Twenty-two Type 4G tanks of the Ghost Strike Group took the lead, followed by 52 Type 38(T) tanks and five Type 2 tanks of the 3rd Battalion of the 25th Tank Regiment of the 7th Panzer Division.

After the tank troops were surging over their trenches, a series of shrill whistles sounded from the positions of the 2nd Regiment of the Skeleton Division, and the SS soldiers in camouflage uniforms thrust their bayonets into their guns and enthusiastically jumped out of the trenches to follow the tank troops.

The more than 30 Matilda 1 tanks that had survived the previous battle retreated while firing, but the only 12.7 mm machine gun on the tank could only be arrogant to the German infantry for a while, and the 50 mm thick front armor of the G 4 tank was as weak as a child's toy gun, and did not cause any damage except for the clanging of some paint off the steel plates.

Their 60-millimeter-thick front armor, which once stood out against the 37-millimeter anti-aircraft guns of the Skeleton Division, had lost their former brilliance and were pierced by the rapidly flying shells.

After a salvo of the No. 4G tank of the Ghost Battle Group, the number of Matilda 1 tanks remained at just over twenty.

The Matilda 1 is a veritable infantry tank, with a maximum road speed of only 13 km/h, and the British tankers will be thankful that they can run seven or eight kilometers per hour on soft grass. Reversing is slower, somewhere between a snail and a tortoise. Seeing that the situation was not good, the surviving tank crews of the British army did not hesitate to open the hatch and get out of the tank, rushed into the infantry group behind them, and fled with them to the starting position.

German artillery fire ceased when the tank units launched a counterattack and turned to shelling the starting positions of the British 8th Infantry Brigade.

The British infantry in the wilderness strode towards their starting positions, and the German tanks followed unhurriedly, driving the British westward like shepherds driving sheep.

The British infantry who remained in the trenches crouched in the trenches with their heads held to avoid the German artillery fire, and several officers who were far away from the German artillery fire boldly stuck their heads out. I couldn't help but be dumbfounded when I saw the British infantry swarming and fleeing to my position, those British infantry who were frantically fleeing for their lives blocked their sight and firing range, and once they fired, they would inevitably hit them. If you don't shoot, will you watch the Germans rushing in after them?

To shoot or not to shoot became a head-scratching problem for the British officers and men in the position, including Montgomery.

After the battle began. Montgomery ran to the headquarters of the 8th Infantry Brigade at the front of the position, wanting to see the British battle on the battlefield up close.

As a result, he saw his proud Matilda tank being beaten into piles of scrap metal like chopsticks poking tofu in the face of German anti-tank fire, and then he saw the infantry of the 8th Brigade fleeing to their positions like sheep driven by German tanks.

After only one day, why did the situation on the battlefield change dramatically, did the Germans become stronger, or did their own troops become weaker?

Before he had time to think about the reason, Montgomery saw that the positions of the 8th Infantry Brigade in front of him were showing signs of a breach of the embankment. Immediately shouted to the staff officers beside him: "Order all artillery regiments to fire in front of the positions of the 8th Infantry Brigade, with rapid fire, and absolutely not let the Germans rush in." ”

"But our men are still there, and the Germans' troops are too close to each other, and the artillery will blow up their own men." The commander of the 8th Brigade, Colonel Lawrence, hurriedly stopped.

"Then inform the artillerymen, first set the coordinates at the front of the position, and open fire as soon as our men withdraw from the position." Montgomery said with a frown.

"Also, let those six Matilda tanks of the Ninth Brigade come back, come back immediately, they are needed here." Montgomery shouted.

Colonel Lawrence stood behind the lookout hole in the semi-underground bunker. Looking to the front with a telescope, I found that the situation on the battlefield had changed again.

Seeing that the British positions were within reach, the German tanks no longer controlled their speed. They sped up sharply, machine-gun fire at the fleeing infantry in front of them, and charged into the fleeing British infantry group. After knocking down one British soldier after another, the tank's tracks ran mercilessly over the downed British soldiers, and then rushed straight into the British infantry positions with scarlet blood and broken internal organs.

They did not pay attention to the British troops in the trenches, but leaped over the trenches, and continued to charge the British in depth without stopping with the shells fired by the 78th Artillery Regiment. The Skeleton Division soldiers who followed behind the tank were even more ruthless, rushing up and knocking over the British infantry who were wounded by the tank's machine gun or knocked to the ground by the tank and wounded. Ended the painful struggles of those British troops.

Even many British troops, seeing that they could not escape the pursuit of the German army, threw down their weapons and raised their hands in surrender, did not escape their fate. He was knocked to the ground by the infantry of the Skeleton Division with the butt of a rifle and then nailed to the ground with a bayonet.

Kill the British soldiers who stand in their way. The infantry of the Skeleton Division jumped into the trenches and began to sweep the British infantry from the trenches

Seeing the cluster of tanks rushing west over the forward trenches, Lawrence put down his binoculars and walked to Montgomery's side, and said in a panic: "The German tanks have crossed the trenches, this is dangerous now, you should get out of here." ”

"Damn, it's really hateful, hurry up and order the 185th Infantry Brigade to be ready for battle, especially to set up anti-tank positions near the division headquarters. Also, let the artillery set the coordinates near the division headquarters, and the Germans should open fire as soon as they appeared, and the Germans must not be allowed to get a step closer to the division headquarters. Montgomery shouted to his staff officer.

Seeing that the staff officer had written down his order, Montgomery then said to Colonel Lawrence: "I will go back to the division headquarters first to organize the defense of the division headquarters, and you must also pay attention to your own safety, I will go first, goodbye." ”

After seeing Montgomery leave, Lawrence immediately shouted to the staff officers of the brigade headquarters around him: "Hurry up and deal with the papers, we are also leaving." ”

After Lawrence finished speaking, he gritted his teeth and took out the revolver on his right waist and rushed out of the brigade headquarters, found the machine gun company and the company commander of the engineer company of the 8th Infantry Brigade headquarters, and asked them to make a final resistance near the brigade headquarters to buy time for the evacuation of the brigade headquarters.

Lawrence was brandishing his pistol and ordering the brigade headquarters' direct troops to set up defenses, when a fierce wind inexplicably rolled up in the sky. Lawrence's face changed, and he shouted to hide and fell to the ground in a dog-eating position.

Lawrence's battlefield instincts were very accurate, and as soon as he lay down, countless shells fell near the brigade headquarters of the Eighth Brigade, and more than two dozen British soldiers who were slow to react were blown to pieces on the spot, and more than a dozen others were wounded.

Lawrence lay on the ground holding his head, not daring to move, praying in his heart that no shells would fall near him.

There was a mysterious force in the darkness that heard Lawrence's prayers, and not a single shell landed on Lawrence.

The shelling lasted less than five minutes before it stopped, and Lawrence staggered to his feet as he lay on the ground in horror and looked left and right to make sure that the shelling had really stopped.

As soon as Lawrence stood up straight, a string of 20-millimeter cannon shells flew without warning, hitting Lawrence in the waist and abdomen, and there was a burst of flesh and blood flying in the explosion, and Lawrence only half of his body shook before falling to the ground.

A No. 2 tank overwhelmed a waist-high bush and appeared at the headquarters of the 8th Brigade, followed by the second and third

On the roof of a six-story building in the north of the city, Chen Dao, Rommel and others held binoculars to get a full view of the situation on the battlefield.

Chen Dao said: "The task of breaking through the frontal position of the British army has been completed, faster than I imagined. ”

Rommel nodded and said, "It's faster than I thought." In that case, we should proceed with the second step of the plan. (To be continued)