Five Hundred and Eighty-Nine Soldiers Enter Egypt

After the German occupation of Tobruk, Rommel held a grand entrance ceremony. The German cars moved forward along the road, seemingly endless. On the edge of the road, the German tanks were also advancing with smoke and dust, looking full of evil spirits and majesty.

This time, the North African Army captured about 31,000 Allied prisoners, including 9,000 Australian soldiers who suddenly turned into Allied forces. These soldiers came from Australia, so naturally they could no longer be treated as prisoners, but the African Legion still did not dare to incorporate almost 10,000 Australian troops into its own battle order.

So this Australian army was ordered to move to the rear and treated like the second-rate Italian troops that Rommel left behind. ,thank you very much.

The complacent Rommel finally let out a sigh of relief. His first large-scale battle after returning to Africa from the base camp ended in victory. In order to thank the French for their support for this battle, the Italians even mobilized some second-rate troops to help Vichy France reoccupy some areas in the West African colonies.

Now Italy and France are good honey, and even the relationship between Germany and France has improved countless times. The spending power of German soldiers in Paris is astonishing. Many people not only buy perfumes and stockings, but even gourmet food and various tourist attractions. The most prosperous business is those special attractions in Paris, France.” Moulin Rouge".

A large number of French people found that the German banknotes were extremely profitable, and they could sell them as long as they produced their products. Hats, clothes, shoes, strollers and chairs, as long as you can think of products, these Germans buy them.

So these shopaholics from Germany bought things with the newly distributed francs or marks, and the French sold things friendly, and after selling the things, they paid taxes to the Vichy French government, and then the Vichy French government paid compensation to Germany , the Germans then issued these indemnities, allowing the Germans to continue shopping there.

This seemingly simple flow of goods and funds is no different from direct robbing of things, but because the Germans gave up part of the benefits to the Vichy French government and the French locals, the degree of local resistance was reduced—everyone took When it came to the benefits, many people made a small fortune. Under such an environment, it would not be easy to incite the people to fight against the Germans.

Part of the colonies in West Africa returned to French rule, which provided a reason for the French people to cheer up. Germany’s rapid advance in France did not cause much trauma to the locals, which became the capital of pro-Germans. So a kind of argument was quietly born in the French high-level: the Germans need the support of France, we will eventually evolve into allies, and the German aggression will eventually end!

In fact, exploitation and plunder have not decreased, but have been diluted and transferred to unknown and insensitive areas. The French Vichy government owed Germany a large amount of war reparations and garrison funds, which had to be repaid with steel, coal and other minerals.

These things are not closely related to the lives of ordinary people, so the resistance they arouse is not as strong as that caused by direct exploitation.

Rommel stood in his car, reviewing the torrent of steel formed by his army moving towards Egypt. He is very close to his rank of marshal. Between him and Cairo, there are only a few troops in the hands of Patton of the United States and Montgomery of the United Kingdom. The Battle of Alamein is about to kick off, and this time, Rommel's troops are extremely powerful.

"Mr. General, your troops won a big victory in Tobruk, captured more than 20,000 prisoners, and rescued more than 9,000 Australian allied troops. Now, can you predict how long it will take for the German-Italian African Army to capture Egypt? What about the time?" A reporter was obviously not used to the weather in North Africa, his clothes had been messed up by the wind and sand, and the leather notebook in his hand was flipping back and forth due to the wind. He pressed the book that was blown by the wind with the hand holding the pen, and looked up at Rommel standing on the car.

Rommel's car is full of mottled marks, every day driving in the desert, no matter how good the car is, it will be eroded by wind and sand. Compared with the cars of those generals in Berlin, the Mercedes-Benz convertibles issued to Rommel at the same time are now as devastated as historical relics.

The fenders of the car were first covered with mud and sand due to the rainy weather, and then due to the dryness and wind, large pieces of paint on the car fell off, and the chassis of the car was stained with rust. The brand-new military vehicles that can be seen are very different.

Rommel was originally looking at the tank troops rumbling past here in the distance, his eyes were full of smiles. Hearing that a reporter came up to ask him, he lowered his head to look at the person who asked the question. It was an Italian reporter. Rommel heard his question for the first time, and it was very novel.

German journalists were basically under the control of the Imperial Propaganda Department, and their questions were issued by their superiors to avoid asking military secrets or embarrassing questions. These well-trained German journalists like to take pictures but rarely ask questions. They convey the image of the heroic and fearless German army to the country to create momentum for the sacred external expansion of the empire.

The Italian reporter looked up at Rommel, hoping that Rommel would answer this question. If Rommel was very happy to tell the specific time, then this news would definitely cause a sensation in the entire Kingdom of Italy.

"I can't tell you when our army will enter Egypt, nor can I tell you the specific time when we will conquer Egypt. All I can tell you is a belief, a belief that everyone here has engraved in their bones." Rommel thought Liao wanted to say: "We use everything to win! This is the only thing I can tell you. We stop to win, we die to win, we move forward to win, and we kill opponents to win. "

After he finished speaking, he continued to raise his head and looked at the torrent of armor that kept advancing in the distance. Every soldier was waving to him, including the black shirt army of General Garibaldi on the Italian M13 tank. Compared with the German tanks, the performance of these m13 tanks is very backward, and the combat quality of the armored soldiers is not high, but the Italian infantry cannot do without these equipments. After all, the German tanks cannot be dispersed to give these Italians courage.

General Schörner was leading his 12th Panzer Corps into Italy and would soon enter North Africa. The units of this armored army include the 30th Panzer Division and the 12th Panzer Division of the SS. Although most of the soldiers are recruits, they are equipped with brand-new Panther tanks and Tiger tanks, and their combat effectiveness cannot be underestimated.

And with these two divisions coming, there are hundreds of thousands of infantry. These infantry are mainly recruits, but the training is very perfect. These troops would strengthen the combat effectiveness of the African Legion and completely drive Patton and Montgomery to the area east of the Suez Canal.

For the battle of this large corps, Akado personally ordered the assembly of 110 various transport ships to join the already stretched Italian Mediterranean transport fleet to provide transportation and supplies for the German and Italian troops in North Africa. Malta is now functioning as a strategic core point, German and Italian ships basically suffer very little loss when traveling between Europe and Africa - which means that the original about 30% of the attrition can now actually reach Africa area. Originally, these materials were used to feed fish, but now these materials can be used for combat.

The intelligence provided by the reconnaissance plane shows that in the western part of Egypt, Allied soldiers are strengthening their defense lines. They want to turn Egypt into a huge fortress to resist Rommel's invasion. The entire northwestern part of Egypt was dug in a criss-cross pattern, just like a huge construction site.

Patton and Montgomery had a disagreement on how to defend Egypt. Patton advocated a strategic decisive battle in Egypt, consuming Rommel's armored forces, and then retreating to the Suez Canal to deploy the defense line and stick to this short line-this plan almost gave up the entire Africa , so it was overruled by Montgomery.

Montgomery prefers to use a solid line of defense to smooth out the German armor and air superiority. Use a style of play similar to self-destruction to delay the progress of the war. His plan was to wipe out Patton's 8th Army and his own 9th Army in order to delay the capture of Egypt.

However, the two finally reached an agreement on the issue of consuming the armor power in Rommel's hands. In the end, Patton also gave up his idea of ​​​​an armored battle and proposed a compromise plan instead.

The plan was to rely on Montgomery's Ninth Army to take the lead and consume the German armored forces on the ground. If a fighter plane appeared, Patton's armored forces would immediately go into battle and take a bite and run away. Use this local counterattack strategy with softness and strength to minimize the advantage of the armored forces in the hands of the German army.

At this moment, Rommel has about 1,300 tanks in his hands, including more than 250 Italian M13 tanks. And Patton owns about 1,200 tanks if Montgomery's family property is counted. The quality of these tanks is also not as good as the equipment in the hands of the German army, so the gap in armor is actually very huge.

What's more, Rommel's African Army and the full support of the Italian Mediterranean Fleet, although it is impossible to concentrate the huge naval power when attacking Tobruk, at least Rommel can get cruisers and destroyers at a faster speed. Rommel's artillery superiority could be guaranteed in coastal areas.

It seems that at this moment, there is nothing that can stop Rommel's army from entering Egypt.