81_81266A German armored reconnaissance vehicle was speeding in the desert, and a German armored soldier with a scarf around his neck was half exposed, leaning on the thick communication antenna to watch every move around him.

"How can there be enemy troops in such a broken place, it is really sick for us to go so far. In the headset, the mechanics were complaining about their inactive reconnaissance activities for the past few hours.

Rommel was a very reconnaissance-oriented general, and he liked to frequently send out his reconnaissance troops to check every dark corner next to his troops, which made him well aware of the environment around his troops and provided him with the guarantee of correct combat orders.

The crevices of this armored reconnaissance vehicle were covered with yellow sand, and the whole vehicle was painted the color of yellow sand, and it can be seen from the mottled marks that they have been in desert North Africa for some time.

"Shut up, we're in charge of making sure that the advance of the large force won't be detected, and the orders from above must be carried out, understand?" the commander impatiently picked up his binoculars and carefully surveyed the surrounding terrain.

Not far away is a small sand dune full of low desert plants, and there may be a small source of water. Having a water source is good news, at least for everyone to take a break, after all, the map shows that there is still plenty of water in the vicinity.

"Take a break in that planted area and be on your guard!" the commander, who was halfway out of the turret, pressed the intercom and ordered the driver of the armored car: "Park behind the dunes and don't be spotted." ”

After some calling, two nearby motorcycles were summoned, this is a mixed reconnaissance team, responsible for reconnaissance more than ten kilometers in front of the army, they are like ancient scouts, the elite of the elite, all of them are thousands of choices, experienced veterans.

Soon the men came closer, only to find that there were already about two dozen American soldiers nearby. The two armored cars perched on top of the dunes, seemingly paying no attention to concealment. Obviously, the American soldiers didn't think they would run into the Germans here, so they all gathered on the edge of the creek behind the sand dunes and enjoyed the rare cool moment.

The Germans taught the Polish troops in Poland that they should arrange sentry guards, the Germans taught the French troops in France how to arrange sentry guards, and the Germans taught the Soviet servicemen in the Soviet Union that they should arrange sentry guards - well, it is true that they have not taught the Americans, so now it seems that the Americans have forgotten the importance of arranging guards after 20 years of not fighting.

What did Rommel do? In his book "Infantry Attack," he stressed that whenever the troops stopped, they should arrange reconnaissance and guard posts, and whenever the troops were about to attack, they should send reconnaissance troops. Of course, Patton also sent his own reconnaissance troops, which will not be forgotten by qualified generals, the difference is whether the reconnaissance troops you send have arranged their own reconnaissance troops.

Obviously, in terms of the details and experience of the troops, the German soldiers who had survived the war were much better than their American counterparts who had just joined the war. They've grown accustomed to war and are familiar with the conditions of war, and they've learned how to keep themselves alive as long as they can — and of course, these Americans have to learn, and the cost of learning is many, many soldiers' lives.

This German reconnaissance detachment was the scout of the Panzer 7th Army who followed Rommel all the way from Sedan, France, to North Africa, and their strength has been proven countless times. On the battlefields of France, these scouts broke the city and organized an attack on their own, occupying the city more than once and crushing the enemy. They are a bit like the rangers of the Mongol heyday, and more like the strikers with the heart of attacking and destroying miè.

So without any hesitation, the Germans launched an attack that was simple to the extreme. Two sidecar motorcycles and an armored vehicle climbed up the small mound, crashed through the low desert vegetation and shrubs, and appeared in front of the Americans.

Before the Americans could recover from their panicked shock, the German machine guns and cannons opened fire violently. Shells rained down on the American GIs, and the battle lasted only two minutes before it ended, with the exception of a lucky American driver who escaped by going to the toilet and was captured by the Germans.

The annihilation of more than 20 Americans was not a shocking feat, you must know that these German soldiers were accustomed to seeing dozens of people and capture hundreds of enemy soldiers. They quickly interrogated the living American driver, and then assigned soldiers to return to their units with two intact American armored vehicles.

The news soon reached the headquarters of the German 7th Panzer Army, and Rommel was confused by this information. In front of him appeared the armored forces of the Anglo-American coalition, and the scale was not small? What are you kidding?

Although the American prisoners did not reveal the full size of their troops, the German commanders at the rank and file smelled danger in some of his words. Some vague answers also revealed clues that at least the scouts belonged to an American armored infantry regiment.

No one would simply use an armored infantry regiment to carry out a flank assault, and that would not be eaten in vain by the vigilance armored troops arranged by the opponent on the flank. So you can guess without explaining that at least the opponent has more than one armored division - if you take into account the intelligence about the strength of the Anglo-American forces, then the size of this Anglo-American armored forces must not be small.

Rommel was torn, he did not know the size of his opponent, and the Luftwaffe planes that had been called to scout were desperately expelled from the airspace by British fighters, but some pilots who returned to base confirmed that the Germans had a large armored force in front of them. At this time, the radio silence had been broken, because the frequent encounters with the reconnaissance troops had revealed everyone's location, and everyone simply did not have to hide from each other.

And at this moment he didn't know whether to retreat or not, after all, this battle was carefully planned, for such a desperate battle, the German army took out most of the reserves of oil and supplies, if it was unsuccessful, if it was unsuccessful, God knows how long it would take to launch such an attack again.

Patton was also very depressed, his well-planned offensive operation had just begun to be extremely unsmooth, and the failure rate of the new tanks was quite high, so that his troops now only had 400 tanks left to use, but at this time he ran into Rommel's armored troops, and it was not very comfortable to run or not.

If he retreats, he will have to chase all the way back to the vicinity of Tobruk, at that time his fuel will be almost wasted, and he will be constantly eaten away by the attacking Rommel, and how many troops will be left when he returns to Tobruk, only God can know.

And if you don't run, it could be even worse. The American and British tank units barely had a chance of winning a sneak attack or assault battle, but if they were "just" head-on with the German armored forces, even Patton would not have a bottom in his heart. If a large number of tank troops were lost in the collision and then forced to retreat, it was estimated that the 8th Army in their hands would also be canceled.

The commanders of the two armored units were hesitating, the resources in their hands were transported to them from hundreds of kilometers away, and if they wasted one time, they would have to wait for another half a month to breathe, as two belligerent generals, Rommel and Patton were obviously not willing to just give up the opportunity to go back and wait for half a month. However, they did not dare to push their chips to the table, because the tanks in their hands could be said to be all they relied on. They are waiting, waiting for the opponent to give in, waiting for the opponent to retreat, this is the time to compete with the personal will of the general, and the contest is whose battle determination is more resolute.

As time passed, the reconnaissance troops of the two sides continued to come into contact, the Germans began to be wounded, and the casualties of the American troops rose in a straight line.

More than a dozen M3lee tanks appeared on the battlefield, expelling German scouts and recapturing a small hill full of corpses, where their brawl seemed to lure the German tanks into attack.

Soon German reinforcements arrived on the scene, and three Leopard tanks opened fire from 1,000 meters away, driving the American tanks that were not well armored enough down the hill. Both sides continued to provoke their opponents with grenades and machine guns, and for a while, because they did not receive an order to attack, no one dared to rashly attack the opposite position.

In the end, as time went by, the Chinese troops and the rear guard troops on both sides approached the battlefield, the artillery also entered their respective firing positions, and the commanders of both sides no longer hesitated, it seems that the opponent really does not plan to retreat, and at this moment they can only fight hard. Both sides were determined to fight, because they both had their own insistences, because one of them was called Rommel and the other was called Patton.

In terms of tanks, the German armored forces, which had a small number of Tiger tanks and a large number of Leopard tanks, had an absolute advantage; but in terms of artillery, the 155-mm cannon in the hands of the American General Patton overwhelmed Rommel's artillery, and the fighters of both sides fought before the ground battle.

On April 21, 1938, the 8th Army formed by the British and American forces launched an encounter with the German 7th Panzer Army in the desert