In the original time and space, after conquering the Caucasus region of the Soviet Union, the German army went south to invade Egypt from the Eastern Front. Fastest updates

In this life, when the British army collapsed on multiple fronts at the same time, the new plan of the German high command was to unite the friendly forces of Vichy France and Italy from Egypt through the Middle East to attack the Soviet Union from Egypt and obtain the Caucasus region after the conquest of Egypt by the African Army Group.

This plan is undoubtedly good news for Rommel.

Although the German troops under his command were still only two divisions, they were not further supplemented. However, with the three Italian divisions under his command, as well as Garibaldi's Italian Army Group, plus the French army of Birrant, it was not too difficult to accomplish this combat mission.

In fact, Rommel's African Expeditionary Force resembles a deformity, and it appears that Reinhardt was created only to promote his henchman Rommel, to the rank of general.

At first, even Rommel himself wrote in a letter to his wife, Lucy, in confusion: "I don't quite understand whether this proves that I am a commander-in-chief. Formally, such a rank could only be delegated to the corps commander. But in fact, the national troops I really commanded were only two divisions, and at most one army commander. ”

However, Rommel is now free of such confusion for a long time.

A series of victories made him realise that he was very good at what Reinhardt had planned. Moreover, at the same time, he commanded the German ** team, which was the most convenient to dispatch, commanded the servant army sent by the Italians in the name of the commander of the army group, and arranged the actions of the French troops brought by Bironte in the name of the supreme commander of the coalition forces.

Such an experience is a rare opportunity that many commanders of group armies in China have not been able to get!

Even Reinhardt's most trusted Admiral Manstein now commanded both German and Romanian armies.

Thus, Rommel, who was completely accustomed to his duties in Africa, had set up his front headquarters in Gambut, just halfway from Tobruk to the Egyptian border.

The reason why Rommel dared to do this was actually because his teammate was no longer a pig-friendly teammate, but a dignified French general Béronte!

During the six days that Rommel had fought with Waveville, Berlunte had been concentrating artillery on Tobruk for several days of heavy shelling, constantly weakening the British defenses.

After Rommel sent instructions that they could attack, the six French colonial divisions under Belant's command immediately opened a breakthrough in the British ring line, and then he coordinated with Garibaldi's Italian 21st Army to ensure the safety of the flank, and used the three main French divisions in his hands to directly rush into the port of Tobruk, putting the Commonwealth defenders of Tobruk Fortress to death immediately.

Since most of the troops stationed in Tobruk were native colonial troops such as the British 2nd Division in South Africa and the 11th Brigade in India, as well as the Commonwealth Allied forces in New Zealand and Australia, the commanders of the British Army were unable to dispatch the units in time, and the entire defenders were slow to move, the reorganization work had not yet been completed, and it was even more difficult to mention the careful organization of defense.

Originally, the multinational defenders of Tobruk were able to rely on rigid defensive tactics to defend each other.

Moreover, the terrain around the Tobruk Fortress is very complicated, the sand ridges in the southeast are impassable for armored vehicles, the desert flat in the south is full of dark bunkers and firing points for the attack of the installed troops, which are connected by tunnels, deep anti-tank trenches and dense barbed wire have been built outside the independent strongholds, and the perimeter of the fortifications is also covered with countless anti-tank mine arrays.

But who knows, Rommel and his armored division did not come at all, and all the infantry under the command of Belant and Garibaldi came, which wasted the anti-tank positions carefully arranged by the defenders of the fortress.

Such an arrangement can be regarded as weakening the power of Rommel's proud armored forces.

The most important thing is that the person in charge of capturing this fortress is the famous general of the French, Admiral Béronte!

At the same time that Rommel and his German staff were fighting at Huwavell, Berente had already taken his French staff and Garibaldi to formulate a battle plan for the Italian 21st Army to carry out the feint mission, with the French African Colonial Army and the Italian 20th Army as the main attack, according to the defensive situation of the Commonwealth defenders.

On the day of the attack, Berente first concentrated more than 90 percent of the French and Italian artillery in Africa to carry out artillery bombardment, mobilized the main French local division to advance all the way to the crossroads leading to the port of Blutok, and arranged for Garibaldi's feint troops to attack westward to the Viabalbia road.

Finally, Birant did not forget to leave the Italian 20th Army in charge of occupying the LinkedIn Army fortifications and eliminating the colonial forces of the British South African Division.

As expected, less than 24 hours after the day of the general attack, General Klopp, commander of the British Plutok Fortress and commander of the British 2nd South African Division, presented his instrument of surrender to the French troops in Belante on the Viabalbia road.

Subsequently, in recognition of Bérante's merits, the French head of state Pétain personally announced on the radio: "The French side has solemnly decided to promote the commander of the French Afrika Korps, Admiral Bérente, to the French field marshal." ”

Since then, Berente, who was regarded as the heir of Petain, finally lived up to expectations and became the first French field marshal after Petain!

This is the only World War II marshal newly born in the French army after the start of World War II, and its significance is far more significant than the award of the title of marshal itself!

Subsequently, in order to accommodate the mood of Italy, the Allied command arranged for the British General Klopp to conduct a surrender ceremony to the Italian General Garibaldi alone.

As for Rommel's German army, he thoughtfully did not let Klopp bring people to the third surrender ceremony. In Rommel's view, he now only looks forward to the victory parade in Cairo in the near future.

Thus, during the days when the Italian and French allies were on their way from Tobruk to Gambut, Rommel rode daily in command vehicles across the desert and from barracks to inspect the construction of new tactical strongholds on the Selum front. He pledged to provide each position with enough food and ammunition to sustain eight days of fighting, and to repair the rusty cannons that had been abandoned in the desert by the Italians after the British had retreated in a failed battle alone.

Here, an Italian infantry division that Rommel had brought in advance from Garibaldi had taken advantage of the fact that it had not joined the battle against the British Tomahawk to conduct a week-long training and live-fire exercises.

Replenishment of artillery and ammunition was also transported from Italy to the African front under Rossi's arrangement.

of tanks and trucks slowly advance through the bushes in order to look like a large tank force. A reconnaissance battalion shuttled back and forth across the border, making radio feints, creating the illusion that the entire Afrika Army was on the offensive in a big way.

With Garibaldi and Belante gradually gathering their troops, Rommel's plan for the battle of El Alamein could finally begin.