And Wavell also knew one thing: the British army's supply lines were relatively longer, while the German and Italian armies' supply lines were shorter.

Therefore, in the foreseeable future, the British army will always maintain about 250 tanks, while the German and Italian tanks will continue to increase over time.

Therefore, Wavell believes that it is in his best interest to launch a counteroffensive as soon as possible.

In fact, there was another factor in Wavell's eagerness to launch a counteroffensive, that is, Churchill and the generals in London were already very dissatisfied with Wavell's defeat in North Africa.

Wavell knew in his heart that if he dragged on, he would be transferred by his impatient bosses, which meant that he would never have a chance to win back a game.

Thinking of this, Wavell couldn't help but touch his left eye...... That was lost in the First World War against the Germans, so he hated the Germans.

Under these objective factors, Wavell quickly gathered the fleeing British troops and distributed the tanks.

Wavell was somewhat glad that his troops had escaped in time...... They lost nothing more than tanks, and if they lost people, that is, these soldiers who drove tanks, then it is not known how long it will take to regain their combat effectiveness.

Now, all you need to do is assign new tanks to these tankmen, do some acclimatization, and soon be ready to go to the battlefield again.

Wavell named his battle plan "Operation Tomahawk", which meant that he attacked the enemy like a sharp tomahawk, with the goal of capturing Tobruk...... Only by capturing Tobruk could the British army in Egypt feel a little safe, otherwise they would have to wait for the enemy to accumulate supplies and attack through the harbor.

Then, only fifteen days after the British rout at Tobruk, the British army could not wait to launch a counteroffensive.

When the sound of heavy bombardment reached Tobruk, everyone was surprised, including Rommel himself. Because everyone thought that after the British army was taught a hard lesson, they would either retreat in Egypt to recuperate for a period of time or honestly build a defensive line, but they didn't expect to launch a counterattack against the German army now!

Rommel was overjoyed to hear the gunshot, which made him realize that his fighter had not yet been lost...... What he was most worried about was that the British would build a line of defense and then fight the battle like trench warfare like the First World War, but the British obviously didn't do that, they were still thinking about attacking, they were still thinking about attacking?!

"General!" Major General Stryk said: "I think this counteroffensive of the British is not as simple as it seems, they know our strength very well, and at the same time they know what reinforcements we have received!" ”

Major General Stryker's fears were of course justified, the Italian transports were always under the watchful eye of the British on the island of Malta, not to mention the fact that there were spies for the British in Tobruk, and the British might even have the details of the German tanks and troops.

Under these circumstances, and with the British still newly defeated by the Germans, the British launched a counteroffensive, which must have relied on something.

"General Stryk is worried too much!" Major General Prittwitz retorted: "It's only fifteen days since the last time the British army was routed by us, and if the British have anything to rely on, they should have used it fifteen days ago, shouldn't they?" ”

Major General Prittwitz, commander of the 15th Panzer Division of the German Army, had just arrived in Tobruk with his troops a few days earlier.

"So...... General Prittwitz! Major General Stryk asked, "Why do you think the British launched this counteroffensive without the certainty of victory?" ”

"There is no certainty of victory in any battle, and the performance of the First Infantry Corps in the last battle has proven this!"

Major General Prittwitz deliberately used the phrase "First Advance Corps" instead of "Fifth Light Division" in his remarks.

After a pause, Major General Prittwitz pointed to the map and continued: "I think the British are in a hurry to counterattack because we have captured Tobruk, and they know that we can use this port to get a large supply and prepare for an attack on Egypt. And, as expected, it won't be long, as we will soon have enough strength to attack, which will leave the British without enough time to build a defensive line......"

Rommel nodded and agreed: "They are attacking instead of defending, or it can be said that they are buying time to build a defensive line." Also, if they can take Tobruk, they can disrupt our position and shatter our offensive plans! ”

"Yes!" Major General Prittwitz said: "Therefore, we must give them a head-on blow, defeat them as quickly as possible, and then quickly intersperse with Egypt, so that we can not only seize the initiative to encircle the attacking troops of the British army, but also completely destroy the British army's defenses and take them by surprise!" ”

Rommel nodded appreciatively, Major General Prittwitz's plan of fighting fast and slow was very much in line with Rommel's character, because Rommel himself was a man who paid attention to attacking regardless of the danger in the rear.

What made Rommel confident was that the German army at this time was no longer the only one that had been beaten by enemy fighters as before, and the German army already had an air brigade stationed in Benghazi and ready to provide air assistance to the German troops on the front line.

So the order was given to the 5th Light Division.

The barracks soon became busy, with a hurried whistle and a crisp and powerful order, the soldiers were gathered in front of the open space, and the cars stopped one by one in front of the ranks like a connected train car, and the soldiers boarded the train in squads and platoons as soon as the order was given.

The reason why it is said here is that the German army now uses the "matador" car of the British army.

For the British army, this car was just a car carrying a platoon of soldiers and supplies. HOWEVER, THE FORMATION OF THE GERMAN ARMY WAS DIFFERENT FROM THAT OF THE BRITISH, AS MENTIONED EARLIER, THE GERMAN ARMY HAD FOUR INFANTRY SQUADS IN A PLATOON PLUS A MORTAR SQUAD (ARMED WITH 50MM MORTARS), AND THE TOTAL NUMBER OF PEOPLE AT FULL STRENGTH WAS EXACTLY 50 MEN.

A "matador" car with 50 people is crowded, but because most of the first regiment is not full, the space of the "matador" has a lot of redundancy for 30 people, so most of them can be accommodated, and only a few squads with more reinforcements need to take other cars.

It can also be seen from this that weapons and equipment should actually be matched with the formation of the troops, and a platoon can either be loaded by one car or exactly used by several cars to carry it, otherwise, it is inevitable that various inconveniences will occur during marching and fighting, such as the waste of space or the chaotic situation that soldiers cannot find their own formation when responding to war urgently.