Iron Cross

After two consecutive days of desperate pursuit, by about 9 a.m. on September 19, the leading British troops had successfully reduced the distance between themselves and the Italians to about 20 kilometers. They stood on top of the vehicle and looked through the telescope. With a good field of vision, you can vaguely see the fleeing crowd in front. Although this distance only takes an hour at most for an armored vehicle, troop combat is not a racing car after all. As long as you rush forward regardless, it will be fine. If an armored vehicle dares to advance alone, it will definitely be beaten to pieces by the Italians - the pursuit operation must not only fully consider the team's integrity and coordination, but also give appropriate pressure to the enemy.

During the short rest, Major General Langton, who was panting heavily and looking as if his whole body had been soaked in water, said to the other two people in the temporary headquarters: "I have a suggestion. We should try our best to use the advantages of the armored forces to pursue quickly. Anyway, the Italians are about to fall apart, and tanks and armored vehicles alone are enough to solve the problem. "

"What about the infantry and artillery?" Major General Horrocks actually agreed with the idea of ​​rapid troop pursuit. However, given Montgomery's repeated orders not to let the infantry and tanks get too far apart, and the lessons learned from the 10th Armored Division, he could only do so. He chased the Italian hurriedly, but despite the leisurely look on his face, he was already feeling anxious.

"The infantry and artillery can take their time. The Italians haven't built strong fortifications anyway, so they don't need so many troops to deal with them." Major General Langton joked, "Maybe after we finish the attack, the infantry and artillery won't be able to catch up. Come on, if we insist on dragging the infantry and artillery, we will never be able to move faster. What if we catch the Italians at the gate of Tobruk? "

"This is indeed a problem." Major General Raymond Briggs, commander of the 1st Armored Division, said with difficulty. "What about Guderian at the back? The infantry and artillery of our two divisions alone cannot stop the Germans. The armored forces, and the headquarters has repeatedly opposed the separation of our armored forces from the infantry and artillery, believing that this would give the Germans an opportunity.”

"First of all, Guderian is still some distance away from us, and he cannot arrive before we deal with the Italians; secondly, if the infantry and artillery do not follow the pursuit, they can build fortifications on the spot, which is conducive to maintaining physical strength; finally, I think with the help of With our military strength, it should not be a problem to resist Guderian's vanguard. As long as the armored forces solve the Italians, our strength will be further enhanced. And as long as we can hold off the Germans for two days, the main force led by the commander himself will Got there."

Horrocks originally agreed with Langton's view of "catch up with the Italians as soon as possible and deal with them", but he was a little hesitant when he thought of Guderian's variable. In view of the different opinions of everyone on the light advance and pursuit, he decided to hand over the conflict , will report the recommendations to Army Group Headquarters, and General Montgomery will make his own decision.

Montgomery valued the opinions of the three major generals, and the suggestions and concerns listed in their telegrams coincided with what he thought. Now he found that he had to make a choice between goals:

First, ignore the Italians and let the two armored divisions stop on the spot and prepare to block Guderian until the main force of the group army comes up to encircle them;

Second, regardless of Guderian, let the two armored divisions continue to pursue the Italians. The advantage is that the troops maintain a high degree of integrity, but the disadvantage is that the pursuit speed is slowed down, and it is likely to take more time to deal with the Italian troops;

Third, consider both the Italian and German armies, use fast armored forces to deal with Italian troops, and use infantry and artillery to intercept the German army. As long as we can hold on for 48 hours or even 24 hours, all goals can be achieved.

The safest way is of course to let the Italians escape and attack the Germans exclusively, but who knows what other endless tricks Guderian has up his sleeves? If the Germans miss and the Italians escape again, the Eighth Army will lose troops and gain nothing. He cannot afford this political price. After much deliberation, I communicated with De Lagan several times, and deduced it several times in the headquarters, I finally made up my mind to adopt the third method.

Just when Montgomery was worried about too many choices, the African Army was troubled by too few choices. It became a very difficult thing to decide the next move.

Now several major generals of the African Army admire Guderian's foresight in using reconnaissance planes to grasp the retreat of the Italian army. In the current chaotic situation, let alone the Italians who have no time to deal with Guderian, even if they have a psychological understanding Counting methods, only air force reconnaissance can barely provide one or two references. Guderian used this method to estimate the pursuit time and distance between the Italian army and the British army. The gap was 24 hours on the first day, shortened to 12 hours on the second day, and further shortened to 4-6 hours on the third day. In other words, the British can catch up with the Italians this evening and start killing them, and the main force of the African Army is about a day away from these two armored divisions.

There were obvious differences in everyone's opinions. Guderian couldn't make up his mind for a while, and the situation suddenly seemed strange:

First of all, the African Army is now in an awkward position. There are two British armored divisions blocking the way in front, and the main force of the Eighth Army led by Montgomery behind is struggling to catch up - even though they were taught a hard lesson at Tell Akakir. Dayton, the British's military superiority is still unshakable by the African Army.

Secondly, the African Army can adopt very few tactics. If it attacks the front first and attacks the two armored divisions, it may succeed, but success will inevitably come at a huge price, which is unbearable for Guderian. Moreover, the speed of this attack cannot be too slow. If it takes a long time, it may be caught by the main force of the British army coming from behind, which will cause greater problems. If it attacks the back first, even if it can repel and defeat Montgomery's 1-2 divisions, the crucial time will be lost. If the two armored divisions turn around and cooperate with the main force of the Eighth Army to launch a full-scale attack, the African Army, which is underpowered, will immediately fall into the disadvantageous situation of being attacked from both the east and the west.

Finally, the African Army had fewer strategies to adopt. The ultimate goal of the troops was to retreat to Tobruk. There was no doubt about this. The old method of attacking in other directions and attracting the attention of the British army was no longer effective. After being fooled twice, Montgomery would no longer be easily fooled by Guderian's tricks of disrupting the line of sight. Even if the enemy dared not do anything, as long as they deployed their troops between the African Army and Tobruk, he could have countless ways to entangle you and destroy you.

"We are now such a large force gathered together, and there is no way to use roundabout evasion in a short time." Guderian strangled the last way, "We must have different ideas, a completely different tactic from the previous times."

After studying the map, everyone was like being poured with a basin of ice water on their heads - wilted. All the ways that could be thought of were too idealistic ideas. The current battle position was even a little different from that of Tell Akakir, and the problem was really a bit difficult to deal with.

The scene also fell into an embarrassing silence.

While they were getting annoyed, the Intelligence Department sent the latest reconnaissance information from the Air Force, saying that the tanks and armored units of the British Armored Division had accelerated their advance, leaving only the infantry and artillery to build defensive positions on the spot. It was estimated that the British and Italian armies would engage in battle in two hours, and the Italians might not be able to escape.

Everyone felt even more uncomfortable after hearing this. It was already difficult to deal with two armored divisions in a mobile state. Now these infantry and artillery no longer acted together but instead defended on the spot, which made the attack even more difficult.

Only Guderian's eyes lit up, raised his eyebrows and asked: "You mean, the British armored forces have basically rushed forward?"

"That's what the Air Force said." Merlinjin explained embarrassedly, "But this is aerial reconnaissance, there may be some problems with accuracy."

"Very good, I believe this is basically close to the truth." Guderian suddenly showed joy, "The British are still very considerate at the critical moment, and it's worth it that we let them go in Dunkirk."

Everyone laughed together, but Collingwood, who had always followed him and was familiar with Guderian's temperament, reacted immediately and asked immediately: "Sir, do you have a good idea? What should I do, let me take the lead."

"No, you can't." Who would have thought that this enthusiasm for fighting was directly ignored by Guderian, and Collingwood looked depressed. On the contrary, the other party turned around and asked Heinz to come over: "There is a new mission I hope you can complete."

"Sir, please give the order. I think I have completed the recent missions well."

"This mission is a bit difficult and dangerous. It is related to the future of the entire African Army. The importance is self-evident, but I still believe that you can complete it." Guderian roughly explained the overall idea.

After listening to it, everyone took a breath of cold air. This danger and impact were really too great. However, as the commander said, the more enemies there are, the more opportunities there are.

"Sir, don't worry, I promise to complete the mission." Heinz's resolute face revealed confidence, "I will definitely fight a bloody way for the entire army."

"Very good, you go to select the personnel, and I will have someone prepare the necessary supplies and equipment for you." Guderian patted him on the shoulder, "Whether our tens of thousands of people can retreat to Tobruk safely depends on you."