Rather, it was the sudden desert storm, which began as a small whirlwind swirling between the bushes, and in an instant it turned into a violent wind of more than 130 kilometers per hour, stirring up hundreds of tons of hot and fine red sand, overwhelmingly overwhelmed the sky, and the tiny grains of sand seeped into the engine filter, poured into the tent and burrowed into people's eyes, noses and mouths, covering the windshield like heavy rain and cutting off people's vision.

However, the flat ground of the desert has become an ideal battlefield for modern mechanized warfare, allowing the steel beasts to roam the roam. Of course, in the inhospitable desert, the tank is the most important weapon, and the tank compartment exposed to the sun is like a pressurized furnace, filled with the mixed smell of fuel, gun oil and stinky sweat. The tankers usually only wore shorts, and their bodies were sunburned and turned black with several layers of skin. After Montgomery arrived, Commander-in-Chief Alexander gave him a fairly simple order: annihilate Rommel and his Afrika Korps! Montgomery knew very well that the whole Anglo-American army was now staring at him, hoping that he would get out of the passive situation, so Montgomery's first goal for himself was that in the first battle with Rommel, it was necessary not only to win, but also to restore the confidence of the officers and men in the senior commander, so that they could enter the serious battle with high morale in the future offensive operations.

Of course, Rommel also wanted to destroy the Anglo-American coalition, so who would kill Montgomery and Rommel?

Although the soldiers of the Anglo-American coalition came from different countries, they were a battle-hardened and highly combat-ready force. Now, the officers and soldiers have not yet fully emerged from the shadow of defeat ahead, and Churchill once figuratively called them "brave, but confused" people. Although Montgomery understood the pain of these long battles in the desert, the torment of the harsh weather, and the long separation from his family, he also knew that the loss of confidence was undoubtedly a dangerous signal for a combat force, and he must change this situation as soon as possible, otherwise he would not only not win the battle, but also fall into greater passivity.

Now, Montgomery had to fight not only the German army, which was gaining momentum, but also the general mood of the troops. Montgomery said in his heart: The first encounter with Rommel must be played beautifully, and the German must be fiercely braked. Montgomery gave his men a different feeling from his predecessors as soon as he took office, and he said in his first lecture to all the members of the command: "The defense of Egypt is in El Alamein, and here it is, we must stand and fight, and we must not take any further step back." All previous plans and directives for retreat are to be burned, and they are to be burned immediately. All means of transport must be withdrawn to the rear. Ammunition, water and rations, etc., must be stored in the forward area. If someone is scared, he can walk away immediately.

We are not afraid of Rommel, we are ready and waiting for his attack!" Because Montgomery was very good at mobilizing the enthusiasm of his subordinates, so that they fought desperately to complete his plan in battle. Therefore, in order to establish his prestige, so that the officers and men of the British and American forces could recognize him and know that he was the commander of the British and American forces at all times. Montgomery threw away the standard British military cap and put on the insignia-embellished Australian bush hat that made him famous all over the world.

……

Rommel was also going deep into the front line, visiting each of his troops, boosting morale, the harsh living environment of the desert made the German SS very uncomfortable, when the German SS soldiers were a little tired, a little tired, their commander appeared, Rommel gave full play to his outstanding eloquence, and constantly went deep among the soldiers to arouse their confidence. Everywhere he went, he sat his soldiers on the sand while he jumped on top of the tank and spoke in his firm, composed, confident and provocative language:

"I don't really like the atmosphere. It was an atmosphere of suspicion, of looking for reinforcements backwards, of picking the next place to retreat. You should change your mind and let us re-establish a positive, new atmosphere. This is where our offensive target is - El Alamein, and if we lose El Alamein, who is at our fingertips, then we will lose the whole of Egypt and the whole world, and the Atlantic alliance will be even more arrogant. For the sake of our country, for the sake of our people, for the sake of freedom, we must fight here, never take half a step back, attack, attack, attack again. ”

Finally, Rommel exclaimed, impassionedly, "If we can't survive here, let us die here for our country!" In a short time, Rommel traveled to almost every combat unit of the German SS, and with his fiery passion, he reawakened the confidence of the soldiers who had lost their confidence in the harsh desert environment.

While Montgomery was plotting his next move, Rommel was actively preparing for a new offensive. In the face of huge consumption, Rommel used all the ships to transport materials, and even water needs to be transported in large quantities, which is the consumption of two million people, and the water transported alone must reach 10 million catties per day, under huge logistical pressure. Rommel felt that he could not delay any longer, and he decided that he had to attack quickly, and finally take a big gamble. Rommel also had the same mind as Zhang Jun, and the first war was decided, because Germany could not afford to drag it out.

Rommel set their sights on Mount Alam Khalefa. As a result, Montgomery's first encounter with the Desert Fox is about to take place in the Alam Halfa Mountains.

Alam Khalefa is located a few kilometres behind the El Alamein front and is the key to the entire El Alamein position. When Rommel observed the enemy's inspection of the defensive situation, he found that the enemy did not set up a defense at this crucial point for unknown reasons. Rommel believed that this was a major mistake, and that it was necessary to quickly take advantage of this mistake of the Anglo-American forces to seize the strategic high ground of El Alamein, especially since he received a large amount of information indicating that Montgomery was likely to mobilize his armored forces to launch a large-scale counteroffensive from Alam Halfa in the near future.

It may be that Montgomery did not let his armored forces appear on Mount Alam Hallefa in order to hide his strategic intentions, if a large number of armored forces of the Anglo-American coalition appeared in this generation, it would expose the direction of Montgomery's counteroffensive, which may be why Montgomery did not deploy armored forces in Alam Hallefa, but unfortunately Rommel was the first to find Montgomery's huge mistake and decided to attack in advance.

During the inspection, Montgomery also discovered that he had made a mistake in the arrangement, and urgently made the following deployment adjustments: The 22nd Panzer Division was deployed in the gap between the box position and Mount Alam Halfa based on the southern flank of the New Zealand Division's box position, and all the tanks of the division were digging trenches in the concealed positions. He deployed two divisions of the 44th Division, which had just been transferred from the Nile Delta, on the back of the hill at Alam Khalefa, and placed the 23rd Panzer Division as a reserve behind the 22nd Panzer Division. The 8th Panzer Division was deployed in a slightly rearer position south of the Alam Khalefa ridge, while the mobile detachments of the 7th Panzer Division were on skirmish duty and were responsible for defending the minefields and the open flank to the south.

Montgomery believed that no matter how Rommel attacked, this deployment would intercept him. If Rommel were to attack due east, he would be blocked by the 8th Panzer Division, and the artillery of the 22nd Panzer Division and two divisions would be attacked from his left side. If Rommel had broken through the minefield and struck to the left, he would have faced a head-on attack from the 22nd Panzer Division, which was in concealment, and to his right was the 8th Panzer Division, which was in full position. In short, Montgomery felt that if Rommel attacked, he would be besieged, and once Rommel was trapped by the British, he would immediately order the British Air Force to carpet bomb him in dense formation. Now, Montgomery had a big sturdy pocket, waiting for Rommel to drill it.

It's a pity that Montgomery's arrangement is not wrong, but quite perfect, but there is a deviation in time, if Montgomery was arranged like this at the beginning, Rommel would not dare to attack, if the attack will also fall into Montgomery's trap, if a large-scale mobilization, there is no way to complete it without a day or two, even if the British and American coalition forces are in place in one day, how fast the fortifications can be built, two or three days is the fastest! Montgomery's troops had arrived the day before, and that evening the Anglo-American forces, which had not had time to build fortifications, had been attacked by Rommel.

At 10 p.m. on January 11, a pale moon shone on the undulating desert of El Alamein. Rommel's armoured forces began to advance eastwards towards the British minefields.

The defensive line of the German SS in front of El Alamein is also similar to that of the Anglo-American coalition army, and these places also need the assistance of armored divisions to resist the possible attack of the Anglo-American coalition army, Germany has 16 armored divisions, and these lines of defense use Rommel's eight armored divisions, so there are eight armored divisions that can be used by Rommel for the offensive, including six copycat 99 tank divisions, which are the soul of the SS, the most elite troops, and the other two mixed tank divisions, equipped with Tiger and Four, as for the other defensive tank divisions, The equipment is even worse, the fourth is their main force, and the Tiger has only one battalion, and the German SS has this armor quota only because of its own production and replenishment in Poland and Ukraine.

Rommel commanded his armoured forces to launch a powerful offensive, and he threw in more than 1,200 tanks, which is almost all he has now.

…… (To be continued.) )