Chapter 660

Barton was a little fidgety by Montgomery's request. He knew how much pressure Montgomery was under at this time of the war. In fact, Montgomery can persist until now, which is beyond Barton's expectation. In his and his staff's reasoning, Montgomery's forces should have begun to rout a few days ago.

As for why Montgomery has not been defeated by the German army up to now, it can't be any other reason. It can only be because Montgomery played an extraordinary role in the battle outside Alexandria and Rommel's German troops didn't do their best.

In fact, Barton is most concerned about the second point, which is how much strength Rommel's reserves have retained. Rommel did not put in his elite armored forces to participate in the battle of positional warfare, or Rommel did not put in too many armored forces. Now Montgomery can confirm the German armored forces position, only three pathetic. That is to say, at least two of Rommel's armored divisions have not been used at all, which is undoubtedly a sharp sword hanging over General Patton's head.

After all, Barton's armored forces are not abundant. After such a long accumulation, he managed to get 300 M4 Sherman tanks and about 500 m3lee tanks, which are all the forces that can threaten the German armored forces. As for the other 460 m3 tanks, Barton can only classify them as armored vehicles, Because this kind of tank is basically useless when facing the German armored forces.

His original hope was that before the decisive battle, he would rely on Montgomery's positional warfare, delay time to accumulate strength, and consume part of Rommel's armored forces to gain an advantage in North Africa. However, it is obviously too late now, because poor Montgomery's consumption of troops is a bit too serious.

In recent days, German submarines have begun to attack us merchant ships heading for the Middle East without discrimination. There have been serious problems in the replenishment of US troops in the Middle East. Although the US has been operating there for a long time, there is no problem for a while, but the commander Barton has seen his Doom from the support he has received.

This is a very simple reasoning problem. Montgomery's support from the British government in exile is almost zero. He can only rely on the British colonial system in North Africa, and some British troops who used to stay in North Africa and have no time to return to fight. Now these troops are basically exhausted. Even if Rommel does not win this time, the next time, he will be defeated, Barton can't count on Montgomery who didn't make up in time.

The German Italian North African alliance, which has the advantage of Mediterranean supply, can gather strength again little by little and wait for the next fighter. For Barton himself, instead of waiting until that time to be annihilated by Rommel with his own troops, it would be better to fight now with his troops, and maybe turn defeat into victory.

So Barton sent this idea to Roosevelt and other senior officials in Washington, and won President Roosevelt's support. Now if button doesn't take advantage of Montgomery's chance to fight, he will have to retreat to the Middle East and wait to be annihilated by Rommel.

"Order the troops to move forward 10 kilometers immediately, and the three main armored divisions will detour southward and launch their formation, ready to fight back against the flanks of the African legion of Rommel!" Patton stares at the map in front of him, and finally makes up his mind to open the decisive battle. His character doesn't allow him to die slowly. He wants to fight his opponent Rommel openly when he still has a chance to win.

The chief of staff nodded, immediately grabbed the phone in front of him, and gave a loud order: "all standby forces, move forward, according to the scheduled plan a, the counterattack will start in 24 hours!"

It is not only here that the command of counterattack is issued, but also the command of air force of the army, which requires the planes of American and British Expeditionary Forces to take off immediately to meet the rampant fighter forces of the German air force. With this temporary order, Patton seems to have become the commander in chief of the Allied forces in North Africa, surpassing Montgomery.

One American tank after another rushed out of the temporary camouflage shed and bunker. The soldiers were busy unloading the camouflage from the armored car and the car. One artillery was pulled out of the original artillery bunker by the car. The American soldiers on the car were holding their weapons and shaking their bodies slightly with the car moving forward.

On both sides of the broad road in the desert, American soldiers carry rifles one by one. They line up closely. With the slogans, they drive to the front line. On the road, tanks and motor vehicles train in a straight line, and the torrent of steel extends to the end of the sky. People are shocked to the extreme at a glance.

Just as the American soldiers began to move forward in an all-round way, one fighter jet after another rushed out of the long runway with the roar of the engines in the field airport behind the Allied defense line. Hundreds of planes took off to fight. The sky that used to be almost occupied by German planes was suddenly lively. The German army could no longer dominate the African sky, The loss of the Allied forces also prevented the German air force from investigating the whole allied forces in depth.

The two sides had a fierce air battle in the battle airspace, and finally the German pilots shot down 71 of the 75 American planes that came to participate in the war at the heavy cost of 40 planes. However, the air war is still going on fiercely. Although the German Air Force firmly holds the air supremacy, it is unable to use the air supremacy to support ground attacks for a while.

"The reconnaissance plane of the 14th Air Wing returned, and the new P-40 fighters were put in, which prevented our air force from approaching and investigating." At the German front command, Rommel's assistant asked Rommel, "general, do we need to inform the air wing first and let them continue to send planes to investigate?"“ It's not necessary. Barton did it. After all, it's not easy for them to take out so many planes to fight for the air supremacy. It's impossible for them to make a fake action, so it's probably Barton's action. " Rommel as like as two peas, and Barton looked at the identical Map of battle which he hung in his headquarters, and frowned at the troops on the top of the army. It seemed that he was judging where Barton would decide to decide the fate of North Africa. north! Next to the Mediterranean, the left behind troops of Tobruk and Montgomery suffered a small loss. I don't think they dare to launch an attack... Now there are only two options left: the front and the south. " Rommel muttered his analysis over and over, reaching out his hand and pointing it on the map with his finger, as if to confirm the other's position“ I estimate that Barton should have deployed his forces to the south. Only here can we avoid the Mediterranean fleet advantage that our army may dispatch. " Rommel knocked on the map on the wall and said in a very positive tone: "if I were him, I would put my troops in the south! It must be He took a look at sherner sitting in the headquarters, and the Italian commander Garibaldi who came to attend the combat meeting: "my 7th armored force, as well as the main force of the 12th armored division of the SS, will go south with my headquarters and prepare to meet our old opponent Patton for a while! After all, we don't have much chance to meet again! " The combat staff nodded and gave the order that the main force would go south. The German armored forces gathered together were like a revived ancient beast, moving its huge body. With the order of departure, the soldiers packed their tents and bags, carried their guns and checked their ammunition. With the rumbling tanks and armored vehicles, they firmly stepped towards the yellow sand sea. The huge flag was spread on the roof of the tank. The German armored officers sitting on the captain's cabin door were staring into the distance with a smile, There they will start a massive battle. A fighter plane skimmed the road at low altitude, passing a long dragon composed of German Leopard tanks. Because there were too many vehicles on the road, and the soldiers on both sides of the road walked on foot, it raised dust all over the sky. From a distance, it looked like a huge sandstorm was moving slowly. Rommel sat in his car and covered his mouth with a worn-out scarf, because the sand rolled up by the surrounding vehicles really made it impossible for people to open their eyes, so he put on the goggles made of organic glass on the cornice hat, and followed his troops forward quickly. In Berlin, Germany, akkado received a battle report from North Africa in his office. The siege of Alexandria has become white hot. The eighth allied army led by Barton has appeared in the south of Alexandria. Rommel is leading his armored forces to stop the attack, The battle to determine the future of North Africa is imminent“ I hope Rommel and sherner don't let us down Akkado closed the telegram from North Africa, took a look at Anna, and said, "I have sent them so many materials and equipment, and I have also prepared a backhand for them. I hope to hear the news of a great victory in North Africa in a few days."“ It will, my dear Anna went to akado's back, stretched out her jade hand, and helped him squeeze his shoulder: "I heard the analysis of the staff of the Supreme Command saying that this battle is at least 90% possible for us to win!"