Romanian Eagle

Chapter 804 Middle East Battle (4)

The sun in the sky hid behind the horizon again, and the night shrouded the earth again. The day's battle also came to an end, and each unit sent their information to the headquarters as far away as Beirut.

According to the reported situation, the staff updated the position of each unit on the sand table in time. Hoffman and Modelk stood aside, watching the busy officers constantly adjusting the positions of the troops.

"It looks like the ministries are going well today."

The chief of staff of Moderk, who was his partner, opened his mouth to comment on today's battle.

However, Moderk's words did not attract Hoffman's approval, and the commander frowned and said. "I don't think it's very good, and the reported results feel a little less."

"It's quite a lot. According to statistics, the number of prisoners killed and wounded by various units has reached more than 7,600, which is already very good."

Facing Moderk's words, Hoffman shook his head and said. "No, there is a little gap from what I expected. In my opinion, on the first day of battle, at least this number needs to be above 9,000, but there are only more than 7,000 at present, and this is the problem."

Hoffman's words made Moderk's face serious. "Then what do you mean?"

"I don't dare to make a decision now. I will let the plane investigate carefully tomorrow morning, and then I will know what the problem is."

And when Hoffman and Modelk felt something was wrong, Admiral Wavell, who was far away in the Sinai Peninsula, was also summarizing today's results.

"It looks good so far, and the lines are meeting their expectations."

Looking at the sand table in front of him, Wavell was quite satisfied with today's battle. Although the losses were a little bigger, the losses were basically the troops from the colonies, and the troops from the mainland and Australia and New Zealand were still intact, which gave him confidence in the next battle.

But although Wavell is confident, Arthur Smith, his chief of staff, is a little worried. "Is the enemy's armored forces advancing too fast along the coast. It's very bad for us to let them achieve their goals."

Facing the worries of his chief of staff, Wavell comforted. "Don't worry, Smith. I don't think they're fast, and if it weren't for the fact that they wouldn't notice my intentions, I'd even want to open up Coastal Drive to make them hurry up. I've got a surprise for them, I hope they like it. "

Regarding Wavell's words, Smith, the chief of staff, thought about it or gave up and continued to speak. In fact, he had some doubts about this plan, but Lord Wavell insisted on it, and in the end, of course, the commander's opinion was the mainstay.

What made the two disagree with each other was the defense of the coastal plain. In fact, both of them believed that the coastal plain would be the focus of the enemy's breakthrough. However, in response, Smith believes that there should be layers of defense, using troops to continuously consume the enemy's offensive footsteps until the opponent completely stops.

Wavell, on the other hand, believed that Smith's method would not work at all in the coastal plain, which would not only be consumed by the enemy, but would not achieve the desired purpose. Because the Palestinian coastal plain is too narrow, its width is between 10-15 kilometers, this distance is simply not worth mentioning for the navy, and even the main guns of light cruisers can reach it.

Therefore, for the British army, which is currently losing sea power in the Mediterranean, the coastal area is a difficult area to defend. If there are fewer people, the enemy's attacking troops will not be able to fight. If there are more people, the enemy's navy can teach itself to be a man.

Although there are not many main warships left by the Romanian Navy in the Eastern Mediterranean at present, the 380 and 203 guns are enough to make fools feel scared, so the coastal plain area has become a difficult point of defense.

However, unlike Smith, Wavell, as the commander, believes that since the coastal areas are difficult to defend, it is not necessary to guard them. Except for a few coastal cities, the garrison forces strive to become nail-like existences, and other positions are left to the Romanians, as long as the enemy If he dares to attack, he dares to let go, and lengthens his supply line.

After the enemy is stretched to the supply line, the fist troops prepared by him will give them a heavy blow. Of course, the best result is to destroy this lonely enemy, even if it is not destroyed, it will be severely damaged. And the fist that Wavell prepared was the mobile corps dominated by the 7th Armored Division.

Yes, this is the desert rat in the original history. And unlike the original history, the division currently has two armored brigades (the 4th and 7th armored brigades), equipped with 226 tanks of various types, mainly composed of Crusader, Valentine, and Matilda tanks. .

In fact, these three tanks are at a disadvantage when facing the Romanian R series. Wavell is also very clear about this, so he also prepared a weapon to enhance his anti-armor capabilities, that is, the latest British 6-pounder anti-tank gun.

This anti-tank was developed after the Munich Agreement in 1938. Taking into account the performance of the tanks of the two countries in the Spanish Civil War, the British Army believed that the 2-pound anti-tank guns it equipped in the future were likely to face a backward situation, so it ordered The Royal Arsenal began to develop.

The reason for choosing the 6-pounder shell (57mm caliber) is not the calculation result of the penetration depth, but the logistical consideration. The Royal Navy has used the 6-pounder gun as a carrier-based secondary weapon since the end of the 19th century, so there are a large number of domestic factories that can support production. This medium caliber weapon ammunition.

The development of this anti-tank gun was announced in December 1939. At present, the first batch of 96 6-pound anti-tank guns produced, except for 48 left for the formation of the expeditionary army, the other 48 were allocated to Used by the British Army in the Middle East.

And this 57mm caliber anti-tank gun has very good performance. In the case of using armor-piercing projectiles, it can penetrate 84mm armored steel plates with a 30-degree angle at a distance of 500 meters, and can penetrate 70mm at the same angle at a distance of 1000 meters. steel plate. Of course, this is laboratory data, and it will be lower on the battlefield.

But this can also damage the R20 tank, the most threatening R20 tank currently in the Romanian army, at a distance of 500 meters. (At present, the Romanian R30 rarely participates in combat, so the British army is not very clear about its data.)

And these 48 6-pound anti-tank guns have long been assigned to the Mobile Corps by Wavell, allowing them to exert sufficient capabilities in this battle.

In order to complete this task, then you need to block the enemy in other directions, otherwise this will not be called lure the enemy deep, but be divided and outflanked.

So in the Jordan Valley, another place that is easy to break through, Wavell deployed 5 divisions. They will rely on layers of defense to slow down the enemy's offensive until the enemy is exhausted to a stop.

Therefore, the officers and soldiers of the 3rd Armored Division and the 6th Armored Division headed by Sars, as well as other positions, are waiting for them to break through.

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