It was not that Rommel did not want to increase his own logistical transport, but that the Axis powers now had little capacity to deploy to the Mediterranean.

Britain's surrender left Germany with a lot of gaps to be filled: there were still many warships in Gibraltar that were idle, so how could there be any effort to increase Rommel's transport ships?

It has to be said that Britain's simple surrender caused Germany no less trouble than British resistance in a short period of time, and even more in some respects.

For example, the Mediterranean capacity, which was barely enough, suddenly dropped by 10% due to the transfer of crews!

This decline was much greater and faster than the losses caused by the British resistance! Germany, having lost these crews, could only rely on Italian crews of unsatisfactory quality to run the transport.

The shortage of crew members threw the construction of the German Navy into chaos. Battleships, which were built in large numbers, had to stop and wait for the replenishment of personnel.

At this time, it was even more difficult to replenish the number of transport ships, and Germany had already let Britain recover at full speed and joined the wave of shipbuilding.

But all this is still a drop in the bucket, and the ships produced by Britain in a short period of time have difficulties even filling the Anglo-German route, let alone supplementing the Mediterranean shipping.

The Soviet-German war made Rommel even worse: there were no supplies in Germany, where did the transportation come from?

Eighty percent of the arms and other supplies had to be sent to the Soviet-German front. What was provided to Rommel could not even guarantee five percent of the arms production capacity.

You must know that on the Eastern Front, more than 3 million German troops were assembled, and if you count the logistics troops and the servant army, the number is more than 5.5 million.

With so many troops, people eat horses and chew for a day, and the food consumed is enough for the transportation department to break their legs. Not to mention the gasoline ammunition, as well as the problems of rush repairs and capture!

Italy is better, but Germany has intercepted most of Italy's steel, so Italy's industry has always been in a semi-operational state, and it is impossible to expect them to replenish too many supplies.

Under these circumstances, the Führer ordered Rommel to continue the offensive, on the one hand, with a strategy to promote peace, and on the other hand, with a hint of bravado.

While Rommel was gathering forces near Gaza and preparing to launch an attack on the Jerusalem area, Li Le was also deploying the next offensive mission on the Eastern Front in the Wolf's Lair.

Pointing to the huge map in front of him, Li Le looked at the generals under him, and said slowly: "Encircling the Soviet army near Minsk and annihilating this living force is our most important task at this stage!" ”

"Army Group North should cooperate with Army Group Center as much as possible, and after encircling Minsk, strive to fight another encirclement and annihilation battle near Smolensk!" As he spoke, he drew a large circle near Smolensk.

Historically, after a series of victories in Minsk, Germany turned to take it and started the Battle of Kiev.

This allowed the Germans to create a dazzling victory in the Battle of Kiev, but at the same time, it also left the Germans with the few roads and railways they could rely on in the Soviet Union.

Without the support of these railways and roads, German armored units struggled in the fields of Ukraine for at least two months, and did not return to the better lines of communication in the north.

Although the resounding victory in the Battle of Kiev allowed the Germans to gain forward positions for attacking the Caucasus, the lost strategic time could never be recovered.

Li Le's plan was completely contrary to Hitler's previous battle plan. His point of view was inclined to the commander of the army, Brauchitsch, and the chief of the General Staff, Halder, hoping that everything could be solved by blitzkrieg on Moscow.

Hitler did not agree to attack Moscow first because his troops lacked fuel to make such a strategic choice.

But Li Le has the support of the Libyan oil fields, and has the basis for this choice. Therefore, Li Le decided to give priority to trying to cut off the Soviet Union's command nerves and disrupt the strategic command of the Soviet army.

In fact, it is not that Hitler is inferior to Li Le, but he does not have the trump card of the Libyan oil fields in his hand, so he cannot choose to attack Moscow first.

Assuming that Hitler chose to attack Moscow and the USSR continued to resist after the chain of command was paralyzed, then the gasoline in the hands of the German army would not be enough to go south from Moscow to Stalingrad!

This is by no means alarmist, although Romania has been supplying Germany with oil, but only for Germany's daily consumption.

This excess consumption of strategic mobilization is excess consumption, and all that is used is the country's strategic reserve oil, which cannot be replenished by Romanian oil in a short period of time.

So, for Hitler, the blitzkrieg on Moscow was a big gamble, and if the USSR surrendered, Germany won, and vice versa.

As a leader of the country, such a big gamble was irrational, and Hitler chose to attack Kyiv and advance into the Caucasus - as long as the oil fields of the Caucasus were seized, Germany could hold on for longer!

It is a pity that he failed, and Germany, in the process of attacking the Caucasus, lost the initiative and suffered huge losses under the city of Stalingrad.

He lost not only troops, but also the depletion of oil reserves and valuable time brought about by strategic decisions.

Now, there is no shortage of oil, and Libyan oil has now almost met the needs of North Africa, Italy and France, and a large part of it has been fed back to Germany.

In this case, Li Le can have more choices without worrying about oil consumption.

"It's only April, as long as we attack the city of Moscow in May, then we have about 5 months to take Moscow!" Li Le finally pointed the whip in his hand at the position of Moscow and said to his generals.

"As long as Moscow is captured before Rudong, a Soviet Union that has lost its command, it will not be easy to survive a winter." This reason is the tactical reason why Li Le tried to capture Moscow.

Winters in Russia are cold, and Li Le certainly knows this! And he also knew that the winter of 1941 seemed to be a little colder than the winters of the past years!

The capture of Moscow would also destroy the Soviet Union's co-ordination and command hub. Without overall planning, how will civilians in such a huge empire as the Soviet Union rely on themselves to survive such a cold winter?

Even the Soviet leadership, which had lost Moscow, could still stabilize the situation, but it was bound to devote less energy to the military!

As long as the Soviets could not devote all their experience to a military counterattack, the German superiority would still exist when the following spring came.

"My Führer, the order of the offensive, the army is not in opinion." Standing beside Li Le was the commander-in-chief of the army, Field Marshal Brauchitsch.

He had now almost put away his careful thoughts and devoted himself to fighting the Soviet Union for the Führer.

Barbarossa was arguably the pinnacle of his strategic command art and his exploits as a German field marshal.

If he can capture the Soviet Union, then no matter how great the prestige of the Führer is, he will definitely be remembered in the annals of history as commander-in-chief of the army.

Keitel also supported this plan, because he was already a complete Führer in the military.

If you don't support the Führer at this time, then you're sick in the brain. So he hurriedly expressed his position and supported: "The Supreme Command also believes that there is nothing wrong with this plan!" ”

As far as the army is concerned, as long as it fights in the central part of the Soviet Union, where the road and railway network is relatively dense, as well as in the north-central region, then its mechanized advantages can be fully brought into play.

"Let Marshal Bock start attacking...... Forcing troops on the territory of Ukraine to retreat towards Kyiv! Remove the Soviet threat to Romania! Li Le glanced at Marshal Brauchitsch and commanded.

The German attacks on the southern front had always been haphazard, and neither the Italian nor Romanian servant armies had deliberately attacked the Soviet army.

This was Germany's strategic planning, but also because there were too many infantry in the army, which was not suitable for rapid advance.

It would be a bit of a fool's dream to expect the troops of Italy, Romania and other client states to defend themselves, but to expect them to advance 100 kilometers a day.

"Understood, attack to Rostov?" Seeing the Führer's gaze at him, Brauchitsch hurriedly asked.

Since the two sides were aligned in the general direction of the offensive, the commander-in-chief of the Third Reich Army was willing to listen to the opinions of enough Führers.

"Attack to Rostov! If necessary! You can slowly test the attack in the direction of Kyiv! Li Le gave his own thoughts.

His bottom line is very simple: "The progress of the attack shall not affect the strategic actions of Army Group Center and Army Group North!" ”

"I see! After this meeting, I sent a message to Marshal Bork asking him to attack Rostov-on-Don! Brauchitsch stood upright, his chin raised, and he commanded.

An attack on Ukraine could destroy the Soviet Union's grain-producing areas here and affect the Soviet Union's wintering reserves.

If you're lucky, Marshal Bock may also be welcomed by the Ukrainian locals, and he can easily break through to the periphery of Kyiv as a liberator.

Once the defense plans of the Soviet army were disrupted, then Germany could seize the initiative in the first winter, and if it was not possible, it could even expand its own advantage.

Of course - Li Le knew that the Americans would not stand idly by, and they would definitely support the Soviet Union and help it survive the first winter.

Since the Americans will not sit idly by, it is a question that cannot be considered for the German Army to defeat the Soviet Union in the following year, that is, in 1942, and continue to expand its superiority.

"Then adjourn! Tell Marshal Rundstedt! I'm waiting for news of his victory in Minsk! Li Le heard Brauchitsch's answer, put down the whip, waved his hand and said.