Chapter 64: The Armored Division's Attack

  A loud noise scares away a thousand pieces of gold.

  This sentence is not wrong at all, but it's not like the warlords of modern China. The warlords of modern China only need to have guns and cannons in their hands, which means territory, wealth, and famous ones like Zhang Zuolin of the Fengtian clique, Duan Qirui of the Zhili clique, Li Zongren of Guangxi, and Liu Xiang of Sichuan are all like this. If there's no money, they go rob; as long as the big guns are aimed and fired, they're not afraid of having no gold, silver, or wealth.

  However, they have a biggest difference with other warlords is that they do not betray the country. In their view, the wars between warlords are like two brothers fighting for family property, although they fight fiercely, it is still a family matter.

  But the battles between Germany and Britain in the North African desert were no longer like this, they had completely become a comprehensive test of strength between two countries, a test of a country's military, political and economic power.

  Although Germany did not use all its might, nor could it have done so, since on the German eastern front there was a country several dozen times larger than Germany which was at war with her. But fate seemed to be hovering over Germany in this time and space. Originally, Rommel should have been defeated by Britain in the Battle of El Alamein, but a dramatic change occurred instead.

  The source of this change was actually a small middle school military officer. This can't help but remind people of that famous prophecy story song.

  "For want of a nail, the shoe was lost. For want of a shoe, the horse was lost. For want of a horse, the rider was lost. For want of a rider, the message was lost. For want of a message, the battle was lost. For want of a battle, the war was lost. For want of a war, an empire was lost."

  Losing a battle and losing an empire are not that related, what's crucial is the inability to defend oneself and counterattack after losing. The British have lost twice in North Africa, but each time they got back up like a cockroach and continued fighting. In comparison, the Germans can't afford to lose, Rommel can't afford to lose, and Liu Qi even more so.

  Just as the sky was getting light, Rommel was awakened by a pleasant sound of gunfire. Indeed, these gunshots sounded somewhat pleasant, at least to Rommel, because the British troops he had been most worried about had finally appeared, and Rommel no longer had to worry.

  In no time, the staff officer rushed in with a latest battle report. He stood at attention and hastily reported to Rommel: "Report to Your Excellency, a large number of British tank troops have appeared in front of the position guarded by our 164th Infantry Division and are attacking our position."

  "Ah, how many tanks have they got?" Rommel asked.

  "According to the frontier observation post, the British army's vanguard has less than 100 tanks. The ones behind are not very clear due to the dust raised by the tanks, and it is estimated that there may be more than 300 tanks in scale." The staff officer replied.

  "300 tanks, that's the size of a large armored division." Rommel muttered to himself.

  "Yes, Marshal. And these British tanks are even more powerful than the ones we've encountered before, with a longer range. The enemy fired artillery shells at our front-line positions from 1800 meters away, while our anti-tank guns couldn't even reach the British tanks," said the staff officer.

  300 tanks for the British army was equivalent to a division-level force. However, Rommel knew that these 300 tanks were not something that the German 164th Infantry Division could handle on its own. Moreover, the British tanks had a longer range and could destroy the newly established defensive positions with ease from a distance where anti-tank guns couldn't reach. The only effective countermeasure against such tanks was the 88mm anti-aircraft gun, but there were only 30 of these guns available, scattered along several dozen kilometers of front line. If things continued like this, the front line would still be breached by the British tank forces.

  Romel did not expect that the British were actually attacking with these hundred or so tanks. There were only about a hundred of them, and among them, there were only 50 new-style tanks, while the rest were some old and useless things that couldn't shoot at such a long distance. As long as the German army's 88mm anti-aircraft guns were used well, it would not be a problem to stop these British people.

  Rommel was really deceived, yesterday the German armored division was ambushed by two British divisions, so they didn't even figure out how many British tanks were destroyed. Plus those officers didn't have the habit of reporting their achievements. The German report didn't mention that a large number of British tanks were destroyed. And the British army's feint was reported by the front-line observation post. So Rommel still thought it was an intact British armored division.

  The commander of the battle needs time to make a judgment before the battle, and Rommel is no exception. As soon as Rommel saw that the 164th Infantry Division was unable to stop the British army's advance, he immediately gave orders.

  "Order the 90th Light Infantry Division to detach one regiment plus one battalion, taking all their 88mm anti-aircraft guns with them, and move south at once to reinforce the positions held by the 164th Division. Also give orders to the 164th that they are to hold on at all costs." Rommel ordered.

  The outcome of a war often depends on the correctness or incorrectness of the commander's orders, and one wrong order can lead to the collapse of the entire front line. Rommel is making this mistake now. However, whoever commands this army will make such an order in the face of the intelligence already obtained.

  The 90th Light Infantry Division had two regiments, each with three battalions. It was deployed in the northern half of the front line, along with several thousand Italian troops. Rommel did not dare to entrust them with guarding important positions on the front line. Nor did he dare to mix German and Italian troops together for defense, as this would increase numbers but decrease combat effectiveness.

  The southern front line was the area defended by the 164th Division of the German army, with a distance of nearly 30 kilometers between the two divisions. For an armored division, it would take at most 2 hours to rush over, but infantry is not like that. Some infantrymen could ride in cars carrying big guns, but most still had to rely on their two legs to walk step by step.

  Time flies, and 2 hours have passed. The frontline situation has been transmitted to Rommel's command post one after another. The British army is attacking fiercely on the front line, and two defense lines are about to be occupied by the British. The German soldiers at the forefront are heavily killed or wounded. However, after the British tanks entered the range of anti-tank guns, the German anti-tank weapons also played a role, destroying some British tanks. Of course, those destroyed were French 'Char 1' type tanks that had escaped from the front line.

  And those 50 improved Sherman M4 tanks exerted great power, the coaxial machine gun at the front of the tank, plus the universal machine gun on top of the tank, and the 75mm cannon with a caliber of 53 times, simply made the Sherman M4 a hedgehog covered in thorns, wherever it went.

  However, this is the case for the lowest-end consumables in infantry warfare. The shelters on the German army's positions cannot withstand the 12.7mm bullets fired from the top of tanks with general-purpose machine guns. Generally, sandbags used for shelter are made of local materials, and there is nothing else in the desert except sand. German soldiers usually dig a foxhole and then build a small mound in front of it using sandbags. A simple infantry fortification is completed.

  It's pretty fast, but the defensive effect is not very ideal, and it can only block general bullet shooting. For the universal heavy machine gun bullets that are thicker than fingers, such a bunker is just like one made of paper. 12.7mm bullets driven by strong kinetic energy can directly penetrate two layers of sandbags in parallel, then pass through the body of German soldiers, hit the sandy ground behind, and deeply penetrate more than one meter underground.

  However, firing this machine gun requires the gunner to stand firmly on the outside of the tank, which increases the danger to the gunner. The Sherman M4 was already high enough, and with a person standing on top, it's even higher. Although German infantry couldn't hit the tank, they wouldn't hesitate to shoot at these gunners. Who made them stand so high, like targets? Just looking at them makes you itch, and not shooting two rounds would be unbearable.

  Although the German infantry line suffered heavy losses, the British machine gunners and infantrymen following behind the tanks also suffered significant casualties. The German guns couldn't reach the infantry closely following the tanks, but their mortars were no joke. The military quality of the German mortar troops was truly impressive, often hitting their target with the second shell after missing with the first. As a result, the British infantry found it difficult to advance.

  Wherever there were mortars firing, they became the focus of attention for the Sherman M4s. The commanders of these British Sherman M4 tanks deeply understood that without infantry cover, their tanks could not play to their maximum effect.

  Although the tank has a coaxial machine gun that can fire at infantry, it cannot take care of every part. If German soldiers climb up from behind and throw a hand grenade, they can knock out the people inside the tank. Or directly insert a long-handled hand grenade into the track, if the tank's track is blown off, then the tank will not be able to move again.

  So the British tanks first aimed their firepower at the mortars, machine guns and other infantry threats, while anti-tank guns and light artillery were relegated to secondary targets.

  At one point the entire German 164th Division's front line was in disarray. Of course, the 10 88mm anti-aircraft guns deployed here by the Germans also played a huge role, with 22 of the 50 Sherman M4s being knocked out by these 88mm anti-aircraft guns converted to flat-shooting angle. However, because Rommel had not anticipated that the British attack would come so slowly, the positions of these 88mm anti-aircraft guns were hastily arranged, and some positions were somewhat exposed in front, and later they did not change to better firing positions due to constant vigilance.

  So when they destroyed a British tank, the 88mm guns would reveal their positions and invite counterfire from other British tanks. Seven of the fifteen 88mm anti-aircraft guns were knocked out by the British. Only eight 88mm guns remained on the battlefield, still firing away. But compared to more than half of the remaining British tanks, it was not enough.