After Graziani took over the post of Marshal Balbo's African governor, he flew to the city of Tripoli the next day, and then came to the fortress of Tobruk in Libya, North Africa, to plan the Italian legion's attack on the British army in North Africa.

Although Graziani had 230,000 troops in North Africa, the British army in intelligence was only about 30,000.

However, even under this advantage, Graziani still did not dare to rashly attack the British army.

The reason is simple, because he has always had a fear of the British army, and this "British fear" also makes him very cautious in making every decision to attack the British army.

In fact, this is why Mussolini handed over the North African war to Balbo in the first place, not to Graziani.

But now, Balbo's landline was shot down by his own people. For a while, it could only lead Graziani, a general who feared the British army.

"Someone, bring me a topographical map." In the war room, Graziani lit a cigarette and preached to his subordinates.

"Yes, General." Staff officers in a thick pile of papers. He took out a map of North Africa that had been in use since two years ago and handed it to Graziani.

"Where are the main forces of the British army at the moment?" Graziani asked as he took a puff of his cigarette and looked at the map unhurriedly.

"Report to the general, according to our previous intelligence, the British army is currently entrenched in a small Egyptian city called Selum on the border between Libya and Egypt." The staff officer said.

"The main force of the British army here has more than 20,000 people, and most of them are light infantry, with only more than 200 tanks, more than 100 artillery pieces and less than 200 aircraft." The staff officer continued.

But Graziani, the new marshal, still did not dare to "underestimate the enemy".

Although like Balbo, he was also a marshal in the Italian army. But Graziani's character ....... To put it mildly, it's much more cautious than Balbo. To put it mildly, it is to be cowardly as a mouse.

He cautiously asked, "Are you sure that the British army only has so many troops?" ”

"That's right, marshal, there are only so many. If our army attacks on all fronts, with our superiority in troops, we will definitely be able to win a great victory! "The staff officer, who had been following Balbo until now, was obviously very confident. He described to Marshal Graziani the strategic concept that Balbo had set before, and hoped that Marshal Graziani, who would take over, would make up his mind, firmly implement Balbo's tactics, and do his best to attack in one fell swoop.

Graziani, however, said more and more: "You can't underestimate the enemy, the British have a lot of ideas." If we're not careful, we may have to suffer from them. ”

In the end, Graziani, who had an army of 234,000, for the sake of prudence, brought a full 230,000 Italian troops before daring to attack the Egyptian border, leaving only 4,000 soldiers to maintain order in the rear.

Because he was too worried about the British army, he also asked 50,000 Italian troops as the vanguard to go to find out the reality of the British army in the area of Selum. The 180,000 army led by himself only dared to advance slowly.

But who knows, before the Italian vanguard arrived in Selum, the British army had already abandoned the city and fled, leaving the officers and soldiers of the Italian vanguard who arrived in Selum with wide eyes.

"The British are just like that!" Marshal Graziani, who was in the rear, instantly gained confidence when he heard the news that the British army had fled.

The general, who was usually frightened out of his heart by the British army, was very happy, thinking that now he finally had the opportunity to show his skills in front of Prime Minister Mussolini.

In his eyes, there was even a scene of the leader praising himself at the tri-service combat meeting.

"Order all the troops, move forward quickly, give me the pursuit of the British, and beat our momentum!" Graziani, who was full of self-confidence, was uncharacteristically ambitious and wanted to eliminate all the British troops in North Africa in one fell swoop.

Maybe he stayed by Mussolini's side for a long time, and I have to say that Graziani learned Mussolini's shortcomings of "giving a little sunshine" all over again.

"However, what if we advance so rashly, what if there is an ambush by the British army?" A staff officer, who was also left behind by Balbo's command, stood up and said worriedly.

"What? Ambush? Joke, the British army has now fled in a rout, where did it come from? What we should do now is to take advantage of the victory and eliminate them completely, understand? ”

Graziani had apparently completely forgotten his previous fears of the British, and now all he could think about was accomplishing great things.

"We have several times the strength of the British army, and more than twice as many tanks, planes, and armored vehicles, even if they have an ambush? Can they still beat us with their men? ”

Because the British retreated without a fight, Graziani can be said to be very majestic, and at the same time regained his long-lost self-confidence.

He continued: "Don't think about it so much, just do what I command. Also, send a telegram to the Romans that our army has conquered Selum and is now steadily advancing into Egypt. ”

"Understood, marshal, I'm going to give the battle order." After hearing this, the staff officer nodded as if he understood, and then went to the telegraph room to draft the message.

As a result, the front-line troops, after receiving the order of Graziani, did not hesitate to bypass Selum and advance directly to Matru, an important town in northwestern Egypt, with their swords pointed at Alexander and Cairo.

On the way to Matru, the Italian army happened to pass through a small town called West Dubai Lani.

Situated halfway between Selum and Matru, the town is open and complex, making it a good place to ambush infantry.

Graziani's vanguard was dutiful and quickly reported the situation to him.

And Graziani is not a fool to be able to do the position of marshal.

Along the way, he also felt more and more that something was wrong.

The British did not fire a single shot, as if they had retreated nearly 30 miles to the east, which in any way did not make sense. Unless, their commander is a little more daring than himself...... No, unless their commander is a more cautious person than himself.

But that's too much caution, isn't it?

30 miles of strategic buffer zone, you can lose it if you say it's lost!

Immediately, Graziani IQ Online ordered 50,000 front-line troops to be ready for battle, and 180,000 follow-up troops were divided into east, west and south roads to surround the strategic West Dubai Rani.

At the same time, Graziani also sent three battalions of Italian armored units to cover the light infantry units in the lead, and the artillery units and air force provided fire support, and slowly advanced towards the western Dubai Rani.

Soon, when their vanguard was about 500 meters away from the town, they suddenly came under unidentified fire from the town.

Immediately, Graziani, who had been prepared, immediately gave the order and let the Italian army quickly carry out a fire counterattack.

At the same time, the air support called by Graziani, as well as the artillery support on the ground, also went into battle.

West Dubai Rani instantly turned into a sea of fire, and the British troops in ambush in the town lost their temper in an instant, and they all fell silent.

"Hahahaha, Chief of Staff, do you see that sea of fire? This is the feast I prepared for the British army. What do you think? Graziani held a high-magnification telescope and saw the sea of fire in West Dubai Lani from afar, and boasted happily to the chief of staff.

"Commander, I think that artillery fire is enough to kill the British twice." The chief of staff also replied excitedly.

However, in addition to the chief of staff brought by Graziani and the other two author staff officers, the other staff officers left by Marshal Balbo looked at the smiling faces of Graziani and his party, and they had worries in their hearts for some reason.

After several rounds of artillery bombardment, Graziani quickly ordered a full-line attack in an attempt to wipe out all the British forces in the city of West Dubailani in one fell swoop.

After giving the order, Graziani returned to his combat headquarters with peace of mind, happily lay down on his recliner, closed his eyes and began to look forward to his future.

"How will the leaders reward me? Will you continue to promote me or will you reward me with endless glory and wealth? Or do you award me some medals and gold? Graziani thought about it, and fell asleep with a sweet smile.

By the time he woke up, the Battle of West Dubai Rani was almost over.

At this time, his chief of staff was standing in front of him with a combat report with a complicated expression on his face.

"How did our army get it?" As soon as Graziani woke up, he asked the chief of staff.

"Report to the general, our army has completely annihilated the defenders of West Dubai Rani. But......." replied the staff officer timidly, his voice very quiet, as if he had made some mistake. In particular, if the battle was not basically over, and there was no interference from the sound of gunfire, these two words might not have been heard.

"But what?" Graziani asked anxiously.