PS: I'm writing books part-time, and I've been writing irregularly lately, so there is no legal time for updates, so I'm sorry to all readers, I try my best to do 2 more every day.

The topography of the Cyrenaica Plateau is very complex, it is a mixture of various landforms, some places look flat, but as long as you go up, you will know that there is quicksand below, and you can sink all the way to the groin when you step on it, and even silently swallow people, and in some places the surface is a desert, but below is a weathered rock formation, which is so strong that sapper shovels and pickaxes cannot dig infantry trenches, anti-tank trenches and artillery positions at all; Only a few places where the sand has been removed can the soil be easy to build. In order to deal effectively with the rock formations, the Italians who had colonized Libia for many years were the first to introduce rock drills driven by air compressors, and carved fortifications, artillery positions and machine-gun bunkers in stone slabs, and in order to ensure the safety of the main position, they also planted a large number of anti-infantry mines and anti-tank mines in front of the positions.

Guderian was very confident in his own defensive line, and seemed to have decided that the Polish and French brigades could not penetrate with him, and although Westfaal, Melinzin and others were skeptical, they did not think that this response was wrong - Montgomery's only calling the Poles and the French into the field did have a strong sense of conspiracy, and the old and serious Baierrhine was not at ease, so he sent a telegram to the Flying Fortress Armored Brigade in the center of the defensive line, telling them to be ready to go up at any time.

Although the Italians were well designed for Tobruk's defenses as a whole, and the military engineering they excavated was adequate, their fighting will and experience were not worthy of the hard-working defensive line that they had built for a long time, and these fortifications were not held much in their hands at first, and they were easily occupied by the British. However, when Rommel attacked the fortress of Tobruk, the British used these fortifications to hold on for a long time, causing a lot of casualties to the Afrika Korps. Had it not been for Rommel's skillful detour to attack, outflank the rear of the 8th Army, and the British General Klopp, who had held the fort, himself losing confidence and leading his troops to surrender, the fortress of Tobruk would not have been so easy to defeat.

Now it was the turn of the Germans to hold their ground, and the 21st Panzer Division, which had taken on the defensive duty, was confident that although they were armoured divisions, the infantry of the German Panzer Division was not weak. The only thing that was not so advantageous was that the British were familiar with this section of the line and knew where there might be strong positions - even if the Afrika Army could improve the defensive line system, it would not be able to build a new fortification on another terrainological feature.

Everyone in the command of the African Army thought that Guderian had let the 21st Panzer Division hold its position in the east in order to hold the British in the east, and that the main force would continue to sweep the British troops on both flanks along today's breakthrough tomorrow - this should be the "surprise" that the commander was preparing to give Montgomery. But Guderian's next order stunned them: "Take back the troops, let's change direction and prepare to attack south." ”

To the south?

It seems like a difficult decision to understand: to fight west is to take advantage of the victory. Using the gaps that have been torn open to destroy the entire defense line of the British army, and fighting to the east is a-for-tat confrontation, effectively responding to the attack launched by the British, but what does it mean to fight south?

Merinjin asked puzzledly, "What about the position occupied today?" ”

"Give it to the New Zealanders or Australians - if they want to."

"What? You're not ready to outflank the left and right wings along the gap? "Baierrhine is in a hurry." This is a gap that we have managed to open with great difficulty. It's a shame to give up, I think we should take advantage of the victory. ”

"Nope! You can't do that. Guderian drew two arrows on the map, "What would happen if we were to kill like this?" ”

Everyone is puzzled: what will happen? Isn't it just to take advantage of the situation to outflank the left and right flanks and then sweep through the enemy's position?

"What about troops? The 21st Panzer Division could not move, the Paratrooper Brigade was to guard the fortress, and the Flying Fortress Panzer Brigade was to serve as a reserve......" Guderian dotted the small flags of the 4th and 15th Panzer Divisions on the sand table, "Even the Tiger Heavy Armored Battalion is not suitable for long-distance attacks, and the only thing that can be used is only these two Panzer Divisions, but more than 30,000 people." More than 300 tanks, it is impossible to sweep the British army on the Western Front. When the time comes, they will send 2 divisions to entangle us. And then the rest of the troops break in the middle, and you see what happens? ”

Chief of Operations Westphar was the first to see the way from the arrows that Guderian had drawn casually: "Then the enemy will divide our two armored divisions from the rest of the troops." ”

"As a side with few troops but strong combat effectiveness, dividing our forces is a mistake we must not make, and Montgomery's tactics are fundamentally wrong -- he should not build an encirclement around our defensive line, the most important thing he should do is to condense his troops into a fist, and then constantly attack the weak points in our defensive line, and use continuous rotational attacks to wear down our strength." Guderian elaborated his opinion, "100,000 against 300,000 is barely acceptable, if he is going to sacrifice 100,000, we may also have 3-40,000 casualties, guess what will happen then?" ”

As soon as this explanation is explained, everyone understands: if the African Army has 30,000-40,000 less, it will not be able to maintain such a large front at present, and it can only be forced to shrink, and then the British can press even more tightly -- if Montgomery adopts this kind of counter-play tactic at all costs, the Eighth Army will have 100,000 left after 200,000 dead, and the African Army will probably only have 2-30,000 men left, and it will not pose a threat to the enemy at all, let alone hold Tobruk.

"Then why didn't he do that?"

"First, he was reluctant to pay such a big price, because he didn't know if the Führer would continue to support us, the British were comfortable fighting the Italians last time, and they didn't want to use this kind of bloody war of attrition; Second, the British were waiting for reinforcements - as you must have seen from the country, and nearly 100,000 British and American troops were preparing to land in Egypt via the Cape of Good Hope, and they were Montgomery's strong backing. ”

The rationale for not continuing the attack through the gap was immediately explained, but everyone was still full of doubts - why go south instead of east to meet the British? Not only was there a large number of enemy troops in the south, but it was also vulnerable to the encirclement of the enemy forces on the eastern and western flanks -- in the previous three weeks of exploratory offensives, the Afrika Army had already fought southward more than once, each time tearing open a gap and then being forced to abandon because British planes and troops arrived to plug the leak.

"Because the enemy has moved...... Montgomery, with one division missing in the west, would draw some of his forces from the south to support the western line, and if I was right, at least one brigade to be transferred, and since he was attacking in the east, he might be able to draw more troops from the south, and we would not be less, and the heavily armored battalion would still be available for a breakthrough in that direction tomorrow after repairing it at night. Guderian smiled and comforted everyone, "He fights his, I fight mine, we must concentrate superior forces to attack, I don't care if we can break through the defense line, I just need to destroy the British living forces, if I can eat one more division, it will be perfect, it means that the day when the 'big plan' is really launched is not far away......"

Speaking of the "big plan", everyone's hearts couldn't help but burn up, revealing a face full of longing......

In order to seize the time, starting at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the Polish and French brigades, under Montgomery's orders, swooped down on their positions along the barrage of artillery fire, covering and cooperating with their attack, along with more than 40 tanks. Part of it was the Churchill infantry tank, and part of it was General Grant, a two-gun tank with a large size but less agile turn, which was repeatedly taught by the T-34s, and was deemed by the British to be more suitable for covering infantry attacks than for armoured warfare.

Lieutenant General Walster faithfully followed Guderian's orders, did not use a single tank, not even a quarter of the 88 guns, and fought the enemy troops in front of him around various positions.

In the headquarters, Montgomery anxiously awaited news of the plugging of the western line and the offensive in the east, and he needed to plan his next move according to the progress of the situation.

"Sir, the gap in the 7th Panzer Division is blocked." De Ragan ran excitedly, waving a telegram and said, "The 2nd New Zealand Division and the 9th Australian Division have joined forces to plug the gap, and at the same time save the rearguard and scattered personnel of the 7th Panzer Division." ”

"Did they fight the Germans?"

"Got it...... There was a tank battle between them, and the losses were about the same, and no one took advantage of them, but neither the New Zealanders nor the Australians reported encountering that kind of super tank...... "De Lagan is now unsure whether the situation reported by Major General Langton is true, and it is inconvenient to draw conclusions, only to tell the latest developments in the battle, "The Germans retreated and disengaged on their own initiative, and our officers gave up the pursuit in consideration of the need to restore positions and contain personnel." ”

"How much strength does the 7th Panzer Division have left?"

"The 2 armored brigades suffered heavy losses, there were about 20 tanks left, and most of the artillery was there, but the artillery was basically gone; The infantry lost about 4-5 battalions, and a few other combat personnel - in total, we lost about 5,000 men, more than 180 tanks, and more than 100 artillery pieces, and ...... "De Lagan's voice became angry," and the logistics staging base was lost, and our men did not have time to destroy them, and the supplies were probably looted by the Germans. ”

"This is dereliction of duty! It's a crime! Montgomery slapped the table and yelled angrily, "Why don't you destroy them?" Why not arrange for a reliable force to guard these supplies? These things were not for a division of the Seventh Panzer Division, but for 100,000 people in a quarter, and were transported by the British Empire from the mainland and from the Dominions of Canada, South Africa, Australia, and India. It was good that they were lost in one day, and they were lost to the Germans, and how much trouble did this save the enemy? - We've become Guderian's supply team! (To be continued.) )