Chapter 305 Independence

The first problem was Crete.

After the Germans withdrew from Crete, the British army immediately contacted Colonel Dennis and hoped to enter Crete...Originally, Montgomery did not want to be so anxious, but Crete was too important to the British army. The British army could only use the airport on Crete to transfer fighter planes to Malta instead of relying on aircraft carriers.

But Colonel Dennis refused without thinking.

The reason for the refusal was very sufficient: "Before, Greece needed the British army to enter in order to prevent the invasion of the German and Italian armies. The British army could be said to be a reinforcement for Greece, but now the German and Italian armies have taken the initiative to withdraw from Crete. Why should the British army enter Crete?"

In fact, Colonel Dennis had another consideration. He was worried that this would anger the Germans and lose their support. At the same time, he did not want Crete to become a battlefield for the German, Italian and Allied forces to fight again... Considering the interests of Greece, Colonel Dennis's approach was obviously correct.

But this was not in the interests of Britain, and then Britain played its usual tricks...bringing King George II of Greece, who was in exile in Britain, to Egypt, and led the British army to land on Crete under the pretext that George II led the Allied forces to liberate all of Greece.

The British army encountered almost no resistance when landing.

On the one hand, the National Liberation Front had never fought an anti-landing war, and on the other hand, they did not want to turn against the Greek king and the army that was under the slogan of "liberating all of Greece"... In this respect, the goals of the National Liberation Front and the Allied forces were even the same.

However.

When the British army landed, the situation soon changed.

The British army occupied the three airports on Crete at the first time... For the island, the airport is absolutely the top priority.

Then, the British army seized several arsenals left by the German army on the island... This process almost caused a conflict, because these arsenals can be said to be the supply base of the National Liberation Front on Crete.

But after being surrounded by a large number of British troops, they finally had to give up.

Then, the British released a large number of government prisoners in the prison and put the weapons in their hands to rebuild the government army.

All these National Liberation Fronts endured, they did not want to start a civil war at this time or to confront the Greek king and the powerful British army behind him.

But the next order they received made them extremely angry.

King George II asked the National Liberation Front to lay down their arms and disband the army... Obviously, George II was worried that this armed force would threaten his ruling position after it became powerful.

This caused strong dissatisfaction among the National Liberation Front and even the Greek people, and then a large-scale demonstration broke out in Crete.

However, as usual, the police opened fire on the demonstrators.

With this as the fuse, the full-scale battle between the National Liberation Front and the Greek government forces and the British army officially started, and the British army invested in artillery and fighter planes on the same day.

Colonel Dennis and others were of course no match for the British and government forces, so they could only hide in the mountains and turn to guerrilla warfare.

This sudden situation stunned everyone, especially the National Liberation Front in Greece, which made them clearly realize that even if they drove the Germans and Italians out of Greece, the fruits of victory would eventually fall into the hands of the king and the British, so they even tried to cooperate with the puppet regimes established by the German and Italian armies in Athens.

Rommel was stunned when he got this information. Although this was exactly what he wanted, he didn't expect it to happen so quickly.

"Interesting!" Rommel said to himself: "Everything is developing as the lieutenant said!"

If Rommel was still hesitating about retreating before this, Rommel made up his mind completely after the Crete incident.

Because this can be said to be only good for Germany and no harm... If there is any harm, it is to reduce the occupied land. But these lands are just superficial data. They are barren and have nothing but sand (no oil fields have been discovered in North Africa at this time), so what's the point of occupying these lands?

Instead, retreat... Of course, retreat after declaring their independence, but it can cause great trouble to the British and Americans.

The enemy's trouble is your own interest.

Moreover, with the retreat of the German army, the Allies will face the same problem as the German army before... The supply line is too long, which is a serious problem in the desert.

So Rommel did not think much about it, and took the initiative to withdraw from the Alexandria Line to the Matruh Line a few days later.

The British army advanced forward with cheers, but what was waiting for them was the vigorous war of independence launched by the Egyptians led by General Shreve... If the British army did not take these guerrillas seriously before, then they should be careful now, because the Egyptian guerrillas at this time have become large-scale, and they still have a large number of "iron fists" in their hands... "Bazookas" have not dared to be given to the guerrillas for the time being, because they are worried that the performance of this new equipment will be mastered and copied by the British army.

The German army encountered problems when it withdrew to the Libyan border:

Rommel needed to make Libya independent, but Italian commander Garibaldi and even Mussolini were unwilling to do so.

"You are crazy!" Garibaldi said, "Let Libya be independent... We have won so many victories, but now not only have we not gained any benefits, but we have to lose our colonies! I absolutely do not agree with this act of selling out Italy's interests!"

Not only Garibaldi, but other Italian officers also expressed their opposition.

Rommel was unwilling to pay attention to this, because he knew that these Italian officers were only worried about their villas and mansions in Tripoli.

"Then!" Rommel said: "You can use your rifles to defend Libya!"

Rommel continued to retreat with the German army.

This made the Italian army confused... Just kidding, the Italian army couldn't even deal with the British army driving the "Matilda" tanks at the time, so how could it stop the British army driving the "Sherman" tanks now, not to mention that there are also American troops in addition to the British army.

So Garibaldi hurriedly contacted Mussolini and hoped to change Rommel's mind through Hitler.

At this time, Hitler saw what Rommel wanted to do... It was actually very obvious that after declaring the independence of these countries all the way, these countries would stand on the opposite side of the Allied forces with Germany. Crete and Egypt are a living example, which is obviously beneficial to Germany.

So, Hitler, contrary to his usual practice, did not stop Rommel, but instead sent a telegram to Mussolini: "Mr. Prime Minister, you should declare Libya independent, otherwise... the British will do this as liberators!"