Iron Cross

Richardson now fell into deep regret: If he had not been dazzled by the optimism of occupying the headquarters and discovering a large amount of munitions and supplies, if he had not easily believed the natives' news that the Germans had withdrawn long ago, if he had not He could continue to expand the search area and pursue traces of the enemy. If he had not been eager to show off his merits in front of Brigadier General Brown and called the 24th Armored Brigade headquarters to come, the current situation might have been changed. But when the cannonballs fell, all what-ifs ceased to exist. His heart slowly sank to the bottom, and there were only two words in his mind: It's too late!

Brigadier General Brown now fully understood what had happened. He blamed it all on Richardson's incompetence and deception. Looking at the regretful opponent, he kicked him angrily without looking back. He scolded: "Look at the good things you have done!"

Caught off guard, Richardson was kicked hard and let out a scream, but he had no time to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth. He got up from the ground and prepared to cover the brigade commander's retreat. He knew how serious the mistake he had made was. He neither wanted to be torn to pieces by the brigade commander's anger, nor did he want to stand in a military court to be tried in the future. The only way to make amends was to quickly summon his men to cover the retreat of the brigade headquarters, as long as he could keep The brigade headquarters and brigade commander may not be able to save him in the future.

After leaving the door, several staff officers thought he was in the way, so they pushed him away and walked to the command car. He didn't take it seriously. He quickly called on his subordinates to follow him, and then shouted all kinds of shouts to greet everyone within sight. The armored vehicles, tanks, and infantry retreated together in order to gather more strength. The scene was so chaotic that it was impossible to watch like a swarm of headless flies flying around.

Brigadier General Brown's reaction was not unpleasant, and the retreat order was issued decisively without any delay. But the problem was that the reconnaissance company's report that the enemy had escaped, and the troops' successful occupation of the headquarters and warehouse and receipt of supplies seriously misled him, which made him completely relaxed, without any idea that there might be a trap in the process. , it was too late to react now: the officers and soldiers of the 24th Armored Brigade from top to bottom were also intoxicated with the optimism that the enemy would retreat without a fight, and came with a relaxed mentality, not thinking about fighting at all. I didn't expect the enemy to counterattack so quickly.

After Brigadier General Brown entered the headquarters, he was busy sending telegrams to all parties. A reliable command system was not established at the first time, so it took a lot of effort to convey the withdrawal order. All combat orders were issued in a hurry and panic after the shells fell, relying entirely on the instinctive reactions of grassroots officers rather than unified deployment from top to bottom. What is even more desperate is that the 24th Armored Brigade has just entered the center of the town and is not familiar with the terrain of Tell Akakil. Although Guderian gave up laying mines in order to lure the British to the bait as much as possible, the chaotic scene and The panic still easily caused the troops to lose control. Brown's actions of leading tanks and armored vehicles to try to evacuate first made ordinary soldiers desperate. Under the conduction of this negative emotion, they abandoned their duties and ignored the orders and shouts of their superiors. , running around grabbing various means of transportation in an attempt to retreat together, and soon the roads were blocked.

There are also army commanders who have strong control over their subordinates, but they want to carry out defense on the spot. Some troops want to withdraw. The will of each other is not unified, and it is impossible to establish a unified and complete defense line. And the defense left by the Germans As the staff said, the fortifications are only suitable for defense against the east, and have no effect on the enemy coming from the west. In the center of a town with no friendly support, no flank cover, no fire support, and no solid fortifications, any unit that wants to hold on in the face of an armored force attack has only the prospect of being wiped out. The actions of senior officers and armored troops to take the lead in retreating severely damaged the morale of the troops and caused the troops to lose the courage to resist on the last line.

However, the officers finally had their heads in the air and knew that there were large minefields to the north and south. The neighboring troops had not yet arrived. Blindly escaping anywhere would only lead to death. A large number of people boarded the truck noisily and planned to turn around. Let's go back to the road we came from. As for the artillery, ammunition, and supplies that were difficult to carry, those that were still in the car were fine. As long as they had been unloaded, they were casually thrown aside by the soldiers, and no one even looked at them. .

Brigadier General Brown knew that the army had completely lost command, but he did not despair yet. He believed that he still had enough time. As long as he retreated to a safe area, he could reorganize the army and stabilize the position. With capable troops to support him, It's no problem to fight the Germans again. So while commanding the troops to retreat, he called the division headquarters in a hysterical voice, hoping that the division commander would lead the troops to rescue him. He had long forgotten about passwords. He didn't care whether the Germans would eavesdrop, and just used Clearcode and voice calls are on.

But Guderian spent a huge price and made careful preparations. How could he let the 24th Armored Brigade leave so easily?

Just as Collingwood led the 35th Armored Regiment to the west to attack the main force of the 24th Brigade, the main armored groups of the 15th and 21st Armored Divisions to the east also detoured from the flanks of the two mountains. They easily The British troops who were originally sent out by Brigadier General Brown to take over the defensive positions were eliminated head on, blocking the escape path of the 24th Armored Brigade. In fact, these tanks have been hidden on the flanks of two mountains, less than 15 kilometers away from the mouth of the valley in the open land. According to the original plan, in order to prevent the 24th Armored Brigade from finding out that they should conduct a reverse detour, that is, bypass the entire mountain and advance from the outside to the inside to intercept the 24th Armored Brigade. But because Richardson's reconnaissance company did not expand the search area,

The follow-up troops of the 24th Armored Brigade did not conduct a second reconnaissance but went straight to the center of Tell Akakir. Therefore, the commander of the 21st Armored Division, Lieutenant General Walster, and the commander of the 15th Armored Division, Major General Bismarck, unanimously decided to make temporary changes after discussion. The combat plan is to carry out forward penetration and block the exit of the 5 kilometers of open land at a faster speed.

"Sir, there are Germans blocking the way ahead..." Not long after the retreating troops started on the road, more surprising news came from the front.

"Ah!" Brigadier General Brown was frightened out of his wits and said tremblingly, "The tank took the lead and rushed over, carving a bloody path..."

"Sir, no, we can't do it. The enemy in front has two armored divisions. From visual inspection, there are no less than 200 tanks. Not only are there more tanks than us, but what's more terrible is that they also control the open area. "The chief of staff next to him was slightly calmer than him, "As long as we dare to go over, we will be torn to pieces by their anti-tank forces."

"How come they are here? Could it be that they all came out of the ground?" Brigadier General Brown has completely lost his idea now and just yells hysterically, "Have you contacted the division headquarters? How long will it take for the division commander to come? Pick us up?"

"The division commander said it's at least two hours away."

"Two hours?" Brown was silent. The division commander was fast enough, but he was still worried, but he couldn't show it. It couldn't be said that the 24th Armored Brigade couldn't last even two hours, right? Although they were beaten by Guderian two days ago, there are now a large force of 5,000 people and more than 80 tanks here.

He had no choice but to use complaints to cover up his uneasiness: "Two hours? God, how can I last for two hours in such a place with no defense system?"

"Sir, we need to find a solution as soon as possible. The soldiers are watching." The chief of staff saw the infantry troops gathered around them from the lookout hole. They all looked like they were in a state of confusion.

"What do you think we should do?"

"Attack the enemies in the west... They don't seem to have many tanks, and then let the infantry rely on the original German fortifications to resist external attacks. As long as we repel the enemies behind us, the enemies in the front will not be able to defeat them at once." Chief of Staff He persuaded, "Of course we can't cross that open area, but the enemy will be attacked head-on by us if he wants to pass through the open area. In this sense, our status is equal to each other. As long as we can withstand it, plus the division If our follow-up forces keep up, we will not only have a chance to get out of trouble, but also encircle the enemy..."

Brigadier General Brown hurriedly looked at the map and thought for a few minutes, thinking that the Chief of Staff's suggestion was not bad. He had woken up from the initial panic and understood that such aimless running would definitely bring down the troops. The top priority was to organize a defense immediately while taking advantage of the favorable conditions where the overall strength of the troops was still relatively concentrated. The Chief of Staff is right. The old defense system of the German army can be used to resist the enemy in the east. It is not necessary to repel the enemy, as long as it lasts for 2 hours.

He immediately ordered all armored units to turn around and attack the enemy's tanks to the west, while the infantry to defend the enemy to the east was on the spot. In order to better coordinate the command, he asked the chief of staff to stay and command the infantry to deal with the east, and gave him He left behind the brigade security company and several tanks, and led the main tank force to turn around and head west. Richardson thought about it, decided that the reconnaissance company should still assume the responsibility of guarding the brigade headquarters and followed the brigade commander to turn west. Looking at the latter's performance, Brigadier General Brown's livid face softened slightly: Although Richardson, the bastard, caused today's big mistake, at least he was still a courageous and responsible officer.