The decisive battle against the Third Reich

"What supplies are you talking about?" General Strike asked.

"Of course it's supplies from the British!" Qin Chuan replied.

"Do you know where the British supplies are?"

"No, I do not know!"

"Then what do you mean by getting supplies?"

"General!" Qin Chuan walked to the map, pointed at it and said, "The British have a habit of fighting, that is, they always prepare a huge amount of supplies before attacking and transport as much as possible to a position close to the front line. To be prepared, this is because the British are very dependent on supplies and they have to do this!"

General Strike couldn't help but nodded when he heard this.

Although Qinchuan did not elaborate, General Strike understood the meaning behind these words: the German army relies on supplies. In fact, any mechanized force relies heavily on supplies. Without gasoline, cars and tanks cannot move, and soldiers cannot survive without drinking water. Unable to fight with ammunition…

However, the German army was not as dependent on supplies as the British army. This was mainly due to morale, training and tactical reasons.

Because the German army has higher morale, it can often continue to fight without supplies, and sometimes even capture British equipment for combat. It is very difficult for the British army to do this.

Because the German army has better training, they need much less supplies than the British army. For example, the German army often only needs a small piece of bread and a potato for a meal, and the water consumption per person per day is only half of that of the British soldier... ...per person per day, if calculated as a division or even an army, it would be an extremely huge number.

The German army places more emphasis on precise shooting in terms of tactics... This can actually be said to be a problem with equipment. The advantages of the K98K are its long range and high accuracy. The German soldiers who use it are more inclined to shoot accurately. The advantages of the "Enfield" rifle are its rate of fire and ammunition capacity. The British army using it prefers fire suppression.

It's hard to say which one is better on the battlefield, because several "Enfield" rifles can fire in turn and even suppress the German machine guns and cover the troops' charge. Even British recruits with low training levels may be able to give them a shot in a short time. The Germans suffered heavy casualties.

But the problem is...

The problem with high rate of fire and high ammunition capacity is that more ammunition is required.

What all these problems boil down to is that the British army is much more dependent on supplies than the German army.

Colonel Slain nodded in agreement.

"General!" Colonel Slaine said: "The last time we attacked Tobruk, the British set up strongholds along the road to support their supply needs. I think the British will be no exception this time!"

"So..." General Strike moved his eyes to the map and said, "Do you think the British will accumulate supplies for three divisions nearby?"

"Three divisions?" Qin Chuan couldn't help but be shocked.

Qin Chuan was pretending to be shocked... He knew a lot of information, even things that Strike and others didn't know, but this information was not what a sergeant should know.

"Yes!" Colonel Olbridge explained: "We have just received intelligence that the main force of the British has crossed our defense line before us. They have at least three divisions, two infantry divisions and one armored division. Now They have reoccupied the Gabusali defense line!"

"General!" Qin Chuan said: "This further proves that my guess is correct. There are three divisions... including an armored division. This requires extremely huge logistical support. Even the British may think that they can They captured the Halfa Gate defense line and even Tobruk with lightning speed, and then pursued us all the way..."

General Strike nodded again.

The British army is actually fully capable of doing this, because the British have obtained a large number of American tanks, but the German army knew nothing about it before.

So, if the British originally planned to pursue the German and Italian troops all the way, they would have to accumulate a large amount of supplies close to the front line, otherwise they might lose their fighter planes due to insufficient supplies.

After a moment of silence, General Strike said: "Do you know what will be waiting for us if we guess wrong?"

Of course Qinchuan knew that if he guessed wrong or the British blew it up in time before the Germans got supplies, then the German tanks and cars would not have enough gasoline to fight the British... This almost meant that the 21st Armored The destruction of the division.

"But, general!" Qin Chuan said: "Even if we return to the Gabusali defense line, we are not optimistic. The British must be ready. Although the American tanks in their hands are not as good as ours, they do have 6-pound anti-tank guns, and The coordination of air power...even if we can win, it will be a miserable victory!"

General Strike's face couldn't help but change after hearing this. What Qin Chuan said was not impossible. They seemed to have thought the battle situation too simply.

Then, General Strike raised his head and asked the two regiment commanders: "What do you think?"

Colonel Slaine glanced at Qin Chuan, then spread his hands and said: "General, although this suggestion is indeed very risky, as the commander of the First Infantry Regiment, I understand every step the sergeant made. The suggestions turned out to be correct, so I agreed to do it!”

"I agree!" Colonel Olbrich said, "Although this may indeed lead to our annihilation, General...if we succeed, it will cause the three British divisions to lose supplies, and the British offensive will collapse! War is a gamble, isn't it? I think we should take a gamble!"

General Strike nodded, and then said to Qin Chuan, "Sergeant, if you are right, I will give each person in your company a chicken!"

So the troops quickly advanced forward in the wind and sand.

The wind and sand at this time were actually beneficial to the German army, because just as the German army failed to find that the British army had crossed their defense line, the British army also failed to find the location of the German 21st Armored Division.

The newly appointed commander of the Eighth Army, Major General Ritchie, and General Auchinleck thought that the German army would return to the Gabshali Line, so they ordered the 30th Army to actively deploy there and even mobilized the Air Force for a coordinated exercise...General Auchinleck was worried that the Air Force would not be able to identify the enemy in the wind and sand, just like the mistake they made during the Tobruk Defense War.

What General Auchinleck didn't know was that the German 21st Armored Division did not return to the Gabshali Line as he expected, but went straight to their supply base Sidioma.

However, General Auchinleck did not think that the Germans could get the supplies they had stored in Sidioma.