Six Hundred and Seventy One Catch up to Fight

It has been almost a year, and the 7th Armored Division of the Wehrmacht, which is best at long-distance raids in Germany, has not been on the road like it is today, but when they were ordered to pursue Patton's defeated 8th Army, they still ran at the fastest speed. .

Everyone has regained the long-lost feeling in Poland and France. At that time, it seemed that the enemy was paper and would collapse at the touch of a touch, so the daily battle turned into a constant pursuit, chasing to the ends of the world, so a country was So perish under the steel torrent of the invincible German army.

Now everyone has joined the rushing army again. Everyone rides barrel carts, armored vehicles and tanks, heading east in the dusty desert, chasing the 8th Army in front of them as fast as they can. Soldier. The positional warfare that seemed to be the main theme of desert warfare suddenly disappeared, and the only reasons that could stop people were fatigue and fuel shortages.

The 7th Armored Division has the pride of the 7th Armored Division. They can be said to be one of the earliest armored divisions established in Germany. The number of captured enemy troops is almost three times the total number of your own troops.

Before coming to Africa, this division had split some units to form a new armored division, but even so, more than half of the soldiers in the whole division had the French Assault Medal, and more than 1,000 soldiers had the Iron Cross. The well-deserved main force of the German armored forces is the most powerful trump card in the hands of the African Legion.

The main reason why this division disappeared as if it were invisible in the previous battles is that Rommel has always left his old foundation as a strategic reserve team in the rear, and most of the time in the previous two battles of Tobruk and Alexander In trench warfare, Rommel was reluctant to throw this unit, which is known for its flexibility in assaults, into positional warfare.

Now, the most suitable time for this division has come. They started a long-distance and long-distance raid just like when they first arrived in Africa. In addition to the roar of the engine and the up and down shaking, they are accompanied by a full 30,000 elite grenadiers from the 7th Mechanized Infantry Army.

The Stuka dive bomber of the Luftwaffe arrived late. This kind of dive bomber with a shorter range can no longer pursue the fleeing Patton troops after bypassing the British air defense circle of Alexander. After all, this kind of aircraft can deal with the attack of American aircraft Not a strong point. Since the U.S. Air Force fought the loss of 19 fighter jets and shot down 17 Stukas that bypassed the defense line and attacked the logistics supply station, the German pilots in North Africa were strictly prohibited from using the slow Stukas to go deep behind enemy lines to attack targets.

In the morning, the main force supporting the paratroopers' operations was the butcher bomber that had to take off from far away on the island of Crete. But now it seems that the effect of using strategic bombers to support frontline ground operations is not very good, because the airport requirements of this kind of aircraft are relatively high, and in most cases they can only take off from places far from the frontline, and the timeliness of support is too poor.

A German Panther tank rushes along the road,

The sand rolled up on the track makes it look fast. In fact, the speed of the Leopard tank on the road is not slow, at least a little bit faster than the Tiger tank in terms of maneuverability. But soon the tank slowed down, because the soldiers sitting on it and the commander who exposed the turret saw two American tanks lying in the middle of the road almost at the same time.

"Advance slowly! The infantry go up to check the situation! Let the people behind surround it from both sides! It's an M4 Sherman tank, be careful!" The commander waved his hand, and the Leopard tank that was advancing fast just now stopped. Come down, the four infantrymen sitting on it jumped down from both sides, and on a half-track armored vehicle following the Leopard tank, more German grenadiers also jumped out of the armored vehicle, and further behind, another Leopard tank The soldiers on the Japanese tank were also getting off the vehicle, and then a truck kept unloading more infantry. In less than a minute, the elite German infantry launched a huge attack. Formation, tentatively approaching the US tanks from both sides of the road.

"Safe! Both tanks were destroyed inside, and the grenades were lost!" Finally, a grenadier climbed onto the wreckage of the American tank and shouted loudly to the surrounding soldiers. But when they approached here, they found that not only these two American tanks, but also a large number of American half-track transport vehicles and several 105mm field guns were abandoned on the road.

"It's a roadblock! The Americans don't seem to dare to stay and fight with us." Standing on the tank, the commander of the Leopard tank put down the binoculars in his hand and said with a sigh. They have been chasing for several hours, and it seems that they are not far from the American rearguard forces, but they have not officially fought against these American troops until now.

"Let the tanks come forward and push these roadblocks to the roadbeds on both sides of the road! Be fast! We don't have time to waste here." With a wave of the commander's hand, another Panther tank also drove over, two The tank approached the American tank at a relatively slow speed, and then pushed the two big steel guys under the roadbed with full power.

The German Leopard tank was designed with a lot of power surplus, which is one of the main reasons why the German tank can urgently install the front armor plate at the Kyiv vehicle factory. Now it can drive at full power without the help of other vehicles. Although the American Sherman tanks blocking the way were a bit reluctant, they also fully reflected the confidence of the German armored forces in their own tanks.

Soon these German troops continued on the road, chasing the distance along the densely packed ruts on the road. If they could entangle these broken soldiers before the American troops reached the Suez Canal, then Germany would have a little more confidence in attacking the Suez Canal.

"Damn it! Did these Americans do it on purpose?" After not chasing forward for a long time, I saw two American tanks and a pile of junk stuck in the middle of the road. After all, the failure rate of American tanks is more mature and reliable now. The Leopard tanks are taller, so if you chase them all the way, you can always see American equipment abandoned on the side of the road.

"Don't stop, knock those two American tanks away, and then chase them forward!" The leader of the Panther tank said with a frown. He saw the opponent's turret facing him, and instinctively felt it. A hint of danger. So when the distance was close to about 500 meters, he immediately added his order: "Close to the roadbed on the left and see if the opponent's turret is moving! Slow down and approach!"

As soon as the words fell, the 76mm caliber cannon on the opposite American tank suddenly burst into flames. Obviously this time there were people in the tank left by the opponent. The Americans wanted to fight a sniper battle here to delay the attack. The Germans chased their own speed.

The American armor-piercing projectile hit the front armor plate of the German tank in an instant, wiped out a piece of sparks, and then ricocheted. The bounced shell formed a weird angle with the front armor and flew out. The driving lights on the front of the Leopard tank body. Unfortunately, the illuminating light that was hit by the shell just flew towards the infantry sitting behind, smashing the head of an infantry into pieces.

Blood splashed all over the surrounding soldiers. A startled soldier didn't know what happened, but the soldiers around him screamed and jumped under the car. At this time, the second American tank also fired. This shell also hit the leading Leopard tank, but the front armor of this Leopard tank was still not penetrated, and the shell left a deep crater on it. disappeared.

"Boom!" The German armored soldiers definitely did not stand up and were beaten. They fired their shells at the fastest speed. The 75mm caliber cannon and the upper armor-piercing projectile that returned fire were obviously more powerful than the 76mm caliber cannon on the Sherman tank. Some, and the armor of American tanks is indeed not as good as the Leopard tank.

So this shell hit one of the two American tanks cleanly, and then easily penetrated the armor of this tank, and rushed around the entire cabin of the tank with a torrent of steel splashing everywhere. The soldiers inside made a real sieve. When the armor was penetrated, there was only a small bullet hole left by an armor-piercing shell on the outside, but inside the shell would cause the armor to shatter, and dozens of fragments hit the unlucky person almost instantly.

"Boom!" The American tank on the opposite side immediately exploded, ending the suffering of the American soldiers inside. Huge thick smoke and surrounding sand caused a shock wave from the explosion, blocking everyone's sight for a while.

The remaining American tank started to move, drove down the roadbed, avoided the black smoke and wanted to aim at the German tank and fire again, but not far behind the German tank, a Leopard tank had already seen the front fire, and it was the first After driving down the roadbed in time, I happened to see this American tank, so I fired a shot without saying a word.

This shot happened to hit the turret of the American tank, and it also easily penetrated the turret armor of the Sherman tank. Immediately afterwards, the Sherman tank also exploded. Although the battle was bloody, it only lasted for tens of seconds. It's declared over. An infantryman was killed on the German side, and two shallow pits were punched into the front armor of the leading Leopard tank, which seemed to need to be repaired and replaced, while the American side lost two tanks, which successfully slowed down the pursuit of the German army.

"Car No. 2, keep chasing. The front line is under your command. I'll wait here for the battalion repair team." The commander of the lead car said over the radio depressedly: "Catch up with the American bastards, give them a few more rounds for me." Armor-piercing bullets!"