Lieutenant Colonel Edwood had to make the right choice in the shortest possible time, because the German army on the opposite side would not give him much time to think about it. In the face of the current situation, there were not many choices left for the British tank commander, whether to fight or flee, and the life and death of hundreds of officers and men in the whole regiment were only between his thoughts.

Did the British Army lack courage? No one thinks so. The lobster soldiers of that year had been with the champions, runners-up and runners-up of the world's strongest army championships all head-on, although they often played the side that was beaten, but no one could deny the bravery and tenacity of the British army soldiers, especially the latter point, which left a deep impression on all the enemy generals who had fought with them, the lobster soldiers were like walking corpses on the battlefield, not knowing pain and fearing death.

The lobster soldiers have braved the rain of bullets countless times to march in formation, these soldiers in the smoke of gunfire with rifles and drums like a leisurely stroll, even if the comrades around them are shot and fall to the ground, they will not blink for this. They are not painless monsters, they are just more afraid of military regulations than death.

The British Army's combat effectiveness is maintained by strict military regulations, which are more harsh than the Royal Navy's maritime regulations. At that time, the lobster soldier was not a glorious profession, just as only unemployed vagrants and criminals would join the navy at that time, the regular army was not the choice of the children of good families, the children of good families and the children of noble officials and gentry would apply for military schools or directly become officers, and only powerless landless peasants or low-level citizens would choose to enlist in the army as big soldiers.

They are either to support their families, or to escape debts, or to avoid lawsuits, of course, there are also fierce people who want to go out to increase their knowledge and seek adventure and excitement, because the British colonies are all over the world, the British Army mainly serves overseas, and the domestic defense is the business of the local army. It is the best profession to avoid trouble.

Therefore, the British Army, like the Royal Navy, once had the same inferior quality of the low-level soldiers as modern people imagined, but it was precisely by relying on this group of scum, scrap, hooligans, ruffians, stupid farmers, that the lobster soldiers made a name for themselves. As I said earlier, the Anglo-Saxons have never been a kind people who follow the rules, and barbarism, ferocity, greed, and tyranny are what they are.

The British Army did only four things, teaching them to distinguish ranks with their salaries, inspiring them to fight with rewards, suppressing their casual behavior with torture, and teaching them to obey their superiors with leather whips. It's a group of troops concocted by a combination of harsh discipline and monetary rewards. The soldiers had developed a reflexive fear and obedience to the officer, even if he knew that the shell flying from the opposite side would hit his chest, but out of fear of military discipline, he could only puff up his chest and meet the bullet, because he knew that if he dodged sideways and disturbed the formation of the queue, then the punishment that awaited him would be more terrible than death.

But Lieutenant Colonel Edwood's men were just a group of recruits, and the British Army had no time for regular professional development. They seem to have more personality than those of qualified veterans, but they also lack a sense of discipline and reflexive obedience.

It took Edwood only a few seconds to make a judgment about the situation, and his tank regiment was at a disadvantage in the terrain. Most of his troops were still on the ramp behind them, and they couldn't even see the enemy, let alone participate in the battle, and the 2nd Squadron and the regimental headquarters squad that had climbed to the top of the hill together had only 25 cruiser tanks. Of these, only seven were the latest Crusader tanks, the rest were old MKIA9s, and they were faced with a fully manned German armored battalion. It was a real tank battalion, with tanks, infantry, and support artillery, not a battalion-level parallel trade like itself.

He didn't recognize what model the tanks led by the other party were, they should be the latest German equipment, and he knew by looking at the caliber of the long-barreled tank gun that it was definitely not something that his thin-skinned goods could resist, let alone the pile of light tanks and armored vehicles on the ramp behind him.

The Seventh Queen's private cavalry was at an absolute disadvantage in all conditions, and there was no chance of winning this battle at all. Lieutenant Colonel Edwood found himself facing a difficult but necessary choice.

"Sir, where did they land from, are the Coastal Defense Command all blind?" The voice of Major Forrester, the deputy head of the regiment, came from the headphones, and Ed Wood froze with his mouth open, not knowing how to answer his subordinates' questions.

"What are we going to do, sir." The squadron leader of the second squadron asked loudly.

"Give the order, sir, now only we can stop them." The deputy commander made his suggestion, and it was true that only Edwood's regiment could hold back the advance of the German troops, and that if the German tanks were allowed to drive straight in, it would be devastating for all British troops in the Dover area.

But the question is, even if they want to block it, can they really stop it? Ed Wood finally made a decision.

"The regimental squad and the second squadron will advance with me, Forrester, you stay, and withdraw with the men of the third squadron and the Twelve Lancers Regiment to the town below the slope, and join up with the infantry remaining in the village, where you will establish a defensive line, and use the infantry tanks of the first squadron as the main force, and fight street battles with the German tanks, which should be able to stop their attack. In addition, immediately report the situation here to the division headquarters, and let them quickly mobilize all the mobile forces to come to reinforcements, and once the Germans break through here, then everything is over. ”

Determined to hold the top of the slope with a squadron of cruiser tanks and buy time for the remaining troops to establish a defensive line in Temple Ewell, Edwood found that the only tactic that could create some obstacles to the German tank breakthrough was to force them into the narrow village streets for street fighting.

"No, sir! Or do I stay, I don't know much about street fighting tactics, on the contrary, I have a lot of experience in commanding cruiser tanks, and the next defensive battles must be commanded by you, the soldiers trust you to obey you, and the troops cannot do without your command. Now listen, the whole second squadron will charge with me, for the honor of the Seventh Queen's private cavalry, for the sake of the British Empire, for the sake of the King! The deputy head shouted loudly over the radio. Then his Crusader tanks increased their horsepower and roared towards the German tank group, and the remaining cruiser tanks did not hesitate to line up in a long horizontal row, scrambling to launch a fearless charge at the Germans.

The two remaining Crusader tanks of the regimental squad stopped next to the regimental commander's command tank, and Edwood's adjutant, Ensign Henry, suddenly turned around and saluted his commander, Edwood knew what the other party was trying to do, he just opened his mouth, but did not say anything. Henry smiled and lowered his arm, burrowed back into the turret and slammed the armor cover shut. Then his Crusader tank began to pick up and charge towards the Germans after the charge formation of the second squadron.

"For the honor of the Seventh Queen's private cavalry?" Ed Wood felt a little sour in his eyes. These young men had never even heard of the name of this unit before joining the army, and Ed Wood knew very well that the upper echelons of the army actually gave this number to this unit as a disguise, which did not mean that they recognized the identity of this unit, according to past habits, it was more likely that when the battle was over, this unit would be re-split, and experienced soldiers and officers would be assigned to those newly formed units as seeds. And this number will be returned to the hands of the War Department.

But today, Ed Wood has a new perspective from these brave young men who believe they are the heirs to this glorious name, and that they are part of this army. They were even willing to give their lives for the honor of this unit.

Looking at the tank squadron in the distance, Ed Wood rubbed his eyes vigorously, and then gave the driver the order to turn around.

Ed Wood knew that he could not really do anything to fend off the German tanks, but only as a supreme commander. He has to take the lead. The morale of the soldiers in the British army was often determined by the performance of the officers, and once the officers showed a cowardly and fearful mood, the morale of the troops would plummet in an instant. And if an officer were to lead the charge, not a single soldier would want to hide behind his commander.

In order to install three Type 19 radios for dispatch and command, and the need to expand the space in the turret, the Crusader II command tank removed the two-pounder gun and coaxial machine gun on the turret, and only made a dummy cannon out of wood in the same position as a camouflage, and the only defensive weapon on the car was a Bersa machine gun in the cockpit side rotating machine gun tower, which was equivalent to an unarmed vehicle for a German tank.

The lieutenant colonel, leading one of the remaining convoy tanks at the regimental headquarters, turned around and retreated from the top of the slope to the ramp, and he gave the order by radio, and all the vehicles that were parked on the ramp turned around and headed towards the village below the hillside. At this time, a dense burst of artillery and explosions was already sounding on the top of the slope, and the second squadron was engaged in a final battle to the death.

MKIA9 is the British Army's first real sense of cruiser tank, the so-called cruiser tank, which is a unique name for the British Army, the design concept of this weapon is to create a kind of armored vehicle that can break through the enemy's position in the enemy's rear high-speed movement, destroy the enemy's rear supply depot and transportation hub, from the nature of the task, it is indeed somewhat similar to the navy's cruisers, and the combat concept is unique and advanced, and in many ways it is consistent with the German army's blitzkrieg theory.

But in fact, the British Army's tactical thinking was actually inspired by cavalry tactics, and the British simply used the cruiser tank as a substitute for cavalry, which was completely different from the German theory of armored warfare.

After the war, the British economy contracted, and the Army Machinery and Equipment Council stuck the neck of the tank factories, and the British tank development began to transform from the priority of technology with deep pockets to the priority of careful price, which is the difference between advanced and economical.

Previously, the British Army had abundant funds, and all tank models were all aimed at being tall, with the most advanced technology, the best materials, and the most refined processing technology. But after the economic crisis, military spending tightened, the army no longer dared to spend money lavishly, reflected in the design of tanks, the army began to take price as the primary criterion for selection, which is why the Matilda 1 was actually adopted, this kind of off-road speed is not as fast as the infantry tank is known for its cheap price, 6,000 pounds a piece, which can be called the price of cabbage.

This led to the fact that since then, the British tank design no longer has the imagination and aura of the past, but blindly pursues the subtle improvement of the previous model, and the British series of tanks in World War II is almost like pouring out of a mold, only slightly modified the details and outlines, and the same ugly to no friends. What is even more odious is that in order to facilitate factory production and control costs, they do not take into account the feedback of the front-line troops in the slightest, and anyone who openly expresses dissatisfaction with the equipment can be sent to a military court for this.

The MKIA9 is a model of an economical tank, in order to save money, it is equipped with a bus engine, and the armor is only 14 mm at its thickest, not to mention the German 37 mm anti-tank gun, even the 20 mm machine gun can beat it into a sieve. And now these tanks are facing a company of tank No. 4, armed with a long-barreled 75 mm tank gun.

The German tank company formed a standard battle formation, the two platoons of No. 4 tanks were separated from the left and right, with an interval of fifty meters in between, and two inverted V-shaped shock formations were lined up, and in the middle of the rear of the two platoons was the third tank platoon, which was a hundred meters away from the front tanks, and was also lined up in an inverted V-shaped formation, followed by the company headquarters behind the third platoon, and finally the five No. 4 tanks in the fourth platoon as the rearguard.

The German tanks moved forward steadily, and the British tank shells continued to fall around them, and the shells hitting the frontal armor and the tank turret were instantly bounced away, and none of them could penetrate the solid armor of the No. 4 Modification.

The vanguard platoon stopped at a distance of five hundred meters from the British tanks, followed by a salvo. Ten high-velocity semi-armor-piercing grenades screeched through the air before exploding a fireball in the charging formation of the British tanks.

These German tank crews have accumulated rich experience in the French battlefield, and it is completely impossible to miss the target at this distance, ten taels of MKIA9 were shot in response, and the semi-armor-piercing shells easily penetrated the turret shield and frontal armor, and the delayed fuse detonated the charge in the warhead in the hull, turning the tank into a burning torch in an instant, and two A9s were hit in the front rotating machine gun tower, and the German armor-piercing shells tore the armor of this small machine gun tower, tearing the machine gunner inside into pieces of flesh, and then the warhead passed through the rear layer of armor, Finally, it exploded on the turret shield, and the violent explosion shattered the fragile riveted armor, and the broken rivets flew and ejected inside the hull, and the three crew members had no room to dodge in the narrow turret, and the flesh and blood were blurred by these high-speed flying metal blocks.

The Germans had wiped out almost half of the tanks of the second squadron in two seconds, but the remaining cruisers did not slow down at all, and they continued to return fire with the 40mm tank guns as they went, and the coaxial machine guns and turret machine guns were all firing frantically at the German tanks, while charging at the Germans at a top speed of 24 kilometers per hour off-road. Like the British red-coat grenadiers of the past, they turned a blind eye to the tragic situation of their comrades, and still marched briskly in the face of death.

The officers and men of the Seventh Queen's personal cavalry team in Egypt would not know that in England, there was a group of young tankers with the same name as them, who were fighting to the death for the honor of the Seventh Queen's personal cavalry. (To be continued......)