"Where are the tanks of the second battalion now?" a German officer stared at his map and asked the staff officer beside him loudly, not far from him, a 150 mm self-propelled howitzer was firing fiercely, as the commander of the 7th Panzer Division, because the previous division commander was the famous Afrika Korps commander-in-chief Rommel, so his pressure was very great.

After being appointed commander of the 7th Panzer Division, it took Maj. Gen. Plitwitz nearly half a year to secure the position of division commander, during which time he tried to charge forward every time he experienced a battle, as his predecessor, Admiral Rommel, did. He tried to learn from Rommel's style as much as possible, trying to immerse himself in the larger environment of the Devil's 7th Panzer Division.

So now his command is less than 1 km from the area of engagement on the front line, and shells can even be seen falling not far away. However, the German master did not even wear his own steel helmet, but only buttoned a large-brimmed hat on his head. This is also Rommel's signature attire, and the Major General Plitwitz can be said to have learned it to the bones.

"The news just came, General, the troops of the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Regiment are now storming here to the east, they have one tank broken down, and two more tanks have been destroyed. The staff officer pointed to the map and replied to his commander: "But they repelled the attack of the Americans, destroying about 10 American tanks!"

"Order them to speed up the attack! I don't want to wait for General Rommel to arrive here, the battle is still going on!" General Plitwitz frowned and said depressedly: "In addition, let the reserves of the division headquarters go out and repel the American troops in front of you, there is no need for any guards here, give an order immediately!"

"Yes! General!" the staff officer stood up and hurriedly ran to the armored command vehicle behind him, which was a modified command model of an armored car, with a thick radio antenna on it, but the internal space was relatively small, and most commanders would rather stop the car and stand outside the car to command, rather than squat inside to enjoy the relatively safe and crowded environment.

"General, General, the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Regiment in front of us is calling, a large number of tanks on the other side are trying to break through the front of our army, they are trying to block the other side, but the number of the other side is too much, they want our division headquarters to move back some distance to ensure safety. A liaison officer ran to Major General Plitwitz's side and loudly reported the latest battle situation.

Major General Plitwitz looked at the officer, with a hint of Prussian aristocratic disdain, and reached out and patted the liaison officer on the chest, as if to help him dust off some of it: "You heard when the division headquarters of the 7th Panzer Corps retreated? Order the reserves of the division headquarters to attack and drive the American tanks back!"

"But the general! This is already within the range of the enemy's artillery! It's dangerous!" the staff officer reminded his commander to pay attention to safety.

"When General Rommel led the 7th Division through France, there were several times when machine gun bullets hit his car! I, as the commander of the 7th Division, must stand with my soldiers!" General Plitwitz said loudly to his men. After finishing speaking, he smiled and patted the liaison officer's shoulder: "Go and tell the battalion commander of the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Regiment, just say that I am here, and I will not go anywhere!"

But at this time, a shell landed not far away, splashing a patch of yellow sand. Everyone was startled by the shell, and several soldiers standing guard had already fallen down with their steel helmets, while the reckless Plitwitz still had no intention of dodging.

The order had been given, and in a short time the German tanks around the division headquarters had crossed the position where Plitwitz was located, and they were ready to move towards the section where the Americans were counterattacking, blocking back the American tanks that had broken through the German lines.

"Boom!" a shell landed on the other side of the armored command vehicle, the hull blocked the air wave set off by the explosion, everyone was shaken by the sound of the shell explosion, and many soldiers saw that the officers of the division headquarters were drowned in the sand flying everywhere, and they hurried to the place where they were hit, and found several officers from the dim smoke.

Fortunately, almost all of the officers were fine, except for a few whose ears were buzzing with shells, but when they found their division commander, they found that a piece of shrapnel had unfortunately hit him in the head.

"Medic, Hurry! The division commander has been shot! Someone!" As the engines of German tanks roared, there were many screams of soldiers. The paramedics rushed to the scene of the incident as soon as possible, but they found that Major General Plitwitz was no longer breathing.

Although the commander of the 7th Panzer Division was killed at about 10 a.m. on this day, he withstood the fierce attack of the American tank forces under the leadership of the deputy division commander, and waited until their former commander, the current Afrika Korps commander-in-chief, Rommel, arrived on the scene, and they also carried out a limited counterattack.

The battle lasted until 12:10 p.m., the Americans had lost 210 tanks and still had no intention of retreating, and Patton had apparently given the order to die, and he had no intention of bringing any of the tanks back to the area east of the Suez Canal. However, in order to eliminate these 210 Allied tanks, Rommel's tank troops lost 45 tanks, most of which were Leopard tanks, which also made Rommel feel distressed.

Next to the crater, Rommel, dressed in yellow sand, saw the body of his subordinate, Major General Plitwitz, a general who was so brave that he was no different from recklessness, lying on the ground with a peaceful face, as if satisfied that he could die on such an important battlefield.

Just behind Rommel, at a distance of about a few tens of meters, two 4-mm Bofors self-propelled anti-aircraft guns in 40 packs, which were responsible for the air defense of the Afrika Korps General Command, were adjusting their firing angles. The American offensive has been repulsed, and it has become a relatively safe place.

"Where did the flank attack go? Damn the radio communication hasn't been restored?" Rommel stared at the bodies of his men for a long time, and finally asked his chief of staff, who seemed to be in a bad mood, and his voice had a rare hint of anger.

Just as he was asking, suddenly a soldier at the guard post fired a warning shot. Everyone looked in the direction of the guard post, and saw a huge British command vehicle speeding towards it not far away.

The car was a special command vehicle for the British, and the Germans had destroyed such command vehicles, so Rommel had seen the wreckage of such a car, but the front of the car was painted with the distinctive emblem of the American army, a white five-pointed star. So even Rommel was puzzled, and couldn't tell whether it was a British or an American car.

"British?American?" Rommel muttered in a low voice, frowning, while the alert troops on the other side were already preparing to meet the enemy, and soon, a Leopard tank drove over, and the turret pointed at the British command vehicle that was approaching. The British command vehicle was a big one, and it looked so huge that it looked like an elephant.

"Prepare to fire!" The officer in charge of the guard on the side had already given the order to prepare to open fire loudly, but Rommel on the other side waved his hand and loudly denied the order to fire: "Have you ever seen idiots attacking tanks with cars? When they get closer, see what these idiots want to do!"

Soon, the car was parked next to Rommel's command, right in front of the guns of the black hole of the German tank, and the people inside opened the door, and these people were all dressed in German uniforms.

"Hey! This is the command vehicle of the Americans I captured! Why are you pointing a cannon at my trophies?" said the commander of the 7th Panzer Corps, and the commander of another Panzer Division, Lieutenant General Stryker. He walked up to Rommel in the dust and showed off his achievements with a smile: "I repelled the American tank units from the flank, and now my men are pursuing the remnants of the American soldiers." ”

"Are you crazy? Stryker, how dare you approach my headquarters in an Englishman's car, knowing that I almost ordered to fire and destroy your broken car!" Rommel rebuked loudly, pointing at Stryker.

In that case, at most, you would lose two commanders of the armored division in one day. Stryk laughed loudly, and then pointed to the Englishman's car behind him: "The space in this thing is very large, and it is very suitable for use as a headquarters and room, I deliberately gave it to you." ”

"Don't do that next time, or I'll really give the order to open fire and knock you into the sky!" Rommel slapped Stryker in the chest with his fist, and walked to the special-purpose armored command vehicle that looked really good: "This car is good, I like it very much, at least I can stand in it and stretch my waist." Where your troops are now, mark me on the map. ”

"My troops have cut through the flanks to the left of Patton's forces, and now they can only retreat into the desert, and I have ordered a 50-kilometer pursuit, and then return to here to standby. Stryk pointed to the map and reported on his results: "The sandstorm was a bit big, and the antenna of my command vehicle was broken by the wind a few hours ago, so the communication was cut off. ”

"300 tanks, Patton lost about 300 tanks, is it too fast to retreat at this time?" Rommel suddenly felt that something was wrong, and immediately gave the order to stop the attack: "Patton still has a reserve that has not been put into battle!