The decisive battle against the Third Reich

The staff did not dare to wake Montgomery because of previous lessons.

On his first day in office, Montgomery went to bed early after a busy day.

Before dawn the next morning, he was politely woken up by a staff officer.

Montgomery immediately got angry: "Who gave you the right to disturb the army commander's rest?"

The staff officer couldn't help but be stunned.

"General!" the staff officer replied: "General Auchinleck ordered us to notify him at any time if there is any situation!"

"I'm not Auchinleck!" Montgomery said: "Go and tell all the staff officers. If you have anything to do, go to the chief of staff, General de Guingamp, and he will choose whether to report it to me!"

If the same thing happened in China, most people would label it as "bureaucracy."

But Montgomery's explanation is that the commander needs to get sufficient rest so as to ensure a clear mind and make correct judgments.

This does not mean that Montgomery is wrong, but this idea is more suitable for a white-collar worker who clocks in at the company on time, rather than an army commander... Because war and fighter planes wait for no one, and there is no such thing as "on time."

After waiting for half an hour, the staff finally waited until Montgomery got up, so he hurriedly handed over the documents.

"General!" the staff reported: "The Germans have deployed snipers on the front line!"

Montgomery couldn't help but frowned and asked: "Can't General Guingamp solve this problem?"

Montgomery has always left specific tactical issues to his subordinates to complete. He sits at the headquarters and only implements strategic command.

In his opinion, the issue of snipers is a tactical issue rather than a strategic issue.

"No, General!" the staff officer replied: "It was General Guingamp who asked me to give you this document!"

Montgomery stood up and put on his coat, took off the beret from the shelf, put it on his head, and straightened it in front of the mirror... This beret is unique to Montgomery, with the two cap badges of General and Royal Tank Regiment on it. , so it is called the "double emblem beret".

Then, Montgomery took the document from the staff and walked to the headquarters while flipping through it.

Montgomery frowned on the way. He realized that this battle was not just a matter of a few snipers as he had imagined before.

"General!" Degangan, who was extremely busy, saw Montgomery as if he were seeing a savior.

"How many men did we lose?" Montgomery asked.

"There are about more than two hundred people so far!" Degangan replied: "Although the number of casualties is not high, the frontline soldiers have endured a lot of psychological pressure. They can only stay in the trenches and cannot perform any work outside the trenches! "

"How many snipers did the Germans send?" Montgomery asked again.

"We have no way of knowing!" Degangang replied: "We are helpless against them. We use tanks, cannons, and airplanes... We have all these things. The problem is that we don't know where he is hiding!"

After thinking about it, Montgomery said: "Then, let the soldiers stay in the trenches!"

"What?" Degangang couldn't help being stunned when he heard this.

"The purpose of the Germans is to consume our ammunition!" Montgomery said: "This way they can buy more preparation time!"

Degan Gang couldn't help but nodded after hearing this: "So, we shouldn't waste ammunition on them, but should save as much ammunition as possible!"

"Yes!" Montgomery said, "ignore those Germans and let them bask in the sun!"

It should be said that Montgomery is relatively accurate in looking at problems in the general direction, so sometimes people really can't be bothered by too many small things. This will make themselves mired in them and unable to see the really important things.

Just like now, Montgomery's idea is actually right. No matter how hard it shakes, I will remain firm. It also has the meaning of "what remains the same will change" in the Chinese art of war... As long as the British soldiers hide and hide well, the Germans will What can snipers do to them?

Charge towards the British position? This is obviously what the British army wants.

As for the occasional few soldiers who were accidentally killed by German snipers... that would not have any impact on the outcome of the battle, so it was of no importance from a strategic point of view.

But Montgomery obviously underestimated the German tactics.

When it got dark, the sniper team retreated along the original route.

It was not easy to lurk for a day. Many soldiers had their pee and feces in their pants... Everyone knew that they should empty their intestines and stomach before setting off, but this thing could not be emptied just because they wanted to.

On the other hand, the intensity of the real battlefield cannot be compared with exercises and training. This caused at least half of the soldiers to be carried into cars after climbing out of the British army's observation range.

However, their hard work was worth it. After counting after returning, they killed at least 212 British soldiers at the cost of 15 people.

And this doesn't mean it's the end.

The German snipers' daytime sniping actually also served the purpose of opening up channels and conducting reconnaissance... The lurking point was only more than 400 meters or even closer to the enemy's defense line, which meant that the mine clearance had already been arranged in front of the enemy's defense line.

Of course, only the Germans themselves knew about this passage.

At the same time, the sniper will also record detailed information on the front line, such as the location of the barbed wire, the direction of the trenches, the number of troops, etc.

Then when the sniper returned, the German commando followed the passage opened by the sniper and touched it.

The maps drawn by the snipers were so detailed that the commandos, like old horses who knew the way, penetrated the minefields to the enemy lines and prepared for battle.

At this time, the British army was exhausted from being tortured by German snipers during the day. They finally relaxed at night, so they all fell asleep in the trenches.

At this time the German army suddenly launched an attack.

They could have penetrated the British trenches, but this did not seem to be a good idea in the dark, because it would cause confusion and the Germans themselves would not be able to identify ourselves and the enemy.

And they didn't need to do this. They had 50MM mortars in their hands, which had a range of 300 meters and a very fast rate of fire. In a burst of "bursts", they drove a string of mortar shells into the British trenches.

Immediately afterwards, the German soldiers who had touched the front of the trench threw out another round of grenades, which blasted the trench for a while and then retreated immediately...

Their purpose was not to occupy the position, let alone break through the British defense line, so they did not launch a charge.

Of course, this is also due to the lack of German troops. As mentioned before, it is not cost-effective to exchange German soldiers for British soldiers.

But this is also a headache for the British army, which makes their "box defense" basically ineffective.