bite the British army in front of us! Otherwise, by the time general Rommel appeared on the flank, the British would have run away! " He took a look at the chief of staff of the 7th army, and pointed a barrier on the map with his finger: "order the 17th division to catch up from behind immediately, attack here, and the 27th division in the front to continue to attack! We can't let these British troops go At this moment, Rommel led his seventh armored division, still looking for his own March route in the yellow sand.