Chapter 663

Just as the Italian soldiers were stunned, a German ju-52 transport plane slowly stopped on the runway of the airport. There were several bullet holes in its wing, but its solid structure made it safely return to the German controlled area.

The second plane also stopped on the runway, and the endless German transport planes, the butcher bombers covering these transport planes, and the 110 fw-190d fighters in charge of covering missions all explained to everyone how large the scale of German parachutists was this time.

A total of 800 ju-52 transport aircraft, plus the new ju-62 transport aircraft which has just been in service for a short time, the number is only 70. If you take into account the 200 butcher bombers that were bombed early and put into action as a cover, and 110 fw-190d, this time the Germans put in nearly 1200 planes at a time.

Such a large fleet of aircraft marks the maturity of the German Air Force's experience in aircraft formation command and air control, and also marks that Germany now has the ability to send a large number of paratroopers into the distant battlefield at one time to carry out the destruction task behind the enemy lines.

Originally, it was very difficult for Germany's ju-52 to travel between several airports on Crete and the east of Alexandria under the condition of high load. As a result, akkado, who was deeply influenced by the one-way bombing plan of American long-range bombers, put forward a plan that shocked everyone.

Inspired by the fact that American bombers did not return to their base of departure after bombing Japan in another time and space, akado made a bold parachute plan: ju-52 transport aircraft set out from Crete, returned to the Field Airport in Egypt after completing the mission, replenished fuel and then returned to Crete, Stuttgart immediately carried out the plan, and Rommel mobilized the Italian second-line troops to take on the task of building the airport.

Two German airborne divisions without full personnel, nearly 21000 German Paratroopers, together with 170 gliders and 40 tank gliders, were lost in the desert battlefield of North Africa in one breath. These German Paratroopers even had long tube and gray green trousers.

These German Paratroopers were given some light yellow desert coated raincoats. Even if they had finished all the preparations for fighting in the desert, they were still studying the desert combat manual before they got on the plane, learning how to prevent desert scorpions from climbing into their boots.

It was such a hasty but effective plan that completely disrupted the operational deployment of the U.S. and British forces, and inserted into the heart of the U.S. * team like a steel knife. The U.S. troops were originally composed of mercenaries. Although they joined many regular forces later, they were not all elite soldiers. It was barely enough to fight regular battles under Patton's command. It would be a bit difficult for them to fight at the risk of being surrounded.

What's more, when Barton knew that he had been robbed in the back, he immediately took the main force of the group army, that is, the 8th armored division, and some independent armored combat units, including a main infantry division, to retreat quickly, which led to the interruption of command and the chaos of the scene.

As a result, American soldiers, mixed with the Indian federal army, which was not very effective, began to surrender to the opposite German army on a large scale. At a glance, the soldiers of the eighth group army, holding their hands high, were waiting for their opponents to come and receive them. Hundreds of them did not know what had happened, so they were surrounded by the chaotic army and began to rout.

It's not that Barton is too sensitive to escape early and ignore more than 100000 friendly troops. Instead, he received a telegram a few days ago, which was jointly signed by General Eisenhower and President Roosevelt, the new Supreme Headquarters of the United States. The above content requires Barton to keep the main force in the most dangerous time, and make sure that he can take the Suez Canal as the defense line to block the German army's further eastward advance.

The United States is not Britain's younger brother. The mission of Barton's us * team is not to help Britain defend Egypt. In fact, Barton's highest goal is not the same as Montgomery's. his task is to prevent any German action threatening the oil fields in the Middle East, and to defend the Suez River as much as possible. Even Cairo is not an area Barton needs to defend, So he doesn't have to fight with the German here.

When Barton learned that his back road was cut off, all he could do was to keep as many troops as he could fight. As for the miscellaneous troops and British allies, he could only help as much as he could. He did not dare to wait. He could only snatch back the lost rear supply line against the clock and run away.

Barton's idea is very simple, that is to let the troops left behind slow Rommel's eastward March. As long as it takes two days, he can take his own troops to annihilate the German Paratroopers behind him. In this way, most of the US troops and the British troops near Alexandria can safely retreat to Cairo. At least in the short term, the situation in North Africa will not collapse.

"Send a telegram to Washington! Let them make it clear why the German Paratroopers suddenly appeared in Egypt! Can they really fly back and forth? " Barton asked his chief of staff angrily, because no one had ever mentioned the threat of German Paratroopers in North Africa. After all, Crete has been occupied for a long time. Anyway, the Allied forces should also have a combat forecast report for the enemy's paratroopers.

"There are about 40000 troops entangled by the German army. They are not mobile enough. They can only throw more than 30000 troops on the battlefield. The biggest losses were cars and tanks. We lost almost half of them. " The staff officer ignored his chief's complaint. He had just received an estimated report on the loss of troops. The eighth group army lost almost one third of its losses all at once, and some troops could not be contacted for a while. Barton nodded. Now he thinks he still has a three-point chance of winning. After all, the German Paratroopers' plan is too bold. As long as he is beautiful enough, he can at least eat the German Paratroopers who have been a thorn in the throat of the allies. So this time, it's not so much Barton's fast running that he decided to make a big change“ General Montgomery called, he asked you to open up the transport channel, he will hold as many German troops as possible in Alexandria More than ten minutes ago, the communication between the 9th army and the 8th Army was restored. Montgomery also knew about Barton's plan. After lamenting the flying of the German airborne plan, Montgomery hoped that Barton would open his way to ensure the smooth return of the two army groups to Cairo“ The German Paratroopers became famous in the first World War in Holland and Belgium. They cleaned up the local garrison with a meal. Then they made great contributions to the British landing war, and then they fought two beautiful independent battles in Maltese and Crete. " Button closed the German paratrooper's combat record and praised his opponent with a sigh. The German Paratroopers, who are known as the Green Devils, are not really a powerful role that can be cleaned up by randomly sending troops. If I hadn't made a quick decision a few hours ago, I might not have been able to run now. It's really hard to say whether such a unit can break through the line of defense organized by these paratroopers if it comes back after defeat. However, there are still hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles here, and there are almost 50000 infantry, and there may be 20000 people catching up to join the battle intermittently. In this way, Patton is confident that he will eat these Germans and successfully flee to Cairo with his troops“ Order the tanks of the independent armored brigade, all tanks, to attack along the road. Break through the defensive positions set by the other side! " Barton drew a straight line on the map with his hand. He didn't want to waste his time, so he decided to use the simplest and direct way to cut the opponent's defense line: "then the 8th armored division detoured on the left wing, the 8th mechanized infantry division moved to the right wing, surrounded all the German Paratroopers, and fought a war of annihilation!" The battle deployment is very simple, using the advantage of armored forces to cut the enemy from the middle, and then from the two wings to encircle the enemy, divide and encircle, and break each one. Moreover, at this time, the Americans still have a trump card: the heavy artillery force, which could not keep up with the attack of the army, is now in the army once and for all. In terms of firepower, the American troops have more advantages than before“ Inform all the troops that the other side is just a light infantry unit without many heavy weapons. As long as we fight steadily, we can encircle them in one day! " Barton didn't forget to cheer up his subordinates at this time. Although he lost a lot of troops, he also lost a lot of cumbersome things. In his opinion, it's still unknown who will win! At the same time, at Rommel's headquarters, everyone was troubled by the large number of prisoners and the occasional resistance. A front-line commander pointed to the map and told Rommel about the difficulties he had encountered: "the surrender troops were blocked in the road, the trucks were abandoned because there was no fuel, and the resistance troops were firing behind. The scene was so chaotic that my troops could not move forward now."“ The reconnaissance plane found Barton's guards, they are rapidly retreating, they have been out of the battlefield "It will take us at least two days if we want to solve all the problems, clear up our way and catch up with Barton," the staff officer added. "It will take us a little longer if the opposing defenders resist tenaciously."“ Do everything as fast as you can After a long silence, Rommel finally gave his first order after winning the battle: "then catch up with Barton as fast as possible! My order is very simple: don't let go an enemy