"Boom!" A German tank just over ten meters away in front of Lin Shuo's crew was shot through the front armor with a single shot, and the speed of the vehicle suddenly slowed down. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Black smoke and fire came out from everywhere. Predictably, a horrific stream of metal raged inside the car, turning the German tank into a pile of scrap metal.

"The last three shots!" The sweat-soaked loader quickly sent an armor-piercing shell into the chamber again, hissing to everyone that their crew had only the last three shells left.

Leaving the vehicle-mounted machine gun with a faintly red barrel, Lin Shuo, who was sweating profusely, stumbled back into the turret and loudly ordered the driver to "reverse!" Hurry up and reverse! ”

Lin Shuo's chariot with a radio in the back of the car had already attracted the attention of those veterans of the German armored forces. From the beginning of the war to the present, Lin Shuo's chariot has been hit by at least six or seven shells. As for the shells that exploded nearby, it is not known how many.

The Germans were not only armoured and grenadiers, but their artillery units were also extremely sharp. After the Ming escort warships had to leave the coastline due to a massive air raid by the German and Italian air forces, the German artillery fire was raging for several hours.

Lin Shuo's chariot turret was equipped with a cannon shield, and the front armor of the hull was also welded with external armor. But at this moment, the external armor has already fallen off, the gun shield has been loosened and cannot be used, and the turret rotation device is damaged, and it can only be used reluctantly. As for the exterior of the vehicle, such as smoke generators, lights, periscopes, sighting equipment, etc., almost all of them have been destroyed. The body was riddled with potholes and left multiple wounds. It can be said that in addition to not being finally penetrated, Lin Shuo's chariot has almost been scrapped.

The main reason for this situation was that the German artillery bombardment was concentrated on the solid frontal of the Tiger. As the front-line commander's vehicle, Lin Shuo's Tiger was very well protected, and almost no German tank successfully approached the flanks and rear of Lin Shuo's Tiger.

However, in the face of a full two armored divisions, tens of thousands of troops and a large number of vehicles, regardless of casualties, desperately attacked. Half of the 2nd Panzer Division had already retreated almost three kilometers in one go. Further back is almost to Salerno.

"Attention all car groups, attention all car groups!" Raising his hand to wipe the sweat, Lin Shuo pressed his throat intercom, and shouted hoarsely, "Now start to concentrate, there are still shells in front, and those without shells are ready to hit!" ”

Lin Shuo's crew still has three armor-piercing shells left, which is already good. At this time, quite a few crews had already run out of shells. The red-eyed Lin Shuo was already preparing for a crash battle. Not far behind him is Salerno, and the port is in the southern part of Salerno. Once the German armored forces swept through like a storm, the Ming troops who landed were bound to suffer heavy losses.

"Sir!" Just when Lin Shuo's red eyes were about to fight to the death, the telegraph shouted loudly in surprise, "The 3rd Armored Regiment is calling, and a battalion is coming up with ammunition to supply the troops!" Reinforcements from the 4th Panzer Regiment came with them! ”

The war on the front line was urgent, and the Ming army, which had gradually recovered from the chaos of the early days of the landing, soon resorted to various ways to increase the strength in its hands.

Vital ports are all used to unload vital supplies that are urgently needed on the front lines. And the personnel are transported by landing craft. Other transports that did not need supplies for the time being were grouped together and sent to the open sea, waiting for the port to be idle before unloading.

The Daming Navy has its own specialized transport vessels. For example, professional troop carriers, special transport ships for transporting tanks and other heavy equipment, professional transport ships capable of replenishment at sea, professional oil carriers and ammunition carriers, etc.

These ships are built to the military standards used. It is fast, has watertight compartments in its hull and is very sturdy using military steel plates. These ships are all logistics ships belonging to the Navy and are part of the Navy's establishment. But in the face of such a large-scale global war, even the large-scale Ming Navy felt stretched in all aspects.

In this case, the Ming Navy can only requisition civilian ships to supplement its transport capacity. The Ming Dynasty is a country with a strict legal system, and the higher the education level and popularization rate of ordinary citizens, the stronger the country's legal system. The Ming Dynasty is undoubtedly the country with the most sound legal system in this era.

Even in times of war, there is a payment for the requisition of civilian ships, and any losses are compensated. But reparations can only be done after the end of the war, after all, all production capacity is now focused on serving the war. Reparations can only be done after the war.

Naturally, the owners of the requisitioned ships did not want their ships to be damaged. In that case, not only will you not be able to earn the subsidies paid by the army, but the compensation will have to wait until after the end of the war, and who knows when this war will be fought? Who knows if Daming will be able to achieve the final victory? Many people prefer to take care of their own interests when faced with this situation.

The confusion that occurred when the Ming army had just landed in Salerno was largely due to the fact that the shipowners were all scrambling to unload their cargo and leave the war zone as quickly as possible.

This is a common thing in the Ming Dynasty, which is highly commercialized, to maintain their own interests. It wasn't until the front-line commander issued an order to turn this confusion around.

The throughput capacity of the port of Salerno was not weak, and the troops of the 2nd Panzer Division were all on professional naval transport ships, and after opening the passage in full force, the remaining armored units of the 2nd Panzer Division were brought ashore before the afternoon.

With ammunition supply trucks, they rushed straight to the Zionz Pass, where the battle was raging. It gave a shot in the arm to the Ming army, which had gradually fallen into collapse.

In fact, there is not only road to Salerno that can be reached under Route 18 under the Zionz Pass. Elsewhere it was just inconvenient for the mass passage of armored units.

The German attack was not confined to the Zionz Pass, but was heavily attacked by German troops in all areas around Salerno. The entire 14th Panzer Corps had been pressed on all fronts, and two Panzer Divisions and two Panzergrenadier Divisions had put great pressure on the Ming troops who were holding their positions.

When the reinforcements of the 2nd Panzer Division of the Ming Army rushed to the foot of the Zionz Pass, the two German Panzer Divisions that launched the attack threw all their strength into a decisive battle. The whole battle reached its peak at about one o'clock in the afternoon.

The German artillery went crazy and tried to shoot all their shells. The warplanes of the two sides fought in the sky, and the battle was no less fierce than the battle of Tunisia.

The front-line commander of the Ming army, who was under great pressure, sent a telegram to the naval commander of the escort fleet, imploring them to come to the rescue for the sake of the imperial army.

Although the Ming Navy does not deal with the army very much, there is still a big picture. The commander of the escort fleet ordered a fleet of heavy cruisers and destroyers to resist the attacks of the German and Italian air forces, approached the coast, and poured a storm of artillery bombardment on the heads of the German troops, especially the artillery units.

And Daming Army Aviation is also very powerful. The pressure on the front line increased dramatically, many positions were lost, and Salerno burst into amazing combat power when he saw that he was about to face danger.

The army aviation units of the Ming army stationed on the island of Sicily attacked from various airfields and gradually overwhelmed the threat of the German and Italian air forces with overwhelming warplanes, thus greatly supporting the land operation.

The time gradually came to more than three o'clock in the afternoon, and the Lin Shuo battle group, which had temporarily withdrawn from the battlefield and replenished ammunition and fuel, was once again put into the battlefield at the Zionzi Pass. The re-entry of this armored unit became the straw that broke the camel's back. The German 26th and 16th Panzer Divisions, which had already used their forces to the extreme, could no longer bear it.

Under the gradual intensification of the air attack of the 2nd Armored Division of the Ming Army and the sky, the whole line retreated. Having lost a large number of heavy weapons and personnel, the two German panzer divisions had to report to Rommel, who was rushing to the Salerno front, that they could no longer fight.

Rommel, who was sitting in the general's car, held the telegram from the front in his hand, turned his head through the car window and watched the distant sun gradually sink in the west, and Rommel felt that his heart was sinking as well.

The main force of the German forces deployed in the area from Salerno to Naples was the 14th Panzer Army. Although there were still quite a few infantry units in Naples, they could not reach the Salerno front in a short time.

As for the garrisons elsewhere, it is also impossible to reach the front in a short time. In other words, the failure of the 14th Panzer Army's offensive meant that Rommel had lost the opportunity to drive the Ming army into the sea when the Ming army was relatively vulnerable in the early days of the landing.

With the Ming army's strong supply and transportation capabilities, they were able to send a large number of soldiers and supplies ashore in just a day or two. At that time, let alone the recapture of Salerno, even Naples will become very dangerous.

Rommel now had two options in front of him. The first is to withdraw troops to defend the vital port of Naples. The port has a throughput capacity ten times that of Salerno and is the largest port city in southern Italy. Another option is to continue attacking.

The reason why it is important to continue the attack in this situation is time.

The Apennine Peninsula is a very long and narrow peninsula with a narrow middle throughout the peninsula. Once the Ming army gained a foothold and attacked laterally all the way to Foggia opposite Salerno, the 300,000 German troops previously deployed in the southern Apennine Peninsula would be in a huge pocket. Rommel could not afford such losses, and he could only choose to continue the attack.

Rommel no longer had the luxury of driving the Ming army out of the sea, he now only wanted to hold back the Ming army as much as possible, so as to buy time for the retreat of the German troops deployed in the south.

As for the Italian army, who can still take care of them now? (To be continued.) )