The decisive battle against the Third Reich

Werner and others are destined not to see the Americans swim back to the United States, although it is indeed very tempting to annihilate an infantry division and an armored division of the US military.

However, Qinchuan knew that the US military was ready at the beachhead.

It is true that one US infantry division and one armored division cannot withstand the attack of one German armored division and one mechanized infantry division.

However, the U.S. military has powerful naval and air forces: the United States has the most powerful air force in the world, and the second largest navy in the world... At this time, the U.S. Navy is still second in name, and the first is the British Navy, but in fact the British Navy It can no longer compete with the US Navy.

The reason is as mentioned before. The United States has strong industrial capabilities. It can mass-produce a large number of advanced warships and aircraft carriers in a short period of time. However, the United Kingdom no longer has this capability. Of course, it is only the first at sea on paper.

It is conceivable that if the German army launches an attack on the beachhead stationed by the US military, even if it can defeat the US military, it will pay a heavy price.

This is not what Qin Chuan wants, nor is it what Rommel wants.

This time, the target of the German army was guessed by Montgomery...which was the Syracuse that Montgomery told Eisenhower.

Of course, Eisenhower would not and certainly could not trust Montgomery.

Because if you believe Montgomery and move all warships and fighter planes towards the British army and prepare for it, the US military will be doomed.

But Qinchuan certainly wouldn't let the US military take it so easy.

The German army drove the US 1st Infantry Division all the way back to the seaside. The main force turned around and headed straight for Syracuse, leaving only a few small units hiding in the palm grove in front of Trapa Port.

General Patton personally commanded the beach. After all, this was the last position of the US military, and at least in the eyes of the US military, the situation was very serious... The enemy was in a palm grove, but the US military was building fortifications on the empty beach. There was not even a beach. Where the trenches were dug, the U.S. military could only use them to make sandbags and place them with thirty tanks, and then added mines and barbed wire to build a simple line of defense.

But General Patton knew that such a line of defense could not stop the German attack at all. The German artillery would dig mines out of the beach, the tracks of the tanks would easily run over barbed wire and sandbags, and the rocket launchers would shoot down dozens of vehicles. The questionable "General Grant" tank was beaten to a pulp.

The only thing the US military can rely on or survive is the dozens of warships on the sea behind it.

"General!" The signal soldier handed the phone to Patton.

Eisenhower's slightly nervous voice came from the other end of the phone: "Can we stop them, Joe?"

Patton looked at the palm forest in the darkness. A gust of sea breeze blew by, and the palm trees swayed with the wind, like a giant army rushing toward the American troops guarding the beach.

"Who knows?" Barton replied: "But I will try my best!"

Eisenhower on the other end of the phone nodded: "Don't let them come over. Remember, the artillery shells we have, we will do our best to ensure the supply of ammunition, and the defense line will be left to you!"

"Okay, Ike!" Barton put down the phone, knowing that his friend was timid.

It is normal to be timid, because the responsibility for this matter is too great... As the supreme commander of the Mediterranean Theater, Eisenhower was in principle responsible for the victory or defeat of the entire campaign.

But this is not the worst, because victory or defeat is a common thing for military strategists, and there is no victorious general on the battlefield. What's more, everyone knows that American generals, including Eisenhower, originally supported another set of combat plans, which was Patton's direct attack on Messina.

It was Montgomery who insisted on denying this plan for his own selfish reasons and proposed the current traditional, rigid plan that allows the enemy to reinforce Sicily... A considerable number of American generals believed that Enna's German army crossed the Strait of Messina from Italy. Reinforcements, if the US planned to attack the Port of Messina from the beginning, there would not be a few more divisions of German troops in Sicily.

Therefore, Eisenhower's responsibility for the entire campaign was not large.

However, if the Germans broke through the American defenses and occupied the beachhead, things would be in trouble.

This is not only a position issue, but a problem where the US 45th Infantry Division and the 2nd Armored Division have no way to retreat.

Behind is the sea. Although there are many warships there and many lifeboats prepared, there are more than 30,000 people in the two divisions, and there are German machine guns behind them...

What's more serious is that the remnants of the defeated 1st Infantry Division scattered in the jungle and the 3rd Infantry Division in the direction of Palermo have no way out.

By then, large numbers of American soldiers will be killed or have no choice but to surrender. This is definitely a great tragedy for the US military.

And all of this was caused by Eisenhower, because he agreed to this plan that was obviously unfair to the US military. The American military and civilians will vent all their anger on Eisenhower, and Eisenhower will completely Become a "traitor" and a "traitor".

Patton held a cigar to his nose and smelled it, but he did not dare to light it because he knew the Germans were in the palm grove.

What are they afraid of?

Patton thought that they were worried about the fleet behind the US military and the large-caliber naval guns on the warships.

But in fact, even Patton himself was not sure whether these naval guns could withstand the German attack... There was a common military view in this era that naval guns were not suitable for providing fire cover on the other side.

This may sound a bit ridiculous, because in modern movies, naval guns bombard the shore and then blow up the bunkers, cars, etc. on the shore and fly into the sky in an instant.

But actually it makes sense...

The naval gun is on the warship, the warship is on the sea, and the sea water is constantly fluctuating. Especially when the warship fires the gun, its huge recoil will cause the warship to shake violently on the sea surface.

Therefore, aiming on a warship and aiming on a shore are two different things:

The artillery on the shore can control the error within 100 meters according to the adjustment. That is to say, Zhu Yuan is right about everything. After firing, the artillery shell may still deviate from the target by 100 meters.

The same situation applies to naval guns, that is, everyone is right, but the shells may deviate from the target by one kilometer after firing. In addition, in actual combat, the distance and speed of the target are not accurately grasped, and it is normal for the shells to deviate from the target by several kilometers... This This is also the reason why naval battles often require volley fire, firing a row of shells at the same time and relying on luck to hit the target.

According to British battleship statistics, the average hit rate of the 15-inch (381MM) MARK1 naval gun is only 2.17%, which means that only two hits out of a hundred rounds, and this is just a hit.

It is precisely because of this that most of the naval guns of modern warships use extended-range guided shells... There is no way, the hit rate of traditional naval guns is too unreliable.