"Tanks! The Germans' tanks are coming! Hordes are making a detour south of Bill Hakim! ”

Someone suddenly shouted in the war room of the headquarters of the British 8th Army in the bunker of the port fortress of Tubruk. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 info Then the noisy war room suddenly fell silent, and even the staff officers who were going in and out to deliver orders and messages stopped and turned their eyes to their commander, Alain. Lieutenant General Cunningham.

The terrible German panzers went into action, and they came very quickly, like a gust of wind, from Benghazi to Tubruk. And the pace of the action was much faster, and when everyone thought the Germans were going to rest for a while, they went on the offensive - and after getting used to the slow Italians, everyone was a little uncomfortable with the fast pace of the Germans.

"How many came?" Alain working on a map. Lieutenant General Cunningham straightened up and asked the staff officer who had rushed in in a panic.

"There are 200-300 tanks, or more." The staff officer said, "One of our patrols touched them and retreated, without touching much of the situation. ”

"What about Bill Hakim?" Alan. Cunningham asked again.

"It's being heavily shelled!" Soon a staff officer answered.

"What about the defense line of the 1st South African Division and the 5th Indian Division?"

"There was no attack."

After asking two questions, Alain. Cunningham had already concluded that the German panzer cluster was ready to make a detour south of Bir Hakim.

"Tell Major General Craig to get his armored cluster out at once!" Alan. Lieutenant General Cunningham did not hesitate and immediately sent the commander of the armored group, Michael Cunningham. Moore. Major General Craig gave the order to attack.

It's not Alain. Cunningham was flippant, but he had no choice. At present, sea and air supremacy are basically on the side of Germany and Italy. Although he had his back to Tubruk, he could not get much supply from the sea, and if the land supply line was cut off by the German armored clusters, then Tubruk's 150,000 troops could be wiped out by starvation.

The terrain around Tubruk is relatively flat, and although there are valleys and hills, it is quite convenient to detour. If Alain. Cunningham was on hold, and the 150,000-strong army would have to be surrounded by the Germans by the afternoon.

Rudolph. Feng. Second Lieutenant Ribbentrop was sitting in the back seat of a brand-new SD.KFZ.251 armored reconnaissance vehicle, feeling the bumps of the half-track armored vehicle while holding a telescope to search the desolate sandy area ahead.

On either side of the half-track armored vehicle in which Second Lieutenant Ribbentrop was riding, there were also two half-track armored vehicles of similar model - one mechanized reconnaissance company belonged to an armored platoon with five armored vehicles of the SD.KFZ.251 series and nine BMW750cc three-wheeled motorcycles. And these 5 SD.KFZ.251 half-track armored vehicles can also be equipped with optional armament as needed.

Because the British equipment here in North Africa was relatively strong, and the German armored forces did not have many tanks, one of the five half-track armored vehicles under Second Lieutenant Ribbentrop was equipped with a French SA37 47mm anti-tank gun. And 4 of the other 4 SD.KFZ.251 half-track armored vehicles were equipped with 20mm machine guns, and 2 were equipped with 14.5mm machine guns.

In addition, each of the nine BMW three-wheeled motorcycles had an MG34 machine gun mounted on it.

Although it was only a platoon, their firepower was probably comparable to that of a battalion of the Italian army in North Africa.

So just now they easily defeated a British armored patrol, and easily destroyed several British armored cars with a 47mm gun mounted on a half-track.

"Second Lieutenant Ribbentrop, there's a huge amount of smoke ahead!" The voice of Sergeant Schumacher, the commander of car No. 5, came from the headphones of Second Lieutenant Ribbentrop.

Second Lieutenant Ribbentrop hurriedly raised the telescope high, and the blue sky was filled with yellow smoke and dust. This is supposed to be the dust stirred up by the tracks and wheels of a large number of armored vehicles running over the sand.

"Lieutenant Schwarzenegger, I'm 1 platoon commander Ribbentrop." Second Lieutenant Ribbentrop picked up the intercom and called his platoon commander, Lieutenant Schwarzenegger. "The situation has been detected ahead, it seems that the British armored cluster is in front, please instruct."

"Come closer, go see clearly!" The order of Lieutenant Schwarzenegger came.

"Yes." Ribbentrop adjusted his frequency and began to give orders to his men. "Guys, we're going to the front for fire reconnaissance! Sergeant Schumacher, check your 47mm guns, and we'll be counting on you for a British cruiser later. ”

"Second lieutenant, don't worry, I'll blow up all those cruiser tanks!"

The French SA37 47mm anti-tank gun is a treasure, capable of wearing 72mm of uniform vertical armor at a distance of 1,000 meters. The Matilda 2 tank against the British may not be good, but it is a small piece against the Crusader cruiser tank with thin skin and stuffing.

Hearing Sergeant Schumacher's words, Second Lieutenant Ribbentrop laughed: "Okay, then let's go and take out a few British's Crusader tanks." ”

It's easy to say, but it's not easy to do. Because the SD.KFZ.251 armored reconnaissance vehicle is an armored vehicle after all, the British Crusader tanks can easily kill it!

The five armoured vehicles and nine motorcycles under the command of Second Lieutenant Ribbentrop continued on and walked forward for about another 10 minutes, the smoke and dust in front of them became heavier, and the hum of the motors was heard louder and louder.

"Now, stop moving!" Knowing that the opposing tanks were about to appear, Second Lieutenant Ribbentrop ordered his five armored vehicles to stop. "Sergeant Schumacher, get ready to fire!"

"Ready!" Sergeant Schumacher replied.

"Okay, I want to see who you are?" Second Lieutenant Ribbentrop raised his binoculars and stared intently ahead. After another 5 minutes or so, steel monsters slowly appeared in the dust in front of them. Through the analysis of their huge contours, Rudolph. Feng. Second Lieutenant Ribbentrop knew that they were mostly Crusader cruiser tanks.

"Fire!" Second Lieutenant Ribbentrop picked up the intercom and shouted.

"Boom!"

Before he could finish his words, the 47mm anti-tank gun had already fired, and a flash of fire broke through the air at a very fast speed, and before the human mind could react, the shell had already slammed into a British tank 1,000 meters away, and then a fireball was seen rising into the air.

"Hit!"

There was a cheer from Ribbentrop's headphones.

By this time, he had clearly seen the shape of the tank under the smoke, which was the British Crusader cruiser tank. There seem to be more than 100 of them, but the Matilda 2 is not in sight - this tank is so poor in mobility that it is usually pulled near the battlefield by heavy trucks, and it is estimated that they are still on board.

"Sergeant Schumacher, keep firing and leave after 5 rounds." Second Lieutenant Ribbentrop picked up the intercom and shouted, "The other vehicles are now dropping their canisters and retreating!" ”

The fire reconnaissance mission was now completed, and engaging the British Crusader tanks was not the job of the armored reconnaissance platoon. So the role of Sergeant Schumacher's 47mm gun was actually to cover the retreat of the big guys.

……

"Admiral, the main forces of the enemy have taken the bait, at least 100 cruiser tanks." Chief of Staff of the African Army, Alfred Afried. Lieutenant General Gortz took a piece of report paper from a communications soldier on a motorcycle, looked at it, and then laughed.

"Not yet," Rommel said, shaking his head, to Lieutenant General Goltz, who was in the same armored command vehicle as him, "and not until the British tank stupidly rammed into our 50mm anti-tank gun." ”

The underpowered 37mm anti-tank guns are now disappearing from the German Army, but the pace of elimination is not too fast, after all, the urgency of upgrading the Army's equipment after the campaign on the Western Front is not too great. Moreover, the huge ship-building program occupies a relatively large number of resources, so now only a few units have completed a comprehensive upgrade of anti-tank guns. However, several divisions owned by the Afrika Army are the few units that have completed the upgrade, and all of them have been replaced with PAK38 50mm anti-tank guns.

Although this anti-tank gun was not as powerful as the French SA37 47mm anti-tank gun, it was more than enough to deal with the British Crusader cruiser and Matilda 2.

"Now it's up to Lieutenant General Thoma to do it!" Rommel folded his arms and muttered as he looked left and right. At least 100 No. 4 tanks and a larger number of armored trucks, there was a long queue in the sand. Thoma can't win, so it's time for them to come to their aid.

And a little farther away, hundreds of 105mm caliber Wasp self-propelled guns have already formed formations, their muzzles held high, and they are waiting to fire.

"It's just a couple of half-tracks, so you don't have to chase them." Major General Craig, commander of the British armored group, was giving the order at this time, "Let all the Matilda tanks get out of the car, and then form an attack formation with the Crusader cruiser tanks."

In addition, let the Indian 3rd Motorized Rifle Brigade cover the left yi; The Polish Brigade and the 1st Free French Brigade were responsible for covering the tank attack! ”

Then he looked apprehensively at the sky, and the sky in North Africa did not seem to rain, but always blue sky and white clouds. Although no trace of the German bombers was found (Rear Admiral Regg guessed that they might have been entangled by British fighters), they would certainly arrive soon.

"Hurry up!" Major General Regge took a breath and said, "Fight for a quick victory and victory before the Germans' planes fly in droves!" (To be continued.) )