"But....... However, the British garrison in West Dubai Rani was about only one regiment, less than 3,000 men. The staff officer replied, his voice trembling and his eyes full of fear, for fear that Graziani would take out his anger on him.

Sure enough, Graziani roared: "What? You told me that the defenders of West Dubai Rani were only 3,000 men? Are you kidding! Could it be that we faced an infantry regiment, stupidly bombing and artillery bombardment, and wiped out half of the ammunition base of the whole army. What do you staff officers do, didn't you do pre-war reconnaissance? ”

"Commander, you didn't ask us to do pre-war reconnaissance." The staff officer grumbled quietly.

Although it was quiet, his words were heard by Graziani, who had a keen ear, and he roared: "What? What did you just say? You repeat! You mean to blame me? ”

The staff officer did not dare to speak anymore and silently stood aside to accept the "criticism" of General Graziani.

Graziani's long criticism ended with interruptions until a shell exploded near the Italian headquarters.

Graziani, who was affected by the explosion, shook his body, and then immediately shouted angrily: "Who is firing indiscriminately? Want to blow up Marshal Ben! ”

No one answered his question, and the staff officers were surprised.

It wasn't until the second, third shells exploded on the Italian positions that he suddenly realized that things didn't seem so simple.

"What's going on? What's going on? Graziani asked in a panic.

"The British are attacking from behind our troops!" A communications soldier who had arrived from a rear guard had just reached Graziani's ears with the news.

After hearing this news, Graziani's heart was half cold, his army had just completed the operation against West Dubai Rani, most of the soldiers were still cleaning the battlefield, and the armored troops sent out had not yet shrunk back, and the direction of the muzzles was still in the direction of West Dubai Lani.

The attack from the rear of the British army was simply a devastating disaster for the Italian army.

It turned out that the commander of the British army, General Wavell, had already planned the retreat route of the British army and the ambush site.

They deliberately divided their forces into two directions, the large force was actually temporarily retreating to the southeast, and the "ambush force" of 3,000 men stationed in West Dubai Rani was a decoy, a decoy that deliberately lured the Italian army to attack.

By the time the Italian bombardment of West Dubai Rani was being shelled, Wavell's troops had already secretly moved behind Graziani.

"Now the Italian army is finished, I bet, if they don't have more troops to fill in, from now on the North African battlefield, and even the entire African battlefield, the initiative will be in our hands!"

General Wavell was at the command of the British Army Group "Nile" and talked with his lieutenant about his views on the entire African theater.

For this battle, he is bound to win!

At this moment, the British army was launching a large-scale attack on the Italian positions from the south of West Dubai Lani in three directions.

On the right, British tanks attacked the artillery positions of the Italian troops, but met with strong resistance from the Italian infantry.

However, the Italian infantry could not hold back the British chariots, and after finding that resistance was ineffective, they quickly slipped away.

It's a pity that before the artillery here had time to turn the direction of the artillery, it was destroyed one by one by the British Martir tanks along with the artillery that could not be taken away.

All the two artillery regiments deployed here were almost destroyed and captured in a hurry, and the Italian troops on the right had to retreat.

In the middle, the British army took a Martiel-type tank regiment as the vanguard and advanced to the position of the Italian infantry division, and because the Italian army could not move the threat posed to them by the Martiel-type anti-tank guns, a regiment of Martiel-type tanks rushed to the Italian position very smoothly.

As for the 6-ton "mini-light tanks" of the Italian 8th Tank Regiment, they were not surprisingly defeated in a fierce confrontation with the British Martil heavy tanks. In the evening of the same day, the British army in the center successfully captured the defensive position of the Italian army in the center.

On the left, the British led the way with the 7th Tank Brigade, equipped with patrol tanks, in an attempt to outflank the Italians, but General Wavell ordered them to open a gap on the left flank to allow the Italians to break through.

Because General Wavell knew that although the Italian army had the upper hand for a while, after all, there were many people, and the British army might not take advantage of it if it continued to fight.

At dawn the next day, Graziani ordered his 15th Panzer Division, also armed with light tanks, to launch a fierce counterattack on the left flank of West Dubai Rani, while having the 5th Panzer Division cut off the British flank from the left and right flanks.

However, the British troops on the right strengthened their fortifications at night, desperately preventing the breakthrough of Italian tanks, and the anti-tank guns equipped by the British army, both in quantity and quality, were much higher than the Italian army, so the offensive of the Italian 15th Panzer Division did not make much progress.

The decisive battle took place on the Western Front, when the 15th Panzer Division broke through the positions of the British 7th Tank Brigade on the left flank.

Graziani immediately made all his bets, telegraphing the 15th Panzer Division to hold only a small number of troops to hold the positions east of West Dubai Rani, and the rest to rush to the positions on the western front, insert themselves into the British flank with the 5th Light Division, and then break through on the western front.

Finally, after a day and night of fierce fighting, the Italian army finally "tore" a gap 2 kilometers wide on the Western Front, and under the cover of the 15 Tank Armored Division, the Italian army in Western Dubai Rani finally broke out of the encirclement and retreated along the Western Front in the direction of Bugbug.

"Report to the sir, the Italian army has broken through from the Western Front." The British command, the telegraph operator had just reported to Wavell an update on the fighting.

"Got it, that's to be expected, and there's something good waiting for them next." General Wavell said lightly.

The gap "torn" on the Western Front was originally deliberately opened by him from the beginning, in order to let the Italians go there.

Sure enough, on the way back to Bugbug, the Italian army was attacked by several rounds of mines set up by the British army in advance, and suffered heavy casualties.

"No wonder the British didn't pursue us, it turned out that there were mines on the road, these damned Brits." The chief of staff complained indignantly.

Instead, he glanced at Graziani beside him, but saw that Graziani's eyes were ethereal and devoid, as if he had lost his soul.

The chief of staff asked with concern: "Marshal, what's wrong with you?" Are you sick? ”

Graziani didn't speak, didn't even blink an eye, and sat in the seat of the car.

After a long time, Graziani turned his body slightly, faced the chief of staff, and said weakly: "I led the Italian elite in North Africa this time, with several times the strength of the British army, but I was defeated by the British army, and the blame cannot be escaped, and I have no shame to lead the three armies again." Remember my words, and I'm afraid the Italian army in North Africa will have to be handed over to you in the future. ”

"Marshal, what are you kidding. I'm just a staff officer....... Marshal, the Italian army in North Africa still has to rely on you, Marshal, you must cheer up. The staff officer replied flatteredly.

However, Graziani is not without reason, and it is indeed impossible for him to continue to serve as commander-in-chief of the Italian army in North Africa after this battle. At this time, Graziani, probably after the defeat, suffered a serious mental blow and began to be a little delirious.

It is certain that he will be recalled to the country for accountability, and after he leaves, the mess will have to be handed over to the next successor, the unlucky ghost, and the staff officers he left behind.

In this battle, the Italian army suffered nearly 20,000 casualties, nearly 10,000 prisoners, and lost more than 200 artillery pieces and more than 300 tanks and armored vehicles, while the British army suffered only more than 3,000 casualties and only lost more than 20 tanks and armored vehicles.

After that, all Graziani could do now was to be forced to withdraw his troops to the vicinity of Benghazi, Libya, to organize a defense. Let the next successor have the withdrawn army in his hands and can use it.

Speaking of which, this should already be the third commander-in-chief of the Italian North African Corps. Compared with the last Marshal Balbo, who was killed by his own people and his body was cold, Graziani thought that his luck seemed to be good enough.

————

In the last few chapters, Flying Fish has started to enter the plot of the Great War in Africa on an overhead basis.

To be honest, at the beginning, Flying Fish entered World War II and was attracted by Rommel's African confrontation with Montgomery. And this time, Flying Fish will also do its best to present you with a completely different African confrontation, an African confrontation that everyone has never seen before.

Forehead...... It's a lot of brains to code, you know