The decisive battle against the Third Reich

Many book friends mentioned that updates are slow, which is indeed true. But I hope that all book friends will understand that as the saying goes, everything is difficult at the beginning, and the beginning of a new book is no exception. And as you book friends have also seen, plots like soldiers are very brain-consuming to conceive. The current situation is that it is difficult to write a thousand words an hour. That's right, this doesn't include the time for checking the information. Updates will be accelerated over time. I hope book friends will bear with me!

According to preliminary statistics, the German army seized enough supplies for 30,000 people for the previous quarter and 10,000 tons of fuel at the Port of Tobruk.

The seized supplies were so rich and tempting that Rommel couldn't believe it when he received the telegram.

"What you said is true, Colonel!" Rommel asked in the telegram: "Why didn't those stupid British blow them up and leave them to us?"

"I don't know, General!" Colonel Slain replied: "I'm also curious about this question. I even asked a few prisoners. Their answer was that they were not soldiers guarding the warehouse, and they had not received instructions to blow up the warehouse. Order, so it’s none of their business!”

"Incredible!" Rommel replied.

After a pause, Rommel continued: "You must hold Tobruk, understand? Only in this way can the supplies truly belong to us!"

"Understood, General!" Colonel Slain replied, and after thinking for a while he added: "General, but we don't have enough troops. The defense line is 30 miles long, and we only have one infantry regiment that has been seriously attrited!"

"I will try my best to hold back the British with my main force!" Rommel said: "On the other hand, I will immediately send troops to reinforce you. They will arrive within a day. Before that, you must defend Tobruk at all costs. ,at all costs!"

"Yes, General!" Colonel Slaine couldn't help but feel relieved after hearing this.

The strength of the First Infantry Regiment is indeed insufficient, but it has an advantage, that is, it has almost endless ammunition, and until now, the British have not been able to reach Tobruk... So waiting for reinforcements to arrive for a day should not be a big problem .

Colonel Slane's estimate was correct, because the British army was in dire straits at this time.

The first is the disappearance of two important commanders of the British army, General Nimes and General O'Connor... The British army did not know that they had been captured by the Germans. The British army thought that these two generals might have been lost in the desert or The radio station was damaged or something, so a new commander was never appointed. Lieutenant General Greenhill, commander of the British Thirteenth Army, took command on his behalf.

Lieutenant General Greenhill was stunned when he heard that Tobruk had been lost.

"What the hell!" After a while, Lieutenant General Greenhill yelled: "Those Germans only have more than a thousand people, and they don't have artillery or tanks. I want to know how they broke through our defense of 5,000 people. And there’s the Tobruk defense line assisted by the air force?”

"General!" the staff officer replied: "The problem may lie in our air force..."

"What did you say?" Lieutenant General Greenhill was stunned.

"We received a telegram from the Tobruk garrison..." the staff officer replied: "They complained that the air force dropped bombs on their heads, which directly caused the Germans to break through their defense lines!"

Lieutenant General Greenhill couldn't help but blushed with anger when he heard this, but the British gentlemanly demeanor made him try to control himself, and in the end he only gritted his teeth and uttered a few words: "Very good... The Air Force has been really helpful. If possible, I will discuss this issue with them at the military court!”

"General!" the staff officer said, "I have contacted the Air Force. Judging from the information they have... this is probably not an ordinary accidental bombing, but a misdirection by the Germans. In other words... they were actually influenced by the Germans. We can’t court-martial them for cheating!”

"Deception?" Lieutenant General Greenhill felt a little incredible: "What kind of deception can allow the Air Force to drop bombs on our own people? This is more like an excuse!"

"General!" the staff officer handed a document to Lieutenant General Greenhill and said: "The Air Force's Mosquito reconnaissance plane filmed the entire process. The Germans drove the car into our defense line. The moment the bomber flew over it, the pilot took it for granted that it was the enemy's position, so..."

Lieutenant General Greenhill no longer knew what to say. He could not imagine that such a thing would happen on the battlefield...

But this doesn’t seem surprising, because this battle has exceeded everyone’s expectations again and again from the beginning:

The Germans were originally supposed to be wiped out in Tengeter, but they fought a beautiful victory there without them; the Germans originally stayed in Tengeter, but they did not expect to find them when the British army attacked the next morning. It was an empty city at all; the German attack on Tobruk was supposed to be a moth flying into the flames and seeking death, but unexpectedly they easily occupied this important port and stole all the supplies that originally belonged to the British army.

The British don't like this kind of uncertainty very much. To them, this doesn't feel like a war at all, but a gamble!

"Where is the 15th Armored Division?" Lieutenant General Greenhill asked angrily.

The staff officer found a location on the map and replied: "Just past Luqada'i, there are still seventy kilometers to Tobruk!"

"God, there are still seventy kilometers!" Lieutenant General Greenhill ordered angrily: "Ask General Evans, are they marching on their butts?!"

"Yes, general!" the staff officer replied: "I will let them get to Tobruk as soon as possible and launch an attack!"

In fact, this is not to blame at all. The 15th Armored Division is equipped with "Matilda" and "Valentin" infantry tanks...the speed of these infantry tanks on the road is only 24 kilometers per hour, which is still at its best. In fact, no one dares to drive them more than 10 kilometers per hour in the high temperature environment of the desert, because that means these heavy guys will soon break down due to engine overheating.

To make matters worse...the Germans also planted mines and booby traps on the roads.

Landmines may be easy to deal with, and British scouts can detect them with mine detectors at the front, but traps are difficult to guard against.

The reason is that it is too easy to dig a trap for tanks in the desert...The Germans will dig a hole in the middle of the road, then fill the hole with soft sand, and then pave it with some similar to other roads. The sand and soil disguise it as no different from other roads, and they even use cars to compact it, so that people and cars can walk on it without any problems, but the 26-ton "Matilda" "As soon as the tank drove up, it got stuck in it and couldn't move.

This caused the tank crews of the 15th Armored Division to use other tanks again and again to drag out the tanks stuck in the pit... Then they discovered that this was not a good way, because there would be more in the process. The tank broke down due to towing.

To put it simply, pulling out one tank may damage two tanks.

What makes them feel even more helpless is that they must move forward with these "stupid guys", otherwise, they will not know how to attack the line of defense when they reach Tobruk.