my head

At 1:5 am on January 2, Rommel began to attack in the direction of Le Cave.Rommel captured the Kasserine Pass and then advanced towards Tara, south of Le Cave.But Rommel failed to capture Tara, and his offensive was halted by Allied reinforcements.After all, Rommel only had more than 30 people, while the British and American troops had 5! ! ! The more than 40 Italian troops were basically soy sauce. Rommel, who had no choice but to stop the attack, ordered the troops to retreat.

Rommel's attack, as a "limited target" attack, can be said to have achieved brilliant results.But the disparity in strength between the two sides was too great to achieve the strategic goal of forcing the Allies to withdraw from Tunisia, although this goal seemed very close.British military theorist Liddell Hart said: "If Rommel fully presided over this campaign and attacked Tebesa without restraint, the Anglo-American coalition forces in Tunisia would be completely repulsed. Such a goal is Fully achievable. A quick capture of the U.S. military base and central airfield with its large supply reserves would make it impossible for Allied forces to hold their positions in Tunisia."

Rommel's offensive caused heavy losses to the U.S. military.2 of the 3 U.S. Second Army were killed, 3000 were captured, and 4000 tanks were destroyed or captured. This was the worst defeat the U.S. military suffered on the North African battlefield.Humiliated and humiliated, Eisenhower replaced Fredendall and appointed the brave and skilled Major General Patton as the commander of the US Second Army.Patton had long been eager to fight Rommel, he said: "I have read his book countless times, studied every one of his battles, and think I know him well, and my lifelong wish is to fight him.

Rommel after the retreat.Soon received the three divisions transported by Zhang Jun.An armored division.Two infantry divisions, Rommel's total strength reached 20, Zhang Jun appointed Rommel as the commander of the newly formed African Armored Army, and unified command of the African Armored Army.Zhang Jun also had no way to transport more troops to Rommel, because that was the only troop that reached Sicily, Italy, and the transportation of other troops was still going on. After all, the SS troops were also very scattered. Zhang Jun estimated that he would It will take at least [-] days to transport the large SS troops to Sicily, Italy.Then it will take ten days to send these troops to the land of Africa.The United Kingdom and the United States are also stepping up the rush to transport troops, and everyone is using each other's refueling tactics.

Rommel decided not to wait for Montgomery to attack, but to attack him first.However, Montgomery grasped the direction and exact time of Rommel's attack from the information obtained by the German Wehrmacht, so he transferred the artillery and troops from the coast to the southern area that Rommel chose as the breakthrough point, and assembled the strength of nearly 8 divisions. , 1400 tanks, 1350 cannons and 1470 anti-tank guns established a tight line of defense near Medening.

In the early morning of January 1, Rommel launched an attack on Medening with 8 tanks from 3 armored divisions, supported by 460 cannons and 600 infantry.1 am.When the German armored forces advanced to a ridge about 8 kilometers away from Medening, they were violently bombarded by nearly 15 anti-tank guns deployed by Montgomery.By noon.German SS armored units break through.Documents seized by British prisoners and reconnaissance battalions confirm that Rommel knew of his own campaign and that Montgomery knew every detail of Rommel's operational plan in advance.At 500 p.m., Rommel ordered the attack to be called off. 5 tanks lost 460."From the very beginning, we failed to catch the enemy by surprise, so the operation lost its meaning," he lamented.

Zhang Jun was quite angry when he received Rommel's report. The plan he handed over to the High Command actually leaked. There must be something wrong with the gangsters of the National Defense Forces. Of course, it may not be spies, but it is certain that the National Defense Forces There is a problem with the Engel code. Zhang Jun has been using the original code book, which is to arrange all the German words in random, print them, and then arrange them with numbers, and change them once a month. There is no such code in the Allies. There is a way to decipher it, but the gangsters of the National Defense Forces have been clinging to the ignorance and confidence that the Engel code cannot be cracked, and continue to use the Engel code. This is a problem. If it weren’t for the documents captured by Rommel this time, everyone would be in the dark In this day, Zhang Jun immediately magnified the extremely urgent situation ten times and sent it to the high command, so that the grandsons of the Eighth Gang of the National Defense Forces would have a headache.

Montgomery relied on a large number of people. At this time, Montgomery's military strength had reached more than 50. Rommel, who had no choice but to suggest that the Italian troops defend on the periphery, use his SS troops as a mobile force, and prepare for the next attack. Montgomery The command troops slowly approached the Maret line of defense.Hitler also agreed with Rommel's approach, and the Italian army was not deployed in peripheral positions.

Compared with the Allied forces and the SS, the German army had a certain degree of air supremacy within the aircraft range of the island of Malta. Outside the island of Malta, the Allied aircraft and navy dominated the world, and the supplies of the Allied countries were also transported by the navy. The German and Italian troops lacked supplies and supplies. Reinforcement.Rommel clearly realized that his troops were at an absolute disadvantage, so Rommel could only choose to stick to it.

Zhang Jun was also very anxious, and repeatedly urged Model to speed up the transportation. Even if all the SS troops could not be transported to Sicily, it would be good to transport 10,000+ SS troops to Tunisia in advance. However, the railways in Italy are frequently in trouble, isn’t it? The bridge was blown up, the railroad tracks were stripped, and the Italian military and police were helpless, which greatly restricted the transportation of the SS.In order to limit the transfer of the German SS, Britain and the United States have mobilized all the spy organizations hidden in Europe. After all, Britain has been operating in Europe for hundreds of years, and the spy organization is still very complete. British spies in Germany were attacked by the Gestapo. , the situation is much better, but Italian and British spies are much more rampant, and the damn Italians can only stare.

蒙哥马利指挥英第8集团军进攻马雷特防线，巴顿指挥的美第2军也于3天前从西南进攻马雷特防线的后方。梅塞被迫率意大利第1集团军从马雷特防线向北撤退。蒙哥马利突破加贝斯隘口，从加夫萨东进的巴顿会师。英第8集团军又占领了斯法克斯。

到1月中旬，盟军完成了对德意军的合围。隆美尔的继任隆美尔率非洲装甲集团群共6个师10多万人退守突尼斯北部，他的3个装甲师剩下420余辆坦克，作战物资异常匮乏，没有补给。而亚历山大的第18集团军群共有33个师50万人的部队，拥有1400辆坦克和1000多门火炮。

Alexander issued a general attack order code-named "Blacksmith", requiring the troops to attack the retreating Italian troops along the entire arc of the front.Anderson's British 1st Army was the main offensive, breaking into the enemy's central line of defense and taking the city of Tunis; Montgomery's British 8th Army was in the south, attacking the enemy's left flank; Bradley's U.S. 2nd Army was in the north, striking The enemy's right flank aimed to seize the port of Bizerte; the French 19th Army waited for an opportunity to participate in the attack on the left side of Montgomery and the right side of Anderson to expand the victory.

At 9:30 p.m., Montgomery attacked first from the south.Anderson commanded the British 1st Army to launch the main attack on the central front. Rommel concentrated most of his armored forces to fight fiercely, and the British 1st Army made slow progress.Alexander transferred the 7th Armored Division, 4th Indian Infantry Division and 201st Guards Brigade from Montgomery to Anderson to strengthen the strike force of the British 1st Army.With the support of 400 artillery pieces and the tactical air force, the British 1st Army attacked with all its strength, and the Italian troops finally couldn't stand it and all surrendered.At the same time, under the continuous oppression of the US Second Army, the Italian defense line in the north also began to collapse. So far, only a small part of the Italian army has gone to Rommel's army, and the rest of the Italian army has gone to the British and American prisoner-of-war camps to "enjoy their blessings". "went.

The British 1st Army under the command of Anderson attacked the city of Tunis, and shortly thereafter, Bradley commanded the US 2nd Army also attacked the port of Tunisia.In the subsequent situation, the British Moorshid said in his "The Last Days of Africa": "Italy has been completely panicked. When they saw the British tanks passing by, they felt at a loss. The Italian generals could no longer The order was given, for he had lost contact with his men. In fear, the Italian army rushed to the beach, but they found neither ships nor planes, and the army collapsed."

Marshal Messer of Italy surrendered to the Allied Forces. About 20 Italian soldiers were captured, and only 633 people escaped from the sea.The Afrika Korps in Italy are now completely finished.

At this time, Rommel did not have a pig-like teammate to help, but he could fight freely. At least the Italian supplies stored in Tunisia and Tunisian ports were successfully taken over by Rommel. Among the Italian supplies that Rommel took over, the most Italian supplies were red wine. Of course, there are also a lot of other weapons and ammunition. After all, Italy has colonized North Africa for a long time, and it is very normal to hoard some strategic materials. However, when Rommel, who was short of materials, asked Messer for supplies, the other party never said no. But now there are a large number of such pig friends and pit friends, it is better to go to the enemy's prisoner-of-war camp as soon as possible, so as not to waste materials.

The current Rommel battle is based in Tunisia and Tunisia ports. Rommel deployed two infantry divisions in Tunisia, more than 3 people, and another battalion of armored troops to assist them in defense. The Tunisia port is Rommel's defense focus. There are more than 6 Rommel's SS troops, including three armored divisions and one battalion. This is also Rommel's trump card. Fortunately, Tunisia is still within the support radius of the island of Malta. The air supremacy belongs to the German SS. Once the Luftwaffe leaves the air supremacy, it belongs to the United Kingdom and the United States. It is equivalent to half of the air supremacy over Tunisia. Now the British, American and Rommel troops can only die.

... (To be continued..)