The decisive battle against the Third Reich

The reason why so many troops are needed on this journey is because the British army relied on the big port of Syracuse to land a large number of troops, equipment and supplies (80,000 people) in a few days. Of course, it would take a considerable amount of effort to entangle them. troops.

On the other side, there are only one airborne regiment and one regiment of the 52nd Mechanized Infantry Division facing the U.S. 3rd Division.

The other units, that is, the Goering Armored Division and the 52nd Mechanized Infantry Division were short of one regiment. Together with the 1st Infantry Regiment, they pursued the American troops and headed straight to the south.

On the other side, Patton was shocked when he received the news that the 1st Infantry Division's defense line had been breached by the Germans.

"How did it happen?" Patton asked on the phone.

"We were fooled, General!" Allen said: "You are right, their main force is in Enna. They have a large number of tanks, an entire armored division to be exact. There are also at least two divisions of troops, We simply can’t stop their attack!”

Patton hurriedly gave an order to the 45th Infantry Division and the 2nd Armored Division that had just landed on the beach: "Build defenses on the beach immediately. The Germans are about to attack. There are three divisions, including an armored division!"

However, Patton still has no confidence in this, because 60 tanks of the 2nd Armored Division have been reinforced in Enna, and now all of them are alive and dead. There are only 30 tanks that have just been unloaded on the entire beach, and most of them are "General Grant" type. tank.

As soon as the phone was put down, Eisenhower called.

"What's going on, Joe?" Eisenhower was furious on the phone: "The British army's rear was attacked, and I heard that the 1st Infantry Division's defense line was broken through by the enemy..."

"It's my turn to ask you this, Ike!" Patton was so angry that even though Eisenhower had been his friend for many years, Patton still yelled into the phone angrily: "I told you, I've been warning you. , and the British 'military genius'... The main force of the Germans is in Enna! But you never took my words seriously! Now, you ask me what's going on? What should I say?"

"The main force of the Germans is in Enna?"

"Of course!" Patton replied: "They have three divisions in total, including an armored division... They just broke through the defense line of the 1st Infantry Division. I told you, the Germans in Enna are different, not the 1st Infantry Division." The 1st Infantry Division's combat effectiveness is not good, but it is because the main force of the Germans is there..."

Before he finished speaking, Eisenhower on the other end hung up the phone.

General Patton couldn't help but cursed, "Go to hell!" and then slammed the phone onto the base.

In fact, Eisenhower did not intentionally hang up on Patton, but he knew that this was not the time to pursue responsibility and listen to Patton's complaints. He immediately found Montgomery after hanging up the phone.

"We were fooled!" Eisenhower's first words when he saw Montgomery were: "The main force of the Germans is in Enna!"

Montgomery turned around and replied unhurriedly: "Ike, we have discussed this issue..."

"They have broken through our defense line!" Eisenhower said: "The 1st Infantry Division's defense line has been broken through by them. They saw the German armored division with their own eyes!"

"What?" Montgomery was so surprised that he couldn't close his mouth for a long time.

"We were fooled, do you understand?!" Eisenhower clenched his fist and knocked on the table: "We were fooled. The German armored division is in Enna, and they have two more divisions. Their strength is greater than we thought. Much more!”

"No, that photo..."

"That photo was intentionally shown to us by the Germans!" Eisenhower interrupted Montgomery: "The first photo we took was probably real. In order to cover up this mistake, the Germans burned it. They used a fake tank to confuse us, and we were deceived so easily!”

When Montgomery heard this, his face suddenly turned pale.

This is an irony. After the British MI5 went to great lengths to set up a "Mincemeat Plan" to fool the Germans, the Germans in turn used a plan similar to the "Mincemeat Plan" to fool the British.

Of course, the German deception plan is different from the "Mincemeat Plan" in terms of situation, but its essence is very similar:

The British "Mincemeat Plan" was a way for Britain to cover up its strategic purpose of attacking Sicily with an overly obvious attack on Sicily.

The Germans' deception plan was to conceal the truth that their main force was in Enna by revealing too obviously that the main force was in Enna.

Then, Montgomery thought of something... If what Eisenhower said was true, that is, the German troops were much larger than imagined, then it was very likely that the "Mincemeat Plan" had not succeeded from the beginning.

Not only was it unsuccessful, the "Meat Mince Plan" was even used by the Germans. In other words, Sicily was a trap from the beginning, a trap targeting the British and American coalition forces.

Thinking of this, Montgomery couldn't help but look at Eisenhower in surprise, then looked at the map, and asked, "Do you know where they are now?"

"No, of course not!" Eisenhower replied: "I only know that their main force is chasing the 1st Infantry Division!"

"Syracuse!" Montgomery stared at the map for a while and then said: "Their goal must be Syracuse!"

"No, I think their target is Puerto Trapa!" Eisenhower said.

Port of Trapa is a small port that the US military captured and is currently using.

"Ike!" Montgomery said: "Their target is obviously Syracuse, because there is a large amount of supplies stored there, but the supplies in Trapa Port are not like this!"

"Oh, really?" said Eisenhower, "but I think that's why Port Trapa is their main target!"

"Why do you think that?" Montgomery asked.

"Because we don't have enough supplies, they may wipe us all out on the beachhead!" Eisenhower said angrily: "And all of this is because of your damn plan. You assigned us in the plan. There is only a small port, and now at the beach of Trapa, we only have thirty tanks, only thirty tanks... and they have to use these thirty tanks to resist a German armored division! "

"Ike, listen to me..." Montgomery wanted to explain something else, but was interrupted by Eisenhower.

"No!" Eisenhower said: "There is no room for discussion. I am an American. When the U.S. military is in danger, my first consideration should be the U.S. military! So..."

There is no need to say more about what follows.