The Italians never expected that the German army's firepower would be so fierce. They obviously saw that the number of people was so small, only 1,500, and their previous artillery fire was so fierce that the enemy was at least killed. Half of it!
The remaining half of the people actually had such powerful firepower, which the Italians never expected!
The Italian soldiers in charge of the attacking brigade soon suffered heavy casualties. After leaving corpses on the ground, they began to retreat in a panic!
It's just that it's easy when you come, but not so easy when you retreat!
When Model saw the opponent beginning to retreat, he immediately ordered a pursuit. Although he did not have tanks, armored vehicles, and motorized infantry, which are later mechanized units, he still did not give up the idea of taking the initiative in flexible defense.
It stands to reason that the German troops rushing out of their own fortifications and bunkers should be a good thing for the Italians, because then they can use their superior strength and firepower to attack the enemy head-on!
However, at this time, the Italian soldiers had been frightened by the ferocious firepower of the German army just now, and when they retreated, they heard the gunshots behind them. What everyone wanted was not to resist on the spot and cover the retreat alternately, but to start a swarm. Escape!
In this way, the Italians immediately handed over their backs to the Germans. Facing the Italian soldiers who had no power to fight back, the Germans were naturally merciless. All the Italians drove down, and almost disrupted the main force of the Italians at the foot of the mountain.
If Commander Italian hadn't discovered that the defeat of his troops had formed an avalanche effect, and ordered the shooting in time, the German army might have really succeeded!
But even if they failed to succeed, the German army's results were very rich. After the war, they killed and injured more than 3,400 Italian soldiers, captured more than 600 people, and seized more than 2,000 rifles and more than 120 rifles. Heavy machine guns, 80 mortars and a large number of bullets and shells.
In addition to these weapons and ammunition. The German army also collected a large number of cans, cigarettes, matches, chocolates and other supplies from the Italians.
These supplies are very important to the German army. With this batch of supplies, Model feels that their logistical pressure has been reduced by more than half!
In fact, in addition to the statistics of these battle results, there are also a large number of Italian soldiers who fell into the mountain stream and died. This Italian army, which was the first to launch the attack, had been severely damaged after this battle and completely lost its strength. Increased combat effectiveness!
As soon as the two sides started fighting, the German army taught the Italians a profound lesson, letting them know that the enemy on the opposite side was not something to be trifled with!
The Italians were naturally furious after suffering such huge losses. In order to avoid unnecessary casualties, they did not dare to launch attacks at will, so they launched indiscriminate bombings on the German positions, trying to use artillery fire to destroy the German defenses.!
This tactic was of great significance to the well-prepared German army. Although the Italian artillery fire was very fierce, the German army's fortifications were built along the mountains. Some were even built directly in the mountains. The fortifications had strong resistance to artillery fire. ability, so it is impossible to destroy their fortifications unless they are hit directly!
After an indiscriminate bombardment, the Italian army plucked up the courage to rejoin the troops and launch an attack.
This time, the Italians learned the lesson. They dispatched a brigade of troops on the frontal battlefield, and also dispatched two regiments of troops on the flanks to cooperate to cover the frontal attacking troops and complete the attack.
This tactic may be effective if it is used on the plains, because the German army does not have many troops and it is difficult to divide the troops.
However, this kind of attack is of little use in this narrow pass. No matter how many Italian troops there are, then It can't be used at all!
As a result, the Italian attack failed again, and the casualties this time were even heavier than the last time. Model invested 5,000 people to launch a counterattack, chasing three Italian armies and running wildly. Although the army finally withdrew, all of them were disabled without exception.
In one day, the Italian army suffered nearly 10,000 casualties. Such heavy losses caused a gloom to appear on the commander's face!
On the German side, after witnessing the poor combat capabilities of the Italians, Model felt relieved.
"The situation here has basically stabilized, and now it's time to watch the battle in other directions!"
He is very confident in the defense of this mountain pass, so he plans to shift his attention to other battlefields!
One of the key points of flexible defense is to launch a counterattack, launch a surprise attack in the weak area of the enemy's defense, and completely disrupt the enemy's deployment. Inflict maximum losses on the enemy!
On October 4, a German army of 3,000 people set out from Hermagor and advanced southward along the Karnik Mountain. Along the way, they stayed day and night, avoiding the Italian sentries. On October 7th, they successfully crossed the Alps and arrived at Tolmezzo, a small town on the north bank of the Tagliamento River!
Tolmezzo's defenses were very empty, and they did not expect that they would be attacked by the enemy. After all, shouldn't the enemy be fighting his main force in the north?
Why did he suddenly come here?
Tolmezzo's Italian troops only have one company, and they are not a front-line combat force, but a group of troops. A second-line force, facing the tiger and wolf division of 3,000 German troops, this Italian army resisted symbolically for a while, and was completely wiped out before even half an hour!
After taking this place, the German army immediately mobilized! The ship traveled down the river by land and water and arrived at Carnia on the evening of October 7th!
Carnia is the logistics base of the Italian army. It is responsible for transporting combat and living supplies for 100,000 people on the front line, so the city There are a large number of warehouses outside.
The Italian army stationed here only has one battalion and a small number of troops. Like the Italian army in Tolmezzo, they did not expect that they would be attacked by the enemy, and the enemy never stopped. Coming from the south, they had no defense at all!
The German army easily eliminated the defenders here, and then burned a large amount of the Italian army's supplies with fire! After arriving at the Italian military headquarters, the faces of the people inside the headquarters became very ugly!
Because they discovered a terrible situation: they seemed to be surrounded!