Iron Cross

The secret organization of young officers such as Nasser was not the only one willing to provide intelligence to the German army. Ali Maher, the palace steward of King Farouk I of Egypt and the former Prime Minister of Egypt, also expressed a fully pro-German and anti-British stance - - This intention was revealed so obviously and early (in 1940) that the British immediately took him down. Now, he secretly sent his son Maher to communicate, only one hour later than Nasser. Kesselring guessed that the two men may have obtained the information at about the same time. However, the British were more cautious about Maher and it was more difficult for the young Maher to escape.

Kesselring's original key entry point to solve the Egyptian problem was Ali Maher, but now looking at Hoffman's attitude, he is a little unsure.

Hoffman laughed at this: "Albert, you have your own ideas and don't be influenced by me. One thing I want to remind you is that Maher is very capable and charismatic according to you, and He has always been close to us, what do you think his shortcomings are?”

"They have strong independence and autonomy, and are probably not willing to be controlled by us."

"No." Hoffman shook his head. "His biggest problem is that he cannot break with the king. This king is so stupid and incompetent that ordinary people in Egypt hate him. But since Maher is the palace manager, He is deeply valued and trusted by the king, and his father and son have been favored by the royal family. What do you think he can do? "

The current King of Egypt, Farouk I, succeeded to the throne in 1936. He is a corrupt, dissolute and shameless king. He had neither great military exploits nor any talent for governing the country. He only relied on feudal hereditary to become the king. He is not only lustful but also good at food: he has countless mistresses after marriage, and a large number of actresses and famous female talents are his bed toys. No pretty woman in Cairo can escape his clutches; he can be eaten for breakfast Twelve eggs, 40 quails for lunch, and up to 30 bottles of beer a day. He often locked himself in a dark room and kept eating chocolate. His weight skyrocketed and he became a fat man of more than 300 pounds. Before he came to the throne, his weight when he was studying in the UK was only half of this figure. Although he has no talent or virtue, he does have one skill, which is that he is good at pickpocketing. At every palace banquet, he steals the belongings of everyone present - he is not short of money, he just likes the feeling of stealing, even during Churchill's visit to Egypt. He also stole his pocket watch, which made Fatty Qiu furious!

"Maintain the situation within his ability, but sooner or later he will face a choice, Egypt or the king." Kesselring also knew about King Farouk's "glorious deeds" and immediately said, "For a mature man Isn’t it difficult for politicians to choose?”

"Whichever end he chooses is wrong... The best way is to use the current political situation to force the king to abdicate and change to a republic, or to replace other royal figures as symbolic puppets, but is this possible? - Choose the king, It means that he is on the opposite side of the majority of the ordinary people, and his rule will not last long; giving up the king means that he has failed the king and is ungrateful, which will become a key weakness for him to continue to rule." Hoffman said with a smile. , he is not trusted because his name is Maher, it is because he is the king's teacher that he has his current status. Asking him to change is equivalent to using his right hand to chop off the diseased left hand. How can he do it easily? ? Even if he can do it, is he a normal person? "

"This..." Kesselring couldn't help but think of President Hindenburg - with the old marshal's prestige and power so high, he failed to restore the status of the Hohenzollern royal family in the end, but was forced to hand over power to The National Socialist Workers' Party and its head of state, Wilhelm II, was not considered a coward. No wonder the head of state took a fancy to these two young officers as soon as he came up - he must have seen his own shadow in them.

"Then what to do now?" Kesselin also hesitated, "I have hooked up with Maher. Maybe I am only obsessed with the temporary stability in front of me and ignore the future."

"You did the right thing, but the country was at fault." Hoffman sighed, "Actually, there is another way to solve this problem - let the king die before Maher falls!"

"This is very difficult. As far as I know, the king is only in his 30s. He has no special problems except being fat. He is in the prime of life." Kesselring narrowed his eyes and made a beheading gesture with his right hand, "Is this so? Just say it was the British who did it.”

Hoffman slowly shook his head: "You can't do this! If we are exposed, we will be too passive, and Maher will definitely be alienated from us."

"If it doesn't work, I won't be able to think of a solution."

"This guy is both lustful and delicious. He will die on a woman's belly one day." Hoffman said with a smile, "We have to find someone to help him..."

Kesselin's eyes suddenly lit up, and he suddenly became enlightened: "These two young people you are interested in?"

"Take your time, don't rush, don't hint or encourage them to do it, but you can gradually make them realize that Egypt's problems and Prime Minister Maher's difficulties are all caused by one person - that's enough!"

"The Führer is wise!" Kesselin thought to himself: The latter is hardly a problem. It is estimated that the two young men are already thinking so now, but they are not yet mentally prepared to act as regicides.

"If Alexander's escape is true, changes in Egypt's political situation are imminent. What instructions do you have?"

Hoffman thought for a moment: "We can let Maher immediately form an Egyptian emergency committee, actually break away from the Anglo-Egyptian alliance, fully reorganize the government and cabinet, establish a national defense force and expand the number of troops. The national defense force will cooperate with us to attack the British troops in Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya."

"Egyptian National Defense Force?" Kesselring frowned, "Maybe they are not very good at fighting, will they be a drag?"

"Send our officers - all the way to the company level! The Egyptian National Defense Force must be established and must participate in the war. As long as they shoot at the British and taste the taste of killing, they can't turn back."

Kesselring thought: The head of state is cruel enough! After the Egyptians have handed in their pledge of allegiance, do they want to withdraw obediently in the future?

"And these two officers can be put in the army to train and see what they are like. Talents will stand out immediately." Hoffman patted Kesselring on the shoulder, "I will go back to Alexandria to wait for Rommel's good news. I leave this to you."

On the morning of December 24, Kesselring issued a "Statement on Egypt Policy" in the name of the commander-in-chief of the German Southern Front:

... The German government has noted with great interest the neutral attitude and related policies repeatedly reiterated by the Egyptian government. This is a key way to save Egypt, a country and a nation, from the scourge of war and gain a new life. Unless necessary, the German government has no intention of creating difficulties for this policy in Egypt, and has no intention of being an enemy of the Egyptian people. But it is well known that wherever there are British troops, we will annihilate them, so we will do the same in Egypt. We look forward to politicians who truly consider the long-term interests of Egypt to lead the Egyptian people to drive out the British troops entrenched in Egypt. If German military assistance is needed, we will provide it without hesitation.

That evening, while Alexander was arranging the army to withdraw, Mari Maher himself and his trusted men escaped from the supervision of British soldiers and hid in the German military camp, and then quickly issued a notice in the name of the "Egyptian Emergency Committee", announcing the policy of "political alliance, economic support, and military cooperation" between Germany and Egypt through the radio, and agreed:

1. After the situation in Egypt stabilizes, a transitional government will be reorganized and established based on the Emergency Committee and a truly democratic general election will be held, and Egypt will gain complete independence and freedom;

2. Announce the abolition of all contracts with Britain and confiscate the British government , enterprises, and all industries of expatriates in Egypt, and reserve the right to demand compensation from Britain for colonial rule;

3. Establish the Egyptian National Defense Force, with a temporary strength of 200,000 people: the short-term goal is to establish 3 divisions, the long-term goal is to establish 12 divisions, and at the same time establish a naval force;

4. Invite the German National Defense Force to enter in a friendly manner and help Egypt expel and eliminate all British troops;

5. Germany and Egypt agree to conduct trade at reciprocal prices: Germany sells arms, machinery and equipment and industrial technology needed by Egypt to Egypt, and Egypt sells agricultural and sideline products to Germany, especially cotton that has been greatly accumulated due to the war.

In addition to these public terms, Kesselring also signed a secret agreement with Maher:

1. Germany promised to support the new Egyptian government with Ali Maher as prime minister, and the new government would hire military, political advisers and technical experts from Germany;

2. The Canal Company will be a jointly controlled enterprise by Germany and Egypt in the future, each holding 50% of the shares. The German army will be stationed in the canal area after being invited by the Egyptian government, with a number of no more than 5,000 people;

3. The Egyptian Defense Force will cooperate with the German military operations in East Africa;

4. The Anglo-Egyptian Joint Administration of Sudan Agreement will be abolished from now on, and the Sudanese territory will be separated according to appropriate principles. The territories that have close relations with Egypt and belong to Egypt's traditional sphere of influence will all be merged into Egypt.

Alexander thought he was very clever. He told Ramsden the truth about the retreat route only when he commanded a small number of troops to board the train in the evening of the same day, but he soon found that he was the one who was fooled. In the afternoon of the next day, with the assistance of the Italian Navy, German Naval Air Force Commander Richthofen commanded the aircraft to take off from the temporary airport at the southern end of the Suez Canal area, directly passing south of Cairo and bombing the ships in the river section near Qena. After the actual combat training in the Black Sea, the naval aviation has become very adept at dealing with targets at sea, not to mention the slow transport ships on the Nile River that are slow and cannot maneuver on a large scale.

After the bombing in the afternoon, most of the fleeing British fleet were sunk midway. Although many British officers and soldiers jumped into the Nile River to struggle for survival, other passing Egyptian ships were indifferent and had long avoided them. The Germans had no interest in the British troops retreating by train, and let them run all the way to Aswan.

"Look, this is the retreat route you arranged, which you thought was brilliant..." Ramsden threw the telegram at Alexander's feet angrily, "Also, let me tell you, it's not the 27th or the 28th. Guderian's vanguard arrived this afternoon. After tonight, we will be surrounded."