Chinese While the Germans were training and preparing for the attack, the British also got the news.

Watermark Advertising TestingWatermark Advertising TestingOf course, Britain got the news that the Germans were going to attack the island of Malta.

Montgomery is from

The "super-secret" got that the Germans were going to attack the island of Malta, but he was always skeptical.

The reasons were twofold: first, he believed that the conditions were not ripe for the Germans to attack the island of Malta. As was said before, the British had absolute air superiority in the Mediterranean Sea due to the fact that the Germans transferred the air wing in the direction of the USSR.

If this is the case, why did the Germans seize the island of Malta? The other has been a few times before

"Super-secret" experiences that do not correspond to reality. Although this did not happen during Montgomery's tenure as commander of the Eighth Army, it was not difficult for Montgomery to dig through wartime documents...... Montgomery refers to Hitler's repeated orders to stop Rommel's offensive, and the British army also thought that the Germans would not launch a large-scale attack, but Rommel gave the British army again and again

"Surprise".

"Isn't this the same 'surprise' as before?" Montgomery asked.

"I'm sure not, General!" De Guengang replied: "We think there is a fundamental difference between this time and the usual...... De Guengang explained as he flipped through the documents and displayed them in front of Montgomery: "Most of the previous 'surprises' were orders from Hitler, but Rommel did not obey them on his own. This shows that there is nothing wrong with the 'super-secret' itself, but we did not guess that Rommel would disobey Hitler's orders. But this time, it was Rommel who was looking for Hitler's help! Montgomery nodded.

De Guengang's analysis is reasonable, and a series of recently deciphered telegrams show that the German and Italian forces are indeed preparing to attack the island of Malta.

What's more, the German and Italian armies also had reasons to attack the island of Malta...... Their lines of transport were blocked by the island of Malta, and the Germans had no choice but to wait for death.

"What are you worried about, General?" De Guengang saw that Montgomery still had some scruples.

"Could this be another conspiracy of the Germans!" Montgomery said: "I'm afraid they're trying to move our planes to the island of Malta and then launch an attack on Port Said!" De Guengang shook his head and said, "The Germans will not do this, because we can bring back the fighters on the island of Malta at any time, unless the Germans can capture Port Said in a few hours, which is almost impossible!" Montgomery nodded in agreement, unlike ordinary troops, the fighter can complete the dispatch in a short time, and the British only lose some fuel.

Montgomery immediately ordered 300 fighters to be transferred from Crete to Malta, and the remaining 200 fighters in Port Said were also ready to be reinforced, and at the same time ordered transport ships to increase the supply of fuel and ammunition to Malta...... This was not difficult for the British, who had air supremacy over the Mediterranean, and transport was safe for them.

There was nothing Montgomery could do other than to order Lieutenant General York, who was in charge of the island of Malta, to actively prepare for the defense.

Lieutenant General York, however, was not very worried, as he believed that the island's defenses were strong...... This was because the Germans had planned to attack Malta beforehand, and because of the island's geographical importance, a steady stream of fortification materials was brought to the island, which almost turned the island of just over 200 square kilometers into a fortress: the outermost layer was mines, the beach was barbed with iron fences, mines, barbed wire, and then a heavy bunker and shore defense artillery.

What's more, Lieutenant General York knew very well that the more important thing in the battle to seize the island was naval and air battles, and as long as these two battles were won, the German and Italian troops would basically not be able to see the beachhead of Malta Island.

"I don't know what they think!" After inspecting the defenses of the coastline, Lieutenant General York said to his staff officer: "If they really plan to land here, I think they will be disappointed!" The staff officer replied: "General, I heard that they are training the Airborne Forces, and the Italian paratrooper division has also been transferred to Tripoli!" Lieutenant General York lit a cigar...... Because of the importance of the island and the success of the war, the supply situation here was much better than that of Montgomery's main force, and it was not at all a problem for officers to smoke cigars.

"Do you know what the nemesis of the Airborne Forces is?" Major General York asked. The staff officer thought about it and replied: "Tanks and armored vehicles!" Lieutenant General York nodded.

The advantage of the Airborne Forces is that they can be parachuted anywhere and deployed, which can be taken by surprise, but the disadvantage is also obvious, that is, most of their equipment is light weapons, so they are often only slaughtered when facing tanks and armored vehicles...... Tanks and armored vehicles are heavily armoured and can quickly reach the enemy's parachute landing site and launch an attack.

In this regard, Lieutenant General York hoped that Montgomery would be able to transport a fleet of tanks and armoured vehicles to the island of Malta.

Montgomery certainly wouldn't refuse, after all, it was a very reasonable request. It's just that tanks are also urgently needed in the North African theater, so Montgomery remembered Crete...... The 14th Infantry Division, stationed there, still had 60 vehicles

"Matilda" tank. So Montgomery didn't think much about it, and immediately ordered the 14th Infantry Division to transfer 0 tanks to reinforce the island of Malta.

The news soon reached Rommel...... Rommel had already bribed some Greeks to infiltrate Cree as spies through intelligence agencies for reconnaissance, after all, Greece had surrendered at this time, so strictly speaking, being a spy for the Germans was not considered a traitor.

"These fools!" Rommel said: "They have been completely fooled by us!" ”

"Not only that, General!" Colonel Weiss, who was in charge of intelligence gathering, reported: "According to our intelligence, the Greeks on Crete have little will to resist, i.e. the Greeks may well see us as liberators!" "It makes sense for the intelligence services to make such an estimate, because Greece has already surrendered at this time, and the Greeks have no reason to resist, and even the Greeks in Crete will want to sign some terms of surrender with the Germans that are not available in Greece in their favor, so they may try to cooperate with the Germans.

But in reality, German intelligence underestimated the patriotic fervor of the Greek troops on Crete...... In fact, the determination of the Greeks to resist had already been demonstrated during the Italian invasion of Greece proper, and they defeated the Italians with fewer troops and much worse equipment, which should have attracted the attention of German intelligence.

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