After breaking through the Gabshali line, the 21st Panzer Division advanced like a sharp knife.

Again, this came as a surprise to Lieutenant General Cunningham, who had expected the 21st Panzer Division to be stationed in Gabshali after victory, or to reinforce the attacked Tobruk, which was the center of German supplies.

In this way, the British troops rushing to the Gabshali Line from all sides could form an encirclement of the German 21st Panzer Division.

Who would have thought that the 21st Panzer Division would continue to advance......

In fact, Lieutenant General Cunningham should have thought of this a long time ago.

This is partly because Tobruk is not vulnerable...... Although the combat effectiveness of the Italian army is not strong, it is said that there are troops who have fought in battle, and Tobruk is well supplied, plus the Italian army has a large number of soldiers (Rommel reorganized the Italian army into 1 armored division and 5 infantry divisions, they were fully rested in Tobruk, and their morale was restored to a certain extent.

More importantly, the Italian army was encouraged by the successive victories of the German army, and the confidence to fight......

Armies are often like this, if they think that they are inferior to the enemy and will eventually fail, then everyone will think about how to flee for their lives, so no matter how many troops there are, they will be scattered.

Not so long ago, the Italian army was so psychologically so that it collapsed on the front.

But now it was different, the Italian soldiers believed that the British army was vulnerable to the German attack, that is, in the end, the German and Italian armies would win, so ...... Why did the powerful Italian army run? This was the time to make a name for themselves in the world and wash away the shame of the past, so they bravely fought the enemy first, and as a result, they exerted unexpected combat effectiveness......

Although the tanks of the British 8th Panzer Regiment broke through the Tobruk Line again and again and rushed into the Italian positions, they were beaten back again and again by the Italian army.

Of course, this also had a lot to do with the fortification of the Tobruk Line, the tanks of the 8th Panzer Regiment could not be fully deployed in front of the mine arrays and pillbox groups, and the Italians only needed to use artillery and anti-tank guns to bombard the British breakthrough point to easily repel them.

This resulted in heavy losses for the British 8th Panzer Regiment, with more than half of its tanks destroyed in the two-hour attack.

Rommel, who was aware of the situation, certainly did not fear for Tobruk's safety.

More importantly, Rommel's style of warfare has always been dismissive of threats from his own rear, because he believes that when his own logistical supply lines are threatened, the enemy's logistical supplies are also attacked at the same time, and both sides will be in difficulty, and it will be up to who can hold out to the end.

And in this regard, Rommel has always had confidence in his troops.

Rommel's attack was an instant disarray for General Cunningham, for all his arrangements would undoubtedly fail...... The faster "Stuart" tanks all penetrated deep into the German defense line, and for a moment they could not rush back to fight the 21st Panzer Division, leaving behind on the side of the British defense area were the extremely slow "Matilda" and "Valentine" tanks, which could not contain the German troops that broke through the defense line.

"It's over!" Lieutenant General Cunningham sat back in his chair and said, "We will be defeated by an attack on the supply lines, as we have done before!" ”

The staff officer did not know what to say, and he found that Lieutenant General Cunningham had completely lost faith in this battle, and at this time the war had only begun for a few hours.

Lieutenant General Cunningham then sent a telegram to General Auchinleck: "General, I think we should stop the offensive and retreat immediately, or we will suffer irreparable losses!" ”

General Auchinleck couldn't help but be taken aback when he received this telegram, he knew that the most important thing as a front-line commander was to have the determination to "collapse in front of Mount Tai and not change his face", so that he could give his subordinates and even soldiers the belief that they would win.

So General Auchinleck didn't say a word, and immediately flew to the British front headquarters at Fort Marlendamona.

When General Auchinleck stepped off the plane and into the command, he found that the situation was worse than he had imagined, and the people in the command were panicked, and the officers were arguing about their own words, some believing that the fight should continue, while others, like General Cunningham, thought that it would be no good for the British to continue fighting.

Objectively speaking, the British army was beaten by the German army to a psychological shadow, and again and again in the dominant situation was defeated by the German army on all fronts, so many people, including General Cunningham, lost confidence in the combat effectiveness of the British army, thinking that this time it would be the same as before.

"Gentlemen!" General Auchinleck said solemnly and prudently: "Although we lost the beginning and the battle did not develop as we imagined, I hope you clearly understand that what led to our defeat in the war was not because of how strong and indestructible the German army was, but because you turned a blind eye to the balance of power between us and the enemy and only thought about retreating!" It's not hard to see that you're completely defeated at your own hands! ”

General Auchinleck was right, all the losses of the British army so far were only the 9th and 8th Panzer Regiments and some tanks in the defense line at Gabshali, and the total number of tanks was only about 100.

Even so, the British had much more tanks than the Germans...... The 30th Army also had more than three hundred tanks, which were even more than the German tanks combined.

OF COURSE, THE GERMAN TANKS WERE STRONGER IN PERFORMANCE AND TRAINING THAN THE BRITISH "STUART" THAT WAS URGENTLY REEQUIPPED WITH 50MM CALIBER TANK GUNS, BUT THE BRITISH ARMY NOT ONLY HAD AN ADVANTAGE IN THE NUMBER OF TANKS, BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY, IT ALSO HAD AIR SUPERIORITY AND STRENGTH SUPERIORITY.

General Auchinleck could not have imagined that his subordinates would lose confidence in battle and retreat before they had such a large advantage.

"If you think we have no hope of victory before such a huge advantage!" General Auchinleck said: "Then what do you think is the hope of victory? Twice as much equipment and even more? ”

Although it was not much, it made every British officer present unable to raise his head, and General Cunningham was even more speechless.

"Neil. Major General Richie! Then General Auchinleck ordered: "I have just received permission from London to appoint you to take over the post of commander of General Cunningham's Eighth Army!" ”

The officers were stunned, and General Cunningham was even more bloodless, realizing that his military career had come to an end.