After the British fled from Agdabia, the Germans received orders to recuperate.

The German officers and soldiers were a little surprised by this, because the British army had collapsed at this time, and it was a good time to chase and kill, why did they stop and let the British army calmly escape from the sight of the German army?!

More importantly, this is not Rommel's usual style.

This was indeed not Rommel's style, it was a joint order of the German and Italian heads of state, Hitler and Mussolini, both of whom were frightened by Rommel's bold moves...... The British were deceived by Rommel's bravado, thinking that Rommel landed with a large number of German troops and tanks and armored vehicles, but Hitler and Mussolini knew very well that Rommel's German army had only one division of less than 20,000 people, although the Italian army had 80,000 people, but those were the remnants of the defeated soldiers who were chased back from Egypt by the British army, and they could only be used as a foil at most, that is, the German army charged in front, and the Italian army followed behind to take over the towns occupied by the Germans.

Hitler was particularly concerned that Rommel had less than 100 tanks in his possession, some of which had already been lost at the front and some had just arrived in Tripoli.

The Italian army has more than 400 tanks, but most of them are outdated M13 and M15 old tanks, which are almost targets for British tanks and anti-tank guns.

The British, on the other hand, had more than 15,000 men, 1,114 tanks, 1,000 artillery pieces and 1,500 aircraft......

Hitler knew very well that what Rommel was doing now was to take a risk, and as long as the British knew what Rommel was doing and concentrated their forces to turn around and strike back, Rommel would definitely be defeated.

And this defeat is only afraid that the German and Italian armies will completely lose their foothold in North Africa.

Therefore, Hitler strictly ordered Rommel's troops to stop, and the British army should let them withdraw if they wanted to retreat, and the German army took this time to build fortifications and accumulate strength, and wait for more than a month later, the 15th Panzer Division will arrive as scheduled, and it will not be too late to advance in the direction of the British army.

But Rommel had always ignored Hitler's orders...... Rommel had served as the captain of the Führer's base camp guard by Hitler's side, so he knew Hitler's character very well. He knew that Hitler wanted victory, and as long as he could win on the battlefield, even if he went against his will, he would eventually receive honor and rewards.

Rommel was unwilling to give up this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, which was like being in front of a table of delicious food but only smelling it but not touching it.

So Rommel commanded the troops all the way forward.

Until Rommel's superior, Admiral Garibaldi, appeared in Rommel's command...... In fact, Garibaldi was only Rommel's nominal boss, and Hitler was willing to hand over the command to the Italians, just considering that the Italians might be more familiar with the desert battlefield and also needed to use Italy's troops and logistics supplies.

"We must stop attacking!" Garibaldi almost roared at Rommel: "You have no idea how dangerous our situation is, our army is very tired, our supplies are very poor, our preparations are not sufficient, our ammunition is only enough for two days!" ”

"The British will not be as fragile as he appears, they may have designed a trap waiting for us! Don't you see that? They want us to attack, use this method to stretch the logistical supply lines of our army, and wait until the right time to launch a counteroffensive! That's how we were defeated before! ”

……

Rommel watched silently as the Italian admiral roared in front of him, his fat face flushed with anger like a balloon about to explode.

"Did you hear what I'm saying?" Seeing that Rommel was unimpressed, Garibaldi asked dissatisfiedly.

"Of course, Admiral Garibaldi!" Rommel replied: "I'm listening!" ”

"Then do my orders!" Garibaldi glared at Rommel, he was dissatisfied with this invincible German general who did not obey his orders, and if it were not for the fact that he had saved himself and the Italian army in a critical situation, he believed that he would have proposed to replace this man who did not understand military discipline.

"I've stopped attacking!" Rommel replied: "My troops are in Agdabia, and they did not continue the pursuit!" ”

"But......" Garibaldi couldn't help but stop talking.

God, Agdabia is hundreds of kilometers away from Garibaldi's first order to "stop the offensive".

After thinking about it, Garibaldi slowed down and said to Rommel: "General, I hope you can face this problem squarely, the logistics problem determines that we can't go any further, it will crush our troops." Now, we should be stationed in Agdabia, do you agree? ”

Rommel didn't answer Garibaldi, he just picked up his coffee and took a sip, his head still thinking about how to attack, he stopped in Agdabia not because of some order, much less because of Mussolini or Garibaldi...... He can not listen to Hitler's orders, and he will care what others say?!

Rommel stopped the offensive only because of logistical supply problems, without which the Germans could not fight...... However, the logistical supply required Garibaldi's cooperation, after all, the Italian army was a grain brigade.

So...... How can you convince the old-fashioned, timid and visionless Italian general in front of you?

At this moment a communications soldier walked in, handed Rommel a telegram, and said: "General, order from the Supreme High Command in Berlin!" ”

Rommel took the telegram and looked at it, then grinned.

"Admiral Garibaldi!" Rommel raised the telegram in his hand and said triumphantly: "Berlin has given me complete freedom of action!" ”

"What?" Hearing this, Garibaldi couldn't help but be stunned, then sighed and said, "Okay, General! But I have to declare that if our army is defeated, I will not be responsible for it! ”

"Of course!" Rommel nodded: "I would say, it was all my willingness!" ”

What Garibaldi did not expect was that Berlin's order was the opposite, and Hitler severely criticized Rommel in a telegram and insisted that Rommel stop his advance and cooperate with the Italian army to build a defensive line.

Rommel skillfully deceived Garibaldi and got tens of thousands of Italian troops to cooperate with his attack plan...... Although the cooperation of the Italian army was not willing.