Chapter 980 Nimitz's Counterattack (13)
After losing a line of defense in one day, Nimitz was really speechless about the Army's performance.
After a long silence, he asked: "Where are the third and fourth lines of defense of the Army?"
Smith shook his head: "No, after the second line of defense, the plains on the east coast of Brazil will gradually become wider, making it very difficult to defend. The Army is currently trying to rely on Port Seguro to deploy defenses, but I have an intuition that they will still block it." No Germans.”
Nimitz smiled bitterly: "Just watch the Germans attack El Salvador?"
Smith could only sigh.
It is impossible to attack El Salvador. The German army only has so few troops. The further away from Rio, the farther away they are from their logistics supply base and the easier it is to be cut off. On the contrary, the shorter the US military's logistics line, the stronger the defense. and troop density will be further increased.
What cannot be ignored is that as the German army advances further, the distance for the German air force to cover will be further lengthened, while the distance for U.S. Army aviation will continue to shorten: at the first line of defense, German aircraft only need to fly more than 400 kilometers , while the U.S. military has to fly more than 800 kilometers; at the second line of defense, German aircraft need to fly more than 500 kilometers, while U.S. Army aviation needs to fly less than 700 kilometers; if it advances to Port Seguro, it will be completely reversed, and Germany The plane needs to fly more than 800 kilometers, while the US military only needs to fly 400 kilometers. Originally, the Army Air Forces had more planes than the Germans. If the distance was further shortened, four or even five times as many planes could be gathered at the same time.
"I do not plan to attack any further. The troops will rely on the supplies, equipment and defense lines left by the US military to prepare for their defense." Shaoken explained, "Moving forward will obviously exceed our military's capabilities. Now the US Navy is eyeing it. It is possible to cut off this narrow, long and fragile offensive route at any time, and we should hold on until the main domestic fleet and reinforcements arrive before attacking. "
On July 26, the Shaoken cluster began its persistent deployment:
The main force of the 7th Armored Division guards Rio de Janeiro and surrounding areas to ensure the safety of its bases and base camps;
The main force of the Flying Fortress Armored Division (less than one Panzergrenadier Regiment) is guarding Campos, about 200 kilometers northeast of Rio - the terrain here is open and backed by the Paraíba do Sul River, so there is a lot of room for maneuver;
The 508th Heavy Armor Battalion cooperates with an Armored Grenadier Regiment to guard the area near Victoria as the second line of defense;
The 509th Heavy Armored Battalion cooperates with the 7th Marine Brigade (Ceylon Brigade) to guard the Liniyaris and Dosi River defense lines as the first line of defense;
The 8th Marine Brigade (Indian Brigade) holds Florianópolis;
The 5th Marine Brigade (Bermuda Brigade) moved from Uruguay to the territory of the American Republic to guard Porto Alegre.
The 6th Marine Brigade (Falkens Brigade) continues to be stationed in Buenos Aires to provide rearguard for the entire group.
Sao Paulo, the largest city in Brazil, and its port Santos, Sauken only arranged the 7th Panzer Grenadier Regiment and the 42nd Anti-Tank Battalion (belonging to the 7th Armored Division). However, both Brazilian divisions were arranged here, and Rio also There is also a Brazilian division.
Bol asked in confusion: "Sir, Sao Paulo is the largest city in Brazil. Why do you only arrange such a small number of troops (less than 5,000 people)? Although there are 2 Brazilian divisions to assist, I am afraid that they will be destroyed as soon as the US troops land. Will run away."
"I arranged it this way on purpose." Shaoken said with a smile, "Our troops are limited and must be concentrated on the edge. Look carefully at the map. What are the characteristics of St. Paul?"
Boll and others carefully studied the map and finally understood Shaoken's intention: Sao Paulo is a city surrounded by mountains, with hills on three sides and the sea on one side. Although it borders the American Republic on land, the road access conditions are very poor. Along the northeast There is a strip-shaped basin between the two hills, one end is connected to the city of Sao Paulo, and the other end is connected to Rio. The farther you go to the state of Sao Paulo, the wider the basin becomes, and the farther you go to the state of Rio, the narrower the basin becomes.
"On the surface, the enemy's landing in Sao Paulo State can achieve a breakthrough and separate the connection between the front and rear parts of our army (in the American Republic and in Brazil). However, the transportation conditions in Sao Paulo State are not ideal, and I have never tried to maintain it by land. Such a long supply line. If the enemy lands in Santos or even Sao Paulo, our army can rely on this basin to retreat, and then let the 7th Armored Division take over and build a defense line. Whether the Americans come or not, I don't need it. To defeat him, I only need to hold on until the reinforcement fleet arrives - for us, it is only 5 weeks!"
Late that night, Patton and Roosevelt led the boarded battle group to leave El Salvador and head south.
The loss of two lines of defense in a row made Patton extremely angry. Although this was a deployment arranged by Clark and had nothing to do with him, he still regarded it as a great shame and humiliation for the Fifth Army: the German troops landed in Rio and were defeated by one division, and were almost defeated again after continuous advancement. One division was defeated, but before the battle started, two divisions disappeared (although most of the personnel were still there), but they completely lost their spirit. He asked Chief of Staff Major General Macmillan to reorganize them in El Salvador in an attempt to regain their strength, and then issued a fatal order to the Army's 6th Infantry Division defending Port Seguro: "Hold the defense line of Port Segoro without taking a step back!" We must fight until the last person takes a shot!”
He himself, together with Major General Roosevelt, led the Fifth Army Assault Group, which consisted of two infantry regiments from the First Infantry Division, three armored battalions and three artillery battalions from the First Cavalry Division, to prepare for the landing. Of course, all the personnel were drawn from these two divisions, but all the equipment, especially the heavy equipment, was drawn from other divisions.
Patton's withdrawal was certainly not a whim, but he thought that the current organization of the US Army divisions, especially the armored divisions, was not reasonable enough, and he looked down on it. He hoped to reorganize it according to his own wishes. The Joint Chiefs of Staff would obviously not accept his idea, so he had to build an armored division with troops that he thought was qualified within his authority.
If Shawken saw the organization of this assault group, he would definitely exclaim: an armored regiment, an artillery regiment and two infantry regiments (most of the US imperialist infantry regiments were equipped with armored vehicles, close to the German armored grenadiers), and other professional battalions - isn't this the German armored division's 1944 organization?
Although the United States is the world's leading armored force manufacturing country, Americans are very self-aware and know that they are by no means the world's number one armored power. When organizing armored divisions, they learned from Germany, but added unique American improvements - this improvement has changed the original advantages.
The earliest armored division organized by the US military was called the 1942 Armored Division, with Patton's Second Armored Division as a typical example. It has armored brigades and infantry regiments. The former has 9 tank battalions (more than 6,000 people) and the latter has 3 armored infantry battalions (more than 2,000 people). If you apply German standards, you will find that the US armored brigade is larger than 2 German armored regiments, and its infantry regiment is weaker than the German armored grenadier regiment. It is equivalent to forcing two tank regiments into an armored division but only one understaffed infantry regiment. The organization looks impressive, but it is actually bloated - an armored regiment without infantry support on a vast battlefield is a target.
Later, the US military learned from the lesson and improved the tank battalion organization. It drafted the 1943 type organization, called the light armored division, which had 3 armored battalions, 3 armored infantry battalions and 3 armored artillery battalions (each battalion had a larger number than the 1942 type organization). The entire division had more than 10,000 people. If the German standard was applied, it was a standard three-three system armored division - 1 armored regiment + 1 infantry regiment + 1 artillery regiment. Although it was not as good as the German 1943 or 1944 type organization, it was still a functioning armored division.
The Americans wanted to be creative and set up battle groups. A 1943 armored division was composed of three battle groups, each of which included one armored battalion, one infantry battalion and one artillery battalion. The whole division formed three battle groups, called A battle group, B battle group and R battle group (reserve). On the surface, this battle group seemed very powerful, with tanks, infantry and artillery, and it could fight any German regiment alone. The problem was that the regiment was not a campaign unit in the German combat sequence, and the division was the standard campaign execution unit. Any German armored division would be crushed without suspense when it ran into a US corps-level battle group, and two were also crushed. But if three battle groups were on the same battlefield, why would a separate reserve battle group be used?
As the 1944 troops organized by the SS appeared on the Soviet-German battlefield, some American generals felt a deep crisis: not to mention the equipment advantage of the German 1944 troops, the strength alone had completely crushed the US armored division. More importantly, Patton believed that there were too few infantry in the US armored divisions. If they were used in offensive campaigns, it would be difficult to expand the results without the support of infantry; if they were used in defensive campaigns, the battlefield width would be insufficient due to the lack of infantry.
Historically, after the successful landing in Normandy, the US military also encountered the problem of insufficient infantry. The shortage of front-line infantry in many armored and infantry divisions could not be replenished for even 5 months. They relied entirely on the strong air suppression of the US military and the coordination of the British troops (the British army had too many infantry and too few armored troops) to hold on. In addition, in the later stages of the war, the German troops were generally insufficient in organization, strength, and supplies, and could not inflict enough damage on the US military.
It is different now. The Flying Fortress Division is a 1944-type unit with 4 units, and the 7th Armored Division is a standard 1943-type unit with 4 units. Neither of them is an easy bone to chew. Patton had no choice but to come up with the idea of flexible deployment. He used the two infantry regiments of the 1st Red Division, the armored regiment and artillery regiment of the 1st Cavalry Division as the backbone, plus other scattered professional battalions and headquarters, totaling more than 20,000 people to temporarily build the US Army's 1944 type troops. The overall strength is basically the same as that of the Flying Fortress Division.
After leaving the port, the ambitious Patton sent a telegram to Nimitz. In addition to thanking him for "speaking up for him", he also raised a question that caught Nimitz off guard: "Why go to São Paulo? Shouldn't we attack Victoria to cut the German army in half?"