The battle to encircle and annihilate the rout of El Alamein lasted less than three days.

Because there was no hope of a breakthrough and heavy artillery fire, on the night of 5 January, General Bran, who commanded the unit, ordered a halt to the fighting.

It was not until the next morning that Bran's army formally surrendered.

Of the approximately 200,000 Bran officers and soldiers, less than 6,000 were killed and about 30,000 wounded, while the rest gave up resistance while still able to fight.

Fewer than 10,000 Bran officers and soldiers dispersed during the night to break out, and some of them fled to Alexandria.

Almost all of the Bran officers and soldiers who got lost and went deep into the desert died in the desert, and only a few were lucky enough to reach the colonial stronghold in the upper Nile.

No one was surprised by this result.

The point is that in the past few days, Bran's army guarding Alexandria has not come out to meet at all, and has not even sent troops to respond.

It's not that Montgomery is ruthless, it's that he can't help.

Before the Imperial fleet entered the narrow sea, the main force of Bran's army was all in El Alamein, and it was deployed in depth, with more than 200,000 troops distributed in a 300-kilometer defense area. As a result, when the city of Suez was besieged and the defensive line collapsed, Bran's army simply did not have time to return to the defense.

It is easy to withdraw troops, but it is not easy to withdraw equipment and supplies.

As a result, Bran's army in Alexandria was actually less than 50,000, so even if Montgomery knew that the troops outside had run out of ammunition and food, he did not dare to rush into the army. If the opponent catches the opportunity, I am afraid that there is no need to defend Alexandria.

Nearly 200,000 troops were completely annihilated in just 3 days.

For Bran's army in Alexandria, the impact of this battle would not be small.

However, it was only an extra day of waiting.

In the early morning of January 7, under the command of Rommel, the Allied forces launched an attack on Alexandria, led by the armored forces of the Imperial Army under the command of Lian Xusheng.

In this arrangement, it can be regarded as a mutual lift.

In Lian Xusheng's words, Rommel is the commander-in-chief, and the Imperial Army is the main force, at least in terms of face, and there is no question of who owes whom.

In addition, it was the Eleventh Task Force that provided support.

Obviously, it was definitely smoother to cooperate with the Imperial Army than with the Hindan Army, at least without the problem of language communication.

Previously, during the operation to the north, there were several incidents of accidental attacks due to poor language communication.

In one of the worst incidents, a motorized infantry battalion was hit by covered artillery fire from the fleet, killing more than 100 officers and men of the Homman Army.

However, the main force attacking Alexandria was actually 2 task forces.

Just before dawn, a support formation of 4 fast battleships, 6 heavy cruisers, and 6 light cruisers dropped thousands of tons of shells on Alexandria. Thousands of rounds were used up by 400-mm shells alone, and 3,000 rounds were consumed by 200-mm shells.

Feelings, these shells are about to expire, and if they don't need to be dropped, they can only be scrapped.

In fact, a common way to dispose of expired ammunition is to send it to the battlefield or use it during training and exercises.

Measured by the density of shelling, a new record was set.

Don't forget, Alexandria is just a military port.

As for the damage to the port infrastructure caused by the shelling, the White Stop War clearly did not think about it.

Although according to the arrangement, the Imperial Navy will use Alexandria as a base in the future, deploy its fleet here, and serve as a transit port for strategic shipping, Zheng Jiang gave Bai Zhizhan an early and early plan, and the Imperial Navy has the ability to support the fleet in the Luxinhai War without infrastructure.

All that's needed is a safe haven.

As for the infrastructure in the military port, it can all be replaced by engineering ships.

For example, self-propelled floating docks can be used instead of shipyards and ship repair yards, oil and water docks can be replaced by tankers with supply capacity, ammunition depots can be replaced by dry ammunition carriers, and even shore defense turrets responsible for protecting ports can be replaced by barges equipped with heavy guns.

At this time, the last thing the Imperial Navy lacked was all kinds of engineering ships.

In this regard, Bai Zhizhan is also very numerous.

The Imperial Navy's vigorous development of engineering ships was actually aimed at the Guina, that is, in the Guina, especially in the Northern Guina Ocean facing the Newland Federation, there was a serious lack of ports and bases that could provide support for the fleet, and it was impossible to carry out infrastructure construction in wartime.

To allow the fleet to cross the vast Guia Ocean and fight on the outer side of the earth, the only hope for maintenance and security can be pinned on engineering ships.

The key is that the ships of the Imperial Navy, especially the capital ships such as aircraft carriers, do not have a very outstanding endurance.

Fundamentally, this is a trade-off that reduces range and allows other, more important features, such as speed, to meet design targets.

For now, at least, the Imperial Navy was right to sacrifice endurance.

After the outbreak of the Great War, the Imperial Navy did its best to build aircraft carriers, fast battleships and other capital warships, and also built the world's strongest engineering fleet.

It should be said that most of the engineering ships were actually built before the war.

Many engineering vessels are of a civilian nature and only need to be simply modified, mainly to install self-defense weapons, and become military auxiliary ships.

Because of the guarantee, there is naturally no need to be afraid when you start.

The shelling is just the beginning.

After daybreak, aviation appeared.

Because Task Force 12 had ventured through the canal three days earlier, it was possible to have a task force carrier-based aircraft on a support mission at any time.

In fact, there is no need to worry about being attacked from the air.

Outside Alexandria, the nearest Bran airfield, more than 1,000 kilometers away in Malta, could not pose a threat to the two task forces.

As a result, both task forces were involved in the strike before the ground offensive was launched.

For the Bran officers and men in Alexandria, and especially for those who were fortunate enough to survive the war, it was probably the longest day of their lives.

According to the meeting of the few survivors, the shelling and bombardment never ended throughout the day.

Shrouded in smoke and flames, Alexandria turned into a boiling volcano, as if the waters in the harbor had been ignited.

Even if he is alive, he is only a numb body.

Before the end of the intensive bombardment, the ground forces went on the offensive.

Unlike previous offensive operations, the armored units of the Imperial Army did not storm and more often played the role of scouts.

To put it simply, stop as soon as you encounter resistance, and then call for artillery or air support.

The ground forces continued to advance only after the fleet destroyed the enemy's fortifications with artillery fire, or bombs dropped by carrier-based aircraft.

In Lian Xusheng's words, there is no need to hurry.

Obviously, this tactic of steady advance made it impossible for Bran's army to find a chance to counterattack.

Actually, also thanks to Rommel.

When discussing the battle, Rommel clearly told Lian Xusheng that Montgomery was good at counterattacking and should never give him a chance to counterattack.

In order to attract Lian Xusheng's attention, he also emphasized it several times.

It was only after listening to Rommel's warning that Lian Xusheng chose to adopt the tactics of steady advancement.