Instead of pooling their reserves to resist Hoult's assault, they launched a massive offensive against the unlucky 8th Army in the middle of the Sheld, with a wide front, including the defensive positions of the Battle of Horid (which had taken over from the Romanian 3rd Army on the left flank of the Germans), but also the positions of the 48th Tank Army on the front line of the Sheld.

The Germans did not have any danger in this defensive position, but only forced the German 11th Panzer Division to abandon the offensive operation of forcing the crossing of Slide, and it also forced Manstein to massively gather the forces of Hoth's 4th Tank Army in order to establish a new line of defense to cover Arbo.

On 16 October, the Allied 48th Tank Corps had no idea what was going on in person, halted its offensive along the line of the Sreach River, and it seemed possible to cross Sheld.

Due to bad weather, the Luftwaffe aircraft did not take off for several days, and aerial reconnaissance was not carried out. By the 17th, the situation had become clear. With a heavy attack, the Germans broke through the Allied positions about six miles north of Nizhny Seede.

On the 18th, the German 11th Panzer Division continued its offensive with a view to clearing the Allied foothold on the Sreach River. A German mechanized corps made a breakthrough on a wide front, and the resistance of the Allied "emergency" forces did not help.

Maninstein decided to set out immediately, and after a night's march, at dawn the next day, without waiting for the Allies to move, Maninstein commanded his troops to attack the Allies. To this end, the 110th Panzer Infantry Regiment was to pin down the enemy from the front; The 15th Panzer Regiment attacked the enemy's eastern flank; The 111th Armoured Infantry Regiment covered the flank in the right rear, leaving it as a reserve.

October 19 at five o'clock. Everything went according to plan, and the advance detachment of the 15th Panzer Regiment saw that the powerful Allied tank force in battle formation was moving south, and because the German Panzer Regiment was well shaded, its only 125 tanks were following the Allied forces, and before the Allies could react, they opened fire on the Allied forces, destroying 140 Allied tanks in just a few minutes.

Only then did the Allies realize that it was the German tanks that were following them in the second echelon. And not their own tanks. The commanding heights of 148.8 were captured by the Germans. On the other side of this highland. There are also tanks that are unfolding into battle formations and moving in much the same way as described above.

The German tanks, commanded by Captain Lestermann, had once again attacked the Allies from behind, and before the Allies could figure out what was going on, they had been wiped out. It's in such a surprisingly short amount of time. 125 German tanks wiped out 165 Allied tanks. But he was unharmed. The battle overwhelmed the Allied offensive. The remnants fled in panic and did not dare to resist any longer.

On the night of the 19th, the Allied 3rd Tank Brigade carried out a diversionary attack on the left flank of the German 11th Panzer Division. and occupied the positions of the 110th battalion of the 1st armored infantry regiment. But the 15th Panzer Regiment soon recaptured the position.

The German 11th Panzer Division continued to advance in order to drive the enemy to the other side of the Sreach River. The advance of the Panzer Division was smooth at first, but by evening the Allies had launched a fierce counterattack on the division's right flank and broke through to the rear of the 111th Panzer Infantry Regiment. This crisis was relieved by the Panzer Regiment, which also destroyed 30 Allied tanks.

Due to the desperate resistance of the Allies, General Maninstein decided to consolidate the defensive position on the 21st and ordered the regiments to take advantage of the darkness to adjust their deployment. At 2 a.m. that day, both armoured infantry regiments reported that their defensive positions had been broken by the Allies.

A bright moon illuminated the land, and Allied tanks and infantry broke into German positions as the Germans adjusted their deployment. The 15th Panzer Regiment immediately launched a counterattack, and soon the good news came from the Panzer Infantry Regiment. Maninstein sent the 61st Motorcycle Battalion to attack the Allied forces at the junction of the 110th and 111th Panzer Infantry Regiments, which appeared to be the main force of the enemy. By daytime, the situation was clear: the German 11th Panzer Division had achieved a major victory in the defensive battle, the Allies had left thousands of corpses in front of the German positions, and the German losses were no small.

In the afternoon of the same day, the Allied 48th Tank Army was quiet on the defensive ground, in fact, the large-scale German offensive on the front line of the Sheldt River had come to an end, and the Allies had already begun to retreat and were actively preparing for a second line of defense.

However, the Allies were now being attacked on all sides, and the Germans were beating more than 100 elite troops around 550,000 Allied troops, and even if the Allies could achieve some victories in a certain area, they still could not change the entire situation of the war.

The collapse of the positions of the Allied 8th Army opened a hole in the left flank of the Allies, through which German troops were entering. On 21 October, Patton received an order to evacuate the Shelder Line. Transfer to Kaya, 110 miles to the west. Unless the Allies move fast, they can't save Abo.

Before concluding the narrative of the battle on the Shoide River, it is necessary to pay a few praises to the natural tank commander, General Maninstein, whose Panzer Division was a "devil's division" throughout the battle.

Encountering an Allied landing field that the infantry could not handle, Maninstein slammed the enemy with all the strength of his tank crew, adhering to the old adage: "Don't be stingy, just slam." "He was able to achieve brilliant results because his tanks worked in perfect harmony with the infantry.

Maninstein never allowed a single tank to directly support the infantry, because he thought it would be detrimental and wasteful to the much-needed tanks. The tactics of mobile warfare often turn the situation from dangerous to peaceful and cause the enemy to suffer heavy losses.

During this period, Army Group B, commanded by Maninstein, destroyed more than 1,700 enemy tanks and Allied tanks and armored vehicles. According to what the Germans had seen and heard, the Germans believed that as long as the Germans had calm and brave soldiers and concentrated tanks and artillery, they could defeat the Allied forces with a large number of troops and weapons.

The German 11th Panzer Division, with its decisive heroism, achieved a brilliant victory on the front line of the Sheld. If the Allies were unable to break through the area and the Allies were able to advance to Arbo, the entire Allied forces in Belgium and Holland would be in unison, which would undoubtedly make it more difficult for the Germans to encircle and annihilate them. In this way, the situation forced the German 11th Panzer Division to do its best to complete the assigned task.

Fortunately, after all the hard battles, the commanders who did not stand the test were all replaced by experienced people, and the commanders who remained were absolutely reliable.

For several weeks in a row, the Germans marched secretly at night and reached positions that were vulnerable to attack the enemy before dawn. The use of this tactic required a great deal of energy and physical exertion on the troops, but the casualties were minimal, as it often took the enemy by surprise. One of the aphorisms of the German division was "The night march is a lifesaver." "However, one has to ask, what time did the soldiers of the German 11th Panzer Division sleep? I am afraid that there will never be a clear answer to this question. (To be continued......)