Chapter 532: The End of Patton (Part II)
1. The Operations Department made a new arrangement, changing the three armies with a north-to-south front to four armies extending from east to west, and the entire front made a 90-degree turn.
2. Colonel Perry organized 1338 transport vehicles of various kinds, which worked around the clock to transfer troops and supply detachments from the front to offensive positions. The total mileage is 1.6 million miles.
3. Colonel Mahler led the logistics department to set up a new supply system that transferred 62,000 tons of supplies in 100 hours.
4. Colonel Cork's intelligence department drew and distributed hundreds of thousands of operational maps of the new battlefield, made reports on the analysis of the enemy situation, and changed the battle sequence in a timely manner.
Patton himself was not idle, and he and Sergeant Miss drove his brightly painted, large-sized general-mounted jeep around the army, doing the complex work that required a company of staff officers to do on their own.
In the snow, soldiers whose coats were covered in mud and snowflakes marched forward against the bitter cold wind, stimulated by Patton's incendiary speeches. The commander stood on the conning tower of the tank to dispatch and direct the march of the troops. In this way, under the command of Patton, in the face of German interception and bad weather, the 3rd Army quickly transferred an army of more than 100,000 people from the Saarland region to the Ardennes in just a few days, realizing a comprehensive shift of the battle line from south to north. At 6 a.m. on November 22, the 3rd Army, which belongs to the 3rd Army, launched an attack on time.
Vaux is a small town with a population of less than 14,500, located on a narrow plain in the Ardennes region of northern France, surrounded by sparse woodlands and hills. Seven of the road networks in the southern Ardennes pass through this area. Therefore, its strategic position is particularly important. The Germans had estimated that the Vaux defense was weak and planned to let the 26th Militia Division, which was not very combat-ready, take it by the way, but the stubborn resistance of the 92nd Airborne Division frustrated the German offensive.
As the battle progressed, the German command on the Western Front found that Volks had not only become a "nail" for the entire German front, but also directly threatened the logistics supply of the German army and contained the living forces of the German army. All this made the Germans determined to take Vaux, and they sent two corps under Generals Birling and von Lutwitz to attack.
On November 23, the weather finally cleared. Seven Allied fighter-bomber groups, 11 medium bomber groups, a division of the 8th Air Force, and Royal Air Force transport planes flew over Vaux. The group of planes violently bombed the German targets, the transport planes dropped all kinds of supplies, and the German air force immediately took off to meet them.
But it's always a step too late. Vaux City got some supplies. It's just that their bombing of the Germans was stopped by the German planes, and the air forces of both sides immediately strangled over Vaux, in this case, even if the Luftwaffe wanted to avoid the war, it was impossible to fight, and they could only fight for attrition. From time to time, the wreckage of aircraft fell in the sky.
The 4th Panzer Division commanded by Patton was under the cover of the Air Force. On the 24th, he forced a breakthrough of the Matrange pontoon. Capturing the village of Warnack and launching a surprise attack along the road towards Arlon, the 5th Division drove the Germans across the Sauer River and prepared for the attack on Vaux. As long as Barton breaks the encirclement of Vaux. Earlier, by advancing a few tens of kilometers, it would be possible to break through the German encirclement, and then the Allies would be able to rush all the way to Dunkirk.
The battle at Vaux was no less tough, with the soldiers of the 92nd Airborne Division holding their positions in snowy foxholes under German artillery fire. The Germans were still weak, and it would take at least three to five days for the troops in Belgium and the Netherlands to be transferred to France, which was more than a million elite German troops, because they had only now completely wiped out the allies in Belgium and the Netherlands.
The remaining three to five days were Barton's last chance. Because of the weakness of the German encirclement of Vaux, the M-4 tank led by Lieutenant Charles Boggs, commander of Company C of the 37th Tank Battalion of Patton's 4th Panzer Division, was the first to storm Bastoni. Behind him, Allied armored units poured into the positions of the 92 Airborne Division like a torrent of steel.
Brigadier General McAuliffe, commander of the 92nd Airborne Division, who was physically exhausted but full of energy, repeatedly praised the speed and strength of the "Iron Wheel Hell" under Patton's command. On the 24th, reinforced by the 9th Panzer Division and the 80th Infantry Division, the 4th Panzer Division opened the road from Vaux to Arrontong, and the 200,000 Allied troops completely routed the German troops besieging Vaux, and prepared to concentrate their forces on the German advance base - Falitzer.
In order to be ashamed, Barton carefully prepared a "gift" for Li Mo. He ordered that all artillery belonging to the 3rd Army should concentrate their 20 minutes on the German positions at 11 o'clock midnight on November 25 with the heaviest firepower, and that Patton should look forward to the new year in his characteristic way amid the roar of artillery fire and the wailing of the Germans.
On the 26th, Patton ordered his troops to take a pincer offensive from the north and south flanks, and advanced at full speed towards the Falitzer, cutting off the German army. Patton's forces were invincible and captured St. Vitus on the 23rd, and on the 27th, the advance of the 3rd Army had reached the front line of the Ur River, and on the 29th, Patton held a press conference to announce that the Battle of the Ardennes ended with the victory of the Allies.
But the matter is by no means as simple as what Patton said in front of reporters, Li Mo certainly understands Patton's arrogance, and Li Mo also knows about the defeat on the front line, but now the troops everywhere on the front line are very surprised, and Li Mo does not dare to transfer troops casually, Li Mo is waiting, delaying Patton's offensive speed.
From the end of the battles of Belgium and the Netherlands on November 23, more than a million elite German troops in these two places rushed to France at night, because the Allies blew up all the railways entering France, even the roads and bridges, which undoubtedly greatly delayed the movement of the German army, which was originally planned to take only three days, but after six days, an armored division in the vanguard finally arrived on the line of the Ur River.
This time Patton was miserable, the German armored division was on the opposite side of the Ur River, Patton's 200,000 attacking troops could not build a bridge at all, could not cross the river, even if Patton wanted to use the aircraft to blow up the German armored division on the opposite side, he couldn't, the Luftwaffe, which was not far away, suddenly fully supported the line of the Ur River.
In order to have enough planes on the battlefield in France, Limer ordered all German aircraft factories to produce them day and night, and at the same time transferred 1,000 planes from more than 1,500 planes deployed in Germany for homeland defense. At this time, the Soviet Union of the Luftwaffe was restored to more than 4,000 aircraft, which was about the same number as the number of Allied aircraft.
However, the quality of the German pilots and the quality of the aircraft were better than those of the Allies, and the battle loss ratio was almost 2 to 1.
On January 3, 1942, more than one million German troops who had been reinforced joined the offensive corps attack on Patton, with more than one million people, more than 20 highly armored divisions, and more than 10,000 artillery pieces. (To be continued......)
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