Blitzkrieg by Nigel Cawthorne

Author:Nigel Cawthorne [Cawthorne, Nigel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arcturus Publishing
Published: 2013-01-01T22:00:00+00:00

His commanding officer called on the radio to ask whether he was hurt. As they had already fallen behind, Wolff ordered his driver to stop for a moment, so that he could show off his bandage.

The attack had progressed at great speed. One company moved forward to attack the British tanks, while the rest overran the British positions.

Wolff’s commanding officer was pleased. After days of British artillery attacks, now they had at their mercy four burning tanks, around ten self-propelled guns, eight cannon, some tracked vehicles, machine guns and bazookas. And in the trenches they could see rifles with fixed bayonets lying about.

‘“Those dogs”, we thought,’ said Wolff. ‘But the rifle battalion following us would have sorted them out.’

The commanding officer ordered a halt while they reformed their units. Then they went after 14 tanks that were reported ahead of them. They shelled the retreating New Zealanders. Then they received a message saying that a British tank brigade had broken through their lines and was attacking the ack-ack guns. They then realized that the New Zealanders had been in position to attack them from the south, while the tanks encircled them. If this move had been successful, a large part of the 21st Panzer Division would have been destroyed. As it was, they found themselves beleaguered.

‘No General is with us, no anti-tank gun, no flak, no artillery, only the shrunken Panzer unit that came from Derna and fought forward as far as el Alamein, more than 1,000km,’ wrote Wolff.

On the way they had destroyed more than 250 British tanks, along with numerous anti-tank guns, artillery pieces and tracked vehicles. But despite their losses, the British grew stronger. ‘Now the enemy is in front to the left and at our backs, stronger than ever before, in a better position. They knew their superiority – but whatever happens, we have to make the next move.’

First they succeeded in turning around, not an easy manoeuvre, especially with British tanks to their rear. Section by section they had to move left and right to reform facing westwards, while urgent messages from division urged them to hurry. Then as the heavy Panzers regrouped behind a ridge, a British tank brigade appeared in the depression on the other side.

‘No order was necessary,’ said Wolff. ‘We were well positioned. Our minds were clear and, without rushing, the battle commenced… As our tank gunner is loading for the second time, the first shell already brings smoke and fire from the enemy tanks. The commander and I, standing next to him, breathe a sigh of relief.’

While the Panzers stood out of sight behind the ridge, the British armour had driven into the German field of fire.

‘The leader of the 4th Company shot up seven tanks, another tank commander five, almost everyone could later account for two or three destroyed. We, apart from my laughable wound which only later came to mind, lost two dead and two wounded. This was meaningless compared with the sixty enemy tanks we counted later.’

Most of them had been burnt out.

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