Chapter 168, Bombing Gageira
The Italian troops who received the order to attack reluctantly picked up their guns and prepared to go to the front line to walk around and put a few shots before withdrawing, they were not the Italian troops on the front line, and their will to fight was not strong. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info
The Germans also knew the virtues of these Italian troops, so they did not count on them, but just let them harass the airborne army.
These Italian soldiers were driven to the front line with guns, and when they saw the corpses and wreckage on the front line, the expressions on their faces were as ugly as if they had eaten fly poop.
Without the cover of tanks, the Italian army fought with a cower, rushing two steps, three steps back, and retreating more and more.
The Germans have nothing to say about such an unbearable performance of the Italian army, anyway, North Africa is theirs, and if they lose it, it will be their loss, what does it have to do with themselves.
The fighters on the positions of the Airborne Forces also seem to be a little strange, how the enemy has weakened, is there any conspiracy in it?
However, even if there was a conspiracy, they could not see through it for the time being, and could only continue to resist the attack of the Italian army.
Fortunately, the Italian army's will to fight was not strong, and after repeated times, the losses were not much, and the losses caused to the airborne troops were not much, as if they were playing a game.
During this period, German artillery was erected, but there were not too many of them, only 24 guns, with a caliber of 105mm and a caliber of 150mm.
After calibrating the shells first, the landing point of the shells was relatively far from the position, and after calibration, the German artillery immediately hit the positions of the Airborne Forces.
"Boom Boom Boom~"
Shells fell on the positions one after another, and the dust from the explosion flew all over the sky.
"Get down, get down!"
Some veterans shouted at the recruits who were stupid by the bombing, and those who didn't react were blown up into the sky by the shells, distorted and inhuman.
The shelling did not last long, and the positions of the Airborne Forces, which had been plowed by the artillery before and after, were destroyed again, and the ground was full of potholes, leaving a large number of craters.
"Phew, Phew~"
The airborne troops, who were still alive, crawled out of the soil, and the floating soil that was blown up buried them all lying on the ground.
On the position, there are still some intermittent wails, these soldiers who were injured by the explosion, small injuries are nothing, they can be packed, but those serious injuries with missing arms and legs can only be hastily wrapped, and wait for the follow-up airborne troops to see if there are any medical soldiers.
A new round of offensive was launched by the Germans, with more than 30 tanks and armored vehicles and more than 500 infantry, continuing the offensive against the positions of the airborne troops, this time vowing to take the opposite position.
The fighters who got up from the soil saw the Germans attacking again, and they didn't need to say hello, they quickly took up their weapons and prepared to defend.
On the German side, because Rommel gave the death order, this airborne division must be eliminated, because he had already guessed what the other side was trying to do.
It is to block them all here, the troops in front of them attack sharply, the German and Italian troops can not support it, they are beaten back, if the rear road is cut off, for them, the consequences are unimaginable.
Fortunately, they saw that the telegram said that there were not many troops blocking the rear, only eight or nine hundred people, which made Rommel slightly relieved, and they could still deal with this point.
However, this is only Rommel's opinion, and the 10 B-45 transport planes that took off again carried a group of airborne troops to Gaguera, and this time in addition to the transport planes, the bombers also mixed with a total of 20 bombers.
The P-51 Mustang took off at El Alamein airfield due to range problems, and then joined B-45 in the air.
When the second group of planes arrived, the bomb magazines of the B-45 bombers slowly opened, and bombs rained down from the sky.
Although these bombs were only 50kg, they could not withstand the large number of them, carpet bombing of German troops on the ground.
The Germans thought it was another wave of stragglers, but instead they were driven into the valley.
In addition to a large number of coalition troops, the coalition forces in Gaguera are also their logistics line, hoarding a large amount of supplies and equipment, and as a result, these bombers did not hesitate to bomb the dense carpet here, and all visible targets on the ground were the targets of their bombing.
A series of bombs fell to the ground, houses, warehouses, artillery positions, and piled up supplies, all of which were blown away.
The 20 bombers, each carrying 200 bombs, can imagine how many bombs caused damage to the German troops on the ground.
The B-45 bombed a large area, and the P-51 Mustang bombed at a fixed point, and they only carried 4 50kg bombs to bomb some missed targets with high precision, and also supported the airborne troops.
The plane's machine guns fired heavily at the Germans, and a total of four 12.7mm Browning machine guns and four 7.62mm machine guns were mounted on the fuselage.
That is to say, there are a total of 8 machine guns, and the consequences of 4 12.7mm machine guns shooting at people are self-evident.
The few anti-aircraft weapons that shoot at the planes in the sky, they can only hit the P-51 Mustang with low-altitude strafing, while the B-45 bomber bombs at an altitude of 5,000 meters, anyway, the coverage bombing does not pursue accuracy.
The sudden air attack stunned the German army, the Italian army was bombed everywhere, and the piled up materials were all destroyed in the bombing.
"Report!" A communications soldier rushed into the tent in a panic.
"Say!" Rommel said directly.
"Just received a telegram that Gaguera had been bombed." The Messenger said quickly.
"Well, what about the loss?" When Rommel heard the news, he only frowned slightly, and he didn't.
"Almost all destroyed." The communications soldier gritted his teeth and said.
"What? What is all ruined? Rommel repeated.
"The whole of Gaguera was completely destroyed, the other side dispatched large bombers to cover and bomb Gaguera, our supplies were all destroyed, the nearby ports were also in ruins, and the other side increased the airdrop of paratroopers." The communications soldier said quickly.
"What!" Hearing such a description, Rommel finally did not calm down and was shocked.
He originally thought that it was just an ordinary plane, and it would be over by throwing a few bombs, but he didn't expect that the other party would actually use strategic bombers and destroy the logistics supply point of Gaguera, which would completely cut off their back road for them, and there was really no way to live for them.
The offensive of the expeditionary force in front became more and more intense, and the heavy artillery was pushed to the front of the position because they were afraid that they would not be able to keep up, that is, they bullied them The German army had no artillery.
Because the communication was more developed, their tanks, infantry and artillery were more perfect in coordinated operations, in this case, the Germans had to fight more and more backwards, as for the Italian army, they either surrendered as prisoners, or ran away early. (To be continued.) )