Crete was the first to go wrong.

After the German troops withdrew from Crete, the British troops immediately contacted Colonel Dennis in the hope of stationing in Crete...... Originally, Montgomery didn't want to be in such a hurry, but Crete was so important to the British army that the British could only use the airfield on Crete to transfer fighters to Malta instead of relying on aircraft carriers.

But Colonel Dennis refused without thinking.

The reason for refusal is very sufficient: "Previously, Greece needed the British army to be stationed in order to stop the invasion of the German and Italian armies, and the British army could be said to be reinforcements to Greece, but now that the German and Italian troops have taken the initiative to withdraw from Crete, why should the British troops be stationed in Crete?" ”

In fact, Colonel Dennis had another consideration, he was worried that this would anger the German army and lose the support of the German army, and at the same time, he did not want Crete to become a battlefield for the Germans, Italians and the Allies again...... Considering the interests of Greece, Colonel Dennis was clearly right in doing this.

But it was not in Britain's interest, and Britain played its usual tricks...... Brought King George II of Greece, who was in exile in England, to Egypt and landed on Crete with the LinkedIn army under the pretext that George II led the Allied forces to liberate all of Greece.

The landing of British troops met with little resistance.

This was partly due to the fact that the National Liberation Front had never fought an anti-landing war, and on the other hand, they did not want to turn against the Greek king and the army under the slogan "Liberate all Greece...... In this respect, the objectives of the FNL and the Allies are even the same.

But.

When the British landed, things quickly changed.

The British captured three airfields on the island of Crete at the first opportunity...... For the islands, the airport is an absolute top priority.

The British then captured several of the arsenals left on the island by the Germans...... This almost led to a conflict, because these munitions could be said to be the supply base of the National Liberation Front on the island of Crete.

But after being surrounded by a large number of British troops, they eventually had to give up.

The British then released a large number of government prisoners from the prison and put weapons in their hands to rebuild the government army.

All these national liberation fronts endured, and they did not want to break out into civil war at this time, or perhaps confront the Greek king and the powerful British army behind him.

But the next order they received made them extremely angry.

King George II demanded that the National Liberation Front lay down its arms and disband the army...... It is clear that George II feared that the strength of this force would threaten his dominance.

This caused strong resentment among the National Liberation Front and even the Greek people, and then a large-scale demonstration broke out in Crete.

However, as usual, the police opened fire on the crowd of demonstrators.

With this as the fuse, the all-out battle between the National Liberation Front and the Greek government army and the British army officially began, and the British army invested artillery and fighter jets on the same day.

Colonel Dennis and others, of course, were enemies of the British and government forces, so they could only avoid the mountains and turn to guerrilla warfare.

The sudden situation stunned everyone, especially the National Liberation Front in Greece, and it made it clear to them that ...... Even if they drove the Germans and Italians out of Greece, the fruits of their victory would eventually fall to the king and the British, who even tried to cooperate with the puppet regime that the Germans and Italians had erected in Athens.

Rommel couldn't help but be stunned when he got this information, although this was exactly what he wanted, but he didn't expect it to happen so soon.

"Interesting!" Rommel said to himself: "Everything is going as the lieutenant said!" ”

If Rommel was hesitating to retreat before this, Rommel was completely determined after the Cretan incident.

Because it can be said that this is only good for Germany, and there is no harm...... If anything, it is the reduction of the land occupied. But these lands are only superficial figures, they are barren and have nothing but sand (no oil fields have been discovered in North Africa at this time), so what is the point of occupying them?

Instead, retreat...... Of course, retreating after declaring their independence could cause great trouble for the British and Americans.

The enemy's troubles are their own interests.

What's more, as the Germans retreated, the Allies would face the same problems as the Germans had before...... The supply lines are too long, which is a serious problem in the desert.

So Rommel didn't think much about it, and a few days later he took the initiative to withdraw from the Alexander Line to the Matru Line.

The British army marched forward with cheers, but what awaited them was the vigorous war of independence waged by the Egyptians, led by General Shreve...... If the British army did not take these guerrillas into account before, then now they should be careful, because at this time the Egyptian guerrillas have become large-scale, and there are still a large number of "iron fists" ...... "bazookas" in their hands have not dared to give the guerrillas for the time being, because they are worried that the performance of this new equipment will be mastered and copied by the British army.

Problems arose with the withdrawal of German troops to the Libyan border:

Rommel needed Libya to become independent, but the Italian commander Garibal, and even Mussolini, was not.

"You're crazy!" Garibal's said: "Let Libya be independent...... We have won so many victories, and now not only do we not get anything, but we have to lose our colonies! I will in no way agree with this betrayal of Italian interests! ”

Not only Garibal's, but also other Italian officers objected.

Rommel was reluctant to pay attention to this, because he knew that the Italian officers were only worried about their villa mansion in Tripoli.

"So!" Rommel said: "Defend Libya with your rifles!" ”

With that, Rommel continued to retreat with the Germans.

This time the Italian army was in disarray...... Just kidding, the Italian army can't even deal with the British army that drove the "Matilda" tank at the beginning, and how can it stop the British army that is now driving the "Sherman" tank, not to mention that in addition to the British army, there are also American troops.

So Garibal's hurried contact with Mussolini, hoping to get Rommel to change his mind through Hitler.

At this time, Hitler saw what Rommel wanted to do...... It is clear that the declaration of independence of these countries along the way will put these countries in opposition to the Allies, and Crete and Egypt are living examples, which are obviously beneficial to Germany.

So, instead of stopping Rommel, Hitler sent a telegram to Mussolini: "Your Excellency, Prime Minister, you should declare Libya independent, otherwise...... The British will do it as liberators! ”