Now Wavell finally knows what it's like to play against a real elite force. His army struggled and frantically in Operation Tomahawk for six days, launching nearly 100 attacks on various fronts, large and small, and after leaving behind more than 10,000 corpses and more than 200 tanks, it did not even take advantage of the slightest advantage, and withdrew to the position where it had set off six days earlier.

It was then that he learned what kind of amazing fighting power the German army had in the offensive and defensive battles of France and England.

It took him nearly a week without shaking the first line of defense of the German army, and it took only four days for the German army to cross the Maginot Line, which is known as the world's first line of defense, in France.

When Wavell defeated the Italians 1-5, he had the illusion that he was the god of war today. It wasn't until now, when he met Rommel, a famous German general, that he realized that his little ability was not enough in front of others!

Echoing his feelings, he now understands why Montgomery rebelled against everyone as soon as he arrived in North Africa, emphasizing that the German army's combat effectiveness should not be underestimated, and putting on a cautious posture.

Montgomery, as a general who experienced and participated in the battle against the German army twice in Dunkirk and the British mainland, can be said to be the British officer who knows the German army best in all of Africa. He had been so worried because he was well aware of the gap between the British and the Germans.

Soon, Wavell's rearguard was also pursued by Rommel's cunning armored troops, and took advantage of the night to eat 2 regiments of British rearguard troops in one go. As a result, at dawn the next day, he finally returned to the Egyptian border with Wavell, and when he counted the number of people, he found that the remnants of the soldiers he had brought back did not exceed 10,000 when he was full.

On the side of the Allies, the German-Italian African Army and the Vichy French Army were naturally not going to sit idly by. After Rommel completely relieved the crisis brought about by Wavell's "Tomahawk operation", he immediately arranged a follow-up battle plan.

"Lieutenant General Hans, have your troops now regrouped after the total retreat of the British army?"

In the front-line headquarters of the German-Italian African Army, Rommel looked at the map of North Africa and thoughtfully asked Lieutenant General Hans, who was standing beside him.

Hans's 30th Mechanized Infantry Division took on the vast majority of defensive tasks in this operation. It can be said that a large part of the reason why Wavell did not reap any benefits in Operation Tomahawk was that his opponent was the battle-hardened Lieutenant General Hans and his meritorious division with rich combat experience.

"The 30th Mechanized Infantry Division was assembled three hours ago, but the two divisions of the Italians are not all in place now, and about half of the Italian infantry is still on the way." Hans said directly to Rommel.

"It's the same on my side." Rommel complained with a hint of a smile after hearing this: "My side has just received the Italian light armored division that Rome sent to replenish the tanks, and now it also reports to me that it is still on the way to Captso." ”

The reason why the German-Italian African Army is called the German-Italian African Army and not the German African Army is also because the composition of this army group includes the armies of Germany and Italy.

The two German divisions brought by Rommel and Hans from Germany were quite strong, attacking wherever they were directed, their defenses were watertight, and their attacks were messy and decisive.

However, 1 Italian light armored division and 2 Italian infantry divisions, which both belong to the African army group sequence and Rommel and Hans can directly command, are very useless.

Although immediately after Rossi came to power, the new Italian prime minister stressed that all Italian units in Africa fully cooperate with the command of the Allied Forces Command, especially the three Italian divisions of the German-Italian African Army, and are required to fully accept the operational orders of the Army Group Command.

The command of the African Army Group, to put it bluntly, is the command of which Rommel himself is the commander. Rossi's request to the Italian troops was to make them completely subordinate to Rommel's command and dispatch.

Unfortunately, although these troops are asked to do so, and in fact do so, their efficiency is really not complimentary.

Even for the vast majority of defensive tasks, the German 30th Mechanized Infantry Division, which had previously been deployed in positions on all fronts, had been assembled. As a result, the armored divisions in the Italian units turned out to be in place.

From this point of view, it is not without reason that Wavell was able to beat the Italians with a very small number of troops before.

"Let's get our liaison officer to rush those Italian division commanders." After thinking about it, Rommel didn't know what to say. In the end, he didn't even bother to blame the Italian troops, just to let people urge them according to the script.

Anyway, now Rommel doesn't need these Italian allies to help. Even if they couldn't catch up, Rommel was confident that he could rely on the German troops in his hands to complete the subsequent harvest operations and the plan to conquer Egypt alone.

He had suffered a small defeat before, but that time he had used less than three battalions to deal with the four divisions of Wavell's defense.

Such a failure is not shameful.

Rommel was indeed good at winning more with less, but he also couldn't do what was impossible with manpower.

Although he did have a good record in the last world war, he did not have a division of Italians captured in the battalion.

However, no matter how weak the British army is, it is still better than the Italians to fight. Moreover, when Rommel failed in the offensive that time, he faced not one division of enemy troops, but a whole four divisions.

If Rommel had won in this way, there would have been no need to fight this war. Just give Rommel an independent regiment and let him go all the way.

Now, of course, Rommel has begun to slowly open up.

"Tell Béronte that the fortress of Tobruk will be handed over to the French army. Let him not continue to feint, directly launch a general attack, and win this strategic node in one fell swoop! ”

It's not that Rommel doesn't know how to strategize, but his tactical attainments are too high, and sometimes he is overconfident that his own tactics can win, so he often only gives people the influence of a master tactician.

In addition, Rommel had disobeyed Reinhardt's order once before, launched a limited offensive with two battalions of troops, and clashed with the African part of Reinhardt's grand strategy, so there was even a feeling that Rommel did not understand the overall strategic situation.

However, after being in the army for so many years, he was an officer in two world wars, so how could he not understand strategy.

"Inform Garibaldi and ask him to come and join us with the German-Italian African Army with the Italian troops in his hands." At this point, Rommel could reconsider his title of "African Conqueror": "Tell him that if he wants to go with me to the military parade in Cairo, hurry up!" ”