The offensive launched by Romania was immediately reported to General Wavell, the commander-in-chief of the British forces in the Middle East.
The general who was awakened immediately issued an order as soon as he learned about it. "Immediately order the air force's fighter planes in Palestine and Jordan to take off, and tell them to engage in the battle if they can, and if they cannot, they will retreat to the Sinai Peninsula."
That's right, what Admiral Wavell is most concerned about right now is the problem of his own air force. Who has caused the current strength of the British Air Force in the Middle East to be greatly damaged, and it is simply unable to compete with the Romanians.
If we suffer heavy losses in the Romanian offensive, then this battle will be useless.
Without the air force, this battle cannot be fought, so it is necessary to ensure that the air force cannot be defeated by the opponent as soon as possible. Only in this way can the subsequent battles continue.
This is also the pattern he discovered after studying several previous battles. The Romanians must use the air force to open the way, and the focus of the first wave of attacks must be the airport.
What he expected was correct. After the battle began, the Romanian Air Force took advantage of the earlier dawn on their side, facing the rays of the early morning sun, and pounced on the black fleet. With a large-scale fighter plane dispatched, naturally there was no way to hide anything.
As soon as they entered the area controlled by the British army, they were immediately reported.
After the airport control tower that was releasing fighter planes received news of the incoming enemy plane, it no longer mattered about anything else. Prioritizing getting the fighter planes into the air was the top priority.
If you don't care about anything, as long as the fighter plane takes off, it will be very fast. So when the incoming Romania flew in front of their target, the airport was empty, only the fireworks exploded by anti-aircraft weapons in the air to warn them, and in the air
, British fighter planes are also on standby.
Faced with a situation where they missed nothing, the incoming aircraft did not care. Many battles had already allowed them to understand the strength of their opponents. Facing the enemy's fighter planes, the escorting HF201 fighter jets immediately pounced on their opponents. And when the enemy fighters were attacked by
After being entangled, the bombers began preparing to bomb the airport.
Since we want to bomb, we first need to deal with the enemy's air defense facilities. Fortunately, there are many RU18 dive bombers in the fleet. These aircraft, which can bomb the ground accurately, are the best candidates to clear the enemy's air defense.
"Woooooo~~"
As the frightening whistle sounded, air defense positions were gradually uprooted one after another. After most of the anti-aircraft firepower was lost, the airport was like a fruit with its hard shell peeled open, revealing the delicious pulp.
"Boom boom boom~"
The bombing lasted for nearly an hour, and the airport was blown to pieces. The apron, oil storage depot, hangar, and barracks were all destroyed by the bombing.
This airport is not a special case. Today, the Romanian Air Force dispatched more than a thousand aircraft to bomb the British army, mainly targeting airports, air defense facilities, transportation arteries, etc.
Although such an air strike did not result in the loss of many fighter planes because the British army responded appropriately, the necessary supplies and airports suffered heavy losses. A large number of fighter planes could only be parked at several airports in the Sinai Peninsula, which increased the complexity of these airports.
burden.
Of course, at least the problem that General Wavell was worried about has not happened, and the British Air Force in the Middle East can continue to fight Romanian fighters in the future.
However, although the Air Force was saved, on the ground, General Hoffman achieved his goal.
The two attacking armored forces rushed all the way along the coastal areas and the Jordan Valley. In just a few hours, they had advanced forty or fifty kilometers respectively.
Outside Haifa, Bordas was in the command vehicle, watching his men drive tanks to repel the British troops who blocked him.
At this time, a three-wheeled motorcycle suddenly drove next to him, and a communications officer jumped out of the car.
"Your Excellency, Division Commander, the headquarters ordered us not to worry about the enemy forces in Haifa City and leave them to General Lively's 89th Motorized Infantry Division behind us."
"Okay, I know."
Faced with the command of the headquarters, Bordas certainly did not dare to disobey the order, but he took another reluctant look at the Indian soldiers wearing turbans who were fleeing into the city. The previous battle made him feel this
The army's combat effectiveness is not high, and it even feels like they can definitely capture Haifa as long as they are given a few hours.
But this idea was cut off in his mind. The mission given to them by their former commander, Mr. Hoffman, was to advance all the way and not attack cities with defenders. The mission of this battle was
A word is so fast that the enemy cannot react, and by the time the enemy discovers his purpose, it is too late to stop him.
So Bordas was not swayed by his own ideas and kept Hoffman's instructions in mind.
Bordas thought for a while and then issued the order. "Order the Motorized Infantry Regiment to leave two battalions, the First Tank Regiment to leave the Second Battalion, and the Engineer Battalion to leave one company to keep an eye on the enemy. Wait for the follow-up 89th Motorized Infantry.
With the arrival of the division, the remaining troops took the search and reconnaissance battalion and the 2nd Armored Regiment as the lead, and we continued to move westward."
"I obey, Your Excellency, Master."
The communications officer wrote down Bordas' order in his notebook, saluted and left.
There is no problem at all with the order issued by Bordas. It is absolutely no problem to use a regiment-level force to guard the retreating enemy. Besides, the 89th Motorized Infantry Division is also very fast. It can reach Haifa in basically two or three hours.
There is no possibility of enemy counterattack.
When the time comes to pick up friendly forces, the troops left behind will also catch up.
Therefore, under the order of Bordas, the Fourth Armored Division, led by the Search and Reconnaissance Battalion and the Second Tank Regiment, continued to run westward along the coast.
Various vehicles and tanks lined up on the road, heading to the next location.
Compared with the coastal areas, the troops traveling through the Jordan Valley were not as smooth.
The 3rd Armored Division at the head was fighting against the British troops blocking it.
"Let the tanks come over quickly and kill this fortress."
"We need self-propelled artillery support here."
Continuous shouts were shouted from the mouths of the officers and soldiers of the 3rd Armored Division. As the commander of the 3rd Armored Division, Sars held up his binoculars and looked at the battle in front of the department with a dull expression.
"Damn it, these Brits keep popping up like woodchucks."
After complaining, Sals had to continue to observe the battle.
In fact, this battle was not big. It was just a battalion-level British army blocking them by relying on terrain and fortifications. Logically speaking, such a battle should not attract his attention. It only took a regiment of troops to defeat them in an hour.
.
Unfortunately, there were too many such battles. He encountered them four times in just thirty kilometers along the way. This was very abnormal. This prevented his armored division from taking advantage of its speed and had to rely on pushing all the way.
Salz disliked this kind of battle very much. He didn't like being entangled with a small group of British troops at all.
In fact, this is also the terrain that limits the performance of the 3rd Armored Division. There are hilly terrains on both sides of the river valley, which is even more unfriendly to his armored division. Sals has absolutely no idea of trying tanks to fight in hilly terrain. Because before the war,
, General Hoffman tried it, and the result was not ideal at all. So Sals will never make such a mistake.
So now I can only hope that there will be fewer such battles.
Seeing a burst of cheers coming from the front, Salz knew without looking that the blocking defenders had been defeated.
"Inform the troops and continue moving forward."
After saying this, Sals returned to his command vehicle.
