On the border between Libya and Egypt, Italian soldiers watched like frightened birds, as British tanks emerged from the desert horizon, revealing their tiny black bodies. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Because of the distance, the tanks they saw were only the size of ants, but they could still break down their fragile psychological defenses.

The soldiers of the Italian 10th Army Corps, who were defeated from here, had 80,000 if not 100,000, how could they resist such a huge army that could not win?

Although they had their backs to the port of Baierdi, the current Italian army did not have the slightest fighting spirit at all, and did not even have basic confidence.

As in history, Marshal Graziani, who did not have many suitable candidates, entrusted the task of defense to Lieutenant General Anibale Bergonzoli.

Unfortunately, this lieutenant general is not a man who can change the tide of battle, and although he was ordered to hold on to Baierdi, he was not ready to fight to the death.

Unlike the first phase of the North African campaign in history, this time both sides played a quick victory.

Within fifteen days, Italy marched violently from the Libyan border to the city of Matroux in one go.

In the same way, their defeat was rapid, and it took only two days for them to return to where they had set out more than ten days earlier.

What has changed the history of this place beyond recognition is a fundamental change in two aspects.

On the one hand, the discovery of oil fields in Libya has raised its strategic influence on Italy to an unprecedented level, which has determined Italy to take the first step in consolidating North Africa and uniting its colonies to defeat the greatest threat, the British.

On the other hand, it was because Li Le was so successful in the air battle of Britain that Churchill had to try his best to win a decent victory in North Africa.

These two reasons made the first phase of the long North African phase extremely rapid, and the collapse of Italy was even more unstoppable.

In the important fortress port city of Tobruk, Rommel was drinking tea in his makeshift office.

In North Africa, a place so barren that birds don't, it's a blessing to be able to enjoy the tranquility of the city and have a nice afternoon tea.

At least, Rommel, who had made it all the way to here but remained unmoved after the defeat of the Italians, felt that his life was now easy.

The latest batch of supplies strengthened his armored forces, and another battalion of No. 3 tanks was forcibly transported to Tobruk, which increased Rommel's strength once again.

He now has 120 tanks No. 3 and 10 tanks No. 4, which allow the Afrika Korps to surpass the attacking British troops on the front line in terms of armored forces,

In strict terms of quantity, Rommel's number of tanks is twice that of the British 7th Panzer Division, and the quality is even more comprehensive.

What kept him standing still was that he was not sure of the strength of the British counterattack, and partly because the Italians were congested on the roads, which made him reluctant to get involved in the chaos.

"Hello! I am Field Marshal Graziani, the commander of Italy and North Africa, and I have just arrived from Bairdi to meet your commander. Outside the door, an abrupt Italian language drifted into Rommel's office.

Rommel put down the teacup in his hand and saw a field marshal in a decent Italian military uniform, standing in front of him.

The other party also took the adjutant with him, his face was full of tiredness and despair from the bumps along the way, and the two of them looked at Rommel, and for a while they didn't know what to say.

Compared with them, Rommel was much more decent now - he had changed into the general's regular clothes, washed and hung up the clothes covered with sand.

His leather boots were spotlessly cleaned up by the shoe-shiners in Tobrukne, and even reflected the sunlight outside the window.

"Marshal Graziani...... Do you drink tea? Rommel pointed to the teacup in front of him and asked the Italian marshal, who had been defeated from the front line.

"Your Excellency...... Now that you have arrived in Tobruk with your army, please continue your eastward march and secure the Libyan border. Marshal Graziani pleaded.

He was not a man lacking in intelligence, so at this time he did not mention the matter of saving the collapsing Italian army.

Instead, he changed the concept and used the Libyan border as an excuse to let Rommel take care of the security of the Libyan oil fields and maintain the security of the Libyan border.

But Rommel is Rommel after all, and since he can serve as the supreme commander of the military forces of Italy and Germany in North Africa in history, it is naturally not a role given in vain.

I saw him smile and point to the teacup in front of him, and changed the topic: "It's been hard work all the way here, really don't drink afternoon tea?" Tastes good. ”

"Your Excellency, General!" Where is the time for afternoon tea on the other side, the Italian army is being attacked by the enemy every minute.

Now the British have taken at least more than 60,000 Italian prisoners, and if they really break into Libya, it is estimated that this number of prisoners will be doubled!

Graziani had no way to stop the rout, and now in this situation, the only ones who could engage in a counterattack were the thousands of German troops in Rommel's hands.

Thinking about it from another angle, it is more in Italy's interests to let thousands of German troops survive and strive for more Italian troops to survive, isn't it?

"Please, find a way to stop the British army from entering Libya! This is also in Germany's fundamental interests! Isn't it? Seeing Rommel's indifference, Marshal Graziani pleaded bitterly.

Now when he feels this way, he can't care about his identity as a marshal anymore, and he starts to play the bitter card, playing the set of crying, making trouble and hanging himself.

"Your Excellency Marshal Graziani! To know...... I don't have a lot of troops. Rommel saw that the other party had tears in his eyes, and he played the role to a certain level, and it was not good to "talk about other things".

Therefore, he began to excuse himself, saying that his troops were small and he could not defeat the fierce British enemy on the opposite side.

Hearing him say this, Marshal Graziani didn't have anything too good to do. Because if he continues to entangle, the other party can completely make him unable to get off the stage.

As long as Rommel asks rhetorically: Your 200,000 troops can't be defeated, isn't it a joke to count on my more than 3,000 people?

However, Rommel has not been shirking, of course, he also has his own bottom line to adhere to.

So seeing Marshal Graziani with a depressed face, he finally added a sentence to calm the other party's mood: "However, I will at least hold on to Tobruk so that the British will not take advantage of the victory to occupy this place!" ”

With this guarantee, at least Marshal Graziani can have some peace of mind. After all, if Rommel hadn't arrived here, Tobruk would have surrendered it to the British.

At this time, Graziani had another hope that had not been dashed, that is, Lieutenant General Belgonzoli's Baildi, which had not yet been occupied by the British.

Because of this, Graziani fantasized that his troops could prevent British troops from entering Libya before Rommel.

This at least left the Germans without an excuse to enter the war, and it was considered to have regained Italy's final dignity in North Africa.

"Alright! Your Excellency, General! Since you will defend here, on behalf of the Kingdom of Italy, I thank you for your help! Marshal Graziani politely thanked him.

Rommel didn't leave this down-and-out marshal anymore, and sent it to the door with a smile, never mentioning the matter of leaving the other party for afternoon tea.

It was only when the other party had left that he sat back in his place, wondering whether the Italians would thwart the British attack at Baildi.

"Victory! Monarch! A German officer in charge of the telegraph walked in and stood up and saluted: "General! There is a telegram of the highest order, from Brest! ”

"A telegram from the Führer? It's just in time! "Rommel had already regarded the Führer as a great strategist and tactician after Li Le's calculation of the crushing defeat of the Italian army in Egypt.

Being able to infer the outcome of a war based on clues has always been the most genius manifestation of national decision-making.

As a front-line commander, Rommel thought he couldn't do it. Therefore, he admired the Führer more and more, and trusted the Führer's orders.

Where could Li Le have thought that he had painstakingly demanded that Rommel must obey his own conversation, and in fact, it could be achieved with a few super-level predictions.

He opened the sealed file bag, took out the translated message from it, and saw the contents, which made Rommel's eyes widen again.

Because the above content is really important, it is so important that it can determine the outcome of the war.

There wasn't much written on this piece of paper, just a short line: The British army under the command of Admiral Wavell was about 30,000 men and no more than 70 tanks!

Throwing the document into the ashtray, Rommel lit the blank sheet of paper, which was small but enough to make him famous.

Looking at the ashes in the ashtray, he looked up with a smug and confident smile on his face that he hadn't seen in a long time.

"Calling all the senior officers! I'm going to call a combat meeting right now! He shouted to the secretary and the lieutenant outside the door.

Then the commander of the German Afrika Korps walked out of his office in high spirits, dropped the delicious afternoon tea, and put on the trench coat that had just been washed.

"You go and contact Marshal Graziani, who has just left." As he walked, he instructed the people around him, "Tell him to get out of the way of the road within an hour!" ”

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