Kesselring had two options:

One was to attack Palermo, while two German divisions continued to attack the American army. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

The advantage of this is that there is still hope that the American army will be driven into the sea, and as long as he can recapture Palermo in time, it will not affect the German army too much.

But this choice was too dangerous, partly because Kesselring learned that the two German divisions were not fighting well with the Americans, and that they could not advance further when they attacked the coastline, because the Americans could shoot shells as bullets, and they used large-caliber naval guns to blow up a wall of fire in front of the beach, and in front of this wall of fire, any German attack would be futile.

On the other hand, it was Kesselring who received information that the enemy occupying the port of Palermo was a French division...... If it was just a French division, it would be nothing, and the performance of the French on the battlefield would almost be comparable to that of the Italians. But Kesselring knew that the leader of the French division was the Chinese major general named Zhang Chi.

"That's the guy who beat Rommel in Africa!" Kesselring said to himself: "I want to take Palermo from him in a short time...... It's not an easy task! ”

What's more, what if you can capture Palermo? And who can guarantee that this Chinese major general will not give the order to destroy port facilities? Even if the Germans had taken Palermo, they would have been in ruins.

As a result, this choice was quickly rejected by Kesselring.

The other option is to keep the port of Messina.

There is no doubt that the port of Syracuse was occupied by the British, Palermo was occupied by the French, and the only port left was Messina, and based on Rommel's experience on the African battlefield, the British were clearly easier to deal with than the Chinese and Americans.

So it doesn't seem like a thing to think about, just choose the Port of Messina.

But Kesselring was an air marshal who spanned two world wars, and his long combat experience made him feel that he could not do so.

This was because the two German divisions had developed into close combat with the Americans in the direction of Jerawan Bay, and in this case it would be very difficult and dangerous for the two German divisions to suddenly get out and turn to the direction of Messina, and the Germans might be pursued by the Americans all the way, and finally surrounded by the British with nowhere to go.

The other is because Kesselring was unwilling to give up Palermo so easily, because once Palermo was abandoned, it would almost mean the defeat of the German and Italian armies in Sicily.

Losing an island may not be a big deal, but it was so close to mainland Italy that the Allies could threaten or even force Italy to surrender by building an airfield on it...... That's the big problem.

In other words, at this time, Kesselring still had a glimmer of hope that he could hold on to Sicily.

So Kesselring made a decision that no one expected, not only did he not rush to withdraw his troops from Sicily, but sent reinforcements to Sicily, and it was also German reinforcements.

This batch of German reinforcements had two divisions, the German 1st Airborne Division and the 29th Motorized Rifle Division.

The 1st Airborne Division was airborne to Sicily, while the 29th Motorized Rifle Division was transported by transport ship to the port of Messina and then south...... After all, Italy is only a few kilometers away from the port of Messina, and it is not difficult to do this.

These two divisions were deployed in the vicinity of Mount Etna by Kesselring...... Like the port of Palermo, the Port of Messina is located at the tip of the triangular island of Sicily, and Mount Etna is just below the Port of Messina, like a threshold in front of the Port of Messina.

This line was called the "Catania" line by the Germans, because it started at Catania on the east coast and then followed a curve to Pestefano on the northeast coast, encircling the port of Messina.

On the other hand, Kesselring ordered the two divisions engaged with the American army to cover each other's retreat towards Palermo.

Zhang Chi couldn't help but nod secretly when he saw Kesselring's deployment.

The battle in Sicily was originally a dead game for the Germans, with the two German divisions having no choice but to turn to the port of Messina and retreat, but they were killed after Kesselindo committed two divisions.

First of all, these two divisions ensured the security of the port of Messina, while the two elite divisions of the German army went straight to Palermo...... They don't have to take Palermo, but if they do, it would be good to allow the Germans to form a defensive line based on Palermo and Messina against the Allies.

Truth be told, Sicily's supply lines were close to the Italian mainland, and the Allies would not necessarily be able to bargain for a protracted war here.

If Palermo could not be captured, the two elite German divisions could be withdrawn to the port of Messina at any time and then to Italy.

It can be said that it can be attacked, retreated, and defended.

"What are we going to do now?" Seeing the situation on the map, Kukyi said with some concern: "The enemy has two German divisions!" ”

"All we want is to hold on for a while!" Zhang Chi said: "This period may be a few days, or it may be a few hours, and even the Germans do not dare to attack Palermo at all...... It depends on the offensive strength of the US military! ”

Hearing this, Cook couldn't help but nodded, behind the German army was the American army, if the American army followed the two elite divisions of the German army all the way, the German army was afraid that before they reached Palermo, they would be forced to turn to the port of Messina, because continuing to advance towards Palermo would only put them in a dilemma of being caught in two directions.

That's exactly what the U.S. military did in the beginning.

As soon as he found out that the Germans were retreating, and that they were retreating in the direction of Palermo, Patton did not hesitate to order the Americans to advance in the footsteps of the Germans.

The U.S. military is advancing very smoothly because they are U.S. troops, and they have a large number of tanks, amphibious transports, cars, and armored vehicles, plus airdrops from aircraft...... So that they don't have to worry about running out of bullets, shells, or fuel at any time.

Therefore, although the Germans resorted to Rommel's trick of laying mines in the rear while retreating, this did not stop the pace of the American troops as the Germans imagined, because the American troops had enough ammunition to advance while bombing forward.

The U.S. military jokingly called this march "blowing up a road."

But then Patton received another bizarre order from Montgomery: "Hold on, hold on to the beach!" ”

This order couldn't help but make Barton angry.

"I know what they're trying to do!" "They wanted to let the Germans take Palermo, so that we would not only lose the fruits of this victory, but also relieve the pressure on the British, which also confirmed our previous idea that only the British could pick the fruits of victory!" ”