Iron Cross

The Eighth Army Headquarters is located in a holiday villa in an oasis, with relatively dense trees as a shelter. If you look out through the glass, you can see a nice view: there is nothing above the wet desert in the distance, and the sand dunes and wormwood washed by rain extend gently to the south, and the terrain is getting higher and higher. Brown, ochre, and withered yellow, mixed under the egg blue sky, mixed with the warm sea breeze blowing from the Mediterranean, look like a sad landscape painting.

Lieutenant General Montgomery was in no mood to pay attention to the dripping rain on the roof. He paced around the house thoughtfully from time to time, and sometimes lowered his head and frowned to look at the map and the latest troop situation. He was annoyed by the recent stalemate: since the end of the Battle of El Alamein, especially during the recent siege of Tobruk, he was under great pressure. Churchill and London kept urging him to launch an attack on Guderian and take down the fortress as soon as possible, but he always refused on the grounds of insufficient troops and equipment, and only carried out a long-term siege. Of course, if the German army had any attempt to break out, he would definitely lock them firmly in the encirclement.

This "negative" attitude made Prime Minister Churchill very dissatisfied, thinking that Montgomery was a timid and cowardly person, and even mocked him for taking down the fortress with fewer troops than the troops stationed in the fortress. But Montgomery wanted to ask angrily: Can it be the same now as it was then? Guderian continuously received troops, supplies and equipment transferred from Italy, and his strength increased exponentially, which was no longer comparable to the Rommel era. Although the Eighth Army also received a large amount of supplies, most of them were to make up for the losses in the Battle of El Alamein, and his strength did not increase significantly. As for his request for reinforcements of 5 armored divisions and 1,000 tanks, it was always rejected by the bureaucrats in London. Compared with the Battle of El Alamein, the gap between the current strength is not increasing but narrowing!

The gap depends on how you understand it. In terms of strength alone, the number of African troops has not increased but has decreased. However, nearly half of the African troops in the Battle of El Alamein were Italians, and now Guderian has only an elite Italian paratrooper brigade, and the rest are all local troops. The combat effectiveness is almost a world of difference. In terms of equipment, the German army is no longer the same as before. A large number of T-34 and Type 4G tanks are rolling in. They have long overcome the embarrassment of the 90th Light Armored Division mixed with Type 2 tanks. If Montgomery knew that there were Tiger Heavy Armored Battalions in the African Army, he would be shocked.

But Churchill also had his own secrets. After losing the top secret, the Maltese side could no longer deal with the Italian Navy as they pleased, and the garrison was surprised to find that the Italian Navy was much braver than before. Not only did the frequency of sorties increase significantly, but they even dared to continue to advance despite the threat of the Maltese Squadron and bombers. Although the British learned about the joint command system of Germany and Italy through the Italian side, they did not know how deep the German infiltration was. With the large-scale injection of German troops, every warship and every air squadron in Italy now has German liaison officers stationed. Marshal Kesselring has firmly grasped all of this, and the Italian side is not without resistance. , but firstly, Italy's fuel supply is all in the hands of the Germans. If Kesselring does not ask for allocation, all Italian warships and aircraft may be grounded; secondly, German military production is also infiltrating Italy, and industries such as shipbuilding, aviation, trucks, and tanks are developing rapidly. If there is no war or deployment, the capitalists will not forgive Mussolini first; as for the army, no one is too lazy to pay attention to Italy's small number of troops. After withdrawing some troops from the Eastern Front, the actual number of Italian troops has decreased; the last and most important point is that the leader is still dreaming of his North African empire - the Germans are now fighting for Italian territory, what reason does he have not to support them?

With such a firm determination, it was difficult for the Maltese side to gain an advantage. Although they sank or damaged Italian warships through air strikes, their own losses were also serious, especially the losses of the Air Force. After the main force of the German Air Force pressed forward, especially the large-scale escort of Fw-190, the days of the Maltese bomber group became difficult. Even with fighter escorts, the losses of bombers still rose sharply, not to mention that the Spitfires and Hurricanes were not yet the opponents of the Fw-190. In the end, if the German plane was successfully shot down, the pilot could jump into the sea to escape, and there would be many of their own fleets rushing to rescue them. The British parachuting pilots would have to be taken prisoner if they did not want to drown. During the more than two months of tug-of-war, the number of planes fired from the direction of Malta became fewer and fewer. The position of this unsinkable aircraft carrier was still important and its defense was extremely strong, but it was also blocked by the German Air Force formations along the Sicily Strait and the Tunisian coast. Ordinary transport ships could not get in at all, and large-scale naval formations were withdrawn to implement the "Torch Plan". A vacuum appeared in the British fleet in the Mediterranean direction, so in the end this kind of ship attack had to be abandoned.

Originally, after Montgomery learned that Operation Torch was cancelled, he once thought of letting the troops who were supposed to land in Algiers to land in El Alamein or Matruh Port via the Mediterranean Sea. However, the navy was afraid of the German Air Force in the Sicilian Strait and the direction of Tobruk. Unwilling to take any risks, he had to take a detour from South Africa via the Suez Canal and then come back. He was very upset when he thought about this. Fortunately, instead of landing in Morocco and achieving the goal of involving the German forces, the United Kingdom and the United States allowed another German division no less powerful than Guderian to enter Northwest Africa. Although the Germans are currently keeping an eye on Vichy France and The territory in Darlan's hands, but it is undeniable that there is a possibility that once there is difficulty in the direction of Tobruk, this German force will not hesitate to come over. They are the one hanging over the Eighth Army. Time bomb.

This painstaking effort was destined not to be forgiven by Churchill. In his mind, Montgomery's performance gradually slipped to a point where it was worse than Auchinleck. He had expressed this view several times in private, but because Montgomery did not have much Mistakes, coupled with the fact that General Alexander is still supporting him, so he can barely stay in this position, but Churchill is already asking for names of possible successors...

While he was deep in thought, he suddenly heard the dull sound of artillery in the distance - Guderian used a surprise attack to open a gap and then prepared firepower to cover the enemy's position. Montgomery was stunned for a moment and was about to order his men to find out the truth of the matter. , Chief of Staff De Lagan has rushed in, waving the telegram as he came in, saying, "Major General James Langton sent an urgent telegram. His 7th Armored Division is being attacked by the enemy's superior force. Visual inspection has at least 500 tanks!”

"Seventh Armored Division? 500 tanks?" He was shocked, because he clearly remembered that the division was deployed in the western section of the defense line. "Are they enemy troops coming from the direction of Morocco?"

"No! It's the Germans from Tobruk!"

"But the Air Force did not report any special changes..." Although Montgomery doubted the accuracy of the report, he issued response measures very quickly. "Telegraph General Ted and ask the bombers to dispatch immediately to help the ground forces fill the loopholes, just like before. If you do that a few times, you can’t let Guderian rush out!”

"But, sir..." De Lagan explained in a drawn-out voice, "It has rained heavily for the past two days and the airport runway has been washed away. The air force cannot be dispatched at all!"

"Damn it! Let Guderian seize the opportunity again!" Montgomery slapped himself on the head. "Order the 7th Armored Division to stay on the spot. No one can retreat until the last man. I will send reinforcements to them..."

He really wanted to move his reserve troops there immediately. This move had achieved good results in the previous weeks of combat. Unfortunately, most of the reserve troops were hoarded in the east, and now the gap to be attacked was in the west. , he couldn't guarantee whether it would be too late to move over. With today's horrible weather, the road would definitely be very difficult - it was better to give up the idea of ​​moving quickly as soon as possible. After thinking carefully for a while, he decided on the overall idea.

"Tell Langton that he must hold on for 48 hours, and I will give him enough support troops." Montgomery regained his mood and tried to speak in a calm tone, "Let the New Zealand 2nd Division and the Australian 9th Division on his left and right flanks move over. , I asked the 10th Armored Division and the 201st Guards Brigade to fill the gap after the New Zealand Division and the Australian Division moved closer. "

"That's all we can do." De Lagan nodded and immediately went to adjust the deployment.

While Montgomery was dispatching troops in an orderly manner, the positions of the 7th Armored Division were under attack from all fronts by the Germans. After the anti-tank firepower points were destroyed, the infantry and artillery became the target of the German armored forces. In order to stop them When the German tanks broke into the position, Major General Langton, after sending an urgent telegram to request support, bravely let his main armor force - the 4th and 22nd Armored Brigades - rush forward.

Although his troops suffered heavy losses in the Battle of El Alamein, they gradually recovered through reinforcements, and the domestic support was pretty good. Facing the threats of T-34 and No. 4G, the originally weak Valentine, The Crusaders and Stuart tanks were all replaced, and the main forces of each brigade were replaced by Sherman and Churchill tanks. The establishment was close to 1:1. The entire 7th Armored Division had 198 tanks, especially the Churchill tanks, which were almost the same as the Horsemen. The upgraded version of Tilda has a total combat weight of 3 guns, and the thickest part of the frontal armor reaches 100mm. However, the speed is slower than the Tiger, less than 25 kilometers per hour. Major General Langton confidently believes that these new tanks can withstand the enemy attack.

It's a pity that they tragically ran into a Tiger...