Egypt has a long defensive line built by the British, which stretches from the northern coastline of Africa in the north to the vast desert in the south.

Although British India could not produce the heavy weapons and equipment urgently needed by the British and American armies, it had no problem producing some low-tech items, such as cement for fortifications, ammunition and guns. The Middle East, which is closer to the Middle East, also has many industrial facilities in the United Kingdom and the United States, which can provide fuel and some maintenance parts nearby. Because of the Ganges Plain as a backing, there is no shortage of food and other materials, which is also the reason why the British and American forces have not collapsed until now.

Because of the proximity to the Suez Canal and the outpost of Alexandria, the courage of the Italian and French navies at Tobruk was in vain, and they only promised Rommel that they could prevent the British fleet from shelling the coastline, but they did not have the courage to show off the coast of Egypt.

At least off the coast of Egypt, the Germans did not yet fully control air supremacy, and Rommel was unwilling to waste his precious air power on the sea, after all, he had more than 100 Stuka dive bombers and more than 100 DO-217 medium-range bombers to cover.

Montgomery was looking at his defense map under the dim electric light, he knew that the strength of the German-Italian army opposite him was getting stronger and stronger, so he rarely rested now, and when he had nothing to do, he stared at the map repeatedly, thinking repeatedly about how to turn the current unfavorable situation of the battle.

However, he is not Rommel after all, and he really does not have the courage to start a counterattack in a disadvantaged situation, he is not good at fighting inferior battles, and will only choose defense to consume the opponent's time when his troops are insufficient. Compared to Rommel, he has a little less talent, which can only be made up for by composure and sophistication.

While Rommel was waiting for Schellner, he inspected his defensive positions over and over again, personally inspected the layout of each position, referred to the battlement-type defensive line of the German Eastern Front, and established a supporting depth behind the flanks of the position, hoping to use this defensive line to consume Rommel's superior forces.

Montgomery had in his hands a detailed account provided by British intelligence in Italy, which showed that Schellner himself and his most elite SS 12th Panzer Division had reached the African front, and that some of the infantry of Army Group K had become a force that Rommel could use, and that an offensive by the Afrika Korps was inevitable for the foreseeable future.

He anxiously threw the pencil in his hand on the table, leaned back in the back of his chair a little tiredly, and sighed. The mighty British Empire is a thing of the past, and now that India's colonial government is negotiating independence, things might have taken an unpredictable turn had it not been for General Mountbatten's presence there.

The Americans helped themselves to fight the war in Africa, in most cases defending their own oil interests in the Middle East, and once things could not be done, then only the Americans themselves could know whether they would withdraw or continue to stand with the British, and now they can only rely on the British themselves.

What did the British themselves have? Some tank units from India and the Middle East were the only ones that could handle them, and these troops, together with Montgomery's own tanks, were only 680 at full strength, and these tanks were no match for German tanks, but barely armored forces.

The Americans have recently come with a batch of powerful weapons, first about 240 M4 medium tanks were sent to the Middle East and supplied to Patton. At the same time, in order to deal with German Leopard tanks, the United States also sent 70 newly produced M10 "tank destroyers" to Egypt. And this M10 tank destroyer can be said to be one of the few "high-end goods" in the world that can deal with German Leopard tanks.

To say that the Americans are really a very strange country, they were not much more advanced than other countries in World War II, and they are also full of strange weapons development, which makes it difficult for people to connect with the world hegemon who is now dominant. For example, this so-called "tank destroyer", which was designed to deal with enemy tanks, is a very strange and non-mainstream design.

Accardo had a number of assault guns in the German infantry army, as well as upgraded tank destroyers, all of which were classified as "self-propelled guns" and were used by armored artillery in the infantry. And there is only one feature of these weapons, that is, compared with the tanks of the same period, they are "economical".

The classic German assault gun No. 3 and No. 4 assault guns (i.e., assault guns with a Leopard chassis) were designed without turrets, and although these self-propelled guns had a slight flaw in turning fire, they saved a lot of production time and production resources. It fully reflects Accardo's requirements for the production of assault guns - provincial!

The United States, on the other hand, came up with a freak that was almost identical to the tank when they designed a special tank destroyer to deal with the German Leopard tank. It stands to reason that the chassis of the M4 tank has been used, so it is not enough to honestly change a turret and add a high-powered gun to become a new tank, but the Americans are obsessed and come up with something nondescript.

This new M10 tank destroyer uses the chassis of the M4 tank, but the armor protection on the chassis is inexplicably reduced. Then it used a turret, but it didn't have top armor for better visibility - you could think of it as an open-top M4 tank.

The open-top M4 tank was then thinner, and a lengthened barreled 75mm cannon was installed, which was not found in another time and space that Accardo was familiar with, as the British 76mm long-barreled gun, which was used to enhance the firepower of the M4 tank, was not now mass-produced.

The gun could penetrate German Leopard tanks at a distance of about 300 meters, but the soldiers of the American armored forces were not impressed by this number, and they did not believe that their M10 tank destroyers could get close to this distance.

The M10 tank destroyer emphasizes speed, but blindly loses weight because of speed, and the final weight loss does not bring much speed gain, this M10 is only a little faster than its younger brother M4, but the protection is not as good as the M4 tank, which is called crispy by the soldiers. And the open-top design of that pit daddy makes everyone not know what to say.

What is even more strange is that the American designers did not even add a machine gun to this tank destroyer! Yes, you read that right, there is no machine gun! There is not a single machine gun! There is no course machine gun in front of the hull, and there is no coaxial machine gun in front of the turret, and the entire function of this M10 tank destroyer is only one -- to kill the opponent's tank.

Unfortunately, a weapon may not always be able to meet the enemy it is best at dealing with, for example, a tank that is more advanced than all enemy tanks is likely to face a group of infantry, or the strongest tank will be destroyed by an attack aircraft. And the actual battlefield of the M10 tank, which cannot deal with infantry and lacks defense, can only be described in two words.

Fortunately, the United States has a lot of money and is not on the verge of bankruptcy because of the addition of production processes to cheap tank destroyers and turrets. This is one of the few pieces of good news, at least the American tank destroyer has a turret, which is a little more upscale than the assault gun drivers in Accardo's hands...... Of course, if you're not afraid of being hit more easily because of the height.

Therefore, every country and every nation has gone through detours and wrong roads, and the difference is only how much the nation has paid for the detours and wrong roads. China has gone down the wrong path, paying for 100 years of bullying and the Germans making mistakes in another time and space, and the result is that East and West Germany have been divided for decades. The Americans have also made mistakes, except that these mistakes are covered up by their powerful face, nothing more.

From the M10 tank back to the current Egyptian border, Rommel was in his command car inviting General Scherna, who had just arrived in North Africa, to dinner. The general, who had just arrived in North Africa, wore a pair of glasses and looked polite, but those who knew him knew that this polite German general actually started out with concentration camps and division management of Soviet prisoners of war on the Eastern Front.

The general apparently did not like the harsh climate of North Africa, as it made his general's uniform stained with sand. And his car became obsolete at a rate visible to the naked eye, catching up with Rommel's poor convertible car, which had been in the desert for most of the year. In the desert environment, on the contrary, the barrel cars driven by the GIs are more pleasing to the eye, because these cars are just as dirty and never wiped whether they are on the Eastern Front or in the desert.

"The weather here is really bad and there is a little too much sand. Although Schellner was the general in charge of the concentration camp, he was indeed capable of commanding an army group, after all, the 100,000 prisoners of war under him were properly arranged, and hundreds of thousands of German troops were definitely a piece of cake.

As he scooped up the meat from the can and stuffed it into his mouth, he stared at the battle map and said to Rommel and General Garibaldi, who was sitting on the side: "But the Führer asked me to come here, and there is nothing to complain about." When will the offensive start? I need to have logistical supplies ready and enough artillery shells. ”

"Let's take an attack, then, as a ceremony to welcome General Schellner. In the early hours of tomorrow morning, the front of the positions of the 1st Italian Army will be the first to attack. Rommel smiled and said to Schellner: "Your army will launch an attack on the left flank in two days, involving the opposing defenses." ”