Due to the urgency of the military situation...... The time for the German vanguard to arrive at Mahairama was only forty minutes, and at this time, there were even German fighters reconnoitring over Maherama, so Zhang Chi did not think much about it and further formulated a detailed plan...... At this time, if you stick to the tradition and make a detailed plan, I am afraid that the plan has not yet been formulated, and the German army has already arrived at the doorstep, so the plan to take the initiative will become an empty talk. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Of course, without a detailed battle plan, there is a high chance that things will go wrong on the battlefield, but there is a saying on the battlefield: "The worst plan is better than hesitation!" ”

The implication is that the battlefield often requires a quick decision, and even if you choose a bad plan and simply execute it, the result will be much better than a missed opportunity...... Catching a fighter can sometimes be more important than any good plan.

So Zhang Chi ordered the troops to set off without even air cover...... With Zhang Chi's order, 82 "Sherman" tanks, more than 100 M3 half-track armored vehicles with supporting infantry, more than 80 self-propelled artillery vehicles of various types converted from half-track armored vehicles, and more than 100 cars carrying ammunition, fuel, and towing anti-tank guns set off with the sound of motors.

This should be said to be a military taboo, because desert warfare is more like ocean warfare, surrounded by an open space, each tank or truck is like a destroyer, and a tank or artillery company crossing the desert is like a squadron of ships at sea quietly on the horizon...... When encountering enemy forces, the search for a favorable combat position is almost the same as the situation of two warships in a naval battle.

And if there is no air cover in naval warfare, it is almost exposing oneself to the blow of the enemy's air power and having no power to fight back, and the same is true for desert warfare.

So this move of the expeditionary force almost shocked the commanders of both the enemy and us......

Montgomery, when he learned that the expeditionary force had sent his troops out to meet him in this way, almost cried out, "God, they are finished!" I knew I shouldn't have trusted these Chinese, they didn't even inform us before they left! It turns out that the Chinese general knows nothing about desert operations! ”

Ram Jiden didn't know what to say, because desert operations require the cover and coordination of air power, otherwise, wouldn't those tanks, armored vehicles, and cars full of fuel and ammunition be the target of enemy fighters?

But Zhang Chi naturally has his reasons for doing this.

First of all, because of the urgency of the military situation, there will almost certainly not be enough time to call in the coordination of British fighters...... It takes about 20 minutes for a fighter plane to take off from Alexandria or Port Said to the sky over Mahayrama.

Secondly, Zhang Chi judged that the reaction speed of the German fighters was also not enough to pose a threat to the armored forces of the expeditionary force...... When a large number of German fighters and bombers appeared in the sky over Maherama, it should have been the time to provide air fire support for the assault of its armored division before the German army launched a general offensive, but the German army had not yet reached Maherama.

At the same time, the armored forces of the expeditionary force and the armored forces of the German army were moving in the opposite direction, and it only took about twenty minutes to meet in forty minutes, while the German fighters could hardly arrive within twenty minutes even if they took off in time, and after twenty minutes, the enemy and us were only afraid that they would be killed, and it would be difficult for air power to play a role at that time.

On the other side, Rommel and Heinz Landau soon got the news...... The Germans had reconnaissance planes reconnoitring over Mahairama, so they received information a few minutes after the departure of the expeditionary force's armored convoy.

However, compared with Montgomery and others, Rommel and Heinz Landau were more caught off guard.

"What's going on?" Heinz Landau said: "Didn't you say that Maherama had no armored troops? So where did this armored unit come from? ”

The information that Heinz Landway had received before was that there was only one battalion of British troops in Maherama, which was why Heinz Landway dared to let the columns go straight to Maherama as quickly as possible, and he hoped to control the equipment and supplies of Maherlamani as soon as possible, so as not to have any accidents in the middle...... If he knew that Maherama had an armored army, he would never dare to do so, because it would separate the tanks, anti-tank guns, infantry, etc. of the armored division from each other due to the difference in speed.

Rommel said the same thing, and he slapped the information on the table: "Tell Bowen that his reconnaissance has missed an entire armored regiment!" I'm going to shoot this guy ten times! ”

"General!" Thomas said, "Maybe Bowen's reconnaissance was fine, and he also reported reinforcements from a Chinese infantry division!" ”

"But that infantry division! And still Chinese! Rommel replied.

He didn't have a Chinese infantry division in mind at all, because Germany's ally, Japan, had long told them that the Chinese army was vulnerable.

"Yes!" Thomas replied, "But this is no ordinary Chinese infantry division!" ”

With that, Thomas handed Rommel a document.

Rommel took the document and flipped through it, then raised his head in shock and said, "The Chinese Expeditionary Force? U.S. forces in the Pacific theater? ”

Thomas nodded.

So Heinz Landau soon received a telegram: "The enemy is very likely to be the Chinese army, and the U.S. weapons from the Pacific Theater are urgently equipped with Maherama's equipment!" ”

Heinz raised his eyebrows and said, "So, they are infantry equipped with tanks?" ”

Obviously, Heinz Landau would have mistaken Rommel's telegram...... Rommel's original intention was to tell Heinz Landau that this Chinese army was likely to be familiar with the operation of American-style equipment and had a certain combat effectiveness, but Heinz Landau only saw the word "urgent", so he took it for granted that this enemy was "infantry equipped with tanks" in desperation.

Perhaps it was because of the performance of the British army along the way that Heinz was very relieved...... When the Germans passed through several British garrisons, they often surrendered with only a few shots, and the most impressive thing about Heinz Landau was that a British officer said when he surrendered: "Sir, we are out of bullets!" ”

But right next to the British officer, there were piles of ammunition, and they didn't even fire a shot.

"This is what the British call 'dignity'!" Heinz sneered: "They will do everything possible to find a decent excuse to surrender!" ”

Of course, Heinz Landoux's confusion about whether they were British or Australian or something else, their composition was too complicated, and Heinz Landau didn't want to spend too much time on how to distinguish between them and other meaningless things.

Because of this experience, Heinz Landau gave a rash order: "Pass my order, the Panzergrenadiers slow down and coordinate with the No. 2 and No. 3 tank regiments to fight those 'infantry in the tank'!" ”