Iron Cross

In just 70 minutes, this well-designed siege came to an end. More than 3,000 British troops from the 24th Armored Brigade, starting from the brigade commander Brigadier General Brown, became prisoners of the African Army. The total number of German casualties was less than 200, which was embarrassing. Call it a hearty victory. What is even more amazing is the tank battle between the 35th Armored Regiment of the 4th Armored Division and the British army. They destroyed (or captured) 85 British tanks at the cost of 7 tanks (3 of which were still repairable). vehicles, including 27 relatively new M4 Shermans. Among the 17 British tanks captured, 10 Sherman tanks were intact and could be used directly. Together with the Sherman tanks that could still be repaired on the battlefield, the number was as high as 16, which was the highest among all British tanks. The survivability rate is the highest among tanks, and it deserves to be called "the best tank on our side."

If Sherman is directly incorporated into the army, the number of tanks under Collingwood's command after this battle will not be reduced, but will be increased by several. But now he obviously didn't have the mind to think about it. After taking care of the tank unit of the 24th Armored Brigade, he handed over all the finishing work including battlefield cleanup, weapons collection, prisoner counting, etc. to Weiss who came later. Tefal, Bayerlein and others, while he himself eagerly led the troops to complete the battlefield supplies and rushed towards the open areas of the two mountains. Walster and Bismarck sent telegrams saying that they had joined forces with the British 10th Armored Corps who had arrived for reinforcements. The division was handed over. It was visually observed that in addition to this unit, the British also had support units. They hoped that the 35th Armored Regiment could rush to reinforce as soon as possible.

"Do you want the troops we sent to help?" Westphal and others knew that he had received a new combat mission. In order to persuade him to strengthen his combat effectiveness, they gave an example, "For example, those 88 cannons?"

"No, they are of no use in mobile operations. Just give me a battalion of armored grenadiers." Collingwood said, "The 88 guns are left for your air defense. What if the British planes come?"

"Yes, then I wish you success all the way." Westphal knew that Guderian had ordered to evacuate this place as soon as possible. With these prisoners and the captured materials, the African Army had a heavy task. Individuals and every unit must use it on the edge of the knife.

"That's right." Collingwood turned around and said specifically, "I don't care about other things. If you lose them, just throw them away. Help me get out those things from the ground as much as possible, otherwise all my troops will be lying down in two days. ”

"Don't worry, you won't miss anything. I'll help you do it!" Seeing that the others were too busy, Mei Linjin, the idle director of the intelligence department, volunteered to take over the task. He looked at the busy people at the scene and rolled his eyes. He turned his attention to the dejected British prisoners, called half of the military police platoon, and told the leading second lieutenant, "Go and capture 100 prisoners. The ones who are stronger should be strong. I have work for them to do."

"Yes, sir." Under the threat of gunfire and pulling and pulling in the dark, more than 100 tall and round British prisoners were pulled out alone, including the unlucky commander of the reconnaissance company, Captain Richardson. Driven by the military police, the selected prisoners boarded the truck one after another, but there were a few thornheads who were unwilling to submit. They denounced the Germans' betrayal in words and refused to get on the truck. The leading military police lieutenant could obviously understand some English and knew that what the other party said was not good. In addition, Mei Linjin had been watching here, his face became more and more ugly, and his submachine gun was loaded directly.

Richardson knew that if he did not cooperate with the other party's work, the furious officer would definitely shoot and kill several disobedient prisoners in a fit of rage, either to frighten him or to vent his anger. Although the officers and soldiers who surrendered were generally protected by the Geneva Convention, and the Germans would not take action against mid-level and senior officers, it was normal for the prisoners to have many casualties among ordinary soldiers. He walked out of the queue, He held down the opponent's submachine gun and pressed the muzzle down. He negotiated in his half-baked German (because of his ability, he was selected as the commander of the reconnaissance company): "Mr. Second Lieutenant, don't get angry. Impulsiveness can't solve the problem. You "If you shoot, there will be unpredictable consequences, unless you want these thousands of people to be in chaos."

"Can you control them?"

"I can try, but you're going to tell me what you're going to do?"

"My commander needs some help with the work." The German second lieutenant added, "Strong work."

Although forcing prisoners to work at gunpoint was a violation of the Convention, Richardson did not want to talk nonsense with the Germans about such a matter. It was pointless and unnecessary. He turned around silently and persuaded his comrades, whether they were the men of the reconnaissance company or other troops, asking them to obey the command, at least not to suffer immediate losses. Under his persuasion, the noisy scene gradually subsided.

The Germans saw that his words still had some effect on the prisoner team. When they saw him again, he could speak a few words in German, so they nodded sincerely and told him: "Captain, you are responsible for commanding these people. Don't worry, we only let you help." I won’t embarrass you if you do some work - these jobs are not dangerous and you will encounter them in the army. If you do well, you will be rewarded with half a pack of cigarettes. "

The word "cigarettes" brought back painful memories for Richardson. He still had a pack of Italian cigarettes hidden in his pocket. But for this small amount of supplies and ammunition, poor Brigadier General Brown sacrificed an entire elite armored brigade. .

More than 100 prisoners were escorted to the fuel warehouse. Merinjin ordered them: "Pull these empty barrels apart." Richardson immediately ordered the prisoners to do so. He felt strange: he had already visited the fuel warehouse once. Nothing of value could be found at all, what did the Germans want to do? Others were also confused and confused.

"Use tools to dig up the soil..." Merinjin explained while asking the military police to hand over the pickaxe and shovel and motioning to Richardson to distribute them. The first few prisoners numbly took the tools and started working, but more prisoners were shocked. Are they preparing to bury us alive? Do we even have to dig the hole ourselves? Their emotions suddenly became excited again, and they struggled continuously. Several people who had already obtained the tools also reacted, holding the tools tightly in their hands, staring at the Germans who were guarding them, intending to fight to the death with their opponents.

"Boom!" The military police lieutenant who led the team was obviously frightened. He subconsciously pulled the trigger toward the sky. The deafening sound of shooting made the prisoners hesitate.

"Captain, are you going to resist labor?" He stared at Richardson and emphasized the word "resistance."

"Labor?" Richardson did not notice the word "resistance", but caught another word, "Labor of what?"

"Dig up this dirt."

"You want to bury us?" Richardson was shocked and angry. "We are prisoners and should enjoy all the treatment stipulated in the Geneva Convention. You fascist beasts..."

The other party saw that he was agitated and spoke hurriedly and quickly. He looked helpless and pointed to his ears, indicating that he didn't understand at all - what Richardson just said was all in English. Richardson also found it strange that although the other party's expression was serious, he did not look vicious, so he asked tentatively: "Do you plan to kill us after we finish our 'labor'?" After saying " When he heard the words "Kill him", he was afraid that the other party would pretend to be deaf and dumb again, so he made a false slashing gesture with his hand.

"NO! NO!" The second lieutenant finally understood. He shook his head like a rattle and asked in confusion, "Why do you have such a strange idea? If I want to kill you, I might just shoot you with a machine gun outside. That’s fine, why bother with so much effort? The commander wants you to dig out what’s underneath.”

At this time, Richardson also reacted: "Dig out something? Is there any treasure buried underneath?"

"Of course not, you just dig it up."

Now that their lives were safe, the prisoners began to work again. Although Richardson explained the misunderstanding, everyone was still working lazily and could not get up quickly. Only when the fierce gaze of the military police lieutenant came over, their movements changed. Work harder.

Fortunately, there were more than 100 prisoners after all. Although they kept grinding the workers, the upper layer of soil was quickly cleared away. In their confused eyes, steel plates covering the top appeared one after another. Mei Linjin The prisoners were asked to lift up the steel plate, revealing the neatly stacked oil drums underneath. Looking at these things, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that the Germans did not mean to deceive everyone, but what did the Germans mean by doing this?

Richardson suddenly wanted to slap himself. Why couldn't he find fuel? The enemy had obviously buried the fuel underground. Smelling the faint smell in the air, it was even rarer for the Germans. of diesel. Thinking of what happened on the battlefield, could it be that this new tank burns diesel? Didn’t it say that the Germans only use gasoline tanks? He still doesn't know that these batches are all diesel-burning T-34s, and they were transported thousands of miles from Italy by Collingwood. They are very precious. Since there were not enough trucks to carry it, he only transported part of the diesel, and he was reluctant to throw the rest to the British like other supplies. What if the British blew up the oil depot before they were dying? So I thought of a way to dig pits and seal all the diesel fuel.

According to the original plan, Collingwood should use the fuel supply tanks buried underground and keep the fuel supply trucks outside. But eager to fight, he reversed the order in order to save time. He directly used the fuel on the supply truck first, and now he needed to replenish the fuel buried underground back to the truck.

Now, Richardson knew that the German fuel warehouse was really out of fuel, but what did this have to do with him and the 24th Armored Brigade?