Chapter 25 Commands

Despite this, many soldiers still did not believe that their superiors would order them to enter the heart of the desert.

Their idea was simple: if the army was dying of thirst in the desert, could the superiors still expect the army to continue fighting?

This idea certainly made sense, but they obviously did not understand Rommel... Rommel always played cards unconventionally, both to the enemy and to his own people.

People around Rommel commented on him like this: "It's like there is a never-stopping engine in his body, because he himself has extraordinary perseverance, and he also requires his subordinates to do the same, without realizing that ordinary people have physical and psychological limits!"

So, the troops received the order to cross the desert the next morning.

Hearing this order, many officers and soldiers still couldn't believe it, and they even discussed:

"Does General Rommel know this order?"

"Did those idiots in Italy give this order?"

"We should verify it!"

...

But all the discussions and doubts were in vain, because it was Rommel himself who gave the order. Ironically, the Italians were the ones who didn't want to do this.

In fact, only one of the troops needed to go deep into the desert. This was another decision that Rommel made that was not in line with common sense:

At this time, the German army had few troops, only one light division with more than 15,000 people. Such a small force was chasing the British army of 150,000... According to traditional military principles, it should be "no division of troops", because if the troops were "divided", they would be divided into several parts with weaker combat effectiveness. Obviously, this would be easily defeated by the enemy one by one.

But Rommel completely ignored this principle and divided the troops into four parts for pursuit:

The first part was the 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, with a strength of 1,500 people and a small number of light tanks and armored vehicles. This part advanced northward along the coastal highway to occupy the port of Benghazi...As mentioned before, the port is an important target for desert warfare.

The second part was the 5th Armored Regiment...It was the main force of the 5th Light Armored Division, and tanks and armored vehicles were mainly concentrated in this regiment.

This part followed the first part to the port of Benghazi, and then advanced eastward to pursue the British army and approached Mei Chile.

This arrangement is reasonable. Tanks are not suitable for large-span penetration in the desert because they need too much fuel and water, their weight will make them difficult to move in the desert, and their engines will have difficulty running at high temperatures... They are more suitable for advancing along the coastline where supplies are easy and there are roads.

The third part is the 2nd Regiment of the 6th Infantry Brigade. Its mission is to cover the flank of the 5th Armored Regiment at a position slightly farther from the coastline, and be ready to provide reinforcements to the 5th Armored Regiment at any time, and then penetrate to Mechili depending on the situation.

The fourth part is the 1st Regiment of the 6th Infantry Brigade. The mission of this part is to start from Agdabiya and draw a straight line on the map towards Tengetel, 64 kilometers south of Mechili as a marching route to penetrate to the rear of the British army.

The whole plan was very cleverly arranged. Rommel set up several traps that the British army could not imagine: the British army thought that there were only pursuers in the rear, but they did not expect that there was a force on the right wing that penetrated to Mezhili. When the British army hurriedly defended Mezhili, they did not expect that there was another force of Teng Teng to penetrate further to the rear... one layer after another, like an ambush from all sides.

But as mentioned before, the German army was seriously short of manpower. If the British army organized a counterattack... the consequences would be disastrous.

Qin Chuan was not worried about these, because he knew that Rommel would succeed... The British had been scared and had no courage to counterattack at all. Rommel also saw this point and dared to formulate such a pursuit plan.

What Qin Chuan needed to worry about was that he belonged to the 1st Regiment of the 6th Infantry Brigade, which was the fourth part that needed to be penetrated long distances.

The whole journey was 453 kilometers, and this was the straight-line distance on the map.

When Bazel, the broken palm, told the soldiers this news, the soldiers immediately exploded.

"Captain!" Someone asked, "It's more than 400 kilometers. How many days will it take us to reach the destination?"

"If we calculate it at 40 kilometers a day, it's estimated to be 12 days!" Bazel with a broken palm replied, "They gave us 13 days!"

The soldiers were shocked.

"13 days!" The baker objected, "I don't know if they have considered that the actual distance may be much longer than the distance on the map, and there are also problems such as sandstorms and lack of supplies, especially water and food!"

"This is indeed difficult!" Bazel with a broken palm said, "But if there are no difficulties, what do we need to do?"

After Bazel with a broken palm said this, the soldiers were silent.

German soldiers are much better than the armies of other European and American countries in this regard... If the troops of other countries face this situation, I'm afraid they will either strike or rebel.

"So!" Then Bazel with a broken palm ordered, "The discussion of this issue ends here. You have half an hour to prepare. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir!" The soldiers responded in unison.

It's said to be preparation, but the German soldiers didn't know what to prepare at all. The only thing they could do was fill the two water bottles on their waists... The 5th Light Armored Division had no experience in desert life and combat. The only thing they did My desert training consisted of listening to several lectures on common tropical diseases. This resulted in the German army's cooking squads initially carrying many wood-burning boilers. After entering the desert, they discovered that there were no trees at all and they had to bring their own fuel.

"We should find some local people to be our tour guides!" Qin Chuan said worriedly.

He saw people from the munitions department filling empty gasoline barrels with water, and then carrying them into the compartment of the car... This might be the drinking water they would depend on for the next ten days.

But Qin Chuan felt that this was unreliable: What if the car broke down? What should I do if I get separated from the quartermaster unit? Or what should I do if there is not enough gasoline to drive the car?

There are many unexpected dangers, any one of which could be fatal if unfortunate enough to happen.

"This is very difficult!" Werner shook his head: "First of all, we don't understand the language, and secondly, the locals are not willing to take this risk, and they even hate us!"

Werner was right, because not long ago, the German army ignored the lives and buildings of local people during the battle, and the people were certainly unwilling to cooperate with the German army.

"But at least we should try!" Qin Chuan said.

"How to try?" Werner was a little confused: "We only have half an hour!"

Qin Chuan didn't say much, took Werner and walked towards the Italian transport team.