"It's really not coming out!" A German infantryman in a cool hat lowered his binoculars, licked his parched lips, and retreated from the large sun-burned stone. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

He dusted off the yellow sand and stood next to a German SdKfz250 4-wheeled armored reconnaissance vehicle.

The armored car had also undergone a private self-upgrade by the soldiers, and was filled with gasoline drums, which at first glance looked like a giant gasoline bomb.

Of course, these drums are not really full of gasoline, most of them are actually empty.

Even if there is no space inside, many of the oil drums are filled with the most precious fresh water in the desert wasteland, and only a few barrels hang in the back of the car in a safe place, which is gasoline.

The German soldier's eyes were obscured from the cap, and he took a gasoline drum from the car, unscrewed the lid and poured two sips of liquid inside.

Then, his mouth was full of the smell of gasoline, and he said to the commander leaning on the reconnaissance car: "I haven't seen the activities of the British soldiers, it seems that they really don't plan to take a step out of Matru." ”

The ground was scorched by the strong sun, and the iron plates on the armored vehicles were equally untouchable.

On the hottest days, on the sun-exposed fenders on armored vehicles, it is possible to fry eggs.

One can imagine what it is like to be in this environment, to be in an armored car that is already extremely hot without air conditioning.

Rommel had begun planning his counterattack two days earlier, and he sent reconnaissance troops to frequently confirm the exact location of the British defenders.

Although, at that time, Rommel had not yet received all his supplies, but he already felt that the strength in his hands could attack.

The Afrika Korps is really much bigger now than it was a few days ago. For their part, the German units were strongly supported by a mechanized infantry division.

The mechanized infantry division didn't run out of supplies on the way in, but it was equipped with Rommel's favorite things - trucks and tank destroyers.

The 40 Stalker tank destroyers became the most frontally protected and anti-tank weapons on the entire North African battlefield.

Although this infantry division was the last to be deployed to the North African theater, it took a better route, so it arrived at the same time as the 15th Panzer Division from Italy.

This mechanized infantry division was redressed in France, and then sent to North Africa in one go by French transport ships through France.

Therefore, this infantry division finally set off, but it was the fastest of all the troops in Rommel's hands.

And they were accompanied by 15 new tanks of the 100th Panzer Division.

With these troops, Rommel finally had the confidence to attack Matroux, and now the German army in North Africa has nearly 30,000 troops, as well as more than 200 tanks and 40 tank destroyers!

Of course, another reinforcement to Rommel came faster! In order to protect the oil field property, Goering mobilized a squadron of night aviation and 120 aircraft to North Africa.

Also because of the growing strength of the air force in North Africa, on September 2, Germany established the North African Forward Air Force Command.

The rank of this command was arranged by Goering, at the same level as the Air Corps - with this rank, the Supreme Commander of the Air Force in North Africa could go beyond Italy and report directly to Goering......

Although the navy is still beyond the reach of the whip (not to mention the whip commander...... But a special department has been set up to communicate with Italy to coordinate various issues in support of North Africa.

Similarly, this department is also directly under the responsibility of Raeder, although it is slightly smaller in scale than the Air Force, and there are not many troops in hand, but Raeder himself attaches more importance to it.

This made Rommel's troops, and the troops supporting them, already very high in rank, and also represented the importance that the German top brass attached to North Africa.

It can be said that after two months of unremitting efforts, the Libyan oil fields really produced crude oil, so that the strategic focus of the German top finally shifted from Britain and the Soviet Union to the barren land of North Africa.

"No movement at all? It's really ......," the commander muttered indistinctly with a cigarette in his mouth.

The armoured reconnaissance vehicle, which belonged to the 15th Panzer Division, moved out to the vicinity of the Nira in West Dubai, and did not find the exact location of the main force of the British defenders.

Yesterday they met a British reconnaissance detachment, and without alerting the other side, they bypassed the British guard and got to this position.

"There should be about 500 British defenders inside the West Dubai Nila! But they didn't even prepare a decent fortification. The soldier who had just observed the enemy situation with a telescope helplessly talked about what he saw.

Although the British nominally recaptured the towns of Selum and West Dubai Nila, there were not many soldiers stationed there...... Or rather, very little.

As a border city with Egypt, Selum had no more than a battalion of British defenders inside, while West Dubai Nila, the small earthen city in the distance, had only 700 men at most.

This position was to put on a pyramid shape, so that when Germany attacked again, it would not be able to fight a large-scale war of annihilation in one go.

Of course, it is impossible to defend against West Dubai Nira in such a formation.

"There's nothing you can do about it! If the enemy doesn't come out, there's nothing we can do. The commander shrugged his shoulders and squinted at the twisted city in the distance.

Because of the transpiration of the ground, the air is distorted close to the surface, and this phenomenon can also be seen on the road in summer, and cars are distorted with transpiration.

The commander left the hull of the armored car on the shady side where he was leaning, climbed into the reconnaissance car, and turned on the radio: "Mountain Rat No. 5 call!" Mountain Rat No. 5 Call! ”

"Goblin No. 5! This is a rat's nest! This is a rat's nest! "Wireless power, with a strong interfering sound, swooping and not being able to hear clearly.

This is also the reason why it is customary to say twice when communicating. At that time, the radio-communication effect was not comparable to that of today.

"The fox ran away! The fox ran away! Repeat, fox...... Run! Grabbing the radio intercom, the commander repeated the agreed code.

If he reported that the fox had run away, it meant that the British did not come out of Matroux, and if he said that the fox was cunning, then the British had come out!

"The fox ran away! Repeat! The fox ran away! On the radio, the command, codenamed Rat's Nest, repeated.

Putting down the headset in his hand, the radio operator looked at the commander of the reconnaissance unit behind him: "Sir! The British still showed no signs of coming out. ”

"It's okay!" Before the officer of the reconnaissance unit could speak, Rommel, who was standing beside him, smiled and waved his hand, and said: "It seems that the enemy is also very cautious, this is an inevitable thing. ”

Before organizing a battle, of course, scout the enemy to see if he has made some stupid mistakes. It's something that has to happen, and it's foreplay that every commander will arrange.

In the process of detecting the enemy, if you find a fatal flaw of the enemy, it is necessary to analyze whether this flaw is a trap or a real flaw.

Then arrange whether to attack here, or how to use this flaw to gain more initiative.

In fact, the enemy does not always show flaws, on the contrary, it is more in line with the real situation when both sides are invulnerable.

Therefore, it is lucky to catch a flaw, and if you don't catch a flaw, everyone must continue to live their own lives.

"What? Is there anything wrong? Looking at his somewhat disappointed subordinates, Rommel still had a smile on his face: "Could it be that if the enemy does not make a breakthrough, we will never attack?" ”

"When the enemy shows flaws, of course, it is a good opportunity for us, but if the enemy does not show flaws, then we can fight normally." Rommel grabbed the phone next to him.

He was about to talk on the phone, and asked: "Marshal Graziani!" The offensive started as scheduled! Unfold according to Operation Plan C! ”

"Number C? Are the British so cautious? Graziani was on the other side of the phone and was stunned when he heard the plan number mentioned by Rommel.

Operation Plan C was a plan for the attack of the German-Italian forces when the British defenders were very well coped.

This plan called for Germany and Italy to take Selum and capture West Dubai Neira.

Compared with the cool A battle plan, and the big open and closed encirclement battle B plan, this plan even Italians feel a little too ordinary.

However, it has to be said that this plan is also the safest and most secure plan, and even the logistics supply is taken into account.

On 8 September, the German forces in North Africa launched another large-scale offensive before the British had time to reinforce Egypt.

Unlike Rommel's first invasion of Matru, this time the preparations of the German and Italian coalition forces were relatively sufficient.

On the first day of the war, the German vanguard broke into Selum and occupied the border town.

Then, more than 40,000 German-Italian troops spread out across Egypt and pounced on West Dubai Nira, which they had abandoned ten days earlier.

And as if they had been waiting for a long time and had already been discussed, the German newspapers began to spread the word about Rommel's brilliant victory in North Africa.

The next day, 9 September, after Rommel had taken Selum, German newspapers published the news of Rommel's capture of Selum.

Goebbels, the propaganda genius of the Third Reich, the man who created Hitler, decided to show in this matter, the ability of his god of media!