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On November 30, 1942, as the weather forecast revealed, the rain began to fall in the northern part of Cyrenaica around Tobruk, which was a rare thing, and the rain here was different from the rain in the plains and the forests, and it came quickly and suddenly, and the raindrops fell as big as ancient coins, and the rain beams were numerous and dense, and the white ground poured down into the sky, leaving small craters on the beach. Soon the pits merged into puddles, and the puddles began to overflow, and the floodwaters flowed into the riverbed, turning into a raging torrent that swept down with dead branches, the bones and stones of cattle and sheep, and washed away everything in its path: bridges, hollows, roads. The runway at the desert airport was also damaged by floods, making it impossible for planes to take off and land. Bunkers, trenches and other fortifications were even more waterlogged to the knees, and there was no place to stand. On December 1, the rain continued to fall heavily, as if to concentrate all the precipitation of the year on these two days, but the rain was much less than on the first day.

Taking advantage of the intensive pouring of rain, Guderian commanded the troops to secretly adjust their deployment, hoarding a large number of tanks, self-propelled rocket artillery batteries, half-track armored vehicles carrying panzergrenadiers, and huntsman destroyers in the main assault direction. During the previous three-week offensive, the Germans had focused first on the colonies and British allies, and had given priority to the British in the direction of Cairo, so they were the most vigilant. This time, however, the Afrika Army's target was firmly fixed on the British 7th Panzer Division, which was known as the Desert Rat, the strongest armored force of the British army, and the least attacked in previous engagements. Guderian believed that they were the least vigilant, and eating the 7th Panzer Division first could effectively shock the entire Eighth Army.

Although everyone believes in the power of the tiger. But he also sweated a little bit about this plan to attack with strength, but Guderian himself was much more confident than they were, and he believed that without the Italians pulling back, if the air forces of both sides were excluded and sufficient supplies and equipment were provided, the little force in his hands would be enough to take out the 8th Army in terms of ground forces alone - and now, such a good opportunity had finally come.

"Gentlemen. Don't worry, the Desert Rats are cunning, but they are in the face of the power of the Tiger. They simply won't be enough to see......" Everyone laughed, as did Major Rüdel and Major Merkel, who were attending such a high-level combat meeting for the first time.

Although the rain caused a lot of inconvenience, not many soldiers on both sides complained about the heavy rain, and the Germans waited for the rain they desperately wanted to facilitate the attack. And the British soldiers, who had been languishing in the desert, could finally take a shower. Drinking water was a problem in desert warfare (the Germans could take turns to retreat to Tobruk to take a bath), not to mention the luxury of bathing, and many people felt itchy when they saw the rain falling from the sky......

Before the start of the battle, the sappers had to work hardest, removing mines from the advance paths of the troops, but the rain made their work much less stressful - the surface of the ground washed by the rain changed so much that the mines became so easily recognizable that some of them simply popped up on their own. It would be easy to kill them all, by 4 o'clock in the morning on December 1st. A road more than 150 meters wide enough for tanks and other armoured vehicle formations to pass has been cleared.

The clock ticked past 6 o'clock, 3 green flares flew into the sky, and the fierce German attack began, led by the two heavy armored battalions 501 and 502. Captain Nolde, the commander of the 1st Company of the 501st Battalion, took the lead, driving the No. 111 car that had been painted with khaki armor and paint, and led 5 Tigers to rush out of the position first, roaring towards the British position, on his left and right flanks, there were assault groups composed of other Tiger tanks, and behind each assault group, there were T-34s and panzergrenadiers.

The terrain in the desert is as vast and flat as the ocean, with few obstacles, except for a few rolling dunes and hills that provide a slight cover for the troops. Therefore, this type of combat is highly dependent on the ability to maneuver. The armored forces of both sides chase, fire, and destroy each other like fleets at sea, and in the absence of reliable fortifications, no number of ordinary soldiers can be helpless without tanks as the backbone of the defense. Therefore, the quantity and quality of tanks determined the success or failure of the battle, and today this advantage clearly belongs to the Germans - in the front of the 7th Panzer Division, Guderian concentrated 2 Tiger battalions and 4 T-34 battalions, the total number of tanks was close to 400, while the total number of Desert Rats tanks opposite them was less than 200, whether it was Valentine, Stuart or Sherman, neither of which tanks were qualitatively opponents of the Germans.

Early in the morning, British Corporal Quinn woke up early, he was awakened by the cold - the air was very humid, the wet blanket wrapped around his body became colder and colder, and he did not sleep well at all. Squatting in a tent that leaked rain, soaking wet and shivering with cold, he finally understood why there were so many dry riverbeds on the Cyrenaica Plateau, and the two extremes of heavy rain and drought had turned the once dry and cracked riverbeds into small rivers, some of which were larger than some of the rivers in his hometown, and the scene in the desert was truly incredible.

He was about to stretch when he suddenly heard the muffled sound of engines coming from the east, and the sound of countless engines—tanks, armored vehicles, half-tracks, and motorcycles—mingled like a symphony of tunes, and he was so startled that he immediately rushed out of his tent and jumped into the waterlogged trench to rush forward, trying to get to his post as quickly as possible—it was a 17-pounder gun deployed at the front of the position, and by the time he crawled to his post, several small black dots like beetles had appeared in the distance. After a while, it turned into a black oppressive piece and rushed towards the position.

"Germans!" There was a panic in the hearts of the crew, and the terrible sirens sounded, and the whining screams were even more heart-wrenching, and Quinn watched as many of the soldiers came out of the tent in disheveled clothes, and stepped on the mud with one foot deep and one shallow, and their faces were completely hideous—I don't know if it was nervousness or because of the sting pain of stepping on the stones. After all, the 7th Armored Division is a well-trained unit, and it still reacts quite quickly when caught off guard.

The observation post saw clearly, the German tanks were squirming steadily forward, and the sound of tracks became more and more distinct and audible. Piles of tanks were arranged in a triangular formation, and they were approaching the British positions with great momentum. At the forefront are the Tiger tanks, who are responsible for cleaning up the hard bones on the battlefield, especially anti-tank fire. The German Army Weapons Bureau has done experiments, the latest British 17-pounder gun put into the battlefield has a strong penetrating power within 1500 meters, whether it is No. 4G or T-34, it can be killed with one hit, but it is not enough to deal with the Tiger type, and 1500 meters is a relatively ideal viewing distance for the Tiger type, basically 2-3 guns can ensure the hit.

Now, the exposed anti-tank fire points have been cleaned up by the Germans piece by piece, and the poor 17-pounder gun, although powerful, is a stout, bulky fat man, and must be towed by other vehicles to move, and it is impossible to move it by manpower, but when the road conditions are so bad, not to mention that the wheeled vehicles cannot move at all, there are also fixed targets in the tiger style.

"1 o'clock, anti-tank position, 1,600 ......meters away," Captain Nolde calmly told the gunner the direction and distance - another advantage of the rain wash was that the British anti-tank fire points, which had relied on various shelters, were inevitably exposed.

With a bang, an 88mm high-explosive shell was stuffed into the chamber and quickly fired, and the target was ridiculously high, and after a bang, the 6-pounder anti-tank gun was blown up and flew up, and the position piled up with sandbags immediately turned into ruins.

Quinn, who witnessed the whole process, didn't have time to mourn for his comrades, and the leader of the artillery team had already roared, "Fire!" He quickly fired the artillery, and after a boom, the German tank on the opposite side was still rumbling forward, "15 meters to the left......", and another shell was fired, still deviating from the target. Now the Germans have finally reacted, and the turret is beginning to adjust towards Quinn. But the British artillery crew adjusted the azimuth at a faster pace, and Quinn almost subconsciously fired the third shell.

With a "bell", the shell hit the right side of the Tiger front armor, and the crew members were taken aback, but the 100mm thick homogeneous armor with a 50-degree inclination angle obviously withstood the test, and immediately flew the shell, Quinn was taken aback, he aimed at the ruler, the distance was less than 1450 meters, what kind of tank is this? The armor is so powerful? The artillery commander also seemed to be shocked by the enemy's toughness, and paused for a full second before shouting the next order: "Lie down!" ”

"Why don't you fight?" Quinn thought so, but his body's reaction was not slow, and he immediately fell into the mud like a conditioned reflex, and the rain mixed with yellow sand and sludge poured straight into the corners of his mouth and nostrils, but he was not in the mood to think about this, only heard a loud "boom", the 88mm shell hit the shield and gun carriage of the 17-pounder gun, and the poor steel was blown into countless parts on the spot, and flew into the sky with a large pile of limbs next to him, Stunned, Quinn finally woke up to find himself a prisoner of the German Panzergrenadiers who followed behind, and learned that the rest of the crew, along with the gun commander who gave the "lie down" order, were dead, and that he was the only lucky survivor.

[Thank you for your continued support, this time from the 515 Fan Festival of the Writer's Hall of Glory and the General Election of Works, I hope you can support it.] In addition, there are some red envelopes on the fan festival, get one and continue the subscription! (To be continued.) )