The decisive battle against the Third Reich

General Auchinleck was indeed guilty.

He didn't know what to say when he heard that the 15th Armored Division and the New Zealand 2nd Infantry Division were almost completely wiped out.

This was by far the most embarrassing thing General Auchinleck had ever encountered.

In principle, the other failures were not the fault of General Auchinleck. Some of them were the command of Major General Rich, and some were the carelessness of frontline commanders. For example, the troops of the two divisions were not verified by Sidi Omar. Check whether the supplies were really bombed.

But this failure was very clearly due to General Auchinleck's misjudgment... He believed that the force attacking Alamein was real and the 21st Armored Division besieging Matruh was fake. Based on this, he ordered the 15th Armored Division to break out.

General Auchinleck was proven wrong.

"The enemy always wants to be in front of us!" General Auchinleck sighed: "In fact, they never left Matruh, and we were fooled again!"

"General, what should we do now?" Major General Rich asked.

"Let the fighter planes take off immediately and bomb the German 21st Armored Division overnight!" General Auchinleck ordered.

"Now?" Major General Rich was confused.

It is very dangerous for fighter planes to fly at night, especially in the desert, because the desert at night is as gray and black as the blue sky. The pilot cannot judge his altitude and may even mistake the ground for the blue sky and fall headlong into the desert.

In addition, it is difficult for fighter planes to find targets in the dark, and even if they find targets, they cannot conduct accurate bombings, so Major General Rich believes that this is not a wise choice.

"Yes, now!" General Auchinleck said: "They will advance along the esplanade. Our planes only need to search along the esplanade. Do you understand?"

Because of General Auchinleck's insistence, Major General Rich could only obey the order.

"Wait!" General Auchinleck called Major General Rich again.

"Do we have any submarines near Matruh?" General Auchinleck asked.

"There's a P-class submarine, General!"

"Well!" General Auchinleck said: "Let it go to Matruh to fetch Lieutenant General Austin!"

"yes!"

This is the only thing General Auchinleck can do for Lieutenant General Austin, and it can be regarded as General Auchinleck's apology to the 13th Army that was defeated because of him.

British fighter planes soon appeared over the Corniche and searched along the road. Their mission was to bomb the German convoy to block its advance and buy more preparation time for the British army.

This time, General Auchinleck really guessed correctly. The German army was indeed advancing along the coastal road.

But even so, the British fighter planes failed to achieve much bombing effect.

As usual, the British army used "Mosquito" reconnaissance aircraft to conduct reconnaissance ahead. After finding the German convoy, they dropped flares... On the one hand, the flares were to continue to track the convoy; on the other hand, they were to indicate the direction and direction to bombers and fighters. Target.

But the German convoy quickly made the appropriate response:

"Turn off the lights!" With an order, all the tanks and cars turned off their lights.

Then, the engineers built several roads on the side of the road as quickly as possible... There is a desert more than ten miles away from Matruh. Tanks and cars can actually drive off the road, but because it is faster and safer to drive on the road, they have been Didn't do that.

Then, German soldiers used special fluorescent lights to guide the tanks and cars into the desert.

This kind of fluorescent lamp is almost like a flashlight, except that its light is relatively weak and closed in other directions. It only emits some limited light on the front. The German soldiers held it and circled it clockwise to indicate turning right, and counterclockwise. A circle on the hour hand means turning left, up and down means going forward, and standing still means stopping...

At the same time, the air defense troops turned on their searchlights and shined into the sky. The sword-like beams of light shot straight into the sky. Once they illuminated an enemy plane, they followed closely, and the shells of the anti-aircraft guns and bullets of the anti-aircraft guns shot out. Then it poured into the air.

The wooden-structured "Mosquito" reconnaissance planes were not attacked at all. After a while, two reconnaissance planes fell to the other side of the desert with a harsh roar and exploded. The other "Mosquito" reconnaissance aircraft hurriedly flew out of the range of the anti-aircraft gunfire, and only dared to fire one or two illumination bombs in the direction of the Germans from a distance.

At this time, the tanks and vehicles of the 21st Armored Division had entered the desert in an orderly manner and spread out. They were piled here and there. As long as they were not illuminated by the flares, they quickly took air defense cover.

So in the eyes of the British pilots, the entire German convoy "disappeared out of thin air" one after another in front of their eyes. It didn't take long for not even a single person to be seen.

Fighters and bombers arrived later, but they could only look at the blank space below helplessly. In the end, they randomly dropped bombs and left.

However, since then, the Germans have not dared to advance along the road because they are worried that the next British bombing will be faster. If they cannot avoid it, they will undoubtedly suffer heavy losses if they are bombed along the road. .

Marching in the desert is much slower than on the road: the reason is that the tank may get stuck in the sand and be unable to escape, so scouts must be sent in front to explore all the way, and if there is a dangerous area, they must be pointed out and guided. Tanks pass.

From this aspect, General Auchinleck's goal has been achieved. He has indeed slowed down the German army's marching speed.

While the 21st Armored Division was marching toward the El Alamein line, Rommel was making every possible preparation in Matruh.

He first ordered the German and Italian troops to attack Matruh... Although only the remnants of the British 13th Army were left in Matruh, leaving an army nearby would eventually cause trouble.

Soon Matruh completely became a part of the German army's territory, but many British troops escaped from the German army's loose encirclement in the dark (the 21st Armored Division withdrew and rushed to El Alamein).

Rommel then organized engineers to build a temporary airport overnight, and ordered transport troops to step up the delivery of fuel and ammunition from Tobruk and Sidioma.

What Rommel did was mainly to gain air superiority:

If Matrouh has a temporary airport as well as fuel and ammunition, then the German fighters and bombers do not need to return to Tobruk to reload or refuel after fighting on the Alamein line. They only need to land in Matrouh. .

This not only saves a lot of fuel for the Air Force, but also increases the number of takeoffs... Round trip to Tobruk requires more time and energy, while round trip to Matruh enters the battlefield almost as soon as it takes off.