Chapter 672

The voice of the captain of car 2 came from the earphone: "yes, car 2 understands!" So the German armored unit moved on so fast that it could not even send forward reconnaissance troops to check the enemy's situation.

Finally, an armored car passing by a leopard tank hit by two shells stopped. There were not many soldiers on it, but there were a lot of strange parts piled up. The original head of the tank and other members had already opened the engine hood of the tank, took out the air filter, and carried it to the armored car transporting parts. Then the armored car behind the things, as well as a whole two barrels of precious gasoline.

"For a long distance driving in the desert, there are two places where tanks are most likely to get worse. One is that the track is worn and the other is that the filter screen of the engine is not easy to clean. Keep it in reserve The original commander, No.1 tank commander, waved to the soldiers on the armored vehicle, pointed to his tank with a smile: "don't worry, there should be no large-scale US rout nearby, and the battalion is not far behind."

"Let's go first. Don't worry. We will kill more American tanks for you! Hey, hey. " The soldier who drove the armored car laughed and saluted a traditional military salute, and then drove the armored car to chase his big army.

Sure enough, not long after, the battalion's cars and armored cars came up. Standing on the captured Jeep painted with iron cross, the German battalion commander looked at his tank cars parked on the side of the road, and then helplessly called the officer in charge of the maintenance group: "do you have any special air filter for desert? After changing, let the tank follow the battalion, and the fuel truck refuel them on the side of the road. Don't delay other vehicles

In the evening of that day, the forward of German armored forces exchanged fire with Barton's troops again, and the two sides invested thousands of troops. Finally, the German army won. Barton had to leave behind an American division which had suffered heavy losses and once again lost his troops as the rear of the palace to the German forward.

And the fighting place is already near Cairo. Since the British actually controlled Egypt, no other troops have ever set foot here. But now it's at the forefront of the battle, with at least 500 bodies of soldiers on both sides lying on the battlefield.

Barton finally misjudged the situation of the battle for Damanhur. He thought he could capture Damanhur and annihilate all the German Paratroopers, but only consumed 2900 German Paratroopers there; He did not expect that the German armored forces would dare to pursue his troops so crazily before Alexandria was occupied.

As a result, now he can't escape back to Suez unhurt. In order to keep his elite troops, he has to lose some soldiers again and withdraw with the 8th armored division and some mechanized infantry.

As for most of the infantry in his hands, either they had been mercilessly left on Alexander's flank and had long been captured by the Germans, or they had been left behind and struggled to go to Cairo. Most of them were British colonial troops, who were ordered to defend Cairo and fight for time for the counterattack. In any case, no more than 30000 troops will be able to return to the Suez Canal in Barton's hands. On the other side of them, the number of North African legions is more than 500000, and the front-line forces are as many as 310000.

Of course, although Barton is sad now, he still has the capital to make a comeback after his retreat. Montgomery, who is trapped in Alexandria, is more depressed than him. Now he is standing on the bleak wharf of Alexandria with his hands behind his back, quietly watching the waves wash back and forth the heavy concrete Wharf at the port entrance.

For this 51 year old middle-aged general, Montgomery is a little old. His hair is gray and his face is not very good-looking. In the heart of this general, who has been in charge of the army in North Africa and Rommel for half a year, the most sad thing is not that the British Empire has lost the vital North Africa, but the deep despair that the British Empire has lost all its family.

Now it is the end of October, and Montgomery's 51st birthday will be in a few days. When he was 27 years old, Germany signed the Treaty of Versailles. The British Empire is still proud of the world. Now 24 years later, the German army has swept Europe invincible, but the former British Empire has become an emperor in exile.

The British have exhausted their last bit of blood in North Africa. The materials they hoard in North Africa are in fact the last large-scale overseas assets of Britain. The 200000 British troops in Montgomery's hands are also the last large-scale elite British troops with domestic assets. Now the last confidence of the British is that general Mountbatten is the main force of 30000 British troops in India.

"Now, it's all over, we've lost, we've been beaten cleanly by the Germans." Montgomery said to himself with a bitter smile, waiting for his outcome is not so optimistic. Either he was captured by the Germans and became a guest of concentration camp, or he fled back to Iceland and was hanged by those officials as an example. In any case, he can no longer lead the army and opponents to fight to the death in the battlefield as he does today.

He looked at the sea in the distance, then turned around to let those smoky positions come into his eyes. The Italians heard that the flanking German army had won a great victory and the battle had been upgraded to a higher level. Now their offensive wave after wave seems to have really recovered the shadow of the Roman army who was good at fighting.

However, in Montgomery's eyes, it is a bit more sentimental to be fooled by weak opponents. Because there is a corner in his heart that firmly believes that as long as the Germans do not come, it is not surprising that the Italians will lose the whole of North Africa. Even he himself felt incredible. Unconsciously, he added a strange hypothesis that "the Germans won't come.". It has been two days. When he saw German bombers and transport planes flying over Alexandria not far from the sea in the morning of that day, he knew that the battle in North Africa was over. They exhausted their advantages. From then on, the situation was in the hands of the Germans. From the time when the German defeated the British fleet and landed in Britain, from the time when the Spanish and German troops moved into gibraltarian, from the time when the German troops occupied Maltese at all costs and raided Crete, the North African transport line had to bypass the Cape of good hope and survive. Since then, Britain and the Americans in North Africa have been eating their old bread. In order to maintain the fundamental interests of Britain and the United States in the Middle East, Britain, the United States, France and other countries have deployed a large number of troops near the Middle East, and even built arsenals to reduce the cost of troops. As a result, these things are now consumed by the Germans, Maybe the Americans will add a little bit, but the British troops who lost their native land are really exhausted. Behind him, there were abandoned Matilda tanks in square array. These tanks have collapsed and can't be repaired in time. Most of them are engine and gearbox failures. They are waiting for accessories from Cairo and other places. Further away, soldiers were pushing tanks and armored vehicles that could not be repaired down the dock and sinking to the bottom of the sea to create some trouble for the German occupation“ general! The flagship of the fleet called and said that they would take away the British * fleet that they were willing to leave. They asked when you would board the ship. The fleet would go to India, where it would be classified as the Indian Ocean Fleet and continue to fight. " A staff officer came from a distance. His voice was a little dry. It seemed that the decades of torture would be unforgettable to every Englishman in Alexandria harbor“ I will not go on board. After all, someone will stay and be responsible for the war. I think I am the best choice. " Montgomery gave a wry smile and said, "you tell the British officials who are going to India not to listen to the Americans' stupid words about sticking to Suez. If the native land is lost, we can't change anything even if we stick to Suez. It's serious to stick to the obedient place in India."“ But general, what about our interests in the Middle East? Let's give up the oil field and we are really finished... "The staff officer said this, but he didn't know what to say. Now there are too many things that the British Empire is about to lose, which is not important? Although there are frequent hostile activities in the Balkans against Germany, Italy and Turkey, Turkey and Italy are both trapped in endless guerrilla wars, when the dust settles in North Africa, the Balkans will be completely surrounded by these countries. Without the support of external forces, the resistance movement here will not last long. North Africa changed hands, Egypt was lost, and the Suez Canal became the front line. In this case, the British exile government's control over the Middle East and India will continue to decline. One day, when the Germans really get in touch with the Middle East, the British forces nearby will disappear immediately, and then the British exile government can rely on it, There is only one pathetic Canada left. It is hard to say whether it will be sold to Germany by the United States, not to mention the counterattack against Britain“ The things you worry about are all the things that happened after I died here in the war, and I can't manage them. " Montgomery squeezed out a smile, reached out his hand and patted the staff officer on the shoulder: "it's not peaceful on the road, and it's not a day or two for German submarines to lay mines near the Suez Canal... When you get to India, remember to say hello to general montbarton for me and thank him for his spare support for the North African battlefield!"