The answer given by the 4th Panzer Company was two hours and forty minutes, which was the time between the first shot and the last Italian soldier captured, which could have been shorter if the time spent on the infantry had been deducted from the time lost in battle.

There is no invincible superman in this world, and the Italian soldiers will certainly not be invincible King Kong, and the bloody impulse for a while makes the soldiers forget their fears for a while, but soon the Germans awaken the memories of these people with ferocious firepower.

Infantry is inherently inferior to armored vehicles, and until the two sides get close to a dangerous distance, infantry is only a target for armored forces. As for this distance, it depends on what kind of anti-armor weapons the infantry has, but unfortunately these Italians only have some glass bottles with a small amount of gasoline in their hands at the moment.

After losing German aid, Italy's fuel reserves were close to exhaustion, and most of the oil from strategic reserves was transported to the Greek front and the North African colonies to maintain front-line operations and the normal operation of the colonial forces.

It should be pointed out here that at least 200,000 tons of fuel have been lost in the Mediterranean Sea due to interception by the British Royal Navy, accounting for almost two-thirds of the total volume. But the problem is that no matter how big the losses are, the Italians will only have to swallow blood, and they must ensure the supply of fuel to Libya, where Italy's largest armored corps is now stationed, and if the supply is cut off, these tanks and trucks will be turned into a pile of scrap metal.

British and French African troops are now eyeing the two ends of Libya, not to mention the fact that the enemy now seems to be adding a newly formed German Afrika Korps to the enemy.

The remaining strategic fuel reserves are in the hands of the Air Force and the Navy, but these two are also large fuel consumers, so at this time they have almost reached the point of running out of fuel, and the main ships of the Navy have not gone to sea to patrol for half a month, just in order to retain valuable fuel just in case.

Colonel Bernafini was an old-fashioned and stubborn Italian aristocrat, who was supposed to be a tsundere and lonely figure, but surprisingly, this old man was very popular in the army, and the regimental commander was very enthusiastic and generous, and when he was in a good mood, he would often pay off his debts for his subordinates.

Therefore, when they saw the death of the regimental commander, most of the Italian officers and soldiers who witnessed this scene were moved, and they were full of grief and indignation, and they took up their weapons and charged at the Germans, and at this time they only thought about avenging the baron.

But this impulse of anger is not destined to last, and human beings are naturally creatures who seek advantage and avoid harm, and the Italians who love pleasure are the best of them. The German counterattack was extremely fierce, and the battlefield losses soon overflowed the critical point of psychological endurance of the Italian officers and soldiers.

There were almost 200 soldiers rushing out of the woods, and they faced the fire of two 20-mm cannons and seven machine guns on the right flank of the German army, followed by the No. 3 tank in the main German army, many of which were still equipped with 37-mm guns, which may have been a little weak against the British and French tanks, but it was effortless to slaughter the light infantry.

Within a minute of the start of the battle, more than 70 Italian soldiers had been killed on the spot, and the number of light and serious wounded was about the same. The 1st Italian Infantry Battalion suddenly collapsed, and just a few seconds before the Italian soldiers had behaved so bravely and violently that the Germans almost gave the Germans the illusion that the Italians would fight to the end. The Italian infantry on the battlefield began to turn and retreat, some fleeing east along the edge of the woods, while others burrowed headlong into the woods.

The most ardent pursuit of the Germans began, and the Panzers retained an advantage in this regard, and in such an open plain, it was impossible for two-legged infantry to escape from the pursuit of armored vehicles. The Germans were divided into three platoon groups, two flanking from the right behind the woods, and one group pursuing the fleeing infantry along the edge of the woods.

The 4th Company was carrying out a feint mission this time, so it did not have a motorized infantry company to cooperate with it, and it was impossible to clear the infantry in the woods by relying only on tank troops, so the task of entering the woods to destroy the remnants of the enemy was handed over to the two infantry companies that were digging trenches on the other side of the road.

The intensity of the German firepower from the woods was estimated to be at least two to three hundred Italian infantrymen hiding inside, and in fact there were more than 500 Italian troops hiding in the woods at this time, but they lacked machine guns and mortars, which caused the Germans to miscalculate in numbers.

Taking advantage of the time for the German infantry to formulate a search plan, three tank platoons surrounded this small area of woods from three sides, and the commander planned to catch turtles in the urn.

An armored platoon on the south side repelled three platoon units of the Italian infantry in succession, and the tactics of the Italian infantry were somewhat similar to those of the Germans, also relying on machine guns as the basis, covering each other alternately, the problem was that these infantry lacked heavy fire support, and their medium mortars and heavy machine guns were all left in the barracks.

AT THE MOMENT, THE ITALIANS ONLY HAD SOME BRIXIA.35 FORTY-FIVE MM MORTARS KNOWN FOR THEIR HIGH RATE OF FIRE AND ACCURACY, WHICH COULD NOT POSE ANY REAL THREAT TO GERMAN TANKS, NOT TO MENTION THAT THEY DID NOT CARRY MUCH AMMUNITION, MAINLY SOME ANTI-INFANTRY IRON-HULLED GRENADES, AND THOSE FINE SHRAPNEL THAT THE INFANTRY REGARDED AS DEMONS COULD ONLY SCRAPE OFF THE SHINY PAINT ON THE HULL IN VAIN AND CLANK THE TANK'S ARMOR.

The German armored platoon commander pointed out in his post-war report that the Italians needed smoke grenades to cover the battlefield more in this situation, but apparently the Italians did not have such ammunition at all.

At this time, the Italian soldiers were not completely dead, and they then launched several tentative attacks on the other side of the woods, and the Italian infantry launched a continuous assault in whole squads and platoons, seemingly indifferent to their own losses, and they showed great strength in order to escape.

The Germans were troubled by the top Italian shooters in the bushes, who were armed with Carcano short-barreled carbines, and the 6.5mm round-tipped bullets showed incredible power at a distance of less than 200 meters, and once they were hit in the head or torso, there was basically no need to think about resuscitation.

In the following period, the battle did not go well, and the stubborn Italian Army showed a rather tenacious will to fight, and the Germans had to admit that these rookie infantry performed as well as the enemy outside the woods.

The Italian infantry battalion did not carry radio equipment and could not call for help from their comrades in the city, and they knew that even if they called for help, reinforcements would not come. But these soldiers were still fighting hard, and no one proposed to surrender to the Germans.

The Italian officers played a key role in this battle, because it was because of their persistence that the troops were able to reorganize themselves from the collapse in a very short time, and because of their calm attitude, the soldiers forgot their tension and fear, and although they were in a disadvantageous situation, they still bravely aimed at the enemy.

Soon the 4th Company and the infantry were exhausted by the stubborn Italians, who had already lost thirty men here, and if they continued to delay like this, they would become the laughing stock of their colleagues even if they were victorious.

The division headquarters had already asked if artillery needed to be mobilized for support, apparently beginning to wonder if the 4th Company would be able to end the battle alone.

After consulting with the commander of the infantry company, the 4th Panzer Company mobilized two No. 2 tanks to try to launch a round of assault into the forest.

As the commander feared, the attack ended in failure, and the Italians had dug a large number of foxholes in the woods for the previous hour, in which they hid and dropped bombs and fired at all the targets they saw.

Tank No. 2 had only advanced twenty meters, and it had been hit by five or six glass bottles in a row, and the Germans could not have imagined that the Italians would dare to use this thing in the woods where they were hiding. Without saying a word, the two No. 2 tanks directly hung up the reverse gear and fled from the woods in a panic with a tank full of gasoline.

The 4th Company finally gave up its plan to storm and obediently waited for the support sent by its superiors. But what they didn't expect was that it was not the divisional artillery that was transferred from above, but a team of Stuka bombers.

"All units are ready." Captain Mangels, the commander of the 4th Panzer Company, held a microphone and shouted: "There is a squadron of Stuka from above!" ”。

On the side of the company's command tank, the non-commissioned officers of the ground guidance group were sitting in their radio communication vehicles, nervously talking to the approaching Stuka formation.

German troops on the outskirts of the woods began to unfurl their swastika flags on the ground to reveal themselves to friendly forces in the air. In fact, it was not difficult to identify the target in this battle, the bombers only needed to attack the woods, and as for the target to escape from the woods, the Fourth Armored Company, which had long been holding its breath, could clean it up by itself.

"See." The deputy company commander, Captain Cowell, climbed into the company commander's command tank, leaned against the spare parts box behind the turret, and handed a cigarette to the armored company commander with a serious expression on his face.

"What?" The company commander took the cigarette in confusion.

"They're wearing army uniforms." Cowell pulled out a lighter and lit a cigarette for Mangels.

"It's the Army Air Corps, I just heard about it before, but I didn't expect it to be formed so quickly." Mangels took a sharp drag on his cigarette and ran his fingers over the stubble on his chin.

"Red smoke grenades!" One of the sergeants of the ground guidance group turned and shouted at Mangels.

"Red, do you hear that? Immediately ignite the red smoke bomb. Mangels picked up the microphone and commanded loudly.

"Look, they're on top." Cowell shouted, pointing overhead.

"The crews are ready, and the Italians will soon be driven out." Mangels squinted and looked up at the sky, then gave the order to prepare for battle.

Before he could finish speaking, Stuka's shrill whistling rang out in the sky. The commander of the armored company looked up again, and saw three Stukas lined up in a neat triangle, swooping almost vertically towards the woods.

The dive bomber screamed and dived vertically, getting closer and closer to the ground, and the German officers and soldiers who witnessed this moment involuntarily held their breath.

Stuka was still diving, as if these pilots were not ready to pull up at all, at an altitude of less than three hundred meters from the ground, the belly bomb rack suddenly unfolded, and one heavy bomb after another was thrown away from the fuselage by centrifugal force, and then the autopilot forcibly pulled up the fuselage, and the engine roared wildly, dragging these vultures painted with gray-green camouflage back into the air.

The German tankers' eyes widened as they followed the bombs as they fell into the verdant woods, and after a second, several huge fireballs rose into the air, and even if they were two or three hundred meters away from the trees, the human body could feel the terrible shock wave.

"These Italians are finished, and the next two waves are using incendiary bombs." The sergeant of the guidance group said to Mangels with a smile.

"Well done, thank you to these pilots for me." Mangels nodded.

"Understood, sir." The sergeant returned a nice military salute and then turned away neatly.

For the first time, the German armourers had tested the power of heavy solidified ******, and Mangels felt that the Stukas had summoned the Abyssal Hell to the world, and a series of incendiary bombs had erected a wall of fire fifty meters high in front of the Germans, and the panzers had to move their tanks backwards to avoid the scorching heat.

Soon the Italian soldiers rushed out of the woods, and many of them set their uniforms on fire, but no matter how much these poor warriors rolled and fluttered on the ground, they could not extinguish the flames that seemed to come from hell.

Some of the Italian soldiers were already frightened, wailing and crying, running towards the German line with their hands raised, thinking that they would be saved when they got there, only to be greeted by the ruthless bullets of the German army.

"They brought it on themselves." Mangels turned his face and fixed his eyes on his lieutenant commander.

"Yes, they brought it on themselves." Cowell raised his head to look at the sky, and a pillar of smoke stood above the trees.

The German captain let out a sigh of relief and flicked the cigarette butt in his hand.

PS: Sorry for being late, but finally in time.

Thank you all for your support. (To be continued.) )