The decisive battle against the Third Reich

Thanks to classmate A83530751 for his generous reward and becoming the first leader of this book!

Finally, the British army reached the Tobruk defense line after six hours of forced march.

Major General Evans of the 15th Armored Division immediately requested fire assistance from the Air Force.

But a few minutes later, they were ruthlessly rejected by the Air Force: "General, we cannot meet your request because our aircraft cannot accurately drop bombs on the target in the dark!"

When Major General Evans received the telegram, he was so angry that he tore it into pieces.

"These guys!" Major General Evans scolded: "They can help the enemy when they need it, and we have many excuses when we need it!"

But Major General Evans kept scolding, but he knew in his heart that the Air Force was right. It was getting dark. The Air Force without the ability to fight at night could not provide effective help to the 15th Armored Division. If they were forcibly dispatched, maybe they would Once again "doing the enemy a favor".

"General, maybe we should rest one night and wait for dawn before attacking!" the staff suggested: "The troops are exhausted after traveling all day. They can't launch an attack, not to mention we don't have air support yet!"

"Barrett!" Evans shook his head and said, "You think I don't know this? But you think we can wait until tomorrow?!"

"Why not?" the staff officer asked.

"Look here!" Major General Evans pointed to Tobruk on the map and said: "Tobruk is a port. The port has an advantage, that is, even if we surround it on land, the enemy can still send troops from the sea. Go for reinforcements. Do you think Rommel is a fool who would not send reinforcements to Tobruk and watch us trap these Germans to death?"

Hearing this, the staff officer couldn't help but feel embarrassed. He should have thought of this.

"The enemy's reinforcements are very likely to start from Benghazi..." Major General Evans analyzed while looking at the map: "It is more than three hundred nautical miles from Benghazi to Tobruk Port. We assume that the Germans are conquering Tobruk Port. Start preparing reinforcements at that moment, then...the reinforcements may arrive in Tobruk in seventeen hours, and it has already been six hours!"

As he spoke, Major General Evans rolled up the map and looked worriedly at the defense line covered with barbed wire: "In other words, we can only attack them at night, otherwise... when their reinforcements arrive, we can It’s even harder to conquer it!”

"But how do we attack such a line of defense?" The staff officer looked a little pale: "And it's still at night!"

The staff officers' concerns are justified. The British army is not good at fighting at night, especially the armored divisions...

This has something to do with the fighting will of the British army... The weaker the fighting will, the more afraid of night battles, because night battles often require face-to-face hand-to-hand combat with the enemy. Even if there is no hand-to-hand combat, squatting alone in a trench or foxhole in the dark can be dangerous at any time. An enemy suddenly rushes in front of you... This in itself is a test of will and courage.

On the other hand, it is also related to the equipment of the British army.

For example, the British army's tanks do not have the ability to fight at night, and the air force does not have the ability to fight at night... This leads to the British army always trying every means to avoid night battles with the enemy, because this is basically letting the British army fight with their hands tied.

But now, Major General Evans believes he has no choice.

"Think on the bright side!" Major General Evans said: "We have more than 10,000 people and more than 100 tanks, while the enemy only has more than 1,000 people. We have a huge strength advantage! And... "

And Evans didn't say the rest. This was a secret that only a few senior officers knew.

(Note: At this time, the British armored division implemented a two-brigade system, that is, one division and two brigades, each with about 10,000 people. The full division had about 20,000 people and was equipped with 300 tanks.)

On the other side, Qin Chuan also realized that the British army would launch an attack tonight for the same reason as Major General Evans considered, especially since time was not on the British army's side... The longer the time dragged on, the greater the consumption of supplies by the British army. And this is very dangerous for the British army that lost Tobruk.

But even so, Qin Chuan still fell asleep.

He was lying on the beach near the pier and fell asleep. All the people on the pier had been driven away... This was for the safety of the materials in the warehouse. Colonel Slaine was worried that there would be British troops or underground organizations. Come in and blow up the warehouse, then blockade the port to prevent anyone from entering.

The troops blocking the port were of course Qin Chuan's battalion.

This is a good job. The soldiers can even take a comfortable bath in the sea near the port during their breaks... Of course, not all soldiers can get this kind of treatment, because the warehouse still needs people to guard the port. Defenses need to be deployed.

Only Qin Chuan's Second Company could receive this honor... In fact, only Qin Chuan had obtained Colonel Slaine's permission.

"Sergeant!" Colonel Slaine said to Qin Chuan after everything stabilized: "You performed very well in this battle. Without your advice, I don't think we could have successfully captured Tobruk. In order In recognition of your achievements, I have decided to give you half a day off. You can use anything here, including the supplies in the warehouse..."

"Sir!" Qin Chuan said: "This is not just my contribution, in fact... my subordinates, my platoon, and our company..."

"Okay!" Colonel Slaine interrupted Qin Chuan: "We can only go as far as the company, so I'll let you all take half a day off!"

The soldiers couldn't help but cheer loudly, and many soldiers even hugged Qin Chuan enthusiastically to express their gratitude to him.

The first thing the soldiers did was take a bath... After staying in the desert for so long, there is nothing better than taking a comfortable bath in the blue water and then having a drink under the parasol. Take it out from the warehouse. British wave The special wine is even more pleasing to the eye.

Werner didn't know where he got a sheep... Later I found out that Werner traded beef cans in the warehouse with local people. Werner originally wanted to exchange it for a pig, but he couldn't find any pigs in Libya. We can only make do with sheep.

The soldiers slaughtered the sheep in a hurry, then lit a fire, and then roasted the mutton next to the beach.

"Is there a better life than this?" the baker said while drinking wine in the sea breeze: "If I wrote to my family and told them that I could enjoy the war so much, they would definitely think I was crazy!"

"Don't talk about them!" Big Bear continued vaguely while chewing the mutton: "I still can't believe it... God, I am really enjoying a bonfire dinner at the beach!"

"This should be attributed to our sergeant, shouldn't it?" Werner raised the wine glass in his hand: "Here's to the sergeant!"

"To Sergeant!" the soldiers raised their glasses.