The same rain of bullets, the same fearless charge, took place in another corner of the planet. This is the endless desert of North Africa, and this is the main battlefield of the German-Italian Afrika Korps attack on the flank of Alexandria.

Bullets rained down on the flat ground and hit the heavy armor of the German tanks like real raindrops on the eaves of neighbors' houses. The German tanks moved forward slowly, their wide tracks rolling up the sand little by little, and slowly approaching in the direction of the enemy.

Suddenly, the steel behemoth stopped, and slowly turned the huge turret in front of a trench, the slender barrel pointing little by little at its target with the swing of the turret, looking majestic and imposing. With the rotation stopped, it didn't take long for the tank to fire its shells.

A huge wave of air kicked up the dust around the tank, and the dry environment and the sand and dust raised in the desert left a large amount of sand on the tank, and with this devastating shot, the dust and sand were shaken up and formed a cloud of smoke. However, the shell had already flown accurately towards its target, and in an instant it had crossed a distance of a kilometer.

And this shell fired from the 75 mm cannon of the Leopard tank actually penetrated the bunker accumulated with sandbags at once, and penetrated an American-made M3lee tank equipped by the British army hiding behind the bunker. Then the tank burst into flames, billowing smoke.

The nearby British soldiers began to retreat, and the course machine guns in front of the Leopard began to make a distinctive sound of tearing linen, and the bullets swept towards the British soldiers who had just opened heavy fire, easily penetrating them.

After the first bloody battle, although the German army lost part of its strength and ammunition reserves, it really annihilated some of the main British forces entrenched in North Africa, such as a division in New Zealand, which was severely damaged and had to be withdrawn from the front line for rest.

After these hard outer defense forces were exhausted, the British also had to supplement the flanks of the positions with Indian divisions that were not strong in combat and mercenary divisions in the Middle East.

Therefore, Montgomery began to mobilize the few armored troops in his hands and enter his own preset positions, strengthening these Indian divisions that were not strong in combat, hoping to support these divisions to hold their positions.

However, when Rommel threw in a new Panzer Regiment and cut into Alexandria's southern defenses, the situation on the battlefield became clear, and the British forces began to crumble from the flanks, and Alexandria was now surrounded by Germans on both sides. Only the eastern flank remained, which remained under the control of the British.

"Make a detour to both flanks! Consolidate your position after occupying the trenches! Arrange observation posts on both sides! Send a signal to the battalion headquarters! Just say that we have controlled the enemy's first line of defense!" A German company commander jumped into the trench and shouted the order, on his side, two machine gunners were setting up a new machine gun position, one with a machine gun chain around his neck, and not far away, two grenadiers were firing fiercely with G43 rifles, and at their feet, the body of a British soldier was lying there, already covered with a layer of fine sand.

"Hey, if we attack the high ground on the left, how many men can you draw to cover us?" On the edge of the position, the cabin door of the commander of the Leopard tank that had just opened fire was suddenly pushed open, and the commander inside showed his head with a telescope, and he asked the infantry company commander in the trench loudly, not caring about the crackling sound of enemy bullets hitting his tank.

"If you attack the high ground on the left, I will send two squads of soldiers to follow you! I can cover your back from here, but after you take it, it is better to withdraw, I fear that the British will counterattack here. The company commander glanced at the high ground in the distance, and then shouted loudly to the commander of the tank.

The commander nodded, then slipped back inside the tank and closed the hatch of the tank. Then the tank's gearbox shifted into gear, and the sound became louder, and the tank drove towards the distant high ground with the noisy sound.

"Korhoff! Send two squads of soldiers and follow the tanks to attack north! Cover the flanks and rear of the tanks! After occupying the high ground, find a way to hold there!" The company commander held the steel helmet on his head and bent over the trench more than ten meters long, and then he found his men and assigned his own tasks.

As soon as the preparations for the attack on their side were completed, two Stuka bombers dived down from a high altitude, these two planes were part of the air force to support the German attack, and 110 Stuka and 50 DO-217 bombers were prepared for today's attack on the German army, and these planes took turns to greet the British positions, and many strong fortifications had been destroyed.

One Stuka dropped a huge bomb hanging under its belly at a low altitude close to the target, and with a whistling sound, this Stuka quickly pulled up and returned to the sky under the cover of another Stuka.

Another covering Stuka bomber, with two 20 mm cannons on its wings, left two barrages of strafing on the enemy's position. In just a few moments, the British position on this high ground was overturned by two Stuka scourges, and then the British soldiers stationed here were horrified to see a German Leopard tank slowly driving up this high ground.

"Don't fire! we surrender!" an Indian soldier shouted with his rifle raised, and then the second and third Indian soldiers followed suit, and the high ground was captured by the Germans after almost no decent fighting.

The battle continued, the British did not give up what was left, and in some areas the British held out until the last moment. They ran out of ammunition before being driven out of their trenches by the rushing German soldiers, smoke rising over the horizon and the fierceness of the battle exhausting both sides.

"There are still 19 kilometers to go from Alexandria, and if you advance a few more kilometers, the German artillery will be able to bombard that port, and by that time, the British Mediterranean Fleet will really get out!" In the command tent of the Italian army, General Garibaldi was obviously very satisfied with the current progress of the battle, and the Germans did not seem to have much demand for the interests of North Africa, they only needed a piece of desert as a base for future weapons, and then asked for a condominium of the Suez Canal.

Mussolini agreed to these conditions very happily, because as the leader of Italy, he knew that without the help of the Germans, the Italians would not be able to hold such an important place as the Suez Canal, and whether they could hold the mud is a problem. So the two sides signed a memorandum of understanding and decided to jointly manage the Suez Canal, and the term turned out to be permanent. As for the attitude and demands of Egypt, the owner of the Suez Canal itself, it seems to have been forgotten by everyone.

However, General Garibaldi's staff officer obviously had no extravagant expectations for these things, and he was more concerned about the fragile logistics of his army and the high casualty figures: "My general, Cairo and Suez are actually very far away for us, and according to the current rate of artillery consumption and the casualties of the troops, it is estimated that we will only have one company when we go to the city of Cairo." ”

While the Italian troops were lamenting their heavy casualties and attrition, Montgomery's side was in fact exhausted. The reserves in his hands were already stretched, and most of the remaining troops were the remaining Indian troops, and their combat effectiveness could not be compared with the original British Expeditionary Force and New Zealand's troops.

The Japanese army was rampant in Southeast Asia, the threat to the Indian border was increasing, and there were not many troops that could be drawn from Mountbatten. In other words, the Americans are now the main force on the battlefield in North Africa, and the British have tried their best to fight the last of their blood outside Alexandria.

After hesitating, Montgomery still grabbed the phone in his hand, and with a voice that he could feel trembling, he said to the phone of General Patton's headquarters: "General Patton, the British 9th Army in North Africa is powerless, and now we can only rely on your counterattack to finally decide the ownership of the entire North Africa and even the Suez Canal!"

Patton's voice came from the other side of the phone, but the content was not what Montgomery wanted to hear: "General Montgomery, I have to regret to explain to you that the supplies transported by the United States have been intercepted by the German army, and now the diplomats of the two sides are arguing with each other about this matter, the key is that there are many new M4 tanks used to stabilize the North African battlefield in the sunken ships, which makes me have to postpone the counterattack." ”

After a pause, he said earnestly: "Wait for me for three days, and in three days, I will put in a counterattack and attack the troops outside Alexandria! Believe me, this time I will definitely attack on time!"

Montgomery sighed, he also heard about the American transport ship being attacked by German submarines and cruisers, although there is no shortage of gasoline in this part of the Middle East, but the lack of equipment and ammunition is a problem that has to be solved, the United States transports military equipment to North Africa is too far, so once it is interfered with by the Germans, there will be very strict consequences.

"Well, George, I hope that the Americans will defend their interests in North Africa and the Middle East, and that you will be able to start a counteroffensive on time!" Montgomery said after a long silence.