Volume 1 North Africa Chapter 32 Breakthrough

  Major General Freddie de Guingand, Chief of Staff of the Eighth Army, reluctantly held the casualty report in his hand, feeling an unusual bitterness in his heart. But at this critical moment, he couldn't show any weakness. So Major General de Guingand said to his staff officers: "From now on, I will no longer look at casualty numbers. Send messages to each army and division on the front line. I don't want casualty numbers; I only want to break through the German defense lines. From now on, we will no longer give them orders. No matter what method they use or what difficulties they encounter, let them solve it themselves."

  "Yes, sir." The staff officers under General Gan Gang all responded and hurriedly went to send the telegram.

  Gan Gang Brigadier General got up and poured himself a glass of Scotch whisky, then sat down in the campaign chair with a crystal wide-footed wine glass. In fact, even Gan Gang Brigadier General himself did not understand how he, a person who liked to eat, drink and have fun, could become friends and partners with someone like Meng Ge, a 'Calvinist' type of person. It was equally difficult to understand why so many young and passionate officers were willing to serve under Meng Ge, even if it meant sacrificing their precious lives.

  Gan Gang had known Meng Gu very early, as early as 1923 when Meng Gu was his instructor and guided his studies. Later, he also entered the Military Academy to teach under Meng Gu's recommendation, it can be said that Meng Gu is both a teacher and a friend to Gan Gang, and their relationship has always been good. Even this time taking the position of Chief of Staff of the Eighth Army Group was recommended by Meng Gu.

  It was already very late, but Gan Gang had no intention of sleeping. The entire command center was still bustling with activity, and the explosion-proof lamps on the lamp posts were still shining brightly. Looking at the wall clock, it was already 12:30, and Gan Gang stretched out his hand to flip the calendar on the table to the last day of October.

  "It's broken through, it's broken through..." a voice shouted. Gan Gang suddenly shuddered and looked up to see a middle-ranking staff officer rushing in with a document in hand.

  Everyone in the command center who was still working through the night couldn't help but stop their work and stare at this staff officer. The lieutenant colonel quickly walked up to Gan Jiang's front, even forgetting to salute the chief of staff, and directly said

  "The Australian 9th Infantry Division has breached the minefield of the German defensive line in the north, and the 9th Armoured Brigade has now successfully passed through the minefield and is advancing to attack the Italo-German defensive line. The 9th Infantry Division, as well as the 1st, 17th and 10th Armoured Divisions are also on their way through the minefield, and are expected to reach their assigned positions before dawn."

  "Good, good, too good. Didn't expect to pass through the minefield in 7 hours, the Australian 9th Division is really something. Immediately order the Australian 9th Division and the 9th Armored Brigade to launch an attack on the German artillery defense line at the Lahman railway line. Once we break through there, the Germans are done." Gannan said.

  "Yes, General." The staff officers hastily recorded Gan Gang's orders and went off to attend to their duties.

  At this time, almost everyone in the command center knew that they had broken through the enemy's defense line. The unhappiness brought by the previous battle was all gone, and even those who had changed shifts to rest got up hastily, not caring about physical fatigue, and joined the work. For a moment, the morale of the British command center personnel burst out with a boom.

  "Go and report to the commander. Tell him that we have broken through the enemy's artillery zone and are now advancing towards the depth of the enemy's firing position. Ask if the commander has any other orders." Gangang said to a staff officer.

  The officer returned to the command center after a while and said to Gangan, "Commander, General Meng said he knew. He let you take full charge of commanding now, and he believes you can definitely complete the predetermined task."

  "Oh, does the commander have no other orders?" said Gan Gang.

  "He also had you send a telegram to the War Office and the War Cabinet telling them that the German line has been broken."

  "Is there anything else?" Gang said again.

  "With that, the commander closed his eyes and fell asleep again."

  "Oh, send the message as per the commander's intention." said Gan Gang

  "This guy who sleeps all the time, how can such a person exist in this world." Gankang said in a low voice with disdain. However, Gankang knew that Monger's habit of not being disturbed while sleeping was one that had been cultivated over many years. This had a lot to do with Monger's previous marriage. In 1925, he met the widow of an officer who died in the Gallipoli Campaign (she already had two sons). Two years after they met, they got married in 1927, her name was Betty Caver. Betty later died too, from poisoning due to a bug bite in October 1937.

  The ten years of his marriage to Betty were the happiest in Maugham's life. He and his wife lived in a harmony that seemed almost incredible, considering their vast differences. She was an artist, with relatives in Chelsea; she disapproved of most things he admired or even understood. Yet all signs indicate they kept their disparate views cheerfully, contentedly, despite the divergence. Maugham managed the household while his wife ran her own life. In doing so, she sympathetically tolerated his eccentricities (some of which were undoubtedly unique), softening his temperament.

  In Mongo's ten-year marriage, going to bed on time every day also became Mongo's top priority. Betty also never allowed anyone to disturb Mongo's sleep at night. This rule was also implemented by Mongo in the military camp.

  Kanok General didn't have the habit of sleeping on time every day, and at this age, he was still in his prime. Growing up in a wealthy family also made Kanok more extravagant after becoming an adult. The high income of colonial officers also made Kanok's life quite comfortable. Fine wine, fine food, beautiful women - for Kanok, the more the better. So Kanok's nightlife was very rich, and sleep was far from being his top priority.

  The staff at the headquarters continued to receive battle reports from the front line and marked out the positions of the British troops' attacks on the map. Every hour, news of the troops' advances came in, and the results were constantly expanding. More and more troops braved the German-Italian artillery fire and passed through the minefields, all rushing towards their predetermined targets.

  By 4:40 on October 31, Major General Gannan received news that five divisions had successfully crossed the minefield. However, most of the breakthroughs were armored units, and only the Australian 9th Division was a combat-effective infantry unit. Tank units without infantry support were very vulnerable to German artillery, suffering heavy losses. At this time, there were actually no infantry reserve troops in the rear of the breakthrough direction.

  "Send a telegram to the commanders on each front line, I don't care how great their losses are, I just want them to break through the enemy's defense lines. Also, give priority to supplying tanks from the rear to them immediately," said Gang.

  The order was quickly passed down and a fierce tank attack battle began.

  Gan wrote in a telegram to his deputy chief of staff, Freyberg: "We all understand that attacking a wall of artillery with tanks sounds like a fairy tale. This should be the job for infantry, but we no longer have enough infantry to spare, so it has to be done by armor."

  While Deputy Chief of Staff Freiberg was at the front line of the troops, he fully informed each frontline commander.

  The commander of the 9th Armoured Brigade, John Currie, said "My brigade will lose about 50% if we go in like this".

  Freyberg replied orally: "The losses might be far higher than that. The Corps Commander said he was prepared to accept 100% casualties."

  Military orders are like mountains, the 9th Brigade's mobile attack and encounter movement is disheartening. The newly supplemented tanks performed poorly, and the rolling sandstorms raised by their back-and-forth movements made visibility extremely poor. Artillery fire caused losses and casualties among tanks and soldiers. A squadron lost its way and had to turn around and rush forward again. As a result, only 94 of the three regiments' tanks in the brigade were available for the attack.

  94 tanks advanced with difficulty under the artillery fire of the German-Italian army, and smoke billowed from the hit tanks. Some of the tank crew members who were hit were lucky enough to crawl out, but most of the personnel in the tanks that were penetrated through the upper armor died directly inside the tanks. This was a completely suicidal attack. 70 tanks were damaged or destroyed. The casualties reached 230 people. To know that an entire armored regiment had only about 200 people.

  On the other hand, by 9:00 on October 31, the corps had destroyed 35 enemy guns on the defensive line and successfully covered the 2nd and 8th Armored Brigades of the 1st Armored Division to unfold in open areas for follow-up attacks. Most encouragingly, the remaining 20 tanks of the 9th Armored Brigade had broken through the enemy's defense lines, inserting into the enemy's interior like a dagger.

  Gan Gang, the young general, couldn't believe the news in front of him. The German defense line had been breached just like that. In the past, attacking the enemy's defensive position would take several days and nights. But this time, within 11 hours, even the minefield and defense line were breached. Gan Gang was a bit skeptical of his own eyes.

  However, one after another, the battle reports from various front-line commanders arrived at the command center. The telegrams all said that after paying a great price, they had occupied several defensive positions of the German and Italian armies. The German and Italian armies had retreated to the rear. There were destroyed cannons and tanks everywhere on the German position. But no prisoners of the German and Italian armies were captured.

  Gan Gang was so excited by the news that he almost fainted, and then he turned around to see Monty walking into the command center. He hastily said to Monty, "We did it! We broke through the German defense line, and Rommel's troops have started to retreat!"

  "Yes, I know all about it. The German and Italian armies are just like I expected, they can't stop our armored units' attack except for artillery and landmines. Once we break through the minefields, they're done for. My chief of staff, now give orders to each frontline commander to start pursuing immediately. Use our speed advantage to catch up with Rommel's army, I want to annihilate Rommel's North African Corps completely." Montgomery said with great enthusiasm.

  Yesterday evening, I surprisingly found that I couldn't stay up late and was already sleepy before 12 o'clock. Then after waking up from a nap, I didn't even have any dreams. This morning, I also didn't want to get out of bed, it really felt very comfortable. This is the best sleep I've had in a month. Two chapters are released together for everyone today.