Six Hundred and Twenty-Four Egyptian Defense Lines

There is a long line of defense built by the British in Egypt. This line of defense starts from the coastline of northern Africa in the north and extends to the vast desert in the south. The entire line of defense is carefully constructed and can be called a relatively solid defense system.

Although the British Indian region was unable to produce the heavy weapons and equipment urgently needed by the British and American troops, there was no problem in producing some low-tech items, such as cement for building fortifications, as well as ammunition and guns. In the nearer Middle East, there are also many industrial facilities in the British and American countries, which can provide fuel and some maintenance parts nearby. Because of the Ganges Plain as the backing, there is no shortage of food and other supplies, which is why the British and American troops have not collapsed until now.

Because of the proximity to the Suez Canal and the presence of Alexandria as an outpost, the courage of the Italian and French navies in Tobruk was in vain. They only promised Rommel that they could prevent the British fleet from bombarding the coastline, but they did not have the courage to go to the coast of Egypt. Show off your might.

At least in the sea off Egypt, the German army has not yet fully controlled the air supremacy, and Rommel is unwilling to waste precious air power on the sea surface. After all, he has more than 100 Stuka dive bombers and more than 100 -217 medium-range Bombers need people to cover them.

Montgomery was looking at his defense map under the dim electric light. He knew that the German-Italian coalition forces on the opposite side of him were getting stronger and stronger, so he seldom rested now. When he was free, he stared at the map and thought over and over. How to reverse the current unfavorable war situation.

However, he was not Rommel after all, and he really didn't have the guts to launch a counterattack in a disadvantaged situation. He was not good at fighting disadvantaged battles, and would only choose defense to consume the opponent's time when his troops were insufficient. Compared with Rommel, he lacks a bit of talent, which can only be made up by calmness and sophistication.

While Rommel was waiting for Schörner, he checked his defensive positions over and over again, personally inspecting the layout of each position, referring to the crenel-shaped defense line of the German Eastern Front, and building support depths on the sides and rear of the position, hoping to rely on This line of defense was used to consume Rommel's superior force.

Montgomery has a piece of detailed information provided by the British military intelligence agency in Italy, which shows that Scherner himself and the 12th SS Armored Division, the most elite SS under his command, have arrived on the African front, and some infantry of the K Group Army have also arrived. Become a force that Rommel can use, and in the foreseeable future, the African Army's offensive can be said to be inevitable.

Anxiously, he dropped the pencil in his hand on the table, leaned back on the back of the chair a little tiredly, and sighed. The powerful British Empire has become history, and now the colonial government of India is discussing matters related to independence. If General Mountbatten was not there to control the scene, things might have developed to an unpredictable level.

The Americans help themselves fight the war in Africa, mostly to defend their own oil interests in the Middle East. Once things cannot be done, the Americans will withdraw or continue to stand with the British.

Only the Americans themselves can know, and the only thing they can rely on now is the British themselves.

What do the British themselves have? Some tank units from India and the Middle East are the only units that can be used. These units, together with the tanks in Montgomery's own hands, are only 680 at full count, and these tanks are not the opponents of German tanks. It's just armor power.

The Americans have recently brought a batch of powerful weapons. First, about 240 m4 medium tanks were sent to the Middle East and supplied to Patton. At the same time, in order to deal with the German Leopard tanks, the United States also sent 70 newly produced m10 "tank destroyers" to Egypt. And this m10 tank destroyer can be said to be one of the few "high-end goods" that can deal with the German Leopard tank in the world.

To say that the Americans are really a very strange country. They were not much more advanced than other countries during World War II, and they were also full of wonderful weapons in the development of weapons. It is difficult for people to connect with the current dominant world hegemon. For example, this so-called "tank destroyer" designed specifically to deal with enemy tanks is a very weird and non-mainstream design.

Acado deployed many assault guns in the German infantry army, as well as upgraded versions of tank destroyers. These equipment are classified as "self-propelled artillery" and are used by armored artillery in the infantry. And there is only one feature of these weapons, that is, compared with the tanks of the same period, they are all "saving materials".

The German classic No. 3 assault gun and No. 4 assault gun (that is, the assault gun with the Panther chassis) are designed without a turret. Although these self-propelled artillery have a little defect in the transfer of firepower, they save a lot of production time. and production resources. It fully reflects Akado's production requirements for assault guns - saving!

The United States is different. When they designed a special tank destroyer to deal with the German Leopard tank, they actually created a freak that was almost exactly the same as the tank. It stands to reason that the chassis of the m4 tank has been used, so it is over to change a turret and install a powerful artillery to become a new tank, but the Americans are paranoid and come up with something nondescript.

This new m10 tank destroyer uses the chassis of the m4 tank, but it is puzzling to reduce the armor protection on the chassis. Then it uses a turret, but does not install top armor for better visibility-you can understand it as an open m4 tank.

Then this open m4 tank has thinner armor and is equipped with a 75mm caliber cannon with an extended barrel. However, the British 76mm long-barreled gun used to strengthen the firepower of the m4 tank is not mass-produced.

This kind of artillery can penetrate the German Leopard tank at a distance of about 300 meters, but the soldiers of the American Armored Forces are not interested in this data. They do not believe that the m10 tank destroyer they are driving can approach this distance to fire .

The m10 tank destroyer emphasizes speed, but blindly loses weight because of the speed. In the end, the speed increase brought by the weight loss is not much. This kind of m10 is only a little faster than its younger brother m4, but its protection is not as good as that of the tank destroyer. Soldiers called crispy m4 tanks. And that cheating convertible design made everyone not know what to say.

What's even more bizarre is that the American designers didn't even install a machine gun on this tank destroyer! Yes, you read that right, no machine guns! Not a single machine gun! Without the directional machine gun in front of the car body, and the coaxial machine gun in front of the turret, this m10 tank destroyer has only one function - to kill the opponent's tank.

It's a pity that a weapon cannot necessarily meet the enemy it is best at dealing with on the battlefield. For example, a tank that is more advanced than all enemy tanks is likely to face a group of infantry attacks, or this strongest tank will be defeated One attack aircraft was destroyed. And the actual battlefield performance of the m10 tank, which cannot deal with infantry and lacks defense, can only be described in two words.

Fortunately, the United States is rich and powerful, and it will not be on the verge of bankruptcy just because it adds turrets to cheap tank destroyers and increases the production process. This is one of the few pieces of good news. At least the American tank destroyer has a turret, which looks more upscale than the assault gun drivers in Akado's hand... Of course, if you are not afraid of being more expensive because of the height Easy to hit words.

Therefore, every country and every nation has gone through detours and wrong paths. The difference is only how much this nation has paid for the detours and wrong paths. China took the wrong path and paid for 100 years of being bullied for it. The Germans made mistakes in another time and space. As a result, East and West Germany were divided for decades. Americans have also made mistakes, but these mistakes are covered up by its powerful face, that's all.

Speaking from the M10 tank and returning to the current Egyptian border, Rommel is inviting General Scherner, who has just arrived in North Africa, to dinner in his command vehicle. This general, who had just arrived in North Africa, wore a pair of glasses and looked gentle, but anyone who knew him knew that this gentle German general actually started out by virtue of the concentration camps on the Eastern Front and the divided management of Soviet prisoners of war.

The general apparently didn't like the harsh climate of North Africa because it covered his general's uniform with sand. And his car became obsolete at a speed visible to the naked eye, catching up with Rommel's poor convertible car that had been driving in the desert for more than half a year. In the desert environment, the barrel cars driven by the soldiers are more pleasing to the eye, because these cars are equally dirty and never cleaned no matter whether they are on the Eastern Front or in the desert.

"The weather here is really bad, and there is too much sand." Although Scheerner is the general in charge of the concentration camp, he is indeed capable of raising an army group. After all, the one hundred thousand prisoners of war under him have been properly arranged. Sure enough, hundreds of thousands of German troops are definitely a piece of cake.

While digging meat out of the can and stuffing it into his mouth, he stared at the battle map and said to Rommel and General Garibaldi sitting aside: "But the Fuehrer asked me to come here, so there is nothing to complain about. Attack When will it start? I need to prepare logistical supplies and enough shells.”

"Then, let's use an offensive as our welcome ceremony for General Scherner. In the early morning of tomorrow, the front of the Italian 1st Army will take the lead in attacking." Rommel smiled and said to Scherner: "Your The army will launch a left flank attack two days later, dragging the opponent's defense force."