Nine Hundred and Sixty-Seven Battles in the Middle East
Sitting in the office of the Akaduan mansion, it seems that those battlefields filled with gunpowder are far away from me. There are the most exquisite works of art in the world, which gather the crystallization of all human civilizations. [Latest chapter reading..] The paintings of famous masters hang on the walls, and the medieval knight armor randomly placed in the corner of the living room are all real precious antiques.
"My head!" Gaskol was asked by Akado to sit down, so he sat respectfully opposite Akado, Akado seemed to be holding a small meeting, and there was Domi who replaced Augustus in the office Prime Minister of Nice, with Reich's Foreign Minister Ribbentrop: "40 minutes ago, the 'Operation Leap' in North Africa officially started."
After listening to Gascoll's report, Akado nodded, as a reaction to Gascoll. Then he looked at Ribbentrop and said, "You are in charge of diplomacy, what do you think about this issue?"
The leapfrog operation was planned by the head of state, Dominis and many other dignitaries and military generals. The purpose, to put it bluntly, was to use a battle to strengthen Italy's determination to war. Akado and Dominis still hope to resolve their differences within the Axis powers, rather than passively clean up the mess after a complete turnaround.
"My head of state. I don't know how far the mobilization of Marshal Garibaldi has progressed, so I can only analyze the current situation." Ribbentrop is a diplomatic genius. The thorough analysis of the situation was once an important support for Hitler in another time and space, and in this time and space, he was also the strongest diplomat in the Acador Foreign Ministry.
He thought for a while and then continued to Acado: "I heard that the Americans have been active around the King of Italy and the Mussolini regime. They hope that the powerful Axis powers will be divided internally, which is more in line with the US in the Middle East. The interests of fishing in troubled waters. Italy is obviously leaning towards the United States. They believe that a peaceful corner is more in line with Italy’s long-term interests. Moreover, in some occupied areas, the head of state has already begun to carry out cultural reforms. This has indeed caused some allies in the axis countries Panic. The Italian diplomatic envoy once met me, and he hoped to get the territorial claims of the Third Reich from you."
In the past hundred years, European wars have been fought one after another, but everyone has a reasonable bottom line, that is, they are fighting "knight" wars. After a war is over, pay reparations and cede some border territories, compromise on colonies and foreign policy, and then peace will be ushered in.
But this war finally changed. What Germany is engaged in is a war of permanent occupation and resource integration, which makes all countries feel the seriousness of the situation. It was possible for everyone to make a comeback before, but this time Germany does not intend to let the defeated countries have any chance: the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg have been clearly placed under the rule of the Third Reich, and the occupied areas of France and the United Kingdom have completely become German territory. Even regions such as Poland, Norway, Ukraine, and Belarus will join the embrace of the Third Reich in the form of a federation in the future.
So Germany's occupation has put pressure on Italy, and now independent countries in Europe, except for neutral countries,
Among the remaining countries, Romania, Vichy France, and the northern United Kingdom bowed to Germany. Only Italy exists as an independent existence—and this existence is not honest now, and it often fantasizes about flirting with the enemy to break away from the war.
"Only those who do not advance and retreat with the Third Reich will worry about the threat of the Third Reich!" Dominis snorted coldly after hearing what Ribbentrop said, and said sarcastically: "That Mussolini Guy, it’s just a foolish calculation, of course I’m afraid we’ll find him to settle the score.”
That's a good thing to say, but after all, the relationship between Germany and Italy is very deep. If it is just because of some news that is not on the table, it is not worth the loss to turn against Italy. Ribbentrop didn't care about Dominis' interruption, but continued to say to Akado: "But this time, we and Garibaldi acted first, kicking off the attack on the Middle East. Presumably Mussolini He will have to hesitate for a while longer. After all...he really wants a part of the benefits of the oil fields in the Middle East."
Akado's main purpose of launching this North African battle was to delay Mussolini's vacillation in a planned way. As long as there is no trouble in Italy when the German front line is tight, it will be easy to deal with him after the Eastern Front Germany turns over.
The entire Battle of Suez Canal was actually launched for such a strategic purpose. Just in case, Rommel even threw the vaguely Italian troops in the Afrika Korps to the front line, preparing to consume these soldiers cruelly, so as to avoid any troubles in these troops when Italy rebelled.
Akado waved his hand and signaled Ribbentrop to stop speaking, then he pointed to Gaskol with a smile, and said: "The reason why the battle in Africa was allowed to start is because last month, Gary Marshal Bodi has made it clear that he will stand on our side. That's why the battle for the Suez Canal will be approved, and the 'Crossover Operation' will officially begin."
Rather than saying that this battle was launched to drive away the British and American coalition forces in the Middle East, it is better to say that this battle was launched to strengthen Mussolini's position. Fortunately, Germany's fuel consumption in North Africa is almost self-sufficient, which undoubtedly gave Rommel a lot of room for choice, making it possible for Germany to fight on two fronts.
"In this case, then my head of state. I know what to do next." Ribbentrop nodded and understood Akado's plan. His next diplomatic strategy is to paralyze Mussolini and try to delay Italy's withdrawal from the war.
...
The embankment of the Suez Canal was almost covered with the corpses of Italian soldiers. Although the U.S. positions have been bombarded by German artillery and the Air Force, the entire Suez Canal defense line is still there, and the counterattack of the U.S. Army is still very strong.
Another assault boat rushed onto the river bank, and a dozen Italian soldiers jumped out of the assault boat amidst the hail of bullets, carrying their guns to find the cover made of dead bodies to avoid the bullets coming from the opposite side. They were not the first batch of Italian soldiers to board the river bank, because around here, there were already about 200 Italian soldiers firing back.
Averting his eyes from the artillery mirror, Rommel was very satisfied with his surprise attack tactics. He pointed in the direction of the front line triumphantly, and gave orders to some staff officers and officers around him to continue the attack: " It's almost time to drop into the reserves and start attacking."
A staff officer grabbed the field phone beside him, and after a few seconds of silence, he began to issue combat orders: "...Is this General Frederick? The Marshal ordered the attack, and you can start to act."
On the other side of the phone, the voice of General Frederick, the commander of the 7th Infantry Army and the infantry warrior of the African Legion, came: "Yes! I am Frederick, I understand, the attack will start immediately!"
Less than 30 seconds after the communication ended, some hidden firepower points began to join the artillery battle on the German artillery positions. The dense artillery fire was twice as much as before, and the shells of the African Legion poured out as if they didn't want money. To the US military positions.
For a time, the American forward positions were full of explosions and flames. Rommel concentrated and used hundreds of cannons, forming an overwhelming firepower advantage over the American defensive positions at the crossing point.
Rommel once emphasized in his book "Infantry Attack": "No matter how small the caliber of the weapon, and no matter how small the number of weapons, it is always necessary to use firepower to support the infantry attack." Now the caliber and number of weapons in Germany exceed In order to defeat the opponent, Rommel emphasized the tactics of concentrated firepower, which gave him a terrifying firepower density locally.
Just as the American soldiers huddled in their trenches, praying that this nightmare would pass quickly, on the other side of the Suez Canal, the German infantry launched a second wave of battle across the river. Each assault boat was covered by machine gun fire, and the German army on the opposite bank even used mules, horses and manpower to push 20 88mm cannons directly to the river bank.
Under the cover of machine guns and artillery fire, German engineers quickly built simple bunkers along the canal with sandbags. The 88mm anti-aircraft cannons of the German Air Force were pushed to the front-line positions in this way. After a lot of fuss, these cannons became the support firepower of the German army crossing the river.
The terrifying anti-aircraft weapon here has become a super weapon for destroying civil fortifications. It shoots directly and has a straight trajectory. The 88mm anti-aircraft gun with super high speed and muzzle velocity is easy to deal with fixed bunkers. In one minute the German anti-aircraft troops could pour more than 15 shells on the target, enough to smash the target into a sieve.
Although the power-assisted loading device cannot be used during flat shooting, the shooting speed still exceeds 10 rounds per minute. This kind of cannon was born in air defense operations, but it has shown unparalleled power when flat shooting targets.
Soon the German engineers began to build pontoon bridges under the cover of these anti-aircraft guns, and the German infantry crossing the river were also desperately expanding their forward positions from the bridgehead built by Italian cannon fodder. When more than 1,000 German troops successfully crossed the river, all the American defenders seemed to realize that their canal defense line might not be able to defend.
"Retreat!" With an order, the American soldiers began to retreat to the second line of defense in a planned way.
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