Chapter 491

Among the thousands of miles of yellow sand, an army is advancing hard. This is the most suitable battlefield for the decisive battle of German armored forces. This is the most desirable position for the generals. The reason is simple: it's vast and uninhabited, there's no city to stop it, it's a paradise for war.

******It has been more than ten days since the battle in the periphery ended, and Rommel has achieved brilliant results. However, he had no time to wrangle with the British prisoners. After handing them over to the Italian troops, he led his own African Army to start a long expedition.

He chased the retreating 9th army and killed Tobruk, which had accumulated a lot of materials, all the way to the core area of British defense. For more than ten days, his troops have been fighting every day, biting the troops behind the 9th group army, and chasing and killing hundreds of kilometers at a time.

At this moment, Rommel is leaning on his convertible car seat, with a plexiglass goggle without frame on the eaves hat of the German official. This goggle was captured by him from the British surrender generals. He likes this exaggerated unique goggle, which allows him to cover his eyes when the sandstorm comes.

There was no rest for a few days. Rommel was exhausted by the chase, so as soon as the army stopped to rest, he had already fallen asleep in his seat. A huge armored command vehicle was parked next to the convertible, and several combat officers were smoking and chatting in the windy place.

No one knows where this long-distance attack will go. We just see from the map that we are getting closer and closer to Tobruk, which is heavily guarded by the British. There were German and British tanks and cars scattered all the way. It was a self destructive expedition.

The German army chased and killed all the way from two tank regiments to a tank battalion, while general Frederick of the 7th infantry army left behind on the way. Now he is trying to help Rommel gather the stragglers and build a supply station and water supply station about 110 kilometers behind Rommel.

Rommel was followed by a tank battalion of the 7th armored division and a mechanized infantry regiment of the 7th infantry. Therefore, Rommel's army does not even have the scale of a division. At most, it can only be regarded as a strengthened regiment. Just two hours ago, the British troops were forced to fight back against Rommel again. A division of British troops turned around and stormed Rommel. Under the fierce counterattack of the German forces, although the attack was defeated, Rommel also consumed his precious ammunition.

Now the wind and sand are getting stronger and stronger, and it's close to night, so Rommel's troops stop to rest. Only a third of the ammunition was left, and there was not much food or fresh water left. Most of all, the oil supply was interrupted, which made Rommel restless.

After about ten minutes' sleep, Rommel opened her eyes. He got up from the car, jumped on the gravel and went to his armored command car. The radio has been set up, and some ammunition and empty oil barrels are piled up in disorder. Rommel took a kettle from one of the staff officers, drank a mouthful of water full of the smell of gasoline, then screwed on the lid of the kettle and handed it back to the staff officer.

Because the containers for storing fresh water are very limited, the German army likes to use empty gasoline barrels to fill more drinking water. Although this method makes the water not very good, it can save their lives in times of crisis. As for washing clothes, you can put the clothes in the sand and rub them repeatedly. That's the way the African Army washes clothes. How about that? Is it different from what you think?

"Where is general Friedrich now?" Rommel is very concerned about when his follow-up troops will catch up. He knows that he has become a legend, a star of the third empire. In more than ten days, he directed the troops to advance hundreds of kilometers, which set a new world record. The rapid progress has also made the people far away in Berlin crazy. The feeling of being sought after by people has made Rommel a little elated, which is one of the reasons why he is in a hurry to win Tobruk.

Another reason for his continuous attack was the pressure of logistics supply, which could have stopped the attacking troops, but Rommel regarded the pressure as a clarion call to urge him to move forward.

He was used to having people in the rear to make arrangements for his trivial logistics problems, and was used to Germany's efficient and timely logistics supply. So when the Italian officers around him regretted that the supplies had been almost consumed, he became angry and decided to beat Tobruk and subsidize himself with British oil and fresh water.

However, it has been proved that Rommel underestimated the importance of logistics supply to the German armored forces, and the combat capability of the German forces was greatly weakened when the supply was almost cut off. Not to mention general Friedrich's 150 mm guns and bulky 88 mm antiaircraft guns, Rommel found that the more mobile leopard assault guns could not keep up with his fast pace.

Modern war is not only about the number of aircraft and tanks on the front line, nor is it just about the bravery of soldiers. It's about the total amount of ammunition in reserve, and it's about oil, spare parts, transportation and even dispatching.

Because of all kinds of faults in the continuous progress of tanks, the number of tanks in Rommel's hands is less and less. First, several tanks fall behind because the engine air filter needs to be replaced, and then the whole company and battalion of tanks are forced to stop to clean their engines and exhaust pipes because of this problem.

However, more British tanks are scrapped. On average, if a German tank breaks down, several abandoned British cars and tanks can be found around. This is also the reason why Rommel keeps chasing. As long as the British lose more, it is enough. He constantly removed spare parts from paralyzed tanks to ensure the integrity of the armored forces in his hands. At the beginning, he was able to ensure the strength of a regiment. Up to now, he can only barely maintain the tanks of an armored battalion. Rommel set out with his back against Italy's military airport. His troops only had to call for reinforcements, and the air force would respond in a few minutes. However, now he has almost completely lost his air force advantage, and the military airport far away from the city can not guarantee the air supremacy near Tobruk. Looking at more than a dozen tanks not far away, Rommel moved his mind to retreat for the first time. He received an order from the general staff of the army to stop advancing. Tobruk had never been so close, but looking at the map, he felt that the British fortress was so far away from him at this moment. There are more and more British defenders in front of him, and the counterattack is more and more fierce, which makes him smell the smell of crisis“ General Friedrich is still here to gather the stragglers. He has set up a circular defensive position and a fresh water purification station by the sea A staff officer pointed to the position on the map and said, "he sent a telegram more than ten minutes ago saying that he was investigating a place and was preparing to build a front-line airport."“ In the British counterattack just now, they dispatched three planes and destroyed four of our trucks. We lacked air defense firepower. Just now, the British counterattack was in the front of the 1st battalion. We lost two armored reconnaissance vehicles, belonging to the armored battalion. Twenty seven soldiers were killed and 35 injured. " Next to Rommel was the commander of the 1st Battalion of the 2nd regiment of the 7th armored division. His clothes were covered with gravel and looked sloppy. Rommel nodded. He saw the encounter with his own eyes. At that time, he was confirming his position. An armored reconnaissance vehicle not far away from him was hit by a sudden British shell. Then there was a fierce battle between the two sides. The battle lasted for nearly two hours“ Send scouts to both wings! I want to confirm the position of the British forces on both wings. " Rommel thought for a moment and arranged with the first battalion commander: "if the British troops appear on both sides of us, then we will start to withdraw immediately... Order all the troops to prepare for battle. I am afraid that the British counterattack will begin." After assigning the tasks of the front-line troops, he turned to his chief of staff and said, "confirm the intelligence with general Friedrich. I need to know if the commander of the opposite British * team is Montgomery..." he paused, and then continued: "besides, let him not rush forward and set up the defense on the spot."“ General A telegraph officer jumped out of the command car, stood next to Rommel and handed him a telegraph paper: "supreme command is calling! The head of state has personally issued a combat order. "“ The head of state? " Rommel was stunned, and then said, "read!"“ I'm akado Rudolph. I'm ordering you to suspend your attack and wait for the arrival of the new Supreme Command. " The telegraph officer read the message immediately. Rommel gave a wry smile, took the telegram and looked at it: "it seems that the Fuehrer does not approve of my attack on Tobruk, but now it seems that I can't run if I want to. Perhaps the British attack has begun. " Just as Rommel grinned bitterly, across from his position, an American with a helmet on his head was watching his tank rumble past him. He had a cigar in his mouth and a look of pride on his face. The soldier behind the tank was not wearing a big brimmed British Helmet, but a flat brimmed American helmet. This unit is the U.S. volunteer force that Montgomery took over the command. The commander of this unit, just spitting out a stream of white smoke, sneered and said, "let's meet you, the world-famous tank war expert, the U.S. tank force under Patton's command. Elvin Rommel. "