Kesselin has two options:

First, attack Palermo, while the two German divisions continued to attack the US army.

The advantage of doing this is that it also hopes to drive the US military into the sea. As long as you can retake Palermo in time, it will not have much impact on the German army.

But this choice is too dangerous. On the one hand, Kesseling learned that the two German divisions were not going well with the US military, and they could not advance further when they attacked the coastline. The reason was that the Americans could use shells as bullets, and they used large-caliber naval guns to blow out a fire wall in front of the beach. In front of this fire wall, any German attack was futile.

On the other hand, Kesselin received information that the enemy occupying the port of Palermo was the French division... If it was just the French division, it was nothing. The French's performance on the battlefield was almost comparable to that of the Italians. But Kesselin knew that the Chinese major general named Zhang Chi was leading the French division.

"That's the guy who defeated Rommel in Africa!" Kesseling said to himself: "It's not easy to take Palermo from him in a short time!"

What's more, what if Palermo can be seized? Who can guarantee that this Chinese major general will not order the damage to port facilities? Even if the Germans seize Palermo by then, they will still be ruins.

So, this choice was quickly denied by Kesseling.

Another option is to keep Port Messina.

There is no doubt that the Port of Syracuse was occupied by the British, Palermo was occupied by the French, and the only remaining was the Port of Messina. And based on Rommel's experience on the African battlefield, the British were obviously easier to deal with than the Chinese and Americans.

So this doesn't seem to require consideration, and it's OK to choose Port Messina.

But Kesseling is worthy of being an air marshal who spans two world wars. His long-term combat experience makes him feel that he cannot do this.

This is because the two German divisions have developed to the point of close combat with the US military in the direction of Gera Bay. Under such circumstances, it is very difficult and dangerous for these two German military divisions to suddenly escape and turn toward Messina. The German army may be hunted by the US military all the way and finally be surrounded by the British army and have nowhere to go.

The other is because Kesselin was unwilling to give up Palermo so easily, because once he gave up Palermo, it almost meant the failure of the German and Italian troops on Sicily.

Losing an island may not be a big problem, but the island is so close to Italy that the Allied forces built an airport on it could threaten or even force Italy to surrender... This is a big problem.

In other words, Keselin was still holding a glimmer of hope at this time, hoping to defend Sicily.

So Keselin made a decision that no one expected. Not only did he not rush to withdraw his troops from Sicily, he sent reinforcements to Sicily, and German reinforcements.

This batch of German reinforcements had two divisions, namely the German First Airborne Division and the 29th Motorized Infantry Division.

The 1st Airborne Division was airborne to Sicily by transport aircraft, while the 29th Motorized Infantry Division was transported to the Port of Messina by transport vessel and then drove southward... After all, Italy is only a few kilometers away from the Port of Messina, so it is not difficult to do this.

These two divisions were deployed by Kesselin in the area of ​​Mount Etna... Like the Port of Palermo, Port Messina is also at the top of Sicily, which is a triangle-shaped island, and Mount Etna happens to be below Port Messina, blocking in front of Port Messina like a threshold.

This line of defense was called the "Catania" line of defense by the German army, because it started from Catania on the east coast and then extended along the curve to Bstefano on the northeast coast, surrounding the Port of Messina.

On the other hand, Kesseling ordered the two divisions that had been in contact with the US military to cover each other to retreat to Palermo.

When Zhang Chi saw Keselin's deployment, he couldn't help but nod.

The battle situation in Sicily was originally a game-dead chess for the German army. The two German divisions had no choice but to turn to the port of Messina and retreat, but after Kessellindo invested two divisions, they were killed.

First of all, these two divisions ensured the safety of the Port of Messina, while the two elite German divisions rushed towards Palermo... They didn't have to take Palermo. Of course, it would be good if they took Palermo. This would allow the German army to form a defense line with Palermo and Messina as the stronghold and confront the Allies.

To be honest, the supply line in Sicily is very close to the Italian mainland. If a protracted war is fought here, the Allies may not be able to get a bargain.

If you can't take Palermo, these two elite German divisions can retreat to Port Messina at any time and then retreat to Italy.

It can be said that it can attack and retreat or defend.

"What should we do now?" Cookie said with some concern when he saw the situation on the map: "The enemy has two German divisions!"

"All we need is to hold on for a while!" Zhang Chi said: "This may take several days or hours. Even the Germans dare not attack Palermo at all... It depends on the strength of the US military's offensive!"

Upon hearing this, Cook couldn't help but nodded. The US military was behind the German army. If the US military followed the two elite German divisions along the way, the German army would probably be forced to turn to Port Messina before they arrived in Palermo, because continuing to advance towards Palermo would only put them in a dilemma of attacking on both sides.

This is exactly what the US military did at the beginning.

As soon as he discovered that the German army was retreating and was retreating towards Palermo, Patton ordered the US army to advance immediately with no hesitation.

The US military was advancing very smoothly because they were US military. They had a large number of tanks, amphibious transport vehicles, cars and armored vehicles, plus airdrops of aircraft... so that they did not need to worry about no bullets, shells or fuel at any time.

Therefore, although the German army used Rommel's trick, which was to retreat while laying mines in the rear, this did not stop the US military's pace as the German army imagined, because the US military had enough ammunition and they were exploding forward while advancing.

The US military laughed at their marching as "blasting a way out."

But at this time, Patton received another incredible order from Montgomery: "Suspend the advancement and hold on to the beach!"

This order made Patton angry.
Chapter completed!