Chapter 57: Firing on the Move

  The news of the 101st Armored Division repelling the British quickly reached the headquarters of the German-Italian North African Army Group, where Rommel was holding a cup of coffee to refresh himself. Just as he brought it to his mouth, he heard the report that the 101st Armored Division had defeated the British First Armored Division, and Rommel was not surprised at all.

  With 'Hess' that monster commanding, it would be a wonder if the British had any good ones. What surprised Rommel was that destroying more than 80 tanks wasn't much, but capturing nearly 100 intact British Sherman M4 tanks was unexpected. Of course, there were also dozens of British armored personnel carriers.

  Rommel fought in North Africa for more than 2 years, and the British army's supplies were countless, but he had never captured many tanks. Tanks are mobile turrets, running fortresses. Except for no oil, tanks would not be abandoned by the British army. But in North Africa, no oil was Rommel's specialty. How could the British, who had sufficient logistical support, run out of oil? Even if it were 10 tanks, let alone 100, Rommel would still be thrilled.

  The supply of the North African German army is too difficult. After much difficulty, Rommel begged for some supplies, but most of them were blocked by the British in the ports, and even if they could be shipped over, they would lose half of them on the way. As a result, Rommel did not dare to transport a large quantity at once, and every time he was nervous about transporting a small amount of supplies, which was far from meeting the daily consumption of 100,000 troops.

  Romel was also poor, people are short of money, horses are thin and hair is long. Romel really felt deeply about it. If Romel hadn't played with his life every time, he would have taken advantage of the British material base every time. It's also a helpless measure. Fortunately, the IQ of the British is not particularly sufficient, and they are always fooled by the old fox, finally losing important supply bases.

  A half-hour battle caused the British to lose 180 tanks. If this continues, even if their logistics can keep up, they won't be able to withstand our attack. After all, the British have to transport their tanks from America and Britain by ship, which takes a long time. It's not like having a "Liu Zhen" seven-degree golden space ring that can instantly produce hundreds of tanks.

  This time, the 100 tanks made Rommel so excited that he couldn't calm down. Capturing 100 tanks was equivalent to the British losing 100 tanks, and without even needing transportation, they had gained 100 more - it was like 1+1=2, no, it was more like 1+1=4! His excitement made Rommel feel that his coffee tasted sweeter than usual.

  However, this is not the end. Soon, the German 15th and 21st Armored Divisions both sent back telegrams. The telegrams all mentioned that under the leadership of the "Leopard" tank assault group assigned to them, both armored divisions discovered a large number of British tanks gathering in the flank direction. Both divisions followed the command's orders and did not launch an annihilating blow against the British army. After a brief exchange of fire, the two armies crossed each other, and now both divisions have disengaged from combat with the British army and continue to advance towards "Ah Leiman".

  The British 10th Armoured Division, which brushed past the two German Panzer divisions, was also out of luck compared to the ace British 1st Armoured Division.

  The terrain in the desert is flat and suitable for tank warfare, but the 1st Armored Division took a detour and collided head-on with the 101st Armored Division, blocking their way. The British 1st Armored Division happened to encounter the "devil" Heiss, the director of the armored department of the German Army Academy, who was leading the troops to teach students a lesson. It's hard not to sigh that the luck of the 1st Armored Division is really bad. They were directly crippled by Heiss.

  Let's take a look at the luck of the British 10th Armoured Division, which was sandwiched between two German armoured divisions. Yet, they managed to insert themselves right in the middle without being caught in a pincer movement by the two German divisions. One can't help but say that they were the favourites of fate.

  But familiarity breeds familiarity, and taking care of each other doesn't mean that the German "Leopard" tanks will let them off. Unlike the 101st SS Armored Division's frontal assault instructors, shooting on the move became the main subject for these instructor-level tank commanders to teach their students.

  Of course, firing on the move is not as simple as just stepping on the gas and shooting. Especially when the turret is twisted at a large angle with the body, one side has to maintain the correct direction, speed, and formation while observing the movement of enemy tanks and commanding the tankers to make the correct tactical movements. It can be said that compared to frontal assault firing, the difficulty of flank firing on the move is higher and the accuracy rate is also lower.

  But in the hands of these abnormal instructors, this is simply not a problem at all.

  Each time, it was a brief and powerful command. First was the brake, followed by precise coordinates of degrees and gun elevation, immediately followed by the firing order. Then came the order to shift gears. The entire process was without any hesitation or interruption, and those "Leopard" commanders didn't even look back at whether their fired shells had hit the target, directly turning their periscope to the next target.

  From the appearance of these 'Leopard' tanks in the German army, you can't see any movement at all. It's as if the tank driver casually stepped on the clutch and shifted gears to make the tank run more smoothly, without changing speed.

  Because these tankers' movements are really too fast, but being quick is a must. The training that tankers receive is to execute the commander's orders as quickly as possible. On the battlefield, it's all about speed - those who are slow will be left behind. A delay of just one second could mean being hit by an enemy tank before you can fire your own cannon. This is also why these ordinary tankers were able to focus their energy completely in front of their instructor back then.

  "In all the martial arts under heaven, only speed is invincible."

  Although dodging bullets in movies is a bit exaggerated, on this battlefield where shells are flying everywhere, being quick with your hands can indeed play a crucial role.

  Of course, the most important thing is still the reflection speed of these instructors' abnormality. The tank's braking, precise coordinates are issued together, and as soon as the brake is stepped on, the angle is adjusted, the firing command follows. As soon as the shell leaves the barrel, the tank is still shaking in the recoil, the advance command is issued again. The whole process is like a flowing cloud. These instructors' abnormal commands not only made the tank's engine unscathed, but also did not slow down the speed of advancement, and even carried out effective shooting at British tanks 2000 meters away.

  The most tired are these German tank drivers, gunners and loaders. Each of them is doing their best to complete the orders given by the commander, afraid of mishearing the order.

  The officers and men of the British 10th Armoured Division were not clear about these abnormalities. The British 10th Armoured Division was not as luxurious as the 1st Armoured Division, although they had no fewer than 260 tanks. However, there were less than 100 of the most advanced 'Sherman M4' tanks, and the rest were various models, with the 'Matilda 2' tank being one of the more advanced ones, but only having 50 vehicles. The other 100 or so were old 'Matilda 1' tanks. There were even 35 French-made 'Char 1' tanks, which were equipped by General de Gaulle's forces in Egypt before World War II.

  General de Gaulle of France was delighted to see the country's 'Char 1' tanks making a big splash on the battlefield, so he forcibly put these tanks into the combat sequence of the Tenth Division. Without even looking at the 'Char 1' tanks that were almost obsolete and barely operational. In order for these few nearly obsolete 'Char 1' tanks to reach the front line, the British officers and men of the Tenth Division had a lot of headaches.

  The Germans' tanks opened fire, and at first the officers and men of the British 10th Division didn't take it seriously. Firing from more than 2000 meters away, in North Africa no one had ever seen anyone hit these thick-skinned 'Sherman M4' and 'Matilda II' tanks.

  But when the shell landed on the tank, these British soldiers were stunned. The 'Sherman M4' was actually penetrated, how is this possible? The 'Sherman M4', which has always been known for its defensive capabilities, was already almost invincible in the eyes of the British. The tall and imposing 'Sherman M4' was actually penetrated by a German tank gun at a distance of over 2000 meters, which greatly challenged the imagination of the British soldiers.

  One after another, the 'Sherman M4' was hit by German 'Leopard' tanks that brushed past from two kilometers away. The officers and men of the British 10th Division were very angry.

  The British had long seen the German tanks, but for a long time, German tanks generally did not dare to contend with Britain's 'Sherman M4' and 'Matilda 2', often contending with very white results. A US-made 'Sherman M4' can easily take out several German tanks.

  The Matilda II was even more secure. The Matilda II tank was nicknamed the Iron Lady, although its firepower was not sufficient, but its protective qualities were indeed unparalleled. Once, two British Matilda II tanks were surrounded by German tanks, and dozens of armor-piercing shells were fired at them without penetrating the Iron Lady's steel armor. In the end, the two Matilda II tanks successfully broke through the German encirclement.

  But today, how did this happen? They haven't even reached the distance of the previous tank battles, and the German tanks have already opened fire. Moreover, they miraculously penetrated the armor of the 'Sherman M4'. Originally, the British tankers were all eager to bully the German tanks. Who knew that the Germans wouldn't say a word, and the big slabs would come over, and the slabs that came over would be so fierce and accurate.

  What the British army couldn't stand was that the German army didn't even intend to charge, but instead advanced while firing artillery shells. It looked like they were bored and just shooting a couple of rounds to kill time.

  The British army was very angry, but who made their own guys not as long as others. Not rushing to a distance of 1000 meters, their tanks couldn't hit the enemy at all. In the end, the British officers and soldiers of the Tenth Armored Division were determined, forget it, can't even hide? Can't hit you, but also don't let you hit back, that's it. The tanks of the British Tenth Division all turned around and headed in a direction far away from the enemy.

  As for those 30 or so Sherman M4s that had been beaten into torches, the officers and men of the British Tenth Army just treated them as 'food for dogs'.