Tubrug.

It's an important port city, and for the UK, it's even more significant!

What's the point? Open up the land passage!

The Middle East, one of Britain's most important overseas colonies, provided Britain with a large amount of raw materials, including oil.

But now, Gibraltar, attacked by the shameful Spaniards, when the rice flag on Gibraltar landed, marking the western gate of the Mediterranean, was closed.

Subsequently, Spain set up a patrol fleet in Gibraltar to inspect the incoming and outgoing cargo ships day and night, because of the rapid decline in naval strength, the British Navy was temporarily unable to retake Gibraltar.

In this way, the materials in the Middle East can only make a detour to the southern tip of Africa, go in a big circle, and the distance will be expanded several times! For Britain, this is intolerable.

If Britain occupies Libya, it will be connected with the French colonies in the west, and as long as the support of the governor there is enlisted, then the whole of North Africa will belong to Britain, even if it does not go by sea and land, Britain can continue to be linked with the Middle East.

For the British army in the Middle East, attacking, and then attacking, was their only option!

At the same time, the other aspect, of course, is the Libyan oil base.

Germany's war machine, which has been launched until now, cannot do without oil, and the main source of German oil is Libya! As long as Libya is occupied, Germany will lose its most important oil resources!

As for the shares that the United States has invested in it, it is also very easy to deal with, and it is a big deal to change it to a joint venture with British Petroleum and give more shares to American oil businessmen, and they will definitely be willing, businessmen, the most important thing is profit.

And all this requires a military victory!

In order to open up the situation in North Africa, the British also took out their belongings, in addition to the British troops in Africa, the British also mobilized a large number of troops from other colonies, including Australia, India and so on.

After capturing the important port of Tubrug in western Libya, General Waveville, the commander-in-chief of the British army, sat in Tubrug and personally commanded.

And that's where their good luck ends.

"An Australian unit that we were on guard on the perimeter came into contact with the German armoured units, and they were all killed." Jurgen Klopp, commander of the Tubrug Fortress, said to Wavell.

On the periphery, armored units of the Germans appeared!

"How many of them are there?" Wavell asked.

"There was only about one battalion of troops, and we suspect that this is their vanguard." Klopp continued: "The troops of the Germans, have begun a large-scale landing in North Africa. ”

The least desirable scenario arose, the Germans, began a large-scale landing in North Africa!

What to do?

"It seems that we must eat this vanguard of Germany." "The Germans had just landed in Africa and were not yet used to the environment here, so we took advantage of the Germans' unpreparedness to wipe out this force and boost our morale," Wavell said. ”

Morale is the most important thing, the British army in the Middle East, all the way to the Italians fled in disarray, their morale is high, if they eat the vanguard of the Germans, it will be even better!

Now, the situation in Europe is not optimistic, and only victory on the battlefield in North Africa can boost the morale of the homeland!

"But what are we going to do with the Germans?" Klopp asked.

German tanks, in this era, are simply invincible!

Even if the British military industry is rapidly developing new tanks, so far, there is no mature plan to come up.

"Dispatch of the 6th Royal Armoured Regiment." Wavell said.

"Let them die?" Hearing Wavell's words, Alain Gordon Cunningham, commander of the British Eighth Army on the side, couldn't help but ask rhetorically.

Although Britain itself is deploying a new tank force to reinforce the British army in the Middle East, until now, they are still hanging around at sea, and they have not rushed to Africa at all, and Montgomery's feet have not stepped on the African desert.

The 6th Royal Panzer Regiment was the only British armored force in the Middle East, and although they used newer Crusader tanks, this 20-ton cruiser tank could not compete with the main German tanks.

The origin of this cruiser tank has to start with the "Covenanter" tank.

Historically, the "Covenanter" cruiser tank was designed from 1937 and finalized in 1940, similar in appearance to the A13 cruiser, equipped with a 2-pounder gun and a caliber of 40 mm. The suspension is clearly a Christie suspension with a large diameter of the load wheels.

This tank has good mobility, but the armor is thin and the firepower is weak.

And now, the progress of the British is also ahead of history, after all, a year or two ago, war clouds were already gathering on the European continent, and it was urgent to improve the performance of the "Covenanter" tank.

The "Crusader" cruiser tank was a modification of the "Covenanter" tank, which was jointly created by several companies under the leadership of the Nuffield company. The development progress was very fast, and it did not catch up with the equipping of the British Expeditionary Force, but it caught up with the present.

Tanks were produced, some of which defended the British mainland, and some of which were shipped to the Middle East and equipped with Middle Eastern legions.

And the British named this tank Crusader, which is also quite profound.

However, this still can't change the facts, it's okay to bully the Italians, it's absolutely impossible to fight against the main German tanks, after all, even if a 57-mm tank gun is used, it can't penetrate the main armor of the German tank, how can it be fought?

Therefore, even the commander of the Eighth Army, the main force of the British army, was asking rhetorically, did he want them to die?

"We have no choice." Wavell said, "Are we going to give up here?" Are you going to wait for the Germans, all the way to Egypt, to our Suez Canal, to drive us out of the Middle East completely? We can't go back! Germany's attack power is known to everyone, and we must withstand it! ”

Wavell looked further, and now, it was a turning point, a whole Middle East war, and the most critical point, they had no choice.

"It's not completely dead, the Germans came all the way, their tanks, maybe they are out of fuel and can't move, and for us, this is a good opportunity." Wavell's words changed: "We must seize this opportunity, otherwise, we will become the sinners of the times!" ”

Until now, the German army, simply shaped the myth of invincibility, and if this myth of the Germans were broken here, these people in Egypt, would have created a miracle! Maybe this will be the turning point of the whole World War II?

"We certainly can't fight head-on, but we can go around behind the Germans! In terms of familiarity with the terrain, that's definitely our advantage. ”