69novels Chapter 373
Chapter 373
See all
TảDownload time: 8.659s Scan time: 0.591s
“In fact, from a tactical point of view, Guderian, Manstein and others have used up everything they can use. The reason why they can’t fight is not because of their own level, but because the current armored tactics are not very perfect. They still lack two most critical weapons: dive bombers and assault guns!”
Mainz commented on the failure of the first group in the initial attack. He did not deny the ability of Guderian and Manstein. After all, one or two failures are not enough to conclude that the opponent’s ability is not good!
What’s more, armored tactics also require the cooperation of friendly forces on the ground and in the air. If there is no powerful firepower of friendly forces in the air and on the ground, it will be difficult for them to achieve brilliant results by themselves!
Especially when attacking a steel defense line like the Siegfried Line with a large number of solid fortifications and powerful firepower, it will be even more difficult for them to fight!
“So, is there no way to crack this tactic?”
The commander of the 11th Armored Division, Rommel, asked curiously.
Rommel’s 11th Armored Division followed Mainz from Odili to Berlin during the Berlin coup, and performed extremely well in that operation. So after resolving the crisis of the coup, Mainz kept Rommel and trained him personally. Rommel is good at tactics, but he is relatively unfamiliar with strategy. Compared with Guderian and Manstein, he is much younger and his rank is much lower, so he still has a lot of room for improvement.
“Of course there is a way. If they can equip a large number of dive bombers and assault guns, then even if we adopt protective measures such as tank bunkers, our tanks will still be easily discovered and destroyed by dive bombers in the air. Assault guns are specifically used to deal with tanks. If this kind of thing joins the battle, the threat to our tanks will increase exponentially!”
“As long as the enemy’s ground and air forces can coordinate properly, then before the enemy’s ground forces launch an attack, our tank forces will lose at least 50% of their strength!”
Rommel was skeptical about the effects of dive bombers and assault guns mentioned by Mainz. After all, he had never seen these two things, so he was not sure whether they were so powerful.
However, since General Mainz said so, let’s just assume so.
“What if there are no dive bombers and assault guns? Is there no way to deal with enemy tanks?”
This is a good question, because many times the front-line troops need to rely on their own strength to deal with the enemy. It is difficult for them to get support in a very short time. Even in certain specific environments, even if they call for support, the rear command will not be able to provide them with support!
“Yes, the solution is to improve the anti-tank capability of the infantry, focus on the infantry in the attack, use tanks to cover the infantry, let them approach and destroy the enemy’s tanks. Even if the enemy’s tanks cannot be destroyed, at least the enemy’s positions must be quickly destroyed, and the enemy must not be allowed to consume our manpower in this way at leisure!”
Seeing that Rommel seemed a little confused, Mainz explained:”You should have seen the infantry digging trenches before, right?” Rommel nodded. When he was building the positions before, the bunkers hidden by the tanks under his command were all completed by the infantry!
“Have you ever calculated how long it would take to dig a bunker that could accommodate tanks to seek shelter in?”
Mainz asked when he nodded.
Rommel tried to recall it, but it was not very clear because he had not paid much attention to these things before.
However, a tank is six or seven meters long, three or four meters wide, and two meters high. It is not an easy task to dig a bunker for such a big thing to allow them to seek shelter in. The soldiers need to dig out dozens of cubic meters of soil and rocks from the ground!
“It will probably take one to two days, right?”
Rommel replied uncertainly.
“It depends on the tools in the hands of the soldiers and the soil conditions under the position. If it is soft soil, it may be easier to complete, but if it is hardened land or even sandy and gravel terrain, it will be very difficult!”
The width of the German front-line position depends on the smallest unit in the armored division, that is, the distribution of troops in a tank platoon. Usually, a platoon has three to four tanks, and they have to defend a battlefield width of about 200 meters.
To prepare tank bunkers for a platoon of troops, it is definitely impossible to rely on their own soldiers alone, so a large number of infantry are needed.
In a defensive battle, the attacker has the initiative, so as the defending party, they cannot pin all their hopes on the first line of defense. They must prepare the second or even the third line of defense.
In order to ensure the safety of the tanks, a large number of tank bunkers must be prepared on each line of defense. In this way, the number of these bunkers has increased, and the workload of earthwork is quite huge!
“Unless the defending side has been operating in a position for a long time, just like the Maginot Line of the Gauls and our Siegfried Line, otherwise, the depth of their defense line will not be too deep.
Therefore, for the attacker, if they can quickly attack, destroy or drive away the enemy’s tanks, at least drive the enemy’s tanks out of the fortifications, so that the enemy’s tanks lose the protection of the bunkers, and then they can rely on their own numerical advantage to destroy the enemy’s armored forces.
This is the key to their victory!
”
Rommel nodded. He also felt that there was no better way besides this. However, if this tactic was really implemented, the attacker’s infantry would definitely suffer heavy losses. After all, using infantry to fight armored forces is not a fair contest in itself.
“What would happen if there were dive bombers and assault guns?”
“”A dive bomber under the control of an ace pilot can destroy up to 10 tanks in a day!”
Mainz said with a smile. Although he only said one sentence, it was enough to scare Rommel!
As the commander of an armored division, it was terrible to hear that there was a weapon that would become the natural enemy of the armored forces in the future!
……
Seeing that the German offensive force was blocked by the defenders on the Siegfried Line and suffered heavy losses in the attack, the frightened Gauls finally put their hearts at ease!
Previously, the Gauls were terrified when they saw that the German army was advancing like a hot knife through butter and had a tendency to take down the Siegfried Line in one fell swoop!
They seemed to have seen the Maginot Line being easily penetrated by the German army, so they were anxious.
At this time, when the defenders finally thwarted the offensive and defensive offensive and successfully reversed the situation, they breathed a sigh of relief.
“Humph, I think the German army’s combat effectiveness is just so-so. They can’t even take down the Siegfried Line. How can they fight against our Maginot Line?”
The Gauls boasted loudly to the military observers of various countries, as if they were afraid that others didn’t know the existence of their Maginot Line!
When the Gauls started to build the Maginot Line, they were ridiculed by many countries in the world, especially in Europe.
The reason why various countries ridiculed them was very simple: you are a traditional European power, and a victorious country in World War I, but you are so unconfident and afraid when facing a defeated country!
Instead of thinking about how to attack, you built a line of defense for yourself, letting yourself shrink in your turtle shell and passively defend. Isn’t this really too incompetent?
If the construction of this line of defense was replaced by the Belgian Division or the Fairy Tale Kingdom and Jie Ke and other countries, then other countries would not ridicule them, because they are facing… They were indeed at a disadvantage against Hans. They were not qualified to fight an offensive war with Hans and could only defend passively.
But Gaul is a traditional European power and one of the leaders of Europe. As a result, you started to build a defense line when facing a defeated general. Doesn’t that show your fear of Hans?
So in the past few years, because of the Maginot Line, Gaul has been ridiculed by various countries!
At this time, seeing that the German army was defeated under the Siegfried Line, suffered heavy losses but was helpless, the Gauls suddenly felt relieved and even had a feeling of being proud!