"Oh, really?" Rommel smiled and spread his hands: "Ensign, you mean that we just rely on this new supply line we have established?" ”

"Yes!" Qin Chuan replied.

"How?" Rommel asked: "Crete can indeed improve our supply situation, but the point is that Germany does not have extra troops and supplies!" ”

"The British will get less than us!" Qin Chuan said.

"No, the British will get much more than we do!" Rommel said: "I said it, they have the help of the Americans!" ”

"You're right, General!" Qin Chuan said: "But first of all, the equipment they obtained is not very good, as we can see, the 'Stuart' tank and the 'General Grant' tank are not difficult to deal with, and the 'General Grant' tank even has fatal flaws." I believe that with our current supply capacity and the addition of the 90th Light Division, it will be enough to hold off the British attack! ”

Rommel did not deny this, because the facts were in front of him: the Germans held off the British attack when the 90th Light Division was trapped in Italy, and even more so now.

"I agree, second lieutenant!" Rommel said: "But if you can block it now, it doesn't mean you can block it later, and that's what I'm worried about and why I'm going to attack!" ”

"We'll be able to block it later, General!" Qin Chuan said: "Because our new 'Iron Fist' is being developed, if the research and development is successful...... We have a single anti-tank weapon with a range of 100 meters, 200 or even more, then it will be difficult for the tanks of the British to pose a threat to us! ”

"Oh, really?" Rommel sarcastically said: "So we have to pin our hopes on this anti-tank weapon that is being developed?" ”

"This is just one of them, General!" Qin Chuan pointed to the map and said: "We know that our equipment and supplies must be transported from France and Germany across the whole of Italy and then to Africa, of course, now it will be transported from Greece to Crete and then to Africa. ”

Most of this was shipped from France...... The Germans occupied northern France and set up factories in France to use cheap labor from the occupied territories.

"It doesn't matter which route!" Qin Chuan continued: "It will consume a lot of time and manpower in the process of transportation, why don't we transport the machine to Crete?" ”

"You mean......" Rommel couldn't help but be stunned when he heard this: "Build an arsenal in Crete?" ”

"Yes!" Qin Chuan replied: "We have a large number of prisoners in our hands, and there are hundreds of thousands of Greek people on the island of Crete, and it also has an area of 8,236 square kilometers, which is enough for us to build an arsenal on it!" ”

"But this is the front line, and the arsenal is vulnerable to bombing!" General Stryk said.

"No!" Rommel said: "Just as we could not set out from Crete to bomb Port Said, neither could the British fighters and bombers bomb Crete!" ”

General Stryk couldn't help but let out an "oh", he wasn't unaware of this, but subconsciously felt that the arsenal shouldn't be built so close to the front line.

But after thinking about it, I felt that this place in Crete was very special...... It happened to be in the center of the Mediterranean, Greece to the north had surrendered, and Matrou to the south was in the hands of the Germans, so it was outside the combat radius of British fighters, and there was little need to worry about being bombed.

"The British may have aircraft carriers!" Colonel Slane interjected.

"We don't need to worry too much about aircraft carriers!" Qin Chuan replied: "Because the number of aircraft carriers is very limited and their performance is not good, we only need to deploy some fighters and radars on Crete to easily keep them out of the defensive circle!" ”

General Stryk and Colonel Slein nodded, as this had actually been proven in the Battle of Crete.

"We can even build a steel mill on the island of Crete!" Qin Chuan said.

"Ensign!" Rommel said: "I have to remind you that Crete has nothing but grapes!" ”

Crete is an island of extreme resource poverty, and Rommel meant that it did not seem appropriate to build a steel plant.

"Yes!" Qin Chuan said: "But this does not mean that there are no iron mines in Africa, why don't we find someone to explore?" ”

Qin Chuan knew that Africa was very rich in mineral deposits, many of which were in the first place in the world, including iron, aluminum, coal and other resources that were important war resources, especially a lot of oil, but the Germans did not know this at this time, otherwise Hitler would not have taken Africa as a secondary battlefield.

General Stryk added at this time: "General, we found iron ore left by the British more than ten kilometers south of Matru, which means that there are resources here!" ”

Rommel nodded, he knew what that meant...... If this plan is realized, then Crete will be turned into an industrial island, and all the equipment needed by the Afrika Korps, including tanks and aircraft, will be produced in-house.

More importantly, there is no shortage of labor for the Afrika Korps...... They captured 30,000 British and Greek troops in Crete alone, as well as a large number of British soldiers captured in previous battles, and if not enough, they were able to recruit paid labor from the Greek people.

In this way, the Germans would have received their equipment much faster than the British could have delivered them by air from the United States or India.

"I'm not sure the Führer will agree to this plan!" Rommel said with some concern: "You know, Germany is fighting the Soviets, our machines are working at full capacity, and we are asking them to send them to the North African battlefield in batches......"

"I don't think that's a problem, General!" Qin Chuan is very confident in this: "Because no matter how difficult it is for us to supply on the Eastern Front, Germany still has to ensure our supply." In other words, part of the machine is for us. All we're doing now is moving this part of the machine to Crete! ”

Rommel nodded in agreement, of course he knew this, and this could even solve some of the pressure of the shortage of German labor, so it would only be good for the Eastern Front.

After thinking about it, Rommel said: "Well, second lieutenant, you convinced me!" Yes, we need to strengthen the defense of Crete, not only because it is an important link in our supply line, but also because it has the potential to become our supply factory...... If all goes well, we will only have a short supply line of 300 kilometers in the future, and we can still transport it to any point by transport, and I feel that victory is getting closer and closer to us! ”

As he spoke, Rommel raised his glass and said, "For our Crete, for our future industrial island...... Cheers! ”