On April 11, Rommel launched a full-scale counterattack in order to restore the decline.
At two o'clock in the morning, on the long front from Ismailia in the east to Lake Biel in the west, artillery roared. The Allied command department, confused about the direction of the German army's main attack, hurriedly responded to the battle and desperately attacked the opposing German defense lines.
Tilt the shells to prevent the Germans from attacking at any time.
At five o'clock in the morning, while Montgomery in Cairo was still judging the direction of the German army's main attack, the German 15th and 21st Armored Divisions concentrated more than 600 tanks and more than 400 self-propelled artillery pieces to attack the Allied forces.
Launch a fierce attack on the defense line in the Netrun Depression northwest of Cairo.
The Netrun Depression is west of the Nile Delta and in the northeastern part of the Western Desert. It is 40 kilometers long and three to eight kilometers wide. The lowest point is 28 meters below the sea level. There are dozens of small salt lakes around it, including Umlish.
Lake and Jeal Lake are more famous. The area is rich in soda, and residents use underground water sources to engage in irrigated agriculture.
The reason why Rommel chose this place as a breakthrough was that in addition to the guaranteed water source, this area was also far away from the dense water network of the Nile Delta, which was conducive to the high-speed advancement of mechanized troops.
The Allied defense line constructed by a British-Indian division was easily broken through by the Germans.
By about 8 o'clock in the morning, the advancing 15th Armored Division had advanced the front line to more than 40 kilometers northwest of Cairo. The remnants of the British-Indian Division were so heartbroken that they retreated directly to the west bank of the Rashid River in the east, and then followed the
The troops moved south of the river and were picked up by the Allied forces in the Musturud area and retreated to the east bank of the Nile.
Montgomery received the frontline warning and immediately mobilized a British armored division to rush to the outskirts of the Netrun Depression for reinforcements, relying on the defense lines built in advance to block the German army's advance towards Cairo.
The British themselves knew very well that this road connecting Egypt and Alexandria, with its flat terrain and no river obstruction, was very likely to become the focus of the German attack. They had made careful arrangements in advance. In order to defend it for a long time, they built a temporary structure on this road.
A large number of deep wells that can provide drinking water were dug on the front, and more than two hundred 88mm anti-aircraft guns purchased from the Anjia Army were deployed to serve as anti-tank weapons. In addition, an Australian motorized vehicle was deployed here in advance.
Infantry brigade, the strength of the Allied forces cannot be underestimated.
The Allied forces relied on their defense lines to repel the German attack for two consecutive days and nights.
The German and Allied air forces fought fiercely over the battlefield every day. Due to the allocation of the Afrika Korps, the Eighth Air Force of the Reich, commanded by Air Force General Bruno Lozer, was fighting in Central Africa during the Battle of the Two Rivers, avoiding pilots and
The unnecessary consumption of fighter planes was able to preserve its strength, so it gained the upper hand in air battles with allied air forces.
At the same time, the Italian Air Force also sent an air fleet to Egypt to participate in the war. In terms of the number of aircraft, the Axis Air Force had a total of more than 900 fighters of various types, while the Allies only had more than 600. In terms of fighter performance, the Allies purchased
The A28 and A29 fighter jets from China have the upper hand, but in terms of pilot quality, the proven German pilots have a huge advantage.
The two sides fought continuously in the sky west of Cairo. After continuous attrition, the Axis Air Force basically controlled the air on the 13th at the heavy cost of more than 400 fighter planes.
After that, under the indiscriminate bombing of the Axis air force, the Allied defense line collapsed. On the evening of the 13th, the British Armored Division and the Australian Motorized Infantry Brigade dispersed and retreated frantically toward Cairo.
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During these two days, Montgomery urgently mobilized two motorized divisions from the south bank of the Ismailia Canal and strengthened them to the northwest of Cairo. At the same time, there was a British infantry division and two Greek infantry divisions in the west of Cairo for emergency repairs.
fortifications.
On this line of defense, the Allied forces deployed more than three hundred 88mm anti-aircraft guns, as well as a large number of anti-tank weapons. Montgomery was prepared to give the Germans a head-on attack west of Cairo.
Let’s look at the battlefield south of Cairo.
At six o'clock in the morning on the 11th, the German 27th and 28th Armored Divisions suddenly appeared under the city of Minya on the west bank of the Nile. A British regiment of defenders was wiped out after two hours of hard fighting. After that, the two armored divisions
The division moved north along the Nile River and the railways and roads along it, and successively captured towns such as Samalut, Magaqa, Beni Suef, and Fayoum. In the early morning of the 14th, the division successfully arrived on the west bank of Helwan, an important town south of Cairo.
Line of defense.
Before that, two Italian motorized infantry divisions rode in vehicles and, under the guidance of local guides, made a large circle along the Harij Oasis, Dakhle Oasis and Fera Fila Oasis. On the 12th,
The surprise attack on the Bahariya Oasis was successful, and then they went north along the railway, crossed the Gelatni Mountains on the night of the 13th, and pressed towards Giza on the southwest outskirts of Cairo.
Looking at the overall situation, the Axis forces are mainly attacking and the Allies are mainly defending.
Judging from the comparison of military strength, both sides have equal strength. The Allied forces are relatively concentrated, and the various departments are combined into an organic whole. Troops and reinforcements can be deployed at any time according to changes in the battlefield situation. At the same time, the defense has certain advantages compared to the offensive side; while the offensive side has certain advantages.
The Axis forces are relatively scattered. Although their combat effectiveness is stronger, as long as they fail to attack the enemy many times, the southern army, which lacks logistical support, will face the dilemma of weak follow-up. In the next battle, it will be easily annihilated by the Allies like a mosquito.
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Now we have to see whether it is the tip of the spear of the Axis forces or the shield of the Allied forces. It is not yet known who will win.
The battle northwest of Cairo started at four o'clock in the morning on the 14th.
In a desperate move, Rommel quietly transferred the 90th Light Division, the 164th Infantry Division and three Italian divisions from the Suez Canal and Ismailia to suddenly join the battle.
After an hour-long bombardment, the 90th Light Division, equipped with about fifty Type III and Type IV tanks and more than two hundred Italian Alli Alli tanks produced by the Italian military industrial company Lancia,
The Etter Armored Division advanced towards the Allied defense line from the front.
The "Desert Leopard" tank is an improved model specially produced according to the conditions in the desert area after Italy purchased the "Leopard I" tank patent from China. It is equipped with an anti-sand filter and air conditioning device, which greatly improves the comfort and seaworthiness of the tank.
Performance and combat efficiency. Popular with Italian soldiers.
To the south of the center offensive force is the German 15th Armored Division and the Italian Trieste Motorized Division. In addition to more than 200 Type III and IV tanks, this offensive force also has more than 100 German
Panther and Tiger tanks, as well as more than 70 P26 tanks produced by the Italian Fiat Company. This route was led by the 15th Armored Division, and the infantry of the Trieste Motorized Division accompanied the tank attack. Within an hour
After a fierce battle, the front line of defense held by the Greek infantry division was penetrated.
Behind the two armies, the German 21st Armored Division and the Italian Litterio Armored Division were ready to attack. After seeing the breakthrough on the southern route, the two armored divisions immediately dispatched. From this breakthrough, they quickly rushed into the Allied forces.
line of defense, and then began to turn behind the Allied defense line to outflank the Allied defense forces.
The Allied forces were suddenly in chaos. At this time, everything in front and behind the defense line was surrounded by artillery fire. The sky was filled with the sound of iron sheets flying across the sky. The artillery shells projected blue-gray light in all directions. The earth was shaking, sinking, and melting.
The infinite vast space is shaking violently like the sea.
The Allied positions were shrouded in violent explosions, bullets were flying in and out, and rows of explosive bombs were blooming. The entire area was like a boiling active volcano, making people tremble from the bottom of their hearts.
The pressure from the front was increasing, and the Germans also appeared in the rear. The Allied frontline commanders were very worried that their retreat would be cut off. Seeing that the German encirclement was forming, the Allied forces on this line of defense never stopped.
From the officers to the soldiers, the morale of the troops was fluctuating. It was not known who was the first to run. In the end, all the troops retreated to the northeast in an orderly manner.
In the headquarters in Cairo City, Montgomery had no way to mobilize troops to assist the Western Front, because in the south and southwest of Cairo City, the Axis Army's offensive was also launched at the same time, and all Allied fronts were in danger.
At five o'clock in the morning, the Helwan River West Defense Line in the south was attacked by the German 27th Armored Division without fear of death. The two South African divisions suffered heavy losses in a short period of time. Fortunately, the position was still there at this time.
It was firmly in the hands of the Allies. On the other side of the Nile River, the German 28th Armored Division crossed the river from the upstream railway and road bridge in the middle of the night. When the battle in the west started, it immediately headed north at high speed and broke into Helle from the southeast.
Wancheng, and detached a part to continue northward, approaching the town of Tula south of Cairo.
The German troops advanced from both sides of the Nile River, and the Hexi defense line that the Allies had painstakingly managed suddenly became precarious. As long as the German troops crossed the Nile River from Tula again, the Allied troops on the west bank would face the danger of being cut off from their retreat at any time. In this case, the two sides
The South African division did not dare to fight, so it took the initiative to withdraw from the battle and quickly retreated to Giza in the south.
However, the city of Giza was also in flames of war at this time.
At 7 o'clock in the morning, two Italian motorized infantry divisions drove directly from the perimeter of the Allied defense line toward the northeast at high speed, inserting themselves into the middle of the city of Giza and Cairo on the west bank of the Nile River, severing the connection between the two places on the west bank of the river.
A Canadian division and a Yugoslav division stationed in the city of Giza panicked. They heard that traces of German troops had appeared in the outer positions of Tula Town in the east of the river. They did not dare to neglect, and together with the two South African divisions that had retreated from Helwan, they directly attacked
Cross the river via the railway and highway bridge in the east direction of the city, and retreat north from Tula Town to Cairo City.
Originally, Montgomery was planning to transfer the two British armored divisions stationed in the towns of Imbabai and Shubrahimai in the north of Cairo to the south to fight in the west and south of Cairo, along the Toniro River and city fortifications. However, at this time, from Suez
Bad news came from the city: a German armored force suddenly appeared from the coastal road south of the Gulf of Suez, broke through the defense of two British infantry regiments southwest of the city, and entered the city of Suez.
The British troops stationed in Suez lost contact after sending this telegram.
Thinking of the disastrous defeat of the Soviet army under Kiev on the Soviet-German battlefield, Montgomery broke into a cold sweat. Judging from the battlefield situation, Rommel obviously wanted to cut off the Allied forces' retreat. Once his eastern army was allowed to move north along the Suez Canal, it would take
In the city of Ismailia, 300,000 Allied troops faced the dilemma of encirclement.
In this case, Montgomery no longer dared to hesitate and ordered the troops retreating from the south to leave one division to block south of Cairo. The rest of the troops retreated northeast of Cairo and along the Ismailia Canal.
Turn towards the Suez Canal.
A British armored division stationed in the town of Imbabai must launch a counterattack against the German troops as soon as possible after receiving the order, covering the troops west of Cairo across the river from the town of Imbabai and retreating to the east bank of the Nile.
As the battle progressed, it was already dark and the German bombers had already entered the battle.
On the west bank of the Nile, the Stuka dived and rolled in the smoke clouds, with orange fire emitting from the nose. The tanks on the ground rumbled into the smoke. The soldiers followed the tanks and suddenly a bomb flew. Several soldiers lay down on the ground.
On the ground, the noncommissioned officer in charge turned around and signed to everyone. At this moment, another artillery shell exploded nearby. The noncommissioned officer's arm was instantly blown into several pieces, splashed into the high air, and then scattered everywhere. The noncommissioned officer couldn't bear it.
He started crying, and the health workers who followed him quickly carried him onto a stretcher and prepared to send him to the field hospital in the rear. However, the noncommissioned officer refused to leave there, probably because he was worried about his arm that had turned into debris. At this time, the German soldiers
Already rushed into the smoke ahead.
What followed was a fierce tank battle. A large number of German tanks and a relatively small number of Italian tanks collided head-on with the Allied tanks. The Allied Hound tanks rushing in front immediately spit out tongues of fire. The Italian L6 had only 40 mm of frontal armor.
The light tanks were immediately turned into fire coffins, and several German Panzer III tanks caught fire.
Correspondingly, several British Crusader cruise tanks were also turned into burning scrap metal under the fire of the "Desert Leopard" tank.
The first wave of more than two hundred tanks quickly approached, violently collided, and became entangled.
The turret of a German Panzer IV tank was blown off the body and fell on several soldiers of the German battlefield intelligence team nearby. American M4 tanks lost control one after another. This was because the M4 tanks were too tall and could easily
It is easy to become a hunting target. At the same time, the armor protection around its gasoline engine is insufficient, and it is very easy to catch fire. Even the Allied officers and soldiers nicknamed it - Langson, the name of a lighter. Its advertisement says that it will light up every time it is hit.
A must.
Tanks from the Allied and Axis forces joined the battlefield one after another. The flame-breathing tanks roared and crushed them. Groups of infantrymen, carrying rocket launchers or iron fists, aimed at the tanks and shot at them while running wildly behind them.
, and those who accidentally ran too slowly were caught under the tracks of the tanks behind them.
After continuous fighting, the British army finally wavered. The German army was unyielding and continued to attack. The German soldiers holding Molotov cocktails bent over the British tanks, and some were hit by parallel and heading machine guns.
They turned into burning men with limbs dancing wildly, while others ran forward a few steps, quickly threw away the incendiary bottles, turned around and ran away.
The entire desert area was shrouded in thick smoke. Both the British and the Germans were fighting desperately, and the ground was filled with corpses.
The battle ended at noon. This British armored division that fought back bravely was completely wiped out. More than 300 tanks and more than 200 self-propelled artillery were all turned into wreckage on the battlefield.
On the German front, Cairo had become an undefended city.
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