Chapter 773： North Africa First War (Part 2)

Tripoli's offensive and defensive war continued, the French offensive in the past two days is still fierce, but the Italian defense has become a bit shaky.

This was the consequence of being transferred to the troops, which caused the defending troops to drop a lot. Naturally, their defensive capabilities would inevitably decrease. This also caused the attacking French troops to see the hope of breaking through the position at once.

It's just that the French army didn't know that there had been an army enough to carry out Antonescu's plan in the city.

Dadif, located outside the city, is less than 8 kilometers away from the fighting position. This is the starting point chosen by Antonescu, from here you can directly reach the coast. The breakthrough point chosen by Antonescu was the 47th Division of the French Army on the coast. The division was close to the coast, so it suffered a lot, so Antonescu chose it as the first target.

For this operation, Antonescu formed an assault group (division level) with his forces. He organized the existing tanks into a tank reinforcement regiment (115 tanks, and 18 were transported later), a mixed artillery regiment (25 self-propelled artillery, 68 other towed artillery), and a motorized infantry regiment. , An infantry regiment, as well as air defense battalions, engineer battalions, armored reconnaissance battalions and other units.

On the Italian side, most of the Rams Armored Division and the Brescia Infantry Division are also ready. Among them, the Ram Division will serve as the two wings of the armored regiment to enhance its attack capability, and the troops of the Brescia Infantry Division will also be responsible for follow-up combat tasks like other Romanian troops.

This temporary military-level unit will be commanded by Antonescu, with General Mesé acting as a deputy.

Antonescu looked at the time and talked to Messer. "Then let's start."

"Well, we can start."

As the two commanded the troops to move, the rumbling roar conveyed a not short distance. Only the sound of guns on the front line concealed its sound. It's just that when the armored vehicles are all started, the vibration from the ground cannot be concealed.

"How is this going?"

Soldiers on both sides felt the ground shaking on the battlefield.

"It's okay, pay attention to shooting the enemy."

This is the answer from the officer on the defending side.

As for the French side, it's not that no officers have noticed anything.

"Like the sound of a tank?"

A French officer explained the reason. "I've felt it in the exercise before. It's like the shaking of the tank, but this time it's much bigger."

Following the officer's words, a large number of tanks appeared behind the position, and these steel monsters were approaching them in black.

The attack of the tanks immediately reduced the morale of the attacking French soldiers. Everyone knows that it is difficult for infantry to deal with tanks. Not to mention that they are in an offensive state, and it is impossible to carry anti-tank guns to attack.

"retreat."

And when they were embarrassed, a loud shout relieved them of their embarrassment. The officer in charge of the battle had already discovered the situation of the enemy's attack, so naturally he had to move the troops back first.

Of course, the commander does not just recall the troops, he has other responses.

"Quickly, prepare the anti-tank gun."

On the French position, following his orders, the 25mm and 47mm anti-tank guns on the position immediately prepared. The requirement of his opponent's 25mm anti-tank gun was to deal with Italian tanks, and the thicker Romanian tank was given to the 47mm anti-tank gun.

It's just that in his hands, there are only more than a dozen anti-tank doors in his hand, but he will not be stumped. Because he still has a batch of 75 girls, this artillery was temporarily used as an anti-tank task.

The commander's response was more than that, as he picked up the phone.

"Hey, is it the commander? There is an emergency here. The enemy has nearly 300 tanks charging at us. Not all Italian CV33 and M11/39. Half of them are Romanian R10 and R20. I need reinforcements, no matter it is. Both artillery and tanks need reinforcements, so you don't have to let us collect the corpses."

That's right, it's asking for help. The situation is already obvious. Although he has done so much, it is impossible for him to block the enemy's attack without reinforcements.

And he was right. Before the tanks approached, the roar of warplanes in the sky arrived. A joint air force composed of Romanian and Italian fighters came here, fighters drove away French fighters, and bombers ravaged them.

"Boom, boom, boom!"

The double-engined RU28 bomber dropped flakes of bombs on their heads. A large number of French soldiers who had no time to evade fell in such a bombing, and the air force of the Italian-Romanian coalition took the lead to strike.

This is not the existence of the fear of his soldiers. The most fearful thing is the RU18 dive bomber. This bomber with a sharp whistling sound is the most worrying existence.

"Woo~Woo~Woo~"

Speaking of Cao Cao, Cao Cao arrived. The screaming sound appeared above the position, which aggravated the fear of the soldiers.

"boom!"

The precise bombing destroyed a Miss 75, which made other 75mm gun groups feel the hardship of time.

"Woo~Woo~Woo~"

The screaming siren sounded again.

"Go forward, don't worry about other forwards and infiltrate the enemy's position."

In the command vehicle, Antonescu's ongoing command as the armored regiment was the backbone of the attack. The core of this attack is the armored regiment, of which 53 R20 medium tanks of the regiment have taken on the important task of siege.

And its tall body has become the target of many anti-tank firepower.

The impact of ping-pong-pong made the members of the R20 tank seem to be listening to a symphony. It's just that the people who listened to the music were so frightened. But only being beaten and not fighting back is naturally not the style of the officers and soldiers of the Second Armored Division.

"Three directions, enemy anti-tank gun!"

Inside an R20 tank, the captain and observer wearing big pants and sweating shouted the number. Looking around, the inside of the car is exactly the same as him. The high temperature in the car is nearly 40 degrees, and no one can pay attention to dressing. The person who talks about demeanor will be a tank soldier for less than a week, and he will forget the word demeanor. The armored soldiers envied by outsiders are basically like this in the car, and the high temperature and oily environment make them all dressed up.

The commander asked the loader to quickly take out a grenade from the magazine and load it into the barrel.

"The filling is complete."

"Roger that."

The loader reported loudly, and the gunner who was turning the turret also answered him loudly.

"parking!"

Following the commander's command, the driver stepped on the brakes, and the more than 30-ton R20 tank creaked to a stop.

"Fire!"

The commander's command made the gunner who used the on-board observation equipment to target the anti-tank gun. Not only did he clearly see the anti-tank gun, but also the soldiers operating it. The panicked expressions on their faces being aimed at by the tanks made him so happy.

"boom!"

As he completed the firing action, the tank shook abruptly. This was the recoil from the fire of the main gun. At the same time, the shells flying out of the barrel directly attacked the anti-tank gun.

One second after firing the gun, the commander saw that the targeted anti-tank gun was accurately hit. The explosion of the shells detonated the hoarded shells, leaving nothing left on this gun position.

"Hit the target!"

The captain loudly reported the results to the crew members.

And he then fell into the action of searching for the target.

"At 11 o'clock, it's another anti-tank gun."

...

The anti-tank guns and machine guns on the position were named one after another by the R20 tank , which greatly reduced the morale of the position.

As the second-oldest officers and soldiers of the Second Armored Division, they are proficiently using their artillery against the firepower points of the defenders.

This made Antonescu, who was observing the results of the battle satisfied, his own group of boys did not waste their previous efforts to train them.

The officers and soldiers who charged with the tank even attacked when the firepower of the position was suppressed by the tank. Its submachine guns and semi-automatic rifles are even sharp weapons in the trenches, screaming at the French army defensive positions.

In 58 minutes, the position was breached.

Lieutenant General Messer, who glanced at his watch, also felt the power of the Romanian armored forces for the first time, which also strengthened his confidence in the tank as the protagonist of the battlefield.

After breaking through the position, the coalition soldiers followed the tanks in their vehicles and rushed to the rear of the enemy. They have more difficult tasks waiting for them.