On the morning of 26 December, Ramsden eagerly rushed into Admiral Alexander's residence with three armored vehicles in his hand, and he was anxious to consult with the commander-in-chief of the Middle East Theater to discuss countermeasures, and he had just received the latest battle report: Last night, Rommel commanded the Greater German Division to suddenly cross the Sinai Peninsula and appear near Tel Aviv, and after a night of fighting, in the early morning, not to mention Tel Aviv, even Haifa also fell into the hands of the German army, and the enemy troops were directed at Lebanon and Syria.

To his great surprise, when he entered with his guards, he was told that the admiral himself was not at the residence.

He grabbed the butler by the collar and shouted, "I went to the governor's office, and they said that the chief is still in the palace; Now that I have arrived at the official residence, I still can't find him, and the phone is not working, where did you get the admiral? ”

"Respected general, listen to me, no one dares to be disrespectful to the general."

"What about the man?"

"He flew to Aswan with General Ted at 3 a.m. today."

"What? Plane? Aswan? That's impossible! Ramsden drew his pistol and put it on the butler's forehead, and said viciously, "Be honest with me, where is the Admiral?" He also toured the troops with me last night, and he didn't show the slightest hint of going south. ”

"It's true." "For the sake of secrecy and to prevent a sneak attack by the Germans, he told me at the last minute, and he also said that he would send you a telegram as soon as the command was successfully established." ”

At this moment, Ramsden's adjutant hurriedly arrived in a jeep: "Sir, I have just received a telegram from General Alexander from the direction of Aswan. Say that he has successfully flown to Aswan and set up his headquarters, and that he has appointed you the supreme governor of Cairo with full authority over all affairs. ”

"Bastard!" Ramsden took the telegram and took a cursory look at it, and was immediately furious. Three times five divided by two tore the telegram to shreds, and after thinking about it, he felt unrelieved and hateful, and kicked the butler to the ground.

"What now?" The adjutant asked worriedly, "The German troops have been discovered south of the city, they have pressed up, but they have not completely blocked the road, where shall we go?" ”

"Let's go back to the headquarters first, and then figure out a way." Ramsden felt the sky fall. He didn't like Alexander's arrangement for the other troops to retreat first, but it was the opinion of the majority, so he could only pinch his nose and endure it. He even tried every means to do the ideological work of the 9th Australian Division and the 2nd Division of the New Zealand Division, for the sake of Ramsden, and even more importantly, for the sake of Montgomery's desperate attempt to save the face of the 2nd Division, they all expressed their acceptance of the arrangement and were willing to hold on to Cairo and cover the retreat of friendly troops.

Yesterday was Christmas Eve, and the day before yesterday was Christmas Eve. Although because of the war, it was impossible to give the soldiers a holiday. However, the general still took the generals to visit the various units at night, and he still talked and laughed with everyone, and could not hear the slightest frustration and uneasiness from his mouth, let alone the slightest wavering and fear, he said a lot of words of encouragement, condolences and encouragement to the officers and men of the Australian and New Zealand armies, and said a lot of sincere and sorry words to several generals, so that everyone felt both enthusiastic and felt that they had misunderstood the general, and even vaguely felt a little guilty. Even now. The admiration for the admiral was still overwhelming: in any case, the admiral had only arranged for part of the troops to retreat - there were always troops who retreated first. The fact that he himself stood with us in Cairo shows that he was as good a man as Lieutenant General Montgomery.

Ramsden didn't think about it at first, he just thought that the admiral slept too late at night and was still in the residence, but he didn't expect such a thing to happen. When he got out of the gate, he calmed down, and blamed himself again and again: the Admiral's behavior had been unusual two nights before—it was because he was about to run away secretly, and he was expressing his guilt and anxiety in advance, and he had not reacted until now.

"He ran away." The commander of the Australian 9th Division, Mosshead, and the commander of the New Zealand Army, Bernard Freiberg (who said he was the commander, but commanded only one New Zealand 2nd Division), were summoned to the headquarters, and Ramsden's first words made them open their mouths in horror.

"What?"

"Who?"

"Who else? Harold Alexander, bastard! "He left his troops, left his duty, and ran away...... He dared to shamelessly send a telegram saying that he had established a command in Aswan and was ready to accept our retreat, and for the sake of secrecy and stability of the army, he should not announce the news of his retreat for the time being! ”

"it...... I'm going to sue him! I'm going to find Churchill! Freiberg had a fiery temper and threw his hat on the ground, "I don't believe no one could cure him." ”

"Sue him later, let's hurry up and figure out what to do, Guderian's troops are pressing......" Mosshead hated and angry.

The phone rang suddenly: "Oh no, sir......"

"What's going on again?"

"Most of the planes flew south."

"What?"

Finished! It's completely finished! The commander fled, the plane withdrew, and the army outside besieged the city, what else could the Australian and New Zealand armies do with 30,000 people?

"We still have more than 200 tanks and enough trucks and armored vehicles, and a lot of artillery, enough to fight and retreat."

"How do you cover if you want to withdraw? The Germans couldn't let us swagger away, there was only one way to get to Aswan......"

"You can't retreat like this!" Ramsden immediately thought of the practical difficulties, "What about fuel?" What about supplies? What about after the break? And what about so many wounded? ”

Upon hearing of these practical difficulties, Command immediately fell into a deathly silence.

"Stay the course! It must be held to the end. Freiberg gritted his teeth and said, "The medical conditions in Cairo are the best in Egypt, and at least half of the wounded will die on the road." ”

Mosshead hesitated, "You can't retreat with the wounded, and then everyone will be doomed - and then the wounded will be doomed in the end." ”

"Once we break out of Cairo, we will face the Germans chasing us all the way, how many people will die in the vast desert?"

The two looked at each other suspiciously, and finally said in a slurred voice, "...... There could be between 15,000 and 20,000 casualties. ”

"That's 60 to 70 percent." Ramsden sighed, "Even if it's only 40%-50%, I don't want to do that." Is it merciful to let the other half die in order to save the remaining half? ”

The two of them instinctively shook their heads - this determination is not easy to make, and the current ones left behind are all their own soldiers who have come from their hometowns all the way, and if the casualties are too large, the two will not be able to see the countrymen in the future.

"Now there is no air force, and there is no one to cover us and drop supplies by air - we are complete outcasts. What about retreating to Aswan? Do you really think that Alexander will be waiting for us and answering us in Aswan? Ramsden said hatefully, "Maybe he patted this telegram and then patted his ass and walked in the direction of Ethiopia." ”

"So what do you say?"

"Yes, General Ramsden, you have an idea, you are the commander of the Egyptian army and the commander of the city defense, and we promise to obey your orders."

"Long ...... The sir, the king and prime minister of Egypt came. Ramsden was in a state of agitation when the adjutant came in with a shocking announcement.

The three of them were stunned: "What are they doing here?" ”

Although they looked down on the Egyptians, the kings and prime ministers of the people came, and they should at least go out to greet them for the sake of etiquette.

"This ...... General Ramsden, generals, Your Majesty is deeply disturbed by the fact that the Germans have besieged the city, and has come to inspect the city's defenses. Egyptian Prime Minister Hassan Sabri opened his mouth first, "I heard that your country's Supreme Commander in the Middle East Theater, General Alexander, has retreated?" ”

Ramsden looked at them warily for a few moments, but did not speak, and he could not admit or deny the news. He still had a shred of respect for the Prime Minister of Egypt, but he had no good impression of Farouk I, a big fat man, who had known about the "glorious deeds" of this king within a few days of his arrival.

He casually rebabbled a few words about defense and troops, and wanted to send the Egyptians away perfunctorily, but he didn't expect the fat man to listen very carefully, and he took several steps forward, and suddenly got very close to Ramsden.

To assassinate?

Ramsden's heart tightened, and he just wanted to reopen the distance, but he didn't expect the fat king to kneel down in front of him all of a sudden, hugging Ramsden's thigh with his chubby hand and crying: "General, General Ramsden!" You save the people of Cairo...... Don't go to war, Cairo is a historic city, and there are more than 300,000 ordinary people in it...... Harry Maher didn't tell him to do it, you spare me......"

If he usually walked on the street and encountered such a 300-pound fat man hugging him, Ramsden would kick him over, but after all, this was the king of Egypt, and he had to save some face no matter how much he looked down on others, so he tried to help him up while persuading him. However, the fat man was so fat that Ramsden couldn't help him alone, Mosshead and Freiberg hurriedly rushed over to help, and the three of them finally helped up the pile of 300-pound meat, Ramsden only felt that his back was full of sweat and his hand was nauseous.

"Your Majesty, Prime Minister, I will seriously consider your request, we will not embarrass the majority of the Egyptian people, nor will we destroy the city of Cairo, Hari Maher's actions only represent himself and have nothing to do with Your Majesty, please be relieved. Now go back and hide as much as you can in the palace, where it is safe. ”

On the way back, Farouk I proudly said to Sabri: "Well, I performed quite well just now, if it hadn't been for the teacher's letter to tell me to do this, someone else would have dared to open this mouth, and drowned him with a mouthful of spit." ”

"Of course...... Your Majesty is out of the horse, why is it not a success? The old minister's net worth and life are all on His Majesty. ”

"Don't worry, the teacher won't embarrass you, why don't you just go to the wild and enjoy the blessings at home, what's wrong? After the teacher was ousted by the British two years ago, didn't you cover him the same? Farouk waved his fat hand, "It's all right!" In two years, if the British come back again, let the teacher change positions with you, and then you will still be the prime minister......" (To be continued. )