Iron Cross

On September 13, the order to stand still and wait for withdrawal was sent to Patton. Angrily, he tore the telegram into pieces and cursed everyone in the Joint Chiefs of Staff loudly.

Several division commanders looked at each other in confusion, wondering why he was so gloomy - the enemy was already intercepting the enemy at the front, and they would definitely not be able to pass through them if they charged hard. Wasn't it the most obvious and wisest decision for Washington to arrange a retreat? Why is Patton so angry? Is he still thinking about turning defeat into victory? Not to mention the German planes chasing and attacking all the way overhead, even the pursuers behind them made everyone exhausted. The troops had been reduced to only about 65,000 people. If it weren't for the friendly forces in Recife and the support of the army aviation, everyone's mentality would have been It collapsed long ago.

Defending El Salvador, failed to defend;

The counterattack on El Salvador was unsuccessful;

The retreat from El Salvador was in embarrassment and lost troops and generals along the way. However, after walking for more than 200 kilometers for eight days, the total strength dropped from 110,000 to less than 70,000. How far is it from Recife? More than 400 kilometers, at this speed and attrition, the German army did not even need to intercept in the middle, and the pursuers alone would have killed them all.

The senior officers did not know how to describe their inner feelings and helplessness, so they did not understand Patton's temper.

Only Hewitt knew the reason for Patton's rage - it happened the same way in Africa. As a result, Patton abandoned the troops he had collected from the Horn of Africa at the last defensive circle and boarded the plane to retreat in embarrassment. That was Patton's most heart-wrenching and humiliating battle was far more humiliating than that long march to the Horn of Africa. Now they had to build a defensive circle on the spot and retreat from the air, and they had to retreat in batches and groups. This suddenly hit Barton's painful memories, and he finally couldn't restrain his explosion.

Although Hewitt is in the Navy and is inconvenient to intervene in the command of the army, he must stand up and smooth things over at this critical moment: "George, I understand how you feel. You and I have experienced this similar scene once. That kind of situation Pain and anxiety also accompany me, but this time it is different. All the troops are American soldiers, and every one can be withdrawn. If you don't withdraw, General Roosevelt's death will be in vain - he fought desperately for the withdrawal of the army group. time."

I don't know whether it was Hewitt's persuasion that worked or Patton thought of the fallen Roosevelt. With tears and pain, he issued an order to find a suitable area nearby to hold on and prepare to retreat.

After urgent discussion among his staff, he adopted the suggestion and allowed more than 60,000 people to gather towards Ximandias. This place is more like a basin, with hills on all sides, which is not conducive to the passage of heavy equipment. There is a relatively flat valley in the middle, which is more conducive to defense in terms of terrain. As long as the two gaps in the middle and west are guarded, the German troops coming from Alakalu or the Rommel group attack behind them can be blocked.

If the Germans want to continue their pursuit, they can only attack the gaps on the front or sides. The former will face the emergency fortifications built by the US military, while the latter can only choose to take a roundabout way - which means that they must walk more than 120 kilometers more.

Arnold's Army Aviation provided emergency assistance, commanding aircraft to quickly airdrop more than 200 tons of perforated steel plates - they can be quickly constructed on flat ground to quickly construct a runway. This is also the secret of the U.S. military's ability to quickly repair airports. Regarding the escape route, all officers and soldiers rushed to help, and a temporary field airport was built as quickly as possible overnight.

The relevant actions of the US military were quickly grasped by Rommel. After looking at the map, he showed a strange smile: "Okay! This place is great!"

Gauss didn't understand what he wanted to say, but after hearing the subsequent deployment, he understood everything.

"Tell General Garland to mobilize all the fighter jets in his hands to El Salvador, and then send a telegram to Marshal Machar to ask the aircraft carrier formation to approach the waters near Arakallu and prepare to enter the battle!"

One look at this posture showed that Rommel was not interested in annihilating this US ground force. He had the idea of ​​encircling the point and calling for reinforcements - reinforcements came from the air. In order to prevent the situation from getting out of control, Rommel blocked the pursuit group and asked the 2nd Panzer Grenadier Division, which landed from the Alakalu line, to detour from the right wing, and then asked Shaoken's troops to detour from the left wing, preparing to encircle the valley. surrounded.

Patton, whether you leave or not, Rommel will be watching you from the outside...

"Now let's witness a wonderful aviation battle!"

Simandías is only more than 200 kilometers away from El Salvador, and less than 300 kilometers away from the Hainan Airlines cluster on the Aracallu line. The US military in Recife is more than 400 kilometers away. Judging from the frequency and range of dispatches, the German army clearly has the upper hand. The German army only needs to mobilize fighter jets to attack, while the US military needs to use fighter jets to cover the transport aircraft. The difficulties for both sides are obviously different.

Garland agreed very much with Rommel's arrangement and specially encouraged the pilots: "The opportunity to show off your skills has come, boys. The shining Knight's Cross is waiting for you!" Of course, there can be no war without sacrifice. He specifically said that in the valley All the people blocking the entrance are German troops. If you are hit, fly out of the valley as much as possible and then parachute. If you really can't control it, at least parachute to the mountain instead of to the valley!

In the early morning of September 14, US military transport planes first brought a batch of fuel and supplies, and even two radars, and then took away the first wave of evacuees: all the downed Army Air Forces parachuting crews, and some The total number of naval officers and soldiers who retreated was nearly 2,000. Hewitt himself refused to retreat in the first wave and insisted on staying.

Since the German army did not interfere with this, the first round of retreat appeared to be very successful, which greatly boosted the confidence of American officers and soldiers.

But the retreat became unsmooth in the afternoon. Garland organized a surprise attack with more than 200 fighter jets. Although the U.S. Army Air Force fighter jets sent by Recife desperately came forward to cover, they could not withstand the fierce German attack. This was in the east-west area. The two ace pilots have been fighting for several years, and any one of them is qualified to be an instructor in the US military.

Although the combined combat effectiveness of the P-51C+P-47D is good, the attack power of the Ta-152+Do-412 cannot be underestimated. Soon the US military discovered that apart from the experience gap between them and the German army, the biggest gap was firepower.

Except for a few lucky ones equipped with Hispano cannons, most US military fighters are only equipped with heirlooms, while most of the German fighters they face have four 20mm cannons - usually two 20mm MG213 + two 20mm MG151 Combination, there are still a very few German super aces equipped with two experimental 30mmMK213 (30mm version of the MG213 rotary cannon), but unlike the historical MK213, this time the barrel has been enlarged and the rate of fire has been reduced. The muzzle velocity is increased from 530 meters/second to 760 meters/second, and the firing rate is reduced from 1000-1200 rounds/minute to 800-900 rounds/minute.

When fighting against fighter jets, the power of MK213 is not very obvious, because whether it is P-51 or P-47, the effect of MG213 and MK213 at key positions is basically the same, but when used against transport aircraft, The important value of MK213 was immediately apparent.

The C-47 is a pretty solid transport aircraft. Generally, there is no problem if it is hit by 3-4 rounds of 20mm MG151 ammunition in non-core positions. If it is MG213, it can barely survive, but as long as it is hit by 2 rounds of MK213, it will basically crash.

On the first day of this so-called Brazilian air battle frenzy, the Germans shot down 127 U.S. fighter jets and 57 C-47 transport planes at the cost of 39 fighter losses. The entire valley was filled with aircraft wreckage. Patton looked at the plane in pain. Falling from the sky and being helpless. He even wanted to thank the brave army aviation officers and soldiers, who with their unprecedented fearlessness were able to transport more than 5,000 troops that day.

On September 15, Garland increased the number of offensive aircraft to more than 400. Not only Air Force fighter jets continued to come to join, but also HNA carrier-based fighter jets were involved in the attack. He fully understood Rommel's thoughts and wasted no time in sending attack planes to bomb those emergency runways. He only focused his attacks on transport aircraft.

The next day, the German attack group changed its strategy. Instead of a large formation swarming forward, it was divided into multiple formations of 20-30 aircraft to launch a sneak attack. Once a group of US fighter jets were lured out, the Ta-152s ambush at high altitude would volley and attack. Next, use BZ tactics to kill these US military rookies. After being fooled several times, the US troops either did not come out or came out in large groups. The former was more convenient for the Germans to use hit-and-run tactics, while the latter was even more rogue - taking advantage of the gaps in the surge of US fighter jets to attack the valley. transport aircraft.

On this day, the loss of US military fighter jets dropped to 108, but the loss of transport aircraft rose to 94. In the end, only more than 4,000 people were evacuated. The navy and aircrews finally completed the retreat, and the most troublesome sick and wounded were to be evacuated next.

On the third day, the U.S. military once again deployed a large number of troops from Recife to increase the escort force. More than 200 P-51\\P-47s were patrolling the valley airport at all times, and the German army could not find a good opportunity to attack.

At this time, the magical effect of Garland's command was revealed - his experience in commanding the Condor Legion in the Spanish Civil War and competing with the Royal Air Force in North Africa was fully utilized. After obtaining Rommel's consent, Garland took the lead. Instead of attacking the US military aircraft in the valley, they pulled the main force of the attack group to Recife.

More than 400 bombers and attack aircraft were all dispatched, and they went to attack under the protection of more than 300 fighter jets. Taking advantage of the fact that most of the US military fighter jets in Recife were out and the air defense was weak, they blew up the US military base and turned it upside down. The US military lost more than 1,000 people. , the anti-aircraft gun position, the airport runway and a large amount of supplies were blown up. One bomb even landed less than 50 meters behind Li Qiwei who was patrolling the defensive position. Fortunately, he was quick and fell to the ground immediately - the pilot who dropped the bomb never expected He almost killed the newly appointed commander of the 5th Army.

Li Qiwei, who had escaped unharmed, looked livid: The Germans' attack was really powerful...