Chapter 474

Africa is a magical place, especially in the hot and dry North Africa. Every day, there is hot sunlight and high surface temperature, but at night, it is as cold as winter in northern Europe.

Anyone who comes to this land should try his best to adapt to everything on this land. Rommel was sitting in the car, letting the wind and sand hit him in the face. He saw several soldiers of the roadside investigation troops pouring the sand from their boots, talking and laughing, watching his commander's car passing them.

They set out a few hours ahead of time, along the simple highway and the road signs half buried by the yellow sand, and made hard progress in the desert according to the map and compass. But God knows why, their army of hundreds of tanks still lost their way in the desert, and they didn't arrive at the attack site on time, So the whole army became very anxious.

"Chief of staff, do you think general Friedrich will stop attacking?" Rommel asked, squinting at the yellow sand all over the sky. He is in a very bad mood now, because the plan he made himself has not been implemented on time for his own reasons.

Looking at the map and the road signs, the staff officer said to Rommel, "judging from the road signs, we have deviated more than ten kilometers from the original battle site. This place is almost separated from the front line of the two sides. It should be near this area on the map."

Now Rommel knows why his troops deviated from the original route, because the road signs were changed by the British, and the roads indicated also deviated from the original direction. However, the reconnaissance unit of the 7th armored division in the first desert battle did not pay attention to these details, and was confused for more than an hour before finding the right direction.

It's not like a bustling European inland, where any small intersection will be marked with the city in all directions and the distance. The road signs here only have a simple description of the location. As for the detailed information, don't think about it. And once you miss a sign, it's not easy to see the same sign again.

The temperature is very hot. In order to prevent sunburn or dehydration caused by water evaporation, people have to wear thick clothes and even use a towel to plug the collar to avoid dying in the deserted sand dunes. After several hours of arduous trekking, 41 tanks broke down, so Rommel had to waste another precious hour to repair these precious weapons and equipment.

"The engine of 17 tanks stalled due to the problem of filter screen. Now after cleaning and replenishing the oil, these tanks can start again. There are some serious problems with the two tanks in the first company of the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd regiment. One of them is still troubleshooting. There is something wrong with the gearbox of the other tank. The support battalion said that it must return to ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ The officer in charge of logistics caught up with Rommel and reported to him the repair work of the faulty tank.

"The investigation team hasn't contacted the British team yet?" Rommel unfolded the map in his car. The wind and sand were a little big, which made the map rattle.

"No, we've found the right location, but it's true that there are no British security forces in the areas expected to come into contact with the British forces. We found abandoned camps here and here, and in terms of time, there were British soldiers around three hours ago. " The staff officer pointed to the map and said to Rommel, "or? General, shall we break the radio silence now? "

"Wait... Wait..." Rommel pursed her lips, and finally, as if she had made up her mind, gave a loud order: "let the troops speed up, all the faulty vehicles concentrate here, leaving an armored battalion and division headquarters as cover, and other troops rush here as fast as possible!"

"General! You mean... The British are retreating? " The chief of staff asked suspiciously, then nodded his head: "it's true, all signs show that they are indeed retreating, but, general... Is it necessary for us to take risks?"

Of course, it's necessary. Once the British are allowed to retreat, the next decisive battle will be in Tobruk area on the other side of the desert, where the supply line is at least dozens of times farther than it is now. What's more, Rommel didn't want to see the British retreating to Tobruk completely, cooperating with the complete fortifications there, and at least paying several times as much to annihilate the British army as they do now.

Rommel's strategic goal is to invade Egypt and gain a springboard for Germany to enter the Middle East region. If too much power is wasted on the road, the less chips he can use in the back. He doesn't want to face the embarrassing situation of no military attack in the future. Therefore, according to Rommel's current idea, the risk of saving troops and destroying the living power of Britain is definitely worth it.

Thinking of this, Rommel nodded and said to the chief of staff, "it's necessary, it's very necessary. If general Friedrich sees that the British are going to run, he'll probably put all his eggs in one basket. He'll be close to the barrier here and along the northeast side of the barrier."

He pointed to the map and said: "once he attacks like this, the British want to get away from it is a dream. They will be stuck in the same place and can't retreat. So at this time, they can only choose to fight back or give up front-line forces. "

Give up four British divisions on the front line? That's not the courage of everyone. Even Montgomery has to consider whether it's worth giving up, not to mention being an old general famous for his steadiness. So the most likely response of the British is to fight back, with an effective but powerful counterattack to get rid of the positive German entanglement. In this way, we can save the British front-line guard force, and then all of them will retreat to Tobruk. This kind of counter attack tactics is not risky. It can even be said that it is a regular limited counter attack tactics before retreat - Rommel firmly believes that the British will do it“ or Leave two regiments and let one go first? " The division commander of the 7th Division, an old subordinate of Rommel, stood aside and suggested, "if a regiment really catches up with the British, it will be enough." Without thinking about it, Rommel waved his hand: "attack the whole army! We're the 7th Armored Division! Can the 7th panzer division be called the 7th panzer division if it doesn't attack? It's not our style to be timid. If you want to fight, you'll get the biggest result! "“ Attack Rommel yelled, and his voice soon dissipated in the yellow sand sky. Corresponding to this attack command is the sound of one tank after another starting the engine to move on. They are the 7th panzer division of the German defense forces, which is called the devil. They are the 7th panzer division of the devil who killed all the way to Dunkirk in setang, France. The motto of their division is the famous "attack, attack, attack again" of general Rommel So when the order of attack was given, all the commanders finally recovered from the melancholy state of looking and began to arrange their subordinates to complete the final preparations for the attack in an orderly way. The ammunition was sorted out, the remaining amount of oil was confirmed, the shells were loaded into the tank bore, and the magazine was inserted into the body of the assault rifle. As the wheels of tanks and cars turned, the whole 7th armored division rolled forward, and the reconnaissance troops shuttled back and forth among the various units. From time to time, the signalmen on motorcycles returned from the front, confirming all kinds of important news“ Find British troops. Find British troops six miles ahead. They're firing. We're not too close A soldier on a motorcycle pointed to the map and reported the results of the investigation to the commander of an armored battalion. The commander nodded and climbed into his command car. Soon this exciting news was passed on to Rommel, who was in the first battalion of the first regiment. He took the intelligence, only took a glance, and ordered: "break the radio silence, the British can't run this time!" With his orders, the command car of the military headquarters stopped, and the huge radio antenna and telegraph receiving antenna were erected by the engineers. The cables of the generator car were connected to the command cars, and dozens of soldiers and two tanks began to set up guard lines around. When he opened the telegram, he received a telegram from general Friedrich asking for help: "general Rommel, our army is fighting hard. Please make sure you attack on the flank." The second telegram was even more tragic: "general, please attack as soon as possible."“ Call general Friedrich back. " Rommel said with a smile: "I'm in the designated position. I've started to attack." After that, he was obviously relieved that he had won the bet. Looking at his chief of staff and his subordinates, he joked: "this Frederick will exaggerate and shout loudest when he asks for help, but if you really don't care about him for a few hours, "General Frederick has always been known for his steadiness and sophistication. The 7th infantry division of his old army is known as a little devil." The chief of staff said with a smile: "general Burke once joked with general Liszt that he wanted to bet on who would win if you attacked Frederick and defended."“ And this? " Rommel was stunned, and then asked with great interest, "after this battle, we can rest for a few days. I'll try the war game with general Friedrich." Frederick, the commander of the 7th army, who was struggling under the counterattack of British tanks and artillery, finally got the news that he wanted to wait. A telegram from Rommel was handed to him by the telegraph operator. He opened it, looked at it, and then walked back to his headquarters. Walking to his staff, he handed the telegram to his staff: "win! General Rommel's attack on the flank begins