In the face of the German Middle East Corps, the British were now able to mobilize very few troops - they only had the desert as a rear, but the troops were pitiful.

Most of Montgomery's troops were redeployed to the Burma battlefield against the Japanese, and because of this, Mountbatten and Auchinleck were able to hold their lines under the onslaught of the Japanese army.

Unfortunately, now that Mountbatten's backyard is on fire and the stagnant German army has begun to attack, the British government-in-exile on the Indian side is a bit of a standalone.

Relying on U.S. support was not a risk, as the route was cut off from time to time by Japanese naval vessels.

The various tanks and heavy weapons and equipment that were brought up with great difficulty could not form real combat effectiveness in a short period of time.

After all, in this part of India, the British reinforcements could only be Indian natives and Australians, and the real British in the British Isles were one less dead.

Under such circumstances, all kinds of problems arising from the birth of the British army's barely maintaining the defensive line broke out.

If Iraq and Iran were abandoned, Britain's oil supplies to India would be completely lost. When the Germans got the new oil fields, they would be even stronger.

Even if the oil fields of Iran and Iraq were blown up, the government-in-exile would not be able to get more oil supplies, and the war would not be able to continue.

The United States is now struggling to replenish India's tanks, trucks, and other equipment, because American arms have to be transferred from the mainland, first to Australia, and then from southern Australia to the Indian Ocean.

The route was quite long, so it was also very laborious for the ship to transport - the United States also had to bear the aid of the Soviet Union, which was also a huge pressure for the United States, the world's largest industrial power.

Therefore, Britain did not dare to give up the oil of Iraq and Iran, and did not dare to pass on this part of the pressure to American shipping.

"Montgomery has sent back from the front that Rommel's corps may be about to go on the offensive." Mountbatten handed the message to Elizabeth and spoke.

Elizabeth took the telegram with a blank face, looked at it, and asked, "How many enemies are expected?" What about tanks? ”

Mountbatten smiled bitterly, thought for a moment and replied: "Your Royal Highness, Rommel's armored division may have more than 900 tanks, and the Italians also have an approximate number. ”

If you have to say it, this number is actually not much, in fact, after the transformation of the Afrika Korps into the Middle East Corps, the number of armored divisions has not increased, and the number of tanks has not increased substantially.

In fact, the total number of tanks in Rommel's hands has not changed much, which is also directly related to the supply capacity in the Middle East.

To put it bluntly, the logistical supply can only raise so many tanks, and no matter how many they are, they can't be driven and can't form combat effectiveness.

However, as the war progressed, some of the No. 3 and No. 4 tanks equipped by Rommel's Middle East Corps were replaced with more powerful models such as the Leopard.

The German tank forces, led by the Leopard tanks, were no longer the steel torrents that the M3 and M3lee tanks aided by the United States could block.

"The performance of the Italians is not very good, I don't pay much attention to it, but the Germans attack, we really can't resist." Seeing that Elizabeth didn't speak, Mountbatten had no choice but to continue to explain.

Not to blame him for thinking so, in fact, Montgomery at the front thought the same way: they all ignored the Italians and focused on the Germans.

The lethality of the hundreds of thousands of German Middle Eastern Corps was far more terrifying than that of 200,000 or even 300,000 Italian troops.

"Montgomery had less than 100 aircraft, as well as the 7th Panzer Division, which had limited combat effectiveness, and some infantry...... Should we abandon Iraq in this case? Elizabeth looked at her most trusted subordinate, Mountbatten, and continued to ask.

"To give up Iraq and Iran is to give up our only source of oil......," Mountbatten replied, "even if the explosion destroys, the oil facilities there will be left to the Germans, and we will not take anything with us." ”

Elizabeth nodded, realizing that if oil was lost, there would be nothing left to hold on to in India.

"Then there is only one way, let Auchinleck transfer 2 divisions of troops, plus the two Indian divisions we just formed, to reinforce Montgomery together!" Elizabeth looked at Mountbatten and offered her own idea.

As the spiritual leader of the British government-in-exile in India, Elizabeth has grown a lot in the past six months.

At this time, she had already shown the demeanor of a future queen, which made Mountbatten convincing her as a decision-maker who could do something.

She often makes some of her opinions subjective, ignoring the fact that she is now less than 16 years old.

Auchinleck's troops, having fought the Japanese in the east, had actual combat experience, and were transferred to the Western Front with two newly formed Indian divisions with no actual combat experience, which was quite safe.

Mountbatten immediately agreed, adding, "I'm worried that Montgomery won't be able to hold on, so it's better to send the 11th Panzer Division there." ”

In the past six months, with official U.S. assistance, Montgomery has reorganized the 7th Panzer Division, and Mountbatten has also formed a not-so-elite 11th Panzer Division in India.

The 11th Panzer Division was poorly equipped, largely reorganized from an Australian unit, and they were armed with about 150 M3lee tanks, which was not at full strength.

But now Mountbatten is in a hurry to go to the doctor, so he has to take out all his family resources, trying to rely on the desert as a support to block Rommel's advance.

"Yes! Send the 11th Panzer Division there! If Montgomery is defeated, then we don't have a good choice. Elizabeth nodded in agreement.

If it weren't for the fear that too much would collapse Auchinleck's defense, Elizabeth even wanted to transfer the ace of the 10th Panzer Division back to the Western Front.

After all, compared to the Japanese commander Mutaguchi Ryoya in Southeast Asia, the commander of the Middle East Army, Rommel, made the British side more jealous.

The British are really not to blame, because both Montgomery and Auchinleck have been "taught to be man" by Rommel's troops.

On October 25, after receiving the Führer's order, Rommel, who had just arrived in the Middle East for 14 days, led the German Middle East Army with a total of 410,000 men to carry out the offensive order, and the Iran-Iraq War officially began.

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