"Finally, we waited for support. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 Rommel looked at the rush and nodded with satisfaction, he didn't really need to go back to Matroux to resupply.

In this way, he also saved a lot of gasoline, which can be used for subsequent counterattacks. The Italian soldiers who arrived here first had already realized that they had just accompanied the Germans for a walk, similar to a tour.

"Are we going to stay here?" Watching the soldiers enjoy the cool freshwater, the topless Italian soldiers were helping the Germans distribute the gasoline.

Farther away, the German panzers, restocked with ammunition and gasoline, had emerged from the shadow of defeat.

Although this was an unplanned retreat, most of the German troops received the retreat order in advance, so they walked more calmly.

With the exception of the loss of some 4-wheeled armored vehicles and other equipment by the armored reconnaissance unit behind the Royal Highness, Rommel maintained the core combat strength of his Afrika Korps.

This includes more than 200 combat-ready tanks and 40 brand-new Stalker tank destroyers ready for action.

With these tank destroyers, Rommel was very determined to place all the tanks in his hands that could be used in battle at the southernmost end of his defensive line, and this line of defense was all handed over to the Italian infantry defense.

In Matru, there were 2,000 Italian infantry that had just arrived, which strengthened the army under General Garibaldi, bringing the number of Italian troops to 12,000.

The frontal Italian troops bought time for Rommel's 90th Infantry Division, which had just fled, and they were to hold out until tomorrow morning.

"General! Drink some water. "Lieutenant General Alfred had just come from the water station, holding a jug with droplets of water hanging from the outside.

Rommel took the kettle and took two sips of it to his lips, a mouthful of faint gasoline.

There are few dedicated freshwater storage facilities in North Africa, and empty gasoline drums end up being used as temporary containers.

And these gasoline drums are not clean because they are filled with gasoline - in fact, even if they do, the soldiers will not waste precious water to clean these empty containers.

They prefer to make do with it until the next time the petrol comes, and the containers are not enough, so they use these drums to continue to fill the gasoline......

After all, this is a place where there are almost no women, and it is a very difficult thing to expect this group of big-headed soldiers to clean up their utensils.

"What shall we do if the British retreat tonight?" Seeing that Rommel had drunk the water, Lieutenant General Alfred asked.

"Retreat at night? No...... I would rather consume the Italian infantry and strike back to entangle the British. Rommel replied with a firm mind.

In fact, he and Garibaldi had already studied the course of the battle tonight: in fact, the Italian side would take on the whole battle tonight.

Every once in a while, they would try to counterattack the British and nail them to their positions.

"What if the British find out that it is not good and retreat desperately?" Lieutenant General Alfred looked at Rommel.

From Rommel's answer just now, he seemed to see the commander's thoughts, but he still wanted to confirm it.

Sure enough, Rommel replied very simply: "If the British want to run, then they can only chase after them in the dark, and get entangled and wait for dawn." ”

Lieutenant General Alfred now had nothing left but to pray, and in the same way that Rommel prayed before retreating that the British would fight back, he was praying that the British would not retreat.

……

"What do you say? Did the Germans stop at Zawie Haroon? Cunningham looked at the news delivered by the reconnaissance team, and his face was puzzled.

According to his analysis, the Germans should have been defeated all the way back to Matru, or even Matru should have given up.

But now that the German army had stopped at Zawieharon, he was a little worried about his own army.

After all, because the speed of the British army was fast and slow, it was now a long snake formation. Facing the Germans in such a state is no different from committing suicide.

At this moment, Cunningham's greatest fear was a desperate German counterattack, in which case his troops would be crushed.

However, he was then relieved that even if the German army had routed his vanguard, there would not be enough fuel to pursue him.

He even thought optimistically that even if his army gave way to a passage, the German army would run out of fuel to drive to El Alamein.

Therefore, he took the investigation report and saw the investigation results submitted by several reconnaissance detachments, hoping to see any clues from these reports.

Sure enough, he soon saw a reassuring piece of news: several reconnaissance detachments had collided with Italian positions.

"The Germans left the Italians and retreated on their own!" This was Cunningham's judgment at the beginning.

Subsequently, he revised his judgment: the Italians were trying to organize a defense, and the Germans should be right behind them.

The reason why they stopped at the place of Zawier Haron, organized the defense and did not retreat again, is because here the German attacking troops should still have fuel for a counterattack!

In Cunningham's imagination, the Germans' troops pretending to attack El Alamein must have carried fuel from Matruo to El Alamein.

In this case, if the Germans retreat back to Matru, there will be no materials for counterattacks, so the other side will go out to defend Zawieharon, and they will be able to save a little gasoline.

And this gasoline is the last hole card of Rommel's armored forces! After the pursuit between El Alamein and Fouquet, Cunningham had established the fact that the Germans were running out of supplies.

As for the overhead, the German planes did not even make a sortie to interfere, and it seemed that their own fuel was very tight.

With this judgment, Cunningham's biggest fear now is that the German army will counterattack at this time.

It was only at this time that the counterattack could give full play to the role of Germany's surplus oil and consume the British army to the greatest extent.

"Let the troops in front stop advancing! Build a line of defense! Hold your ground, we'll wait for tomorrow daylight to attack Matru! Cunningham, who knew what he was most afraid of, gave the order to stop advancing.

As long as he held out for two hours, the troops dragged in a straight line behind him would arrive one after another, and he would not be afraid of the German counterattack.

So he made the safest choice, not in a hurry to risk attacking the positions of the Italians, but to let the front-line troops start arming in their place.

For Cunningham, since the Germans were expected to counterattack, there was no need to worry that the Germans would take the opportunity to escape.

It seems that Rommel still wants to pretend and use the remaining oil to keep the small port of Matru as much as possible.

"You're still inferior to me after all! Your Excellency General Rommel! In his car, Cunningham said to himself proudly.

After all, the other party is inferior to him, and in terms of strategic vision, he thinks that Matru is not important, but he is the chicken rib that the other party wants to keep.

As it turned out, his vision was right, and he gave up on Matru and died to survive; And Rommel is defending Matru, and he is about to be annihilated here.

……

"What, at this time to let the tank troops counterattack? Are you kidding? Lieutenant General Alfred frowned, looked at Rommel and asked rhetorically in surprise.

At this time, isn't it necessary to do everything possible to stabilize the British, so that the British can stay where they are, waiting for their counterattack tomorrow morning?

And now, seeing that it was getting dark, wouldn't it just scare the British away to carry out a rush attack?

In case the other party really ran away overnight, wouldn't it be self-defeating? Lieutenant General Alfred wanted to ask that, but he swallowed his words back.

However, Rommel did not let him be depressed for too long, and explained with a smile: "There was a big port behind us yesterday, who would have guessed? ”

"Britain dares to fight back, it is based on the premise that they do not know the changes behind us!" Rommel analyzed firmly: "There is only one chance, and my limited counterattack this time is to calculate my last fuel to use." ”

"I only have this gasoline, and if I don't fight back at this time, it's suspicious, isn't it?" Finally, he asked with a smile.

With that said, Lieutenant General Alfred also felt that if everything had been written according to the most authentic script, that they had run out of gasoline, and that a counterattack might now be their only chance to repel the British.

However, because of fuel constraints, even if they win this local counterattack, what can they do? Because there is no fuel to pursue, they are still going to be defeated in the script.

"Anyway, now the other party is very sure that I am a general who likes to bluff." Rommel smiled and pointed to the tip of his nose: "I don't have any hole cards in my hand anymore, the British are sure of that." ”

"Acting has to be done in full, let the armored forces take revenge!" With a wave of his hand, Rommel gave the order to attack.

Not far behind him, the German Panzer Corps, which had lost many tanks in the morning, began to mobilize about 100 tanks.

They're going to take revenge, to really show off the power of their attack, the kind of power that can be called devastating!

"Afrika Korps! Offensive! The German commander shouted loudly from the tower of the commander of a tank No. 3.

With his shout, a massive counterattack began in the evening of the same day, and the German tanks crossed the Italian positions and launched a relentless assault on the line of the Australian 6th Infantry Division.