The decisive battle against the Third Reich

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The British army fought all day during the day and finally gained a foothold on the high ground. However, the German army was driven off the high ground in a battle at night.

Being driven off the high ground is still a trivial matter. After all, they can continue to occupy it the next day. What is important is that the British and Australian troops suffered heavy casualties in this battle. Colonel Budd's 1st Airborne Regiment lost 319 people and injured 532 in this day's attack. people, and another 35 people are missing. The Australian 13th Infantry Regiment suffered more than 1,000 casualties, and its leader, Colonel Boyce, was wounded and captured.

At this time, Colonel Boyce was afraid that there were ten thousand grass mud horses roaring past in his heart... He originally wanted to show his "selflessness" in front of the British master, but he was willing to sacrifice the lives of Australians for the sake of the British. Who would have thought that he would Captured! ! !

When the news reached the headquarters of the Eighth Army, Montgomery and Eisenhower were stunned. They could never have imagined that the battle would end like this: in just one day of attack, an elite paratrooper regiment and the powerful Australians The infantry regiment lost its combat effectiveness.

To be precise, they did not lose their fighting ability, but lost their confidence in fighting.

Colonel Bader weakly reported to Montgomery: "General, I'm sorry, we have tried various methods, but we still have this result! I think... rashly attacking these highlands before a more suitable tactic is found is a waste of time." It’s meaningless!”

Montgomery heard the meaning of Colonel Budd's words, that is, the 1st Airborne Regiment refused to attack the high ground where the German troops were stationed.

What else could Montgomery do? Send another force up? That would only lead to a repeat of the tragedy of the 1st Airborne Regiment.

"General!" At this time, a staff officer reported with a telegram: "German armored forces have appeared in Wajid and Abun!"

Montgomery and Eisenhower immediately became nervous, and their faces became even more pale after they found the two locations mentioned by the staff on the map.

"General!" Eisenhower said: "Obviously, they brought the armor back!"

Montgomery nodded silently.

"General!" Degan Gang requested from the side: "Give me the order. If we don't retreat, it will be too late!"

De Gangan was right. The Germans moved their armored forces back from both ends, and their target was obviously Gafsa.

If Gafsa is occupied by the German armored divisions, and combined with the Gabes defense line and these perverted highlands in depth... the British army's retreat will be completely closed.

After a long silence, Montgomery gritted his teeth and ordered: "Retreat!"

However, it was only when Montgomery was ordered to retreat that he discovered that even retreat was not easy.

This is not the 15th Armored Division.

The 15th Armored Division can still be withdrawn. After all, they are rough-skinned and fleshy "Sherman" tanks. The German mortars are just white spots on the armor of these tanks... but they There is also a certain price to pay. At least the armored division's cars and armored vehicles need a lot of courage to break through the blocked road section.

Compared with these equipment, it is much easier for the airborne troops to retreat. They can disperse through... The German mortarmen will not waste the shell reserves in the tunnels for such a target.

The difficulty lies with the 7th Armored Division, which is deep in Tunisia.

In terms of time, it was too late for the 7th Armored Division to withdraw... The German armored divisions were suppressed by the powerful air power of Britain and the United States and did not dare to march during the day. They did not dare to march too fast at night. They even had to be wary of the British and American forces. U.S. airpower will conduct bombings at night.

Although fighter aircraft of this era do not have night combat capabilities, the US military has their own set of night combat methods: using reconnaissance aircraft to find targets at low altitudes, such as tanks and car headlights.

Once the target is found, the reconnaissance aircraft will cooperate with the bombers to carry out night bombing, such as dropping incendiary bombs in the target area to indicate the target location to the bombers.

This took at least two days for German armor to reach Gafsa.

When the British army had air superiority, it was not a problem for the 7th Armored Division to travel through the night and reach Gafsa within two days.

There was barely enough fuel. During this period, US military transport planes airdropped fuel to the 7th Armored Division almost non-stop, and they could also get continuous fuel replenishment on the way back... This is the benefit of having air superiority, even if A virtual encirclement has been formed on land, but the Allies can still get enough fuel.

The problem still lies in the high ground along the way...

Major General Burton, the commander of the 7th Armored Division, had actually considered the problem of his own retreat, so he deployed troops to defend key points along the way. Some key points even left a few tanks to assist in the defense.

These key points have always been in the hands of the British army, which is why Major General Burton and Montgomery believed that the 7th Armored Division could withdraw.

But Major General Burton soon discovered that he was wrong... The focus of the German sluggish 7th Armored Division was not at all on those seemingly important points. Their focus was on the high ground, the high ground beside the road.

This is not to say that the German army built tunnel fortifications on these highlands. Although there were indeed tunnels on these highlands, they were not many in number and did not form a large scale.

The problem is that Germany seems to have countless rocket launchers in his hands... The tank was driving on the road, and when it turned to slow down, two rockets were unexpectedly shot out of the grass on the roadside.

Although the armor of the "Sherman" tank is thick, the penetration depth of the rocket launcher is 200MM. It can almost be said that as long as it hits, it will not be penetrated, even if it hits the front armor... the reason why sometimes it hits but not Penetration, because rockets sometimes bounce off the tank's sloped armor without detonating.

The Germans were obviously prepared early on. After firing the rocket launchers, they turned around and entered the traffic trench and disappeared into the jungle.

This caused the 7th Armored Division to struggle. During this period, scouts were constantly sent out for reconnaissance.

But the reconnaissance failed to achieve very good results, because the German army could always set up ambushes and hit the scouts with heavy losses... After all, this is a mountainous area, and there are highlands everywhere on both sides of the road, and ambushing in the vegetation on the highlands is It's easy and condescending.

"General!" Major General Burton reported to Montgomery anxiously: "We have lost thirteen tanks in half a day, and this was during the day. If we were marching at night... I believe the losses would be even greater! If this continues, I'm afraid that before we reach Gafsa, more than half of the tank will be damaged!"

"No matter what method you use!" Montgomery replied angrily: "Bring those tanks back!"

"Yes, General!" Major General Bolton replied.

But he knew in his heart that this was almost impossible.