"General!" Zhang Chi said: "The problem is that sometimes there will be melee combat on the battlefield, which is not something that can be avoided with the next life, and it is not something that the soldiers can decide!" ”

Montgomery nodded: "That's right, even so, there are still a lot of melee situations!" ”

This is for sure, it is possible to avoid close combat only if tanks such as "Matilda" can maneuver faster than German tanks, such as M3 half-track armored vehicles with a speed of more than 60 kilometers per hour, otherwise the order to fight only from a distance is just empty talk. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Therefore, this order was never carried out, not because the British soldiers did not obey the order, but because they could not do it at all.

"So......" said Montgomery, "what do you propose about this, Major General?" ”

"General!" Zhang Chi said: "I mean...... These tanks may not be suitable for both close and long-range combat! ”

"Tell me why!" Montgomery had a puzzle on his face.

"Melee combat!" Zhang Chi said: "Due to the difference in mobility, the British tank is like a snail in front of the German tank, so the German tank can easily go around the flank or even the rear of the British tank, even if the British tank has thick frontal armor, but it can't make the armor in all directions thick, so it can only wait to die!" ”

"That's true!" Montgomery said, "That's why I only allow tanks to fight from a distance and not to fight in close combat, but I don't think it's suitable for long-range combat...... In long-range battles, we can take advantage of the long range and thick armor! ”

"BUT THE QUESTION IS......," ZHANG CHI REPLIED, "WHEN FIGHTING FROM AFAR, THE GERMANS USED NOT TANKS, BUT AIRPLANES AND 88MM ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUNS!" ”

Hearing this, Montgomery couldn't help but be stunned, because the German army did fight like this in actual combat.

Zhang Chi continued: "The range of 'Matilda' is more than one kilometer......

"About 1,100 meters!" Montgomery replied.

"Yes!" ZHANG CHI SAID: "HOWEVER, THE GERMAN'S 88MM ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUNS HAVE A FIRING RANGE OF ABOUT 1,800 METERS. For the Germans: in long-range combat, they could use anti-aircraft guns to target the 'Matilda', in close combat, and the No. 3 tank was not afraid. Britain, on the other hand, fought far away...... Faced with anti-aircraft guns, but can't walk in close combat? ”

Montgomery couldn't help but feel a little helpless, because what Zhang Chi said was the truth, the "Matilda" tank could still play a role in the early stage of the war, the Italian M13 tank was not worth mentioning at all, and the Germans did not know how to use 88MM anti-aircraft guns at first after they came, so "Matilda" could use the thick frontal armor to build a steel defense line that the enemy could not break in front of the infantry.

HOWEVER, SINCE THE GERMANS USED THE 88MM ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUNS AS ANTI-TANK GUNS, THE TIDE OF THE WAR WAS COMPLETELY REVERSED: THE GERMANS ONLY NEEDED TO SET UP AN ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUN ON THE DEFENSIVE LINE TO DESTROY THE BRITISH TANKS THAT WERE CRAWLING FORWARD LIKE SNAILS ONE BY ONE, AND SOMETIMES THE BRITISH ARMY HAD ALREADY LOST DOZENS OF TANKS WITHOUT EVEN SEEING THE GERMAN LINES.

"So what else can we do?" Montgomery said, "Are we going to throw these tanks away?" ”

"Of course you won't throw it away!" Zhang Chi replied.

The number of "Sherman" tanks is still very small, and it is simply not enough for the British armored forces to use them, and it is expected that there will not be too many "Sherman" tanks to support North Africa for a while...... Due to transportation and supply reasons, the US military itself is still short of tanks!

"I mean......" After thinking about it, Zhang Chi continued: "We shouldn't mix all these tanks, such as 'Crusader', 'Grant' and 'Sherman', into one armored division!" ”

"You mean ......"

"It's like the battle of Maherama!" Zhang Chi said: "There was a problem with the British 10th Armored Division reinforcing Maherama, the tanks such as 'Matilda' were too slow to keep up with the 'Sherman' and 'Grant' tanks, so they could only organize the faster tanks into the first armored regiment to reinforce Maherama first, and the strength of an armored regiment was too weak, so it was almost annihilated by the Germans." What if the 10th Panzer Division was a whole division? I mean, if this entire division is equipped with tanks that are 'Grant' or 'Sherman', and they can be quickly mobile and reinforced, then the German Panzer Division attacking Maherama should have fled long ago or would have been completely annihilated! ”

Hearing this, Montgomery couldn't help but nod.

This is the difference between strategic defense and strategic offense.

If it is strategically defensive, then strive to effectively resist the enemy's attack in every place, so it is necessary to disperse the use of tanks with excellent performance, such as the "Sherman" tank, its advantages in speed and performance enable it to quickly fill the hole when the British defense line is broken by the Germans, so each direction, each armored division must have a "Sherman" detachment.

But if it is strategically offensive, this will be a big problem: the tanks with such a huge difference in speed are mixed together that they cannot move synchronously at all, and the advantage of the rapid mobility of the "Sherman" tank will not be brought into play, and the result of barely using its mobility will probably be attacked because of being a "bird" as in the battle of Maherama.

The Germans were very successful in this regard, because they had always been strategically active, so they always used tanks of similar speed and complementary performance, contrary to the Allied habit of using tanks in a scattered manner.

"I see what you mean!" Montgomery said, "You're trying to put the Sherman tank into an armored division. However, in this way, our defense line ......"

"Leave the line of defense!" Zhang Chi said: "All along, we have been using a wrong combat defense style, that is, hoping to hold the entire defense line to block the German attack. This made us have many more planes, artillery, tanks and even soldiers than the Germans, but we were always defeated by them! ”

"We can think defensively!" After a pause, Zhang Chi continued: "There is a saying that 'the best defense is offense', just imagine, if we can form an armored division with strong combat effectiveness and rapid mobility, this armored division can quickly rush to the battlefield and defeat the Germans when the Germans come to attack, then do we still need to defend?" ”

Montgomery was silent, because Zhang Chi's suggestion had changed the troops too much, and it could even be said that it had changed the strategic direction of the entire British army, that is, from the previous main defense to the main attack.

Ramsden nodded on the side and said, "General, I think we can try!" We can act as if we didn't get the 'Sherman' tank! ”