Chapter 186 Stuart

Just as General Strike, Qin Chuan and others were thinking hard about how to deal with this, another burst of gunfire came from the front.

Then a communications soldier reported: "General, the Sixth Reconnaissance Detachment is under attack, requesting reinforcements!"

General Strike couldn't help but shook his head. He could not send reinforcements because this was exactly what the British army wanted.

At this time, the German army was in an embarrassing situation.

For example, if we want to reinforce the reconnaissance team now, what troops should be used to reinforce it?

Ordinary troops cannot pose a threat to the "Stuart" tank at all. If they are sent out, they will only be beaten by meat buns and never come back. Only the Panzer III tank will work.

But at this time, the German army only had about forty "No. 3" vehicles in total, and everyone knew that it was not suitable to divide the troops.

The division of troops will not only seriously slow down the marching speed of the main force, but also cause the "No. 3" that has divided its troops into darkness to be besieged by the British "Stuarts"... The "No. 3" tanks are indeed effective against the "Stuarts" Advantage, but what if a tank faces ten, twenty or even more "Stuarts"?

However, if there are no reinforcements, it means that the German reconnaissance troops will be wiped out by the British one after another. In fact, this is already happening. There are less than three German reconnaissance troops that still maintain contact outside.

The main force of the German 21st Armored Division is like an elephant that has lost its sight, while the British army's large number of "Stuart" tanks are like wolves hiding in the dark. They sometimes disperse and sometimes gather, and they can attack the 21st Armored Division at any time. The armored divisions struck a fatal blow.

"Perhaps we should settle for the next best thing!" Colonel Olbridge pointed at the map and said: "We are still three hours away from Alexandria. If we continue to advance like this, it will take longer or even never reach us. But we are still 3 hours away from Alexandria. The Ruoisat Ridge is only an hour away, why don’t we turn back to the Ruoisat Ridge and cooperate with the 15th Armored Division to break through the defense line?”

This is an alternative to the original strategy.

It was possible, but it would have meant admitting the failure of the march on Alexandria, and victory at El Alamein would not have been decisive, as the British would launch a counterattack with air support at daybreak.

"Perhaps, we can only do this!" General Strike nodded helplessly.

But just when General Strike was about to give the order, Qin Chuan stopped him and said: "General, we seem to have forgotten that we also have Stuart tanks!"

"What do you mean?" General Strike asked: "You mean to let 'Stuart' deal with the enemy?"

"We only have thirty-one!" Colonel Olbridge objected: "And they have only initially formed combat effectiveness, they can't change anything!"

Colonel Olbridge's concerns are certainly justified. The British army has at least 200 "Stuarts", while the German army has only 31... Sending them out to fight the British army is tantamount to hitting an egg with an egg.

but……

"No, Colonel!" Qinchuan said to Colonel Olbridge: "What can they change, and I believe they can play a big role!"

"How do you say that?" General Strike looked at Qin Chuan in confusion.

"It's a low visibility night!"

"certainly!"

"The British 'Stuarts' dispersed into small groups to fight guerrillas!"

"Yes!"

"Our 'Stuart' is exactly the same as the enemy's 'Stuart'!"

"What you said is correct, but for us..." General Strike seemed to understand something halfway through, and then said excitedly: "What a good idea, Sergeant, they can really play a big role!"

Visibility was low at night, and the British tanks were scattered into small groups of a dozen to twenty vehicles. At the same time, the "Stuarts" of both the enemy and ours were exactly the same... The German "Stuarts" were handed over from the British army. , the only difference is that in order to identify ourselves and the enemy, the German tank crew painted a black "cross" on the "Stuart".

But this is easy to erase, so these "Stuarts" can suddenly become British "Stuarts".

"It's indeed a good idea!" Colonel Slain also understood: "We can mix 'Stuart' into the British 'Stuart'!"

Qin Chuan turned his attention to Albridge: "Colonel, maybe our tanks have only initially formed combat effectiveness, but if we successfully sneak in, combat effectiveness will not be a problem, right?"

Colonel Olbridge nodded: "You are right, Sergeant, they can get close to the flanks or even the rear of the target, and then suddenly fire when they are ready!"

"This is not the point!" General Strike said: "The important thing is that the British will have confusion because of this. They cannot distinguish which tanks are their own and which tanks are the enemy, so they will create a mess and organize harassment that cannot be effective! "

"The problem is..." Colonel Olbridge said: "How do we, our own people, identify ourselves and our enemies?"

Tanks are different from people. People can be identified on the battlefield through some information, such as language, weapons, military uniforms, etc., but tanks are completely indistinguishable... So while the British army cannot identify ourselves and the enemy, the German army itself cannot identify it either. Even if they have radios or are even talking to each other, they can't figure out whether the person who hit or was hit by them is one of them.

After thinking about it, Qin Chuan said: "We can tie a red tape on the barrel of the machine gun!"

"What a great idea!" Colonel Slain agreed: "Just like what the First Division in South Africa did!"

As mentioned before, the South African 1st Division believed in witchcraft, so they were accustomed to tying cloth bands soaked in sheep blood and witchcrafted on the barrels of their guns. This habit also affected the British army to some extent... on the battlefield It is a place where life or death is a matter of life. Some British soldiers with the mentality of "I would rather believe it than believe it" would also tie a red cloth band on the barrel of the gun, so this is not obtrusive at all.

Then all eyes turned to Colonel Albridge.

Colonel Olbridge nodded and said: "That's a good idea. We can put red tape on both the anti-aircraft machine gun and the heading machine gun so that it can be identified from the front and the back!"

Of course, even doing this does not mean that it is completely identifiable. For example, the red cloth belt is not obvious at night, or occasionally British tanks are tied with red cloth belts, etc. The British army may even discover this secret. And specifically choose tanks with red cloth belts to fight...

But nothing is foolproof, especially not war.

"Just do it!" Finally, General Strike came to a conclusion. He ordered Colonel Olbridge: "Organize the 'Stuart' tanks and prepare them for battle in the shortest possible time!"

"Yes, General!" Colonel Olbridge responded.