Chapter 1011 The Second Battle of Midway (11)

"No, we must retreat!"

As night fell on August 30, this sentence became the consensus of the top leaders of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

At dawn that day, the main German landing force landed at Victoria Harbor. Relying on the support of the remaining troops, the air wing quickly deployed. At around 9 o'clock, the planes that attacked the Roosevelt Armored Group were dispatched. A large number of armored grenadiers poured out from the freighter. They not only took over Victoria's defense on the spot, but also rushed forward, preparing to provide support for the offensive spearhead of the Sauken Group.

Throughout the day, the German army fought continuously. Not only did Rommel's troops fully deploy, the German aviation also launched a fierce battle for air supremacy across the entire battlefield and in the entire airspace, shooting down 519 US Army aircraft with a loss of 97 (many crews parachuted to the ground). In areas controlled by the US military, the losses are not as exaggerated as those of aircraft). The day before, General Arnold had just replenished nearly 600 aircraft to South American Army Airlines, and Hainan Airlines had transferred more than 100 aircraft. They were all lost in the blink of an eye, while the Germans were in 3 wings. After full implementation, the number of aircraft on the front line in Brazil has increased to 1,500.

Not only does the quality of the German army's personnel greatly exceed that of the US military, but it now also has an overwhelming numerical advantage that is completely unshakable. As a large number of German troops landed, the ground battle of the 5th Army became more and more difficult: Although Rommel only sent one heavy armored battalion to speed up the landing, and the rest were infantry and marine brigades, they could not withstand the wealthy and powerful. The U.S. imperialists left a large amount of heavy equipment in warehouses, docks, and cargo ships. The German light infantry division was immediately upgraded to a heavy armored grenadier division on the spot.

——Isn’t it Sherman, an old friend! The German army has always captured it and used it as a service tank. It is no longer familiar to them. Now it is still used smoothly in combat. However, I haven't had much experience with the M26 Pershing, so this time I just went wild with the Tiger 2. To prevent accidental attacks, all the white star logos on these tanks were painted out, and improvised swastikas or iron cross symbols were hung on their heads. It looked funny, but it still made the US troops vomit blood.

When Marshall replaced Patton as the commander, he originally hoped that they would counterattack and push the German troops into the sea. However, he expected Patton to defeat the evenly matched German army under the premise of the German army's superior air force and superior navy. Even Patton himself did not dare to dream of such a dream. Now he can only Can stabilize the defense line and coordinate the retreat of Roosevelt's cluster as soon as possible.

The massive loss of aviation forces made it difficult for the Army to sustain itself. Although the personnel losses were not as exaggerated as in the Battle of Iceland, and many parachute crews were rescued by the US military themselves, after all, they would not be able to return to the battlefield in the short term. The rapid loss of troops made it difficult for them to survive after the Battle of Iceland. Lu Hang, who finally regained some strength, had internal bleeding again. Signs of pilots avoiding combat, fearing combat, and disobeying orders began to appear, and General Arnold was extremely worried. Hawaiian Army Airlines entered a rest period after being severely damaged. South America suffered even greater losses and urgently needed rest.

Although the retreat order has been issued, it is not so easy to execute. While Patton was responding to the retreating naval officers and soldiers, he was also gathering the remaining defeated soldiers and Army aviation crews who had retreated from the city. He also had to distract Roosevelt's group.

After learning that the German troops were landing in Victoria, Patton believed that the Roosevelt cluster could not hold its position in the direction of Port Seguro. Before the order from the Joint Chiefs of Staff was issued, he immediately asked Roosevelt to retreat and move closer to the headquarters of the Fifth Army.

Roosevelt commanded his more than 10,000 troops to fight and retreat. They retreated more than 90 kilometers in two days, but they were still nearly 300 kilometers away from El Salvador and 250 kilometers away from their nearest friendly forces. The German Sauken cluster behind them was tight. Reluctant to chase. Roosevelt did not dare to retreat deep into the west. Once he entered the hilly areas, his heavy-armed troops were blinded. After allocating trucks for the navy officers and soldiers to use for retreat, his vehicle dispatch was also greatly reduced, forcing him to have no choice but to retreat. Carry out successive delayed battles without relying on roads and natural landforms.

Fortunately, we got enough supplies and materials when we landed at Port Seguru, and we were able to survive such a fierce battle. Fortunately, there was a moderate rain this evening, so this area was dominated by impact plains. The land turned into mud, partially slowing down the pressing pace of the German attack.

"Sir, the troops are ready and ready to go at any time." A staff officer with a haggard face, whose body had been worn by smoke, mud and rain, reported in a low voice.

Taking advantage of the rainy night brought by the misty rain, Roosevelt planned to let the main force retreat first. For this reason, he not only arranged for a regiment to stay behind, but also asked the retreating troops to give up all their heavy artillery and other heavy equipment, and even planned to give up some heavy tanks - the troops did not have much fuel, and they had to save vital trucks and armored vehicles. We, at this time, we have no choice but to give up heavy tanks, which are oil tigers. As for other materials, anything that is not closely and necessary to maintain operations must be given up.

He had no idea that on this rainy night, Rommel's terrible judgment and battlefield intuition were eyeing his group.

In the headquarters where Clark stayed, he carefully studied the map and said to Gauss: "Quickly contact the Navy and ask the last Marine Brigade to land on the beach near Kamamu, and ask the artillery formation to dispatch some battleships to support..."

Kamamu was stuck between El Salvador and Porto Seguro. Gauss immediately understood what he meant: "You want to eat the southernmost American division?"

Rommel nodded: "Shaoken said that this US division is very hard-hitting. It is a mixed heavy-armed unit of the US Army's 1st Division and 1st Cavalry Division. It is considered an elite US military force and its status is equivalent to our Grossdeutschland Division. I want to eat them all." Get rid of him. We can’t let this kind of troops go back to make up for their losses!”

"The U.S. Fifth Army in front of us may send troops south to respond. If we are forced to get stuck, we will be attacked from both ends."

"It's better for the Fifth Army to go south. I'm worried that I won't be able to catch them when they retreat to Recife. I might as well eat this Army as well! Let the 1st Marine Brigade hold it for me! Holm's hero We won't be afraid of being surrounded! As long as we persist for three days, I can annihilate them all!" Rommel waved his hand, "Let the troops near Victoria not worry about the retreat, and don't wait for the formation to be fully deployed. I will invest as much force as possible! Attack, charge forward across the board, now the US Navy has no ships, we can hit wherever we want!"

"First Brigade, attack!"

Following Rommel's order, the 1st German Marine Brigade (Holm Brigade), which was about to go ashore, quietly turned around on the rainy night of August 30 and headed straight for Kamamu. According to Rommel, Machar According to the request, the Tirpitz and Veneto, plus two Italian cruisers and four destroyers were dispatched to protect them.

The South American battlefield is now a complete mess, but the German army firmly holds the initiative. The consequences of the U.S. Navy being eaten up are exposed in the blink of an eye. As Rommel said, with naval superiority at hand, we can fight wherever we want. Well, in order to cooperate with the battle, even the Krank fleet rushed out of Argentina with three urgently repaired battleships and other light warships.

On August 31, the German Holm Brigade successfully landed on the beach and quickly intercepted the main force of the Roosevelt Group that was eager to retreat. Although the Marine Brigade did not have much heavy equipment, it was just right to deal with the US Army who had just abandoned a large number of tanks and retreated. After dawn, they were assigned The Fw-190 assigned to the Flying Fortress Division launched another ground attack, forcing the US retreating group to further disperse.

"What?" Patton exclaimed in disbelief, "General Roosevelt Jr. is surrounded?"

"The telegram states that General Roosevelt Jr. is leading an infantry regiment to hold on to the rear and cover the other troops thoroughly." The staff said in an anxious tone, "Not only is General Roosevelt Jr. in danger now, the troops he arranged to retreat are blocked by the Germans. The Mamu line cannot go further north.”

"Didn't the naval retreat group just come from there? Why are there suddenly German troops?"

"Last night the German army sent troops to seize the beach. The number of troops was not large, but the enemy was covered by naval guns and aircraft. The road was blocked and it was difficult to go in other directions."

"Sir, go and pick them up?"

Patton shook his head in pain: "We can't go. If we go, the German army will cut off along the Paraguazu River, and the entire army group will be surrounded! Who will save us then?"

"Sir, General Marshall sent a telegram asking us to coordinate the retreat of Roosevelt's cluster as soon as possible!"

"Report to Washington, the Roosevelt cluster is surrounded, I need 2,000 aircraft cover!"

But how can we find 2,000 planes? Recife's Luftwaffe and Hainan Airlines combined have less than 600 aircraft left, which cannot even be defeated by the Luftwaffe and Luftwaffe in El Salvador, let alone go to Seguru or Camamu to rescue the Roosevelt cluster.

At 14:00 on August 31, the 16th Regiment of the 1st Infantry Division of the U.S. Army was surrounded and annihilated by the main force of the German army. The deputy commander of the division, Brigadier General Roosevelt Jr., was killed in the battle. In order to eliminate this regiment, which had fewer than 3,000 troops, Although the German army had an absolute advantage, it still suffered more than 1,000 casualties.

As soon as this big boulder across the road was removed, the more than 60,000 troops of the Sauken cluster rushed straight towards the main force of the Roosevelt cluster like wild horses.

When the 16th Regiment was destroyed, the main force of the Roosevelt Group launched three shocking and desperate attacks against the blocking German Holm Brigade, but each time they were crushed by the Germans like waves crashing on the rocks. When the last defense line was crumbling, he served as the first The brigade major general, Uckermann (who had the rank of lieutenant colonel at the time) who had commanded the troops in the Holm encirclement, calmly put out his cigarette butt and used the radio to directly report the coordinates to the distant battleship Tirpitz, " Fire! Intercept fire!"

The 380mm main gun shells immediately exploded in the crowd, and the shock waves of the recent rounds were even less than 15 meters away from the German forward defense line.

Everyone broke out in a cold sweat. If the navy had missed the target, they would have been destroyed.

Uckermann smiled at the staff and said: "Why don't I let the Veneto fire? Because I know that the accuracy of the Italian's drug cannon is a bit poor..."

This round of shelling completely destroyed the courage of the remaining officers and soldiers of the Roosevelt Group. They retreated like a tide and ran towards the deep hills under the command of the officers, preparing to detour from there and join forces with the friendly forces of the Fifth Army. Some of them simply Choose to surrender...