81_81266000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 This is the most suitable battlefield for the decisive battle of the German armored forces, and this is the position that the generals yearn for the most. The reason is simple: it's vast and uninhabited, there are no cities to stop it, and it's a haven of war.

The battle on the periphery has been over for more than ten days, and Rommel has achieved brilliant results. However, he did not have time to argue with the British prisoners, and after handing them over to the arriving Italian troops, he led his Afrika Korps on a long expedition.

He pursued the retreating British 9th Army, all the way to the core of British defense, Tobruk, who had hoarded a large amount of supplies. In the past ten days, his troops have been fighting every day, biting the troops behind the British 9th Army, chasing and killing hundreds of kilometers in one go.

Rommel leaned back in his convertible car seat at this moment, and on his head was a frameless plexiglass goggles with a bezelless big-brimmed hat, which he had captured from the British surrendering generals, and he liked the unique goggles with a somewhat exaggerated shape, which allowed him to cover his eyes when the wind and sand came.

There was no rest for a few days, and Rommel was exhausted from the chase, so that as soon as the troops stopped to rest, he was already asleep in his seat. A huge armored command vehicle was parked next to the open-top car, and several combat staff officers were smoking and chatting in the windy place.

No one knew where this long-distance attack was going to go, but everyone could see from the map that they were getting closer and closer to Tobruk, which was heavily guarded by the British. German and British tanks and cars were scattered everywhere along the way, and it was a completely self-destructive crusade.

The Germans pursued the Germans from two tank regiments all the way to a tank battalion, and General Frederick of the 7th Infantry Corps fell behind halfway through, and now he is still trying to help Rommel collect the stragglers and build a supply and water supply station about 110 kilometers behind Rommel.

Only a tank battalion of the 7th Panzer Division and a mechanized infantry regiment of the 7th Infantry Corps followed in Rommel's footsteps. So now Rommel's troops are not even the size of a division, at most they can only be regarded as a strengthened regiment. Just two hours earlier, the British forces had again been forced to counterattack Rommel's pursuit, and a division of British units had turned around and stormed Rommel. The attack was repulsed by heavy German counterattacks, but Rommel also depleted his precious ammunition.

Now the wind and sand are getting stronger and the time is close to night, so Rommel's troops stop to rest. A third of the ammunition remained, as did not much food and fresh water. The worst of all was the interruption of the oil supply, which made Rommel restless.

After about ten minutes of sleep, Rommel opened his eyes. He got up from the car, jumped onto the gravel and walked towards his armored command vehicle. The radio had been set up, and there were some ammunition and empty oil drums piled up around it. Rommel took the kettle from a staff officer, took a sip of the gasoline-smelling water, then screwed the lid of the kettle and handed it back to the staff officer.

Because of the limited number of containers for storing fresh water, the Germans liked to use empty gasoline barrels to fill them with more drinking water, which made the water less palatable, but could save their lives in times of crisis. As for the laundry -- you can put the laundry in the sand and rub it a few times, that's how the Afrika Korps does the laundry, how about it?

"Where is General Frederick now?" Rommel was concerned about when his follow-up troops would catch up, knowing that he had become a legend, a star of the Third Reich. In a dozen days, he commanded the troops to advance hundreds of kilometers, and such a fast offensive speed set a new world record. And such a rapid advance also made the people in Berlin crazy, and this feeling of being sought after and supported by the people made Rommel a little fluttering, which was one of the reasons why he was in a hurry to take Tobruk.

Another reason for his constant offensive was the pressure of logistical supplies, which could have caused the attacking troops to stop, but Rommel used this pressure as a clarion call to urge him to move forward.

He was accustomed to having someone in the rear to take care of his trivial logistical problems, and to the efficient and timely logistical supply of Germany. So when the Italian officers beside him regretted that the supplies had been consumed, he was furious, and he decided to take Tobruk and subsidize himself with the oil and fresh water of the British.

However, Rommel proved to underestimate the importance of logistics and supply to the German armored forces, and the combat capability of the German troops was greatly weakened in the case of almost cutting off supplies. Not to mention General Frederick's 150 mm guns and bulky 88 mm anti-aircraft guns, Rommel found that none of the more mobile Leopard assault guns could keep up with his rapid advance.

Modern warfare is not only about the number of planes and tanks on the front line, nor is it just about the brave and fearless spirit of soldiers, but also about the total amount of ammunition in reserve, and about fuel, spare parts, transportation, and even scheduling.

It was precisely because of the various failures in the non-stop advance of the tanks that the number of tanks in Rommel's hands became smaller and smaller, first several tanks needed to be replaced and fell behind, and then the entire company and battalion of tanks were forced to stop and clean their engines and exhaust pipes because of this problem.

However, the British tanks were scrapped more, and the average German tank broke down, and a few British discarded cars and tanks could be found around, which is why Rommel kept chasing, as long as the British suffered more losses, it was enough.

He constantly used paralyzed tanks to remove spare parts to ensure the integrity of the armored troops in his hands, and at the beginning he was able to secure the strength of a regiment, but now he can barely maintain the tanks of an armored battalion to continue to advance.

Rommel set out with his back to Italy's military airfield, and his troops only had to call for reinforcements, and the air force would respond in about minutes. But now he has almost completely lost his air superiority, and the military airfields in the far vicinity of the ****** simply cannot ensure air supremacy near Tobruk.

Looking at the dozen tanks not far away, Rommel moved his mind to retreat for the first time. He had received an order from the Army General Staff to halt his advance, and Tobruk had never been so close, but looking at the map he felt that the British fortress was so far away from him at this moment. There were more and more British defenders in front of him, and the counterattacks were becoming more and more fierce, which made him smell a hint of crisis.

"General Frederick is still gathering the stragglers here, and he has set up a defensive position in a ring and a freshwater purification station by the sea. A staff officer pointed to the location on the map and said: "Ten minutes ago he sent a telegram saying that he was inspecting a place and preparing to build a front-line airfield. ”

"The British counterattack just now, they dispatched 3 planes and blew up 4 of our trucks, we lacked anti-aircraft fire, and the British counterattack just now was in front of the 1st battalion, and we lost two armored reconnaissance vehicles, which belonged to the battalion headquarters of the armored battalion. 27 soldiers were killed, another 35 were wounded. "Following Rommel was the commander of the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Regiment of the 7th Panzer Division, whose clothes were covered with grit and looked a little sloppy.

Rommel nodded, he had seen the encounter take place with his own eyes, and he was confirming his position when an armored reconnaissance vehicle not far from him was hit by a sudden British shell, and a fierce battle ensued, and the battle lasted for nearly two hours.

"Send reconnaissance troops to both flanks! I want to confirm the position of the British troops on both flanks. Rommel thought for a moment and arranged for the commander of the 1st battalion: "If the British troops appear on our flanks, then we will immediately begin to retreat...... All troops were ordered to be ready for battle, and I feared that the British counterattack was about to begin. ”

After assigning the tasks of the front-line troops, he turned his head to look at his chief of staff: "Confirm the information with General Frederick, I need to know whether the commander of the British * team on the other side is a Montgomery ......."

He paused, then continued: "Also, let him not rush forward, and set up defenses on the spot. ”

"General!" a telegraph officer jumped out of the command car, stood beside Rommel, and handed Rommel a telegram: "The Supreme Command is calling! ”

"Führer?" Rommel was stunned for a moment, then continued: "Read!"

"I am Accardo Rudolph, and I order you to halt the offensive for the time being, and wait for the new High Command to arrive. The telegraph officer read the message out of the air.

Rommel smiled bitterly, took the telegram and looked at it: "It seems that the Führer does not approve of my attack on Tobruk, but now it seems that I can't run if I want to." Perhaps the offensive of the British, has already begun. ”

Just as Rommel smiled wryly, across his position, an American with a steel helmet on his head was watching his tank rumble past him. He had a cigar in his mouth and a haughty look on his face.

The soldiers who followed the tank were not wearing British steel helmets with large eaves, but American steel helmets with flat eaves. This unit is the American Volunteer Army unit that Montgomery has taken over the command, and the commander of this unit just spit out a puff of white smoke, sneered and said: "Let me let the American tank unit commanded by Patton meet you, a world-famous tank combat expert." Erwin Rommel. ”。