The decisive battle against the Third Reich

Still, many soldiers did not believe their superiors would order them into the heart of the desert.

Their idea is simple: if the army dies of thirst in the desert, can the superiors expect the army to continue fighting?

This idea is certainly reasonable, but they obviously don't understand Rommel... Rommel has always acted unconventionally, both to the enemy and to his own people.

People around Rommel commented on him: "It was like there was a never-ending engine in his body. Because of his extraordinary perseverance, he also asked his subordinates to do the same, without even realizing that ordinary normal people There are physical and mental limits!”

So, the next morning the troops received orders to cross the desert.

After hearing this order, many officers and soldiers couldn't believe it. They were even talking:

"Does General Rommel know about this order?"

"Did those idiots in Italy give this order?"

"We should ask for confirmation!"

…

But all the talk and suspicion were in vain, because it was Rommel himself who gave the order. Ironically, the Italians were the one who did not want to do this.

In fact, there is only one of these troops that needs to go deep into the heart of the desert. This was another unreasonable decision made by Rommel:

At this time, the German army did not have many troops. There was only one light division with more than 15,000 troops. Such a small force pursued the 150,000 British troops... According to traditional military principles, "the troops must not be divided", because if " "Dividing the troops" will divide the troops into several parts with weaker combat effectiveness. Obviously, this will be easily defeated by the enemy individually.

But Rommel completely ignored this principle. He divided his troops into four parts to pursue:

The first part is the 3rd Reconnaissance Group, with a strength of 1,500 men and a small number of light tanks and armored vehicles. This section advanced north along the coast road to capture the port of Benghazi... As mentioned before, the port is an important object of contention in desert operations.

The second part is the 5th Armored Regiment... It is the main force of the 5th Light Armored Division. Tanks and armored vehicles are mainly concentrated in this regiment.

This part followed the first part to the port of Benghazi, and then pushed east to pursue the British army until it reached Chile.

This arrangement is completely reasonable. The tank is not suitable for long-span penetration in the desert because it requires too much fuel and water. Its weight will make it difficult to move in the desert, and the engine will also have difficulty operating at high temperatures... It It is more suitable to advance along the coastline where supplies are easy and there are roads.

The third part is the 2nd Regiment of the 6th Infantry Brigade. Its mission is to cover the flanks of the 5th Armored Regiment a little further from the coastline, and to be ready to provide reinforcements to the 5th Armored Regiment at any time, and then intersperse to Mechili according to the situation. .

The fourth part is the 1st Regiment of the 6th Infantry Brigade. The task of this part is to start from Agdabia and draw a straight line on the map towards Tengetener, 64 kilometers south of Chile, as a marching route. To the rear of the British army.

The whole plan was laid out very cleverly. Rommel set up several traps that the British army could not imagine: the British army thought that there were only pursuers from the rear, but they did not expect that there was a force on the right wing that penetrated to Mechili, waiting for the British army to rush. When I was busy defending Meichi, I didn't expect that there was a troop of Tengger Tener that penetrated further back... one after another, like an ambush from all sides.

But as mentioned before, the German army is seriously insufficient in strength. If the British army organizes a counterattack... the consequences will be disastrous.

Qin Chuan was not worried about these, because he knew that Rommel would succeed... The British were already frightened and had no courage to counterattack. It was precisely because Rommel saw this that he dared to formulate such a pursuit plan.

What Qinchuan needs to worry about is that he belongs to the 1st Regiment of the 6th Infantry Brigade, which is the fourth part that requires long-range penetration.

The total distance is 453 kilometers, and this is a straight line distance on the map.

When Bazel Halfhand told the soldiers the news, the soldiers immediately exploded.

"Captain!" Someone asked: "It's more than 400 kilometers, how many days will it take us to reach our destination?"

"If we calculate it as forty kilometers a day, it will take twelve days!" Bazel Halfhand replied: "They gave us thirteen days!"

The soldiers were in an uproar.

"Thirteen days!" the baker objected: "I wonder if you have considered that the actual distance may be much longer than the distance on the map, and there are also problems such as sandstorms and lack of supplies, especially water and food! "

"This is indeed difficult!" Bazel Halfhand said, "But if there are no difficulties, what else do we need to do?"

When Bazel Halfhand said this, the soldiers fell silent.

German soldiers are much better than the armies of other European and American countries in this regard... If the troops of other countries faced this situation, they would probably either go on strike or rebel.

"So!" Bazel Halfhand then ordered: "The discussion on this issue ends here. You have half an hour to prepare. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir!" the soldiers responded in unison.

It's said to be preparation, but the German soldiers didn't know what to prepare at all. The only thing they could do was fill the two water bottles on their waists... The 5th Light Armored Division had no experience in desert life and combat. The only thing they did My desert training consisted of listening to several lectures on common tropical diseases. This led to the German army's cooking squads initially carrying many wood-burning boilers. After entering the desert, they discovered that there were no trees at all and they had to bring their own fuel.

"We should find some local people to be our tour guides!" Qin Chuan said worriedly.

He saw people from the munitions department filling empty gasoline barrels with water, and then carrying them into the compartment of the car... This might be the drinking water they would rely on for the next ten days.

But Qin Chuan felt that this was unreliable: What if the car broke down? What should I do if I get separated from the quartermaster unit? Or what should I do if there is not enough gasoline to drive the car?

There are many unexpected dangers, any one of which could be fatal if unfortunate enough to happen.

"This is very difficult!" Werner shook his head: "First of all, we don't understand the language, and secondly, the locals are not willing to take this risk, and they even hate us!"

Werner was right, because not long ago, the German army ignored the lives and buildings of local people during the battle, and the people were certainly unwilling to cooperate with the German army.

"But at least we should try!" Qin Chuan said.

"How to try?" Werner was a little confused: "We only have half an hour!"

Qin Chuan didn't say much, took Werner and walked towards the Italian transport team.