Chapter 65: The Old Fox Was Duped

  The war report of the 164th Division of the German army is getting more and more dangerous, and the defensive line has been strangled with the British in many places. The effect of infantry fighting against armored forces is very obvious. German soldiers almost all use their own flesh and blood to block the footsteps of British tanks. The situation is extremely critical.

  The 164th Division of the German army has already begun to prepare for withdrawal to the second line of simple fortifications, but the order has not been passed down yet, and it has come to Rommel first.

  Rommel, of course, disagreed. Anti-tank weapons and 88mm anti-aircraft guns were concentrated in the front line, what would your troops use to hold the second line of defense? Rommel immediately wired an order to the commander of the 164th Division, absolutely forbidding retreat, as long as they could hold on for one more hour, support from the 90th Division would arrive immediately.

  To be honest, Rommel was also uncertain. Although it's only 30 kilometers away, even if they marched quickly for 5 hours to arrive, it would still be considered fast. Not to mention that after the soldiers arrived at the front line, their physical strength would be greatly consumed due to the march, and they might not have any combat effectiveness left.

  The order was conveyed to the command of the 164th Division of the German army. The highest commander of the 164th Division saw that retreat was impossible. There was only a desperate fight, but the situation in front was indeed not optimistic. Not only were the casualties among soldiers serious, but many high-ranking officers also sacrificed themselves in battle.

  The commander of the German l* division took a deep breath and led his troops directly to the front line of the battlefield, personally directing the battle. He also ordered that if he himself fell in battle, the chief of staff would take over command, and if the chief of staff fell, the highest-ranking officer below him would take command, no matter what, they had to hold off the British army's attack.

  As expected, the officers and men of the German 164th Division saw that even their usually high-ranking division commander had come to the front line, and their morale suddenly surged. One by one, they forgot about death and engaged in a fierce battle with the British. Although they could not destroy the armor of the tanks, the infantry behind the tanks became the target of the German army. In fact, there were no British infantry who could cross that line of death.

  The British tanks, lacking infantry cover, had almost crossed the German lines when they were destroyed by desperate German infantry using faustpatronen, hand grenades and petrol bombs on the German positions. However, the Germans paid a high price in casualties. The commander of the 164th Division was indeed, as he had feared, hit by a British tank shell which struck his command post, blowing him to pieces.

  Thus the German 164th Infantry Division barely held off the attack of British Armoured Division, and both armies were engaged in a fierce tug-of-war before the German defense line.

  At this time, Rommel was really anxious, the battle had been going on for 5 hours. The supporting German 90th Division had not yet arrived at the position of the 164th Division. Rommel was so angry that he thought to himself: "What is the commander of the 90th Division eating?" It's taking them so long to hurry up, do they have to wait until 'the autumn leaves fall' before they arrive?

  "It's a joke that the leaves fall down in autumn" is a phrase used to tease someone. A middle-aged couple went to an art exhibition, and when they stood in front of a beautiful painting of a nude woman, the husband couldn't move his eyes away from it. The painting only showed a few leaves covering the private parts of the girl. Seeing her husband staring at the painting without blinking, the wife said, "Are you going to wait until autumn for the leaves to fall down before leaving?"

  However, this is a bit unfair to the 90th Infantry Division of the German army. As soon as Rommel's order was passed down to the 90th Infantry Division, they were busy from top to bottom, and it took almost an hour just to retrieve more than a dozen 88mm anti-aircraft guns. There was no way, these guns had just been dispersed to several temporary artillery positions yesterday. The guns hadn't even fired yet, but they had to be retrieved and pulled tens of kilometers away, which wasn't easy at all.

  Thus, the 90th Infantry Division of the German army had to send out a regimental force first. Later, a brigade of troops carrying these heavy guns towed by trucks slowly advanced towards the position of the 164th division. After five hours, the vanguard of the 90th Infantry Division was very close to the position of the 164th division. It's just that it's inconvenient to contact Rommel's command on the way.

  Rommel had been waiting for the 90th Infantry Division, and it finally arrived. However, several latest battle reports were placed in front of Rommel at this time. Rommel was a bit dizzy. The first report was from the 164th Infantry Division, which stated that 'the commander of the 164th division has been killed, and the 164th division is now commanded by the division chief of staff. The position is still in German hands, but if the British launch another attack like the previous one, the position will not be able to hold.'

  Upon reading this battle report, Rommel felt both deeply saddened and also very strange. The sadness was due to the death of the commander of the 164th Division. It was not the first time that a high-ranking commander in Rommel's army had been killed; during the previous two years of fighting in North Africa, several divisional commanders had died on the battlefield.

  But it was the selfless spirit of these German commanders that inspired and stimulated their subordinates, allowing the Germans to turn defeat into victory on the African battlefield despite being inferior in equipment, personnel, and supplies.

  Romell was puzzled why the British did not take advantage of the momentum to break through the 164th Division's defense line. Looking at the previous battle report, if the British had sent another 20 tanks and a battalion of infantry reinforcements to support the front-line British troops, the 164th Division would have been unable to withstand it. Not to mention that the Chief of Staff was in command now, even a regimental commander would not have left any leeway for the 164th Division.

  Rommel pondered the possibilities, studying the second report. This battle report was sent back by Rommel's reconnaissance squad, which stated that 'the squad searched for the British army's main camp at night, and according to various signs analysis, the British army had less than 100 tanks, including dozens of narrow-tracked tanks.'

  In addition, from the direction of action of the wide-tracked tanks, these wide-tracked tanks all came from the north. Also, a large number of semi-tracked armored vehicles were found to have passed by. The reconnaissance personnel took the risk of following the British army's advance direction for reconnaissance and soon discovered a strange phenomenon - the rear of the British tracked armored vehicles were all dragging objects similar to ropes. Due to the distance being too far, it was not possible to investigate clearly, but judging from the situation, they were likely conducting mine clearance operations. Furthermore, the British armored vehicles kicked up a lot of dust, making it impossible to determine their exact number.

  Upon seeing this battle report, Rommel couldn't help but wonder when the British had used armored vehicles to clear mines. Moreover, he hadn't even deployed troops to lay mines here in the first place. Of course, it wasn't that Rommel didn't want to lay mines, but rather the British had arrived too quickly, leaving no time for such preparations. Besides, using armored vehicles to sweep for mines was simply asking for trouble.

  There is also the narrow-tracked tank, which is quite thought-provoking. In the desert, although the terrain is flat and suitable for armored warfare, that refers to the wide tracks used. Only wide tracks can provide sufficient support on sandy ground without getting stuck in the sand. In Rommel's intelligence reports, whether it was the British 'Matilda' Type 1 and Type 2 tanks or the American 'Sherman M4' tank, they all had 58cm-wide tracks. Where did the narrow-tracked tank come from? Here, narrow-tracked refers to the general term for tracks with a width of less than 50cm.

  However, Rommel saw that the second battle report mentioned that the British armored car raised more dust. He immediately felt a chill in his heart, and combined with the rope-like object being towed behind the armored vehicle, Rommel finally understood what the British were doing.

  It turns out that the British were playing a trick of deception, intentionally using a small amount of armored forces to disguise themselves as a large force, attracting attention and gathering troops from other defensive lines to come and support, and then suddenly launching an attack from another defensive line.

  "Mother of God, my grandmother, how could I have fallen for this?" Rommel thought to himself. To be honest, since he had been leading his troops, it had always been one trick after another, letting others fall into his trap. He was always aware of the danger lurking in other people's plots and would react first. His intuition was extremely keen. Otherwise, he wouldn't have earned the nickname "Desert Fox". But today, he had really fallen for it, and even now Rommel still didn't know where the British were going to attack from.

  But Rommel's secret hope was that the British would not attack the positions of the 90th Light Division, which had just been withdrawn. He hoped that the British were unaware that the troops of the 90th Light Division had largely been pulled out. Rommel couldn't help but mutter to himself "May heaven preserve us, may the British not see. May heaven preserve us, may the British not see." Until finally it became a low hum "The British won't see, the British won't see."

  At this time, a staff officer rushed in from outside and heard Rommel's low humming. He couldn't help but wonder, "What's wrong with the marshal? He's always humming a tune, and it seems to be related to the British. Has the marshal been tortured by the British to the point of being slightly mentally unclear?" This is not surprising, after all, the marshal's illness has not healed yet, and he was sent here by the Führer to command the battle. It's estimated that he can't bear the torture of his illness.

  Just as the staff officer was lost in thought, Rommel caught sight of him. He hastily stopped humming that strange little tune. As a superior, he felt uncomfortable losing his composure in front of his subordinate. Rommel couldn't help but look a bit embarrassed and flustered. His face red, Rommel loudly asked "Officer, do you have something to say?" while staring intensely at the staff officer with his eyes.

  The aide hastily stood at attention and handed Rommel a battle report with both hands.

  Romel took over the war report, opened it and looked at it. Suddenly his eyes went straight. This battle report was sent by the command of two regiments of the 90th Division of the German army who were left to guard the defense line. It read: "A large number of British tanks have been found in the distance from the defense line, estimated to be around 300 vehicles. The speed of these British tanks is quite fast. It is expected that they will engage with our defensive troops in ten minutes, and we hope that the command will send troops to support us as soon as possible. Also, all officers on the 90th Division's defensive line have decided to hold out until the end."

  After reading the telegram, Rommel couldn't help but feel a bit cool in his heart, thinking "I said that the British tanks facing the 164th Division were so few, it turned out they had all moved to other places." The British Seventh Armored Division was mistaken by Rommel for the main force of the Tenth Armored Division. However, in any case, most of the German troops in the north had already been transferred to the southern front. The north could be said to be extremely empty.

  At this time, Rommel had a new idea, that is, the 90th Infantry Division's reinforcement troops encountered obstacles on the road and did not go far. If they were not far from the array, stop their support and let them return quickly. In this way, it may be possible to hold back the British in front of us.

  But just as the house leaks meet the continuous rain, Rommel's idea was not yet finished, another staff officer rushed in excitedly from outside and said, "General, the 90th Infantry Division has arrived at the position of the 164th Division. They are now launching an attack together with the troops of the 164th Division."

  Long Mei'er almost burst into tears upon hearing this 'good news'.

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  Two more servings coming up.