PS: I wish all readers a happy Lantern Festival! Happy family!

Luckily, the 8th Armored Brigade is not necessarily better than the 24th Armored Brigade, at least Brigadier Todd thinks so.

The brigade had been deployed in an offensive position, and the Germans had previously given the impression that they were struggling to support themselves when they were blocking the attack, and that they could penetrate it with more force, and after obtaining the consent of the division commander, Major General Geithouse, he threw out all the offensive forces and gave the task of covering the flanks to the Indian 4th Division, which had just been beaten by Guderian two days before, and the shadow in his heart had not yet dissipated, and Todd thought that it was difficult for them to undertake the mission of attacking.

Who knew that the Germans, who did not play their cards according to common sense, suddenly turned into a counteroffensive, not only with the speed of switching from defense to attack, but also the strength of the counteroffensive made him jaw-dropping - nearly 200 tanks were dispatched at once, divided into three groups of left, center and right, and crushed them in a zigzag posture, and the 35th Panzer Regiment led by Collingwood was still responsible for the main attack of armored warfare.

The reaction of the 8th Armored Brigade in the face of the T-34 and the 24th Armored Brigade did not seem to be much better than that of the 24th Armored Brigade. Rather than move as slowly as he did against Brown, Collingwood, who was unforgiving, slammed into the battle to reduce the distance to about 700 meters - neither Sherman, nor the Crusaders, nor General Grant could nibble at the front of the T-34 at that distance. As a result, the 8th Panzer Brigade was beaten to the ground, and the battlefield was littered with wreckage of British tanks and tankmen scurrying with their heads in their arms.

When the 8th Panzer Brigade could not support and begged the division headquarters to retreat, Todd had less than a quarter of the nearly 90 tanks left in his hand, and the Indian Division, which had witnessed the results of the tank engagement in the middle on both wings, immediately remembered the painful experience of a few days ago when they found the German armored troops approaching and the Panzergrenadiers following behind them.

In the face of such an unbeatable enemy, the main forces of the three armored divisions immediately swooped over at full speed, constantly tearing holes in the defensive line of the 10th Panzer Division and the Indian 4th Division, sweeping all visible enemies with artillery fire, and after eliminating several stubborn enemy positions, the remaining British soldiers trembled and prepared to surrender, this time the Germans did not fool them, the Panzergrenadiers who followed quickly collected each other's arms and guarded them, and the other troops continued to advance with the Panzer Corps, Only the 88 guns, who had made great contributions just now, had nothing to do all of a sudden, so they simply put on the cannon hooks and prepared to transfer.

Speaking of which, the 10th Panzer Division and the Indian 4th Division were unlucky, they were bent on breaking the German resistance in front of them, believing that it was impossible for the Germans to launch a counterattack before they solved the 24th Panzer Brigade in the encirclement of Tella Akakill, and they did not make any defensive preparations at all.

"Oh, poor Brown, I saw him preparing for the attack yesterday evening, but I didn't expect to ...... to-day" When Ramsden received a telegram from the front that the Germans had switched to the counteroffensive, he was immediately keenly aware that the 24th Panzer Brigade was finished, and since he had not received Brown's telegram about his final whereabouts, and thought that the other side had died heroically, he did not know that poor Brigadier General Brown had been taken prisoner in the encirclement an hour earlier, and had not even had time to send a farewell telegram.

Based on this judgment, he thought that the goal of reinforcing Brown would not be completed in any case, and the next task was to find a way to entangle Guderian and surround him, but he did not expect that ten minutes later, the adjutant worriedly handed him an urgent telegram, the task was no longer to rescue the 24th Armored Brigade in the encirclement, but to find a way for the 10th Armored Division and the Indian 4th Division that had fled.

"It's really ......" Ramsden, who received the telegram from the front, was stunned, he had thought that the battle situation was bad enough before he came, thinking that the 10th Panzer Division must have a tough battle to fight, who knew that the battle situation would develop worse than he thought, he gasped and asked repeatedly, "Tell me, what is going on at the front now?" ”

"The 10th Panzer Division and the Indian 4th Division have lost their unified command, and they are fleeing and retreating in all directions." The adjutant was embarrassed and said, "They could not judge the strength of the Germans, only that the Germans had dispatched at least 200 tanks, oh, Brigadier General Todd of the 8th Panzer Brigade sent a telegram saying that the Germans' new tanks were so powerful that they could not be defeated at all." ”

"Hell, it's a new tank again! Where did the Germans get so many new tanks? Ramsden muttered for a moment, "Immediately send a telegram to the commander informing him of what is happening at the front, and at the same time order the troops on the northern and southern flanks to attack at all costs, to pin down the flanks of the Germans, so that they cannot pursue our troops so smoothly." ”

"Besides......" he confessed through gritted teeth, "order the 10th Panzer Division and the 4th Indian Division to organize a defense on the spot, and not to retreat without an order." ”

In the previous round of attack, the Germans had lost only more than 20 tanks and armored vehicles of various types, and the commanders of two armored divisions and one armored regiment seemed to see the results of the great victory flying before their eyes, and they were all overjoyed. The tank troops who took the lead in the spear simply didn't bother to use artillery shells, and in the face of the panicked British soldiers who refused to surrender, they directly crushed them.

Fortunately for the British, after an afternoon of chasing and high-intensity fighting, the German tank units finally ran out of fuel and ammunition, and needed to carry out emergency supplies on the battlefield, which gave them a chance to breathe. During the replenishment of the battlefield, the entire Afrika Army headquarters moved forward, and Heinz and Dessau, who had recently undertaken the task of sweeping, were brought in by Guderian.

"Sir, are you calling the two of us something?"

"That's right, I'm not going to lead the main force forward in pursuit."

"Why?" Heinz was anxious, "The enemy has obviously been crushed after being heavily attacked by our troops, and this is a good time for us to annihilate it in one fell swoop, and we can even fight all the way back to the headquarters of the British Eighth Army at El Alamein." ”

"We managed to get out of that encirclement at the cost of 40,000 Italians, and I'm not going to go back, because the further we go, the more resistance we will face. And there was also news from behind that the British troops on both flanks no longer cared about our minefields, and were advancing like crazy, and a single 90 lightly armed division could not withstand it. Our next route is ......" Guderian drew a large arrow to the left with a light tick on the map, "attack to the left and retreat along the coastal road, and your task is to bluff as much as possible as the main forces, and pursue behind these two divisions, giving Montgomery the illusion that we are going to counterattack El Alamein, but be sure to return before dawn." ”

"Or are we two battalions?"

"Yes, is it difficult?"

Heinz and Dessau glanced at each other and said, "The tanks are enough, can you add some more No. 3 assault guns, there are many infantry in the pursuing troops this time." ”

"Yes, I'll give you an additional Panzergrenadier company and 6 assault guns." Guderian smiled apologetically at the two, "No way, we are short of troops, and we can't send too many troops to you, but I will arrange for troops to meet you at dawn." ”

"We'll do our best to get the job done." After the two saluted, they immediately went to dispatch the troops to prepare for departure.

Guderian turned his head and said to Walster, Bismarck, Collingwood and others who were about to stop talking: "I know that you are doubting my decision and thinking that I have given up the opportunity to expand the results of the battle and directly attack the enemy headquarters, but you cannot ignore the fortuitous nature of today's results......"

Guderian raised three fingers: "First, today the British Air Force did not come to make trouble with us, their attention was all drawn to the retreating Italians on the coastal road, and they were entangled by our fighters, and tomorrow they will not do it again; Second, our results today are related to the negligence of the enemy -- we have concentrated all our tanks, first eaten the 24th Armored Brigade with a trap, and then hit the 8th Armored Brigade by surprise, assuming that today we are facing a complete armored division with a continuous defense system, even if we have the advantage of some armored forces, it is impossible to fight so perfectly, and we will face a situation of more and more difficulty if we continue to attack tomorrow, not to mention that Montgomery still has more tanks in our hands than we are; Thirdly, the British on both flanks were attacking desperately, and a single 90 lightly armed division could not withstand them, not to mention the large number of British prisoners and supplies to be taken into custody, and if we were flanked we would fall back into the trap - which I tried to avoid. ”

"Sir." Baier Ryan was the first to stand up, "I support your decision!" ”

Several others were also persuaded by Guderian and expressed their obedience.

"Then we're going to attack to the left, and let Montgomery wait for us at El Alamein station......"

"Hahahaha!" The crowd laughed.