Chapter 366 Highlights

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The British army fought all day and finally gained a foothold on the high ground, but was driven off the high ground by the German army in a battle at night.

Being driven off the high ground is a small matter, after all, they can continue to occupy it the next day. The important thing is that the British and Australian troops suffered heavy casualties in this battle. Colonel Budd's First Airborne Regiment died 319 people, injured 532 people, and another 35 people were missing in the attack that day. The Australian 13th Infantry Regiment suffered more than a thousand casualties, and the commander Colonel Boyce was injured and captured.

At this time, Colonel Boyce was afraid that there were ten thousand grass mud horses whistling in his heart... He originally wanted to show his "selflessness" in front of his British master, and would rather sacrifice the lives of Australians for the British. Who would have thought that he would be captured! ! !

When the news reached the Eighth Army Headquarters, Montgomery and Eisenhower were stunned. They could not imagine that this battle would end like this: after only one day of attack, an elite paratrooper regiment and a powerful Australian infantry regiment lost their combat effectiveness.

To be precise, they did not lose their combat effectiveness, but their confidence in fighting.

Colonel Bader reported to Montgomery weakly: "General, I'm sorry, we have tried all kinds of methods, but this result still occurred! I think... it is meaningless to attack these heights rashly before finding a more suitable tactic!"

Montgomery heard what Colonel Bader meant, that is, the First Airborne Regiment refused to attack the heights where the Germans were stationed.

What else could Montgomery do? Send another unit up? That would only repeat the tragedy of the First Airborne Regiment.

"General!" At this time, a staff officer reported with a telegram: "German armored forces appeared in Wajid and Abun!"

Montgomery and Eisenhower immediately became nervous. They turned pale after finding the two locations mentioned by the staff officer on the map.

"General!" Eisenhower said: "Obviously, they have transferred the armored forces back!"

Montgomery nodded silently.

"General!" Deguingang asked beside him: "Give the order, it will be too late if we don't retreat!"

Deguingang was right. The Germans transferred the armored forces back from both ends. Their target was obviously Gafsa.

If Gafsa was occupied by the German armored division, combined with the Gabes defense line and the abnormal highlands in depth...the British army's retreat would be completely closed.

After a long silence, Montgomery gritted his teeth and ordered: "Retreat!"

However, when he really ordered the retreat, Montgomery found that even retreating was not easy.

This is not about the 15th Armored Division.

The 15th Armored Division could still withdraw. After all, they were Sherman tanks with thick skin and flesh. The German mortars would only make a white spot on the armor of these tanks... But they also had to pay a certain price. At least it took a lot of courage for the armored division's cars and armored vehicles to break through the blocked road sections.

Compared with these equipment, it was much easier for the airborne troops to withdraw. They could disperse through... German mortar gunners would not waste the shells in the tunnel for such a goal.

The difficulty lies in the 7th Armored Division deep in Tunisia.

In terms of time, the 7th Armored Division would have time to withdraw... The German armored divisions were suppressed by the powerful British and American air forces and dared not march during the day, and dared not march too fast at night. They even had to be wary of British and American air forces bombing at night.

Although the fighter planes of this era did not have the ability to fight at night, the US military had their own set of night combat methods: using reconnaissance planes to search for targets at low altitudes, such as tanks and car headlights.

Once the target is found, the reconnaissance aircraft will cooperate with the bombers to carry out night bombing, such as dropping incendiary bombs in the target area to indicate the target location to the bombers.

This requires at least two days for the German armored forces to reach Gafsa.

With the British army having air superiority, it is not a problem for the 7th Armored Division to reach Gafsa within two days.

The fuel is barely enough. During this period, the US military transport planes almost non-stop airdropped fuel to the 7th Armored Division, and it can also get continuous fuel supply on the way back... This is the advantage of having air superiority. Even if a practical encirclement has been formed on land, the Allies can still get enough fuel.

The problem is still on the high ground along the way...

Major General Bolton, the commander of the 7th Armored Division, has actually considered the problem of his retreat, so he deployed troops to defend key points along the way, and even left a few tanks to assist in defense at some key points.

These key points have always been in the hands of the British army, which is why Major General Bolton and Montgomery believed that the 7th Armored Division could withdraw.

But soon Major General Bolton found out that he was wrong... The focus of the German 7th Armored Division was not on those seemingly important points, but on the high ground, the high ground beside the road.

This is not to say that the German army built tunnels on these high grounds. Although there were tunnels on these high grounds, the number was small and could not form a scale.

The problem was that the German army seemed to have countless rocket launchers in its hands... The tank was driving on the road, and when it turned and slowed down, two rockets were fired from the roadside grass.

Although the armor of the Sherman tank is thick, the penetration depth of the rocket launcher is 200MM. It can be said that as long as it hits, there is no penetration, even if it hits the front armor... The reason why it sometimes hits but does not penetrate is that the rocket sometimes bounces off when hitting the inclined armor of the tank and does not explode.

The German army was obviously prepared early. After firing the rocket launcher, they turned around and entered the communication trench and disappeared into the jungle.

This made the 7th Armored Division difficult to move forward, and scouts had to be sent out for reconnaissance.

But the reconnaissance did not achieve good results, because the German army could always set up an ambush and beat the scouts to heavy losses... After all, this is a mountainous area, and there are highlands on both sides of the road. It is easy to ambush in the vegetation of the highlands and it has the advantage of being high above.

"General!" Major General Bolton reported to Montgomery anxiously: "We have lost thirteen tanks in half a day, and this is during the day. If we march at night... I believe the loss will be even greater! If this continues, I am afraid that more than half of our tanks will be lost before we reach Gafsa!"

"No matter what method!" Montgomery replied angrily: "Bring back all those tanks!"

"Yes, General!" Major General Bolton replied.

But he knew in his heart that this was almost impossible.