Chapter 925 Turning Point (4)

In France, Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia, Marshal Rommel, who had repeatedly defeated many enemies with a small number and used the weak to attack the strong, knew very well that troops are valuable and fast, and he also understood the essence of mechanized blitzkrieg - to attack the slow with the fast!

This is the biggest secret why he became famous and climbed from a small guard battalion commander to the high position of marshal. Marshal Rommel may not have the commanding ability of a large army like Marshal Manstein, but when it comes to performing oppression with 30,000 to 50,000 troops The level of fighting style is unparalleled in the National Defense Forces.

In Iceland, this level of command was vividly demonstrated again. The German army beat the British and American Allied forces with the ferocity of a tiger descending a mountain. The first echelon of the SEAL Army only has a total strength of 1 division and 2 brigades. With the addition of armored battalions, headquarters guards and headquarters, the strength is only over 40,000 troops. Nearly 2,000 troops were lost on the eve of the landing. After the landing, part of the troops stayed on the beach. The actual number of troops committed to the attack was nearly 30,000. Rommel relied on these 30,000 troops to defeat 80,000 allies with large-scale maneuvers and multiple outflanking pressures. The army has no way to go to heaven and no way to enter the earth.

Although the situation was advantageous, he knew that he could not relax the pressure and give the enemy time and opportunity to calmly deploy the defense line. Once the opponent built a defense line, it would be more difficult to bite down. Not wanting to let the Allies breathe even at night, they ordered the troops to dispatch the newly allocated Night Fighting Tigers.

The experience of using night combat tanks on battlefields in Africa and Cape Verde fully proves the great value of night vision equipment. However, it is still inconvenient for a dedicated Sherman to provide infrared illumination in actual combat. The Ministry of Armaments developed the Leopard E tank in a targeted manner. , the infrared headlight is integrated in front of the front armor and placed in one unit. At the same time, some Tiger tanks equipped with new engines were emergency modified and infrared headlights were installed behind the turret.

The size and power of the additional infrared headlights are smaller than those of the Sherman infrared irradiation vehicle. However, thanks to the advancement of photoelectric technology, the irradiation range can still reach more than 1,000 meters. It works well at a distance of about 800 meters. Regardless of the distance when firing, It was more than enough for marching, so a special night battle method was explored based on the new equipment. Fortunately, these tanks were not sunk in the sea by British and American bombers, otherwise the night battle routine would not work.

As night fell, just when the demoralized British and American officers and soldiers thought they could breathe, the German tanks began to attack fiercely again. At first, they thought the Germans were firing randomly and wasting ammunition. To be precise, the British and American officers and soldiers who finally came to a halt ran away again. Some of them couldn't run anymore. They lay down on their backs, threw away their weapons, and simply surrendered and were pulled down.

It would be really cruel to let British and American officers and soldiers who have not experienced war in two years fight the German army who have experienced hundreds of battles at night. As the first batch of 1944-type units, the armored instructors are all drawn from more than 20 armored divisions in the entire army. It is formed by elites and selects the best among the best.

Probably because the battlefield situation was relatively good, Rommel did not immediately rush forward in his iconic armored command vehicle. Instead, he showed great interest to several young staff officers and imparted tactical insights: "To fight this kind of offensive war, we must Use the fastest speed to break up the enemy's formation and prevent them from forming a group. Appropriate interspersion is necessary, but we cannot go deep alone and be outflanked... We have few soldiers and many enemy soldiers, so encirclement warfare is not feasible. , I just chase them away and don’t try to outflank them. When they get tired and disperse, simple methods are enough to deal with them.”

"Sir, what should we do if we encounter this kind of pursuit and cannot reorganize our formation?"

"Hold!" Rommel replied without hesitation, "Whether it is a company or a battalion, immediately rely on the terrain to hold on to the spot, block the incoming flood like a reef, contain the enemy's offensive layer by layer, and wait for opportunities to join forces in pairs. , hold together, the troops at the front use self-sacrifice to win life for other friendly troops..."

Although Smith understood this, he could not issue the relevant orders because the troops were all in chaos: As the Germans launched waves of attacks, the British and American armies that were supposed to be united suddenly split apart - the commanders discovered that the German troops They were always chasing the largest number of troops to attack, and the lingering German planes overhead always chased the large troops to attack. Many people made small calculations and tried to break away from the large formations and escape separately. Four British brigades fled to the left wing, and three American divisions fled to the right wing. As they fled, the divisions turned into regiments, the regiments dispersed into battalions, and the battalions turned into several companies that did not belong to each other, and then the troops of various numbers were mixed together. , the infantrymen pounced on the truck when they found it, throwing away the ammunition, materials, and supplies on it, just to compete for that precious spot.

As for the more cumbersome artillery, anti-tank guns, broken down armored vehicles, and tanks that were out of fuel, they were scattered all over the floor, completely ignored. The German army pursued these abandoned equipment all the way...

"Bastards, bastards...I'm going to kill these sons of bitches!" Under the night, the German army spared no effort to pursue the enemy. At the same time, the Downing Street underground bunker had become the center of various storms. It was learned that Nimitz brought Halfway through, the Atlantic Fleet turned around. Marshal Pound was so angry that he was shaking all over and went into a rage on the spot.

Several other military leaders were also furious, and the table was clapped loudly. No matter what reasons and excuses the Americans had, they could not change the fact: they first promised to send fleet assistance and asked the United Kingdom to send aircraft to support Iceland. After the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy went to great lengths to rescue Iceland and suffered numerous casualties, the Americans feinted again and said that the fleet was not coming. Before receiving the urgent message from Marshal Dill, Portel and Pound were still discussing where to get some planes to assist Iceland tomorrow. They did not expect to be waiting for such shocking news.

This made everyone feel indignant and furious!

"This is a shameless, despicable and disgusting betrayal. The British Empire has been abandoned. The British Empire, which has always fought bravely, has been ruthlessly abandoned by its allies... Supporting Brazil? A joke, who doesn't know that it is a diversionary offensive by the Germans! This is a Naked excuse." Aiden was furious, "Wallace first, then Truman, these are a bunch of scumbags!"

"What now?"

"Prime Minister, what are you going to do?" Attlee asked with a gloomy face, "Are you still prepared to continue the fight and drag more than 40 million British Empire ministers to their deaths?"

"I..." Churchill was speechless. "I plan to send a telegram to Roosevelt and ask him to stop this behavior. We..."

"It's no use!" Brooke snapped. "Marshal Dill tried to see President Roosevelt, but was ruthlessly rejected. The Joint Chiefs of Staff clearly told us that it was Truman's order!"

"Now we can only let the Icelandic defenders persist in resisting..."

"Resist? How to resist?" Brooke sneered, "Without the air force and the navy, the Americans would not be able to fight at all. When the Germans arrived, they ran all over the mountains and plains like a flock of ducks. Not to mention that they were not comparable to our regular troops. Comparatively, even the local army is stronger than them!"

The Territorial Army is a force similar to a militia organization recruited by the British in response to the war. It is similar in nature to the American National Guard Division. It has a great name. The County Division, the Queen's Guards Division, and the Volunteer Army are actually all over 45 years old. The troops composed of uncles are ridiculously poorly equipped. There are more than 1 million such troops in the 3 million local army. Brooke dismissed the Americans as useless. In fact, the performance of the British troops in Iceland was only half as good. If we must say that they are more capable, it is also because they have rich escape experience-having experienced the siege of Dunkirk, these British troops can escape Fast but not messy, scattered but not too little...

"The latest news, I am convinced that the person commanding on the island is Erwin Rommel himself! He also spoke on the radio today, and the situation is correct after verification!"

Erwin Rommel is the name that everyone here least wants to hear. At first, everyone was a little suspicious about Rommel's appearance in South America, but now they understand it completely.

"We were deceived." Attlee sighed, "Iceland cannot be saved and must find a way out immediately."

"A way out? Okay, tell me, what other way out is there besides surrender?" Churchill was angry at the Americans, and now his anger is rising. "Who can think of a way? I will resign immediately and step down as Prime Minister." Give him the position.”

Everyone looked at each other: Not surrendering? They are willing to think about it and the Germans are willing to follow it... After the German army takes over Iceland, the next step is to land in Britain. Even if they don't land, there is no way to stop it by landing in Ireland.

"Prime Minister, we must make up our minds now. It's not that we don't want to persevere, but it's meaningless to persevere." Eden advised, "Although the Germans' conditions are harsh, they still leave a place for the British Empire. If we wait for Germany Once people land on the mainland and enter London, the situation will be completely ruined. Millions of lives will be destroyed. Even if the Germans don't come to land due to concerns about casualties, we can only move toward death step by step with the blockade of Iceland and Ireland."

Aiden saw it clearly: If you don't surrender and wait for death now, surrendering is courting death, but courting death is at least better than waiting for death - you don't have to go through so much torture.

The cabinet originally had some expectations for the Iceland blockade: the Germans only had two intact fleet aircraft carriers left, and Nimitz had a fleet in his hands. The two sides would fight again and lose a few aircraft carriers (fleet aircraft carriers and escort aircraft carriers). , the Germans can't achieve anything with just one aircraft carrier. In a few months, the Royal Navy's two armored aircraft carriers will be able to serve again. There may be no chance of counterattack, but now it's all over!

"We need a condition to end the war with dignity. If you agree, I will ask Duke Hamilton and Hess to negotiate." Attlee said, "We cannot delay it. I have a hunch that the Germans will raise their asking price after taking Iceland."

"Go ahead..." Churchill waved his fat hands feebly a few times, looking at the documents on the table in silence, not knowing what he was thinking...