On the evening of July 25, Nimitz led the main fleet of TF48 southward, but did not follow the coastline, but moved closer to the southeast. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 infoHewitt and Patton hurried to get the troops of the 1st Army Division and the 1st Cavalry Division on board.

Although Clark was not satisfied with Patton's sideways efforts to grab the equipment of other troops, this was an order from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and this unit was also tasked with landing behind enemy lines, so he could only accept it helplessly.

The situation on the front line continues to deteriorate:

From early in the morning, the US Army and Air Force continued to launch attacks on the Germans in groups, trying to intercept the rapid advance of the German ground forces and buy time for the deployment of their second line of defense.

Sauken had already moved his troops to the mountainous depths in advance, and the losses were not large, and the US Army Aviation and German fighters fought a big fight, and piles of Ta-152, DO-412, P-51, A-26, and B-24 fell to the ground; although the number of US planes was larger, the Luftwaffe, which had moved to Europe and had experienced a hundred battles, was superior in technology after all, and constantly seized the opportunity to bleed the US aircraft group, and at the same time, the Whirlwind self-propelled antiaircraft guns, 88mm anti-aircraft guns, and ball lightning on the ground also restrained the offensive of the US Army Aviation.

The fierce air battle lasted from morning to afternoon, and the Germans lost 31 fighters, the Americans lost 75 fighters and attack aircraft, the battle loss ratio was nearly 1:2.5, and the Germans also lost more than 10 tanks (armored vehicles)

At more than 6 o'clock in the afternoon, by the afterglow of the setting sun, the German Fw-190 ground attack group, which had not shown its face all day, suddenly appeared from a low altitude, dumping a large number of incendiary bombs, rockets, and aerial bombs on the US positions, blowing up the entire defense line in all directions, and announcing the opening of the night battle with fierce firepower.

It is only more than 100 kilometers from Victoria, built on the Dosse River and Linaris, and because of its greater width, it is not as strong as the first line of defense in terms of strength density and defense. In addition, the new defeat of the American army, the remnants of the defeated soldiers who retreated from the front transmitted the defeat to the two regiments that were originally deployed here, especially their terrifying tone of description of the Sherman organ's "volley, overwhelming steel rain" and the accurate fire from the German tanks 2,000 meters away, which made the morale plummet.

Before the arrival of the Sauken assault group, the more than 7,000 American troops had already made a noise, and it was the strong support of the army aviation that allowed them to hold on, and when the German Fw-190 launched a ground attack in the evening, the panic atmosphere reached its climax.

After night fell and the American aircraft group retreated, the German troops, who had rested for most of the day and were fully replenished with fuel and ammunition, set off an offensive frenzy, and the two heavy armored battalions of 508 and 509 took the lead and attacked suddenly, and there was a Tiger tank battalion behind them. What is even more troublesome is that the German artillery shells in the dark night are extremely accurate, and the American army's own artillery shells often do not know where to fly.

Although Hewitt sent a detachment of cruisers to provide emergency naval artillery support, there was after all nearly 800 kilometers of sea route from El Salvador to here, and even if the fleet rushed as fast as possible, it was still more than 200 kilometers away from the war zone.

In addition to the infantry, the US troops guarding the second line of defense also had 2 heavy battalions and 1 artillery battalion. The artillery had been almost cleaned by the German ground attack group, and the infantry obviously did not help much in this tank battle, and the only thing they could rely on was their own tank battalion and tank destroyer battalion.

The M26, M36, and M4 used by the U.S. military were obviously no match for the German Tiger, Tiger 2, and Sherman Organ -- while American tanks were constantly hit, exploded, or caught fire, the German tanks were incredibly tough, and the two sides formed an extremely sharp contrast.

In less than an hour, the U.S. forces were defeated in a fierce battle, losing a total of 29 tanks, but barely destroying 4 Tiger and 2 Tiger 2.

The Americans could not afford this disparity, and the two armored battalions had to fight and retreat, hoping to distance themselves and rely on the Doshi River to cut off the Germans' continued offensive. To this end, the U.S. military also blew up a vital highway bridge ahead of schedule.

Seeing this performance of the American army, Sauken, who was in front of the command, showed an imperceptible smile: he knew that the Doshi River was not so easy, and in the early morning, he had sent 2 Panzergrenadier Battalions, 1 Leopard Battalion, and 1 Raider Anti-Tank Battalion (equipped with 88mm anti-tank guns) to make a detour upstream, otherwise he should have pushed over in one go instead of waiting until now after taking Victoria.

By the time the frontal attack on the US troops began, the roundabout troops had basically been deployed in place, and as the battle across the river became white-hot, the roundabout troops quietly blocked the rear road of the US troops.

At about 8 o'clock, the American troops had just gathered the troops that had retreated from the river bank and were ready to regroup, and the German troops behind them began to fight out, killing the American troops on their backs and causing chaos.

In the battle just now, the American tanks basically faced the German heavily armored battalion on the other side of the river, exposing their vulnerable flanks and rear to the German roundabout troops. Although the frontal defense of the Leopard and Assault is not strong, they are all equipped with 88mm tank guns that can eat people, and they are accurate one by one.

More importantly, the U.S. military was completely unprepared for the German army's roundabout actions, and was caught off guard and in chaos.

The German Panzergrenadiers equipped with half-track combat vehicles played an efficient assault role, and the two battalions were fan-shaped, using MG42, STG43 and recoilless guns to sweep away the panicked American infantry, and the latter's fortifications were also facing the opposite bank like the tanks, and there were no fortifications available for defense at all.

However, unexpected circumstances also occurred: The remnants of the 442nd Regiment of Japanese American troops were still fighting and launched a decisive attack with all kinds of weapons, and the sound of "onboarding" sounded everywhere on the position, and they even did not hesitate to launch a suicidal attack, and the fierce explosions and gunshots were heard inexplicably to Shaoken and others who were watching the battle in the river, and from time to time the exclamations of the officers of the troops were heard from the on-board radio of the command vehicle: "Those Japanese soldiers in the hands of the US troops are crazy, and they are engaged in suicide attacks!" ”

"Bastards, we are Germans! Drop your weapon! We treat Japanese prisoners preferentially! ”

This incident made the three Japanese observers (two Nakasa, and one Osa) who accompanied the troops to attack angry: During the attack on Rio, an American division could have been eliminated, but the 442nd Regiment saved them by stubbornly hindering them, and last night it was the 442nd Regiment covering the retreat of the American troops, and today it is playing a suicide attack -- so that these observers have not been able to raise their heads.

"Yaga! Yaga! How could there be such scum in the Great Japanese Empire! ”

"Sir, don't show mercy, shoot them all!"

Under the counterattack and resistance of the remnants of the 442nd Regiment, some of the American officers and soldiers who were originally very shaken and ready to surrender took the opportunity to take up arms again, but there were not many people who stayed to fight the Germans, and most of them still looked for trucks and armored vehicles nearby, ready to fight their way out of the encirclement under the leadership of tanks - except for the 442nd Regiment, who wants to play suicide attacks and onboard charges?

It took a great deal of effort for the Germans to suppress the chaos caused by these hundreds of Japanese American troops, who accounted for only one-sixth of the American numbers, but who caused two-thirds of the German casualties. If it weren't for the fact that the other U.S. troops just spread their feet and ran away, they would have caused more trouble for the roundabout troops.

By 12 o'clock in the evening, the roundabout troops finally took control of the scene, and the Japanese soldiers who were playing the board attack were either killed by the Germans or died in the suicide charge, and only a few escaped the encirclement.

After a hard fight, the Sauken group captured the second line of defense with a beautiful pincer offensive blitzkrieg, by which time the American support fleet had arrived less than 50 kilometers from the coast, but the Americans could no longer wait for naval artillery support.

Of the nearly 100 tanks/tanks (including the retreating American troops from the first line of defense), more than 50 of them were destroyed by the Germans in the battle, more than 20 were captured, and only more than 20 escaped. Many people had just escaped the German encirclement last night, but they didn't expect to be arrested again the next day - they knew why they were trying to escape like this!

In the battle, more than 7,000 American troops were captured by the Germans, more than 3,000 (including the wounded), nearly 2,000 were killed (nearly half were Japanese soldiers of the 442nd Regiment), and more than 2,000 desperately escaped the encirclement and fled north. To the shock of Schoken and the other German officers, only about 20 Japanese officers and soldiers were captured and surrendered (10 of them were wounded and unconscious), and he said to the Japanese observers with a heavy face: "How brave the descendants of your country are, but it is a pity that the way of service is wrong." ”

The three observers were embarrassed and bowed together: "Sir, I'm sorry for the trouble. ”

Sauken waved his hand: "Forget it, it's not your fault. We also have the SS American division here, which is said to be quite brave on the Eastern Front, much braver than they used to be. ”

A staff officer muttered in a low voice: "This must be something wrong with the American system." ”

Sauken smiled, the American system, alas...... Fortunately, the Americans are not very good at fighting, if they are well equipped, rich in materials, have a large population, and have a strong industry, can they still fight, is there still a place for Germany in this world?

"Sir, just interrogated the captives and learned that there will be an American fleet coming to support them soon!" Lieutenant Colonel Pol, Operational Staff Officer of the Sauken Cluster, reported on the situation.

Sauken was very surprised, but at the same time very glad that if the two sides were in the middle of a fierce battle, it would be troublesome for the American ships to cover and shoot: "Clean the battlefield quickly, stay away from the coastline, and don't show too much light so as not to be noticed by the enemy." ”

In the absence of reliable instructions from the shore army, and because of the poor observation situation in the dark, the commander of the US fleet hesitated and finally gave up the artillery bombardment, not only giving up the artillery bombardment, but also taking the warship to the deep sea -- so as not to be ambushed by shore-based artillery

Early the next morning, Nimitz again received an urgent telegram from the Army: "The second line of defense is lost!" ”