"Forward, forward, forward! Boys, we're going to kill the Germans. Lieutenant Colonel Edwood stood in his crusader command tank in high spirits, shouting at his men on the side of the road. The remaining three Crusader cruiser tanks of the regimental headquarters followed closely behind the regimental commander's car and sped past the queue of tanks parked on the side of the road.

"Let's go and beat them up." Edwood raised his fist at his tankmen. The tank commanders stood in the turret and saluted their commander, the engines roared, and the squads started in order, forming a column behind the regimental convoy.

Ed Wood raised the regimental command flag in his command vehicle, and the team leader car also raised its own squad corner flag on the antenna. From a distance, the tank regiment was like an ancient ironclad knight, holding high the knight's spear hanging the heraldic flag, lined up in a long column, and slowly drove out of this canyon.

"According to the divisional intelligence, we are dealing with a group of airborne paratroopers, the elite units of the Germans, and they also have 37mm anti-tank guns, so we must be very careful, I don't want my boys to lose to these bastards who like to pretend to be nuns." Ed Wood sat in the command seat and spread out a large-scale map of the Dover Theater of Operations on the small table in front of him, and he drew a circle on the map with a red and blue pencil.

"According to the intelligence, the reconnaissance team was ambushed here, from the point of view of time, they should not go far, we can start a centripetal search from here, and the mechanized cavalry squadron will conduct a dragnet search from here, as long as we find enemy troops, we will surround them and annihilate them."

"Sir, according to the judgment of the division, the other side should have a regiment of troops. They were all infantry, vulnerable to tanks. "Major Remington, the divisional operations staff officer, who rushed from the division headquarters, reminded the regiment commander that the opponent's strength was limited. But Edwood didn't think so, he commanded an armored regiment, but in reality it could only be counted as an armored battalion, and the number of people without the tank was not enough to make up two companies.

"We need infantry support, the defenders of Dover Fortress have sent an infantry battalion to accompany our operation, we will join them in the town of Temple Ewell, and we hope that these infantry will fight."

For his own troops, Lieutenant Colonel Edwood is actually very sober, and can only be said to be strong on the outside. Although the morale of the soldiers was strong. But Edwood knew that it was all an illusion, and that it would not stand up to the rigors of the test, and he had heard too many similar examples from his predecessors who had fought in World War I. These soldiers' knowledge of the enemy is limited to the news and the information issued by the military department, they have no concept of real warfare, most of these rookies, including their commanders, have no actual combat experience, and even many soldiers have not even completed all the armor training courses, at best they are only a group of half-finished products, and sending them to the battlefield is purely a last resort. If it weren't for the danger of the battle, Ed Wood wouldn't even allow these stunned boys to board the tank.

But it's useless to say anything now, these lads are about to meet their first real combat in their lives, and I hope they can be like their ancestors. Those who can withstand the test of this war will become brave warriors, and those who lose will be eliminated by the flames of war.

"Ahead is the town of Datankpur Ewell, and I saw trucks full of infantry waiting at the entrance of the town." The driver reported loudly.

"Stop at the entrance of town." Ed Wood stood up from the turret. He turned his head to look behind him and saw his lieutenant standing on the turret of the Crusader tank behind him nodding at him.

At the fork in the road outside the village, the Crusader command tank came to a stop against the side of the road. An army officer trotted all the way to the tank, looked up and saluted, and then reported loudly to Edwood. "Sir, I am Cattelan, commander of the 1st Battalion of the Dover Garrison Regiment, and by order of the 1st Armored Division Headquarters, we will be under your command."

"How many men do you have now, I don't think there is a battalion?" Ed Wood looked forward and saw that the infantry at the entrance of the village was only about two hundred at most.

"Last night's shelling was so heavy that I lost quite a few soldiers, and the rest of my battalion is here. But I'm sure these are all good lads, trained and won't let you down. The Major looked a little agitated, this was a task he had managed to snatch, and he vowed to avenge the tragic death of his men.

"I see, Major......" Ed Wood shouted as he picked up the bakelite microphone hanging from his headphones, "Henry! Let the 12th Lancer Regiment come up and carry these infantry. ”

He then bowed his head to Major Cattelan and ordered, "Let your men take those armored vehicles, we have a large area to search." ”

"My men have already checked the ambush site ahead and seen the trails on the road, they should have walked northeast through the forest, perhaps to withdraw to join their large force." The Major presented his inference to Edwood.

"Can you confirm that?" "I have the best scouts in all of Dover, and I trust their judgment."

"Very well, Major, then we have a good start, get your men in armored vehicles, and we search northeast from here." Ed Wood looked at the major in front of him with appreciative eyes, a capable officer like this was exactly what he needed right now.

The tank regiment was restarted, led by light tracked armored vehicles, with cruiser tanks in the center, light tanks on both flanks, and the whole team formed two arc-shaped search formations, climbed down the road and slowly moved northeast. As for the remaining squadron of infantry tanks, Ed Wood radioed them to the village and begin to build a defensive line to defend themselves and prevent them from interspersing with detours.

Ed Wood completely lost patience with Matilda of the first squadron, and was desperate for these extremely fast turtles that were only 12 kilometers per hour, and these tanks that could not even catch up with the infantry at off-road speed were still struggling on the road three kilometers away, and wanted to wait until they arrived, afraid that the sun was about to set, so Ed Wood directly excluded them from the search team.

However, in addition to the pathetic mobility, the armor and firepower of these infantry tanks are still somewhat interesting, and it is estimated that they can be used to guard the main road and prevent the enemy from penetrating behind them.

Bypass villages and towns. The terrain begins to rise slowly, and it is a gentle uphill climb from the road to the north-east, with a drop of more than 100 feet, but once you climb to the top, you can reach Canterbury and from there is an endless plain, which is the boundary between the Dover Hills and Valley.

The British armored vehicles drove at full speed and slowly climbed to the top of the slope, and when they reached the top, it was easy to see the surrounding situation, if those paratroopers really retreated in that direction. Then on the open plain it is impossible for them to evade the pursuit of armored forces.

Standing proudly in the turret of the tank, holding the skateboard hatch cover behind his back, the clamshell-shaped armored turret of the Crusader MKI tank has a very unique structure, its turret hatch is not a separate circular exit, but a whole piece of armor cover that slides backwards, and when pushed away, the tanker can get a very good view as if he was standing in an open-top car.

By this time, the two dingo scout vehicles had climbed to the top of the slope, and the engine exhaust pipe spewed out a puff of green smoke before disappearing from Edwood's sight. The two dingos that followed behind also began the final sprint. They blasted their horses and tried to catch up with their companions in front of them.

Edwood motioned to the radio operator, and the lieutenant quickly adjusted the radio frequency. "Second Lieutenant Jackson, report the situation. You don't see anything on it. "The leader of the 12th Lancers' Wild Dog Reconnaissance Vehicle was a young second lieutenant, and he rushed to the front of the line.

"Second Lieutenant Jackson, please answer." Having received no reply from the other party, Ed Wood was a little strange. He tilted his head to look at the radio operator, and the lieutenant shrugged at him to indicate that everything was normal.

Just as Ed Wood was about to continue the call, a loud noise suddenly came from the headphones. Then I heard the intermittent shouting of Second Lieutenant Jackson.

"It's a ...... Lieutenant Colonel, we are going to retreat...... They rushed out of the woods, and I lost count of how many, oh my! They ...... to me Help me! ”

Edwood had already heard the unique engine roar of the dingo reconnaissance vehicle from the top of the slope, and then heard a loud noise, Edwood looked up in surprise, only to see a fireball rising from behind the top of the slope, and then a black pillar of smoke was erected, and at the same time there were several muffled thunderous sounds, and the armored regiment commander immediately recognized this familiar sound, which was the roar of artillery fire.

Another dingo reconnaissance vehicle appeared at the top of the slope, it did not slow down, it just pouted its ass and wanted to rush down the slope. Before the front wheels could press up the slope, the small wheeled armored car exploded before people's eyes. The entire rear body was torn apart by shells, from the engine to the front of the car was completely pierced, and the roof of the car was connected with the debris in the car and the body fragments of the two occupants flew into the air with a fireball, and the whole car began to stand upright forward, and then rolled forward and slapped the slope.

"Oh God!" Ed Wood was stunned by what he saw, the light armored vehicles slowed down the climb, and the commanders began to hesitate whether they should continue on their way.

"Don't stop, keep moving, you can't stop here!" Ed Wood picked up the microphone and roared loudly, no matter what was waiting for them up there, they had to face it head-on, now there was only one way to charge forward, if the enemy blocked this gentle slope, then the consequences would be unimaginable.

"Armored vehicles and light tanks slowed down, cruiser tank squadrons followed the regimental headquarters to the front, the enemy was just a group of paratroopers, only small-caliber anti-tank guns, nothing remarkable, we had to let the Germans know how good we were, we had to avenge Second Lieutenant Jackson." Ed Wood, in an effort to re-energize his troops, ordered his driver to speed up, and his command tank overtook the light armored vehicle queue and rushed to the front of the line with the regimental squad, and after the last dozen meters of climbing, the Crusader tank raised its head high, and then crushed the gentle mud at the top of the slope with its tracks down.

"O my God! Jesus Christ! Ed Wood sighed in a voice he couldn't even hear. Immediately, he grabbed the collar of the division staff officer next to him and roared loudly at the other party. "Remington, didn't you say they were just paratroopers? Only 37 mm anti-tank guns? So what are these? ”

In the direction of Edwood's finger, a group of blue-gray painted tanks were slowly driving towards them in a neat shock formation, and behind that group of tanks, there were countless tank armored vehicles pouring out from the woods in the distance, and a blood-red German Army flag was flying high on the leader's half-track transporter. (To be continued......)