Chapter 475: Desert

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One tank after another appeared on the horizon in the desert, bringing up the yellow sand flying across the sky, and it looked magnificent. This seems to be a natural battlefield for armored forces. Once the engine roars and the track turns, it can raise dust, which is more useful than the deliberately released smoke.
Hundreds of tanks charged in the yellow sand, the scene was unbelievably grand. As if a drum of drums were ringing in the ears, the sound of radio contact one after another, a classic German tank offensive battle started.
A dozen tanks fired together, shells hit a sand dune and a gravel was splashed, and two British African Expeditionary Forces in shorts ran over and bent over the smoke from the shells, and they were not far away. The Tilda tank was hit by shells and ignited a raging fire.
The wide track of the German tank sprayed with desert yellow has run over the small desert plants, and then stopped and fired unhurriedly. On the other side of this tank, the same tank is doing the same thing, and the German attack has no signs. Even the standard artillery preparation was not carried out.
Because there is no need to prepare for artillery fire, the German tanks are more than double the British flank armored forces. The engagement of hundreds of tanks disrupted the British military ’s operational deployment. The British army that was originally preparing to move could not be organized effectively. Resistance.
It was like a phalanx of infantry that had already disorganized its position. It was suddenly hit by cavalry on the flanks. The battlefield was turned into a slaughter. British soldiers were heading everywhere, and German tanks were like tigers entering the flock. The British soldiers galloped amongst them.
The British soldiers who had been fighting hard with the German 7th Army for more than 6 hours completely collapsed. They were hungry and cold. Most of them did not have lunch. The soldiers on both sides of the front battlefield were insisting hard. They hit from noon to noon. , And hit 2 o'clock from noon, and the German 7th Armored Division that fought into the battle circle from the flank was still a fresh force, so their appearance made the battle slowly slowed down.
The forefront of the assault was the 1st regiment of the 7th Armored Division. They were ordered to cut into the British position and sweep through all the resistance they saw. Under the leadership of the regiment leader, this regiment entered the battlefield from behind the southernmost British flank troops. It took less than half an hour to remove the headquarters of a British division, captive a regiment and 400 A panicked British soldier.
On the other side, Rommel personally led the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Regiment into the battlefield from the left side of the 1st Regiment, and carried out a limited attack detour. Their luck was very good. One company rushed into a tank depot controlled by the British army. The army fled the reserve base without setting fire. Rommel ’s battalion rammed into another British division, knocking out three concealed anti-tank artillery positions from behind, and destroyed an artillery position.
The other battalion of the 2nd regiment, led by the 2nd regiment, advanced along a simple road, and their luck was not so good. At the end of the road, they collided with the retreating British North African Expeditionary Armored 1st Division troops, and fierce fighting took place on both sides. A leopard tank was destroyed on the road, but the Germans in this battalion successfully prevented the British troops from retreating and encircled about 4,000 British soldiers nearby.
The entire battlefield was disturbed by the 7th Armored Division. Fighting was carried out over a depth of more than ten kilometers. At the same time, dozens of positions reported that they were surrounded by the Germans, and several headquarters lost contact. Now no one can do anything. No one was able to determine the direction and scale of the German troops' attack when the Qing army was there.
The fighting was so intense that the thick communication antenna on the armored command vehicle where Rommel was located was hit by artillery shells. The soldiers who could not see the situation reported to the headquarters of the 7th Armored Division that they saw "their general was hit by artillery shells. bingo". This news caused confusion in the Germans, but after Rommel braved the gunfire and climbed into another tank, he borrowed a radio to give the order to continue the attack. The Germans continued to attack, and Rommel was sent out by the soldiers. battlefield.
"General! Several tanks from the 3rd company of the 1st battalion of the 2nd regiment controlled a nearby oil depot. It was very concealed and none of our aerial reconnaissance found ..." A staff officer holding a radio headset on his ear with his hand Rommel, who jumped off the tank, reported: "They said the enemy is organizing a counterattack and needs support."
Rommel patted the sand on his body, then squinted to the armored command vehicle of the temporary headquarters, glanced at his poor command vehicle, and pointed to the antenna that was interrupted by the shells: "Notify the maintenance squadron, Help me fix it! In addition, you personally bring the tanks of the division to support the 3 companies. Apart from you, I can't find other idle troops! "
Soon, in a loud noise, the reinforcements set off, including two Division 2 tanks carrying debris, a truck, and 12 heavily armed division guards. Fifteen Italian officers who came to observe were also used by Rommel. They were issued weapons and were responsible for alerting the temporary command line of the 7th Division where Rommel was located.
No one knows what the fighting chaos has become, but some people have already witnessed the British start firing at their positions in chaos. Some people reported that many Britons were fleeing north, but they really didn't have the extra force to chase those who ran away. The reason is not complicated, but there are too many British captives in the German army.
Rommel dispatched the squad to rush to reinforce the oil depot without any trouble. They defeated a small group of British chaotic soldiers and then reached the periphery of the huge reserve oil depot, but here they were attacked by intensive fire from the enemy .
Machine gun bullets hit the sand dunes like raindrops, making German soldiers unable to lift their heads. The British firepower never seemed to be so dense, but soon the sharp-eyed team leader discovered the problem, and the opposite machine gun sounded a bit like g42 machine gun. So he climbed back to the tank behind him and ordered the defenders of the tank farm to stop shooting.
Soon the misunderstanding was lifted, and the loud German defenders mistaken them for British troops. However, the staff member who had just been killed by the friendly machine gun had to take the troops back to the frontline temporary headquarters where Rommel was-the 1st company of the 2nd Battalion Grenadier, 7th Armored Division 3 Regiment rushed to the nearby and reinforced The German defensive position, which originally had only tanks, now needs no reinforcements.
Like the chaotic German army, the British headquarters is now in chaos. The combat staff is marking the position of the German attack on the map. He found that this is a futile exercise, because the map has been He marked the mess.
An officer grabbed a non-stop phone in the chaotic command, and then changed his face to cover the microphone. He turned back and said to the old general sitting in the chair: "The southern oil depot is out of guard. The troops did not blow up the depot in a panic. "
The Eastern Oil Depot is a secret oil supply base of the British Army, which contains not only tens of thousands of tons of gasoline and diesel fuel reserves, but also 10,000 barrels of high-quality aviation fuel. The main reason why the British army has not retreated is because the oil depot has not been transported, and the convoy will not be able to evacuate the larger northern oil depot until today to transport these important strategic materials.
"What?" The veteran general heard the amazing news and bounced from his seat at once, but he quickly fell down. After tense nerves for a few hours, he encountered the disaster of chaos and collapse of the troops. , And then lost an important supply base, this series of blows finally made him unable to bear, fainted.
The battle took place for three hours. At five o'clock in the afternoon, a southernmost British division surrendered under the attack of the Germans. The 7th Armored Division of Rommel and the victory of the 7th Army of Friedrich's Division, so that the Germans One of the most dangerous flaws—the problem of the flanking emptiness of the 7th Armored Division—was solved by the Germans.
General Frederick, who had saved his troops, immediately transferred a battalion's troops to the north to cooperate with Rommel's 7th Division to continue the attack. At this time, the German Air Force, which had no way to contribute because of the staggered teeth of the two sides, appeared again on the battlefield sky. The British army, which had just stabilized its position, blew up with impunity.
In order to ensure that the captured oil depot was foolproof, Rommel ordered the troops to expand their strategic depths. The German tanks stormed the British position by the sunset of more than 5 pm and drove all the British defenders near the oil depot to an area 20 kilometers away.
After learning of the oil depot, Friedrich replaced a part of the defensive position of the 7th Armored Division overnight and launched a fierce attack on the British army at night. For the first time since the beginning of World War II, the Germans actively launched a large-scale Night warfare, and the offensive posture was taken despite the loss.
The battle in the south of the south started from more than 7 a.m. on April 9 and continued until the afternoon of April 10. It barely ended. The Germans ignored the heavy losses of more than 3500 people and 31 tanks. The tone took away more than half of the main force of the British North African 9th Army. 17,000 British people were captured and 5,700 were killed in battle. The remaining troops had no intention of fighting, and they retreated more than 300 kilometers in one breath before stopping the retreat.
It is worth mentioning that on the night of April 9th, the frontline commander of the 9th Army died of heart disease rescue, which was regarded as a single responsibility for his defeat. The British army has since lost the opportunity to drove the Italian North African troops off the sea. The African legion jointly formed by Germany and Italy completed the opening ceremony of their appearance in North Africa with a hearty victory.