Battle of the Third Reich Chapter 130: Annihilation (2)

British Matilda tanks are called infantry tanks. Their mission is to accompany infantry operations, provide mobile fire support to infantry, and at the same time take on the task of breaking through enemy positions and anti-tank. The target set by the tank is not high, as long as the speed can keep up with the charging speed of the infantry, the key is that the armor should be thick enough to withstand the opponent's conventional infantry anti-tank weapons and tank attacks, and the firepower requirements It is also very simple, as long as it can penetrate the armor of conventional tanks around the world at that time. Baidu search for Geli Literature Net

In the early days of the war, Matilda did reach the target required by the British Army, and his performance on the battlefield was considered qualified. Basically, as long as he played, he would usually be able to complete the tasks assigned to it by the Army.

Generally speaking, the British Army is quite satisfied with its performance on the French battlefield. Compared with the other tanks brought by the Expeditionary Force, Matilda has caused the most trouble to the Germans, and the losses are also the smallest. Most of the battle damage did not occur in frontal combat. They were generally attacked by infantry at close range or were crushed by anti-tank mines. In addition, they were self-destructed by tankers after they were unable to continue fighting. Fuel exhaustion, mechanical failure, etc., which accounted for a large part of the total loss.

In the end, the British Expeditionary Force was destroyed in Dunkirk, and more than 90% of the tanks of the entire army were thrown on that beach, including all Matilda tanks, which became German trophies. However, in the eyes of the British Army, it was a strategic mistake. The Germans were too cunning and vicious, and could only say that the crime of non-war had nothing to do with Matilda's performance.

So until now, the United Kingdom still puts this outdated tank into production as its main equipment, and even deliberately expanded the production scale of this type of infantry tank due to the threat of the German new medium tank, and eliminated a large number of weak armor. Share of cruise tanks.

The latter was considered by some senior officers in the Army to be a big, useless and flashy thing. It can be said to be ugly on the French battlefield. It is a can of waste that can even be pierced by a German 37 door knocker. Because of this, the cruise tank theory was criticized for nothing. If it is not for the interests of arms dealers, the British Army even wants to completely abolish the cruise tank and specialize in infantry tanks. They believe that the tanks that the British Army needs in the future must be larger, heavier and more powerful. The work can be completed by the light tank. The latter is faster and has a smaller target, but it can also be equipped with the same level of firepower as a cruise tank. More importantly, it is cheaper and consumes less materials. At the current time when such materials and funds are in short supply, it meets these two requirements. This condition is the most important.

It can also be seen that the strategic direction of the British Army has changed. They have soberly realized the fragility of the British Army, and they have begun to shift from focusing on offense to focusing on defense. Armored weapons are regarded by them as an important part of the defense strategy. In defensive warfare, mobility is secondary, and defense power is Firepower is the most important indicator, so the British Army's Ordnance Department is intensively developing a new generation of heavy infantry tanks. The intelligence obtained from the Eye of Odin shows that it should be the famous a22 heavy infantry tank in later generations.

When Xu Jun saw the sketches and indicators obtained by the intelligence personnel, he immediately uttered the exclamation, "It turned out to be Churchill." The people present at the time were all confused by this inexplicable emotion. As a result, when the follow-up information obtained by the Eye of Odin was sent to the command, it was discovered that the British had decided to name the tank "Churchill" infantry tank. At this time, recalling Xu Jun’s emotion at the time, the command suddenly went up and down. Shocked to the heavens, the halo of the apostle of God in those few days was as bright as a searchlight, and they were full of fanatical gazes while walking around the command.

The Matilda Tank Battalion of the 1st Armored Division is a reorganized unit, replacing the 7th Battalion of the Royal Armored Regiment of the 1st Army Tank Brigade which surrendered in Dunkirk.

These tanks are stocked equipment in the United Kingdom. The British will realize the rodent habits in some places. They like to hide things. They are always used to deduct a little for each batch of equipment as a reserve. Just like squirrels store food for the winter. In peace times, this is obviously an unnecessary waste, leaving those precious equipment in the warehouse to accumulate dust, but this habit of the British finally came in handy at this time.

The Army pulled out two battalions of tanks and supporting vehicles from the warehouse at once. Suddenly, although this amount is far from enough to solve the problem at the time, it can be regarded as slightly alleviating the army’s equipment crisis. The First Armored Division is formed on the basis of these reserve equipment and training and backup vehicles collected from various places. of.

Actually, as a purely armored division, the first armored division should be equipped with cruise tanks. Infantry tanks like Matilda should belong to the army tank division. Although the two are only two words apart, they have no connotations. There is a world of difference. But it has reached this point. Where can the British Army have a picky mood, as long as the tanks are grouped together, and then kicked to the most important key area, how to withstand the German attack is the most important thing at this time.

In this way, the 7th Battalion of the Royal Tank Regiment was incorporated into the First Armored Division, and then followed the large troops to the Dover battlefield in a daze.

This battalion really dragged down the back legs of the entire armored division along the way. The 12-kilometer cross-country speed makes people hate it. If it hadn’t been for them to slow down the overall marching speed of the large forces, the first armored division might be that day. You can get to Dover in the afternoon. As a result, it was dragged into the middle of the night. While the troops were busy arranging the garrison, they ran into German shelling. The whole division was caught flat-footed, and the equipment and materials were seriously damaged. For this reason, the whole division is now Some don't want to see them.

The officers and soldiers of the 7th Battalion didn’t think so. They thought it was their speed that saved many people in the armored division. If they hadn’t slowed down the march, when the German shelling came, the people in the division Maybe all of them have fallen asleep instead of that night. Many tanks are still busy finding and relocating. The tankers did not leave their tanks and finally escaped from the German shelling.

The commander of the first company of the seventh battalion, Major Philip, is one of those people who hold this view. He scorns the accusations against the seventh battalion, and at the same time thinks it is the slander and jealousy of those defeated dogs. slander.

Because the 7th Battalion was too slow and was not arranged into the central city, it suffered only a small amount of damage in the German shelling.

The Matilda I tank of the second company suffered some losses in the shelling, because the armor of that thing was only 25mm, which was judged by Philip as an unqualified infantry tank. This type was lost on the French battlefield. Very serious, the German infantry can solve it with cluster grenades. If it is not for the lack of equipment, Philip believes that the army should not reactivate this model.

The station of the second company was bombarded by a large-caliber stray bullet. Two platoons of tanks were turned into pieces on the spot. The broken tank parts, armor plates, road wheels and personnel corpses were scattered all over the crater. Surrounding.

At that time, the first company was parked less than two blocks away from the second company, and finally survived. Until the end of the shelling, no German artillery shell fell in this area, and it was unscathed. It was kept, but it was hostile by brothers.

Those troops suffered heavy casualties. When they saw someone who was intact, and compared with their own tragedy, this obvious gap would immediately turn into jealousy, and various strange words came to the 7th Battalion one after another, such as hiding The coward in the corner, the cursed first company, the **** who let his comrades die, the demon who sucked the luck of the friendly forces, and so on. Major Philip didn't take those words seriously, even he felt a little bit dark, like a devil or something. . . . Isn't it a cool and fashionable title?

After nightfall, the first company was ordered to report to the Cox Mountain Army defensive position between Minnes Trail and Arkham Road, and they will stay on this position until the reinforcements described above arrival.

In the eyes of Major Philip, these are all nonsense to deceive the soldiers. The situation in the rear is not clear to others, but Philip knows everything well. This is attributed to his uncle who works in the Ministry of War, who has been in correspondence with him, and occasionally made several phone calls. He was able to learn that many ordinary people are difficult to know the secrets.

Now from Dover to London, there are only the First Armored Division and the two Infantry Divisions. This is the only mobile force that the British Army can mobilize at the moment, so where can we gather reinforcements?

Unless London is willing to mobilize its garrison forces, there will be an infantry division and a tank brigade, but how could London risk losing the final guarantee and transfer these forces to Dover?

For the battle with the Germans, Philip believed that he had made sufficient psychological preparations, and he was here to kill the Germans. As a Viscount of the Empire, the Philip family has gone through twelve generations. In the long family history, there are many heroes who threw their heads and gave their lives for the country~IndoMTL.com~ From Waterloo to Verdun, every battlefield has been left behind. The blood of members of the Philip family, now it is his turn to add another glory to the family crest.

"We should go around here, Major."

The voice of Lieutenant Blanche awakened him from thinking. The major was taken aback for a moment, then turned his head and looked around.

"Sir, we may be late. The position is on the top of the slope, behind the woods." The captain continued to yell in the headset.

"Ah?! Ah... You can try with a row to see if you can find a way up the mountain." Philip picked up the bakelite microphone hung on his chest and replied loudly.

The British army’s efforts in tank communication have kept up with the German army in some respects. For example, these infantry tanks, each equipped with a Type 11 on-board radio, can easily communicate with each other. (To be continued.) WWW.GEILIWX.COM Happy reading every day