By the early hours of February 25, the Pakistan Highway around Tubruk had turned into a battlefield for a bloody battle between the two armies. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

1 regiment of the 10th Indian Division and 2 regiments of the 5th Indian Division, which had previously blocked the Germans on the Ardam front, had been annihilated in the engagement. German armored clusters have repeatedly shown great offensive capabilities, overwhelming superiority in both firepower and offensive organization.

Many of the more authentic Indian officers and soldiers could not withstand the onslaught of the German armored clusters and collapsed, and either fled to Tubruk or surrendered as prisoners.

However, the Gurkha soldiers of the Indian 5th Division and the Indian 10th Division still showed their housekeeping skills to resist in a considerable part of the positions, but this resistance was only exchanged for a large number of Gurkha soldiers being killed on the positions.

Although these Gurkha soldiers were good fighters, they also had few means to fight the German tanks, except for anti-tank guns and anti-tank grenades, they did not have any anti-tank weapons at their disposal. The 2-pounder anti-tank gun, operated by white soldiers, was of limited use against the frontal armor of Tank 4 and Assault Gun 3, and was quickly destroyed by German fire after firing to expose the target.

So the crucial sexual engagement that took place on the outskirts of Tubruk at this level turned into a one-sided massacre!

By midnight on 24 February, three regiments of Indian officers and soldiers had taken on the role of substitutes for their British masters.

Three regiments of Indian troops were exhausted in half a night's engagement, and then German tanks and armoured vehicles rushed onto the Pachistan Highway. It is a two-lane ring road with a hard surface, built by the Italians before the war, between the outer line of defense of Tubruk (also built by the Italians) and the core line of the inner ring.

In order to prevent the enemy from rushing directly into Tubruk from the Bachi Highway, the Italians planted minefields between the Bachistan Highway and Tubruk's core defensive line, laying more than 100,000 mines. These mines did not play any role in the British attack on Tubruk, but now they have become an obstacle for the British to reinforce the Pachistan Highway. They could only get to the Bachi Highway from the two main junctions of the Bachi Highway (on the east and west sides of Tubruk) and then follow the road to engage the German armored clusters. But how were they opponents of German tanks and mechanized infantry?

After the Germans stormed the Bachi Highway, their advance barely stalled. Rommel, who had always used tanks more sparingly, suddenly became generous and directly invested in 2 tank battalions. Moreover, he also asked the 33rd Self-Propelled Artillery Regiment to send 18 "Wasp" self-propelled guns to accompany the tanks, and ordered more than 2,000 infantry of the 200th Infantry Regiment to ride in half-track armored vehicles or directly on the tanks.

From Adam to the eastern intersection of the Bachi Highway and the Badabia Avenue, you can see the bodies of British officers and soldiers and the wreckage of various British military vehicles along the way. And the price they paid for themselves was that 18 No. 4 tanks and five No. 3 assault guns were damaged by British 2-pounder guns (all repairable damage), and less than 200 people were killed and more than 100 wounded.

While the Germans were struggling to advance along the Bachi Highway, most of the British 8th Army was swarming out of the city of Tubruk and desperately fleeing along the Badabia Highway.

On the road to Egypt along the coastline of North Africa, the British army discharged a long line of vehicles, all of which were running at full speed. Now that the sky has begun to lighten, in two hours at most the German bombers will fly to the head of the British convoy and drop bombs, now take advantage of the fact that the enemy planes are not coming, and run as far as they can.

Alan. Lieutenant General Cunningham also got into the car and drove past the intersection of the Pachistan Highway and the Badabia Avenue at about 5 a.m. When the car he was riding in passed the intersection, the British and German armies were engaged in a fierce battle less than 3 kilometers from the intersection. In order to hold back the advance of the German army, Alain. Cunningham was forced to throw in what was left of his armor, the troops that had survived the tank battle early the previous morning. Now, in order to fight for the vitality of the whole army, they have once again been thrown into the battlefield. And Rommel also put the last tank battalion on hand into the battlefield.

Look at the fireballs and columns of smoke that are constantly rising on the battlefield to the south, listen to the dense explosion of gunfire, and smell the choking smell of gunsmoke. Alan. Cunningham's face was pale, and he knew that the hegemony of the British Empire in the Mediterranean had disappeared.

Because the Mediterranean fleet left Alexandria last night and went to the Red Sea through the Suez Canal.

While the Middle East Command will try to keep information as thin as possible, the Suez Canal is a place where there are many people, and countries have eyeliner there. So the news of the departure of the fleet will soon spread around the world. The rulers of Turkey, Iraq and Iran will all know, and then they will all fall to Germany!

At that time, the German army in the Balkans would advance effortlessly all the way to the Sinai Peninsula through the Turkish railway lines, with the help of supplies from Iran, Iraq, and Syria.

Even if the 8th Army could return to Egypt in its entirety, it would not be able to stop the German attack from both North Africa and the Middle East.

Moreover, the possibility of the 8th Army escaping back to Egypt in its entirety is almost non-existent. Because once the sea power in the Mediterranean belongs to Germany and Italy, they will be able to take the port of Mesematroux. At the same time, with the support of naval guns and aircraft from the Matrouh airfield, the 7th Panzer Division and the 4th Indian Division were repelled from the direction of El Alamein.

In this way, the retreat of the 8th Army was cut off!

"Tanks! Tank! German tanks are coming! ”

It's right here in Alan. When Cunningham felt hopeless about his future, the adjutant's frightened call suddenly sounded in his ears. He turned his head to look at the battlefield to the south, only to see a large cloud of sand and dust in the sky at some unknown point. It's not a sandstorm, it's hundreds or thousands of tracks crushing the sand.

The German tank clusters were all coming, and they were forming assault formations in the desert Gobi south of the Badabia Avenue.

The general offensive is obviously about to begin!

"It looks like we can't get to Messematroux," said Alain. Cunningham said to himself, "We're going to be stuck in Tubruk!" ”

"Lieutenant General, what do you mean ......" sat in Alain. The adjutant beside Cunningham was stunned, "We're not leaving?" ”

Alan. Cunningham shook his head and said, "Let the troops who have left the city continue to go to Egypt, and those who have not yet left the city may not be able to leave." And as the commander of the 8th Army, I naturally have to be with most of the people and fight to the end for the British Empire in Tubruk! ”

……

"Admiral...... Lieutenant General Cunningham's emergency telegram! ”

Wavell, who had not slept all night, fell asleep on the back of his chair at about six o'clock in the morning, and was suddenly awakened by a trembling voice when he was directing the British troops to land on the European continent in a dream to attack the German armored forces. This voice belongs to the Chief of Operations of the Middle East Command.

"What's going on?" Wavell's voice sounded very calm.

"The main forces of the 8th Army did not protrude from Tubruk...... The armored forces of the Germans cut off the Balbia Boulevard. ”

"So...... What about Lieutenant General Cunningham? ”

"Also surrounded in Tubruk! The lieutenant general telegraphed that he would command the main forces of the 8th Army to hold Tubruk until a single soldier was ......"

Wavell smiled bitterly and said: "Give orders to the 7th Panzer Division and the 4th Indian Division: cancel the counterattack on the Matrou airfield and fortify it at El Alamein. ”

Now that the main forces of the 8th Army are surrounded, and the main forces of the Mediterranean Fleet have run away, there is no point in counterattacking the Matroux airfield.

And with the support of the Italian fleet and the Luftwaffe, the 7th Panzer Division and the 4th Indian Division had a high probability of suffering a setback near the Matruh airfield. These two divisions, together with the Indian 6th Division in East Africa, the 2nd Division in South Africa, and the British 50th Division in Palestine and Syria, were the forces that Wavell could use to defend Egypt, East Africa, and the Middle East. These forces are too precious to be used sparingly, so that they cannot suffer unnecessary losses.

……

"Good! That's great! ”

In Rome, in the Medici villa, Field Marshal Hersmann put down the battle report he had just received and laughed, "Rommel did a good job and surrounded the main forces of the British 8th Army...... The Mediterranean fleet of the British also fled, and it seems that the battle in the Mediterranean is already in hand! ”

Hersman was a little ecstatic now, because he felt that he had won the battle by real skills, not a "cheated victory".

Moreover, the battle for the Mediterranean and North Africa was a victory that the Germans did not win in history! Strictly speaking, the wheel of history can be regarded as a real departure from the original main road from now on.

Hans. Jeshunek glanced at the joyful Hersmann with some strange eyes, in his opinion, the battle for the Mediterranean could be won with his eyes closed, much easier than the previous battle on the Western Front.

"Field Marshal," Hans. Jeshunek put his doubts away and handed another telegram from the General Staff to Hersman. "Yesterday there were massive anti-German demonstrations in Belgrade, most likely a military coup, and our contact with Prince Paul has been severed. In view of the fact that the situation in Yugoslavia may affect the Greek campaign and the advance into the Middle East, the High Command hopes that you will be able to return to Berlin today to participate in the meeting on Yugoslavia. ”

"What?" Hersman was stunned for a moment, took the copy of the telegram from Jeshunek's hand, looked at it, and said with some tears and laughter, "Are these Serbs crazy?" Now that the Mediterranean fleet of the British is gone, what are they still making a fuss about? Do they think that they can defeat us Germany with their little force? (To be continued.) )