Iron Cross

"Is this a good gap?" Montgomery smiled and shook his head. "Gentlemen, don't forget that Guderian's ultimate goal is to return to Tobruk. If he seizes this gap and jumps out of our detour, he will fall into our army. In the pincer attack of the two armored divisions in front and the 5-6 infantry divisions behind, plus our troops who broke through Tell Akakir are in place, a new encirclement can be built with the combined efforts of the three sides, and then he will be finished. ”

"Would he jump into such an obvious trap?" Everyone expressed doubts about Montgomery's optimistic judgment, and showed their expressions on their faces without any scruples.

"If, I mean if." De Lagan felt that he had to fulfill his duties as chief of staff and reminded the commander who was pressed by the prime minister, "Guderian seized the gap and jumped out of the encirclement, and the enemy troops who had retreated again If you turn around and attack us, the two armored divisions at the front will be caught in the enemy's attack."

"So we must move quickly." Montgomery certainly understood this possibility. "The result is either the enemy flanking us or we flanking the enemy - I would rather get entangled with the enemy in a melee than watch him retreat unscathed. Tobruk. Therefore, the 1st and 7th Armored Divisions must attack resolutely, and at the same time, the frontal breakthrough of the 10th Armored Division should not be stopped. As long as the Germans can be held back, it is worth paying some price. It is always worth paying the price now. It is better than paying the price in the future in front of the hard walnut of Tobruk.”

"If he is willing to take the bait, of course it would be best. If he doesn't take the bait, what do we have to worry about?" Montgomery summed up the battle plan in one sentence, "We must pounce on him bravely like a hunting dog, not letting go of the slightest smell. , don’t be afraid of running away—gentlemen, bring out the ingenuity and tenacity of your fox-hunting days in the Scottish countryside.”

Since the commander is willing to fight like this, everyone no longer objects. Everyone has the same idea in their hearts: So what if two armored divisions are surrounded? There were more than 30,000 troops and nearly 300 tanks. It was impossible for Guderian to eat them in a short time. Once the scene just described by the Chief of Staff occurs, as long as the trapped troops stick to their positions and the follow-up troops arrive, the 1st and 7th Armored Divisions in the encirclement can immediately turn over and form a counter-encirclement against Guderian - at that time, it will be twenty It was a spectacular scene of thousands of people surrounding and beating tens of thousands of German troops.

"Yes, sir." Everyone's mood began to improve, and they felt suddenly enlightened. However, this good mood lasted for less than two minutes before it was ruined by the commander's endless words.

"Pay attention to the search during the rapid advance, and don't let the infantry get too far away from the armor. Be careful that Guderian will surprise you with a counterattack, just like he did." Montgomery explained a lot. Attention, the veteran Major General Lumsden gradually frowned after hearing this, but he could not refuse the commander's kindness, so he could only keep nodding in agreement, and the other people's faces also had strange expressions.

After finally adjourning the meeting, the two military commanders were about to adjust their deployment when Montgomery suddenly said again: "Send me a telegram every two hours to report the situation. I need to keep abreast of the latest developments on the front line." La La, who had just walked out of the door. Major General Msden suddenly became angry. He had really had enough. He thought about how he had already agreed to many of the commander's requests, and he didn't care about agreeing to one more. He could only suppress the anger in his heart. He pinched his nose and continued to agree. Horrocks winked at him, his helpless eyes seeming to say: You can't stand it after only two months of contact, but I can't stop working under him for two years!

Just as Montgomery was dispatching troops, the African Army was also discussing its next move:

"Sir." Chief of Staff Bayerlein was very happy, "I just received a call from General Waldau of the Eighth Air Force of the Air Force. The second aviation wing (JG77) sent by the head of state from China has arrived in Tob. Luke responded, and told us that we will continue to receive reinforcements from a wing (JG53) by the beginning of next month - this is an additional addition specially given to us by the head of state, which will mean that the number of aircraft between us and the British is basically equal. "

"Very good!" Guderian rubbed his hands happily. It is good for the head of state to concurrently serve as the commander of the Air Force. He is much more generous than Goering: with sufficient aviation power, whether it is to cover the remaining troops of the 4th Armored Division from Italy to Toto Bruck, or covering the "Flying Fortress" armored brigade from Crete to the front line, the Afrika Korps has ample room for maneuver.

"According to the Air Force report, they drove away and shot down some British reconnaissance planes and bombers while covering the retreat of the Italians today. The Italians are now divided into five relatively large columns and are retreating overnight in a very long formation. , scattered everywhere on the coastal road. They believe that this way of marching is not conducive to the concealment and air defense of the troops. Please order them to adjust immediately. Otherwise, if the British launch a large-scale air attack tomorrow, the Air Force cannot guarantee that it will be as safe as today. "

"Of course you can't blame the Air Force if something goes wrong, as long as they try their best to fulfill their responsibilities..." Guderian replied nonchalantly, "The Italians chose the road themselves. Even if it is a dead end, no one can be blamed. The specific investigation results Let’s talk to you.”

This was something that puzzled the Air Force, because the reconnaissance required by Guderian included two aspects: on the one hand, it was to detect the pursuit of the British army, and on the other hand, it was to detect the retreat of the Italians. The former one is easy to understand, but the latter task is unbelievable - just send a telegram to ask about the retreat of the friendly forces. Why does the Air Force need to conduct special reconnaissance? However, the rigid spirit and obedience of the Germans came into play. Even if they did not understand Guderian's intentions, they still investigated the Italians according to the standards of detecting enemy troops. The reconnaissance report reported that more than 200 Italian tanks or armored vehicles were found, and judging from the number of accompanying trucks, at least 25,000 troops retreated, but now the team is more scattered than at the beginning of the morning; the British reconnaissance The results show that they originally advanced together as a group of hedgehogs, with very small gaps between the units. However, perhaps after learning the news of our army's overnight retreat, the marching speed diverged to varying degrees, and the gaps gradually widened. , at least two armored divisions at the front began to advance.

"Very good, the Italians did a good job." Guderian suddenly said something. Unexpectedly, there was no resonance at all in the headquarters. The generals all had bitter faces: This method of retreat is not bad. ? This is a collapse, okay? Fortunately, the British only have the air force that can still threaten the Italians. If the enemy's ground forces catch up, all the nearly 20,000 Italian troops will be vulnerable, and they will be chased everywhere like ducks. The only good thing is that the commander is wise enough and would rather stay to block the attack than retreat with the Italians, otherwise he will be implicated to death by them.

Collingwood had the smallest official position, and he couldn't help but think, how could this be a retreat? On the Eastern Front, the Russians were beaten to the point of collapse by us and were much more orderly and organized than the Italians now. You must be aware that the Italian troops in North Africa are even more "deceptive" teammates than the Italians on the Eastern Front, so don't get involved.

Seeing that no one agreed with his cold joke, Guderian shrugged indifferently, tapped the map with a pencil and lightly drew a circle. He smiled and said to everyone: "Everyone, don't worry about the Italians, they will definitely have them." There's a way. Let's take care of ourselves first. This is the ambush site I prepared for Montgomery."

The place Guderian chose was the open area between two hills 10 kilometers away from Teleakagir. One of the two hills was called the Kidney Mountains and the other was the Mitea Mountains.

"This is a very favorable terrain. There are mountains on both sides, but the open space in the middle is more than 5 kilometers, which is enough for tanks to pass. If the enemy does not want to go to the north and south wings to confront the minefields head-on, passing between the two mountains is the best way. appropriate."

"But the enemy will be cautious enough when crossing open areas. It is difficult for us to ambush, and there is little point in blocking. Their strength far exceeds ours. They can attack us while detouring from the north and south wings of the dispatched troops. Bayerlein was the first to object, "I have gone to survey these two mountains. They are not tall and majestic, and the geographical advantages are not obvious. Minefields are deployed there, but as long as you are willing to spend time and endure some. Loss, this minefield cannot stop them.”

"Did I say that I would ambush the enemy when they crossed over?" Guderian smiled strangely, and then said his thoughts. Everyone was stunned for a moment, and then opened their brows. After thinking about it for a long time, Mei Linjin squeezed out One sentence, "Sir, your trick is really bad..."