The decisive battle against the Third Reich

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day to my brothers!

During the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day, you can enjoy your holidays while eating mooncakes, but I can only stay at home and code... So, are you lucky or miserable?

This book will be on the shelves on the 6th of next month. I hope brothers can give me more support. It is not easy to code in front of the computer, especially now that the environment is so difficult. You will encounter mythical beasts at every turn, so that the soldiers can't make up their mind even though they want to resign several times. ...If I resign and my book is stolen by a mythical beast, I won’t even be able to drink porridge anymore. So the soldiers could only code while working. The hard work was not something outsiders could appreciate.

Brothers, please support the genuine version! One chapter only costs a few cents, but it is a great support to the author. Reading the entire three-million-word book only costs a few mooncakes, but it allows the author to continue writing and produce more and better works. Put it in front of you, why not do it?

Qinchuan once again realized the German army's "lightning" combat style. They launched an attack on the enemy's defense line almost as soon as they arrived on the battlefield.

This approach is of course correct, because the German army always has a qualitative advantage compared with its opponents.

For troops with good quality, they can exert strong combat effectiveness even if they do not have sufficient preparation time, because the soldiers all know what they should do.

For example, now, artillery sets up cannons to bombard the enemy's defense line. The tanks advance under the instructions of the infantry and the artillery fire that continues to extend forward. The infantry follows the tanks to cover and coordinate, and anti-tank guns are set up in the rear to prepare for the sudden appearance of the enemy. tank……

On the other hand, the 1st South African Division, although they had a defensive advantage by waiting for work, they were at a loss when faced with the sudden German attack. This can be seen from the bullets and artillery shells they fired indiscriminately in the direction of the German army without any target. Some shells even deviated from the German army's position several kilometers away... This made the German officers and soldiers a little dumbfounded.

In fact, it should be said that this was the first time that German officers and soldiers fought against the South African colonial army, which was somewhat unusual and strange.

The 1st South African Division is a force that can be said to be in an almost primitive state. The difference between them and primitive tribes is that they are equipped with rifles and cannons instead of spears and bows.

However, their equipment is better than that of the primitive tribes, but their tactical thinking is still that of the primitive tribes... They believe that whether guns and cannons can hit the target does not rely on the calculation of "three points and one line" or "parabolic ballistics" , they believe in gods more than these things.

To put it simply, if there is blessing from the gods, then they only need to point the muzzle in the direction of the enemy and pull the trigger to hit the target, otherwise no matter how hard they aim, it will be useless.

Therefore, the South African 1st Division often performed some rituals before a battle, such as asking a wizard to dance around the fire, or tying a piece of cloth dyed red with chicken blood to the barrel of a gun, etc.

In line with this, they also believe that there is no need to learn any tactical moves such as concealment and leap forward, because the decisive factor is of course not the marksmanship, but whether the gods have the ability to protect them... The enemy can hit accurately because of the "white man's Magic", he was hit because the "white man's magic" was more powerful than the African gods.

So everything can be explained by gods and magic.

What’s more interesting is that these soldiers of the South African 1st Division belong to different tribes... Africa is a region with the most complex ethnic composition. The area is not large and most of the areas are deserts unsuitable for human survival. There are thousands of ethnic groups and tribes scattered on the land, and there are more than 800 languages.

These different tribes believe in different gods, and different gods will have different ways of "blessing", so they will argue and even conflict with each other over whose "god" will be more effective in combat.

This is one of the reasons why Major General Alger, commander of the South African 1st Division, felt incredible when he received Lieutenant General Cunningham's request to hold the Gabusali defense line.

"God!" Major General Alger said: "I would be lucky if we could prevent this unit from fighting with each other, but we are still allowed to block the German attack?!"

"Two hours, general!" The staff officer was just transferred from the UK. He seemed very confident in this: "The lieutenant general only asked us to hold off the enemy for two hours, and then reinforcements will come!"

"Oh, really?" Major General Alger said angrily: "Let's make a bet. If you can command the troops to hold off the enemy for half an hour, you will be the division commander. How about that?"

The staff officer was speechless for a moment.

Facts have also proved that Major General Alger's words were not angry. The German army easily tore through the defense line of the South African 1st Division with a single charge. Then the tanks led the German soldiers through the gap and poured into the Gabusali defense line like a flood that broke a dike.

The soldiers of the 1st South African Division obviously believed that the white man's magic had once again defeated their gods, so they abandoned their positions and fled. No matter how angry the British officers shouted, it was of no avail.

What can play some role in this is the 80 "Valentin" tanks left by the British army on the Gabusali Defense Line... Because of their slow speed, these tanks were arranged by Lieutenant General Cunningham to defend the Gabusali Defense Line. , and the remaining 50 vehicles are on their way to the Gabusali defense line.

But these "Valentine" tanks are equipped with British two-pound guns, which are 40MM guns.

In the past, they might have been able to block the impact of the "No. 3" tank, but now the "No. 3" is equipped with a 50MM artillery...

The advantage in artillery and the coordination with the telephone made the "Panzer III" tank as invincible as the "Stuart" tank of the 9th British Armored Regiment.

What's worse is...

If the "Stuart" tank cannot be defeated, at least it can still run, but if the "Valentine" tank cannot be defeated, it can only wait for death... Its maximum speed is only 24 kilometers per hour, and it can't outrun the "Three Tanks" with a maximum speed of 40 kilometers per hour. Number".

So after a period of random resistance, the British could only use their last resort, blow up the tanks and surrender.

This is considered advanced by the British army. They did not let the "Valentin" tank fall into the hands of the German army and become an enemy weapon.

However, the Germans do not seem to pay much attention to tanks whose speed is completely matched by the "Pop 3", such as the previously captured "Matilda". Most of them were abandoned at Tobruk or the Halfa Gate defense line. Used for defense or as a mobile turret... This kind of infantry tank whose speed cannot match the maneuvering speed is a useless thing for the German army: bring it with you, it will undoubtedly seriously affect the German army's logistics and marching speed; Don't bring it with you. Tanks are a scarce resource in the desert anyway, and "Matilda" is a tank anyway.

The losses of the South African 1st Division were huge. They lost almost all their artillery units and anti-tank guns.

It’s just that most of these artillery pieces are obsolete artillery pieces by the British army. For example, anti-tank guns are still two-pound artillery pieces, and they are rusty... From this, it can be seen that the British army is actually very far-sighted. They know how to give good equipment to South Africa. Division 1 must be a waste.

The 1st South African Division dropped so many guns that the roadside was littered with artillery parts that were lying sideways or blown to pieces, and the defense line was like a cannon cemetery.

In addition, 224 soldiers of the South African 1st Division were killed, 379 were wounded, and 2,791 were captured. The other people scattered and fled into the desert, and the German soldiers didn't even have the interest to pursue them.

Werner has a good explanation for this: "Their skin is a very good protective color, and we can't even detect it if they escape into the dark!"