The appearance of the Panther tank immediately caused a panic among the British troops, and the British infantry was on the verge of collapse when the 4-pounder anti-tank guns could only tickle the Germans. At that moment of crisis, British officers frantically asked their superiors for reinforcements, whether it was firepower or tank reinforcements!

Soon the superiors complied with their demands, and shortly after the appearance of Gertz's Panther tanks on the battlefield, the British organized a heavy artillery bombardment in an attempt to drive away the terrible German steel monsters. Nearly 100 artillery pieces opened fire fiercely, covering the Panther tank group in an instant, which seemed wonderful?

It would be a mistake to think so, and in fact the British infantry later discovered that the only effect of this round of shelling was to give them courage. And compared to this only effect, the shelling also brought a large number of negative effects, first of all, the smoke from the explosion and the sand and dust kicked up by the explosion became denser. As a result, the British artillery observers could not see where the Germans were and where they were their own, and could only guide the shelling by feeling.

And the most unreliable thing on the battlefield is the feeling, so under the precise guidance of British artillery observers, a considerable part of the shells hit their own heads, and the 3rd Company of the 11th Battalion of the Royal Scottish Regiment prepared several PIAT anti-tank groups, which were originally going to take advantage of the smoke-filled opportunity to sneak attack the Panthers from the side, but they were served by their own artillery.

At the same time, the tank units sent to support the 11th Battalion of the Royal Scots Regiment were not much better, as they had just broken their tracks by anti-tank mines as soon as they broke out of their own lines, and these tracks were not laid by the Germans, but by the Haarlem County Battalion, which had been lost. Throughout Operation Arena, similar "friendly damage" is endless.

The British artillery fire had not stopped, and the German artillery, who had reacted quickly, was not willing to be silent and immediately began to return fire. Due to the large amount of smoke produced by the previous British shelling, the Germans could not see what the situation was on the battlefield. But the orders from above must be carried out. So the German artillery, unable to see the target, simply fired at the area according to the predetermined coordinates.

A radio officer of a Churchill tank in Squadron B of the 9th Royal Tank Regiment recalled: "Shortly after we crossed the starting line, we were subjected to heavy shelling, which put us in the middle of a terrible barrage, and we really couldn't figure out whether it was the enemy or our own ...... attacking us."

When the grizzled British finally crossed the barrage, they miraculously found that the Panther tanks that were supposed to be able to hang them disappeared (the reason will be explained later)! In front of them, only German infantry was deployed. The overjoyed British tankman, thinking that he would have a meal of meat today, immediately increased the throttle and prepared to crush the Germans.

However, what the British tankers did not expect was that it was the Germans who really had meat to eat, and the Germans carefully laid the trap, and then Squadron B of the 9th Royal Tank Regiment crashed into it like a goose, and in less than three minutes, the squadron lost 3 Churchill tanks.

German Private Kark recalled: "The enemy's shelling became more and more intense, and soon after a concentrated fire began to bombard the center of our position, and the shells exploded in the rear of our battalion headquarters. Even hiding in the fortifications, I could feel the ground shaking violently from the explosion. ”

"Between the shelling, I could hear the gunfire and the shrill firing of tanks. Everywhere there was smoke and dust from the explosion of artillery shells, and most of the staff officers of the battalion headquarters lay motionless on the ground, and only a few brave people could maintain a standing position. Our communications with the companies have been cut off...... Soon after, the signal corpsman of the second company ran into the battalion headquarters, his face covered in blood, and as soon as he entered, he shouted loudly. From him we learn that the 2nd Company had a fierce hand-to-hand fight with the enemy, and the enemy broke through the line of defense relying on the superiority of tanks. At this time, the first company is engaged in an exchange of fire with the enemy, and if the first company cannot stop them, the enemy's tanks will rush straight into the battalion headquarters! ”

"This news made the battalion commander, Major Klaus, very angry, because just a few minutes earlier, the division headquarters had ordered the transfer of the Panther tanks that had just arrived on the battlefield because they were needed in other, more critical directions! I'm very angry. Isn't our situation here the most critical? ”

"In desperation, Battalion Commander Kraus ordered his adjutant to go with me to contact another armored company of the 12th Panzer Regiment, two kilometers away, and ask them to come and help us. When the British shelling subsided, my adjutant and I used the cover of smoke and dust to crawl to the 9th Company of the 12th Panzer Regiment, but its company commander refused to launch a counterattack without infantry support. Battalion Commander Klaus had to gather a group of soldiers and hand them over to the command of the 9th Company. in exchange for them to fight back. ”

Later, the Germans wrote in the history of the war: "The fighting became more and more intense, the shelling of enemy tanks hit our fragile lines like hammers, many houses and fortifications were blown up to crack ceilings, bricks and cement shards were splashed everywhere, and the ground trembled violently." Despite three hours of fierce fighting, we kept the enemy out of the line...... There are more and more enemies, like a pack of vicious wolves surrounding us. The soldiers at the battalion headquarters roughly counted that at least 15 Churchill and M3 Grant tanks were surrounded, and now everyone with weapons in hand was thrown into the fight...... Soon, many officers and soldiers who could not hold out retreated to the location of the battalion headquarters, which also became the target of the British siege, and the soldiers who held the battalion headquarters did not have any heavy weapons, only machine guns and rifles and some magnetic anti-tank grenades. In the rear of the battalion headquarters, there were only two mortars and 20 shells left in the mortar company, which we used to bombard the enemy's tanks and infantry and create chaos. The snipers took the opportunity to fire at the enemy commanders who were sticking their heads out of the turret, and some of the tanks were scared away, but it didn't take long for them to come back and fire heavily at us again......"

This time the Germans were really under pressure, and the soldiers defending the battalion headquarters found a British Spitfire tank driving straight up, and if it was allowed to spray flames, everyone in the battalion headquarters would be burned to death. The battalion commander ordered that the tank must be destroyed, and when Corporal Dill heard the order, he grabbed a heavy anti-tank magnetic grenade and rushed out without thinking.

Dill took the opportunity to cut through the barbed wire fence and detour back to the side of the British tank, then pulled out the safety and threw the magnetic grenade, but the damn grenade didn't hit the target. Annoyed that he hadn't been able to destroy the tank, Dill ran back and shouted, "One more time, one more time!" ”

He grabbed a magnetic grenade again and ran towards the tank. This time he threw it accurately and managed to blow up the tracks and load wheels of the enemy tank. At this time. The British finally spotted him and machine-gunned him.

After Dill managed to run back to his position, he picked up the magnetic grenade and ran towards the tank again, this time destroying it completely, but at the same time he was also hit by bullets. As Dill struggled back into the trenches. The 9th Panzer Company finally arrived, and the British had to choose to retreat. However, the German combat hero eventually died of blood loss, and he was rewarded with a knight's Iron Cross.

The attack of the 11th battalion of the Royal Scots Regiment fell silent, but the British did not stop their efforts on other fronts. Playing as a striker on the right was the 46th Battalion of the 2nd Highland Brigade Glasgow Highland Regiment. Soon after they attacked, accompanied by 15 tanks from Squadron A of the 7th Royal Tank Regiment, they engaged in a fierce battle with the German 31st Panzer Engineer Battalion.

Jimmy of Camp Highlands. Sergeant Carter described the situation: "Soon after the offensive began, we were attacked by German machine guns, the enemy positions were very well camouflaged, and my friend David was killed...... Others also did not dare to look up under the accurate fire of German snipers...... Most of the people were stunned, not lying on the spot. It's to poke your head out of the bunker and look around for the sniper's location...... When I rushed into a pile of rubble, I found our company commander lying there, next to my platoon commander, and they were all killed...... I tried to shout at everybody: 'Get down! Get down! Then one by one, the soldiers took out their sapper shovels and dug a hole for themselves in the sand. The snipers were still shooting at us, and we could even hear the Germans being loaded, which showed that they were very close to us...... Sure enough, we quickly identified them from a cloud of yellow sand, and at the strong request of the deputy company commander, the battalion headquarters fired ten shells at them. Blow these damn junks to smithereens! ”

At the same time, German mortars were constantly bombarding the Scots in the trenches. However, when their gunners poked their heads out to reconfirm the location of the Scots, they found that the angry Scots had surrounded them, and soon the grenades were thrown directly at them, and the German gunners were blown to pieces.

As soon as the German lieutenant colonel Meyer returned to the regimental headquarters, he received a report from the engineer battalion: "All the anti-tank guns have been destroyed, and the British armored units have broken through our lines." They are still trying to destroy our defensive positions in depth, but we have stopped them for the time being, but the situation is far from ideal and reinforcements are urgently needed......"

Before he could finish speaking, Meyer lost contact with the engineer battalion. In a terrible mood, Meyer immediately called the division headquarters: "My line of defense has been breached. The situation is urgent, please send reinforcements immediately! However, he received the reply: "Hold the line until the last bullet, and the armored troops are on their way." ”

But for Meyer, this is no different from a blank check, and God knows when reinforcements will arrive? Before reinforcements arrived, his regiment would have been overwhelmed by the wasps. Laughing and crying, Meyer had no choice but to order all the tanks and troops he could muster to rush to fill the gap in the defensive line.

Immediately after the defense of the engineer battalion was broken through by the British, the 127th Heights became a major support point on the German defenses. However, the defenders here were really weak, with only a 105-mm artillery company (towed) and an engineer platoon. Despite being outnumbered, the Germans did not budge, the artillery used the 105mm howitzer as an infantry gun, and fired as hard as possible with the barrel, while a small number of sappers fired wildly with automatic weapons, and they blocked the Scottish Highlanders who pounced.

Despite the overwhelming superiority of the British forces, the onslaught lasted for a day without progress. Because the German artillery had plenty of ammunition, the British would attract shells as soon as they moved. Compared to the miserable Scots, the Germans fought more and more bravely, and after receiving the support of the sappers who had retreated earlier, they fought more and more.

On the first day of Operation Arena, the Glasgow Highlanders Regiment paid the price of 12 officers and 200 soldiers.

The Glasgow Highlands Regiment hit the nail, and the 9th Battalion of the Cameron Scottish Rifle Regiment was not having a good time, they were in trouble from the very beginning, the tanks of the B Squadron of the 7th Royal Tank Regiment foolishly rushed into the minefield carefully arranged by the Germans, some tank tracks were blown off, a total of 9 tanks were incapacitated, and the rest of the tanks had to stop advancing for cover.

The 9th Battalion of Cameron's Scottish rifle regiment had to go it alone without tank support. Even more unfortunate due to incorrect map labeling. The poor Scottish infantry entered their own artillery area, and one of the companies suffered heavy casualties, killing all but one of the officers. Having easily disarmed the shelling and regrouped the attack formation, the Scots, who continued to advance, fell into the trap of the Germans again, and were harvested by the side-fire of the German machine guns.

The frightened and overwhelmed Scotsman shouted and retreated, but fortunately the British tanks finally climbed up. The situation was barely maintained. However, soon the British tanks were hit by German artillery fire, and the commander of the German artillery company, Captain Hartmann, recalled how he used 105-mm howitzers against British tanks:

"In the morning, the battalion commander ordered us to retreat from our positions, and while my men were on standby, I was lying on the front of the position and observing the movements of the British. Soon I discovered that the British had gathered more than 20 tanks and armoured vehicles about four kilometers away, and I immediately ordered a halt to the retreat and asked my four artillery pieces to open fire at the same time......"

"The unexpected shelling did not give the enemy vehicles time to dodge at all, and based on the circumstances of the explosion, I judged that at least one tank was hit directly by the shell. Then all the enemy's vehicles began to retreat. The smoke and dust they produce as they retreat makes it impossible for us to aim at any targets. ”

After that, Hartmann ordered the diversion of the target and began to bombard the British infantry, and the constant artillery harassment caused the 9th Battalion of Cameron's Scottish Rifle Regiment to advance to the intended position until noon. It was also a fortified German fortress, guarded by a platoon of experienced veterans of combat and supported by two artillery batteries.

However, there is not much detailed record of the course of this operation in the history of the two sides, only that it was only at about 12:30 that the 9th Battalion of the rifle regiment arrived at the attack position with the support of tanks, and this action alone cost 6 officers and 120 soldiers. Or maybe a whole company just disappeared.

Judging by the progress of the first few days of Operation "Arena", Montgomery did not meet Churchill's requirements at all. Instead of seeing the mighty British Empire smash the German Afrika Korps, the world saw a faltering and weak force.

In the early stages of the campaign, a series of problems of the British were exposed, especially the problems of the armored forces, and the slow Churchill performed really poorly. Their poor mobility prevented them from accompanying the infantry, especially after the infantry had opened the breach, and it was difficult to quickly penetrate along the breach. By the time they arrived, the Germans had re-blocked the breach.

The British infantry generally wanted a more mobile tank to replace the slow-moving Churchill, such as the Sherman. Although the American tank was inferior to Churchill in armor defense, it was much more maneuverable, and its 75mm gun fired grenades. It is the best fortification can opener.

After receiving feedback from the front, Churchill immediately wrote to Roosevelt again, hoping that the Grand Commander would be able to support more Shermans, so that the British army in North Africa could drive out the Germans more quickly.

Roosevelt did not laugh at the British for not being powerful, because he already had a basic understanding of the situation on the European battlefield. That is, for the time being, the British army only has a little strength from the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy, and can barely fight against the Germans. As for the British Army, not to mention that it was far behind the elite German soldiers, it was also quite different from the Red Army, which was generally considered rough by the world before the outbreak of the war.

Roosevelt knew very well that it would be very difficult to drive out Rommel in North Africa by relying only on the strength of the British, so he had an idea at this time, that is, to let the American GIs land in North Africa as soon as possible and fight the Nazis together with the British. The United States is not just going to act as an arsenal of democracies, but only to supply weapons and ammunition to the British.

So Roosevelt politely declined Churchill's request, indicating that the U.S. armored forces were being massively expanded, and Sherman would give priority to supplying the U.S. army.

Naturally, Roosevelt's refusal disappointed Churchill, but he was very interested in Roosevelt's offer to send American GIs to North Africa as soon as possible. Even if he thinks that the Americans' combat effectiveness is very good, it is good to be able to open up a second battlefield in North Africa and have one more cannon fodder to share the firepower of the Germans.

Soon, at the unanimous request of the presidents and prime ministers of the two countries, Operation Torch was put on the agenda, and it was rapidly perfected, and it was certain that in the first half of 1943, the Americans would come.

But before the British can do it alone, the Americans will have to face the mess in the Philippines and consider the possibility of a Japanese attack on Australia. As for the Soviet Union, the Soviet Union would have liked to see the Americans go out to fight the Japanese and the Germans, and it would have been able to share some of the pressure.

Within the Soviet Union, three issues remained of primary concern: the defense of Kyiv, the end of the Second Battle of Bryansk, and Odessa...... (To be continued.) )