"No, we must retreat!"

When night fell on August 30, this sentence became the consensus of the top level of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

At dawn that day, the main German landing force landed in Victoria Harbor, relying on the response of the remaining troops, the air wing was rapidly deployed, and at 9 o'clock, the planes attacking Roosevelt Jr.'s armored group were dispatched, and a large number of panzergrenadiers poured out from the freighter, not only taking over the defense of Victoria on the spot, but also rushing forward, ready to provide support for the offensive spearhead of the Sauken group.

At the end of the day, the German army fought continuously, not only Rommel's headquarters was fully launched, but the German air force also launched a battle for air supremacy in the whole battlefield and all airspace with a majestic momentum, and shot down 519 planes of the US Army Air Force with 97 losses (many crew members parachuted into the US military-controlled area, and the losses were not as exaggerated as the planes), the day before Admiral Arnold had just replenished nearly 600 planes to the South American Army Airlines, and the Navy had transferred more than 100 planes, which were exhausted in a blink of an eye, and the German army was in full swing after the three wings were fully deployed. The number of aircraft on the Brazilian front has increased to 1,500.

Not only did the quality of the German army greatly surpass that of the American army, but it also had an overwhelming numerical superiority and could no longer shake the situation. As a large number of German troops went ashore, the ground warfare of the 5th Army became more and more difficult: although Rommel had only one heavy armored battalion and the rest were infantry and marine brigades in order to speed up the pace of landing, the US imperialists, who could not stand the deep pockets, left a large amount of heavy equipment in warehouses, on the docks, and on cargo ships, and the German light infantry division was immediately upgraded to a heavy armored grenadier division on the spot.

- Isn't that Sherman, old friend! The Germans have always used it as a service tank after capturing it, and they are no longer familiar with it, and now they are still used in battle. However, M26 Pershing has not been used much, and this time he happened to go wild with Tiger 2. In order to prevent accidental hits, all the white star symbols on these tanks were erased, and the improvised swastika or iron cross symbol was hung on their heads, which looked very funny, but it still caused the US troops to vomit blood.

Marshall replaced Patton with the command in the hope that they would counterattack and push the German troops into the sea, but he expected Patton to defeat the evenly matched German army under the premise of the German army's superior air force and superior navy, and even Patton himself did not dare to dream of this, and now he could only stabilize the defensive line as much as possible and respond to the retreat of Roosevelt Jr. as soon as possible.

Although the loss of personnel is not as exaggerated as the Iceland campaign, many parachute crews were rescued by the US military themselves, but after all, the crew can no longer return to the battlefield in the short term, and the rapid loss of troops makes the army aviation, which finally recovered a little vitality after the Icelandic campaign, bleed internally again. Signs of pilots avoiding war, fearing war, and disobedience have begun to appear, making Admiral Arnold anxious. The Hawaii Army Airlines entered a period of recuperation after a serious injury, and South America suffered even greater losses and urgently needed to recuperate.

The order to retreat was given, but it was not so easy to execute. Patton was responding to the retreating naval officers and sailors, and on the other hand, he had to gather the remnants of the defeated soldiers and army crews who had retreated from the city, and he had to be an extra distraction from the Roosevelt Jr. cluster.

After learning of the German landing in Victoria, Patton knew that Roosevelt's cluster would be absolutely difficult to hold in the direction of Port Segurus, and immediately demanded that Roosevelt Jr. retreat and move closer to the headquarters of the Fifth Army before the order of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was issued.

Roosevelt Jr. commanded more than 10,000 troops to fight and retreat, and retreated more than 90 kilometers in two days, but it was still nearly 300 kilometers away from El Salvador, and 250 kilometers away from their nearest friendly troops. Moreover, Roosevelt Jr. did not dare to retreat deep to the west, because once he entered the hilly terrain, his heavy troops would be blinded, and after allocating the Navy officers and men with trucks for retreat, his vehicle dispatch was greatly reduced, forcing him to rely on roads and natural features to fight one after another.

Fortunately, when he landed at the port of Saiguru, he had enough supplies and supplies, and he was able to support it in such a fierce battle; Fortunately, it rained a lot this evening, which turned the land in this area, which was dominated by the impact plains, into muddy land, and partially delayed the pace of the German army's pressing attack.

"Sir, the troops are ready to go." A staff officer with a haggard face, covered in a mixture of gunsmoke, sludge, and rain, whispered.

Taking advantage of the rainy night, Roosevelt Jr. planned to let the main force retreat first. To this end, he not only arranged for a regiment to remain behind the rear road, but also made the retreating troops give up all their heavy artillery and other heavy equipment, and even some heavy tanks were intended to give up -- the troops did not have much fuel, and they had to keep the vital trucks and armored vehicles, and the heavy tanks could only be given up at such a time, and as for other supplies, all those that were not closely related to the maintenance of the operation and necessary were to be abandoned.

Little did he know that on the same rainy night, Rommel's terrible judgment and battlefield instincts had their eyes on his cluster.

In the headquarters where Clark had stayed, he carefully studied the map and said to Gauss: "You quickly contact the navy, let the last marine brigade go to the Kamamu area to land on the beach, and let the artillery formation send a part of the battleships to support ......."

Camam was stuck between Salvador and Porto Segurus, and Gauss immediately understood what he meant: "You're going to eat this southernmost American division?" ”

Rommel nodded: "Sauken said that this US army division is very hard, it is a mixed heavy unit of the first division and the first cavalry division of the US army, which is considered the elite of the US army, and its status is equivalent to our Great German division, I want to eat him all." This kind of troops can't be allowed to go back to make up for it! ”

"The US Fifth Army in front of it may send troops south to meet it, and forcibly jamming it will usher in a two-pronged attack."

"It's better for the Fifth Army to go south, I'm still worried that I won't be able to catch them when they retreat to Recife, so I will simply eat this army together! Let the 1st Marine Brigade withstand me! The heroes of Holm will not be afraid to be surrounded! As long as I hold on for three days, I can wipe them out! Rommel waved his hand and said, "Let the troops near Victoria not worry about the rear road, and don't wait for the formation to be fully deployed, as many troops as I want to attack, rush forward on all fronts, now that the US Navy has no ships, we can fight wherever we want!" ”

"First Brigade, attack!"

With Rommel's order, the 1st Marine Brigade (Holm Brigade), which was about to go ashore, quietly turned around on the rainy night of August 30 and headed straight for Camam.

The South American battlefield has now been completely turned into a mess, but the German army firmly occupies the initiative, and the evil consequences of the US Navy being eaten are exposed in the blink of an eye, just as Rommel said, with naval superiority in hand, you can fight wherever you want, and in order to cooperate with the operation, even the Kranker fleet rushed out of Argentina with three battleships and other light warships that were urgently repaired.

On August 31, the German Holm Brigade forcibly landed on the beach, and quickly intercepted the main force of the retreating Roosevelt group, although the Marine Brigade did not have much heavy equipment, but it was just right to deal with the American troops who had just abandoned a large number of tanks and retreated, and the Fw-190 assigned to the Flying Fortress Division launched a ground attack after dawn, forcing the American retreating group to further disperse. Nearly 10,000 troops,

"What?" Patton exclaimed in disbelief, "General Roosevelt Jr. surrounded? ”

"The telegram is so, General Roosevelt Jr. led an infantry regiment to hold the rear and cover the rest of the troops thoroughly." The staff officers said in an anxious tone, "Now not only General Roosevelt Jr. is in danger, but the troops he arranged for the retreat are blocked by the Germans on the Kamamu line and cannot go any further north. ”

"Didn't the naval retreat cluster just come from there, how could there suddenly be German troops?"

"Last night, the Germans sent troops to seize the beach, and the number of troops was not large, but the Germans had naval guns and aircraft cover, blocking the road, and it was difficult to walk in other directions."

"Sir, shall we go and meet them?"

Patton shook his head bitterly: "Can't go, if we go, as soon as the German army is cut off along the Palaguazu River, the entire army group will be surrounded!" At that time, who will save us? ”

"Sir, General Marshall sent a telegram, let's take up Roosevelt's cluster and retreat as soon as possible!"

"Report Washington, the Roosevelt cluster is surrounded, I need 2000 planes to cover us!"

But where else can we draw 2,000 planes? Recife had less than 600 planes left in the Luftwaffe and the Luftwaffe in El Salvador, let alone to rescue Roosevelt's cluster in Seguru or Camamu.

At 14 o'clock in the afternoon of August 31, the 16th Regiment of the First Infantry Division of the United States Army was surrounded by the main force of the German army and annihilated, and the deputy commander of the division, Brigadier General Roosevelt Jr., was killed in the battle, and in order to eliminate this force of less than 3,000 people, the German army still paid more than 1,000 casualties in the case of absolute superiority.

As soon as this large stone lying across the road was removed, the more than 60,000 troops of the Sauken cluster rushed straight to the main force of the Roosevelt cluster like wild horses that had escaped from the reins.

At the moment of the destruction of the 16th Regiment, the main force of Roosevelt's cluster launched three shocking and desperate attacks on the blocking German Holm Brigade, but each time it was like a wave crashing on the reef and was crushed by the Germans, and the last time the defense line was crumbling, Wu Keman (then a lieutenant colonel), who served as the commander of the 1st Brigade Major General and commanded the troops in the Holm encirclement, calmly pinched out the cigarette butt and reported the coordinates directly to the battleship Tirpitts in the distance by radio, "Fire!" Intercept the shot! ”

381mm main artillery shells immediately exploded in the crowd, and the shock wave of the most recent shells was even less than 15 meters from the Germans' own forward lines.

Everyone was frightened into a cold sweat, if the navy was a little bit worse, the whole thing would be burned.

Wu Keman smiled at the staff officers and said, "Why didn't I let the Veneto fire?" Because I know the Italians are a little bit off on the spot, ha......"

This round of shelling completely dampened the courage of the remaining officers and men of Roosevelt's group, who retreated like a tidal wave, and ran under the command of the officers to the deep hills, preparing to make a detour from there to join the friendly forces of the Fifth Army, and some simply surrendered......