Chapter 506

Barton really wanted to take the lead in the attack, because he knew that the German army on the opposite side was not really ready to fight. But he still can only wait patiently, waiting for his advantage time to come.

In fact, everyone knows very well that even if equipped with M4 Sherman tanks, the British and American allied armored forces are still not rivals of the German armored forces. If they attack rashly, Barton's limited armored forces will suffer very serious losses.

Intelligence from the Soviet Union shows that the German armored forces are also extremely sharp in defense, and they can often make amazing achievements by fighting and withdrawing at the same time. And Barton, who is familiar with the operation mode of armored forces, knows that the German tank guns have an advantage over the U.S. in range and power, which makes the German armored forces launch a storm and is likely to win an overwhelming victory.

So Barton had to wait and wait for the troops behind to catch up and send the 155 mm howitzer troops, which Americans are most proud of, to the front line. In this way, the U.S. Army can rely on timely support firepower to divide the German armored forces, and then use the victory of artillery to support his tank operations.

Patience finally paid off, and the German army on the opposite side seemed to be waiting, so Barton could wait for his artillery to choose a good position, and then launch a tank attack.

While Barton was waiting for his artillery trump card, Rommel was also waiting, but he was not waiting for his own artillery, but waiting for an opportunity to come. Rommel was good at destroying the opponent's firepower system, which was his secret to reduce casualties.

He soon drew up a bold operational plan, that is, to gather all the Tiger tanks in his hands and arrange them on his right wing. He decided to use the second detour to defeat the eighth group army in front of him.

The circuitous encirclement of the troops takes time, so he can only calm down and wait, wait for the enemy to take the lead in attacking, or wait for the time of counterattack to attack by himself to entangle the opponent.

For this reason, Barton and Rommel did not take the lead in launching the attack. Instead, they were waiting for the most suitable opportunity. However, after a long wait, they almost finished their battle deployment, so the real battle began.

Patton's tanks took the lead in launching the attack after a round of artillery preparation. Hundreds of tanks covered the infantry and began to approach the German line. From time to time, a m3 tank stopped and fired in the distance. Then the tank was overtaken by other American tanks and fell behind.

Soon Rommel's armored forces began to fight back, but Rommel was the first to send his light tank division into the battlefield, equipped with a relatively old-fashioned P-3 tank, that is, No. 3 tank.

After improvement, these tanks are equipped with a 75mm caliber cannon with medium barrel length. Although they are not as powerful as the leopard tank code named P-4 tank, they are also the mainstream firepower configuration in the world.

Under the cover of tank No. 3, the German infantry quickly stabilized, machine guns and assault rifles fired back fiercely, repelling the fierce attack of the US Army. But before the German soldiers could breathe a sigh of relief, the second round of us firepower suppression began.

The shells rained down on the German positions, and several No. 3 tanks that had no time to retreat were destroyed on the sand dunes. The eighth group army of the British and American allied forces, which has strong training and combat effectiveness, is obviously not as effective as the enemies the German army has met before. In fact, their combat quality is not inferior to that of the German army, and some links are even better trained.

In terms of combat experience, these British and American allied forces have encountered German forces before, so they are not new recruits who have just entered the battlefield environment. Although they are still inexperienced, they have made much progress compared with 1937.

Americans don't fight. They have forgotten how they got the distant victory 20 years ago. They are used to covering the opponent's position with dense firepower, and then crush the opponent with superior forces. So the Americans will not fight, but they will cover up the fact in various ways.

When a nation that can't fight can mass produce countless tanks and airplanes and make them have the most advanced performance in the world, they cover up their weakness that they can't fight well. It was not until 1950 that they met an Oriental giant dragon who had fought for 110 years that they realized that there was something wrong with airplanes and cannons in the world.

However, at this moment, the firepower of the US Army did surpass that of the German army, and their artillery poured out their ammunition crazily, which made the German defense positions full of holes and holes. German grenadiers tenaciously stick to their temporary excavation of the trench, in the face of the U.S. coverage of artillery, not give up.

Many German machine gun teams deliberately let go of American tanks, and then suddenly came out to attack the following infantry. Instead of leaving alive, they attacked fiercely with the mentality of killing the enemy with all their ammunition. Soon the casualties on both sides rose in a straight line, and the bodies of soldiers on many positions even filled deep trenches.

"Hello? Hello? You make it clear to me, right! Is the shelling still going on? Hold on A German officer grabbed the phone and asked aloud about the casualties of a battalion on the front line, but the US artillery fire made him unable to hear what the other party was saying.

"Here and here, and here and here, U.S. tanks have broken through the defense line, and are advancing to the depth of our defense line." The chief of staff pointed to the map and reported the fighting to Rommel“ Let the 1st regiment of the 7th armored division go up and block the right-wing US armored forces on the second line of defense! Give the order of death, and do not step back. " Rommel was waiting for his circuitous forces to attack from the flank, so he had to defend his front position with weak forces. Although the light tank division didn't suffer a loss against the US armored forces, it didn't get any advantage either. Because it didn't get air support for the time being, the German No.3 tank had been destroyed as many as 47 vehicles, and the Italian logistics forces fought their old fate to go to North Africa, and the materials they sent to North Africa became piles of burning scrap iron. The offensive ability of the Americans is higher than that estimated by the German Supreme Command, and a new type of American tank has appeared in some defensive positions on the right wing. All these bad news make Rommel feel uneasy. For the first time, he doubts whether his troops can hold on to the beginning of the counterattack. The good news is that 10 Stuka bombers rushed to the combat airspace at the risk of being shot down. These ground attack planes accurately saluted an artillery position of the US Army, completely destroyed some US howitzers and relieved some pressure. However, British and American fighter planes soon arrived to drive out these German bombers. Because of the emergence of the new American fighter P-40, the fight for air supremacy over North Africa was even more fierce than that during the British air war. The performance of the US Fighter using British engine technology is very good. Although it is still not as good as the fw-190d of the German air force, there is no "generation gap", and the loss rate of the German fighter is also higher. Since April 15, the German army has lost 37 fighter planes in North Africa and shot down 19 P-40 and 85 other types of aircraft in Britain and the United States. Compared with the British war, this kind of achievement is a bit of a slapstick. However, in places like North Africa, we don't have too many airplanes, so we can only have a long way to go. Nearly 100 leopard tanks were used to fight back in some war zones. It seems that the German army has regained the initiative in the battlefield. The two sides invested hundreds of tanks in an area of about 10 square kilometers for a super large-scale tank battle. In the end, the Americans left the remains of 41 tanks, while the German army lost 12 No. 3 tanks and 7 leopard tanks. The German armored forces boast that most leopard tanks were destroyed by American artillery, and only three were destroyed by American tanks. In order to make up for the shortage of their own artillery firepower, the German army used 88mm antiaircraft guns as support firepower, still unable to compete with the American Artillery Forces. The artillery battle between the two sides basically ended with the German army finally stopping firing. This is not only because there is an obvious gap in the number of artillery between the two sides, but also because the German artillery emphasized mobility and weakened the range and other performance indicators. In just half a day's fighting, the German army has lost more than 700 soldiers and front-line defensive positions. Rommel's defense line was originally set up temporarily, so it was a bit reluctant to resist the attack of the British and American allied forces. Now the German army is in a bad situation. Their carefully prepared flank attack did not start, and the Americans began to attack their front like a tide. Rommel was very angry. He really didn't know where his opponent was coming from, so he rushed to us recklessly. Didn't Barton know the strength of the German armored forces? What's more, as soon as they come up, they fight so fiercely that they are not prepared to leave any room? As a matter of fact, Barton is also very angry now. When he came up, he put in the most elite troops and wanted to defeat the German troops in one fell swoop. He was very afraid of Rommel's armored forces and was afraid of long dreams, so he didn't want to give Rommel a chance to breathe. He was afraid that once Rommel was given time, he would come up with all sorts of tricks. However, Barton came up and put one of the most elite American divisions and one of the most elite British divisions into battle, but they did not achieve the power planned in advance. Although the German defense position was crumbling, it still had not been broken through.