Iron Cross

With the tacit cooperation of both sides, the feint attack on the northern front was finally launched on September 5. The commanders of the three Italian infantry divisions including Brescia, Taranto and Bologna suddenly discovered that the combat effectiveness of the troops had skyrocketed, and the attack group they sent unexpectedly During the day's attack, the joint forces advanced the front line by 10-15 kilometers. Although the enemy launched a counterattack in the evening and regained many positions, overall they still achieved considerable results.

What made several commanders even more delighted was that they discovered that they were not fighting an authentic British army, but a Dominion Division composed of South Africans and Australians. The Italians called them "colonial" divisions and followed their preconceived ideas. The concept is that the combat effectiveness of the colonial division is much inferior to the troops on the British Isles - anyway, the combat effectiveness of the Italian colonial troops is the worst, and a hundred officers from the Apennines look down on them.

In order to make the feint attack "spectacular" and prevent the British from detecting the actual situation through reconnaissance planes, and to encourage the Italian infantry on the ground to prevent them from collapsing without a fight, the air force was not included in the retreat in Guderian's plan. On the contrary, he was asked to fight more fiercely than before. Kesselring gave great support on this point and airlifted a large amount of spare parts and aviation fuel directly to the front line through Aunt Junkers.

Now, the Italians have a great impression of Guderian and feel that he is much better than the original German commander Rommel. Firstly, he took care of the face of the Italians and arranged for them a more suitable opponent like the "Colonial Division" instead of following the large troops to chew the bones of the southern front. Secondly, he frequently dispatched the air force to cover the infantry attacks, almost all the time. There were planes painted with iron crosses above their heads - the Italians had never enjoyed such high treatment, and their morale suddenly increased a lot. What made them even more satisfied was that when the attack successfully advanced 10-15 kilometers on the first day, they couldn't wait to send a victory telegram to the headquarters. Unexpectedly, a large part was lost before the reply came. The Bologna Division only arrived in July. The new unit, the division commander General Gronia knew that there were planes overhead observing the battlefield, and felt that he could not leave a bad impression on the new commander, so he suggested telling the truth. I thought that the Germans, who were so rigid and unreasonable, would definitely accuse me of lying about the military situation. Unexpectedly, Guderian's attitude was surprisingly good. The telegram clearly stated that "as long as all positions have not been recaptured by the enemy, it will be considered a victory." All this made them feel that they had met a considerate commander - why didn't the Germans replace Rommel earlier, who was cruel to the enemy and even more cruel to his own people?

Several division commanders discussed it and decided that they could not live up to General Guderian's high expectations. They would each send out a regiment to continue the attack tomorrow. It would be best to regain the positions lost today. Feint attack, you still need to have some momentum. The only problem is that the logistics supply seems to be insufficient, and it can only be maintained for half a month. The result of the discussion is to ask the commander for supplies after another three days of fighting. If not, it can be natural to transfer to on-site rest - in this regard Italians are very friendly.

Just as the Italians were complacent about the progress of the feint attack, Montgomery, Chief of Staff de Guingamp and a group of major generals under his command were studying the next battle plan in the war room. Although the first shot was fired by the Italians, and it was a feint, Montgomery was still satisfied - this fully demonstrated that the intelligence and information he had were correct. Although Guderian was more cautious than Rommel, he was still on the eighth The army group moves forward on the road desired. During the entire battle, the German attack could have been carried out through any of the three routes from the north, the middle, and the south. When Guderian transferred all the Italians to the northern route, all he could choose was the southern route.

The British army did not pay attention to the Italian attack at all. If Montgomery had not instructed the South African and Australian divisions on the front to put some slack, the Italians might have been pushed back, let alone advance. Because the traffic conditions on the North Road are the best, the British army has already concentrated its forces around Alamein Station. Not only is the defensive area narrow, but it also has a good fortification position. Colonel Guingamp is very confident about this: let alone the Italians. Even the Germans may not be able to chew it.

The question now is, Guderian's feint attack has arrived. When and where will his real offensive launch on the southern front? The staff officers in the headquarters had different opinions on this, and Colonel Guingamp was also very cautious in his judgment. He gave three explanations: September 7, September 10, and continued postponement. This was said to be unsaid. They couldn't help but roll their eyes. After discussing for a long time, everyone only agreed on one point: Guderian's attack depended on his analysis of the feint attack situation on the northern route and the amount of newly arrived supplies.

The high temperature and hot weather can make people anxious. Seeing that a group of people were discussing from noon to evening and still had no definite opinions, the impatient British 13th Army Commander Major General Horrocks couldn't stand it any longer: "Everyone, since you can't judge Germany, People have time to move, why don’t we just fight?”

"Fight him?" Montgomery asked doubtfully.

Major General Horrocks pointed his pointer at the defensive area occupied by the Italians in the north: "Since it has been identified that the Italians are weak in combat effectiveness, I suggest directly surrounding and destroying them, and then detouring from the north to the south to form an attack on the Germans with the troops facing them. "People's attack."

"This is not in line with our strategy." Montgomery shook his head slightly, "If you do this, you will scare Guderian away immediately. There is no point in just catching the Italians."

"I can't agree with what you said." Horrocks said angrily, "The Italians have more troops than the Germans, and all the supplies for the African Corps come from Italy. Why do you think the Italians are meaningless?"

Montgomery smiled and said, "Think about it, where is our front line when there are only Italians in North Africa?"

Horrocks was stunned at first, but he immediately came to his senses: before the Germans intervened in the African war, the Italians launched an aggressive attack, but were wiped out by the British army at once, more than 300,000 people, and the entire front line was pressed to Libya. When Rommel led the German army, the British not only lost Tobruk, but the entire front line was overwhelmed to El Alamein, only 120 miles away from Cairo. It can be seen whether the Italians are meaningful or not. Horrocks is Montgomery's confidant, and the latter does not want to dampen his enthusiasm, so he deliberately reminds him in this euphemistic way.

Major General Gatehouse, the commander of the 10th Armored Division, suggested: "What if we attack from the south?"

Colonel Guingamp's eyes lit up: "Tell me what you think."

"As the commander said, the Italians on the northern front are not a concern. As long as we want, we can take them down in 3 days, no, 2 days. We can keep an eye on the Italians, and use the 10th and 1st Armored Divisions as the vanguard to break through the Miteria Ridge, open the northern corridor, and cut off the connection between the German and Italian groups; then use the 7th Armored Division and the 44th Division to bypass the southernmost minefield of the African Army along the edge of the Qattara Basin - we can put the German group in our steel cage first."

Everyone took a look at the map and understood that this plan was a modification of Horrocks's proposal just now. Originally, the plan was to bypass the German army by first eating up the Italian group, but now it is to directly insert the armored division into the junction of the German and Italian groups and surround the German group. This is a bolder and more direct plan.

Montgomery looked at the map and pondered for a moment. In the hopeful eyes of Gatehouse, he still shook his head to express his disapproval.

"Why?" Major General James Landon, the commander of the 7th Armored Division, which was known as the "Desert Rat" and Montgomery's starting unit, couldn't help asking, "Although this plan requires a little more coordination, it still has a great chance of success if it is carefully deployed. Even if we can't form a siege on the Germans, we can stick to their buttocks and chase them..."

Montgomery only said one sentence: "That means our tanks will not only break through the enemy's minefields, but also encounter the enemy's preset anti-tank firepower attack."

Everyone looked at each other. Did the commander have an attack route that would not be counterattacked by the enemy?

Montgomery saw that everyone was silent, thinking that no one understood what he meant, so he waved his hands and said in a firm tone: "I have carefully analyzed all the previous battles and found that the German tanks are always with their 88 guns and anti-tank guns. When they encounter our tanks, they immediately hide behind them, and then use anti-tank firepower to destroy us. Finally, their tanks come out to occupy the position. Therefore, we must not be fooled by the Germans. We must stop our tanks from rushing out of the position to prevent them from becoming targets of the 88 guns. Let us hide our tanks and use them as anti-tank guns, so that Guderian's tanks can come. Hit us, then crush him, we can no longer do stupid things like letting our tanks jump out to be hit by the enemy's 88 guns..."

He talked a lot, and finally summed it up with one sentence: "Don't attack, wait for Guderian to attack us first - I believe he will come."

Everyone was choked by this sentence and couldn't speak, and could only roll their eyes and look up at the sky: we have more troops than the enemy, better equipment than the enemy, a stronger defense line than the enemy, and more comprehensive information than the enemy, but we still have to wait for the enemy to attack first - how stupid must Guderian be to choose to do this? In the silence of everyone, the combat meeting of the British Eighth Army on the night of September 5 ended in a weird atmosphere.