The Germans finally launched an attack on Palermo in the early hours of the next morning. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

It was wise to choose to attack in the early hours of the morning, which obviously helped to give full play to the superiority of the German and Italian armies in land, sea and air...... The army's artillery and tanks, the navy's naval guns, and the warplanes in the sky can only exert greater combat effectiveness when the line of sight is good.

Kesselring's order to the Germans was: "Palermo must be recaptured in one day!" ”

Kesselring decided to fight fast and slow, that is, no matter what the Allies were doing, Palermo was a trap or something, anyway, the Germans could recover Palermo in a short time.

This has always been the combat thinking and style of the German army's "blitzkrieg", no matter what kind of bulls, ghosts, snakes, and gods are in front of him, ending the battle as quickly as possible is the king.

This also put considerable pressure on Zhang Chi and the Zoaf Corps......

These two divisions of the German army deserved to be the elite units of the German army, and as soon as they started, the offensive was like a tidal wave surging towards Palermo.

If there is one thing that characterizes the German army, it is that the various parts are very closely coordinated with each other.

This synergy is not just between different services, such as between the Air Force and the Army...... When a ground offensive encounters a more difficult firepower point, they will always contact the air force to solve the problem.

In addition, the coordination of infantry and artillery and infantry and tank was done very well, and the troops also relied on each other to cover each other, and obviously made meticulous overall planning before the war, so the offensive was tight for a while, and there was almost no pause between each other, and there was no time for the Zoaf Corps to rest.

However, this is not surprising, because the "blitzkrieg" itself is about coordination, otherwise the German tanks, which are not excellent, will not be able to break through the enemy's defense line like a quick knife.

Fortunately, Zhang Chi also made meticulous preparations before the war, and the large minefield outside the city caused great trouble for the German offensive.

Later, Zhang Chi learned that the German offensive had actually started last night, and they had transferred two divisions of Italian troops to clear the mines...... Of course, the Germans knew that they could not rely on them to attack, so they expected them to clear the way for the Germans to advance.

But the morality of the Italian army once again disappointed the Germans...... The problem is that the Italian army is not that enthusiastic at all, so the orders of the German army are all dealt with, and the result of demining in one night is that only a few hundred meters advanced.

This was the main reason why the German offensive did not go well the next day.

Another reason was the lack of ammunition for the German army.

The two German armies were mechanized infantry divisions and armored divisions, which had the advantage of fast mobility and heavy dependence on supplies...... Their supply base was precisely Palermo, and a large amount of fuel and ammunition were captured by the Zoaf Corps, and in order to prepare for this attack, the Germans even had to search for supplies from nearby Italian troops.

It's just sad that the equipment used by the Italian army is different from that of the German army, so the ammunition is not universal.

As a result, the Germans had to use artillery fire to blast a passage several hundred meters wide on the west and south sides of Palermo, and the two German divisions launched their attacks on Palermo from these two passages.

At times, Zhang Chi thought that if the Germans had enough shells to allow them to open a wide enough passage in a short time, then the Zoaf corps might not be able to hold out for long in Palermo, and then it might be possible that all the plans would be wiped out by the lightning-fast German attack, as Kesselring had hoped.

But now, the Zoaf Corps only had to smash the shells into the two passages opened by the Germans...... As for the shells and artillery, the warehouses in Palermo had everything, especially the mountain of shells, which could not be fired for several days on end.

"General!" Cook, who had gone to the front line to inspect the front, ran into the headquarters from the outside, covered in smoke and dust.

"How's it going?" Zhang Chi asked.

"The enemy's attack is fierce!" Kukyi replied: "Especially the Tiger tanks, we have no anti-tank weapons to stop them, and twice almost let them break through the defense!" ”

"Hmm!" Zhang Chi nodded.

This is not surprising, the Germans at this time paid attention to "the best weapon against tanks is tanks", so although they had good tanks, they did not have anti-tank weapons that could deal with these tanks...... THIS IS ONE OF THE REASONS WHY ROMMEL USED THE 88MM ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUN AS AN ANTI-TANK GUN.

As for why the German Tiger tanks did not take advantage of the victory to pursue and break through the defensive line, this is also the cleverness of the Germans...... Because one step further is about to enter the city of Palermo, that is, to enter street fighting, and tanks are the most afraid to enter street fighting, especially when the enemy has bazookas.

So the bazooka is a real artifact, it can appear anywhere in the house and in any direction, and then fire a deadly rocket to attack the tank's weak spots...... Even the most advanced Tiger tanks of the German army did not dare to take this risk.

Of course, Zhang Chi did not want the Germans to do this.

Because if the Germans really entered the city, the final result would definitely be a defeat for both sides, and Zhang Chi still wanted to "keep" these German tanks to the British!

At the same time, Zhang Chi did not think that the Germans would be so stupid, because they also knew that they would gain nothing but demobilize the armored forces by doing so.

"Major General!" At this time, Zhang Chi received a telegram from Patton: "How is the situation? Do we need to send air reinforcements? ”

"You're asking, General!" Zhang Chi said: "Yes, we need air support!" ”

"Good!" Patton couldn't help but feel relieved when he received this telegram, because he could at least do something for Zhang Chi and the French army, which had been abandoned by the American army.

"Tell me!" Patton said, "How many fighters do you need us to send, and what are the goals!" ”

"Fighters?" Zhang Chi said: "No, we don't need fighters!" ”

"Don't need a fighter?" Hearing this, Barton couldn't help but say in confusion: "Then what you need is ......"

"Transporters!" Zhang Chi replied: "I'm talking about C47, you should have a lot of this stuff!" ”

"Yes, of course!" "We have 1,500 of these things for airborne operations in Sicily!" Patton said. ”

"That's good!" Zhang Chi said: "I need ...... Five hundred! ”

"Do you want to do an airborne operation?" Patton asked rhetorically, "But the Major General...... The British will not agree! ”

"No!" Zhang Chi said: "I don't want airborne operations, I just need you to fly these C47s to the Algiers airport, this can be done!" ”