Garibaldi, the Italian commander, was also surprised to learn that Rommel had easily broken through the British sortie positions outside Edgeret.

He really didn't expect that Rommel, who had not yet fully assembled his forces, would lead the vanguard of the German army with two battalions of troops. It was able to play such a strong combat force.

Originally, according to Garibaldi's estimate, it would take at least a few days for the Germans to break through the British encirclement, and the Italians could take this opportunity to rest and recover their physical strength in the French aid operation.

Then, after the Italian army had repaired, it was time to go to join the German friendly forces that had broken into the encirclement, and join the German and French forces inside and out, and defeat the British troops encircling Heights 3.

And now it seems that the speed of the German advance is faster than Garibaldi imagined. In this case, there will be no rest time left for the Italian army that has just failed to attack and is standing still.

Immediately, Garibaldi had no choice but to make a decision to let the Italian troops go to Heights 3 to join up with the German and French forces and fight side by side.

At the operational meeting, Garibaldi made this decision public: "Now that the German and French armies have met, a few hours ago, I received news that German General Rommel has met with Stevie, the commander of the French army on the front line, and has formulated the next battle plan. In accordance with Prime Minister Mussolini's request and my analysis of the strategic plan of the British army, I decided to stop the troops immediately and start to fight with the German-French forces! ”

This news would have been perfectly normal for the Italian army.

Because Germany, France and Italy were originally allies on the African battlefield. Now, the German-French forces have joined forces, and the British defenders surrounding Heights 3 have become oppressive, and the Italian troops should advance eastward to cooperate with the German-French forces.

But when Garibaldi's Italian generals heard this order, they immediately buzzed.

The generals chattered to each other in horror in the crowd, and Garibaldi could not see a hint of approval of the decision in their eyes.

An Italian major general who led his troops back in the siege of No. 3 Heights of the French Army, on the grounds that he could not find a crowbar, was the first to speak: "I do not approve of the practice of going to Heights 3 to help the German-French forces. I think we should save our strength and let the Germans and the French go and fight the British. And we waited for the profits, and waited until the end of the war, and then went to quickly defeat the exhausted British army. In this way, we not only lose less, but also be able to get the first credit! ”

His words seem to be reasonable, but in fact, he is greedy for life and afraid of death, and he doesn't want to go to the battlefield to make excuses.

The other general saw his thoughts, laughed and mocked him, and said, "Are you afraid that you will meet the French governor who is going to shoot you again?" Ha ha. ”

Then several other generals chimed in: "I think that if you don't go up, give us the bullets of your troops directly, and save you from having your soldiers empty their guns and shoot them into the sky." ”

The Italian generals in the conference room all burst into laughter, and it was hard to imagine that these people who laughed out loud without scruples were all senior generals of the Italian Army. But it was these generals who could be humorous at any time, commanding hundreds of thousands of troops to lose to tens of thousands of British troops.

And the major general, who really ordered the troops to empty their guns, was silent and speechless.

In fact, the Italian major general, who had ordered the other unit to empty his guns, had simply surrendered to the British a few days earlier. In contrast, the major general seems to have performed a little better.

The laughter in the conference room did not stop until General Garibaldi spoke: "All right! Stop! We are now talking about war, and everything that has nothing to do with it will be put aside for the time being! ”

The reason why Garibaldi did not pursue the issue of the general ordering the troops to empty their guns was that this general, like another major general who had empty guns, also had Mussolini as a backstage. moved him, and it was not easy to explain to Mussolini's side. Second, the current Italian army in North Africa is in an extraordinary period, and the disposal of a major general at this time will inevitably have an impact on the morale of the troops.

Therefore, Garibaldi chose to turn a blind eye.

"But it has to be said that our army is really not suitable for war with the British army now. Our army had just been defeated by the British when it was engaged in a battle, and its morale was low. Moreover, the troops are exhausted from a long-distance attack, and if they do not rest and continue to advance, not to mention the combat effectiveness of the troops, the soldiers alone will not be able to bear it. When the time comes, they will strike en masse, what should we do? ”

The words of another Italian lieutenant general brought the pace of the meeting back on track.

Immediately, another lieutenant general also spoke: "It's not enough to strike the war, at least my soldiers don't have the courage." But if we torture the soldiers so much, let them march quickly in a short time and fight immediately, the morale of the soldiers will definitely be affected, and their combat effectiveness will be correspondingly reduced. This is not good news for us. Besides, if we were to go to war, the French would have used us as gunmen, and our troops would have paid a heavy price in casualties. ”

After the general finished speaking, more and more generals immediately expressed their disapproval of the battle plan to go to the No. 3 high ground to join the division.

In desperation, Garibaldi sat back in his seat, folded his hands, pressed his forehead and did not speak again.

He was thinking about himself and the future of Italy. With such a group of cowards, where will you win any battle?

In fact, Garibaldi understood from the bottom of his heart what kind of thoughts were contained in the words of this group of generals.

In fact, Garibaldi himself was not a warmonger, and who among his Italian colleagues here liked war? After all, everyone was born in a romantic and literary country, and fighting a war is still not suitable for everyone.

However, the leader's orders could not be disobeyed, and Garibaldi's vision also knew what the Italian army should do at the moment.

Send troops, that's right, they should send troops, even if they know that they can't win!

There was no way to do this, since Italy was allied with France and Germany, it had to go to the war, so that Italy could share the benefits of the war from Germany and France.

If the British army were wiped out by the Franco-German forces, what would Italy gain as a nominal victorious power?

At that time, the lost territory of Italy recovered by Germany and France would still be a colony belonging to Italy?

Garibaldi understands this, but these generals don't, they only know to save their lives!

At this moment, Garibaldi inevitably fell into a dilemma.

On the one hand, there are the orders of the leader and the future of the Roman Empire, and on the other hand, there are the prevarication and requests of his colleagues and subordinates to avoid war.

He struggled to find a way to balance the two.

Finally, he lowered his hands and opened his eyes to announce his decision: "Since everyone is reluctant to go to Heights 3 to help the Germans and French attack together, then we will make a decision that can do both." ”

Amid the bewildered gazes of the crowd, Garibaldi slowly elaborated: "We have advanced our troops eastward to a distance of ten miles from Egeret, so that we may be ready to rush into the battle at the end of the war to pick up the pieces and take some credit for the battle." In this way, I, Garibaldi, have an account for you and for the leaders. ”

The Italian generals nodded their heads, praising General Garibaldi as a good leader and superior, and loudly praising General Garibaldi for coming up with a good solution, as if they were afraid that Garibaldi would not hear everyone's approval.

They no longer objected, and unanimously agreed on a safe and proper battle plan.

The Italians then advanced a little closer to the direction of Heights No. 3.