The Germans collided head-on with the 4th Panzer Regiment of the 9th Panzer Brigade of the British Army.

The 9th Panzer Regiment was the one responsible for attacking the flank of the Halfa Tooth Pass Line.

You must know that both the enemy and our armies march in the desert at night, the desert is very wide, and it is also a desert when the wind rises, the sky is full of dust, the visibility is very low, the probability of colliding with each other is very small, and sometimes it is even difficult to find out where a force is going.

But it was such a coincidence that the 21st Panzer Division, which was hurrying to the right flank to reinforce it, accidentally ran into the British troops who were interspersed with the defense line of Halfa Tooth Pass like a treasure.

An armored division collided with an armored regiment, and the German armored division had 150 new "three" tanks, while the British armored regiment had only 50 "Stuart" tanks......

Although the "Stuart" tank is an American product, it is only a light tank, and its total combat weight is only 12.5 tons, which is 7.5 tons lighter than the German-made "No. 3" tank (note: the weight of the artillery of the "No. 3" 50MM caliber tank is slightly heavier than the original, reaching about 20 tons)

ALTHOUGH THE TWO ARE ABOUT THE SAME IN DEFENSE, THE FORMER IS 44MM AND THE LATTER IS 47MM.

THE PROBLEM IS THAT THE GUNS OF THE "STUART" TANKS ARE ARMED WITH SMALL GUNS OF 37MM CALIBERS...... This batch of American-style equipment was originally used to equip the Chinese Expeditionary Force against the Japanese army, and the armor of the Japanese tanks was notoriously thin, so the "Stuart" tank could fully meet the operational needs of the Asian theater, but now it was transferred to Africa by the Churchill line of fire to face the German army, which was another matter.

The caliber of the gun of the "Stuart" is the same as that of the "No. 3" tank before the rearmament, so if the "No. 3" had not been reequipped, it might have a slight advantage, but not a large advantage.

HOWEVER, AT THIS TIME, THE "NO. 3" TANK WAS ALREADY EQUIPPED WITH A 50MM ANTI-TANK GUN, WHICH COULD PENETRATE THE 78MM ARMOR OF THE "MATILDA" TANK AT A DISTANCE OF 400 METERS, LET ALONE THE 44MM ARMOR OF THE "STUART".

As a result, the ranks of the British 9th Panzer Regiment were routed under a burst of shock, and the two sides won the battle as soon as they came into contact, and the tanks of the British 9th Panzer Regiment were either destroyed or surrendered...... Some of the British armourers didn't even have time to surrender, because before they could get out of their tanks, the shells of their tanks pierced through their tanks' armor.

This can also be seen from the mistake of General Ochinleck: when the performance of the tanks is not superior but the numbers are superior, it is important not to divide the troops and be broken by the enemy.

SOME HISTORIANS SPECULATE THAT THIS WAS BECAUSE GENERAL AUCHINLECK DID NOT KNOW THAT THE GERMAN "NO. 3" HAD BEEN REPLACED BY A 37MM TANK GUN WITH 50MM.

Because I don't know, I think that the "Stuart" tank has the same performance as the "No. 3", and even the "Stuart" is better than the "No. 3" in some aspects, such as mobility and fire suppression of infantry.

This idea was correct, because the "Stuart" reached a top speed of 58 kilometers per hour, which was a cut faster than the "three" tank.

The Stuart tank had even more of a perverted secondary armament: a side-by-side machine gun, a course machine gun, two hull side machine guns, and one mounted above the turret...... That is, there were a total of five machine guns.

Each tank has five machine guns, which is almost a mobile fire fortress if all five machine guns are fired at the same time. It is conceivable that in this way any infantry would collapse under the machine-gun fire of the "Stuart".

Therefore, if the "Stuart" is used properly, its performance is indeed not inferior to that of the "No. 3", because the "Stuart" can use its high mobility and powerful machine-gun fire to force the German infantry to separate, and after the separation of the infantry tanks...... Due to the tank's poor ability to perceive the outside world, the "No. 3" tank had only one ending being surrounded and annihilated by the enemy.

However, the speculation of this part of the historian is untenable, because General Auchinleck has too many ways to obtain information about the German army, such as "super secret", and for example, the spies and underground organizations arranged in Tobruk, etc., even people with no military common sense can see the difference between 37MM artillery and 50MM artillery, let alone spies and underground organizations with military quality.

So there is only one explanation why General Auchinlake would do this, and he made a tactical mistake in dividing his forces.

In fact, there was one more thing that played a big role in this battle, and that was the telephone invented by Qin Chuan to be installed behind the tank.

At this time, it can be said that the tanks basically have no night combat ability, the British tank is so, the German tank is like this, and the American tank is the same.

Because in the dark of night, the gunner only saw a vague shadow in front of him, and he could not judge the distance at all, and even in the pitch darkness, he could not see anything.

This problem was solved very well with the telephone, and the combat mode of the German tank "No. 3" was usually like this:

The infantry shouted over the phone: "Three o'clock position, 50 meters, enemy tanks!" ”

After receiving the information, the commander shouted: "Armor-piercing shells, three o'clock position, 50 meters!" ”

So the loader loaded the armor-piercing shell, and the artilleryman adjusted the tank gun to aim at the target......

If the gunner still can't see the target, he shouts: "I can't see it!" ”

The commander shouted to the infantry over the phone: "Give me some light!" ”

"Give me some light!"

……

It is actually very simple for infantry to give light, such as tracer bullets, then use flares, and when the situation is really urgent, you can also use car lights.

Of course, car lights are more dangerous, because turning on the lights at the same time will also expose yourself to make yourself a target for the enemy, so this is not commonly used.

It turns out that there is a big difference between the infantry's coordination and the lack of visibility in this situation, as it almost means that the tank crew can spot the target tank in time and destroy it effectively.

So the British 9th Panzer Regiment was almost annihilated, 50 "Stuart" tanks were destroyed on the spot, 23 were destroyed, 18 became prisoners, only 9 tanks that were originally in the rear of the troops saw that the situation was not good, and hurriedly turned around and fled...... the advantage of the "Stuart" tank is that the body is light and fast, which is very suitable for escape, and the German "No. 3" tank cannot catch up at all.

Then the battle ended quickly, so fast that Qin Chuan and the others didn't even have time to participate in the battle, and when they caught up, they saw the destroyed "Stuart" tanks and the British soldiers with their hands raised and their faces frightened.

Werner raised his submachine gun at a "Stuart" that was on fire and said: "Is this the tank of the Americans?" It doesn't look as good as 'Matilda' after being beaten! ”

"That's because the British don't need it!" Qin Chuan said: "And...... The Americans will have more powerful tanks! ”