Chapter 271 Autonomy

In the end, Dürer did not stay to fight with Qin Chuan and others, because he did not believe that Qin Chuan and others could stop the British army.

Qin Chuan could understand this. Sometimes it was not just a matter of sacrificing lives. If it was just sacrificing lives, Qin Chuan believed that most German soldiers would choose to stay and fight, but they thought it was meaningless... Even if they sacrificed their lives, they could not stop the British attack, so the sacrifice became worthless.

After the war, Qin Chuan learned about the battle situation last night from the soldiers of the 15th Armored Division: the British army used artillery shells and minesweepers to open the way as usual. There were no accidents at the beginning. These were all normal patterns. The British army sent the South African army to go ahead and clear mines with the minesweepers. The whole mine clearance process took five hours. Finally, the British army finally cleared several passages.

At this time, the 15th Armored Division was also ready on the second line.

At this time, the standard mode of defense of the German and Italian armies was that the Italian army defended the first line, and the German armored division was on the second line, blocking any gaps.

Then, the British army really broke through the Italian defense line. The 15th German Armored Division rushed forward as usual, thinking that they could stop the British army that broke through the defense line in the first place.

But what they didn't expect was that a new type of tank appeared in front of them that they had never seen before.

These tanks advanced slowly at a speed of more than ten kilometers per hour, followed by groups of infantry. When they saw the German tanks coming, they immediately stopped and aimed, and then a series of bright flares were fired into the air, illuminating the surroundings...

At 600 meters, the British tanks opened fire.

One by one, the German tanks and armored vehicles turned into a ball of fire in an instant.

The German tanks and anti-tank guns also fought back, but what stunned the German soldiers was that their shells could not cause any damage to the enemy tanks.

General Gross realized at the first time that the performance of the British new tank was better than that of the "Panzer III", and it was difficult for the PAK38 anti-tank gun to penetrate it, so he ordered a charge towards the enemy... This approach was correct, because only by rushing to a closer position could the German army have the possibility of destroying the enemy's tanks. Otherwise, even if the tanks of both sides were not suitable for night battles, the enemy had an impenetrable shield while the German army did not, and the German army could only passively take the beating.

But Montgomery was prepared for this. In fact, as early as when the British army was equipped with the "General Grant" tank, Montgomery strictly ordered the British army to "only fight at a distance and not at close range", so the British army already knew how to keep the enemy out of its range.

Rows of shells passed over the tanks and bombarded forward intensively. Howitzers, tank guns, and mortars blasted out layers of fire walls and lines of defense under the bright light of flares, and in the middle were various types of bullets as dense as raindrops. The entire battlefield was like a pot of boiling water. In the rolling smoke, rows of German soldiers and their tanks and armored vehicles were charging.

Soon, the German army suffered heavy casualties and retreated.

The British army was not in a hurry to catch up, and advanced slowly behind, still at a speed of more than ten kilometers per hour.

This is Montgomery's tactics, step by step, steady and steady.

Although this tactic is conservative, it is very useful... Montgomery knew that as long as it continued like this, victory would sooner or later belong to Britain, so he was not in a hurry. In a hurry to catch up, unexpected accidents might occur, such as letting the flexible German army outflank the flank.

After the German army stabilized its position, it launched another charge, and then another... The 15th Armored Division of Germany launched five charges, but each charge ended in a disastrous defeat for the German army. In the end, the German army lost more than 3,000 people and more than 2,000 people were injured.

You should know that the entire 15th Armored Division only had more than 10,000 people, and the casualties were almost more than half, and it happened overnight.

So the 15th Armored Division was completely defeated, and it was generally believed that it was meaningless to continue to resist like this.

At this time, Colonel Slain received a call from General Gro.

"Colonel!" General Gro said: "I heard that you are stationed in Gerhasso?"

"Yes, General!" Colonel Slain replied: "Gerhasso has our airport. If it is occupied by the British, it will put us in a passive position!"

Colonel Slain was right. Many equipment cannot be completed by airdrops. Moreover, if the airport falls into the hands of the British, the British can use the airport to transport supplies, so the British will have a greater advantage.

"I know!" said General Gro, "But don't you know that there is an armored division in front of you? That is the British 7th Armored Division. They have 150 tanks, new tanks. We have not been able to stop them several times..."

"I know, General!" Colonel Slain replied, "That's why we are stationed here!"

"You are crazy!" said General Gro, "You actually think that an infantry regiment can stop them. Listen, retreat to Barris with my troops, and I will give you a chance to go to the battlefield!"

"General!" Colonel Slain replied, "I think there is an opportunity in front of us!"

"This is an order!" General Gro raised his voice involuntarily.

"Sorry, General!" Colonel Slain replied, "General Rommel gave us autonomy!"

Colonel Slain hung up the phone.

General Rommel did give the First Infantry Regiment autonomy because he felt that General Gro had been frightened by the British's new tanks and might not be suitable to command this battle.

Of course, Rommel would not change his generals at the last minute, as this would only cause greater unrest.

Therefore, Rommel needed the First Infantry Regiment to fight alone when possible instead of being restricted by the 15th Armored Division or General Tigro.

But at the same time, Rommel did not know whether his approach was correct, because this was the first time the rocket launcher was used on the battlefield, and the First Infantry Division had only undergone one day of training... No one knew whether it could play a role on the battlefield.

Of course, the predecessor of the rocket launcher, the "Iron Fist", was indeed used on the battlefield and played a huge role, but it was against the slow-moving "Matilda" tanks, and the attacking British army was still a small British army with no combat experience.

This made Rommel walk around in the headquarters anxiously.

He knew what this battle meant... If the rocket launcher could not stop the British attack, then nothing could stop them. It seemed that the only thing the African Corps could do was to retreat, retreat and retreat again, and finally be driven into the sea by the British.

Only then did Rommel truly realize that Qin Chuan's previous suggestion that he give up the attack was correct. The British had this tank and he launched an attack...