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Even the mustachioed general, Major General Garland, was excited about this attack on Guderian, and he couldn't wait to make a big move, because his troops had also received a lot of new equipment in this resupply - in addition to the usual Fw-190 and Bf-109G supplies, Messerschmidt also gave him an additional 24 modified Bf-219trop (tropical), after test flights, he decided that the absolute speed and high-altitude capabilities of these aircraft were not comparable to the Bf-109 and Fw-190, But the ability to hover and roll at medium and low altitudes is particularly prominent, and the time in the air is very long, and it easily breaks through 5 hours or 2,000 kilometers after attaching the auxiliary fuel tank, perfectly overcoming the problems of the Bf-109, which is exactly what he wants - almost the best help against the British bombers, as for the British fighters, he handed over the Fw-190 to deal with.

In order to give better play to the potential of the new aircraft, Garland issued a clear order: among the fighter wings of the North African Air Force, only the aces who shot down more than 20 enemy planes are eligible for priority use, and General Mustache pretended to keep one for himself, and also prepared an additional special aviation gasoline with a mark of 100, but no one said anything about him for this kind of behavior, after all, he is also an excellent pilot with more than 100 shooting down records.

In addition to testing the new aircraft, he also plans to see how effective the new unit will be and how well it will command it. Hoffman's initiation of the adjustment of the troop establishment is all-encompassing, and the army is a typical "disarmament and expansion of divisions." The Air Force, on the other hand, has undergone a similar method of expansion, and has even gone a little more radical -- after the abolition of the air force and division levels, it has become a direct charge of the air force for each combat wing. At the same time, the strength of the wing was greatly expanded.

According to the previous establishment rules, the flying wing was a regimental unit and was only responsible for tactical tasks, but now the wing level has been raised to the level of an army division. For example, the JG27 Fighter Wing, where Marseilleu belongs, consists of a squadron of 4 aircraft (2 twin aircraft), with a senior ensign as the squad leader, and 4 squadrons as a squadron. Each squadron has 16 aircraft, the squadron leader is a senior lieutenant or captain, and 4 squadrons form a group. At the same time, the brigade headquarters itself also has 4 aircraft, the strength of such a brigade is 64 + 4 aircraft, and the captain of the brigade is usually a major or lieutenant colonel (the fighter brigade is a lieutenant colonel because of the large number of combat aircraft, and the rest of the wings are majors); Four brigades and the wing headquarters (about the size of a squadron) formed the wing. One of the latest formations had 288 aircraft at full strength. In addition to the 12 reserve aircraft, there will be a total of 300 aircraft, most of which will be captained by colonels, and staff officers, logistics, intelligence and other departments will be set up under the responsibility of officers with the rank of lieutenant colonel. The number of aircraft in a bomber wing is generally smaller than the number of fighter wings, and in the case of Stuka, for example, there are generally three aircraft in a squad, so the total number of combat aircraft in the wing is only 228.

After the new establishment was promoted, the brigade became a typical tactical unit. With a separate airfield, the wing rises to the level of a campaign unit. Responsible for operational objectives in one direction, usually the formation of the wing is prescribed, but the wing belongs to which air force is variable. In the past, the corps and divisional levels did not actually have combat units but only commanded subordinate wings, but the wings themselves had a mess of officers, and the corps and divisional levels only acted as setters, which not only reduced efficiency but also often caused orders to be distorted, and in order to defend this group of idle officers, it was necessary to prepare a large number of guard units -- the air force organs at the time of Goering's time would never let the army assume security responsibilities. After Hoffman's adjustments, the redundant personnel were pulled to the care of Field Marshal Milch to guard the prisoners of war, while the cleared guards were sent directly into the army as reinforcements. The ratio of air force personnel to aircraft has declined rapidly from 300:1 in 1941 (1 combat aircraft corresponds to 300 air force strength) to 190:1 by the end of the year, while Hoffman's request is to reduce it to 100:1 -- according to his target plan, the air force should reach 20,000 aircraft by the end of 1943, and at the same time the strength must not exceed 2 million.

It turned out to be a good job of transferring the surplus Air Force personnel to the care of prisoners, who were neither full of consciousness-form hatred like the SS, nor had the experience of direct combat with prisoners of war like the Wehrmacht Army, and the general attitude towards prisoners of war was civilized and gentle, the mortality rate in the prisoner of war camps was reduced to one-tenth of what it used to be, and the acts of escape, sabotage, and resistance were greatly reduced.

This expansion of the wing is only the first part of Hoffmann's vision, he originally wanted to organize the wing into a mixed combat unit and cooperate with the operation of the aviation base, so that the same wing will have both fighter units and bombers, reconnaissance planes and other units, the overall combat capability will be more prominent, and the coordination can be better, but unfortunately this idea has been opposed by many people, and the reason is obvious -- the Luftwaffe wing commander is usually promoted by first-line pilots, and there is a lack of commanders for mixed aircraft and multi-formation missions. That would be too demanding of their command, and it would not be possible to demote an aviation captain to a wing commander. A high-ranking officer like Garland, who was born as a fighter, is a typical example, he commands fighter units well, and if he is allowed to coordinate the command of bombers and other units, he will have to be blind. However, this direction is undoubtedly correct -- the aviation commander on an aircraft carrier must command all the formations, and no aircraft carrier formation has ever said that it is carrying a single-mission flight formation.

Just as he was thinking about how to provide air cover for the attack, what Guderian said made him stunned, because the other party was clearly saying, "...... According to the weather indications, two days later, on November 30, the whole of Cyrenaica will see heavy rain, which may last for two to three days, and I am ready to take advantage of this opportunity to launch an attack......"

"What?" Everyone was taken aback, everyone knew that the attack must be imminent after receiving supplies, but they didn't expect to pick such a moment.

"Do you think I chose the wrong time?"

"This ......" has a lot of faces, although the view is blocked on a rainy day, which can cause the greatest suddenness of the attack, but this effect is a double-edged sword, and it will also affect the development and advancement of your team.

"If it rains, the Air Force won't be able to provide air cover." Garland advised him, "The presence or absence of air cover is crucial to whether the gap can be opened quickly." ”

"Nope! My view is the opposite of yours. Guderian said with a smile, "Judging from the battle of El Alamein and the tug-of-war for more than a month, the contrast between the tactical ability and strength of the enemy and the enemy is very clear, although we are generally less than the opponent, but our combat ability, equipment level and degree of cooperation are stronger than the opponent, as long as we concentrate on the assault, whether or not the Tiger tank intervenes, we can relatively easily repel Montgomery's layout on the outer defensive line." But in the same way, the British can calmly move reserves to fill the gap by virtue of their superiority in strength, and their air force has more planes than us, and under the threat of air power, it is difficult to expand and consolidate the gap on the ground once it is opened, so the first step must be to find an opportunity to eliminate the opponent's air superiority. ”

Although Garland wanted to say that his fighter force could eliminate the enemy's superiority, he thought about it and felt that it was unreliable-this guarantee must not be messed with, otherwise it would kill people.

"Sir, if this happens, the road will also become muddy, will it cause inconvenience to your movements?" Chief of Staff Bayer Lane reminded, "I fear that we will find ourselves in a similar predicament as on the Eastern Front." ”

During the Eastern Front campaign, Baier Lein was an old subordinate of Guderian, known as "Scud Heinz", and complained deeply about the muddy road conditions on the Eastern Front in the spring.

"The inconvenience is obvious - but we are inconvenient, and the British will naturally not be too convenient, and on the premise that we find the right direction for the assault and assemble in advance, the inconvenience is on their side - the troops they want to withstand the attack cannot stop us, and the rear troops that they can reinforce cannot break through quickly, this is a good opportunity for us, whether we can seize it depends on that moment." Guderian dismissed the concerns of his subordinates and explained, "I was most worried about the mobility of a heavy tank like the Tiger, but experiments have shown that the Tiger can withstand this test......"

Now everyone understands why Guderian, who had just received the new tank that day, couldn't wait to let them perform on the muddy ground, thinking that he wanted to see the maneuverability of the new tank, but now it seems that he has already laid out this move.

"As for the plane......s," he smiled and reassured Garland, "don't worry, the rain in the desert doesn't last long, two days are very rare, and two days later is the critical moment for us to expand the gap and consolidate our positions, I hope that the air force can resist the attack of the desert air force - I don't want to ask the bombers to cooperate with us to open the gap and hinder the follow-up reinforcements of the British, but I ask the fighters to control the scene and not to hinder us, You also don't want the Führer's new tanks to be sent into the sky with 500-pound aerial bombs, right? ”

"Of course!" Garland patted his chest and promised, "As long as the weather allows, we will do our best." ”

"Now, do you two battalions still have problems? Can you be the first to play? Guderian turned his gaze to Major Rudel and Major Merkel.

"No, we are fully adapted, the morale of the whole battalion is high, the equipment is complete, and we can go out as soon as possible!"

"Then, the heavy armored battalion will be responsible for tearing the gap, and the rest of the troops will quickly follow, this time our goal will be ......" Guderian tapped lightly on the map and quickly drew a circle, "It's this division!" ”

Everyone was taken aback when they saw it clearly, and then fell into deep thought--the chief is going to play the surprise to the end!

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