Africa, Cairo, Egypt.

Montgomery was faced with a difficult choice.

Between the war and the war, there seems to be nothing to hesitate about.

Although after the failure of Operation Tomahawk, Montgomery, who was good at learning, quickly copied Rommel's fraudulent methods and sent people to carry out a large-scale deceptive arrangement on the Egyptian border called "Operation Bertrum".

Montgomery sent some of the less combative Egyptian militia and workers to dump discarded items such as dismantled suitcases and scrapped cars north of the border.

Montgomery then sent his henchmen to camouflage the discarded items, making them look like ammunition depots, oil tanks, and granaries.

Montgomery's intentions were very pointed, he wanted to make them easy for Rommel's reconnaissance planes to spot.

At the same time, Montgomery also sent three engineer platoons from the Australian army to build a fake oil pipeline to the north, and deliberately sent a large number of local Egyptian workers to participate in the construction.

These chaotic local workers will easily reveal intelligence information and induce Rommel to make the wrong judgment that the main force of the Commonwealth forces is deployed in the north.

To further confuse the German, Italian and French forces in Africa, Montgomery also lined up his own guard company, covering jeeps with plywood on the northern border to make them look like tanks, while some shoddy models in the north were covered with plywood to look like a convoy of transports.

It can be said that Montgomery has used the fraud he learned from Rommel to the extreme.

And the real main force in his hands, 3 Australian battalions and 3 well-trained Egyptian divisions, were deployed by him in the middle of the border.

In order to make this deception seamless, Montgomery also implemented a strict secrecy system within the 8th Army. With the exception of the battalion commanders of the three Australian infantry battalions, Montgomery strictly enforced secrecy for officers below the brigade level in the Egyptian army, only communicating what local orders they were going to carry out.

On the entire northern border, there is only one Kotvo stronghold where troops are stationed.

And the supreme commander of this stronghold was the dignified British general Wavell, "the man who once successfully blocked a fire reconnaissance by Rommel".

Montgomery suppressed Wavell and brought him to the northern defense, not all for the sake of rectifying him. In fact, Wavell now has a public position as Montgomery's deputy, the supreme commander of the Forward Command on the Egyptian border, in charge of a mobile force and the northern border garrison.

Of course, in fact, Wavell really commanded only two companies of Egyptian infantry. As for the so-called mobile units, they are just some model tanks.

Montgomery's elaborate deception and deliberate exaggeration of the strength of the Commonwealth forces on Egypt's northern frontier was in fact a cover-up for the emptiness of his real forces.

According to Montgomery's assumption, when Rommel believed that there were too many enemy troops in the north, he should choose to move the direction of the main attack to the central border, and then launch his best "right elbow bending tactic".

In this way, it happened to run into Montgomery's main force deployed in the center. In this way, Montgomery had the confidence to resist a little.

On the other hand, a full 300 M4 Shermans sent by the United States were quickly replenished into Montgomery's hands. This tank is no worse than the M3A3, a tank that has been eliminated by the U.S. military itself.

Compared with the M3A3 light tanks that were originally sent to the British mainland, Roosevelt, under Marshall's analysis, further realized that the Commonwealth troops that were resisting in Africa were "strategic cannon fodder" of great significance to the United States. So, for Montgomery, the United States finally generously came up with the good thing M4 Sherman tank.

The M4 Sherman medium tank was touted by later generations as the "hero of tanks". Although its firepower is slightly lacking, its sturdiness, reliability and durability are very good, and it can be regarded as the backbone of the tank force used by the US military itself. Even the M4 Sherman tank can barely be used as a heavy tank, although it is not fully up to the task.

With these 300 valuable tanks, Montgomery quickly left the remnants of Wavell's army of just over 20 tanks to supplement and expand the Seventh Panzer Division, which had been strengthened and strengthened.

It was also the only British army in Montgomery's hands, and it was all reorganized from the defeated forces left behind by Wavell's defeat and supplemented with American equipment. It was not yet combat-ready and was kept in reserve by Montgomery behind the El Alamein Line.

According to Montgomery's original vision, he was to draw Rommel near the El Alamein Line, which "would keep them in a constant supply situation." And as long as the Commonwealth troops under his command are fully prepared in all respects and have enough American equipment, he can always rely on this line of defense, relying on Rommel to make up for the unsustainable difficulties, and wear it out for a long time.

That's right, even in this case, Montgomery did not think of a counterattack, but dragged it down with trenches, seeking stability rather than victory.

Unfortunately, because a large number of "Sibel" flat-bottomed ferries would be put into the ranks of Allied logistical supply ships, the British Mediterranean Fleet surrendered to the German Navy. Montgomery's thought that the Confederates were having difficulty in supplying supplies became less difficult.

At Reinhardt's reminder, the German engineer Siebel had invented this kind of flat-bottomed boat with an extremely shallow draft, and the torpedo could slip under it.

Since the Mediterranean was no longer dangerous, and without the disturbance of the British Mediterranean Fleet, the rapid-fire anti-aircraft guns expected to be equipped on the Sibel flat-bottomed ferry were also eliminated and replaced with more transport.

Of course, this type of ship also has a significant drawback, it is difficult to navigate on rough seas due to the shallow draft. But in the Mediterranean, where the sea is calm most of the time, this defect is almost non-existent.

From Montgomery's point of view, it's awkward.

What is even more embarrassing is that the Duke of Gort sent an urgent telegram to Montgomery at this time, asking him to hold a solemn surrender ceremony in the name of the Northern Ireland government forces to surrender to Rommel, the commander-in-chief of the Allied African forces of the Central Powers!

He had already set up the battlefield, prepared the army, replenished the weapons and equipment, set up the strategy and tactics, and made enough psychological plans for the long-term stalemate, only to be suddenly told that all these efforts had been in vain. Whoever it is, it is estimated that it will be very unwilling.

In fact, Montgomery was very reluctant to accept this order.

"Don't reply to Duke Gott's telegram for the time being, as if I haven't received it yet." Montgomery, who was hesitant for a moment, tried to avoid the matter for the time being with an attitude of being able to procrastinate: "Wait, at least for today, let me think about it alone." ”