The Third Reich in Desperation

The German-Italian African Army and the Vichy French Army on the Allied side will naturally not sit still.After Rommel completely resolved the crisis brought about by Wavell's "Operation Tomahawk", he immediately arranged a follow-up combat plan in a targeted manner.

"Lieutenant General Hans, have your troops regrouped after the British army retreated?"

In the front-line headquarters of the German-Italian African Army, Rommel looked at the map of North Africa and asked Lieutenant General Hans who was standing beside him thoughtfully.

Hans' 30th Mechanized Infantry Division undertook most of the defensive tasks in this battle.It can be said that the big reason why Wavell couldn't get any benefits in Operation Tomahawk was that its opponent was the battle-tested Lieutenant General Hans and his veterans with rich combat experience.

"The 30th Mechanized Infantry Division was assembled three hours ago, but the two Italian divisions are not all in place yet. About half of the Italian infantry is still on the way." Hans told Rommel directly Said.

"It's the same on my side." Rommel complained with a smile after hearing this: "My side just received the Italian light armored division sent by Rome to replenish the tanks, and now it is also reported to me that it is still going to Kazakhstan. On the way to Pucuo."

The reason why the German-Italian African Army is called the German-Italian African Army instead of the German African Army is because the composition of this army includes the armies of Germany and Italy.

The two German divisions brought by Rommel and Hans from Germany were tough, and they fought wherever they pointed, their defense was impeccable, and their offense was messy and decisive.

However, one Italian light armored division and two Italian infantry divisions that belong to the African group army sequence and that Rommel and Hans can directly command are very useless.

Although after Rossi came to power, the new Italian Prime Minister immediately emphasized that all Italian troops in Africa fully cooperated with the command of the Allied Forces Command, especially the three Italian divisions of the German-Italian African Army, and were required to fully accept the command of the Army Group. Command's operational orders.

The African Group Army Command, to put it bluntly, is the headquarters where Rommel himself was the commander.Rossi's request to the Italian troops is to let them fully obey Rommel's command and dispatch.

It's a pity that although these troops are required to do so, they are actually doing so, but the efficiency of their work is really not flattering.

Even for the vast majority of defensive tasks, the German 30th Mechanized Infantry Division, which was previously deployed in various positions, has been assembled.As a result, the armored divisions in the Italian army were not yet in place.

From this point of view, it is not without reason and reason that Wavell was able to defeat the Italians with very little force before.

"Let our liaison officer urge those Italian division commanders." After thinking about it, Rommel didn't know what to say.In the end, he didn't even bother to blame the Italian troops, he just followed the script and let people remind him.

Anyway, now Rommel does not need these Italian allies to contribute.Even if they can't make it, Rommel is confident that relying on the German troops in his hands, he can complete the subsequent harvest operations and the plan to conquer Egypt alone.

He was defeated once before, but that time he used less than 3 battalions in total to deal with the defensive troops of 4 divisions in Wavell's hands.

Such a failure is not shameful.

Rommel was indeed good at winning more with less, but he could not accomplish tasks that were impossible for manpower.

Although in the last world war, he did have a good record of not taking a division of the Italians into the battalion.

However, no matter how bad the British army is, it is still better than the Italians.Moreover, when Rommel failed to attack that time, he was not facing an enemy army of one division, but a whole 4 divisions.

If Rommel can win in this way, then there is no need to fight this war.Just give Rommel an independent regiment and let him hang around all the way.

Of course, now Rommel has begun to slowly open up.

"Tell Berante that the Tobruk Fortress will be handed over to the French army. Tell him not to continue feinting, but to launch a general attack and win this strategic node in one fell swoop!"

It's not that Rommel doesn't know how to make strategic arrangements, but his tactical attainments are too high, and sometimes he is overly confident that his own tactics can win, so he often only gives people the influence of a tactical master.

In addition, Rommel violated Reinhard's order once before and launched a limited offensive with two battalions, which conflicted with the African part of the grand strategy ordered by Reinhardt, so there was even a kind of Rommel's dissatisfaction. Understand the feeling of the big picture of strategy.

However, he has been in the army for so many years and was an officer in the two world wars, so how could he not understand strategy.

"Inform Garibaldi and let him bring the Italian troops in his hand to join our German-Italian-African Army." At this point in the battle, Rommel can recalculate his title of "Conqueror of Africa": "Tell him , if you want to go to Cairo for the military parade with me, hurry up!"

Text 676 Do you want to fight Africa?

Egypt, Cairo.

In front of Montgomery, there were two battle report documents.

Among them, one part was hearing bad news that made people uncomfortable, and the other part was... hearing news that made people despair!

The first battle report shows that Wavell's "Operation Tomahawk" has been completely bankrupt. After maintaining the offensive for less than a week, the total strength of the Commonwealth offensive force of about one and a half armored divisions and three infantry divisions is so bleak. Withdrew back.

For this result, Montgomery was not surprised, anyway, he had already guessed that there would be no good results.He had repeatedly warned Wavell before, but the other party insisted on attacking and refused to listen to the advice, and it was his turn to end up like this today.

If it weren't for him not to have a stalemate with Wavell, he was so angry that he would come to 3 Egyptian divisions, and use the Italian equipment seized by Wavell to strengthen these 3 divisions, so that they have certain defensive capabilities If not, judging from the combat effectiveness of the three Egyptian divisions that were weaker than the Italians before, they can actually surrender directly now.

However, after the arrival of the second battle report document, Montgomery really had the heart to surrender.

This second battle report is from the native land.This was the latest news that Gott had deliberately conveyed to Montgomery.

On the mainland, London, the capital, has fallen. After the German army strengthened the Thames River, it took only one afternoon to eliminate the crooked British troops on the north bank.

On the contrary, Gott also took the last batch of direct combat troops who stayed in London, left London in an emergency, went to the northern port, and went to Northern Ireland to organize a new government as planned.

Along with the second report came a personal letter from Gott, addressed to Montgomery.

In the letter, Gott expressed his satisfaction at Montgomery's guarding of Egypt, and praised Montgomery for keeping Britain's final strategic interests in Africa.

Then, Gott briefly told Montgomery many things, such as Churchill went crazy and was arrested by Gott.For another example, when Gott led the army to the new government established in Northern Ireland, he found that the officials of the new government had very weak will to resist and had no intention of continuing the war.

Of course, Gott also admitted in the letter that he himself no longer has any expectations for the war. In his opinion, this war has no meaning.

At the end of the private letter, Gott told Montgomery that he was preparing to surrender.Taking advantage of the fact that the new government has moved its capital to the island of Ireland, using the Irish River as a reliance, plus Gott stepped up to transport the army to the island of Ireland, as well as the Free French Army on the Isle of Man, Gott is confident that the Germans will also have a headache .

Yes, with such a deployment and strength, it is of course impossible to withstand another massive attack by the Allied forces, and Gott has no plan to use the new line of defense to defend against Reinhardt's army.

What Gott is fighting for now is to make the Germans think more about it after signing the surrender agreement.The United Kingdom can now save the Allied forces from the trouble of landing and sweeping the island of Ireland, and the German camp only needs to measure the value of the saved trouble, convert it, and deduct this part from the British war compensation. .

Therefore, Montgomery rationally strengthened Egypt's defensive power a little bit, which actually provided Gort with more bargaining chips.

At the end of the letter, Gott hints that Montgomery has reported his merits to the king, and he will seek recognition and promotion for him.In Britain's current homeland, the tiny Northern Ireland government, Montgomery was already boasted as a sane and wise commander.

In particular, Montgomery's refusal of Wavell's offensive plan and insisting on staying in Egypt is such a trivial matter, which has been rumored to be miraculous. It has become that Montgomery has long anticipated everything that will happen later, so he focuses on defensive warfare, rather than a futile and exhausting attack. .

"Duke Gott told me he'd already pushed for a promotion for me."

Montgomery put down the letter in his hand, rubbed his forehead, and told his adjutant.

The so-called fan of the authorities, Montgomery vaguely felt that Gort might have some intentions to say in the letter, but he himself couldn't figure it out for a while.Therefore, he simply shared the content with his adjutant immediately, and asked himself, a bystander adjutant, to serve as his staff.

After receiving the letter from Montgomery, his adjutant only took about a minute to return the letter to Montgomery's desk, and then congratulated: "General, you should be promoted. Congratulations!"

"Tell me." Montgomery waved his hand, signaling the adjutant to continue.

After receiving the intention, the adjutant nodded and continued: "According to what we have learned now, Mr. Churchill is no longer the leader of the domestic government, and has even been reduced to a prisoner. It is obvious that the chief executive in the new government The man who sent us to Africa is the Duke of Gott."

"So, when Duke Gort said that he wanted to promote you, it can basically be assumed that the new government and the military will give you a promotion." The adjutant analyzed and concluded: "It seems that you will be promoted soon, general. General, equal to Admiral Wavell!"

"Equal level to Wavell?" Montgomery muttered as a child.

He really did not expect that he would be promoted to the highest rank in Africa so quickly.

You know, it has only been more than a week since he was transferred to Africa.Among them, he only experienced a Tomahawk operation. As a result, he did not participate in the battle. Instead, he made meritorious service in the garrison and was about to be promoted from lieutenant general to general by his country.

What made him even more uncomfortable was that his rank of lieutenant general was only temporarily promoted by Gott when he came to North Africa.