Chapter Fourteen: The Dilemma
"I understand what you mean, I will ask my superiors to coordinate as soon as possible."
Looking at the air force liaison officer's back as he left, Montgomery couldn't help complaining to De Lagan: "Can't we decipher the enemy's code now? Why is it so laborious to intercept or spy every time? The last fuel supply was probably Guderian had already obtained it. This time there were so many transport ships for supply. The enemy's strength was growing every moment, but the Prime Minister insisted that we win before giving reinforcements! Without reliable reinforcements, what would I use to beat the Germans?"
De Lagan also expressed strangeness: "The password is still being deciphered, and relevant information and intelligence are also being passed on. Yesterday I saw several telegrams from Guderian to Marshal Kesselin, cleverly defending why he gave up the three Italian infantry divisions. The problem lies in the specific time and distance. Now the Germans have become cunning. The words they say in the telegram are vague or change frequently, and they cannot find any rules, which leads to our interception operations often losing their accuracy, and this retreat operation has not been reported to Rome in advance."
The two discussed and were puzzled, so they decided to convene other generals to discuss together. However, since most of the division-level generals were commanding and fighting in their respective units, only the commander of the 10th Army Horox and the commander of the 10th Army Ramsden were at the headquarters.
"According to the original deployment, we should have pounced on Tel'Akarkir with two clamp attacks, but his sense of smell was very sensitive and ran away..." Montgomery handed the photo of the Air Force's reconnaissance to his subordinates, "Now our vanguard is at least 40-60 kilometers away from the enemy. If we don't speed up, we may watch them slip away, even if we pounce on Tel'Akarkir, it will be useless."
"The enemy is very cunning and feels very sharp. This is really a cunning old fox." Horox looked at the photo carefully and couldn't help but mutter again, "If we chase and run and intercept in the air, it may not be a problem to eat Guderian's rear guard forces-it's very likely it is Italian again."
Horox was talking about Montgomery's original wishful thinking, but because Whitehall forwarded Prime Minister Churchill's telegram and the Italian who only caught the surrender in the battle a few days ago, his wishful thinking went bankrupt.
The decision before Montgomery is difficult: if the original plan is continued, it is likely that all 50,000 people will be put back to Tobrook. It is one thing to explain properly to London, and it is another thing to face these troops in Tobrook at that time. Considering that the Germans are still transporting supplies and reinforcements to Tobrook, if they do not find a way to weaken Guderian's troops now, the Eighth Army will face even more difficult bones - the ease now will be based on
In the later pain, if you change the plan to chase, you will have to change the original combat deployment and marching sequence. After the front line is opened, most of the troops, especially the infantry, will probably be difficult to enter the battle - this will not be able to easily win by virtue of the advantage of military strength. Montgomery's expression couldn't help but show a look of distress. He was neither willing to bet on all odds with Guderian, nor would he let the other party leave. After thinking for a long time, he could not find a way to have the best of both worlds.
"If this continues, the Germans will become stronger and stronger, and then Tobrook will become a hard bone." Ramsden had high expectations for the Desert Air Force. When he heard that the latter was powerless, he was immediately disappointed.
"It is not impossible to speed up, but it requires our armored troops to accelerate the breakthrough." De Lagan was also worried about the situation. He looked at Montgomery with a consultative gaze. After obtaining the latter's permission, he told his thoughts. "We can turn the detour troops originally scheduled for the North Road to undertake the pursuit task. At the same time, the army that had originally broken through the front line replaced the North Road troops for normal detours. In this way, both units can effectively use the coastal highway - this will help speed up the overall speed so that they will not be dizzy in the desert."
"Then change the steps temporarily and push the 7th Armored Division, who is currently the most unexpected?" Horox looked carefully at the map and made a suggestion.
"No! The troops originally planned to be surrounded from the North Road to pursue the coastal highway, while the troops that had broken through the front still kept the marching route unchanged." After looking at the map for a while, Montgomery made up his mind and issued a decisive order, "The 7th and 1st Armored Divisions quickly advanced with armored clusters to pursue the enemy, bite and find ways to delay the enemy, and wait for the rest of the troops to follow."
"Why?" Everyone was confused by Montgomery's strange deployment. According to their understanding, implementing this plan would make the sudden troops move forward and accelerate the distance between the frontal main forces, which is likely to form a disconnect between command - and this is the behavior that Montgomery himself repeatedly emphasized to avoid.
"Do you think Treacher and the African Legion have troops?" Perhaps seeing his subordinates' doubts, Montgomery's eyes were bright. "I don't believe that the forces detected by the Air Force are all the African Legion. Not only in terms of quantity, but also in terms of Guderian's usual practice, he must have separated the troops. Only part of his troops retreated along the coastal highway, and some other forces either continue to hide in Treacher or have moved to other places--we should find a way to find this fox who is good at escaping."
The questions on the other people's faces were even heavier. If you were sure that Tel'kakire had an enemy, you shouldn't have deployed this way. Isn't this clearly showing the gap and letting Guderian jump out?
Chapter completed!