The decisive battle against the Third Reich

Then Colonel Olbridge understood: the "Matilda" tanks fired some shells during the battle to make them lighter. In addition, the "Matilda" tanks had more road wheels to make them drive more smoothly. This also makes it less likely to sink into the sand.

But it also means a tipping point has been reached.

Colonel Olbridge ordered the armored car driver to stop, then stood up and said to himself in the direction of the British army: "A little further, a little further..."

A shell exploded next to Colonel Olbridge's armored vehicle. It was obvious that the British tank had discovered this eye-catching German officer. More importantly, the German officer had entered the range of the tank gun.

Then came a few more artillery shells... The "Matilda" tank is different from the "Crusader Tank". This tank is mainly an infantry tank used to cover infantry charges, so it carries more high-explosive bombs that can kill infantry.

"Colonel!" The driver couldn't help but become nervous: "They found us, we should evacuate!"

"No!" Colonel Olbridge replied calmly: "Just wait and see the good show, Kurt, they are finished, but they don't know it yet!"

Lieutenant Colonel Burton on the other end also became excited because he saw that victory seemed to be right in front of him. The German officer had given up escaping, and the other German soldiers were getting slower and slower... They seemed to have reached the limit of their physical fitness. .

"Speed ​​up!" Lieutenant Colonel Burton shouted into the intercom: "All units, full speed forward!"

Lieutenant Colonel Burton no longer cares whether the "Matilda" will malfunction. As long as half of these fifty tanks can successfully rush into the enemy's position, the Germans will be finished!

"These hateful Germans!" Lieutenant Colonel Burton scolded: "Let you have a taste of the power of 'Matilda'!"

Before he finished speaking, the tank slowed down and then stopped moving.

"What's going on?" Lieutenant Colonel Burton asked.

Lieutenant Colonel Burton's first reaction was that the tank had malfunctioned, but he clearly heard the roar of the tank engine again.

"Lieutenant Colonel!" the driver replied: "I think our tank may have sunk in!"

"Damn it!" Lieutenant Colonel Bolton couldn't help but cursed.

At this time, Lieutenant Colonel Burton did not realize the seriousness of the problem. He thought that his tank was stuck and unable to move due to accidental circumstances, until another tank reported: "Lieutenant Colonel, Tank No. 8 is stuck in the soil and cannot move." move!"

Only then did Lieutenant Colonel Burton realize something. His face suddenly turned pale, and then he grabbed the phone and shouted: "Stop all tanks! Repeat, stop all tanks!"

But it was already too late. One tank after another rushed into this critical zone and got stuck in the sea of ​​sand one after another... No matter how hard they throttled, the tracks were idling in the sand. In fact, they were not idling, but Plowing up the sand in front of the tank made the tank sink deeper, so after a while no one dared to use the gas anymore.

Colonel Gerner, who was watching from a distance, didn't even know that the tank troops had fallen into the trap. He asked his staff: "What's going on? Why did they stop?"

"I don't know, Colonel!" the staff officer replied.

"Colonel!" A communications soldier with a microphone in his hand shouted to Colonel Gerner: "Our tank is stuck in the sand and cannot move. Lieutenant Colonel Burton is asking for reinforcements!"

"What?" Colonel Gener was stunned when he heard this: "But how is this possible? German tanks..."

Suddenly Colonel Gerner realized that the German "Plank 3" tank was much lighter than the "Matilda" tank, so he stopped talking and opened his mouth blankly on the spot.

After a long time, Colonel Gerner came back to his senses and shouted: "God, the Germans didn't bring us here intentionally!"

"Colonel!" the signalman shouted again: "Lieutenant Colonel Burton is requesting reinforcements!"

"Quick!" Colonel Gerner shouted: "Send the anti-tank troops up and build a line of defense to cover those tanks. The engineers will find a way to get those tanks out!"

"Yes!" the staff officer responded and immediately conveyed the order.

Usually at this time, the British army should abandon the tanks and escape, but Colonel Gerner knew what this meant... It was not just a matter of dozens of tanks, but also the German army encircling the right wing and inserting it into the British defense line. The problem of the complete collapse of the British defense line.

Therefore, Colonel Gerner did not dare to give up easily. He hoped that he could temporarily use anti-tank guns to resist the German attack, allowing the engineers to have time to develop the tanks.

Colonel Gerner believes that there is still a great hope of success. After all, the thickness of the armor of the "Matilda" can disdain the entire German army... and those "Matildas" are just stuck in the sand and unable to move, but they are not unable to fire. , as long as they can withstand one or two waves of German attacks, the engineers will have a chance to change the situation of the war.

However, this was just wishful thinking on the part of Colonel Gerner.

Colonel Gurner was right about one thing. The "Matilda" tank was indeed just stuck and unable to move. There were no problems with the tank gun and so on.

The issue is……

Once the tank sinks into the sand, its head will tilt downward, and the inclination angle of the tank is very limited. At the same time, if the tank body is unbalanced, it will not be able to rotate the turret to find the target... This will make it impossible for the gunner to shoot at all.

In other words, most of those "Matilda" tanks were iron lumps that couldn't shoot.

Of course Colonel Olbridge would not miss this opportunity. He waved his hand in the direction of the British army and said only two words: "Attack!"

The sound of artillery soon started. They were howitzers and 80MM caliber mortars behind the troops. Their targets were very clear, those British anti-tank guns that came for reinforcements... British 6-pound anti-tank guns. Although its armor-piercing ability is better than the German PAK36, its weight is three times that of the PAK36. This means that it needs to be towed by a car most of the time. If it is pushed manually, it will require a lot of people and the speed will be very slow.

This made the target of the British anti-tank artillery unit very large. After the shells passed, the desert was littered with parts of cars and anti-tank guns.

Even if some anti-tank guns were lucky enough to be deployed on the front line, they were quickly blasted into the sky by the shells of the "Panzer 3" tank... The "Panzer 3" tank was not as slow as the "Matilda", nor was it as slow as the "Matilda". Unlike the Crusaders, which lacked high-explosive shells, they moved into range and destroyed the British anti-tank guns before they had time to load them.

And this is just the beginning, groups of infantry are rushing forward behind the tanks...

The situation of the battle suddenly reversed. Originally, the British army attacked the German army, and it turned into the German army attacking the British army.