Chapter 65 Supplies

Qin Chuan knew this because this kind of "mobile defense" is a trick often played by the Germans.

This can also be said to be forced out: After World War I, the German Wehrmacht was limited to 100,000 people. In order to deal with the threat of superior enemy forces on the Western Front, they developed a mode different from positional defense...mobile defense.

Its characteristic is that when the number of its own troops is insufficient, it forms a superior force in the local area during the movement to defeat the enemy. The key requirement is its own "mobility". (Note: Many people think that this tactic was invented by the Germans. In fact, there were many examples of "mobile defense" in ancient China, such as the combat methods of the Mongolian cavalry and the way the famous Song Dynasty general Meng Gong fought against the Mongolian cavalry)

Facts have proved that this groundbreaking tactic is correct. In World War II, the German army's strength and equipment were often inferior to their opponents, but they were able to rely on rapid mobility like "lightning" to move back and forth, which not only allowed them to attack the enemy's weaknesses, but also to exert the combat effectiveness of the troops as quickly and as much as possible.

On the contrary, the British army seemed to have sufficient troops due to the slow speed of tanks and the small number of mechanized troops, but in fact, not many troops were deployed to the battlefield at the same time... Many troops did not arrive at the battlefield until the battle was over, and these troops that did not play a role were actually equivalent to non-existence.

Qin Chuan guessed correctly that the British army did disperse its troops to the entire defense line to attack Tobruk. Their purpose was to disperse the German army as much as possible as Werner said.

But as a veteran of World War I, Colonel Slaine certainly knew that the defense could not be dispersed, otherwise only 33 soldiers could be assigned to one mile, which means only two soldiers per 100 meters... This almost means that there are loopholes everywhere.

Colonel Slaine's response was to make the most of Tobruk's inexhaustible ammunition... He had only one battalion on the defense line, and the German machine gunners in this battalion had all been equipped with British Bren machine guns and Vickers heavy machine guns, which allowed them to fire a large number of bullets at any suspicious point in the bunker. Then there were anti-tank guns in the bunker, and with the help of trenches, barbed wire, mines... From time to time, a few flares would be fired into the air, and the British army could not move forward at any point.

Colonel Slaine personally led the third battalion as a mobile force within the blue line. The mobile force was distributed in three directions of the defense line in companies, with a distance of about twelve kilometers between companies. The three companies just divided the 30-mile (48-kilometer) defense line into four sections.

These mobile forces were equipped with a large number of armored vehicles and cars. The cars were loaded with ammunition and some were towing howitzers seized from the British warehouses. As long as there was an emergency in any section of the defense line, such as the British attacking under the cover of tanks, one or two mobile forces would soon arrive at the corresponding positions to counterattack the Germans.

But even so, the mobile forces were still very busy under the British attack, because the British attacked from this direction and then from that direction, which made Colonel Slaine a little exhausted.

In fact, Colonel Slaine and even Qin Chuan underestimated Major General Evans, the commander of the 15th Armored Division of the British Army.

All the British army did was a feint, and its real offensive power was actually located in a passage in the southwest... When engineers laid mines, they would always build such a passage so that their withdrawn troops could pass quickly and safely and enter the defense line. Then the engineers would fill this passage with mines and barbed wire.

In order to prevent the troops from being detected by the enemy and blocked by firepower when passing through, such passages are often built in relatively secret and difficult to find places.

There is also such a passage in the Tobruk Line of Defense, but the engineers stationed in it hurriedly added some mines on the passage when they knew that the German army was coming instead of the British army, but this did not affect Major General Evans' plan.

"This passage is in the low-lying area of ​​this part!" Major General Evans pointed to the map and said to the staff: "There is a small sand dune on each side of it... In fact, they can only be said to be a small mound, but the more so, the less attention the Germans will get!"

The staff's eyes lit up: "Great! We can use a frontal attack to attract the enemy's attention, use artillery sound to cover the sound of the tank's motor, and then send a troop along the passage to break through the enemy's defense line and defeat it from the inside!"

Major General Evans shook his head: "We can't do this, Barritt!"

"What?" Hearing this, the staff was puzzled. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to defeat the German army, but Major General Evans said "We can't do this."

"Think about it, if we defeat this German army, what will happen next?" As he said this, Major General Evans turned around and walked to the simple table made of shell boxes to make himself a cup of coffee.

"They will escape!" said the staff officer.

"What else?"

At the reminder of Major General Evans, the staff officer couldn't help but say "Oh": "They will escape back to Tobruk Port and fight with us in the streets, which will cause us a lot of trouble..."

Evans almost spit out the coffee in his mouth. He looked at the staff officer with an incredible look and asked: "Barritt, how did you become a staff officer and get the rank of colonel?"

The staff officer couldn't help but feel embarrassed, because he did rely on family relationships to get to this point.

"Any questions, General!" The staff officer asked with a red face.

"Barritt!" Major General Evans asked instead of answering: "What do we need most?"

The staff officer suddenly realized: "Supply! You mean the supplies in Tobruk!"

"Yes!" Major General Evans nodded: "If we just defeat the Germans... all we can get is a meaningless defense line, a pile of corpses and a ruin. The Germans have enough time to blow up those supplies. Without supplies, do you think we can cope with the next battle? The main force of the Germans is still in Mezhili, they will not let us go!"

The staff officer nodded when he heard this.

You must know that the total strength of the British army is more than 100,000, not to mention the auxiliary personnel. All these people only need 1,500 tons of water a day, not to mention fuel, ammunition and the like.

Thinking of this, the staff officer's face became solemn. He realized that the German army might only need to light a match to make the British army collapse across the board.

"So!" Major General Evans said, "After this force breaks through the defense line, it will go straight to Tobruk Port. According to the intelligence we have received, the Germans only have one infantry company there..."