When Rommel stepped out of his car, he almost slammed the door shut.

Yes, he had made up his mind to disobey, and this was the first time he had disobeyed Reinhardt's instructions, in order to show his military talents to the fullest, and then, to fight for the reward of the marshal's scepter.

Then, the German-Italian African Army, which had just been assembled, almost did not wait for a moment, and only on the seventh day after the end of the highland counterattack, they broke into Libya with their commander Rommel.

Contrary to expectations, before Rommel could start to exert his strength, Garibaldi's side once again reported defeat.

Cedles was defeated, and Garibaldi took advantage of the way of leaving his captives to block the road, sacrificing two regiments as prisoners, delaying the pursuit of the British army.

However, in the face of overwhelming international ridicule in the Kingdom of Italy, Garibaldi was determined to wash away the shame a little and try again. As a result, this attempt tossed the last main force of the Italian army miserably.

When Rommel arrived at Garibaldi's new headquarters, the German general was almost mad at the losses reported by the Italian army.

Rommel regretted a little, having gone through so much, from the last world war to this one, he would still expect the Italians to play a big role in the war ?!

Perhaps, Germany's choice to bring Italy into the camp of the Allies has gradually become a mistake by now.

If Italy had been a member of Churchill's Axis, let Rommel attack Italy again, as he had done more than 20 years ago. Annexing this rotten and weak country, he will have no complaints, let alone any difficulties!

"General Rommel, this defeat is really unexpected......"

Hearing that Rommel was coming, Garibaldi even left the headquarters room in person and greeted him at the gate of the small building that had been set up as the front-line headquarters.

While taking the initiative to walk towards Rommel with interest, he stretched out his right hand early and expressed a friendly welcome: "At that time, I heard a report from the staff officer that the British army was urgently mobilizing reinforcements to the No. 3 and No. 4 heights, preparing to stop your troops......

Walking up to Rommel, Garibaldi's hand was still hanging in the air, but the other party didn't look like he wanted to shake hands with him at all, but responded coldly: "And then?" ”

The Italian major general, who rushed to Garibaldi's headquarters with Rommel and a division of Italian troops, stepped forward at the right time with some schadenfreude and looked at Garibald proudly.

If Garibaldi had listened to his advice, not sent troops to Libya, and quickly withdrew behind the French, there would have been no defeat today. It's a pity that Garibaldi thinks he has some ability and wants to be a hero, which leads to the subsequent defeat.

Garibaldi glared at the major general with cold eyes, watching the major general, who realized his identity, retreat to the back, and then he was embarrassed and pretended to raise his hat with his hand, and took back the right hand that was outstretched.

He went on to explain to Rommel: "At that time, we received news that the British army supporting the high ground was not large, at most one division, about 10,000 men, but there were still more than 100,000 combat troops on our side. One of our troops rushed forward to intercept this British army, but I did not expect that the British army on the side of Seidles would suddenly move out at this time and appear behind the flank of our troops. ”

"Which commander gave the order to attack?" When Rommel reached the door of the temporary command building, he stopped and coldly asked Garibal the first question.

Garibaldi, the "...... who gave the order," as the supreme commander of the Italian army who personally gave the order, once again felt extremely embarrassed.

Originally, after the defeat of Cedeles once, he was also prepared to wait and see what happened, waiting for the final battle report from the German and French forces. But when he learned of the great victory of the German-French army, the Italian army had lost its international reputation.

So, Garibaldi, who was a little patriotic, shook his teeth and decided to destroy a small British army first, even if it was a small victory, it could save some face for the Italian army a little, and win a greater voice for Italy in the Allied forces in the future.

But what he didn't expect was that a small-scale battle that seemed to have no problems was suffered a huge loss because of the tactics of the British army sending another army from Ceidles, and a main army of nearly 50,000 troops was almost lost.

poked out such a big basket at the moment, and lost half of the troops in his hand. Garibaldi really didn't dare to continue to bear this charge.

Since he went to Africa to preside over the war, except for the strategy of "east and north, advancing hand in hand" at the beginning, he has always lost troops and lost ground. The Italian army lost miserably in Africa, coupled with the previous huge defeat in southern France, and now the military strength of the Italian Army in the eyes of the outside world, not to mention the British Empire, the iron-blooded German Empire, even compared with Vichy France and the Kingdom of Spain, it is estimated that not many people are optimistic that the Italian Army can win.

If it weren't for the population and territory of the Kingdom of Italy, and if it weren't for the fact that Italy was the first member of the Central Powers to follow in the footsteps of Germany and sign a steel treaty with Germany, I am afraid that Italy would not have been able to maintain its status as a major member of the Central Powers by virtue of two successive major defeats.

"Actually...... this order" Just as Garibaldi was hesitating whether to find a scapegoat or simply stop the blame himself, Rommel interrupted him with an impatient wave of his hand.

"Whatever your generals order, I suggest that you prepare to take him to court-martial. You can take care of this matter yourself, and I won't take care of it. But I have one request now......"

Hearing that Rommel, who was now sharp, did not delve into this matter, Garibaldi nodded hurriedly with some joy: "If you have any requirements, you can just say it." ”

"Immediately reorganize your remaining troops, as well as take the reorganized troops and merge them into the German-Italian Africa Army Group. The officer in charge of the logistics department immediately coordinated with Rome to ensure the logistics supply of the two departments after the merger of you and me. Rommel looked at Garibaldi a little toughly, and said solemnly: "In addition, from today onwards, I don't want to see any orders in the African Army Group that are not issued by the command of our Army Group!" ”

"Okay, no problem!" Garibaldi, who had already made up his mind to avoid this time and never take risks and responsibilities again in the future, nodded in a cold sweat.

In fact, Garibaldi did not know that Rommel was more nervous than he was when he said this......