Chapter 402 Infantry Defense

"Captain!" Hitler turned his attention to Qin Chuan: "I want to hear your opinion!"

"Yes, Your Majesty the Head of State!" Qin Chuan replied while looking at Rommel, who nodded slightly.

"Your Majesty the Head of State!" Qin Chuan pointed at the map and said, "I think we should reinforce Greece!"

"What?" Hearing this, Rommel couldn't help but look at Qin Chuan in surprise. He knew that Qin Chuan might have different opinions, but he didn't expect that he would say such a shocking thing.

"Reinforce Greece?" Hitler said with a smile on his face: "Interesting!"

"Yes, reinforce Greece!" Qin Chuan said: "Since we have seen through the British trap, and the British don't know that we have seen through their trap, then why can't we take advantage of it..."

Hearing this, Rommel couldn't help but suddenly realized: "You mean to make the British mistakenly think that we have been deceived and put the main force in Greece?"

"Yes!"

"But...what's the point of this?" Rommel asked: "I mean...if Sicily is empty of troops because we reinforce Greece, but in the end we may not be able to stop the British attack, then we Still got nothing!”

What Rommel said makes sense. First of all, it is impossible to hide the large-scale reinforcements of the armored forces from the British, especially the British intelligence units... For example, according to Rommel's combat plan, three armored divisions and two mechanized infantry divisions were reinforced. In Sicily, with so many tanks, cars, and artillery being loaded and unloaded at the port, it only takes a few spies to spot them.

Therefore, if you want to deceive the British, you must not reinforce or reduce reinforcements. And such a result would cause the German army to lose Sicily.

"So we have to change our defensive tactics!" Qinchuan said to Rommel: "Sorry, General! I think your defensive tactics just now cannot stop the British attack in Sicily!"

"Hmm, tell me why!" Rommel nodded with interest, and then said to Hitler: "Your Majesty the Führer, I'm used to being forced to the point of embarrassment by the captain!"

"That's good!" Hitler smiled knowingly: "I also hope someone can embarrass me! For the sake of victory, for Germany, and for our common ideals, we should speak freely!"

"Of course!" Rommel motioned for Qin Chuan to continue.

"Our mobile defense tactics may be feasible in the desert!" Qinchuan continued: "The reason is on the one hand the terrain. The desert is more suitable for mobile operations of armored forces, but most of Sicily is mountainous. Once any highland is occupied by the enemy, Once occupied or the road blocked by enemy artillery fire, the armored division would be unable to move."

Rommel retorted: "Captain, but it is open and flat near the coastline, suitable for armored divisions to charge!"

"This is the second point I want to make!" Qin Chuan replied: "The enemy has a large number of warships and fighter planes. It is conceivable that they can completely control the sea and air on the battlefield!"

There is no doubt about this.

With the strong reinforcements from the United States, the number of Allied fighter planes has increased sharply to thousands, and this is still a preliminary estimate, while the German army has less than 300 fighter planes... This quantitative disadvantage cannot be made up for by the quality of the pilots.

As for the navy, although the German army has a fleet, and even an Italian fleet, this fleet cannot enter the battle through the Tunisian Strait that is full of mines... It is not that it cannot be precise, but it is too risky to do so. The German Navy It is used to block the Tunisian Strait. If it goes into battle through its own minefield without air superiority, it is likely that the entire army will be annihilated, and the defense of Sicily will be meaningless.

"In this case!" Qin Chuan said: "Any fortifications and armored units close to the seaside will be reduced to nothing under the bombing of enemy aircraft and naval guns!"

Rommel couldn't help but have a look of horror in his eyes. He suddenly realized that he seemed to have made a mistake, a big mistake.

But that's not surprising.

Amphibious landing operations were still a new thing in this era... Just as the United Kingdom, the United States and other countries had no experience in landing operations, Germany also had no defense experience in dealing with amphibious landing operations.

Therefore, without thinking about it, Rommel felt that the most difficult time for the enemy was the moment of landing, so heavy troops should be deployed along the coast, and the enemies would be eliminated as soon as they came up. Once the enemy successfully lands, it will actually be a land battle between the enemy and ourselves.

Germany did make this mistake in the historical Battle of Sicily. Two elite armored divisions launched a fierce attack on the beach where the enemy landed... The result is predictable. No matter how thickly armored the tank is, it will be in front of a large-caliber naval gun. They were also rubbish, and they were quickly blasted to the point where not even their remains were left.

On the other side, the Japanese army in the Pacific battlefield has also been making this mistake. The US military always uses aircraft and naval guns to blow up the heavy Japanese troops deployed on the coastline to pieces, and then carries out landings.

It was not until late in the war that the Japanese army realized that it was just using the lives of soldiers to consume the enemy's ammunition, while the Americans had almost endless ammunition.

Hence the U.S. military casualties during the Battle of Iwo Jima... It was also the first battle in which U.S. military casualties exceeded Japanese casualties.

"Captain!" Rommel said: "You mean, we mainly defend with infantry!"

"You can say that!" Qinchuan replied: "My plan requires one armored division, three infantry divisions, two mechanized infantry divisions and one paratrooper division."

Qinchuan's request was two less armored divisions than Rommel's.

"The two missing armored divisions!" Qin Chuan explained: "One is to reinforce Greece with great fanfare, and the other is to reinforce Sicily!"

Hitler nodded: "If we don't reinforce Sicily at all, it will arouse the suspicion of the British!"

"Yes!" Qin Chuan replied: "But the reinforced infantry can be more concealed, such as going dark at night without making too much noise!"

Rommel added: "We can make them misunderstand that it is reinforcements for North Africa, but disembark at the port of Palermo!"

Rommel was right. The African Corps has always been short of troops. It is not surprising to see reinforced infantry on the transport ship from the French port of Toulon to Algiers. It is difficult for spies to detect that these soldiers disembark at the port of Palermo halfway through the transportation.

"That's what I thought!" Qin Chuan replied, "But I hope to replace these troops!"

"Replace?" Then Rommel realized what Qin Chuan wanted to do: "You mean... the 200th Infantry Division?"

"Yes!" Qin Chuan replied, "We need troops with experience in building tunnel fortifications and tunnel warfare!"