In order to defend Tobruk, Guderian made a careful deployment with Tobruk as the center, and the entire defense line stretched from Jazara, 50 kilometers west of Tobruk, to Bardia, 100 kilometers east of Tobruk, and the Germans made a large semi-circular distribution on the desert plateau relying on the sea. This large semi-ring is 150 kilometers wide from east to west, about 120 kilometers from north to south, in order to prevent the British attack, he has built two lines of defense, the total length of the outer defense line is nearly 250 kilometers, called the outer defense ring, guarded by the 15th and 21st armored divisions respectively, there is a small semi-ring around the Tobruk fortress in the large semi-ring, designed to defend against direct attacks on the fortress, the small semi-ring is 100 kilometers long, called the inner defense ring, guarded by the 4th armored division, and the three armored divisions happen to present a "product" shape in the layout; The Italian Paratrooper Brigade was responsible for guarding the port and the fortress itself, while the Flying Fortress Armoured Brigade was responsible for the reserve of the entire African Army.

Such a defensive density would be too extensive if placed on the Eastern Front, and the two armored divisions were obviously not enough to hold a 250-kilometer defensive line, but in the desert area, due to the relatively convenient transportation and wide field of vision, the troops' mobility was much stronger than that of the Eastern Front, so there were not too many areas that could effectively use the terrain to defend the main defense. The rest of the army could be swept down in one fell swoop, and if the defenders lost their superiority in mobility and armor, they would have to wait for death no matter how many infantry they had, as was the case when the more than 400,000 Italian troops were defeated by the British like ducks.

So Montgomery thought it feasible to attack from the east: if Guderian's main force was really to the west. The Germans simply did not have time to draw back their troops, and took 10,000 steps back, even if the east could not break through the defensive line and occupy Tobruk. It could also force the German army to shrink back from the west - without Tobruk as a support point, the 100,000 African Army could only retreat in a hurry.

"Really attacking from the east?" "If you fail to capture the enemy's positions quickly," said de Lagan, worriedly, "the western line of defense will be in danger - you do not have enough reserves to be used both in the east and in the west." ”

"Then find a way to increase the reserves." Montgomery swept around the map in search of a force to rely on, and finally decided to bring in the 51st Highland Division, which was maintaining the supply line in the rear. After the withdrawal, the only remaining Indian 4th Infantry Division, the Greek Brigade and the reserve South African 2nd Infantry Division were left to maintain the more than 600-kilometer coastal supply line from Alexandria via El Alamein and Matroux to Tobruk. After the Battle of El Alamein, Montgomery considered the effectiveness of these forces to be problematic. He was not at ease about putting them directly on the front line to confront the Germans, so he simply dragged them to the rear to grasp the supply line, if the 51st Highland Division was included, plus some reserves, baggage and station personnel. The 8th Army's supply lines alone amounted to nearly 100,000 troops. The number of troops directly confronted Guderian was slightly less than 200,000 - which is why Montgomery said that there were not enough troops and London thought that the Eighth Army was adequate.

De Lagan did not think there was anything wrong with the transfer of the 51st Highland Division, the supply lines of the Eighth Army were as stable as Mount Tai, and it would not hurt the Germans to send some small detachments to sabotage, he was more concerned about the offensive situation in the east: "You plan to let the 1st Panzer Division take the lead?" ”

"Questions?" Montgomery asked, confused.

"This ......," De Lagan lowered his voice, "since the front line reports that they have that kind of powerful new tanks, plus there are a lot of 88 guns on the German defensive line, do you let the 1st Panzer Division attack from the flank, as for the front......

He didn't say it straight. But the hand gestured on the map without a trace, and Montgomery immediately understood: "Good." Let the Polish Carpathian Brigade and the Free French Brigade attack from the front, attract German fire, and the 1st Panzer Division will be responsible for outflanking from the flank. ”

Of course, the frontal enemy is difficult to bite, no matter what the Germans say, they have built a defensive line in more than 2 months, whether it is the Greek brigade or the Free French brigade, they all eat Britain and take Britain, let them dedicate it as a matter of course, as for what their sacrifice will be, Montgomery has no psychological burden on this at all, he decisively ordered: "The attack is launched immediately, the sooner the better, you can't relax at night, you can't give the Germans time to adjust calmly, in addition, please coordinate with General Ted, if the weather permits tomorrow, Massive air strikes must be launched. ”

"Sir, there are two good news and two bad news, which one would you like to hear?" At the headquarters of the Afrika Army in Tobruk, Chief of Staff Baierlein is reporting to Guderian.

"Let's start with the good news."

"The first good news is that we have found the supply depot that the captives said and succeeded in obtaining it, and the harvest was unexpected, and we are now on the way back; The second good news is that we have broken through all the positions of the 7th Panzer Division, and the British reinforcements have just arrived, and we can immediately put the follow-up forces into a large assault as soon as we want; As for the bad news,......" he paused and said unhappily, "the two Tiger armoured battalions are no longer the spearheads of the armor, and they report the need for supply and battlefield maintenance. ”

"The good news is exciting." Guderian said happily, "As for your so-called bad news, it is actually normal, this kind of heavy tank will definitely consume a little more fuel - it fights like a tiger, and the supply should also have the appetite of a tiger." ”

"It's okay to say that we got some fuel from the British, and we can directly replenish them, but you can't expect them to go into battle right away after the supplies are finished, there are more than 20 Tigers that are broken down to varying degrees."

"Broken?" Guderian asked suspiciously, "The anti-tank fire behind the British is so powerful?" Didn't the two battalion commanders say that only 4 vehicles were damaged? ”

"4 were just losses in the operation, two were scrapped to be exact, two tracks were broken but repairable, and now mechanical problems are reported - the remaining 20 or so have broken down to varying degrees, there are problems with the power system, the transmission system, the gearbox, anyway, all sorts of problems, you can think of them." "The quality is so bad that it doesn't look like it's German, it's like it's made for us by the Italians." Thankfully, we won the battle and controlled the battlefield, and if we lost, these tanks would be all trophies of the British! ”

"It's nothing...... New tanks, of course, there will be a little more problems. Guderian waved his hand nonchalantly, "Have you ever seen how unreliable the number three was in the first place, when I was training troops in the armored forces school, the tracks often fell off on their own as they walked, and when the troops marched into Austria - that was not considered combat, and there were more tanks that broke down along the way than would normally enter the city." ”

"They're a little bit more vulnerable......"

"I remember you said there was two pieces of bad news, what about the other one?"

"There's also bad news that you've been right about, with Montgomery launching a fierce attack to the east."

Guderian laughed: "This is conceivable, if you were in Montgomery's position you would do the same, because he has not many options: the first is the old way, mobilize reinforcements and desperately fill the hole, the weather forecast says that the weather will be sunny tomorrow, so that he can use air power to close the gap - and then we will retreat, he will lose nothing but an armored division and a supply base for nothing; The second is to take advantage of the absence of our main forces, especially the main armored forces, to launch a fierce attack, either to force us to return reinforcements, or to seize the eastern defensive line, and if he can take the opportunity to occupy the fortress of Tobruk itself, perhaps he is willing to abandon this armored division and only want to hold us back. ”

"So what now? I was expecting to send the Tiger back to intimidate the British. ”

"Let me think about it......" Guderian was about to take a closer look at the map, when suddenly the staff officer sent a new telegram: the Poles and the French had launched a fierce attack on the eastern positions, supposedly covered by heavy tanks.

"Heavy tanks? Is it Churchill? "On the battlefield today, our troops encountered this batch of heavy tanks - according to the captives said that it was the 6th generation modification of Churchill, the thickness of the armor was 100mm at the thickest point - almost as thick as the Tiger, but the tank gun was really weak, not even the new No. 4 gun, the speed was even slower to only 25 km / h, the T-34 and No. 4 could not hit their front, but far inferior to the Tiger, and the result was that they were killed without any suspense." ”

"The British are still stuck in the era of cruiser tanks and infantry tanks, and try to make some big and useless iron turtles...... "Guderian mocked, "Matilda was like this before, and Churchill is still like this now, I don't know when he will wake up?" On the contrary, the Sherman of the Americans is good, and the combat strength of the 4 is relatively close, considering their productivity, it will be a headache in the future, etc...... It was the Poles who attacked? ”

Baierlein looked at it again and replied, "That's right, there are also French, about 2 brigades in total......"

"I know what Montgomery is thinking...... Guderian said immediately, "tell Lieutenant General Walster not to move the armored forces to the east for now, let the infantry rely on the fortifications to deal with the attack, and pay attention to concealing a part of the 88 guns, so as not to expose all of them." ”

"Concealed 88 guns? What to do with those heavy tanks? ”

"Let them taste the power of the Iron Fist, and it is best against the Iron Tortoise...... "Guderian laughs, "and as for tomorrow, I will surprise Montgomery." (To be continued.) )