In the heat of North Africa, the weather is filled with those fine grains of sand. Pen ~ fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info temperature and sand here seem to be more irritating things than the enemy.

"Telephone ...... from the front line in Benghazi" In the combat readiness duty station, an officer yawned and grabbed the receiver of the phone, and heard the operator inside say this.

Before he could open all his sleepy eyes, an urgent shout came from the earpiece: "The British plane invades!" ”

"Hell!" His eyes opened suddenly, and the officer's feet on the table fell to the ground with a muffled thud.

"Sound the battle alarm and let the fighter take off!" He shouted outside the door, reminding the officers on duty to hurry up and prepare for battle.

"Can you determine the course of the other party's flight?" He grabbed the phone, hoping for more news about the British.

"The news is from the observation post on the border defense line, what is the specific situation, and it is still being checked and confirmed!" On the other side of the phone, I gave a somewhat helpless message.

It is indeed a bit naïve to expect accurate air defense information from the Italian side. The German officer reluctantly dropped the telephone receiver, and the sound of battle sirens was already ringing in his ears.

Some German soldiers, dressed in short-sleeved desert uniforms, ran briskly to the anti-aircraft gun positions they were responsible for and opened one of the ammunition boxes inside.

88 mm cannon shells were neatly stacked in ammunition boxes, and the sunlight shone mottled on the shells through the camouflage nets used to cover the positions.

"Prepare for battle!" With one command after another, the canvas covering the cannon was lifted, as the sand on the canvas fell to the ground as the wind and sand fell.

Then sitting in their places, the SS anti-aircraft artillerymen of the Air Force began to shake the handle on their side.

As they operated, the 88 mm cannon raised its barrel under the camouflage net, pointing little by little at the distant sky.

At the same time, at the distant airfield, German pilots in flight suits were already beginning to climb up to their fighters.

"British fighters, it could be a hurricane, it's not a big threat, but be careful, you must find these damn planes!" Before climbing into the fighter plane, the ground crew handed over the map and other equipment to the pilot who was about to take off.

Flying in the desert is somewhat similar to flying at sea, with very few references and it is easy to lose one's course.

Therefore, in addition to testing the pilot's driving skills, there are also tedious contents such as navigation in the air combat in the desert.

"Hurricane?" The pilot took the map, smiled, and then slipped into the cabin.

As the engine starts, the propeller in the nose of the fighter jet, which has been modified and fitted with an air filter, spins rapidly.

A desert-painted ME-109E fighter soared into the sky, followed by another fighter in the same livery.

The two fighters rushed into the sky one after the other, cruising with the latest twin planes, and slaughtered the skies that the British fighters could visit.

"Why did the air raid sirens go off?" Rommel was visiting the oil fields of Libya when he heard a whining air raid siren.

"I don't know! It is possible that it was a reconnaissance plane of the British, and the air defense alarm would also be sounded. A German officer in charge of the oil field said to Rommel.

Rommel nodded, and continued to visit the oil equipment in front of him, where a pipeline of about 300 meters had been built, and at the end of these pipelines, a simple factory for the processing of petroleum products was already quite large.

In fact, some gasoline can already be refined here, and the quality is much better than the gasoline mixed with "water" used in Germany.

Although the production is not high, it is already producing here, and for every barrel of gasoline produced, it can reduce the number of barrels of gasoline that Europe has to transport to North Africa.

This reduction in logistical supply was something that pleased the Axis powers, and as long as it continued, the strategic significance of North Africa would be enormous.

"Is there anything else to produce here besides simply refining gasoline?" Rommel looked at the gasoline drums that had piled up and asked the officers beside him.

The officer touched the empty gasoline drums with his hand and replied, "Your Excellency, this place has only been built for three days...... There are no other products other than a small amount of gasoline. ”

If that oil product base is built in the distance, it will become a huge base for the production of gasoline and diesel.

However, now, most of the gasoline produced here is used by the construction machinery in the base.

"The quality of the gasoline produced here is quite good, much better than the quality of the gasoline we use in China." The officer asked his men to carry a barrel of Libyan gasoline and showed it to Rommel.

Rommel glanced at the barrel of gasoline of good quality and nodded in satisfaction.

During the French campaign, as a division commander of an armored division, he was also exposed to gasoline used by the troops.

Those gasoline mixed with coal-to-oil have a lot of impurities, which are very criticized by the front-line troops. However, because the state reserves of oil are limited, the German armored forces can only make do with such oil.

The Air Force's engines are more sophisticated, so they can use higher-grade gasoline, but they are still far from the level of the Allies.

The navy could only let submarine forces sail because of the lack of fuel, and the surface ships did almost nothing in the entire war because of the fear of losses and the lack of fuel.

The army's tanks and automobiles can only use gasoline mixed with coal to oil, which will deposit impurities in the engine after a long time, causing the engine to stop inexplicably.

Moreover, because of the relationship between inferior gasoline, the engine is generally unable to run at maximum power, and a lot of calibration power is wasted, but it is impossible to make the tank or car meet the design standards.

"This gasoline is good, it's a good thing." Seeing the good quality gasoline, Rommel's interest was a little higher.

If his troops in North Africa could use this clean gasoline first, the tank's performance could be more exerted.

"How's the transport of tank No. 3?" When Rommel saw gasoline, he subconsciously remembered his tank that was still far away in Italy.

Although the Italians were reluctant, the demands of the German allies had to be fully considered.

Almost in desperation, Italian transports began to transport the German panzer divisions, but Rommel was not satisfied with the efficiency and arrangement of ships.

A convoy of transports has set sail in the ports of southern Italy, with 20 tanks No. 15 equipped with the 3rd Panzer Division, as well as 10 half-track armored vehicles.

These supplies were urgently needed by Rommel, and when he inquired at this time, the adjutant naturally told him the current location of the Afrika Korps.

"We have 60 tanks already assembled in the port and will arrive at us within a month." The adjutant spoke.

After a pause, he continued to talk about the current situation of the other troops: "The 21st Panzer Division has now entered Italy and is moving south. Part of the equipment of the 15th Panzer Division, which is now on the way. ”

"Let's hope our tanks arrive before the enemy's......" Rommel said to his adjutant with a smile.

He remembered the conversation in which the Führer summoned him in France before he passed through Italy as he went south.

As the commander of the Afrika Korps, Rommel also did not know why the Führer would be so sure that the Italians would quickly lose the front.

The Führer predicted that the Italians would lose the invasion of Egypt, and then the British might advance to Tobruk.

As soon as the British army stormed Tobruk, it would pose a threat to Benghazi. And once Benghazi goes wrong, the entire Libyan oil field will become an area where the two sides are at war.

Before he arrived, the Führer had instructed Rommel to absolutely avoid a situation in which Benghazi was occupied by the British.

Rommel had also repeatedly studied the topographical maps of Libya, and he did know that the loss of Benghazi would have a huge impact on the entire North African war.

Still, Rommel didn't know why his Führer was so sure that the Italians would lose, and they lost so badly.

Even if Rommel was not optimistic about the Italian attack, he did not see any sign of the Italian army's rout.

He did not think that Italy would lose such an important port city as Benghazi, or even that the British army would be able to take Tobruk.

"Maybe the Führer's estimate of the fighting power of the Italians is too pessimistic." Thinking of this, Rommel himself said to himself.

"Sir! The latest battle report...... Four British fighter jets forcibly invaded nearby airspace, and our fighters took off to meet them, and they are currently engaged in battle. ”

"This is your responsibility, and I haven't taken over the defense here yet, so it's still up to you to manage." Rommel did not accept the document, but signaled to the German officer, who was originally in charge of the safety of the oil fields, to continue to exercise his command.

The other party didn't give in, took the document and looked at it twice, and then said: "Let the air force pay attention to vigilance and expel all enemy planes that try to get close here!" ”

"Enemy planes have been conducting frequent approach reconnaissance recently, and it seems that they are going to bomb this oil field." After giving his orders, the officer explained to Rommel.

Rommel didn't say anything when he heard this, but nodded and continued to tour the factory where gasoline was produced behind his back.

There are only simple machinery here, let's say a factory, more like a handicraft workshop. The equipment for extracting gasoline is also rudimentary, so the production capacity is not high.

But here, looking at these busy workers, and the constant flow of gasoline, Rommel saw hope, hope for the Afrika Korps, hope for the Third Reich......

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