my head

The battle of Alam Halfa was a crucial battle.The German SS continued the unstoppable record of the Soviet Union, Greece and the Far East. Montgomery failed to stop Rommel's desert whirlwind in El Alamein.After the battle, Montgomery wrote to his friends in London: "My first confrontation with Rommel was painful and interesting. Fortunately, I still have time to clean up this mess and plan, so if we want to have no difficulty How ridiculous and childish it seems to get rid of Rommel now, even God commanding the battlefield war, it is impossible to defeat this cunning fox. I feel that we lost another round in this game, this time He served the first round, and it's my turn to serve next time. The score is now 1:0."

After the battle of Alam Halfa, both sides are gearing up for the next battle.Montgomery's forces retreated to the Katara Basin and began to defend it.The terrain in this area is complex, and armored vehicles cannot pass through it. To the north of it is a rough sea.Montgomery occupies a geographical advantage here.In order to prevent the attack of the SS, he built a solid defensive zone here called "the devil's paradise".This so-called "Devil's Paradise" is mainly composed of minefields, infantry defensive positions, and armored and motorized divisions behind the defensive positions as a mobile reserve force.The minefield is the main obstacle to prevent the SS from attacking. Although it is unmanned and only a small number of outposts guard it, it has laid thousands of mines and traps. Most of the mines are powerful enough to blow up tanks. Tracks either destroy a truck, 3% of mines have multiple devastating effects, or detonate via wire.Or touch and go.The mines would then fly into the air and explode like toy boxes.Countless steel balls splashed in all directions.

Here, the British and American coalition forces planted about 25 anti-tank mines and more than 30 anti-personnel mines. Both the British and the Americans are local tyrants! ! !Who told people to be rich!Coupled with the British minefields occupied by Alamein, the British and American coalition forces had more than 150 million mines of various types on the defense line.Montgomery wanted to trap the SS attacking troops in his minefields, and then counterattack from the north and south ends, so that Rommel fell into his trap.

On the surface, the "Devil's Paradise" plan has no problems, and Montgomery's command ability is also very outstanding.However, Rommel did not fall into his trap at all.He is in no rush to attack.He must make all the preparations before launching an attack, and he must launch a thorough attack.The victory at the Battle of Alam Halfa greatly encouraged the SS soldiers.At the same time, due to the destruction of the British Mediterranean Fleet, the sea lanes have been completely controlled by the remaining Italian navy.

Reinforcements from the Anglo-American coalition continued to arrive.Now, the British Eighth Army alone has expanded to 8 infantry divisions, 17 tank divisions and 13 brigades; A large number of new "Sherman" tanks arrived.The U.S. Army has more tanks, reaching 7, so that the Anglo-American tanks are almost twice as many as Rommel.

The SS Africa Corps was due to the smooth passage of the Mediterranean Sea.Soldiers and supplies can be effectively replenished.Rommel only has 2230 new tanks in his hands, among which there are more than 99 knock-off Type 900 tanks.These new tanks were unmatched by the Anglo-American forces.At Alamein, the British had more than doubled their numerical superiority, but they still failed to stop Rommel.

Now neither side can fully control the air supremacy.Rommel, who was sure of victory, now decided to launch a large-scale offensive. In this offensive, he wanted to completely defeat the British coalition forces commanded by Montgomery.In order to prevent the British and American allied forces from finding out the time and place of their attack, Rommel decided to take deception measures.This is the more famous "Trinity" plan in the Battle of Alamein.

First of all, Rommel ordered the huge ammunition depots and warehouses of other combat materials in the frontier area to be cleverly camouflaged; not far from Alamein Station, there is a large cargo dump, which can store 600 tons of supplies, oil 2000 tons of meters and 420 tons of various engineering equipment.Although the venue is in the open air, no one can see it because of the excellent camouflage.Secondly, the use of vehicles to pretend to be tanks and armored vehicles to drive around the position has gradually made the British and American coalition forces accustomed to a large number of troops gathering in forward positions.But at night, the fake combat vehicles already "in place" were replaced with the real combat vehicles of the assault division, and the artillery and tanks on the combat posts were covered with special camouflage.In order to show that the main attack direction may come from the south, Rommel has also laid a fake water supply pipe there since late January, and built fake water pump houses, fake water supply points and water storage along this "water pipe" as if it were real. pool.Construction says it won't be complete until early February.

In addition, the communications unit also simulated the radio signal that the attack would be launched in the south, and noted the various signposts made by engineers for the new road, etc.Although Rommel's "preparation" can be described as careful and meticulous.However, the front line of the Katara Basin before the war presented a "peaceful" scene.

So that Montgomery said later: "That day was the same as the past." In order to find out the situation of the other party, Montgomery can be said to have resorted to all means.The intelligence agencies and reconnaissance planes of the British and American coalition forces were frequently dispatched, constantly listening to the radio communications of the SS and taking pictures of the forward positions and rear facilities of the British army.The highly efficient reconnaissance department of the Anglo-American Allied Forces "discovered" all the "preparations" of the SS. According to Montgomery's calculations based on the progress of the project, the SS's attack was most likely in February.In addition, Montgomery, who was overtired, also received a piece of information that made him take it easy, that is, Rommel's health was not satisfactory.Based on these intelligences, the shrewd Montgomery determined that the SS would not launch an attack soon, so he set off to return home for vacation and recuperation.However, he never thought that the information he had obtained was part of Rommel's plan to deceive the enemy.The targets they found were all specially prepared for him.

Now, Montgomery has fallen into Rommel's "trap" step by step.However, Montgomery did not stop there, and he wanted to tighten the deadly "noose" of logistics around Montgomery's neck.He transferred the main force of the dominant air force to the Mediterranean Sea, tightly blocked the North African transportation line, and caused a huge loss of supplies, especially fuel replenishment, to the British and American coalition forces.Because tanks need fuel and troops need supplies, without all of these, it would be tantamount to self-destruction.

A pre-arranged concert finally kicked off! On Friday, February 2, Rommel issued a private message to the SS:

"Soldiers of the German SS, you are the battle lions of the Holy Germany, a moment of glory for which you have eagerly awaited is approaching. The battle we are about to begin will be a decisive battle. It will be a turning point in the war. Worldwide They are all watching us and concerned about the progress of this battle. Every one of us, whether it is an officer or a soldier, must make up his mind to go into battle, carry the war to the end with actual actions of fighting and killing the enemy, and win the final victory.”

On the evening of the 3rd, as the sunset slowly sank into a red sand dune, the moon quietly moved out of the clouds, spit out a faint light, and coated the desert with a layer of silver foil.The forward position was silent.On the artillery positions, the cannons raised their barrels majestically and majestically.The muzzle of the black hole shot straight into the sky, and the wind passed through the muzzle, making a whining sound.The tanks are ready to fight, and the light yellow paint shimmers in the moonlight.The heavy tracks condense its invincible strength.In the trenches, the soldiers were waiting quietly, and the chaplain was praying for them for the last time before the battle...

At 21:40, the ground trembled violently. More than 3000 cannons on the SS positions bombarded the artillery positions, trenches, bunkers, and minefields of the British and American coalition forces at the same time, and the overwhelming shells hit the British and American coalition forces like hail , The fiery air waves baked the human skin and face into heat.In the desert near the Katara Basin, a magnificent and fierce battle scene appeared.Under the illumination of searchlights and tracer bombs, SS soldiers jumped out of the hidden trenches and sank in the suffocating smoke and dust.

One after another troops went into battle, the battlefield was crowded with people, tens of thousands of shells and bombs exploded continuously, billowing fog and smoke enveloped the entire battlefield.Rommel finally saw the long-awaited hope from the shadow of the sword.The main attack task is the "Skeleton Army" of the 4st Panzer Army of the SS.This is a heroic unit known as the "Desert Tiger", and it is the number one main force of the SS in North Africa.Tanks rolled across the battlefield like a tide, and their tracks stirred up a thick cloud of sand.Under the fierce attack of the SS, the British and American coalition forces retreated steadily. When General Eisenhower, who succeeded Montgomery, drove to the front line on the [-]th, he encountered a burst of heavy shelling and fell out of the car. He suffered a heart attack and almost died.

According to the order of the Head of State of Windsor, 48 hours after the SS launched the attack, Montgomery returned to the front line and took over the command again. However, the situation at this time can be said to be the end of the world. May save the defeat.Despite fierce fighting, the Anglo-American forces caused some losses to the SS.

In order to avoid the annihilation of the entire army, Montgomery, who has always been conceited, had to order the entire army to retreat.Rommel lamented in a letter to his wife:

"I don't believe, I almost don't believe anymore that we will win. Our life and death are all in the hands of God." (To be continued..)