This war was the first head-on war between the United States and Germany, and it also created a tragic war that the United States did not want to remember.
This war directly collapsed the mentality of American soldiers and became one of the classic negative teaching materials in the Us military.
The war was the Battle of Catherine's Pass on the battlefields of North Africa.
Led by Rommel the Desert Fox, American tanks were made of wood.
It was easily destroyed by German veterans, and the fledgling American army was also taught a lesson by German veterans.
Why did the mighty United States collapse so badly? What the hell happened to this war?
Let's go into this battle, everyone pay attention,
You can also participate in the discussion in the comment area and express your opinion.
Before this war, the situation of the war faced by Germany suddenly changed, and their war situation could be described as falling every day.
With the great victory of the Soviet Union in the Battle of Stalingrad in the Soviet-German War,
A large number of German troops were disabled, including the elite German army, the Sixth Army, which was completely annihilated.
Even more than 90,000 German officers and civilians gave up resistance. How comfortable they were when they swept through the battlefields of Europe,
How painful they are now. On the battlefield on British soil, since the mighty United States joined the war,
More and more Allied troops are actively preparing for war, and weapons and ammunition are constantly transported.
They were ready to join the European front at the right time and regain the land occupied by Germany in one fell swoop.
On the battlefields of North Africa, the Germans were also attacked for weeks after the Battle of Amara.
They returned home, lost all the lands that had been occupied in Egypt and Libya, and fought a two-year war.
Lacking sufficient ammunition and food supplies, the Germans were chased around by the British.
General Rommel did not want to be besieged by the British army, and he led the African army to hide in Tibet.
Miraculously escaped the siege of Montgmali four times on the border of Egypt,
Although Rommel continued to lead the army closer to the reinforcements, it was only a matter of time.
In the international situation, Germany seems to be dying and struggling, and the total annihilation of the army is already a doomed end.
But at this time, Rommel did not lose hope, as the Allies called the Desert Fox he never gave up,
After serious consideration, he decided not to hide anymore, he would personally lead the troops,
Concentrate on the enemy by using the method of breaking down one by one, so as to break through the siege and find a glimmer of hope,
Moreover, he defied the orders of the high command to retreat privately at the Battle of El Alamein, and urgently needed a victorious war to overcome the credit.
Otherwise he will become a deserter in the retreat of other people for days, falling out of favor in the face of the Great Fuehrer Hitler.
It would be worth the loss to let Arnim, who was in the limelight at the time, replace him with his own position.
So at this time, Rommel decided to take the American troops who had just entered the battlefield.
In fact, at that time, the United States was still not too timid in the war.
The previous El Alamein War had been won with the support of the U.S. military, so they did not want the credit to be shared.
They wanted to beat the German army to the ground with their excellent equipment, and at this time they were also rubbing their fists.
Can't wait to go to war with the Germans and teach the Germans a hard lesson.
In this way, the eager two sides successfully met in February 1943 and prepared for confrontation.
According to the predictions of American soldiers, their tanks will successfully annihilate the German tanks with a 1:4 advantage.
It seems that Rommel's action is very irrational, but under the spring wind plan he prepared,
He led the Germans in a very successful counterattack, but in fact, the plan he prepared was very simple.
They took advantage of the two-sided attack plan that Napoleon had used, and the fight was just unexpected.
There will always be one side on the other side that will be too late to support, and eventually fall into a situation that is difficult to control on both sides.
So they began to use the terrain to let the armored troops sneak through the west first.
Then attack the flank of the Americans in the north, suppressed by artillery fire,
In this way, the American formation was successfully disrupted, thus catching them off guard,
He mentioned to the following troops that the Americans did not have any actual combat experience, that is, the equipment was relatively good.
If we can defeat them this time, they will be afraid of war.
This left them with the opportunity to turn back and attack Montgomery's Eighth Army.
In 1943, the German Tenth Panzer Division officially launched an offensive against the Americans, under their heavy artillery fire,
The First Panzer Regiment, the vanguard of the Americans, was directly defeated, and the situation of the war was as Rommel said,
They attacked all the way, and at noon on the 14th, the German tank unit had quietly approached the headquarters of the American army.
And has entered the effective range of the tank, at this time the U.S. army is no longer time to defend,
On the same night, the Germans successfully occupied the American headquarters in the village of Gite,
This also successfully allowed the U.S. military to see the brutal war on the battlefield, but this was not the full strength of the German veterans.
After the rout, the Americans quickly organized another force to prepare for a counterattack and rescue the prisoners.
They took neat steps like a military parade on the afternoon of the 15th, but such an army is not a model here.
Such a marching force would be hit hard by the opponent, and the result would indeed be under the encirclement of the German army.
They eventually fled into the wilderness, and were again captured many prisoners, facing the German veterans who had experienced many battles.
They did not have the slightest ability to fight back, and military teaching in the United States had no effect on them.
On 20 February, Rommel led her troops into the northwestern flank of the Catherine Pass.
On the other hand, on the U.S. side, their division commanders are constantly packing up the troops that have been beaten very badly.
In their troops, except for their tanks, they were not German opponents at all,
And their warriors are also very uncentripetal, their defense is very scattered, and the defensive lines are also separated from each other.
There was no tacit cooperation between the warriors. Because the soil here is harder,
The American troops here actually gave up the task of digging trenches directly, and their division commanders silently agreed.
This led to the German tanks rushing directly into the American camp without any obstacles.
According to later recollections from the German commanders, they were driving trucks to the front lines.
On the road, I saw many American troops fleeing in a hurry and fleeing in all directions.
The American soldiers had only this one thought in their minds at that time, that is, to run.
Run as far as you can, until you find a place where there are no German troops to hide,
This was the first and only time they had seen the U.S. military so miserable.
However, on the morning of the 21st, Rommel suddenly stopped the march of the troops, why is this?
It turned out that this time Rommel had already received the news that the Allies would counterattack today.
So Rommel prepared his defensive position early on, ready to defend against the attack.
The fact is that the Allies did not counterattack, but instead they believed that Rommel's reinforcements had arrived.
The battle plan was being prepared, so the Allies continued to reinforce Catherine Pass throughout the day,
On the morning of the 22nd, Rommel launched the last ground attack, because of the huge number of American troops,
So Rommel didn't go well with the attack, so he decided to take it when he saw it.
On the afternoon of the 22nd, his six-day performance at catherine Pass came to an end.
The Americans on this day had lost their courage and no longer dared to pursue the Germans, so although in the end it was the Germans who retreated,
However, the time of the war in the past few days has also caused the US military to pay a very heavy price.
Their soldiers suffered 6,300 casualties, 4,026 captured by the Germans, and 183 tanks damaged.
Hundreds of military vehicles, on the German side, their casualties were pitiful, only 2,000 people,
The total number of tanks and vehicles destroyed was just over 20.
After the war, the British began to laugh wildly at the United States, believing that they were not vulnerable at all.
The strength of the new German Tiger tank has left a deep impression on the United States, whether it is a tank gun or an anti-tank gun,
It is difficult for the US military to break through the encirclement, and this time in the battle, the US army did not even destroy a Tiger tank.
But the 2,000-meter range of the enemy's 88 mm guns can directly hit their tanks.
That's where their tank phobia comes from. A 1:4 tank battle expected by U.S. officials before the war,
But in this battle it was a fiasco of 8:1. Although the United States suffered a crushing defeat, the Germans were also shocked by the weapons of the Americans. The captured armored vehicles in the United States had certain shortcomings, but the Germans were still worried about the amount of equipment and materials of the American army.
Because when these recruit eggs are trained, they will exert amazing power in future battles.
In 1943, Rommel was appointed commander-in-chief of the Second Army in the west of France to consolidate the defenses of the French coast.
Although he knew that German defeat was inevitable, he still carried out his duties conscientiously.
Although Rommel was very pessimistic about the actual situation in Germany, he did not want to betray his country.
He tried to ensure hitler's ouster, and corrected the mistakes early so that the losses would be minimized.
But this was ruthlessly rejected by Hitler, who has since ignored him and never reused him again.
Before Rommel committed suicide by poisoning, he also carried with him a memorandum documenting Hitler's erroneous decisions.
Such a military wizard, this is the end. I have to say that Rommel is worthy of being a military wizard,
Even the Mongol leaders praised his abilities, and Rommel's position in the coalition was very high.
However, Rommel's mistake was that he chose the wrong position from the beginning.
In history, fascism has always been a existence that violates justice, and evil cannot defeat justice after all.
They were also eventually sanctioned by history.