Four Hundred and Nineteen Poor

When Montgomery read the report submitted to him by the poor Norwich Armored Brigade, there was still no sadness or joy on his face. △￠In this world, there are really few people who understand the German army. After counting, there are only him Montgomery, and that de Gaulle who has no military power.

The German air force liked to operate on the front lines of the armored forces. They attacked all targets they could find, slaughtering the opponent's army wantonly, destroying assembly points and logistics facilities, and causing the enemy's counterattack to collapse before it even started.

This is what de Gaulle told Montgomery, and it is also the conclusion reached after several head-on battles with German armored forces. He believes that using the superior air force to compress the depth of the opponent's defense line and destroy most of the enemy's defense force is the key to the victory of the German armored forces.

Of course, he added a paragraph later, and the words in it were even more helpless: as far as I know, the combat effectiveness of the German armored forces themselves is definitely world-class. They fight tenaciously and are extremely fierce, and often make bold and timely responses locally-in terms of combat effectiveness, they can defeat any opponent, so don't underestimate any German armored force, because they are enough to change the situation of the battle.

Montgomery thought of this evaluation, which can be said to be full of praise, and the leader of the French government-in-exile who was full of respect when he mentioned the German armored forces. He felt that even if he gave such an excellent evaluation to the German armored forces, he still couldn't fully describe this respectable opponent.

"This is a force that often performs miracles. They have a good sense of combat and a spirit of sacrifice. The lessons learned from countless losses are that the German armored forces are fully capable of facing opponents who are superior in numbers. Therefore, I recommend that even if they have Do not attack the German armored force with twice as many troops." After thinking for a long time, Montgomery finally began to write his report, and at the beginning he commented on the German armored force in more straightforward words than de Gaulle.

The British had countless loopholes in the Battle of the Grove, insufficient training, and confusion in command. If they want to sum up, it is enough for them to write dozens of pages of reports. These various problems directly pushed a Mitchell Wittmann to the altar, allowing Germany to gain a firm foothold in the landing field.

For example, among the nearest tanks in the entire brigade, only two tanks were left to guard the public direction, and only armored vehicles were deployed in other areas as the outer security line of defense. After this armored vehicle was destroyed, the entire army still did not respond. They all slept in tents.

Then, after the massacre by Wittmann's vehicles began, these British soldiers were in a state of chaos and there was no order at all. On the other side of the road, more than half of the troops that were not attacked did not have a single tank rushing past the road to the opposite side for reinforcements.

At the same time, the confusion of the radio also caused difficulties for the coordination and command of the troops. Only about half of the British tanks were temporarily equipped with a radio system, and many tank commanders did not even have the habit of using it. This lack of coordination of combat methods caused the entire army to be destroyed. After 0 tanks, more than half of the people still don't know what happened.

Originally, the British had the opportunity to destroy the German Tiger tank that has now been boasted as the God of Death by rumors.

However, due to the lack of communication and coordination, the British Norwich Armored Air Force had a numerical advantage but did not make any use of it. In the end, Wittmann helped Wittmann complete a battle against the sky that destroyed 25 tanks.

In fact, Wittmann's actions were risky and dangerous. First of all, he was not on an assault mission, but was responsible for confirmation and investigation. After encountering a British armored vehicle, he should have retreated immediately and contacted the armored reconnaissance vehicle waiting behind. Instead he took the crazy decision to go on the offensive.

Then after he entered the British camp, he found more British tanks than expected, and he still had the opportunity to retreat immediately. At this time, he had completed the task very well and found out the reality of the British armored forces , but he still did not choose to leave, but directed his tank to start an irrational attack.

I have to admit that what saved the German team was not superb technology and extraordinary ability, but just luck against the sky. The first time they were hit was not the engine compartment behind the fragile hull, but the stronger turret section. The most deadly two times were hit on the sundries of the plug-in, and the other was bounced off because of the corner problem-if it wasn't luck, they would have to die twice to complete the same battle.

It was later proved that his irrational and crazy actions were very correct under the circumstances at the time. They created a miracle and destroyed 25 tanks of the opponent in one go. It disrupted the deployment of the British army's campaign, and the only British armored force nearby that had not exerted its strength withdrew from the battle in the most unlucky way.

Wittmann became the new idol of the German armored forces, but he did a deep check within his unit. He got the leaf-like Knight Iron Cross that everyone longed for, but he was forced to take this medal to review the various mistakes he made in battle in front of a whole regiment of tank commanders.

You don't even need to think about being promoted. He is still the second lieutenant who was demoted, he is still the commander of the Tiger tank, and he is still the front-line commander of the only Tiger tank unit in the landing force. He was strictly forbidden to charge into battle alone.

There are two main lines for Montgomery to support the Norwich area, one is through London to Colchester and then to Ipswich and finally to Norwich; the other is through Harlow to Cambridge and then to Norwich . Both lines have their advantages.

The advantage of taking the first line is that the distance is relatively short, and it can reach the Norwich area in the shortest distance, but the disadvantage is obvious. This road is close to the coast, and it is easy to be bombed by the Luftwaffe.

The second line is relatively safer. It is not easy to be attacked by German naval aviation in the hinterland of Britain. Although it has been bombed several times, compared with the first line, it is already considered heaven. Of course, this road is far away, and the time to reach the Norwich area may not be much faster.

After some consideration, Montgomery took the helpless method of dividing his troops in order to ensure that the time for reinforcements to Norwich was compressed to the shortest possible time. He himself led most of the troops from Harlow to Cambridge, taking a relatively long way, while a combat-experienced armored regiment went to Colchester to avoid the blockade of the German navy and air force as much as possible.

As for the shameful Norwich Armored Brigade, which was destined to go down in history because of the Battle of the Woods, Montgomery ordered them to change direction and go to reinforce Great Yarmouth to prevent the German armored forces from taking the second seaside city and expand transportation throughput.

So the Norwich Armored Brigade, which was destined to be remembered by everyone because of bad luck, began their bad luck. Poor, they endured the repeated bombing of the Luftwaffe, and barely reached the outskirts of Great Yarmouth after losing 15 tanks. They found that it had been occupied by the 1st Division of the German Marine Corps.

The helpless British armored soldiers had no choice but to attack once tentatively. As a result, they lost 2 tanks and 20 infantry. After they came to the conclusion that Great Yarmouth could not be recaptured, they began to retreat. After a collapse along the river and back to Norwich, it was considered a firm foothold.

An armored force, departing from Norwich, was ordered to counterattack the German landing force in the area south of Bakton. As a result, it lost one-third of its equipment and personnel in an air strike, and was killed by a German army in an unnamed woods. The tanks killed 25 tanks, then were attacked by the air, retreated to Great Yarmouth, and finally returned to Norwich... wasting the most precious 72 hours, this important armored force lost two-thirds of its weapons And the personnel then returned to the starting point.

If you thought that this was the end of all the misery of the ridiculous Norwich Armored Brigade, you were sorely mistaken. After they returned to Norwich, they were ordered to reinforce Cromer non-stop-such a troop that had been defeated repeatedly was sent to perform missions again, which shows how the British offensive and defensive battle on the beach has reached at this time. Hardship.

The armored brigade set off again after replenishing 300 recruits. They followed the iron to go to reinforce Cromer, but they encountered the troops of the German 2nd Armored Division by another river and fought for 15 minutes. The armored brigade retreated again, leaving behind the wreckage of 10 tanks and the bodies of 110 soldiers.

Montgomery, who had just rushed to Norwich to replace the old and prudent General Powell, who took over the defense of the Norwich area, discovered that the German landing force had controlled the vast landing field from Cromer in the north to Great Yarmouth in the south. A defense in depth of about ten kilometers was opened up. It has even occupied two nearby field airfields... It can be said that the Germans have completely established themselves on British soil.

There is no worse situation than this. The German armored forces cover a large number of infantry and have advanced to the river, only a dozen kilometers away from the important town of Norwich. According to preliminary calculations, at least hundreds of thousands of German troops have landed ashore, and the entire landing site can be said to have been operated as impregnable.

Montgomery really wanted to swear, he really wanted to set up the table and point at a group of British commanders and ask them if they were idiots and stupid pigs. Just when he was about to throw things violently, the poor Norwich Armored Brigade of the British Army retreated back to Norwich with the defeated soldiers.

It seems to be to vent the anger in his heart, and it seems that there is really no good way to deal with it. After Montgomery took over the command, his first order was to disband the poor armored brigade that had returned to Norwich and incorporated it into his armored army. From then on, the Norwich Armored Brigade ceased to exist, ending its pitiful life.