The offensive and defensive battle of Tripoli continued, and the French offensive was still fierce in the past two days, but the Italian defense became a little shaky.

This was the consequence of the redeployment of troops, which reduced the strength of the defenders a lot, and naturally their defensive capabilities were inevitably reduced, which also caused the attacking French army to see the hope of breaking through the position again.

However, the French army did not know that in the city, an army sufficient to carry out Antonescu's plan had been gathered.

Dadiff, located less than 8 kilometers from the fighting position, was Antonescu's chosen starting point, from which he could reach the coast directly. The breakthrough point chosen by Antonescu was on the edge of the coastline, the 47th Division of the French Army, which suffered heavy losses because it was close to the coast, so Antonescu chose it as the first target.

And for this operation, Antonescu formed an assault group (division level) with the forces in his hands. He organized the existing tanks into a tank reinforced regiment (115 tanks, 18 more were shipped later), a mixed artillery regiment (25 self-propelled guns, 68 other towed guns), a motorized infantry regiment, an infantry regiment, and anti-aircraft battalions, engineer battalions, armored reconnaissance battalions, and other units.

On the Italian side, most of the Rams Panzer Division and the Brescia Infantry Division are also ready. The Rams Division will serve as the flanks of the armored regiment to enhance its attacking capabilities, while the units of the Brescia Infantry Division will be responsible for subsequent combat missions, like other Romanian units.

This improvised corps unit will be commanded by Antonescu, with General Messer as his deputy.

Antonescu looked at the time and spoke to Messer. "Let's get started, then."

"Well, let's get started."

As the two of them commanded the troops, the rumbling roar was not too short to convey. It's just that the sound of gunfire on the front line muffs its sound. It's just that when the armored vehicles are all activated, the vibration caused by the earth can't be concealed.

"What's going on?"

Soldiers on both sides of the battlefield felt the ground shake.

"It's okay, pay attention to shoot the enemy."

This is the answer of the officer on the side of the defenders.

As for the French side, it is not that there are no officers who are aware of something.

"Like the sound of a tank?"

A French officer explained why. "I've felt it before in exercises, it's like the shaking of a tank, but this time it's much bigger."

With the officer's words, a large number of tanks appeared behind the position, and these steel monsters were heading towards them in the dark.

And the attack of the tanks immediately demoralized the attacking French soldiers, and everyone knew that it was difficult for the infantry to deal with the tanks. Not to mention that they are in an offensive state, and it is impossible to attack with anti-tank guns.

"Retreat."

And just when they were feeling embarrassed, a shout relieved them of their embarrassing situation. The officer in command of the battle had already discovered the enemy's attack, so naturally he had to transfer the troops back first.

Of course, the commander did not just recall the troops, he had other responses.

"Quick, anti-tank gun ready."

On the French positions, with his orders, the 25-mm and 47-mm anti-tank guns on the positions were immediately prepared. His 25mm anti-tank guns were required to deal with Italian tanks, while the thicker Romanian tanks were left to 47mm anti-tank guns.

It's just that in his hands, there are only more than a dozen anti-tanks in his hands, but he will not be stumped. Because he also had a batch of 75 misses, this gun was used for the time being in the anti-tank heavy duty.

The commander didn't do much more than that, only to pick up the phone.

"Hey, is it the division commander, I have an emergency here, and the enemy has nearly 300 tanks charging towards us. Not all Italian CV33s and M11/39s, half of them are Romanian R10s and R20s. I need reinforcements, whether it's artillery or tanks, I need reinforcements, and I don't want you to just collect the corpses for us. ”

That's right, it's asking for help, the situation is already obvious, although he has done so much, but it is impossible to block the enemy's attack without reinforcements.

And he was right, before the tank approached, the roar of fighters in the sky arrived. A combined air force consisting of Romanian and Italian fighters arrived, and the fighters drove away the French fighters while the bombers wreaked havoc on them.

"Boom, boom, boom!"

Twin-engine RU28-round bombers, dropping pieces of bombs on their heads. A large number of French soldiers who had not had time to dodge fell in such a bombardment, and the aviation of the Italo-Romanian coalition was the first to strike.

This is not the existence that he fears the soldiers, the most feared thing for them is the RU18 dive bomber. This high-pitched bomber is the most worrying existence.

"Woo~Woo~Woo~"

Said Cao Cao, Cao Cao arrived. The screams appeared over the position, which added to the fear of the soldiers.

"Boom!"

The accurate bombing destroyed a 75 miss, which made the other 75mm gun crews feel even more difficult to time.

"Woo~Woo~Woo~"

The shrieking whistle sounded again.

"Forward, leave the rest forward and attack the enemy position."

Inside the command vehicle, Antonescu's was constantly commanding the armored regiment as the backbone of the offensive. The core of this offensive was the armored regiment, of which 53 R20 medium tanks of the regiment took on the heavy task of attacking the city.

And its tall body became the target of many anti-tank fire.

The sound of ping-pong bang made the members of the R20 tank feel as if they were listening to a symphony. It's just that the people who listen to the music are so frightened. And only being beaten and not fighting back is naturally not the style of the officers and men of the Second Armored Division.

"Three-point direction, enemy anti-tank guns!"

Inside an R20 tank, a sweaty commander and observer in big pants shouts the count. Looking at the interior of the car, it is exactly the same as him, and the temperature in the car is nearly 40 degrees, and no one can still pay attention to dress. A person who talks about grace will be a tank soldier for less than a week, and he will forget the word demeanor completely. The armored soldiers that outsiders envy are basically like this in the car, and the high temperature and oily environment make them all dressed like this.

The commander's words caused the loader to quickly take a grenade from the magazine and load it into the barrel.

"Reloaded."

"Roger."

The loader reported loudly, causing the gunner, who was turning the turret, to answer him with the same loud voice.

"Stop!"

With the commander's order, the driver stepped on the brakes, and the R20 tank, which was more than 30 tons, stopped with a creak.

"Fire!"

The commander's order made the gunner with the on-board observation equipment already aim at the anti-tank gun, and he could clearly see not only the anti-tank gun, but also the soldiers operating the gun. The panicked expressions on their faces when they were being targeted by tanks were so reassuring.

"Boom!"

As he finished firing, the tank shook violently, which was the recoil from the main gun's fire, and at the same time the shells flew out of the breech and directly at the anti-tank gun.

A second after the gun was fired, the commander saw that the anti-tank gun that was being targeted had been accurately hit. The explosion of the shells detonated the hoarded shells, leaving nothing left on this gun position.

"Hit the target!"

The commander loudly reported the results to the crew.

And then he got caught up in the search for the target.

"At 11 o'clock, it's another anti-tank gun."

……

The anti-tank guns and machine guns on the positions were named one after another by the R20 tanks, which greatly demoralized the positions.

The officers and men of the 2nd Armored Division, who are the second oldest in seniority, are skillfully using their own artillery to call the fire points of the defenders of the position in turn.

This satisfied Antonescu, who had observed the results, that his own group of boys had not wasted his previous efforts to train them.

And the officers and men who charged with the tanks even took advantage of the fact that the positional fire was suppressed by the tanks. The submachine guns and semi-automatic rifles it was equipped with sharp weapons in the trenches, and the French troops defending the position screamed.

In 58 minutes, the position was breached.

Lieutenant General Messer, who glanced at his watch, also felt the power of the Romanian armored forces for the first time, which also strengthened his confidence in the role of tanks as the protagonist of the battlefield.

After breaking through the position, the coalition soldiers followed the footsteps of the tanks in their vehicles and rushed to the rear of the enemy. They have even more difficult tasks ahead of them.