Five Hundred and Five Battles Begin

Patton actually wanted to take the lead in attacking, because he knew that the German army on the opposite side was not ready for real combat. But he still can only wait patiently, waiting for his advantage time to come.

Everyone knew very well that even if they were equipped with M Sherman tanks, the armored forces of the British and American coalition forces were still no match for the German armored forces. If they attacked rashly, Patton's limited armored forces would suffer very serious losses.

The intelligence obtained from the Soviet Union shows that the German armored forces are also extremely sharp in defense, and they can often achieve amazing results by fighting while retreating. Moreover, Patton, who is familiar with the combat methods of the armored forces, knows that the German tank guns have advantages over the US military in terms of range and power. If the German armored forces launch a surge, it is likely to win an overwhelming victory.

So Patton could only wait, waiting for the troops behind to catch up and send the 155mm caliber howitzer troops that the beauty was most proud of to the front line. In this way, the U.S. military can rely on timely support firepower to divide the German armored forces, and then use the victory of the artillery battle to support his tank operations.

The patient waiting finally paid off, and the German army on the opposite side seemed to be waiting too, so Patton could wait for his artillery to choose a good position with peace of mind, and then launch the tank to attack.

While Patton was waiting for the artillery ace in his hand, Rommel was also waiting, but he was not waiting for his own artillery, but for an opportunity. Rommel was good at destroying the opponent's firepower system. A little secret to reduce casualties.

He quickly drew up a bold battle plan, which was to gather all the Tiger tanks in his hand and arrange them on his right flank. He decided to use the second outflanking method to defeat the 8th Anglo-American tank in front of him. Army Group.

It takes time for the troops to outflank and outflank, so he can only calm down and wait, waiting for the enemy to launch an attack first, or wait for the counterattack time to launch an attack by himself to entangle the opponent.

For this reason, neither Patton nor Rommel took the lead in launching an attack, but waited seemingly hesitantly, waiting for the opportunity that best suited them. However, after a long wait, they almost all completed their campaign deployments, so the real battle kicked off.

Patton's tank was the first to attack after a round of artillery preparation. The upper tank covered the infantry and began to approach the German line of defense. From time to time, an m3 tank stopped and fired into the distance, and then the firing tank was overtaken by other American tanks and fell behind.

Soon Rommel's armored forces began their counterattacks, but Rommel was the first to send into the battlefield, the light tank division under his command, equipped with the older p-3 tanks, that is, the No. 1 tank.

After these tanks have been improved,

Equipped with a 75mm caliber cannon with a medium barrel length, although its power is not as powerful as the Leopard tank code-named P-4 tank, it can be regarded as the mainstream firepower configuration in the world.

Under the cover of the No. 1 tank, the German infantry quickly stabilized their position, and machine guns and assault rifles fired back fiercely, repelling the fierce attack of the US army. But before the German soldiers breathed a sigh of relief, the second round of fire suppression by the US military began.

The shells fell on the German positions like raindrops, and several tanks that had no time to retreat were destroyed on the sand dunes. The combat effectiveness of the 8th Army of the Anglo-American Allied Forces, which has strong training and combat effectiveness, is obviously not comparable to the enemies the Germans encountered before. Their combat quality is actually no worse than that of the Germans, and some links are even better trained.

In terms of combat experience, these British and American allied forces had encountered the German army before, so they were not new recruits who had just entered the battlefield environment. Although they still lacked experience, they had improved a lot compared to 1937.

Americans don't know how to fight. They have forgotten how they got that distant victory 20 years ago. They are used to covering the opponent's position with dense firepower, and then use superior forces to crush the opponent. So Americans will not fight, but they will use various methods to cover up such a fact.

When a nation that does not know how to fight can mass-produce innumerable tanks and aircraft, allowing these tanks and aircraft to have the most advanced performance in the world, they cover up their weakness of not being able to fight very well until 1950 After encountering an oriental dragon that fought a 110-year war in 1999, they realized that there are also things that can't be settled by planes and cannons in the world.

But at this moment, the firepower of the U.S. army did exceed that of the German army. Their artillery poured their ammunition crazily, blowing up the German defense positions with holes, which was terrible. The German grenadiers stubbornly stood in the trenches they dug temporarily, refusing to give in to the covering artillery fire of the US army.

Many German machine gun teams deliberately let the American tanks go, and then suddenly appeared to attack the infantry behind them. They did not plan to leave alive, but attacked violently with the mentality of killing the enemy after killing the enemy with all their ammunition. Soon the casualties on both sides skyrocketed, and the corpses of soldiers from both sides on many positions even filled the deep trenches.

"Hello? Hello? Tell me clearly, yes! The US bombardment is still going on? Hold it up!" A German officer grabbed the phone receiver and asked loudly about the casualties of a battalion on the front line, but the US military The artillery fire made him unable to hear what the other party was saying.

"Here and here, and here and here, the American tanks have broken through the defense line and are advancing deep into our defense line." The chief of staff pointed to the map and reported the battle to Rommel.

"Let the 1st Regiment of the 7th Armored Division go up and block the right-wing US armored forces on the second line of defense! Give the order to die and don't take a step back." Rommel was waiting for his detour troops to attack from the flank, so He had to defend his front position with weak troops.

Although the light tank division did not suffer a loss against the US armored forces, it did not take advantage of it. Because it did not receive air support for the time being, as many as 47 German tanks had been destroyed. The Italian logistics force fought their old fate. The materials in North Africa just became piles of burning scrap iron.

The offensive capabilities of the Americans were higher than the German High Command estimated, and a new type of American tank had appeared on some defensive positions on the right. These bad news made Rommel feel uneasy. He first For the first time, he doubted whether the troops in his hands could last until the counterattack began.

The good news is not without it. 10 Stuka bombers rushed to the battle airspace at the risk of being shot down. These ground attack aircraft accurately greeted an artillery position of the US military, completely destroyed some American howitzers, and relieved some pressure. . However, British and American fighter jets arrived quickly and drove away the German bomber force.

Because of the emergence of the new American fighter jet P-40, the battle for air supremacy over North Africa was even more tragic than during the Battle of Britain. The performance of American fighter jets using British engine technology is very good. Although it is still not as good as the German Air Force's f, there is a "generation gap", and the loss rate of German fighter jets has also become higher.

Since April 15, the Germans have lost a total of 37 fighter jets in North Africa, shooting down 19 P-40s and 85 other types of aircraft in the United Kingdom and the United States. Compared with the Battle of Britain, this kind of record is a bit of a small fight. However, in places like North Africa, there are not many planes, so it can only flow slowly.

Nearly Leopard tanks were put into the counterattack in the local theater, and the German army seemed to have regained the initiative on the battlefield. The two sides invested the last tank in an area of ​​about 10 square kilometers for a super-large-scale tank battle. In the end, the Americans dropped the wreckage of 41 tanks, while the German army lost 12 Panther tanks and 7 Panther tanks. It is worthy of the boast of the German armored forces that most of the Panther tanks were destroyed by American shelling, and only 3 were destroyed by American tanks.

In order to make up for the lack of artillery firepower, the German army used 88mm anti-aircraft guns as support firepower, which still could not compete with the American artillery force. The artillery battles between the two sides basically ended with the German army stopping firing at the end. This is not only because of the cannons on both sides There is an obvious gap in quantity, and performance indicators such as range are weakened because German artillery emphasizes maneuverability.

In just half a day of fighting, the German army had lost more than 700 soldiers and lost their first-line defensive positions. Rommel's line of defense was originally arranged temporarily, so it was a bit reluctant to resist the offensive of the British and American coalition forces. Now the situation of the German army is a bit bad. Their well-prepared flank attack did not start, and the Americans began to attack their front like a tide.

Rommel was very annoyed. He really didn't know where the opponent's confidence came from, and he rushed over so recklessly. Doesn't Patton know how powerful the armored troops of the German Army are? Moreover, they fought so fiercely from the very beginning, aren't they going to leave any leeway?

In fact, Patton is also very annoyed now. He invested the most elite troops when he came up, and wanted to crush the opposite German troops in one fell swoop. He was very afraid of the armored troops in Rommel's hands, and he was afraid of long nights and dreams, so he didn't plan to give Rommel a chance to breathe. He was afraid that once Rommel was given time, he would come up with all kinds of tricks.

However, when Patton came up, he put one of the most elite American divisions and one of the most elite British divisions into battle, but they did not achieve the pre-planned power. Although the German defensive position was crumbling, it still had not been broken through.