The decisive battle against the Third Reich

How could the car hit the tank? With a loud "boom", the car was completely deformed, flipped several times in the air and then fell hard to the ground. With such a strong impact, the soldiers inside I'm afraid no one will come out alive.

The car Qin Chuan was riding in might have been right by Yacop. The driver was very skilled in driving. Sometimes he would take a serpentine turn, sometimes he would slightly apply the brakes to slow down the speed, and then he would step on the accelerator and rush forward at full speed...

Qin Chuan knew that what the driver did was right. It was a bit like infantry firing machine guns at the enemy... If the infantry wanted to escape, they had to run along the irregular zigzag route, and they also had to run fast and slow. Cars It's almost the same under fire from aircraft, the only difference is that the former has two legs and the latter has four wheels.

As a result, bullets and bombs from the British aircraft fell like raindrops. Among them, at least a few bullets and bombs were aimed at Qin Chuan's car, because the car had just flashed across the straight line or Slowing down, bullets and bombs soon fell where they were supposed to be. Several of the bombs exploded so close to the car that the shock wave lifted one of the wheels off the car body.

Finally, the sound of bombing gradually stopped, and the car slowed down and resumed smooth driving.

With a "wow" sound, at least five people in the carriage vomited out on the spot, and a strong sour smell suddenly filled the carriage.

Yacop said with some pride: "What did I say? Our driver will ensure our safety!"

With that said, Yacop knocked on the partition of the cab and called to the driver through the contact window: "Hey, good job, you saved our lives!"

"You're welcome!" the driver replied, "Because I don't want to die either!"

The driver's answer was very honest. Everyone in the same car is "in the same boat", so saving others is also saving yourself.

On the other side, the staff officer reported the bombing situation to Auchinleck: "General, we destroyed thirty enemy tanks and thirty-five cars!"

"Have they stopped?" General Auchinleck asked.

"No!" the staff officer replied: "They are still advancing towards the coastal road!"

"God!" General Auchinleck cried out. He no longer knew how to deal with the current situation.

"General!" Major General Rich suggested: "Send the 10th Armored Regiment up for reinforcements!"

The 10th Armored Regiment is a temporary armored regiment formed by the two hundred "Stuarts" that the British army just added. At this time, they are located 20 kilometers east of Matruh. If they rush to reinforce at full speed, It doesn't take half an hour to reach the battlefield.

After thinking about it, General Auchinleck shook his head and said: "No, we cannot suffer another loss. Order them to withdraw to Alamein and garrison!"

"General!"

"obey orders!"

"yes!"

…

The ideas of Major General Ritchie and General Auchinleck are obviously inconsistent on this point. It is impossible to say who is right and who is wrong. The 10th Armored Regiment is the last armored force of the British army. If these tanks are also sent up for the final If it was annihilated by the Germans like in the previous battle, the British army would no longer have armored units to defend.

Although Major General Rich's choice may save the 13th Army, it may also annihilate the entire army or even lose the entire Africa... General Auchinleck could not bear the consequences of this failure, so he insisted on his own idea.

The result is...

The German 21st Armored Division "rumbled" towards the coastal road, where the British 15th Armored Division was hurriedly deploying defenses along the road.

But it was already too late, and the British army's preparation time was too short, especially since the road was only about 20 meters wide and crowded with infantry, cars, artillery, tanks, etc., and only some of them had time. The anti-tank was set up on the roadside, and the tank was struggling to cross the large rocks used as guardrails on the roadside. Several "Matildas" even broke down and stopped in the middle of the rocks in a strange posture.

Then the German tanks appeared in front of them, with 50mm thick black barrels protruding from the trees. The tracks easily rolled down the date palm trees, making a "gurgle" cracking sound, like tree trunks. Groaning in protest.

Then the tanks stopped in rows. Although they were uneven, they were roughly lined up in a straight line, facing the groups of bewildered British troops with their solemn power.

"Get down!" the British officer ordered loudly.

Almost at the same time, the tanks opened fire, and with a roar, the British "Matilda" tanks were hit one after another...

This piece of artillery fire did not explode because the German tank crews knew that they were going to face the extremely thickly armored "Matilda", so they used armor-piercing bullets.

The 50MM caliber armor-piercing projectile can penetrate the frontal armor of the "Matilda" at a distance of 400 meters. At this time, the enemy and us are only more than 200 meters apart, and many "Matildas" are still facing the Germans from the side, so this row When the armor-piercing bomb passed by, dozens of vehicles were paralyzed on the spot and could no longer move.

"Free fire!" Bazel ordered loudly.

Suddenly there was a loud burst of gunfire, and the German soldiers who were hiding behind the tanks and had already prepared themselves pulled the triggers and fired bullets at the British army, only to make the British army cry and howl in chaos.

Qin Chuan raised his gun and pulled the trigger. With a bang, the bullet killed an anti-tank gunner...

The shield of an anti-tank gun usually has an observation hole more than ten centimeters long and wide. Only in this way can the gunner hide behind the shield to observe the target and adjust the elements. It was through this observation hole that Qin Chuan hit the target.

"Bang!" There was another gunshot, and Qin Chuan knocked down a mortarman.

This British mortar operator was very smart. He hid behind a "Matilda" tank that was destroyed by armor-piercing shells, and then used the curved trajectory of the mortar to continuously fire shells in the direction of the Germans.

He doesn't need to hit accurately, he just needs to launch the cannonball.

Because the mortar has a collision fuse, and the Germans are in a date palm forest, the shell will explode in the air when it hits a branch or trunk, and the shrapnel and tree trunk fragments will scatter like flowers. Indiscriminate shooting from top to bottom, even if the German soldiers hid behind the tanks, they would not be immune.

Under normal circumstances, the only way to suppress this mortar is to use mortars.

The problem is that the German mortars cannot be used in the woods...the shells will be blocked by branches and trunks in their own positions or even explode in front of them.

So for a while the German army was unable to do anything to him.