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"The troops defending in the west have asked us for help several times, the enemy has launched a fierce attack, they began to stop caring about tank and personnel losses, and began to forcibly drill into our anti-tank positions and minefields, although we eliminated more than 100 tanks, but the consumption of the blocking troops was very large, the only armored battalion had less than half of the tanks left, and the infantry attrition was also serious." In the evening of the next day, the chief of staff of the African Army, Baierlein, was also worried about the next step, and in his opinion, although the German army had the advantage and the initiative on the battlefield, the situation was very dangerous, and the slightest carelessness would risk losing everything.

Guderian was silent for a long time, and finally spoke: "Transfer the main force of the Italian paratrooper brigade to them - tell them that they are the last line of defense in the inner defense circle, and from now on they cannot retreat an inch, and must be firmly nailed there, and in addition, send a telegram to Admiral Waldau, asking him to organize an air attack on the western theater tomorrow morning, and must contain the enemy's rapid offensive." ”

Baierlein sighed after hearing this, he knew that Guderian would not send the main force back, so he asked: "Sir, east or south, which one do you plan to focus on?" Although we are still advancing, the enemy's resistance is becoming more and more stubborn, and it is impossible for us to make a breakthrough in every theater of operations. ”

"I haven't thought about it yet." The latter honestly admitted, and after thinking about it, he probably felt that saying this would cause unnecessary commotion, so he explained. "It's not that I haven't thought about the next step, I'm thinking about how to play the effect and make it more meaningful."

"This ......," Bairlein opened his mouth wide in astonishment, not knowing what to say. The operational staff officers also looked at each other, and Merinjin was so anxious that he said nervously, "Sir, you can't hesitate about this, if you really haven't thought about it, it's best to return to the west for the time being." ”

"Don't be in a hurry. Give me 10 minutes and let me think about what to do next. Guderian stared at the map in thought, leaving behind a group of stunned staff officers.

It's 10 minutes. Baierlein and Merlinzin waited hopefully for Guderian's final decision, but waited for an answer that made them unbelievable: "I haven't thought it through yet, tomorrow I will fight for another day in the east and south directions as planned." ”

"Crazy...... This must be crazy......" Bairlein muttered to himself, sighing repeatedly. Mei Linjin hugged his head and made a painful appearance.

The Battle of Tobruk, which began on December 1 (historically known as the Third Battle of Tobruk), was full of strangeness from beginning to end. The battle began with careful planning and design, but as time progressed, the situation became more and more chaotic, and then it became a mess in the process, and after a few days, not only Montgomery could not understand what Guderian wanted to do, but even the people in the command of the African Army could not understand what Guderian's goal was

First to the west, then to the south, and then to the east, the entire line of defense was attacked by him in three directions. Byrlein and others believe that if the north is not the sea. The troops must have to fight another round further to the north, and each attack seemed to break through and succeed, but each time it seemed to be almost the same, it retracted back - it was simply inexplicable, if it were not for Guderian's past historical contributions and achievements, his subordinates would have suspected that he was in charge of the chaos or simply doubted whether he had been rebelled by the Allies - how could there be such an aimless rambling into each other?

"Sir." Another day passed, Baierlein and Merlinjin felt that they couldn't go on like this again, otherwise the troops would not be able to be dragged down, so they jointly persuaded again, "Sir, it is not possible to go on like this, there must be a key assault in one direction, if you really don't understand or don't think about it, just pull back to defend first, and come back when you think about it, we have time, with the Eighth Army's combat effectiveness, we can't stop us." ”

"You don't understand? To be honest, I don't understand either. "But I have a top-secret order from the Führer, and he asked me to do so, and these tactics were carried out in conjunction with the big plan - and I fought bitterly." ”

Guderian showed the crowd the warrant issued to him by Hoffman, which clearly reads: ...... To attract as many troops as possible from the Eighth Army in front of us, to urge it to concentrate its main forces around Tobruk and gradually weaken it, to ensure that the fortress is firmly in our hands, and to ensure the integrity and mobility of the troops.

"See? The first fortress cannot be lost, the second force must be complete and mobile, what can be done if this is not done? ”

"It's a strange order, and the tactics you've been executing these days have worked so well with it." "Is there a detailed description of the big plan?" ”

"No...... The Führer only said that he would contact me when the time came, but I never received a definite telegram. "Have you noticed that this order, in addition to the Führer's signature, is countersigned by Commander-in-Chief Keitel and Commander-in-Chief Zeitzler, as well as the signatures of General Jodel and Marshal Kesselring—this cannot be forged, and since they willingly signed it, it means that they must know the whole truth and have reached a consensus, and in this case, I will carry it out." ”

"But why don't I tell you the details?" Byer Ryan wondered, "There's no reason to keep this matter a secret from you......"

"It was not kept secret from me, the Führer told me the outline - the problem is that the exact plan had not been made when he said this." Guderian didn't know what to say, "Yodel kept changing, and then he was interrupted by the changes in the direction of Northwest Africa, and he had a difficult birth, and since our cipher was unreliable, the Führer could not send me a detailed telegram to me, and then I didn't return home, and it was too risky to send someone with a plan - we had accidents several times...... That's how it went. ”

"This is not in the style of the General Staff - not rigorous at all!"

"This is the idea put forward by the Führer! At first, he frightened Zeitzler, Keitel, and Jodel. Guderian smiled, "The overall direction has not been set, and the Führer finally said, '60,000 people are ready to go, order him, and he will bear the responsibility!'" Then he persuaded the others. ”

Everyone understood the twists and turns, and they all sighed continuously, such courage and determination can only be done by the Führer!

"But why did you launch a massive attack?" "Judging from the order, it doesn't seem that we need to be so aggressive, we can fully hold behind the defensive line......

As soon as he spoke of this, Guderian was annoyed: "I thought Montgomery would attack the fortress, and then built two defensive circles to prepare for a defensive battle, but the British are cowards, and they are less daring than the eye of a needle, and they dare not take the initiative to attack with an advantage equal to three times our strength, so I can only attack from all sides - and I can't break this damn encirclement!" ”

Everyone now understood that if the encirclement was really pierced and the enemy forces were swept away, the Eighth Army would shrink or retreat in fear, and the task of drawing the enemy around Tobruk would not be completed.

"Actually, if you think about it, we really haven't gained anything in the past week?"

The answer to this question is obviously no, the African Army relied on the favorable situation of fighting on the inside line during the one-week operation, launched an attack on all sides, the British 1st, 7th, and 8th armored divisions, the 44th, and 151st infantry brigades, the 2nd French brigade, and the 1st Polish brigade were heavily damaged, and the 10th Armored Division, the 2nd New Zealand Division, the 9th Australian Division, the 201st Guards Brigade, and the 56th Division were hit, and in order to maintain the front, Montgomery was forced to transfer all the troops on the original supply line except for one Indian 4th Division. In terms of the comparison of the battle situation, the losses of the African Army were almost more than 9,000 people, more than 200 tanks, and even the most important Tiger tank also lost more than 20 and more than 260 aircraft, but the results were extremely brilliant, the number of British troops killed, wounded, and captured exceeded 60,000, more than 900 tanks, and nearly 800 aircraft.

Although it seems that the number of enemy destroyers is small, because the main British force has been drained of tanks, a large number of artillery pieces have been discarded, and the formations have been scattered, several major armored divisions have basically lost their combat effectiveness, and even the Western Theater, which has barely maintained an offensive posture, has lost the strength to continue the offensive - this battle can be regarded as breaking the backbone of the Eighth Army. Although the losses of the African Army were not small, and the situation they faced was also very difficult, everyone thought that it was completely prestigious, and now the British on the battlefield only had the ability to parry, and there was no room for counterattack.

In the evening, Baierlein said excitedly: "Sir, someone from Berlin has arrived...... Saying that something important is being reported to you, the Commissioner of Westphall sent him here, and is now out there. ”

"Come in, please." Guderian was also surprised when he saw someone: it was actually Colonel Dahlges, the chief adjutant of the Führer.

"Report, I am instructed by the Führer to convey to you the contents of the grand plan......"

"Password?"

"Odin's weapon, the Spear of Eternity - Kungunir!"

"That's right, Colonel Dalges, you can tell." Guderian looked at the surrounding Baierlein, Merlinzin and others, and said with a smile, "These officers are the core figures of the command of the African Army, they will keep secrets, and our follow-up battle plan also needs them to formulate and implement." ”

"Yes!" Dahlges stood up straight, and dictated one by one, as if engraved in his mind, "Führer's Order: ......"

"Wow!" After listening to the outline and orders of the whole plan, everyone was stunned, and after a while, the command broke out into bursts of cheers, as if the roof was about to be torn off, "Long live the Führer!" ”

[It's about to be 515, I hope to continue to hit the 515 red envelope list, and the red envelope rain will be able to give back to readers and promotional works on May 15. A piece is also love, and it must be better! (To be continued.) )