The decisive battle against the Third Reich

Colonel Slain is right. Due to the limitations of objective conditions, the gap between the German Air Force and the enemy is too big, and the artillery is also obviously weaker than the enemy, so night fighting is a wise choice.

Obviously, Rommel thought so too, so he formulated a battle plan early in the morning to attack at night.

"Here's the plan!" General Strike pointed at the map and said, "General Rommel will place the main breakthrough direction in the northern section, which is where the British 13th Army defends!"

There is no doubt about this. First of all, the 13th Army suffered a new defeat. Its main force, the 15th Armored Division and the New Zealand 2nd Division, were mostly wiped out in Matruh. Only a few thousand remnants fled back to El Alamein and fought with those who did not participate in the war. The Indian 4th Infantry Division together completed the garrison of the northern section of Alamein.

Because the 13th Army had just escaped back to Alamein, it had no time to restore morale and reorganize the troops, while the 30th Army in the southern section had already received at least a week's rest. So the northern section is obviously easier to break through.

On the other hand, the northern section is close to the Mediterranean Sea.

As mentioned before, the closer to the sea, the easier it is to get supplies, because supplies can be shipped directly from Italian transport ships, and at the same time, coastal port cities are the source of supplies for the enemy, such as Alexandria... which is far away from the Alamein line of defense. The shortest distance in the northern section is only 75 kilometers. Occupying this port will almost cut off the supply source of the entire Alamein defense line.

On the contrary, if the southern section of the Alamein defense line is attacked, not only will it be difficult for the German army to obtain supplies, but even if it breaks through its defense line, it will be difficult to pose much of a threat to the British supply line.

"The breakthrough point General Rommel chose is here, Dilseyin!" General Strike pointed at the map and said: "The reason why Dilseyin was chosen is because the British combined the 15th Armored Division and the New Zealand Part of the 2nd Division is deployed in El Alamein, and the Indian 4th Infantry Division is deployed in the Dil Abid area. Dilcyin is the junction of the two parts! "

The choice of this breakthrough point also makes sense. There will be many problems at the junction point between the two armies, such as which army will support them when attacked, and for example, both armies will treat the enemy as friendly forces on the other side. In addition, there are also There are coordination issues and so on, so junction points have always been the first choice for breakthroughs.

After a pause, General Strike continued: "Our mission is to pass through Dilcyin in the dark, then go around the rear of the 13th Army and go straight to Alexandria. At the same time, the main force of our army is the 15th Armored Corps. The division and the two Italian infantry divisions will arrive tomorrow morning and launch a frontal attack on the British 13th Army! "

Rommel's battle plan is perfect... A rigid line of defense is in front of him. If it were someone else, he would have no choice but to attack by force.

But Rommel would look for weaknesses in the defense line and use the armored division's mobility to break through... This is right. At this time, the 21st Armored Division was already a tired division, and the tanks were under continuous combat and bombing by enemy planes. They also suffered heavy losses. At this time, they were unable to launch an attack on the Laman defense line, but it was still possible to break through.

After the breakthrough, they drove straight into Alexandria, which was empty of troops but was an important supply area for the British army. Then the follow-up German troops arrived to form a natural pincer attack on the British 13th Army... The El Alamein defense line collapsed.

Qin Chuan was a little surprised when he heard this, because this was exactly Rommel's plan during the first Battle of Alamein in history.

Qinchuan originally thought that with his own efforts, the German army occupied so many cities and achieved so many victories that were not available before, so history should change.

But now it seems that nothing has changed, even Rommel's offensive plan is the same. If there is any change, it is that the Battle of El Alamein has been advanced.

"Sergeant!" General Strike's cry made Qin Chuan wake up.

"Do you have any objections to this plan?" General Strike asked.

Qin Chuan realized that his distracted state had caused General Strike to mistakenly think that he had objections to the attack plan.

However, there are indeed problems with this attack plan.

"Yes, General!" Qin Chuan replied.

When Qin Chuan said this, Colonel Slain and others looked at each other. This was not only because this was Rommel's battle plan, but also because they could not see any problems with this plan.

"Well, tell me what you think, Sergeant!" General Strike said.

"Our strategic intention is too obvious!" Qin Chuan said: "To put it simply, the enemy also knows that our main attack direction will be the northern section of the Alamein line of defense, and even Alexandria, so they will inevitably gather in the northern section. Heavy troops, even the defenses in the northern section are stronger!”

The officers couldn't help but nodded.

The British are not fools, and even if they are fools, after the German army captured the strategic locations of Tobruk and Matruh, they also knew that the next focus of the attack was Alexander.

"But this does not become a reason to deny this plan!" Colonel Olbridge said: "Because we have no choice other than this, and at the same time we may succeed. This is the point!"

Olbridge was right. The enemy's defenses were indeed stronger and there were more troops, but the 21st Armored Division was still capable of breaking through at one point and achieving the final victory as envisaged in the plan.

The problem is...

The German intelligence was wrong.

The dividing point between the Indian 4th Infantry Division and the British army is not at Dilseyin, where the main force of the Indian 4th Infantry Division happens to be.

So the idea of ​​the plan is very good, but the reality is very cruel. The result of the implementation of the plan is that the 21st Armored Division kicked the iron plate... It cannot be called an iron plate to be precise. The Indian 4th Infantry Division is only better than South Africa. and the more combat-effective units of the African Division.

The problem is that the Indian 4th Infantry Division has not participated in the battle before and has been recuperating on the second line. At the same time, the British army has concentrated a large number of artillery in the northern section, but the German 21st Armored Division is already exhausted... To really count, , the 21st Armored Division fought all the way from Tripoli to here, spanning a battlefield of more than a thousand kilometers, and did not have a good rest for several months.

As a result, the 21st Armored Division in history ultimately failed to pass the Alamein Line of Defense.

The result was that the Alamein Line became a trench warfare, a war of attrition that consumed all the energy of the German army and caused it to collapse.

However……

Qin Chuan's embarrassment is that he knows this but can't say it.

Did he tell General Strike that the German intelligence was wrong?

Qin Chuan was not a scout and had not scouted Dilsiyin. How could he know that it was not the dividing point between the two armies but the main force of the Indian 4th Infantry Division?

If they said that, they would definitely think Qin Chuan was crazy!