German troops have never been used to this kind of battle relying on human lives. They prefer the battle of encirclement and annihilation, which is more suitable for the kind of rapid advance to cut enemy positions and then capture tens of thousands of prisoners. In an environment full of buildings and not suitable for tank warfare, the German team has repeatedly fought for ruins, but it still cannot effectively adapt to this kind of battle.
"The British marksmanship is very accurate. They rely on the peripheral positions and ruins to resist. Although they suffered heavy losses, they still did not flinch. This afternoon, we killed three lieutenants. I had to draw some non-commissioned officers to supplement the lost officers." A commander in charge of the attack reported that his troops suffered a lot in the attack, but Rommel still did not intend to replace this unit.
Rommel, or Rommel’s chief army staff headquarters and the imperial high command generals want a complete and immediate investment, so that Rommel in Alexandria can’t move heavy artillery and bombers repeatedly bomb this last position of the British army, and Rommel can use his precious infantry to consume the British troops in the port bit by bit.
From the prisoners of war, it is known that the commander of the 9 th regiment, the old rival of the African legion, can also be said to be Montgomery, the supreme commander of Britain in North Africa. Now, for Rommel, it is not only a showdown between victory and defeat, but also an end of fate.
Not far away, an Italian tank was destroyed by British anti-tank guns, and it was burning. Not far from this tank, several Italian army artillery guns were blazing. These artillery guns were attacking a hidden bunker and bunker groups, where the core supported the British army and built a ring-shaped fortification near it, which made the attacking Italian army pay a heavy price.
A deafening volley made Rommel frown involuntarily. His headquarters was too close to the artillery position. The noise really made him feel a little uncomfortable, but this is the war. Everything will not be arranged according to the comfort requirements.
Walking back to his office, gloves slapped the dust on his body, and the whole small tent immediately filled with dust. Only after everything returned to normal did Rommel take off his coat and throw away a chair.
General Friedrich has just returned from the direction of Romania, and the Italian and German vanguard troops have arrived in the periphery of Romania. As expected, 30,000 British and American troops and 50,000 Egyptian local troops refused to surrender and have built strong fortifications. Another quagmire of war is waiting for the arrival of the Germans, which makes people feel uneasy.
Travel-stained Friedrich, though meticulously dressed, looks a little messy. After all, he has been traveling in the desert with his own troops for a whole month. Being able to maintain such a decent appearance is already a German man’s persistent pursuit of the army. He said with a hoarse whisper, "My general Luo has set up minefields and bunkers on the periphery. Our troops tried to attack once and the other side resisted very firmly."
The high command has also expected that after all, the Germans’ entry into Egypt has broken the original rules in this region and shaken the foundation of many vested interests. It is inevitable that strong resistance will be encountered, and it can be suppressed unilaterally by force. There is no better way.
"Inform the army will send bombers to attack all targets except the port area! We don’t have time to spend here with a group of dead people! " After listening carefully to the introduction of General Frederick in Romania, Rommel thought about it before saying, "After all, our general Barton has returned to the Suez Canal to reinforce his defense line, which will not be of much benefit to our future attacks."
The real allies in the Middle East have been strong in the outside and weak in the inside, but it happened that at this time, they have been thinking that the axis country is the second child and Turkey has sent troops to launch a small-scale exploratory attack on the Middle East controlled by the United States and Britain
About a Turkish division attacked south, and as a result, it was beaten up by local armed forces near the border. When an American light armored division arrived, half of these Turks were captured and gave to the American army in the Middle East, which was at the end of the road, a "northern victory."
This not only made the United States and Britain see clearly the weakness of the Turkish threat in the north, but also strengthened their determination to continue fighting against the Germans. Therefore, the encirclement of Alexandria and the fighting near Romania inevitably entered a rhythm of attrition, and the dilemma of the Germans being unprepared in North Africa was also limited and amplified.
"It’s time for these local people to see our strength. Since we can’t do it without bloodshed, let’s just do it once and we will rule once in the future!" Friedrich agreed and nodded. He agreed to develop his own firepower advantage. After all, reducing his own losses and suppressing firepower is definitely more in line with Germany’s current situation in North Africa than consuming limited troops.
Alexandria is full of open-air field hospitals and refugees. The Germans rarely shell the city’s facilities. As the fighting continues, the losses continue to increase. More and more wounded soldiers and refugees can pile up their things on the streets and turn the streets of Alexandria into lively places like the city.
Montgomery took his assistant to visit the wounded in an open-air hospital. At noon, a front-line teacher was injured by shrapnel and was sent here for amputation. There was blood everywhere in this open-air hospital and soldiers whined. From time to time, people died here, and from time to time, some people became disabled here.
"If most soldiers need to rest, we should give up some positions and retreat to the city. Compared with the Germans, they are not good at street fighting." The British Major General looked at Montgomery and said that he was more concerned about the soldiers who fought bloody battles than himself. An old British aristocrat, a very gentleman and middle-aged man, has a very unified British demeanor.
Montgomery doesn’t hide the current situation. He seems to be twenty years older these days. "To tell the truth, now we are fighting for our own beliefs. You, I and others know that we are dying. Compared with Italy and Germany, our troops and ammunition are insufficient. Now it is the best result I can command."
The teacher, who was still very calm after losing his hand, looked a little gloomy in his eyes. He wanted his motherland to die in a corner, but he really didn’t want to accept that his motherland had collapsed and perished. What it means for Britain to lose North Africa in reality is clear to his commander here.
"I’m already unreliable. I’ve tried my best to do everything I can." Montgomery laughed and laughed when the other side didn’t talk, and then continued to talk to himself. "Now I can count on General mountbatten’s Indian troops. If he can keep those elites and return to Britain when necessary, there may be some turning points."
Everyone knows that this is just a self-deception statement. mountbatten’s troops are already stretched, and the Japanese expansion in Southeast Asia has shattered Britain, where colonies, India and Myanmar, have now become front lines. How much can British soldiers be saved there? They can pray for the scale of Japanese attack instead of relying on General mountbatten’s command and dispatch ability.
Nowadays, Britain is similar to an old master with profound skills, but it has been punched by a young boxer in Germany. I am afraid it is difficult to do such a thing.
The wounded British teacher sighed and glanced at the yellow sand on the road beside the hospital bed, which was mixed with deep red dry blood and made people desperate.
Chapter 69 69 Elegy
Just two people were saddened by their motherland, and the sharp anti-alarm suddenly resounded through the sky. The portable hand-operated anti-alarm issued a piercing eardrum howl, which broke two people’s painful thoughts.
"What’s the matter? What does it mean that the Germans almost never bomb the city facilities and sound the anti-combat alarm? " Montgomery grabbed a soldier who rushed over to transfer his bed and asked this with a frown, but he soon knew the answer himself because a German bomber was already visible in the sky.
"My God!" Montgomery lowered his head to see a mess of civilians and soldiers. There were too many things in the whole city that were not disguised in a hurry, and there were protective things piled up together. Were materials and fuel distributed to ammunition and first aid? Of course, there were wounded people and civilians everywhere. On the contrary, there were few facilities such as hole prevention for geological reasons.
Crowds of German bombers covered the sun, and you can know what kind of losses the German bombing will bring to Alexandria this time without thinking about it. Although you know in your heart that this kind of thing will come sooner or later, Montgomery realized that the British will face their most terrible test in a month this afternoon.
Due to the lack of artillery fire, most of the anti-aircraft guns in the city were sent to the peripheral positions, either as temporary anti-tanks or as support guns like German millimeter anti-aircraft guns, and most of the guns have been lost in the fierce fighting in the periphery, and there are a few anti-aircraft weapons in the city, but this time I groaned.
It’s a groan. The British anti-aircraft gun fire in front of the German army’s overwhelming bombers is now absolutely moanable. This word has formed several small-caliber anti-aircraft guns to spray flames at the sky, but it has not disrupted the dense bombing formation of the German bombers.
The local Egyptians looked up in horror and saw that the bombers hit the belly hatch and revealed terrible bombs. Then, with the whistling wind, these bombs were dropped one after another and then pulled out in the wind. It was the wind that blew the bomb whistle and the death blew the whistle of harvesting life.
One bomber dropped a bomb, and dozens of bombers dropped them together, carrying bombs, and then more bombers hit the hatch and threw them with heavy bombs, so the whole port of Alexandria seemed to have a heavy rain, a heavy rain of steel and destruction
The British general who lost his palm looked at the dense German bombers in the sky and sighed with a wry smile. "How can human beings compete against such terrible forces? How can a person’s body resist the destruction of steel? How long can we persist in the face of such a powerful war machine? "
"Sir! Please leave here with me at once! This is too dangerous! " The adjutant tugged at Montgomery’s arm, hoping to take away General Montgomery, who was already sluggish. However, his efforts were obviously futile, and Montgomery had no intention of leaving.
Montgomery remembered the scene he saw when he was in England. Hundreds of German bombers appeared in London, and then hundreds of huge bombs were dropped. Those bombs were filled with terrible chemicals to make the flames burn, and even the whole London burned. The whole earth trembled. Humans were established for thousands of years and collapsed in ten minutes.
That terrible thing happened once, which was enough to make people collapse, and Montgomery witnessed it twice. What’s even more tragic is that the target of these two bombings was that he vowed to defend the city, and the result was the same. He wanted to defend the city and turned it into ruins. His efforts were in vain.
A bomb fell not far away and hit the crowd. The huge flame swallowed up several fresh lives in an instant, and then the huge explosion wave tore people’s bodies in a wider range and destroyed them. Montgomery saw an arm fly to the surrounding roof and saw a broken body fly to the distance.
Then more bombs exploded. Recently, a bomb exploded in air billow and a gangfeng blew away. Montgomery wore a hat on his head and there was a loud bang in the distance from time to time. That was the collapse of buildings in Montgomery’s memory. The collapse of buildings in London was louder because the buildings there were thicker and taller.
Before Montgomery came to his senses, he was hit on the head by his assistant and the guards around the adjutant. A group of people wrapped him up and ran to an anti-aircraft gun position not far away. There was a pitiful anti-aircraft gun there, but sandbags were patched together to protect him.
The primitive man was full of field hospitals, and it was a mess in an instant. People dodged bombers, dropped bombs, and then bumped into each other and were trampled. White tents fluttered with the wind, and gauze and sheets were blown away. Some precious things were scattered all over the place, and no one cared.
The Germans dispatched a total of 19 d217 bombers in one breath, which is a bit scary for Alexandria. What’s more, the front line supported a total of 14 Stuka bombers and 5 fw19d fighters with small bombs-counting four fighters, Germany dispatched more than four planes, which could almost cover the sky.
Moreover, this time, the bombs dropped by the German army were mixed with a large number of napalm incendiary bombs, which increased the power of destruction and destruction. In an instant, smoke billowed all over Alexandria, and some buildings were ignited by fire, making a crackling sound. Even the sea was burning and some ships were ignited.
Some wounded people who came to bed and struggled painfully quickly ended their lives. They lay in bed and struggled to sit up, but finally stopped breathing and hung their arms.
More people were swallowed up by the fire and directly turned into coke. The sheets were ignited and turned into black powder. The beds were also burned and turned into twisted iron frames. The wounded were stuck by chemicals in napalm, and then they struggled in the crazy fire and screamed.
The German army is responsible for covering the escort fighters. Because of everything, the attack planes swooped and the guns strafed through the crowd, and the British soldiers were brought down with stretchers and medical equipment. The streets were red with blood and the bodies were piled up with newer bodies.
Montgomery was carried into a bunker full of sandbags by hand, and before he knew it, he saw that the only anti-aircraft gun not far away was patronized by two Stuka bombers. One dropped bomb and the cannon was blown into scrap iron. Another 2 mm cannon poured hundreds of shells and the whole anti-aircraft gun was surrounded by white smoke.
The whole Alexandria has become a sea of fire and a real purgatory. Although the German bombing of London was larger and longer, London has a relatively complete bunker structure, which can protect most people’s lives, while the structure of Alexandria is almost weaker in withstanding bombing.
All buildings tremble in the explosion of aerial bombs. People are desperate to see their homes destroyed, their relatives and friends killed, and everything they know turned into ruins and rubble.
However, the high-intensity bombing soon ended, and the German planes came and went faster. Because the bombing scale was huge before, the Germans were not prepared for a second bombing. After most bombers lost all their bombs, they left a few cover planes and Stuka hovering over the sea.
With tears in their eyes, the German plane walked out of its hiding place before it finished leaving to rescue things that had little rescue value. Some people had just been splashed out by napalm bombs, and things stuck to their skin. Now it is festering and blackening, giving off a burnt smell.
Crying comes from all directions. Crying has been going on since the bombing, but the explosion everywhere is too deafening, which covers up these screaming and crying for help, but it seems weak and has some deep feelings.
"general! Are you … all right? " Montgomery’s assistant’s face has been blackened, and he has not yet recovered. The German bombing of Montgomery has finally arrived, but it has come too quickly and without warning, and it has also brought real disaster to the people of Alexandria.
Hundreds of soldiers died in the bombing, more wounded and civilians also died in this catastrophe, and more than 10 thousand people died directly in the bombing. At this time, the living people did not know that the city’s fresh water purification facilities and power systems were also destroyed, and the destruction of these living facilities would bring more deaths.
"I’m all right … go find a word to organize people to help rescue the wounded and … send someone to count the losses. I want to get the loss report as soon as possible." Montgomery looked at the burning flames everywhere and muttered, "Hurry! Go and help! No matter me! "
Chapter 699 699 Different choices
When Montgomery climbed out of the trench, there was a incendiary bomb about 100 meters away, which ignited the fire. The fire jumped and burned near the building, and the charred body and his crater could be seen around.
He was dragged back by his men to the headquarters that had been dug up in recent months to strengthen the defense of Alexandria. Before anyone could get back the report on the damage caused by the bombing, he heard the screaming alarm again, and the harsh sound echoed in the sky, which made people feel desperate and sad.
From Crete, a butcher bomber once again visited Alexandria, although it still did not damage the port facilities, but more bombs were lost in other parts of the city. In terms of bomb quantity, the butcher bomber was obviously much more than the d217 bomber. Although the second bombing made the aeroplane bomb not burn napalm, the damage was not much less.
Collapsed buildings and debris filled the streets and lanes. The original spacious streets have now been blocked by bricks and tiles. People looking for the bodies of their relatives and friends in the ruins are crying and rummaging through the ruins. The rubble is still burning around the building.
The explosion didn’t stop. It was the second explosion of some ammunition and combustible materials after the bomb wave. From time to time, a cloud of black smoke surged in the distance, and the whole periphery of the port was blown to ruins. A few buildings were not destroyed by the bomb.
When Montgomery came out of his basement headquarters again, it seemed that Alexandria was not the beautiful port he knew. There were smoke and rubble everywhere, and the bustling port city was no different from hell now.
He held a sandbag with shrapnel and frowned at some reddish horizons. The Germans shelled and smashed suburban positions one after another. Although it was not as loud as the explosion in the city, it was as dull as hitting people’s hearts. These distant explosions were not awake, and people were far from over. Everything was still one.
The city was greeted by German bombers in turn for a whole half day, and the British defenders outside the city were also frightened and worried about the situation of the friendly troops in the city. Because of the high-density bombing, many lines were destroyed, which made the frontline troops in many places unable to contact the logistics department of the rear headquarters.
"Sir! There was chaos in the line, and there were cries for help everywhere. We couldn’t get in touch with General Montgomery. "The line operator looked up and waited anxiously for the British teachers, while another time, the staff officers and telephone operators next to the two telephones also shook their heads.
The whole communication is in chaos. It is estimated that the telephone line has been blown up or burned out. The headquarters has contacted the military department and the general headquarters of the regiment. It has just repelled an Italian attack and the ammunition consumption has reached a very worrying level.
The people who rushed to contact the rear supply department have already left, and now there is no news. Look at this, even if the huge supply was not destroyed by bombers, there is no manpower and energy to allocate so many front-line troops to ask for supplies.
"Can’t wait any longer to send someone to go back with two trucks left! If you want to find some ammunition first, you can put some medicine and strength supplements first! " The chief of staff grabbed the words for the tenth time and found that there was no response in the receiver. After that, Kounai said to the teacher, "It seems that the loss of the port is even greater than expected, and there has been a collapse."
"The first batch of people sent should have arrived there, and it is estimated that they will soon be able to bring back the exact news." The teacher glanced at the burning city not far away and looked back at the Italian flag waving in the distance. After sighing, he shook his head and studied the table with a map of the protection zone.
Everyone knows that these soldiers are dying and there is still no hope that they will struggle against the British friendly forces. They are trying to stall Rommel as much as possible when the Germans are moving eastward, so that the sun will not set and the imperial days will win a trace of poor dignity. Almost all British people here are white. It is impossible for Britain to become a world power in the future. It can be regional and will be suppressed by both allies and enemies.
However, the war will continue, and their battle is not over yet. But at this moment, everyone has despaired of their future. No one thinks that they can escape this disaster. No one thinks that they can live until the war is over.
Outside Montgomery’s own command post, I saw some signalmen coming from the west and south. Many people were unable to contact the grass-roots units. He sent soldiers to look for him. The city was in a mess. Few people can still remember that they once had a commander named Montgomery. However, the signalmen managed to restore some communication and contacted some front-line troops. The bombing continued, which made the British lose several bunker garrison areas, which was a heavy loss.
"Shrink line! I’ll make a speech after waiting for the communication to resume. "Montgomery looked at the soldiers who came to him and finally got tired and opened his mouth. His voice was a little low, and he was a little lonely and sad without so many days of high voice and spirit.
As far as the chief of staff near him, Nai, announced the loss of the bombing, the dumping site was waiting for distribution of ammunition and weapons, and almost all of them were destroyed. Several Stukas also deliberately visited these storage sites. Almost half of the wounded died in the attack, and two-thirds of the beds were lost. Overall, the shortage of drugs became more serious.
At least five wounded people of various degrees, nine soldiers died in this large-scale bombing, and at least seven civilians died in this catastrophe. What is even more tragic is that there will be 50 thousand families to go home tonight, when the situation here will be even more chaotic.
"ammunition! The front line needs more ammunition! Can someone help me collect some ammunition? " A truck driver shouted at the listless wounded people squatting on both sides of the road, and no one answered him. These wounded people sat there as if they had lost their souls without saying a word.
Many Indians watched the trucks in horror. The British soldiers formed a habit for many years, which made him accustomed to succumbing to the British rule. Common sense told him that the British were strong and could not afford to provoke, but he saw many British people being torn apart by a bomb dropped by a plane with iron cross wings. He saw these British soldiers crying for their parents to avoid the destruction of German planes.
Some British soldiers handed over some spare ammunition in their hands, and some clever and some lightly wounded people knew that they couldn’t find a place to sleep after shrinking the city tonight, so they boarded the truck to replenish soldiers and returned to the front line. There is also a windbreak trench that can be much more stable than the city-where is it not dangerous here?
So a few rounds of ammunition were thrown at the truck like charity, but more people were indifferent. The scene looked a little chaotic and out of control. Finally, some soldiers carried two boxes of ammunition and added an armored car machine gun to stabilize the morale that was on the verge of collapse.