"But what does this have to do with abandoning Alexandria?" Montgomery asked. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

"It's about using Alexandria as a battlefield!" Zhang Chi replied: "At that time, we will have advantages in all aspects, such as knowing the terrain well, such as not having to face a lot of minefields and strong fortifications, and even the 88 anti-aircraft guns of the Germans will have nothing to follow!" ”

"That's right!" Ramsden agreed: "The Germans or Italians have just occupied Alexandria, and they will certainly not have time to build fortifications, and the size of the 88 anti-aircraft guns is so huge that they will not have time to build fortifications for it to hide, so that our artillery and fighters can effectively suppress it!" ”

"One more bonus!" Zhang Chi continued Ramsden's words: "The terrain of Alexandria as a whole protrudes towards the Mediterranean, which makes it easy for us to surround it. ”

"But ......" an officer put forward a different opinion: "You must know that now the Luftwaffe has the advantage, that is, they have air supremacy, once the Germans occupy Alexandria and establish an airfield, they can easily get supplies and support from the air, and even blockade Port Said and the Suez Canal from the air, then what will happen to our supply and transportation lines?" We have only one dead end! ”

Ramsden retorted: "Whether the Germans have air supremacy or not has nothing to do with whether we give up Alexandria or not, and even if we don't give up Alexandria, can't the two air groups of the Germans gain air supremacy?" Can't block the Suez Canal? ”

The officer was refuted and dumbfounded by Ramsden, and in fact the Suez Canal had been semi-blockaded by the time two German air flotillas entered Sicily and blockaded the island of Malta.

"This is also one of the benefits of giving up Alexandria!" Zhang Chi added: "Because we can share part of the pressure on the island of Malta! ”

Montgomery nodded in agreement, and if the Luftwaffe wanted to move into Alexandria and blockade the Suez Canal, of course it would have to draw some of its forces from the air force blockading the island of Malta, which was also in line with Churchill's intentions.

"So...... How do we solve the supply problem? Another British officer said: "If this happens, our supplies will have to be transported by land from the other side of the canal or even farther away!" ”

"We can store before we give up!" Zhang Chi replied: "To be exact, we can start now!" ”

"But where can we put them?" The British officer looked at Zhang Chi with an incredulous expression: "Major General, you may have forgotten that the Germans have air supremacy, and their fighters will bomb our warehouses at any time!" ”

"I didn't say putting supplies in storage!"

"And where else can we put them?" The British officer asked, "Put them in bunkers?" And we're outside the bunker? ”

The British officer's words caused a burst of laughter.

Zhang Chi waited for them to laugh almost, and replied unhurriedly: "I'm surprised...... The South African soldiers once told me that 1,000 years ago the Saharans knew to bury supplies in the desert when they went to war, and you don't know how to do it now? ”

The smiles on the faces of the British officers couldn't help but freeze when they heard this.

It took a long time for Ramsden to say excitedly: "Yes, we can bury the supplies!" We could even bury them somewhere outside of Alexandria so we don't even have to transport supplies, we just need to dig them up when we need them! ”

"But I have to say ......," Zhang Chi reminded, "this must be done in secrecy, otherwise these supplies will most likely fall into the hands of the Germans!" ”

"Of course!" Ramsden replied.

"Still have questions?" Montgomery glanced around at the British officers in the room.

The British officers shook their heads.

"No, General!"

"That seems like a good idea!"

"I think it's worth trying!"

……

"I have a question!" Montgomery looked at Zhang Chi: "Major General, the Germans should be on the defensive now, shouldn't they?" I mean, their situation is improving, that is...... The longer it goes, the better it is for them, so they don't need to rush to attack. So, will it be too obvious that we are abandoning Alexandria? I mean, the Germans probably knew it was a trap we had set! ”

"Maybe!" Zhang Chi replied: "But general, Rommel is the one who will never stop attacking, and I think you know better about this." On the other hand, we didn't just give up Alexandria for no reason, and then we left an empty city there and shouted at the Germans, 'Hey, I don't want this city, you can take it!' ’。 We can do it reasonably, for example, it was the Italian troops who attacked Alexandria......"

"That's what I'm embarrassed about!" Montgomery said: "Perhaps even the Germans did not believe that the Italian troops could take Alexandria!" ”

"It doesn't matter!" Zhang Chi said: "We have a saying in China, called 'encircling points to send reinforcements', and Alexandria is a suitable place!" ”

"Reinforcements?"

"To put it simply......," Zhang Chi explained, "It is to surround the enemy in a place, but surround but not annihilate, and use these enemies to attract more and more reinforcements from the enemy." The Germans may not be fooled, but the Italians ......"

"Oh!" Speaking of this, Montgomery understood a little: "Surrounded a part of the Italians in Alexandria, so that the Italians had to come to the rescue, and once the Italian army was surrounded more and more in Alexandria, then the Germans had to react!" ”

"Yes!" Zhang Chi replied: "I believe that the Germans will choose reinforcements, and even they will hope to be able to completely capture Alexandria, after all, they have air supremacy at this time, and the capture of Alexandria is also their dream victory, so the next ...... They'll be dragged into a quagmire! ”

"It's a great idea!" Montgomery nodded at Zhang Chi: "You convinced us, Major General!" This could be a turning point in the North African theater! So, let's talk about the detailed plan together! ”

So the plan was set, as for the detailed plan...... Zhang Chi was not involved much, because it was more a question of how the Commonwealth Army should store supplies and ammunition and choose a place to bury them in absolute secrecy.

What Zhang Chi needs to do is to let the new 1st Division seize the time to train in order to deal with the upcoming big battle.