My Italian: Chapter 694 Battle of Egypt 5

Admiral Murray has been thinking about how to defend against the enemy's machines that can move across the battlefield. If he couldn't think of it himself, he mobilized everyone to think about it together. Therefore, after finishing their work, the officers in the headquarters began to think about how to deal with the enemy's strange machine that could move across the battlefield.

After some investigation, the British intelligence agency finally knew that this weapon had a very special name tank.

At that time, the head of the British intelligence department was stunned after receiving this information. Is it serious to name this weapon a water tank?

Shouldn't this be called a tracked combat vehicle?

Of course, British intelligence not only knew the name, but also knew that Italy had been working on tanks for a long time. However, due to the excellent secrecy of the other party and the lack of awareness of intelligence personnel, it is difficult to pay attention to a few words.

It is not enough to just know these things, you must also know the performance of the weapon and its advantages and disadvantages in various aspects. Of course, it is best to collect its blueprints.

But it will take time. It is already an outstanding performance of the British intelligence agencies to find so much information in just two or three days. For this reason, they have lost several excellent intelligence personnel who have been lurking in Italy for more than ten years. .

Admiral Murray didn't get much information in a short period of time, so he could only think about solving the problem of enemy tanks first. In a series of brainstorming sessions, many methods were also thought up, such as using 1-pound and 2-pound guns as counterattack weapons, and dismantling the 57mm rapid-fire guns on the battleship, and preparing explosives. , thrown by heroic soldiers or placed under enemy tanks.

Of course, all of these require equipment to use, and there is a solution without equipment, that is, to widen the current trench by 1-2 meters, so that the current 2-2.5-meter-wide trench becomes a 3-4-meter-wide trench. trenches. That's right, this is the common anti-tank trench in later generations, but the trench has not been deepened at this time.

The idea of ​​widening the trenches was quickly supported by Admiral Murray. At this time, the Allied Forces in Alamein picked up digging tools and began to widen the trenches.

Let me say one more thing here. After the order to widen the trenches across the board arrived, the soldiers discovered that there were not enough digging tools. Admiral Murray urgently dispatched them from the rear. However, the soldiers who used it found that most of these excavation tools were used, and a lot of the soil on them was still there. Obviously, they must have been obtained from the Egyptian people.

However, when the defenders widened their positions, the Italian army's offensive came again. In the direction of the Meteriya Ridge, the Eighth Army on the center line, with the assistance of more than forty tanks, captured the defensive force composed of the British Twelfth Army and captured the Meteriya Ridge in one fell swoop.

Similarly, on the southern front, the attacking corps composed of the Tenth Army, with the assistance of more than 30 tanks, conquered the first-line positions such as Deir Abiad and Bab Katara in one fell swoop.

So far, the British army's first line of defense in Alamein has been broken. The 120,000 defeated soldiers stationed on the first line of defense could only retreat to the rear. Although their loss of troops was not large (only 30,000 people were lost), the loss of their weapons and equipment was not small, and the same was true for the blow to morale.

For example, the 2nd Australian Division lost more than 4,000 people in the battle at the Metairiya Ridge, and the morale of the retreating Australian 2nd Division officers and soldiers was low, desertioning, drinking, gambling, fighting, **** and other things that disrupted military discipline continued. serious

Originally in Admiral Murray's plan, the first line of defense was prepared to consume the Italians. As long as a large number of enemies are killed and enough ammunition is consumed, the defenders who resist bravely can withdraw to the third line of defense, and the second line of defense will bear the consumption of the enemy and make a counterattack.

It can be said that in Admiral Murray's mind, the first line of defense must last at least 15 days. But now it has been breached in 3 days, which fully shows how much damage to morale is at a loss in the face of tanks.

If there is no weapon to deal with tanks, which kills all directions on the battlefield, soldiers will not be able to hold their positions at all. Tanks that cannot be dealt with will make soldiers fear, and the loss of the position is only a matter of thought.

In the face of the enemy's omnipotent tanks, Admiral Murray had limited capital and could only deploy 1- and 2-pound guns and 57mm guns in key areas. For example, Alamein, Ruwaisat Ridge and other places, as for the Alam Nair Ridge and Deir Munasib on the further south line, they can only rely on anti-tank trenches and explosive kits.

There is no way to have only a few things in your hand. Pepper noodles are definitely not enough. You can only focus on defense, and the more important line of Alamein and Rowaisat Ridge is even more important.

And while Admiral Murray was calculating carefully, the Italian army that conquered the first-line positions launched another attack.

"No. 1 fires!"

On the Petrarch, the No. 1 turret, which had turned to aim at the land, roared. The two 305mm main guns of the turret sprayed flames and fired two shells towards the target area.

A huge explosion sounded directly at a strong position in Alamein. A direct hit from the 305mm shell and no one survived the colossal explosion.

In the face of naval gun attacks, the Alamein defenders only had small and medium-sized coastal defense guns, and their maximum caliber was only 5 inches, which was no match for naval guns at all.

In addition to naval guns, more than 600 cannons from the Fourth Army and the Independent Second and Fourth Artillery Regiments were also shelling Alamein's defenders.

At this time, the first and second armies of the Japanese dispatched army are defending the front line of Alamein. These two armies have 5 divisions and 140,000 people, plus the fourth army deployed on the third line, the total strength of the Japanese dispatched army Up to two hundred thousand people. This is exactly the force Japan promised to send to the European battlefield, while Britain deployed it all in Egypt.

In the eyes of Admiral Murray, these Japanese soldiers were very good soldiers, so after discussing with the commander of the Japanese dispatched army, Marshal Obaogong, they were assigned to defend the most important Alamein. It can be seen from this that Admiral Murray attaches great importance to the Japanese dispatched troops.

As for Ao Baogong, a general who was not from the Changzhou clan during the Russo-Japanese War, nor was he from the Satsuma clan. Being able to become a marshal and become an earl in the army controlled by the Changzhou Domain is not enough merit, and it is simply impossible. The fact is also true, the Marshal Obaogong and the military **** Nogi Nogi are also known as the two representatives of the Japanese-Russian War Army.

Compared with the different evaluations of Nogi Nozomi, the evaluations received by Ao Baogong are quite uniform, and they are basically praises such as humility, integrity, and ability.

However, this Marshal Obaogong is not without shortcomings, that is, compared with his excellent military talents, it is not too much to call him a political idiot, because he is unwilling to be contaminated by politics.

Therefore, after receiving the honorary title of Marshal in 1911, Ao Baogong was actually in a semi-retired state.

And when the war broke out, Japan joined the alliance and agreed to send troops to Europe. At this time, who will lead this army has become a problem, because the veterans who participated in the Russo-Japanese War, who died or retired, are currently suitable for only three or four people, and after deducting the currently immobile and inappropriate After the candidate, Obaogong became the only one.

Later, the marshal who committed all kinds of crimes in the Sino-Japanese War became the commander of the Japanese dispatched army with 200,000 troops.

But at this time, Marshal Ao Baogong looked at the position that was being bombarded continuously, although his face did not change, but his heart was bleeding. The cruelty of the World War far surpassed the Russo-Japanese War. Although the fortifications built by the soldiers were good, under such fierce shelling, the casualties must have been not small.

"Your Excellency, Commander, Major General Kitaoka Tehei reports that the position of the 2nd Independent Artillery Regiment was hit by enemy artillery. They have stopped shelling now and are moving their positions."

Listening to the communication staff's report, UU Reading www.uukanshu.com looked at Ao Baogong who had marked the sand tables of the various troops and asked. "How many guns did they lose?"

"Five 115mm howitzers were destroyed in this shelling, and 146 officers and soldiers were lost."

"The loss of more than half of the cannons, coupled with the loss of artillery of other troops, in just half a day, we lost half of the cannons. We notified the ministries to stop the artillery battle and wait for my order."

"Hi!"

After the communications staff left, Oba Gong rubbed his swollen temples. The Iraqi army had too many cannons (the Chinese character for "Italy" in Japan is called "Italy" (Italia) abbreviation).

At this time, it reminded him of the fierce artillery fire of the Iraqi Intervention Army in the Sino-Japanese War. It was so impressive. He was the commander of the Fifth Division at that time. Feel the power of enemy artillery for yourself. Later, this also became one of the temptations for the military to attach importance to artillery. Now it seems that the imperial army is still far behind in artillery.

(end of this chapter)

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