The decisive battle against the Third Reich

As a British general, Montgomery was called a "military genius" by the British. How could he let Patton, an American general who had just stepped onto the battlefield, steal the limelight? This not only related to personal honor, but also It is also related to the self-esteem of the two countries.

"Gentlemen!" Montgomery said: "I have witnessed too many mistakes and too many tragedies in this war. If we suffer another similar tragic blow in Sicily, the consequences will be unimaginable. . Therefore, what we must understand is: the war is not as simple as you think. The enemy's resistance is very tenacious. This will be an arduous battle. We must prepare for a real fight with real swords and guns. We must not fail. Realistic delusion can easily win...Such a victory only exists in the novels of artists!"

After a pause, Montgomery continued: "If we don't realize this, we will definitely suffer a disastrous defeat. Therefore, I will never agree to land at Messina. It is tantamount to risking the lives of our best soldiers." , using the happiness of their families as a bet. I have led this army to fight for more than 3,000 kilometers in Africa and achieved brilliant victories. I have promised them that I will not suffer any setbacks or failures in the future while fighting for Sicily. Before that, I will visit all the divisions under my command, and I want to tell the soldiers personally that I have 100% confidence in this expedition, and they will definitely win! "

"But!" Montgomery finally concluded: "I don't see that in this plan, I only see a gamble!"

These words won a round of applause. Patton turned pale with anger but did not know how to deal with it... Patton, who was not good at speaking, was Montgomery's opponent in this regard. Montgomery successfully packaged his selfishness in care for the soldiers, With such a humanitarian love for life, he spoke from the moral high ground from the beginning. This not only negated Patton's plan, but also dismissed Patton as someone who did not care about the lives of soldiers, viewed war too simply, and had no combat experience. , the image of a gambler who only risks soldiers.

Facts have proved that Patton's plan is completely feasible, because the Italian troops deployed by the German and Italian troops in the Port of Messina and even the Italian troops in Sicily are not as "resistance tenacious" and "hard-working" as Montgomery described. .

On the contrary, most of these Italian troops are militiamen that Italy forcibly recruited from Sicily. Italy calls them "coastal defense forces", which means the troops that defend the Italian coastline.

These "coastal defense forces" had no combat effectiveness at all, and at the same time they had no fighting morale. A considerable number of them even regarded the Allies as liberators rather than enemies.

In other words, General Patton's guess was correct.

If the attack was carried out according to General Patton's plan, the port of Messina was captured and the connection with Italy was cut off. The defenders on Sicily would soon surrender and end the campaign.

However, the Allies finally adopted Montgomery's plan, so the Germans could increase their troops to Sicily through the Strait of Messina and build a line of defense around Mount Etna to block the Allies. More than a month later, Germany and Italy The army's 100,000 troops and 100,000 vehicles successfully retreated from Sicily to Italy... This was simply a miracle when the Allies had absolute sea and air superiority.

It was a miracle for the German and Italian troops, but it was naturally a failure for the Allies... They successfully implemented the "Meat Mince Plan" to deceive the enemy, and had absolute advantages in strength and equipment, but in the end it ended in a battle. Bad fight.

This bad battle was because of Montgomery’s battle plan...

Since Patton's battle plan has been rejected, he must come up with his own battle plan.

Montgomery said at the meeting: “Based on my combat experience, I think we must follow three principles in this battle:

First: Sicily’s strategy relies on effective ground operations and effective occupation.

Second: These ground forces must rely on the navy's transportation fire support.

Third: We must quickly seize the airport on the island so that the navy and landing forces can receive more air support. "

Based on these three points, Montgomery proposed a landing plan exactly as Qinchuan had guessed: using the Port of Syracuse as a supply base, the British Eighth Army would land from the east and attack Messina Port, and the US Seventh Army would land at the Port of Messina from the east. Land from the south and attack the center and Palermo Port.

To be precise, this was not Qin Chuan's guess, but Qin Chuan's "knowledge result".

There is nothing wrong with the plan itself. It is quite satisfactory and coordinated by sea, land and air.

But if you divide it into two armies, the British and the American, the problem becomes clear:

The port of Syracuse captured by the British Eighth Army has a throughput of 1,000 tons, which means that the British army will undoubtedly be able to obtain a large amount of supplies and heavy equipment. Then they will fight on relatively empty and flat terrain to capture the port of Syracuse. Famous cities such as Tania and Messina.

The beachhead where the US military landed was very exposed, with sandbar obstacles and only a small port with a throughput of less than 300 tons. Next, they had to fight in the mountains, and they could only capture unknown towns such as Gela and Licata.

As written in the Sicilian post-war report: "The risks are not shared equitably, and almost all of them fall on the U.S. military. It can also be seen from other aspects that the U.S. military contributes more, but its reputation is small. Fortunately, Yes, we finally won!"

Of course, it is unknown whether he will be so lucky this time.

Of course Qinchuan knew the various reasons for this, which was one of the reasons why he placed the main force of the German army behind the U.S. Army's Enna Heights in the middle.

First of all, the US military has only one port with a throughput of less than 300 tons to use, which will definitely cause supply problems for the US military.

Historically, the U.S. military relied on amphibious transport ships and tank landing ships to make up for this shortcoming... Amphibious transport ships can transport large quantities of supplies from transport ships to the shore and even to frontline soldiers, while tank landing ships can transport tanks to the shore. .

But because the Allies attacked Sicily in advance, amphibious transport ships and tank landing ships had not yet been invented. (Note: The first "Duck" amphibious transport ship left the factory in April 1942, and the first tank landing ship was launched in June 1942)

The U.S. military itself is extremely dependent on equipment and supplies. Without the advantages of equipment and supplies, coupled with the U.S. military's lack of combat experience, the U.S. military is definitely a loser.

More importantly, all American soldiers were angry at Montgomery's "selfishness" and "eccentricity". They even called Eisenhower a traitor.

In this case, it would be fine if the battle was won, but if the battle was defeated and heavy losses were suffered, the fire in the belly of the US military would burn even bigger...