Four Hundred and Seventy-Five Deserts

One tank after another appeared on the horizon in the desert, bringing up the yellow sand flying all over the sky, which looked spectacular. This seems to be a natural battlefield for armored troops. Once the engine roars and the track turns, it can raise dust, which is more effective than deliberately releasing smoke.

Several tanks charged in the yellow sand, and the scene was unbelievably grand. It was as if a war drum was beating in my ears, and the sound of radio contact came one after another, and a classic German tank offensive started.

More than a dozen tanks fired together, and the shells hit the sand dunes, splashing a piece of gravel. Two British African Expeditionary Forces in shorts bent over and ran quickly by the smoke from the shells, and not far from them, a Ma The Tilda tank was hit by a shell and burst into flames.

The wide tracks of the German tank painted with desert yellow ran over the dwarf desert plants, and then stopped and fired leisurely. On the other side of this tank, the same tank was doing the same thing. The German army attacked without warning. , and even standard artillery preparations were not carried out.

Because there is no need to prepare for artillery fire, the German tanks are more than twice that of the British flank armored forces. The engagement of several tanks disrupted the British army's combat deployment. The British army that was preparing to move could not be organized effectively at all. resist.

It was like the infantry phalanx that was already in disarray, suddenly being knocked in by cavalry from the flank, and the battlefield turned into a one-sided massacre. Two British soldiers galloped among them.

The British soldiers who had been fighting with the 7th Army of the German Army for more than 6 hours completely collapsed. They were hungry and cold, and most of them did not have lunch. The soldiers on both sides of the frontal battlefield were struggling. They fought from early morning to noon , and fought from noon to midnight, and the German 7th Armored Division, which entered the battle circle from the flank, was still a fresh force, so their appearance made the battle that was gradually slowing down suddenly speed up.

The forefront of the assault was the 1st Regiment of the 7th Armored Division. They were ordered to cut into the British positions and sweep away all resistance forces in sight. Under the leadership of the regiment commander, the regiment entered the battlefield from behind the southernmost British flank troops. It took less than half an hour to take down the headquarters of a British division, captured a regiment commander and 400 troops. A panicked British soldier.

On the other side, Rommel personally led the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Regiment to enter the battlefield from the left side of the 1st Regiment, and made a limited attack detour. Their luck was very good. A company rushed into an oil depot controlled by the British army. The army fled the reserve base without setting fire to it. The battalion headquarters where Rommel was in crashed into the interior of another British division, knocked out a concealed anti-tank artillery position from the rear in one breath, and destroyed an artillery position.

Another battalion of the 2nd regiment rushed forward along a simple road under the leadership of the 2nd regiment leader, and their luck was not so good. At the end of the road they ran into elements of the retreating British North African Expeditionary Force 1st Armored Division,

There was a fierce battle between the two sides. A Panther tank was destroyed on the road, but the German battalion managed to stop the British retreat, encircling about 4,000 British soldiers in the vicinity.

The entire battlefield was disrupted by the 7th Armored Division. There were battles everywhere in the area more than ten kilometers deep. More than a dozen positions reported that they were surrounded by the Germans at the same time, and several command posts lost contact. Now no one can handle it. Where exactly is the Qing German army, and no one can determine the direction and scale of the German army's attack.

The battle was so intense that the thick communication antenna on Rommel's armored command vehicle was hit by shells, and the soldiers who couldn't see the situation reported to the division headquarters of the 7th Armored Division that they saw "my general was hit by shells." bingo". This news caused confusion in the German army, but it subsided after Rommel braved the gunfire and climbed into another tank, borrowed a radio to give an order to continue the attack, the German army continued to attack, and Rommel was sent out by the soldiers friendly. battlefield.

"General! Several tanks from the 1st Battalion and 3rd Company of the 2nd Regiment took control of a nearby oil depot. It was very hidden, and our aerial reconnaissance didn't find it..." A staff officer holding a radio headset to his ear said to him just now. Rommel, who jumped off the tank, reported: "They said that the enemy is organizing a counterattack and needs support."

Rommel patted the sand on his body, then squinted and walked to the armored command vehicle of the temporary headquarters, glanced at his poor command vehicle, and pointed to the antenna that was interrupted by the shell: "Notify the maintenance squadron, Help me fix it! In addition, you personally take the tanks of the division headquarters to support the 3rd company, apart from you, I can't find any other idle troops!"

Soon, amidst the noise, the reinforcements set off, including two No. 2 tanks transporting sundries from the division, a truck and 12 heavily armed division guards. The 15 Italian officers who came to observe were also used by Rommel. They were issued weapons and were responsible for guarding the front-line temporary headquarters of the 7th Division where Rommel was.

No one knows what the chaos of the battle has become, but some people have seen the British start firing at their positions in chaos. It was reported that many British were fleeing northward, but they had no extra troops to pursue the fleeing British. The reason is actually not complicated, but there are really a lot of British prisoners in the hands of the German army now.

The squad sent by Rommel to reinforce the oil depot did not encounter any trouble at first. They defeated a small group of British rioters, and then arrived at the outskirts of the huge reserve oil depot, but here they were attacked by intensive enemy firepower. .

Machine gun bullets hit the sand dunes like raindrops, making the German soldiers unable to raise their heads. The British firepower seemed to have never been so intensive, but the sharp-eyed staff officer soon discovered the problem. The sound of the machine gun on the opposite side was a bit like g42 machine gun. So he climbed back to the tank behind and loudly ordered the defenders of the oil depot to stop shooting.

The misunderstanding was soon cleared up, and the nervous German defenders mistook them for British troops. However, the staff officer, who had just been almost killed by a friendly machine gun, had to take his troops back to Rommel's temporary front-line headquarters. The 1st Company of the 2nd Battalion of the Panzergrenadiers of the 3rd Regiment of the 7th Armored Division rushed nearby and reinforced the There was no need for reinforcements in the German defense positions where there were only tanks.

Like the chaotic German army, the British army's general headquarters is now in chaos. The combat staff is marking the location on the map where the German army will attack, but he finds that this is a futile approach because the map has been blocked. His markings are a mess.

An officer grabbed a phone that was ringing non-stop in the chaotic command post, then his face changed drastically, he covered the receiver, and turned back to the old general sitting on the chair, saying: "The southern oil depot has fallen, the people stationed there The troops did not blow up the oil depot in a panic."

The eastern oil depot is a secret fuel supply base of the British army. There are not only tens of thousands of tons of gasoline and diesel reserve fuel, but also 10,000 barrels of high-quality aviation fuel. The main reason why the British army has not retreated is because the oil depot has not been transported, and the convoy will not be able to evacuate the larger northern oil depot until tonight to rush there to transport these important strategic materials.

"What?" The old general jumped up from his seat when he heard the astonishing news, but he quickly fell down. After tensing his nerves for several hours, he encountered the disaster of chaos and collapse of the troops. , and then lost an important supply base. This series of blows finally made him unable to bear it, and he fainted.

The battle lasted for a full hour. At five o'clock in the afternoon, the southernmost British division surrendered under the attack of the German army. Rommel's 7th Armored Division and Frederick's 7th Army joined forces in victory. A dangerous flaw-the problem of the emptiness of the flanks of the 7th Armored Division was solved by the Germans.

General Friedrich, who had saved his troops, immediately dispatched a battalion of troops to the north to cooperate with Rommel's 7th Division to continue the attack. At this time, the Luftwaffe, who had no way to contribute because the two sides were intertwined, once again appeared in the sky on the battlefield. Without mercy, the British army who had just stabilized their position was blown up.

In order to ensure that the captured oil depot was safe, Rommel ordered his troops to expand their strategic depth frantically. German tanks stormed the British positions at sunset after 5 pm, and drove all the British defenders near the oil depot to an area 20 kilometers away.

After Friedrich learned of the oil depot, he replaced part of the defensive positions of the 7th Armored Division overnight and launched a fierce attack on the British army at night. For the first time since the beginning of World War II, the German army launched a large-scale attack at night. Fighting at night, and adopted an offensive posture regardless of losses.

This battle in the south of the **** started at 7 o'clock in the morning on April 9th, and it barely ended until the afternoon of April 10th. The German army disregarded the heavy loss of more than 3,500 people and 31 tanks. The tone ate more than half of the main force of the British Ninth Army in North Africa. 17,000 British people were captured and 5,700 were killed. The rest of the troops had no fighting spirit, and retreated more than 300 kilometers in one breath before stopping their retreat.

It is worth mentioning that on the night of April 9th, the front-line commander of the 9th Army died of a heart attack, and he took full responsibility for his defeat with his death. Since then, the British army has lost the opportunity to drive the Italian and North African troops into the sea. The African Legion jointly formed by Germany and Italy completed the opening ceremony of its appearance in North Africa with a hearty victory.