The sound of cannons rang out the moment the lights lit up.

The German tank guns, anti-tank guns, howitzers, mortars, etc. fired a piece of shells and smashed them to the British self-propelled howitzer positions.

As a howitzer, the M7 self-propelled howitzer has excellent protection capabilities. Its front armor is as thick as 51MM, which is even greater than the front armor of the German "No. 3" tank.

This is also one of the reasons why General Streck wants to encircle and annihilate the 5th Artillery Regiment...

The M7 self-propelled howitzer has the advantages of long range, thick armor and quite good maneuverability, which determines that it will pose a considerable threat to the tank battle group.

If a tank battle group hits the M7 howitzer group head-on, the tank group must reach about one kilometer before it can pose a threat to the M7's howitzer group. In principle, M7 can use artillery fire to strike enemy tank groups eleven kilometers away.

In addition, its maximum speed is 42 kilometers per hour, so as long as the M7 is willing, it can always keep a distance from the German "3" tank to form an advantage of "I can beat you but you can't beat me".

Even if they entered each other's range face to face, the M7 relied on the thickness of the front armor and was not without the ability to compete.

Of course, no equipment can be perfect.

The disadvantage of M7 is that the armor is open, that is, there is no armor on the top, and the armor on the sides is not only thin but also full of shells... This is actually a last resort. One of the most important criterion for artillery is shells. In order to achieve the goal of shooting and walking, self-propelled artillery must put shells in the cannon body.

This problem existed during the trial production of the M7... It could only carry 24 shells, but after stopping for one round, it had to replenish ammunition, which gave it no big advantage over the drag gun.

So, the Americans forced to transform the M7 into a carriage of 69 shells...

There were 69 rounds, and there were 105MM caliber shells, which made the sides of the gun body and even the feet of the gunmen covered with shells. The crew could be said to be sitting on an ammunition inventory.

This is undoubtedly very dangerous in actual combat. Just like now, the German army's high-explosive armor-piercing projectile immediately caused the shell to explode after it penetrated the self-propelled howitzer. With a "boom", a majestic steel monster instantly disappeared from everyone's sight and turned into a ball of flame.

Because the self-propelled howitzers were open, the exploded shrapnel flew around the battlefield and shot the gunners of several nearby self-propelled howitzers were killed or injured.

The German mortars and howitzers were not outdone. They poured raindrop-like shells into the British army as fast as possible, and instantly blew the howitzer position into a pot of porridge.

The British army had no power to fight back... Large caliber artillery is always suitable for long-range shooting, and the M7 is no exception. Its artillery firing angle is 35 degrees, which gives its nearest range of 800 meters. At this time, the German army is on the edge of this nearest range. This allows the British army to use only the self-defense weapon in the upper right corner...12.7MM anti-aircraft machine gun.

But even this is not helpful, because the huge body of the car would make them a good target for the German army, and once they were hit, they would disappear in the world in an instant.

But this seems to be a blessing, because they can at least die without pain... A violent explosion will tear their bodies and consciousness into pieces before they realize the pain.

There was nothing wrong with Qin Chuan and other infantrymen in this battle, because the rifles and bullets in their hands were insignificant for the violent explosions and the flames that soared into the sky.

The bombing lasted for fifteen minutes, and the British finally had the chance to raise the white flag and let the Germans see it, so the sound of artillery slowly stopped.

The German army actually made plans to seize this American equipment from the beginning... They have always been very interested in equipment with fast maneuverability. However, they must destroy the enemy's will to resist as soon as possible, otherwise things may lose control.

In the end, the German army seized fifty-two self-howitzers and twenty cars filled with shells.

General Streck was very proud of the seized equipment.

The reason is that the self-propelled howitzer is simple to operate. Although it uses the chassis of a medium tank, it is still a cannon rather than a tank.

The difference between the two is that the tank requires the cooperation of the commander, gunner, etc., and it is difficult to achieve this few weeks of training. Even if you barely enter the battlefield, you will often become the target of enemy tanks because of poor cooperation.

But the self-propelled howitzer is not the case. It only requires one driver, and the others are actually gunners, which is not very different from operating a 105MM howitzer. The Germans even only need to tie the car driver and gunner together.

So General Streck immediately handed over the captured self-propelled artillery to the artillery regiment and ordered them to adjust the members of the artillery group themselves and learn how to operate in the shortest time.

Facts proved that General Streck's approach was very correct. These self-propelled howitzers rely on their excellent mobility to provide strong artillery cover for the 21st Armored Division in the subsequent battles. They cooperated with other German artillery and even suppressed more than 300 British artillery pieces and did not dare to act rashly.

Then General Streck did not dare to delay any more. He indeed commanded the 21st Armored Division to attack Alexander.

General Ochinlek on the other side heard the news and looked as if the sky had fallen.

In fact, he didn't get the exact news until half an hour later... The 4th Infantry Division of India and its command were buried, and the 5th Artillery Regiment command was blown up immediately. They had no time or opportunity to report the situation to Ochinlek.

It was not until the British scouts met the fleeing Indian soldiers and asked about the situation that they realized that the situation was much more serious than they thought.

This is the charm of speed, and it is also one of the reasons why the German "blitzkrieg" can achieve miraculous results on the battlefield... Quick strikes often make the enemy unable to react, because the enemy will always encounter problems in communication and coordination, especially in the complex elements, and even more so on nights when communication is inconvenient and fighter jets cannot take off.

"General, what should I do now?" Major General Ritchie asked anxiously.

General Ochinlek shook his head slightly, and he didn't know what to do.

Because he didn't even know the location of the Germans, this meant that the direction of the German attack could not be determined... So the Alamein defense line was full of loopholes and defenses.

After thinking for a while, General Ochinlek turned his eyes to Alexander.
Chapter completed!