The decisive battle against the Third Reich

Qinchuan knew this because this kind of "mobile defense" was a trick the Germans often played.

This can also be said to have been forced: after World War I, the German Wehrmacht was limited to 100,000 men. In order to deal with the threat of superior enemy forces on the Western Front, they developed a model different from positional defense... mobile defense.

Its characteristic is that when one's own troops are insufficient in number, superior forces are formed locally during movement to defeat the enemy. The key requirement is one's own "mobility capability." (Note: Many people think that this tactic was invented by the Germans. In fact, there were many examples of "mobile defense" in ancient China, such as the fighting method of the Mongolian cavalry and the way the famous Song Dynasty general Meng Gong fought against the Mongolian cavalry)

Facts have proved that this pioneering tactic was correct. In World War II, the German army was often inferior in strength and equipment to its opponents, but they could rely on rapid maneuvers to shuttle back and forth like "lightning". This not only allowed them to Attacking the enemy's weak points can also bring out the combat effectiveness of the troops as quickly and as much as possible.

On the contrary, due to reasons such as slow tanks and few mechanized troops, the British army seemed to have sufficient troops, but in fact not many troops were put into the battlefield at the same time... Many troops did not arrive on the battlefield until the battle was over. Troops that do not play a role are effectively equivalent to non-existence.

Qinchuan's guess was correct. The British army did spread its forces across the entire defense line to attack Tobruk. Their purpose was to disperse the German army as much as possible just as Werner said.

But as a veteran from World War I, Colonel Slaine certainly knew that the defense could not be dispersed. Otherwise, only 33 soldiers could be assigned to one mile, which means that there are only two soldiers in a space of 100 meters... This almost means that There are loopholes everywhere.

Colonel Slaine's response was to make full use of Tobruk's inexhaustible ammunition... He had only one battalion on the defense line. The German machine gunners in this battalion had all been equipped with British Bren machine guns and Vickers. This allows them to fire a large number of bullets at any suspicious points in the bunker, and then there are anti-tank guns in the bunker, coupled with trenches, barbed wire, mines... From time to time, a few illumination bombs will be fired into the air. , it can be said that the British army is unable to move forward at any point.

Colonel Slain personally led the third battalion as a mobile force within the blue line. The mobile force was distributed in three directions of the defense line in company units. The distance between companies was about 12 kilometers, and the three companies were exactly the same. Divide the 30-mile (48-kilometer) defense line into four equal sections.

These mobile units are equipped with a large number of armored vehicles and cars. The car compartments are loaded with ammunition and some even tow howitzers captured from the British army warehouse. As long as there is an emergency in any section of the defense line, such as the British army launching an attack under the cover of tanks, soon There will be one or two mobile units rushing to the corresponding positions to counterattack the German army.

But even so, the mobile troops were still very busy under the British attack, because the British army launched attacks from this direction and then from that direction, which made Colonel Sline a little exhausted.

In fact, Colonel Slaine and even Qin Chuan underestimated Major General Evans, commander of the British 15th Armored Division.

Everything the British army did was a feint, and its real offensive force was actually located in a passage in the southwest... Engineers would always build such a passage when laying mines, in order to allow their withdrawn troops to quickly and safely After passing through and entering the defense line, engineers will use mines and barbed wire to patch up this passage.

And in order for the troops to avoid being detected by the enemy and blocked by fire when passing through, such passages are often built in relatively secretive places that are difficult to find.

The Tobruk Defense Line also had such a passage, but the engineers stationed in it hurriedly added some mines to the passage when they knew that it was the German army and not the British army that was coming. However, this did not affect Major General Evans's plan.

"This passage is in the low-lying area of ​​​​this part!" Major General Evans pointed to the map and said to the staff: "There are small sand dunes on each side of it... In fact, they can only be said to be small soil parcels, but the more they are This way, the Germans won’t pay attention!”

The staff officer's eyes couldn't help but light up: "Great! We can use a frontal attack to attract the enemy's attention, use the sound of gunfire to cover up the sound of the tank's motor, and then send a force along the channel to break through the enemy's defense line and defeat it from the inside! "

Major General Evans shook his head: "We can't do this, Barritt!"

"What?" The staff couldn't help but be confused after hearing this. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to defeat the German army, but Major General Evans said "We can't do this."

"Think about it, if we defeat this German army, what will happen next?" With that said, Major General Evans turned around and walked to a simple table built with shell boxes to make himself a cup of coffee.

"They will run away!" said the staff officer.

"anything else?"

At the reminder of Major General Evans, the staff officer couldn't help but said "Oh": "They will escape back to Tobruk Port and then fight with us in street fights, which will cause us a lot of trouble..."

Evans almost spit out the coffee in his mouth. He looked at the staff officer with incredulous eyes and asked, "Barrett, how did you become a staff officer and obtain the rank of colonel?"

The staff officer couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed, because he did rely on family connections to get to this point in large part.

"Is there any problem? General!" the staff officer asked with a red face.

"Barrett!" Major General Evans asked without answering, "What do we need most?"

The staff officer suddenly realized: "Supplies! You mean the supplies in Tobruk Port!"

"Yes!" Major General Evans nodded: "If we just defeat the German army... all we can get is a meaningless defense line, a lot of corpses and a ruins. The Germans will have enough time to defeat them. Those supplies were blown up. Without supplies, do you think we can cope with the next battle? The main force of the Germans is still in Mechi, and they will not let us go!"

The staff officer couldn't help but nodded after hearing this.

You must know that the total strength of the British army is hundreds of thousands, not counting the auxiliary personnel. All these people only need 1,500 tons of water a day, not to mention fuel, ammunition and the like.

Thinking of this, the staff officer's face became solemn. He realized that the German army probably only needed to light a match to defeat the British army.

"So!" Major General Evans said: "After breaking through the defense line, this force will go straight to Tobruk Port. The intelligence we received shows that the Germans only have one infantry company there..."