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As Zhang Chi said before, the British are "playing with fire and immolating themselves".

Because if the British army had not wanted to pick the fruits of victory alone, they would not have ordered the American army to stop the pursuit, and if the American army had not stopped the pursuit and kept following the German army, then the German army would not have been able to get out at all, and it would have been impossible for the British army to sneak attack the flank of the British army without any scruples...... The British army was in front and the American army was behind, so the British Eighth Army became a salient area, and the British and American armies did not advance together, causing the British flanks to be exposed to the German army.

This was not a problem in the first place, because Montgomery gave the Germans a big gift, and that gift was Palermo...... It was a big port, and there was a division of the French, such a big gift Montgomery did not believe that the Germans would give up, so he thought that there was no need to worry about his flanks, and the two German divisions in the west were attacking Palermo!

But Montgomery forgot one thing: who is Zhang Chi? How can Zhang Chi be tricked and used by Montgomery?!

As a result, Zhang Chi only made an understatement, and Kesselring transferred the two German divisions to the British in the east.

Then tragedy inevitably happened.

Two divisions of German troops arrived west of Catania after two nights' rapid march...... As for why two nights were needed, it was because Kesselring believed that the secrecy of the German movements was more important than speed, so they also adopted the method of interspersing Palermo, that is, resting during the day and marching at night.

In fact, there were still dozens of kilometers left after two nights of rapid marching, but dozens of kilometers were nothing to the German mechanized divisions and the will to fight, and they rushed to Catania in one fell swoop and launched a fierce attack on the British Eighth Army at the first time.

To be precise, it was the German Goering Panzer Division that launched the attack, they had hundreds of tanks that were much more advanced than the British army, and the British army, which was caught off guard, could not stop the attack of the German Panzer Division...... The battlefield quickly turned into a massacre.

Even more serious was another German division, the 15th Mechanized Infantry Division.

Compared to the armored division, the mechanized division is less tanky, but it is more mobile...... Kesselring ordered them to go straight to the rear of the British army.

"Destroy everything you see!" Kesselring said to the 15th Mechanized Infantry Division: "You have the ability to do this, because it is not the enemy's tanks that appear in front of you, but the enemy's logistics convoys, medical teams, and the sick and wounded, so ...... Go ahead until you see the sea! ”

Kesselring was right, the 15th Mechanized Infantry Division did encounter logistics troops, and if there was any exception, it was two artillery regiments in succession......

However, the artillery regiment is also a fire support unit in the rear, and in close combat it is basically ineffective, and the tanks and armored vehicles of the German 15th Mechanized Infantry Division rushed left and right like tigers rushing into the flock, but in ten minutes, the two artillery regiments were scattered and scattered and abandoned their cannons and fled.

As soon as the Germans captured these guns, they adjusted their ...... They didn't even need to change the direction of the muzzle, they only needed to move the impact point closer, and then the rows of shells fell on the British positions.

The British army was in chaos for a while, and the vanguard of more than 100,000 people lost coordination with each other at the first time...... In fact, they are not in their own positions, but they are all busy running for their lives.

In particular, the British 1st Armored Division, which has always been regarded as the pride of the British, suffered heavy losses...... This was due to the fact that the Germans believed that "the opponent of the tank is the tank", so they focused their attack on the tank units of the British army.

In the eyes of the Germans, as long as the enemy's armored forces were disabled at the first time, then the enemy's infantry would only be left to be slaughtered.

The British 1st Panzer Division suffered heavy casualties before it could react, and more than 300 tanks were destroyed and damaged by German tanks that pounced on the flanks, some of which were captured by the Germans intact...... The British then had to flee for their lives in front of the tracks of the German tanks.

At this time, Montgomery had just gotten up and was running around the headquarters in the morning.

This is his usual style, and he believes that as a qualified commander, he must arrange every piece of time reasonably and maintain strong energy and physical strength.

Objectively speaking, this kind of thinking is very suitable if you are a white-collar worker in a company, but it is not suitable for the battlefield where changes or even great changes can be made at any time...... Zhang Chi even thought that the commander in the rear could not accurately and timely grasp the battlefield information and always went to the front line, while Montgomery was not only in the rear, but also slept and ate when he should eat in the rear.

As a result, by the time the news reaches Montgomery as the commander, the best reaction time is often lost.

Just like now, the communications soldier caught up with Montgomery, who was jogging, from behind, in a panic, and reported as he ran: "General, we are attacked by the enemy? ”

"An enemy attack?" Montgomery didn't take the news seriously, he didn't even stop running: "It's Italian!" Don't panic......"

"No, General!" The signal man replied: "It's the Germans, the German Goering Panzer Division, and the 15th Mechanized Infantry Division!" ”

"What?" Montgomery stopped in shock, and was stunned for a moment before he said, "This can't be!" They should be in Palermo! ”

"No, General!" "They are in Catania, they have attacked our army, and the Eighth Army is about to collapse!" ”

Montgomery's face turned pale when he heard this, and he hurried back to the headquarters and asked the staff officers who were already in a mess: "What's the situation?" ”

But no one answered him, because none of them knew what was going on...... The troops of the front line had already fled in all directions under the German offensive, and they did not even have time to report to the command.

And the reason why they knew that the Eighth Army was attacked by the Germans was entirely because the pilots of the Air Force saw everything in the sky.

"Where did they come from?" Montgomery looked at the map, and then said indignantly: "Why wasn't there any wind before this?!" Palermo direction...... Two German divisions were withdrawn, and they didn't even know? ”

If Montgomery was smart enough, he would have been able to guess that Zhang Chi deliberately "didn't know".

But even if he guessed, it wouldn't help, because "knowing" or "not knowing...... It's all up to Zhang Chi to decide.