Four Hundred and Ninety-Two Retreat

"Thuk! Thuk!" On the ground, the German machine guns roared, and the sudden attack made the American soldiers who had just arrived in North Africa a little dizzy. They were not battle-tested German soldiers. These recruits from various states in the United States didn't even know which direction the attack was coming from.

"We are under attack! The Germans are firing from all directions! God! Now we are suppressed behind a sand dune, and the opponent's firepower is very fierce. We have no way to cross the predetermined area!" The boss shouted. On his side, an American heavy machine gun team that had just set up their equipment was pouring out their ammunition violently, but they seemed to be in a hurry, and only God knows where the ammunition went.

An American tank platoon tried hard to aim at the armored reconnaissance vehicle of the German army, but found that the main gun could not do anything to the fast-moving four-wheeled reconnaissance vehicle. American recruits who really fought.

The U.S. armored forces in charge of the frontal assault ended even more tragically. They were stunned by their German counterparts—a dozen German tanks started attacking at a distance of about one meter. suffered heavy losses of nearly twenty tanks.

Soon the first attack of the American army was pushed back by the Germans, but the Americans also found that the German army on the opposite side was not as strong as it seemed. These German opponents retreated after a limited counterattack and began an organized retreat.

"They must have discovered the British army on the flanks. It seems that this guy named El Rommel is still a bit of a level." Patton smoked his cigar while looking at the battle map and said to his staff: "We The losses are not small, and even though the German army has been weakened, it is still very effective. The German armored forces on the front are more difficult than imagined, and I can’t think of an effective way to deal with these German tanks.”

"Arranging plane bombing may be a good way, but it is not an easy task to compete with f-fighters for air supremacy. I heard from British pilots that German fighter pilots are very good and can control their planes skillfully." The staff officer pouted and said Barton said.

"The combat effectiveness is achieved. I know that the performance of German tanks and aircraft is good, but it will not be so easy for them to face us this time." Barton said with a sneer, "Try to collect as much information as possible about the German army. That's one of the reasons we're here. We won against Rommel today, and it's worth popping champagne to celebrate!"

On the opposite side of the American army, the German army was also dizzy by the American attack, and there were reports everywhere that the defense line was breached and the ammunition was exhausted. Rommel issued various orders in his command vehicle, which stabilized the German army's position.

He ordered his right flank to spread out in a desperate stance against the British 8th Army, which was rounding to the south of him. Then let his left wing stick to the position,

No matter how much ammunition is left, he must not take a step back.

Then Rommel personally led the most powerful Leopard tank in his hand, and launched a counter-assault against the frontal U.S. Army. It was this counterattack that repelled the aggressive American troops and covered the safe withdrawal of the German troops from the battle.

Immediately afterwards, Rommel's combat posture was not so elegant, and he ordered the armored troops to retreat for a kilometer to join General Friedrich behind. And so began a retreat that was faster than he had advanced.

While retreating, Rommel reorganized the battle report. He found that the opponent had changed from the British to the Americans whom Yuan had always been afraid of. These American troops are more difficult to deal with than the British opponents that have always been, which also proves Yuan Akado's foresight from another aspect.

"The individual firepower of the Americans is stronger than that of the British. Their guns are like this..." The staff officer handed Rommel a captured American M1 Garand rifle, and continued to introduce: "This rifle I heard that the United States has just equipped it, and it is developed to counter our g43 automatic rifle, which is heavier in weight, but its performance is very good."

In order to strengthen the combat effectiveness of the American soldiers under Patton's command, the top leaders of the United States also took great pains. They studied the weapons and equipment of the German army from the information provided by the British, and urgently purchased a batch of M1 Garand rifles as individual weapons against the two automatic weapons of the German army, mp-44 and g43.

Of course, they also strengthened the front armor of the m3 tank. The Xi German army temporarily welded steel plates in front of the tank, hung spare tracks and even sandbags-but judging from the results of this battle, the front armor of the m3 tank is still not enough. 75mm caliber cannon with extended barrel against Panther tanks.

More importantly, the news that American soldiers appeared on the battlefield, Rommel knew that this was the most troublesome. Yuan had been trying to avoid a direct confrontation with the Americans, and now it seems that these efforts were in vain, and the Americans showed up on the battlefield, fighting the Germans to protect their interests in the Middle East and North Africa. Although the combat effectiveness of these Americans is similar to that of the British, their appearance still put a lot of pressure on Rommel.

Because he could not correctly estimate the strength of the British on the opposite side, all the intelligence from Italy became obsolete due to the addition of the US military. The combat effectiveness of the British Eighth Army must be reassessed, and the size and nature of the US Army must be investigated as soon as possible.

"Just now our fighter jets patrolled nearby, so we drove away the British bombers who came to harass us, but good luck can't be with us forever, we must march faster to get rid of the British and Americans!" Rommel looked at the battle map , it took a long while to stop my thoughts and speak.

"It's not without good news. It was reported on the radio just now that a reconnaissance company has joined our team." The staff officer pointed to the location on the map to Rommel: "They brought two armored reconnaissance vehicles with high-elevation-angle The millimeter-caliber artillery that was fired. It seems that General Frederick also had a premonition that our situation was not good, so he made some arrangements in advance."

Rommel looked even more depressed. He took off his military cap, scratched his head, and said with a sigh: "That proves that the Supreme Command already knew that we were defeated. I failed to create a miracle, no Can take Tobruk."

This time the German army was a disastrous defeat. About 1 truck was destroyed by itself, 14 tanks were destroyed or blown up by itself, about 1 soldier was killed or captured, 1 seriously injured was left to the British, and another lightly wounded Retreating with the army-almost one-tenth of the entire German soldiers who advanced with Rommel lost in this battle.

Now he can only lead the troops to retreat non-stop, and retreat to the vicinity of the relay station where General Frederick is to stabilize his position. One of the advantages of desert warfare is that if you win, you can advance several miles in an instant, and the record sounds amazing; of course, one of the disadvantages is that if you fail, you may retreat for several miles overnight. extremely miserable. But in fact, whether it was Rommel's defeat of the British army or the British army's defeat of Rommel, the actual results of the battle were not great, at least much smaller than many people imagined.

The yellow sand is long, and it is not much easier to retreat than to attack. In the previous days, Rommel led these soldiers to rely on perseverance to chase after the British 9th Army. Now they have used up their breath, so returning home is even more dangerous and terrifying.

Troops kept falling behind and missing. After retreating for a day, Rommel collected his troops and counted the number of troops. Only one man was left in the present army, and a whole number of people were covered by yellow sand or died in the pursuit of the British and American troops. And overnight, when Rommel led the troops out again in the morning, the only troops that could be taken away were people.

At this moment, Rommel finally realized the pain of the British 9th Army being chased and killed by him, and finally bought a lesson with blood, which once again proved the correctness of the old Chinese saying: the poor should not be chased.

The sad Rommel found that he couldn't even organize a partial counterattack. The fuel and ammunition in his army were almost exhausted. Even if he could repel the British and American coalition forces, he would be trapped on the way to escape because of the fuel problem. . So he could only retreat westward in a straight line, without even the courage to look back.

On the afternoon of the second day of the retreat, Rommel finally waited for his first glimmer of light. A Crusader helicopter delivered the fuel he urgently needed and a small amount of ammunition. Although these things were not enough for Rommel to turn back and fight back, there was no doubt that these supplies found hope for the fleeing German soldiers.

Fleeing in the boundless desert, people will despair because of lack of water and food. Sometimes this kind of despair is the deadliest. In many cases, the dead are already on the edge of the desert, but because of their own despair, they fall on the last few kilometers of the road.

Rommel's troops were on the verge of collapse before the helicopters arrived. The 36-hour escape reduced the number of these elite German troops, but these helicopters saved Rommel and gave his troops courage and hope.

The German "Desert Fox" is now licking his dry lips after sending off a helicopter, and sitting in his convertible car, he has spread out the map and wonders how to use the fastest way to converge General Frederick, it's time to launch your revenge counterattack.

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