Four Hundred and Seventy-Four Treks

Africa is a magical place, especially in the hot and dry North Africa. There are scorching sun and ridiculously high surface temperatures every day, but the nights are as cold as northern European winters.

Anyone who comes to this land must try their best to adapt to everything on this land. Rommel was sitting in the car, letting the wind and sand hit his face. He saw a few soldiers of the reconnaissance force pouring the sand from their boots by the side of the road, talking and laughing as his commander's car passed by them. opened.

They set off a few hours earlier, advancing along the simple road and road signs half-buried by the yellow sand, following the map and the compass to advance in the desert with difficulty, but God knows why, their hundreds of tanks The army was still lost in the desert. They did not arrive at the place where the attack was launched on time, so the whole army became anxious.

"Chief of Staff, do you think General Frederick will stop attacking?" Rommel asked, squinting his eyes at the yellow sand all over the sky. He is in a very bad mood now, because the plan he made by himself failed to be executed on time due to his own reasons.

The staff officer looked at the map and road signs and said to Rommel: "From the road signs, we have deviated from the original combat location by more than ten kilometers. This place is almost out of the front line of the two sides fighting. It should be near this area on the map. .”

Now Rommel knows why his troops deviated from the original route, because those road signs were replaced by the British, and the indicated roads also deviated from the original direction, but the reconnaissance troops of the 7th Armored Division in the first desert operation did not pay attention These details, I was confused for more than an hour before I found the right direction.

This is not like the bustling European inland, where any small intersection will mark the cities and distances in all directions in detail. The street signs here only have a simple location description. As for the detailed information, don’t even think about it. . And once you miss a signpost, it's not easy to see the same signpost again.

The temperature is very hot. In order to prevent sunburn or dehydration caused by evaporation of water, people must wear thick clothes in hot temperatures, and even tuck their collars with towels to avoid dying in the deserted dunes. After several hours of trekking, 41 tanks broke down, and Rommel had to waste another precious hour to repair these precious weapons and equipment.

"The engine of 17 tanks stalled due to the problem of the filter screen. Now after cleaning and replenishing the engine oil, these tanks can start again. The two tanks of the 2nd Regiment, the 2nd Battalion and the 1st Company have serious problems, and one of them is still malfunctioning. After investigation, there was a problem with the gearbox of another tank, and the support battalion said that it must return to **** to repair.” The officer in charge of logistics caught up with Rommel and reported to him the repair work of the faulty tank.

"The reconnaissance force hasn't contacted the British army yet?" Rommel unfolded the map on his car,

The wind and sand were a bit strong, making the map rattle.

"No, we have found the correct orientation, but there is indeed no British security force in the area where the British army is expected to contact. Here and here we found the abandoned camp. From the time point of view, it was about three hours ago here There are also activities of British soldiers." The staff officer pointed to the map and introduced to Rommel: "Or? General, shall we break the radio silence now?"

"Wait...wait a little longer..." Rommel pursed his lips, and finally, as if he had made up his mind, he gave an order loudly: "Let the troops advance at a faster pace, and gather all the malfunctioning vehicles here, leaving an armored The battalion still has the division headquarters as a cover, and other troops, rush here as quickly as possible!"

"General! You mean...the British are retreating?" The chief of staff asked suspiciously, and then nodded his head: "Indeed, from all indications, they are indeed retreating, but, general...we must Adventure?"

Of course it is necessary. Once the British are allowed to retreat, the next decisive battle will be in the Tobruk area on the other side of the desert. The supply line there will be at least dozens of times farther than it is now. And for the British to completely retreat to Tobruk, with the complete fortifications there, it will cost at least several times the price to annihilate the British army. These are things Rommel does not want to see.

Rommel's strategic goal is to invade Egypt and provide Germany with a springboard to enter the Middle East. If too much power is wasted on the road, then the farther he goes, the fewer chips he can use in his hand. He doesn't want to be in the future There is an embarrassing situation where there is no military attack. Therefore, according to Rommel's current thinking, the risk of saving troops and eliminating the effective forces of Britain is definitely worthwhile.

Thinking of this, Rommel nodded, and said to the chief of staff: "It is necessary, very necessary. If General Frederick sees that the British are going to run away, then he will probably put all his eggs in one basket and get close to the obstacle here and along the way." Along the northeastern part of the barrier."

He pointed to the map and said: "Once he launches an attack like this, it will be a dream for the British to escape. They will inevitably be stuck in place and unable to retreat. So at this time, they can only choose to fight back or give up the frontline troops."

Give up the 4 British divisions on the front line? This is not everyone has the courage. Even Montgomery has to consider whether this kind of abandonment is worthwhile, let alone an old general known for his stability.

Therefore, the most likely response for the British is to counterattack, using effective but powerful counterattacks to drive away the entanglement of the positive Germans. In this way, the British front-line guards who couldn't escape could be saved, and then all of them swaggered back to the Tobruk area. Such a counterattack tactic is not considered risky, and it can even be said to be a well-regulated limited counterattack tactic before retreat-Rommel firmly believes that the British will do this.

"How about? Keep the 2 regiments and let the 1 regiment go up first?" The commander of the 7th Division is Rommel's old subordinate, and he stood aside and suggested: "If the strength of a regiment really seizes the British's space , is enough."

Without even thinking about it, Rommel waved his hand: "The whole army is attacking! We are the 7th Armored Division! Can the 7th Armored Division not attacking be called the 7th Armored Division? It is not our style to be timid. Just hit the biggest result!"

"Attack!" Rommel shouted loudly, and the voice quickly dissipated in the sky covered with yellow sand.

Corresponding to this command to attack was the sound of tanks starting their engines one after another and continuing to move forward. They are the 7th Armored Division of the German Wehrmacht known as the Devil, and they are the 7th Division of the Devil who fought all the way from Sedan to Dunkirk in France. The motto of their division is General Rommel's famous phrase "attack, attack, and attack again. "

So when the order to attack was issued, all the commanders finally recovered from the depressed state of searching, and began to methodically arrange for their subordinates to complete the final preparations for the attack. The ammunition was sorted out, the remaining amount of fuel was confirmed, the shells were loaded into the barrel of the tank, and the magazine was inserted into the barrel of the assault rifle.

As the wheels of tanks and cars turned, the entire 7th Armored Division rolled forward, and the reconnaissance troops shuttled back and forth among the various units. From time to time, signal soldiers on motorcycles returned from the front, confirming various important information news.

"British troops were found, and British troops were found in the area 6 miles ahead. They are firing, and we are not too close." A soldier on a motorcycle pointed to the map and reported the results of the investigation to a battalion commander of an armored battalion. The battalion commander nodded and climbed into his command vehicle.

Soon this exciting news was passed on to Rommel, who was in the 1st Battalion of the 1st Regiment. After receiving the information, he only glanced at it briefly, and then ordered: "Break the radio silence, this time the British will not be able to escape! "

Following his order, the command vehicle of the military department stopped moving forward, and the huge radio antenna and telegraph receiving antenna were erected by the engineers. The cables of the power generation vehicle were connected to each command vehicle, and dozens of soldiers and two tanks began to set up a security line around them.

When I opened the telegram, I received a distress telegram from General Frederick: "General Rommel, our army is fighting hard, please be sure to launch an attack on the flank." The second telegram was even more sad: "General, please launch an attack as soon as possible."

"Call back General Frederick." Rommel said with a smile: "I am at the designated position and have already started to attack."

After finishing speaking, he was obviously relieved because he won the bet this time, looked at his chief of staff and his subordinates, and joked: "This Frederick will exaggerate, and when he calls for help, he will shout The voice is the loudest, but if you really leave him alone for a few hours, you will find that he can actually persist..."

"General Frederick has always been known for his stability and maturity. His old unit, the 7th Infantry Division, is known as the little devil." The chief of staff said with a smile: "General Burke once joked with General Lister , Said to bet on who will win if you attack Frederick and defend."

"What else?" Rommel was taken aback for a moment, and then asked with great interest: "We can rest for a few days after this battle, and Frederick and I will try to play the game."

Frederick, the commander of the 7th Army, who was struggling under the counterattack of the British tanks and artillery, finally got the news he wanted to wait for. A telegram from Rommel was handed to him by the telegrapher, and he opened it. After taking a look, he looked composed and walked back to his headquarters with his hands behind his back.

Walking to his staff officer, he handed the telegram to his subordinates: "Win! General Rommel's attack on the flank has begun."