Redemption of WWII

Chapter 64 Attack of the Armored Division

There is an old saying that goes, "When the cannon fires, there is ten thousand taels of gold." 【】'

This sentence is not bad at all, but it is not the same as the warlords in modern China.As long as the warlords in modern China have guns and cannons, it means territory and wealth. Zhang Zuolin, the famous Feng lineage in modern China, Duan Qirui in the direct lineage, Li Zongren in Guangxi and Liu Xiang in Sichuan are all like this.If you don't have money, go for it. As long as the cannon is aimed and fired, you are not afraid of having no gold, silver and money.

But the biggest difference between them and other warlords is that they do not betray the country.According to their understanding, the war between the warlords is like two brothers fighting for family property. Although the fight is bloody, it is still a family matter.

But the battle between Germany and the United Kingdom in the North African desert is no longer like this. It has completely become a confrontation of the comprehensive strength of two countries, and it is a test of a country's military, politics, and economy.

Although Germany did not try its best, it is impossible to do its best, because there is a country dozens of times larger than Germany on the Eastern Front of Germany that is at war with Germany.However, the god of fate in this time and space seems to have always shrouded Germany. Originally, Germany's Rommel's "Ah Lehman" should have been defeated by the British, but there was a dramatic change.

The source of this change came from a small school officer.This can't help but remind people of the famous prophetic story ballad.

"A nail is lost, a shoe is broken. A horse is broken, a horse is broken. A horse is broken, a rider is lost. A knight is lost, a message is lost. A Message, a battle lost. A battle lost, a campaign lost. A battle lost, an empire lost.”

In fact, losing a battle has little to do with the death of an empire. What matters is the inability to defend and counterattack after losing a battle.The British had already lost twice in North Africa, but every time they turned around like Xiaoqiang who couldn't be beaten to death.In comparison, the Germans couldn't afford to lose, Rommel couldn't afford to lose, and Liu Qi couldn't afford to lose.

When it was just dawn, Rommel was awakened by a burst of pleasant gunfire.It is true that these cannon sounds sounded a little pleasant, at least to Rommel, because the figure of the British who Rommel was most worried about appeared by himself, and Rommel no longer had to worry about it.

Not long after, the staff officer hurried in with a copy of the latest battle report.Standing at attention, he hurriedly said to Rommel, "Report Your Excellency, Marshal, a large number of British tank troops have appeared in front of the positions stationed by the 164th Infantry Division at the front of our army, and they are attacking our positions."

"Oh, how many tanks do they have?" Rommel asked.

"According to the report from the forward observation post, the vanguard of the British army has less than 100 tanks. The dust from the tanks behind is not very clear. It is estimated that there may be more than 300 tanks." The staff officer replied.

"300 tanks, which is the size of a large armored division." Rommel said to himself.

"Yes, Your Excellency Marshal. And these British tanks are more powerful than the British tanks we encountered before, and the range is longer. The enemy fired at our forward position from 1800 meters away. guns, and our army's anti-tank guns can't hit the British tanks at all." The staff officer said.

300 tanks are the size of a division for the British army.But Rommel knew that these 300 tanks were simply not something the German 164th Infantry Division could handle by itself.In addition, the tanks of the British army are all tanks with a relatively long range. They only need to stand in a place where anti-tank guns cannot reach, and destroy the newly built fortifications one by one.Now there are only 88mm anti-aircraft guns that can deal with this kind of tank, and now I only have 30 88mm anti-aircraft guns.Scattered over tens of kilometers of defense lines.If this continues, the defense line will still be breached abruptly by the British tank troops.

What Rommel didn't expect was that the British were actually attacking these hundred tanks.There are only a hundred and ten of them in total, and the new tanks are only 50. The others are some junk, and they can't hit such a long distance at all.As long as the 164mm anti-aircraft guns of the German 88th Infantry Division are used well, blocking these British is not a problem at all.

Rommel was really fooled. Yesterday, the German Armored Division was the 2th Armored Division of the British Army, which was attacked by two divisions.So they didn't figure out how many British tanks were destroyed.In addition, those instructors simply did not have the habit of reporting the results of the battle.German reports did not mention that British tanks were destroyed in large numbers.And the suspicious strategy used by the British army happened to be reported by the forward observation post.So Rommel thought it was a intact British armored division.

The commanders of the battle need time to make predictions before the battle, and Rommel is no exception.When Rommel saw that the 164th Infantry Division alone could not stop the British army, he ordered

"Order the 90th Infantry Division to deploy a brigade and a regiment of troops, and immediately go south with all their 1mm anti-aircraft guns to reinforce the positions defended by the 88th Division. In addition, give the 164th Division an order to defend it no matter what." Rommel ordered.

The success or failure of a war often depends on the correctness of the commander's order, and a wrong order will often lead to the collapse of the entire front.Rommel was making this mistake.But whoever is assigned to command this force will make such an order in the face of the information already obtained.

The 90th Infantry Division of the German Army has two brigades, and each brigade has three regiments.It was deployed in the northern half of the line of defense, and there were tens of thousands of Italian troops deployed along with the German army.But Rommel didn't dare to hand over the defense lines of important places to them to guard.I also dare not mix the German army with the Italian army for defense. Although the number of people will increase, the combat effectiveness will decrease instead.

The southern front is the area defended by the German 164th Division. The two divisions are nearly 30 kilometers apart. For the armored division, it can be reached by a quick march in at most 2 hours, but that is not the case for the infantry.Some infantry can travel in cars pulling cannons, but most still have to walk step by step on two legs.

Time flies, and 2 hours have passed.The battle situation on the front line was transmitted to Rommel's headquarters one by one. The British army attacked quite fiercely on the front line. Two lines of defense were about to be occupied by the British. The soldiers at the front of the German army suffered heavy casualties.But anyway, after the British tanks drove into the range of the anti-tank guns, the German anti-tank weapons also returned some effects, destroying some British tanks.Of course, all the tanks destroyed were the French 'Carl 1' tanks that escaped in front.

And those 50 'Sherman m4' improved tanks have exerted great power. The coaxial machine gun at the front of the tank, the general-purpose machine gun on the top of the tank, and the 53mm artillery with a diameter of 75 times are simply Let 'Sherman m4' become a hedgehog with thorns all over its body, which hurts.

But this is for infantry, the lowest-end consumables of warfare. The bunkers on the German positions simply cannot block the 12mm bullets of the general-purpose machine gun fired from the top of the tank.Generally, the sandbags used for bunkers are made from local materials. There are no other sandbags in the desert, and there is a lot of sand.German soldiers usually dig a foxhole, and then use sandbags to build a low hill in front.A simple infantry fortification is complete.

Fast is quite fast, but the defensive effect is not very ideal, it can only block the shooting of ordinary guns.For a general-purpose heavy machine gun that is thicker than a finger, such a bunker is basically the same as made of paper. Under the strong kinetic energy, the 12mm bullets can directly penetrate through the two layers of sandbags side by side, then pass through the body of the German soldier, hit the sand behind, and rush into a deep hole. Mido deep underground.

However, launching this kind of machine gun requires the machine gunner to stand firmly outside the tank, which increases the danger of the machine gunner.Originally, the 'Sherman m4' was tall enough, and if one person stood on it, it would be even higher. Although the German infantry couldn't hit the tank.But he was not polite to these machine gunners, who made them stand so high, like a target.It makes people feel itchy, and it's uncomfortable not to shoot twice.

In this way, although the German infantry suffered heavy losses, the British machine gunners and infantry behind the tanks also suffered a lot of casualties.Although the German guns can't hit the infantry who are closely following the tanks, the German mortars are not for fun.This is the military quality of the German mortar soldiers, so there is nothing to say. Often the first shot misses, and the second shot can hit the correct target.Therefore, the infantry of the British army is also struggling.

And where there is a mortar shot, it has become the focus of the 'Sherman m4'.The commanders of the British 'Sherman m4' tanks understood that their tanks could not be used to their full potential without infantry cover.

Tanks though have coaxial machine guns capable of shooting infantry.But not every part can be taken care of.If the German soldiers climbed into the tank from behind, a grenade could kill the people in the tank.Or just stuff a long-handled grenade made in Germany directly into the track. If the pins on the track of the tank are blown off, the tank will no longer be able to run.

Therefore, these tanks of the British army first aimed their artillery fire at the mortars and machine guns that threatened the infantry the most.And anti-tank guns, light artillery and the like are placed in the second target.

一时间整个德军的164师的战线上是打的乱作一团。当然德军这里部署的10门88毫米防空炮也发挥了很大的威力，50辆‘谢尔曼m4’里有22辆被这些改为平射角度的88毫米防空炮给击毁。但是由于前面隆美尔也没预料到英军的进攻会来的这么慢，这些88毫米防空炮的位置都是很仓促的布置的位置有些突前，而后又因为一直戒备而没有更换更好的炮击阵地。

所以在击毁英军一辆坦克的时候，这些88毫米炮就会暴露了自己的位置，而招来英军坦克的还击。德军的15门88毫米防空炮被英军也打掉了7门。现在阵地上只剩下8门88毫米大炮还在努力的发射着炮。不过跟还有一大半的英军坦克比起来，确实是不怎么够用。