The decisive battle against the Third Reich

The Allied forces airborne the 2nd Airborne Regiment of the British 1st Airborne Division and the US 503rd Airborne Regiment... These troops were originally used to airborne Algiers in the battle to capture Algeria, but the Germans occupied Algeria first.

The US 503rd Airborne Regiment is responsible for occupying Gafsa Airport.

The reason is that the Allied forces will use a large number of American transport aircraft in this battle, which means that many American ground crews will be deployed at the airport, so the airport is mainly responsible for the US military.

On the other hand, it is also because the US military lacks combat experience when it first enters the battlefield, so it is responsible for an area that is relatively easy to occupy and has a single and clear target.

The British 1st Airborne Division, because of its rich combat experience, was responsible for the more arduous tasks... On the one hand, they had to fight with the Germans in street battles to completely control Gafsa and conduct reconnaissance and attacks along the road to prepare for the entry and breakthrough of subsequent armored forces. Prepare, on the other hand, to occupy the German-controlled 312 Hill (that is, the Zero Hill where Qinchuan is located), because the 312 Hill is only 6 kilometers away from Gafsa Airport in a straight line, and the artillery fire there can control and blockade Gafsa Airport. takeoff and landing.

As Montgomery expected, the German defense in Gafsa was very weak... This is actually easy to explain. The German army, especially Rommel, advocated mobile defense, that is, the main defense force was the two armored divisions on the second line. , but these two armored divisions were moved to both ends of the defense line by the British army.

Moreover, even if the German army had troops, they were deployed on the Gabes defense line. Who would have thought that the British army would suddenly raid Gafsa with airborne troops.

As a result, the German army only had two companies stationed at the airport, one of which was an Italian army. There were actually quite a few troops stationed in Gafsa, including one regiment, but they were all Italian troops... This Italian regiment was on the battlefield. The performance, to use the words of the British army, is that when we were still hanging on the parachute, we saw the Italian army below raising our hands (surrender) to welcome us.

If there is any difficulty, it is when attacking Highland Zero...the elite German troops are stationed here, so there must be some resistance anyway.

However, because Highland Zero was attacked from two sides by the British army, the Germans had no choice but to hide in the tunnel fortifications after resisting for a while. It only took the British and American troops more than half an hour to fully occupy Gafsa and Highland Zero. ground fortifications.

After receiving this information, Montgomery's headquarters could not help but burst into cheers. Controlling Gafsa not only meant that the Gabes defense line was divided into two sections from the middle, but also meant that the British army could use Gafsa as a starting point to march straight into the general. The entire Tunisia is divided into two, which means victory is at hand.

"Order the 1st Airborne Division to proceed as originally planned!" Montgomery ordered: "The 7th Armored Division attacks along the Gafsa Highway, and the 15th Armored Division is stationed in Gafsa!"

"Yes, General!"

It should be said that Montgomery's offensive tactics were learned from Germany... One day, when he felt a little unable to start against the Gabes defense line, suddenly an idea flashed in his mind: the Germans were attacking cities and territories in Europe and succeeded repeatedly. Why can't the British army learn from Germany's offensive tactics?

Then, Montgomery was pleasantly surprised to find that the British army had all the conditions needed for Germany's "Blitzkrieg", such as air superiority, armored divisions, and airborne troops.

Therefore, Montgomery reviewed the German army's previous battles and analyzed them carefully, and then formulated a plan for this attack.

Somewhat different from the German "Blitzkrieg", Montgomery used the occupation of Gafsa as a supply base and starting point, and then implemented a "Blitzkrieg" into Tunisia.

That is, the air force cooperates with the infantry and airborne troops to occupy important places along the way, such as bridges on both sides of the highway, highlands and other important places, and then the armored troops advance quickly along the roads opened by the infantry.

Montgomery even used a feature of the German "Blitzkrieg", that is, there was no certain offensive route... This was completely different from Montgomery's combat style. Montgomery was always used to arranging and planning everything before the war.

However, one of the characteristics of the German "Blitzkrieg" is flexibility. That is, the pre-war plan generally does not stipulate which armored division must take which route to capture which city. The reason is that no one knows before the war what the enemy will do to the German army. Reaction or where to focus on defense.

The German army mobilizes its troops based on the enemy's defense and strength, and then responds after mastering the intelligence. That is, it constantly looks for the opponent's weaknesses and uses the high mobility of its armored forces to launch a rapid attack against it.

This is the kind of offense Montgomery plans to run.

But what Montgomery didn't expect was that all of this was actually part of the German plan, and even the occupation of Heights Zero was no exception... As mentioned before, the tunnel fortifications can cover each other, if it weren't for the Germans' intention For this reason, the British army had to pay heavy casualties to occupy the ground fortifications at Highland Zero even if they attacked from both sides.

There was also an episode.

Just as Qin Chuan and others retreated into the tunnel fortifications, several guards with submachine guns hanging around their necks covered a barefoot female officer who ran away screaming in surprise and ran down the high ground.

"Major!" After escaping the explosion of a shell, the guard said to the female officer: "We should hide in the tunnel!"

"What?" the female officer couldn't help but screamed: "You mean to let me hide in this hole? No, never! Even if I die under the enemy's gun, I will not walk into this disgusting mouse hole." step!"

"Major!" The guard looked at the foot of the mountain and said in a panic: "If we don't go in, we may really die from the enemy's gun!"

Another guard responded: "The enemy has surrounded us, we have no way out!"

"Do you want to come in or not?" Qin Chuan impatiently raised the mine in his hand and said, "We are going to block the passage!"

"Wait a minute, Lieutenant!" the guard begged, and then looked at the female officer.

The female officer originally wanted to be tough, but a row of bullets flying over her head made her scream and change her mind. She walked towards the pit and complained: "Fuck it, you said there would be no danger, you guys These liars! You should take me to Berlin now, I am crazy to believe you..."

When she bent down and got into the tunnel, she couldn't help but let out a painful sound: "I was wrong, this is not a mouse hole, this is a hundred times worse than a mouse hole, I am going to die!"

"If you don't like it!" Qin Chuan turned around while burying the mines and said, "Then please get out!"

The female officer's roar came from the tunnel: "Watch your words, Lieutenant, you are talking to your commander!"

These words made Qin Chuan and the German soldiers all laugh.