The German army had two choices. One was to go around the Alamaic Line and cooperate with other troops to surround the British army.

For example, the 21st Panzer Division could go around to Roisat Ridge and attack the Indian army stationed there with the 15th Panzer Division. It can be imagined that the German army could win a war without much time and break into the British defense line with the 15th Panzer Division.

Another option is to go straight to Alexander, which is the main supply port for the British army. The materials and ammunition needed by the British army were sent from Alexander to the front line through the railway.

Both of these are good options.

But General Ochinlek judged that the German army would choose the latter because the German army had not much time... Now there are five hours left before dawn, which is almost the time when the German army arrived at Alexander and launched an attack.

If the Germans were allowed to capture Alexander, the entire Alamein line would undoubtedly collapse.

On the contrary, if the Germans chose the former, they would not be able to arrive at Alexander in time and capture Alexander before dawn.

As we all know, daylight belongs to the British, and the British Air Force has an absolute advantage and is close to the water and the moon is the first to get... The British army has airports in Alexander and Cairo, and the German airport is two hundred kilometers away.

Therefore, as soon as the sky is dawn, the German tanks will inevitably be subject to ruthless attacks from the British Air Force.

In other words, the former is at most a collapse of the northern section of the Alamein defense line. Although the British army suffered heavy losses, they could still retreat from Alamein and build a new line of defense in Alexandria.

The Germans obviously would not be satisfied with such a small victory.

So General Ochinlek knew how to fight this battle.

Without saying a word, he picked up the pen and ruler, connected Dilseyin and Alexander on the map, and then said, "This is probably the German marching route, and send scouts to follow and reconnaise immediately!"

"Yes, sir!" Major General Ricci responded and went to make arrangements.

Then General Ochinlek issued a series of orders, and his combat plan can be reduced to two points.

1: Send troops to harass the German army along the way.

It was originally supposed to be a siege, but General Ochinlek did not dare to set his target too high, because he knew that the combat effectiveness of the British army was not as good as that of the German army, and no British army, including the 7th Armored Division, could not block the 21st Armored Division of the German army, which has been verified before.

On the other hand, because desert warfare is very special, its traffic can be said to be accessible everywhere, so unless you have several times the strength and equipment have an absolute advantage, it is unrealistic to encircle and block.

Therefore, General Ochinlek only planned to slow down the German marching speed. If the German army could not attack Alexander before dawn, then the plan would be half successful.

This mission was handed over to the 5th Armored Brigade and the remnants of the British 15th Armored Division, which had just been compiled and equipped with two hundred "Stuart" tanks.

2: Strengthen defense in the direction of Alexander.

Because General Ochinlek had almost piled up all his troops and equipment on the Alamein defense line, Alexander's troops were very empty.

Fortunately, Alexander was connected to the front line, so Ochinlek sent more than 2,000 troops from the New Zealand 2nd Division back to Alexander for defense, and was supplemented by Egypt's 3rd African Division.

Alexander was also helpless about this, and the British army's shortage of troops had reached an outrageous level.

In fact, even though the British army suffered heavy losses in the previous battles, their total strength was several times that of the German army.

The reason why there is a shortage of troops is because the British army’s strategic idea is defense... One side of the defense will inevitably require more troops, and most of these troops cannot be concentrated or even difficult to support each other.

For example, now, the British army is deploying defenses on a 55-kilometer-long Alamein defense line. Even if the British army has more than 100,000 people, the average number is more than 2,000 people per kilometer. If you support other areas, you will be "demolition of the east wall and repairing the west wall".

The German army's strategic idea was mainly attack.

By attacking, you can concentrate your troops and equipment to break through from one point, so you can have a military advantage over the British army in some areas.

These two cannot be purely said which tactic is better. It is a complex component and low quality like the British army, especially the command tactics that are too traditional, are indeed more suitable for defense... Historically, they used defense and powerful supplies and equipment to drag down the German army with the advantage of quality.

General Ochinlek's plan was soon implemented.

British scouts were arranged on the enemy's possible marching routes like beans. These scouts were difficult to detect because they were very easy to hide in the desert. Scouts only had to bury themselves in sand and only exposed a little of their heads to observe or breathe. In this way, except when they walked in front of them or rolled on the wheels, they would not be able to detect them at all.

Then the scouts reported their location to the command center, and the command center sent the coordinates to the artillery... and the shells exploded in pieces near the 21st Armored Division.

However, this kind of artillery fire covers a very low hit rate.

The process of artillery bombing should be to give the coordinates and use several guns for test firing first, and then the observer will adjust according to the deviation between the bomb point and the target, such as if it is farther or closer, or if it is east or west. These communicate with the artillery positions through radio, and then large-scale coverage bombing is carried out after being accurate.

The problem is that it is a dark night with low visibility, and it is difficult for artillery observers to determine the location of their targets, especially when the German 21st Armored Division is still advancing at full speed, often escapes from the observer's sight in a few minutes.

So Qin Chuan and others always heard the whistling and explosion of shells, but it was rare to see a few shells hitting the target.

"Are the British going to fire salutes?" Werner laughed: "They are so good, I've never enjoyed such a welcome ceremony!"

The soldiers couldn't help laughing when they heard this.

"We will give them a gift, too!" said the baker with a smile.

The baker was right, and soon the German artillery fire started to fire soon... The German scouts also spread out. After they discovered the flames of British artillery, they reported the coordinates to their artillery.

And the German artillery fired and exposed itself.

So when we were going back and forth, it quickly turned into an artillery battle between the enemy and us, and the main force of the 21st Armored Division became quiet.

"Oh!" Werner put on a regretful expression: "The salute is over!"
Chapter completed!