To everyone's surprise, Rommel's Augrecia Korps did not retreat. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

At first, Zhang Chi and Montgomery were still speculating whether Rommel would have some conspiracy, after all, Rommel was nicknamed "Desert Fox", and his cunning was something that everyone had learned.

It was only later that I learned that this was not the case.

In fact, when Rommel learned that Algiers had surrendered to the Allies, he decided to retreat.

"We've failed!" Rommel said to the staff officer in frustration: "What we can do now is to let ourselves not be too ugly!" ”

Thomas did not speak, because he knew that Rommel was a man who would not admit defeat, just like before, everyone was pessimistic about the war situation in Africa, but Rommel believed that he could defeat the Allies, and the facts proved him right again and again.

But now, even Rommel has to admit that they have lost, and this battle is really hopeless.

Then Rommel couldn't help but sigh: "The hateful Chinese army, although they have only one division, is almost the root cause of our defeat in North Africa!" If I had the chance, I would like to see what kind of force it is! ”

With that, Rommel began to organize the retreat of the German army.

But a telegram from Berlin left Rommel dumbfounded.

The telegram was sent by Hitler, who said:

"Rommel, my most valiant general! I and the entire German people have watched your heroic battle in Egypt with firm faith in your leadership and in the heroism of the German-Italian troops under your command.

Given the situation you find yourself in, there is no doubt that you should retreat.

But, for the sake of the whole strategy, you have no choice but to hold your ground, never take a step back, and throw every rifle and every soldier into battle.

Although the enemy has an advantage, it is already at the end of its strength.

It is not uncommon in history for the power of will to prevail over a powerful enemy.

You can tell your men that there is no other choice than victory! ”

"Victory, death, no other choice!" Rommel read this last line over and over again.

After a long time, Rommel put the telegram down and slowly turned his head to stare out the window.

Just ninety minutes earlier, Rommel had given the troops an order to retreat, and he had even made a plan for retreat...... Like he said, he didn't want the Afrika Korps to lose too ugly.

However, at this moment, the head of state, who he has always worshiped as a god, expressly forbids retreat!

"General!" Thomas said palely, "This will be devastating for the Afrika Korps, we can't do that!" ”

"So what do you think we should do?" Rommel responded coldly.

"I want to ......," Thomas replied, "I suggest that we continue to retreat!" ”

"No, you can't withdraw!" Rommel's tone suddenly increased: "The Führer ordered us to hold on with all our might!" We must obey! ”

"General......

"Say no more!" Rommel interrupted Thomas loudly: "I want you to hold your current position!" It's a matter of life and death! ”

Obviously, at this time Hitler made a mistake similar to the remote command of Chancellor Chiang, he did not know the actual situation of the Aposthora, or he knew that the situation of the Afrika Korps was not good, but he was still overly optimistic about the situation.

Although Algeria surrendered to the Allies, which gave Hitler a blow to the head, he still took it for granted that the other French colonies were German territory, and even wanted to work with France to stop the Allies, so he also selected a negotiator to rush to France to negotiate with the Vichy government.

Soon after, however, he came to his senses and realized that it was impractical to fight in conjunction with France, that the French were incredible, and that it was more reliable than to occupy the remnants of French territory than to fight together.

So Hitler immediately set his sights on the French colony of Tunisia.

Although Tunisia is a small country, its geographical location is very important, or it is very important at this time.

The reason is that the terrain of Algeria is relatively special, most of its places are highland, mountainous or desert terrain, needless to say, these terrains are very inconvenient for the projection of troops and the transportation of supplies. Only the northern coastal area is the coastal plain, which is very convenient for both sea and land routes.

The country of Tunisia lies across this coastal plain, which is one of the reasons why Juan built his supply base in Tunisia.

In other words, as long as Tunisia is taken, the threat from the Algerian direction can be basically blocked.

Then, Hitler believed that in the Egyptian direction, with the German air superiority, Rommel still had a hope of victory, so he could continue to carry out his "pincer attack" on the Suez Canal.

Hitler did what he said, and when the "liberation movement" of the French North African colonies had not yet extended to Tunisia, he sent several warplanes to land at the Tunisian airport...... The German excuse was that the fighter plane had malfunctioned during the operation and needed to make a forced landing in Tunisia to refuel.

Of course, the French army in Tunisia did not dare to object, after all, at this time it was not clear whether the head of Tunisia was France, Germany or allies.

As soon as the German fighters landed, the German ground forces entered Tunisia under the pretext of protecting the fighters, and soon took control of the airfield, then airlifted troops to the airfield, and then disarmed the neighboring French troops and took control of the port...... Eventually, a large number of German and Italian reinforcements poured into Tunisia from the port.

Zhang Chuna quickly got the relevant information.

Darlang looked at the intelligence and couldn't help frowning: "I didn't expect the Germans to move so fast!" ”

General Juan said regretfully: "I have prepared a lot of warehouses and supplies in Tunisia, and now they are all in the hands of the Germans!" ”

Zhang Chi just smiled and didn't speak.

Darlang looked at Zhang Chi's expression and couldn't help but ask suspiciously: "Major General, you don't seem to care about the German occupation of Tunisia!" ”

"Yes!" Zhang Chi replied: "I really didn't expect the Germans to be stationed in Tunisia, to borrow your words, I didn't expect the Germans to be so stupid!" ”

"Stupid?"

"Of course!" Zhang Chi replied: "Because they have only one reason to seize Tunisia, that is, they are not willing to admit defeat on the battlefield in North Africa, otherwise they will ...... They don't need to do anything to Tunisia at all, they just need to organize ships to transport the Afrika Korps out of North Africa! ”

Darlan nodded, he seemed to understand something.

"So!" Zhang Chi said: "By doing this, the Germans are actually sending more and more troops into our encirclement!" ”