Iron Cross

"Although Guderian gave us a hard blow, it actually did not shake our foundation. On the contrary, it exposed its weak nature - the balance of strength between the enemy and ourselves did not worsen after this battle. On the contrary, it happened that was very beneficial to our side. "De Lagan obviously made full use of the Italian intelligence and analyzed it to Montgomery in a very firm tone, "Judging from the comparison of military strength, Guderian has less than 50,000 people, among whom there are at least 50,000 people. The 30% unreliable Italians, after experiencing the ruthless abandonment of the Italian infantry on the northern front, their remaining fighting will can be imagined. Even so, the strength ratio between the enemy and ourselves is 1:4; from the perspective of tanks, The Germans and Italians have less than 500 tanks in total. Although we have suffered some losses, we still have nearly 1,200 tanks. The ratio is 2:5. Considering the poor performance of the Italian tanks in Guderian's hands, this ratio is It can be regarded as 1:3; although Guderian has received some reinforcements in terms of aircraft, the strength ratio is still above 1:2, so we still have an absolute advantage, so this battle is not impossible. "

"Can the intelligence provided by the Italians be trusted?"

"I think it's basically certain that they don't need to tell lies to us. This will not be of any benefit to their future career as captives." De Lagan sneered, "The Italians are very angry with Guderian for abandoning them, and they can't wait to do so." See him unlucky."

Montgomery stood up and made up his mind after turning around a few times: "Then prepare to mobilize troops and launch an attack tomorrow morning. Use a two-way pincer offensive to advance towards Tell Akakir. First, use the armored forces to advance quickly to open the door." gap, and then the infantry follows up to break through.”

"Not building a complete encirclement?"

"There is not enough time, and," Montgomery sneered, "I have to chase Guderian all the way to Tobruk, chasing him like a lost dog."

Just when Montgomery was determined to eliminate Guderian in a two-pronged attack, Guderian, who was in Tell Akakiel, received the reinforcements he had been waiting for - the 4th Armored Division transferred from the Eastern Front battlefield. The 35th Armored Regiment was an old subordinate he had led on the Eastern Front, and its leader, Colonel Collingwood, was a general he was familiar with.

"Has it gone well on your journey?" He asked concernedly about the situation while shaking hands with the dusty Collingwood.

"It went very smoothly. Our entire division withdrew from the Eastern Front at the end of August. We first returned to China to rest for seven days and made necessary reinforcements. Then we took a train to Italy. As the vanguard, our regiment set out from the Italian port to Tobruk five days ago, and then We arrived all the way here. The division commander, Major General Aberbach, and other troops are still in Italy, and they will bring the follow-up transport ship over."

After receiving the fuel provided by Hoffman, the Italian Navy finally escorted the transport fleet more generously. Due to the small actions of Guderian and Kesselring on the coded telegram, the British fleet in Malta, which did not get the exact information, did not act like before. The navy was dispatched to harass, and only more than 20 bombers were dispatched, but they were severely beaten by the German fighter jets that escorted them all the way.

Collingwood witnessed the whole process as a witness: "I saw at least 14 British aircraft being beaten down. If they had not escaped quickly, the damage to the rest would have been greater, because the number of fighter jets covering the clouds was huge. Far more than I imagined. The transport fleet suffered almost no losses. Only one ship was hit by a similar bomb. As a result, there were no members of our group except the equipment on that ship. Only two unlucky Italian sailors died. Later, the plane The Italians on the ship were all envious of us, saying that we only received such good treatment when the German troops were reinforced. The head of state arranged a naval escort and dispatched a large number of fighter jets. The Italians would not have been so lucky. "In the past, their supplies were mostly sneaked in by transport ships, and even the slow and large oil tankers were not covered by warships."

"It's true. They didn't lie to you." Guderian nodded. "Transporting supplies used to be a very dangerous thing. You have to be prepared every time to never come back."

"Oh my God." Collingwood's eyes widened. "Isn't this a ready target for the British? I have to remind the division commander to coordinate the escort before coming."

Guderian was very satisfied with this result: Strengthening the escort of the Mediterranean supply route was a strong request from him and Marshal Kesselring. After retreating from the front line, Garland led the Air Force Udet Wing and it seemed that he had made a contribution this time. However, the original fighters of the Eighth Air Force in North Africa were basically Bf-109s. These short-legged guys could only confront the British at the desert frontline airport, and were not suitable for such a task of covering the fleet throughout the entire process.

"Sir, thank you very much for sending us to fight in North Africa." Collingwood said with emotion while looking at the long yellow sand around him, "Originally, the 1st Armored Battalion of our regiment was to be sent out to form the 15th Armored Battalion. Orders were issued for the mission of the backbone of the Armored Regiment. Later, when the General Staff heard that you designated us to come to North Africa to participate in the war, they returned the 1st Battalion that had been taken away to us, and also strengthened and replenished the personnel and equipment. Now the entire regiment We have strong troops and great morale, including 96 tanks. Look, they are coming."

"This is..." Following the direction of Collingwood's finger, Guderian looked at the approaching tanks through the telescope and suddenly showed a look of shock, "This is not our tank, this is the Russian T-34! Although they are painted with our army's armor camouflage, I recognized it at a glance. How did you get it? Did the Führer and Stalin secretly cease fire?"

"Cease fire?" Collingwood laughed, "Sir, you think too much! These are all tanks we captured from the Russians. Stalin will not give them to us for free."

"Your division alone has so many captured tanks? This is impossible!" Guderian showed deep doubt, "Where are your original tanks? I mean those No. 3 and No. 4?"

Since Operation Barbarossa, many T-34 tanks have been captured on the Eastern Front. Due to insufficient armored forces, these captured vehicles were painted with the Iron Cross logo and retained. Considering the possibility of accidental hits, they were rarely incorporated into armored units. They were generally used as assault guns to accompany infantry operations. Due to the lack of parts, they were not taken care of and were discarded when slightly damaged. Therefore, Guderian was very shocked by the complete T-34 tank formation that appeared in front of him.

In fact, the T-34 was a very successful tank. Before the German long-barreled No. 4 tank and the Tiger and Panther came out, it overwhelmed all German tanks. It was also strong and durable with a low failure rate. Therefore, Hoffman suddenly decided to use it on the North African battlefield. Anyway, the opponents were British and American tanks and there was no possibility of accidental hits. At the same time, after occupying Kharkov and obtaining the original Soviet T-34 factory, he decided to move the incomplete production line to the Skoda Arsenal to continue producing complete vehicles and parts. Hitler looked down on these, but Hoffman didn't mind. As for the T26 and KV1, although they were not so successful, they could also adopt the policy of "taking what is useful". The T26 can be effectively transformed into a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun, and the KV1 can be modified into a 105mm howitzer to get rid of the high failure rate caused by overweight, and become a weapon for infantry attack.

"Of course it is impossible. They are drawn from the entire army group."

"Why?"

"Don't you know the current policy of tank supply on the Eastern Front?"

"I don't know. After receiving the transfer order, I flew directly to North Africa and never went back to the Eastern Front for a day." Guderian asked in confusion, "What new situation has occurred?"

According to Hoffman's requirements, these T-34s will be directly incorporated into the armored forces after necessary tropical modifications. Therefore, it is recommended that the Supreme Command should uniformly collect the captured T-34 tanks from each army group and hand them over to the reinforcements for use. In order to encourage the enthusiasm of the front-line troops, the Eastern Front Quartermaster Department introduced a policy that for every intact T-34 (or three damaged ones that could still be repaired in the factory) handed in, the Quartermaster Department would provide an additional Type 4G as a replacement after evaluation. Since the T-34 on the Eastern Front could only be used for infantry combat, all army groups were happy to make such a replacement.

Guderian, who had figured this out, laughed and immediately asked, "There are usually a lot of T-26s and KV-1s on the Eastern Front. What are the prices?"

"These prices are not high, but you can negotiate with the people in the Quartermaster Department." Collingwood laughed, "You don't know, the bargaining in the Army Group Headquarters that day was as chaotic as a vegetable market. All the tanks and accessories of our division were replaced with T-34s and corresponding accessories, and we also found a lot of extra shells. The price was so cheap that people were embarrassed to ask. Now our division has a full set of T-34s, and it is qualified to be pulled out to pretend to be the Russian Tank Guards. When you shout charge, we will shout 'Ura'. No, we are still short of a political commissar to make a mobilization speech."

When these words came out, everyone around laughed.