Five Hundred and Seven Fights

Breaking through the grass, a Tiger tank appeared in front of the Americans brazenly. This behemoth is obviously more powerful than the Panther tank, because the wreckage of the latest American M4 Sherman tank is still burning next to the grass that the Tiger tank crossed.

If the Leopard tank brought unparalleled pressure to American tank soldiers, then the appearance of the Tiger tank brought despair to American soldiers. This kind of tank seems to be solid, no matter how close it is, it can't penetrate its thick armor.

As expected by Patton, the main armored units of the German army appeared on the flanks of the United States. These tank units pierced into the most important defensive positions of the United States like sharp cones, and almost 50 new M4 Xie vehicles that Patton placed there in one breath The German tanks were hit in pieces.

A battalion of Tiger tanks was invincible. They rushed left and right on Patton's position, and no one could stop them. The shells fired by the anti-tank guns equipped by the British army hit the armor of the Tiger tanks, leaving only a shallow hole. Shallow pits. I heard that the American soldiers tried their best to stop a Tiger tank by blowing up the tank's tracks with explosives.

Soon these German tanks rushed up a high mound, where they destroyed a defensive position set up by American infantry. Machine guns drove the American soldiers out of the trench like rain, and then the grenadiers behind the German tanks passed the tanks Start the attack and beat the American soldiers who are forced to retreat to the ground.

Behind this American defense position is an artillery position, in which there are actually twelve 155mm caliber howitzers deployed. The artillerymen next to these cannons watched their infantry running past them stupidly, and shouted in their mouths "The Germans are coming!"

When the artillerymen thought about fleeing, they found that the cars towing the cannons had already left. Those trucks didn't care about other comrades in arms, and there was no time for them to gather the cannons and hang them on the cars. German tanks soon entered the artillery position, and the grenadiers began to study the large-caliber artillery shells of the United States. They divided up the spoils of American soldiers, shared American chocolate and canned food, praised the craftsmanship of American cannery manufacturers, and scolded bad companies in Germany together.

At this time, Patton didn't have the time to deal with the chaotic state behind him. He was concentrating his strength and launching the most violent attack on Rommel on the opposite side. Patton knew that even if he started to retreat or organize a counterattack against the German army's detour, there was no good way to use those elite German Tiger tanks and Leopard tanks. If he stopped attacking and counterattacked the detour, Rommel would It will definitely press down boldly from the front, preventing him from retreating calmly.

Patton knew that retreat was the last choice he should make at this time, and the armor power in his hand also prevented him from effectively counterattacking the German tank troops. So he changed his mind and began to attack the other German troops on the opposite side. Most of these German tank units are Panzer III tanks, with only a small number of Panther tanks as supplements, which are not much different from the existing tank forces in the United States, so Patton decided to exchange them.

Didn't you use a side attack to attack my rear? I will use a frontal attack to destroy your deployment. Even if you wipe out my rear troops, I will almost eat up your front-line defense troops. Turn around and continue playing! This is the thought in Barton's mind, and it is also the best choice he can make now.

"This Patton was unknown before. I didn't expect to be able to fight like this!" Rommel watched with a constipated expression as his positions were destroyed one by one by the United States. The war has continued until the evening, and the soldiers of the day's battle have not taken a drop of water. The rhythm of the battle should have slowed down, but it turned out to be more intense than in the morning.

If the opponent is Montgomery, he has almost cleaned up the mess and ran away at this time. Naturally, he can chase and kill all the way to Tobruk. By then, this relay fortress will almost be in his Rommel's pocket. But he never expected that he would force the little-known Barton into a situation where he would definitely lose, and the other party turned around and decided to drag him to hell with him.

Rommel only has 700 tanks in his hand, and he can use almost 500 along the way. After a day of fierce fighting, including failures and losses, he now has less than 400 tanks of various types that can fight. Already—almost half of the American logistical forces are in Patton's rear. At this moment, there are less than 150 tanks on his frontal defense line that can be used for defense or counterattack.

The number of Panzer III tanks and Leopard tanks that were only destroyed in one day totaled more than 70, and the United States lost 150 of them. But Patton now has more than 200 tanks that can be put into battle, all of which were consumed by fighting Rommel on the front line. In this way, Rommel still has to lose about 100 tanks if he wants to wipe out Patton. At that time, let alone attacking Tobruk, it would be more or less a matter of escaping back to Tunis with his tail between his legs.

The good news is that seeing that his troops are about to mess up Patton's rear, the Americans' most unbearable artillery advantage is about to be wiped out. The bad news is not without it. Once night falls, the German army can rely on some air support, and it will not be able to continue.

"Are you going to fight my guards to death? That depends on whether you want to bury your last bit of capital here!" Rommel finally made up his mind and began to issue his own combat instructions: "Order the frontline troops to release smoke and alternately cover the retreat !The armored forces are concentrated, ready to counterattack at any time according to my order!"

Don't Americans want to be so head-on? I just won't give you a chance to head-on! I ordered to retreat and give you all these worthless positions, let's see if you dare to take them! Rommel stared at the map and thought to himself: Once my troops start to retreat, Patton can only choose to pursue or not to pursue, but whether to pursue or not to pursue, the fact that Patton's rearguard troops have been eaten will not change. .

Smoke began to be released from the frontal positions of the German army, and all the positions that were gradually unable to support under the onslaught of the US military were all abandoned. The American army was like a giant who had accumulated strength for a long time and threw a punch but missed the target. The situation immediately became embarrassing. If he pursues the retreating Rommel head-on, then he will be completely annihilated in the desert behind. If he does not pursue...it seems that the United States has already suffered heavy losses.

"Finally scared Rommel away." Patton looked at the retreating German army who had raised dust and released smoke under the last twilight of the evening, and exhaled foul breath: "Since he can't afford to lose, there is no need for us to die. Lead the troops back to Tobruk."

Patton fought bravely, but he wasn't mad. He naturally knew that his onslaught had dispelled Rommel's plan to eat him at the cost of losses. However, the loss of his troops was real, and this was indeed his mistake. However, these losses were not caused by Patton's improper command, but were ultimately caused by the inferior armor strength of the German army.

When night fell, the two * teams finally disengaged, and the desert once again returned to a peaceful state. The 8th Army lost troops, and Patton retreated to the direction of Tobruk with the only remaining armored troops and infantry.

And Rommel also began to gather the troops in the desert, evaluating the losses of this battle. His troops suffered heavy losses. A day of fierce fighting cost him almost 2,000 capable soldiers, and the armor he could use was severely reduced-only about 300 can continue to be used.

The light tank division with the biggest loss lost almost 70% of its armored strength. Those No. 3 tanks that were thrown to North Africa because of backwardness were almost completely lost. Most of the tank destroyers converted from No. 2 tanks were also destroyed by American tanks.

Compared with Rommel, Patton's losses were more serious. The Eighth Army lost 40 of the 55 large-caliber 155mm howitzers by the United States. Of the nearly 600 tanks participating in the battle in the entire Eighth Army, 400 were destroyed by the Germans. Of course, in addition to the loss of equipment, almost 4,000 British and American troops were killed and captured. The meaning behind this figure is: the 8th Army was completely paralyzed.

The large-scale counterattack prepared by the British came to nothing. The 9th Army, led by Montgomery, retreated to Tobruk. The war in North Africa gradually eased as the supplies hoarded by both sides gradually bottomed out. The German army took advantage of the victory to pursue the British army, fought a few small victories, and pushed the defense line to the vicinity of Tobruk in one breath. Rommel's name appeared in German newspapers again.

On the other hand, Britain was forced to continue to transfer its troops stationed in India to North Africa to make up for the losses caused by the German attack. This further deepened the emptiness of the British defenders in India. This information was discovered by the Japanese military who had been coveting Southeast Asia, and was then sent back to the Tokyo base camp as a golden opportunity.

On April 30, after careful preparations, the Japanese army assembled a total of 7 divisions from 2 armies and entered Myanmar from Vietnam under the banner of liberating Southeast Asia. The battle between Britain, Japan and Myanmar officially broke out. The British defenders abandoned most of Burma, gave up China's important supply line of the Burma Road, and retreated back to India. The anti-Japanese situation in Asia, especially in China, took a turn for the worse. The Chinese defenders in the Wuhan area began to be ordered to transfer important military equipment. The three newly formed US military equipment divisions were forced to go south to defend the Japanese troops that had just controlled northern Myanmar.

The United States was forced to shift its main energy from North Africa to the more critical Philippines.