In order to capture Tobruk, Rommel used a very clumsy old method, which was to use large-caliber artillery to attack the fortified fortifications. But in North Africa, because of transportation and technical problems, it is difficult for both sides to use huge guns with a caliber of more than 300 mm, and even more than 200 mm guns.

It was obviously unrealistic to secretly transport large-caliber artillery to a barren land like Africa, so Rommel naturally thought of the Italian naval fleet, which had so many large-caliber artillery. So a report on the use of the navy to support the army's operations was sent to Berlin in Africa, and a plan in the High Command called "Big Lightning" was born.

The plan envisaged the mobilization of three old Italian battleships for an artillery support operation in the Tobruk area. However, when the Italians received this artillery support plan, Mussolini immediately ordered the navy to gather all the forces he could find. The entire Italian Navy is holding its breath, so this time they intend to prove themselves.

So in addition to the battleships that had suffered heavy losses in the South Atlantic, the Italians found all kinds of combat ships they could find. Some of the old battleships that could not be used were more than enough for land support, so the Italian Navy combined the old and the new to come up with a super luxury lineup of 4 battleships.

As for why a French battleship appeared here, it was entirely due to the inadequacy of another thing. Originally, De Gaulle's French government-in-exile did not want to keep people under the fence, but several overseas colonies were turned upside down by the attacks of the Axis powers, so de Gaulle took a fancy to the relatively powerful North African region of France, and intervened in the struggle for the French Somali region without hesitation.

Britain actually supported the French government-in-exile to increase its power in Africa at this time, so it adopted a tacit attitude towards the French government-in-exile's interference in French Somalia, which could be regarded as making Vichy France completely unbearable, so Vichy France sent its own navy to join the Italian fleet to retaliate against the British and the British-backed de Gaulle government.

This time, the French Vichy government had a painful experience, so it sent the battleship Coubert, although this old battleship is not suitable for high-intensity naval battles, but it has a five-seat twin artillery structure on the side of the shore is simply a terrible weapon for land support.

Such a large fleet has not yet been fully assembled, because the flagship of the French fleet, the Richelieu, is on its way with the newly repaired Dunkirk, and if these two battleships are counted, the Axis group will have as many as 7 battleships assembled in the waters near Tobruk, and there will be more than 50 large-caliber guns at that time, and the test of the entire Tobruk defense line will be unprecedented.

The Italian and French navies that fought off the coast of Tobruk were different from the last time they helped Germany land in Britain, when they had no experience of cooperation and were forced to send troops to cope with errands under German pressure. Therefore, the German navy that landed in Britain did a very chaotic job of land artillery support.

So this time is not the same as the last time, the Italian navy is eager to prove its sense of existence in the Mediterranean, desperately preparing to show its strength. And the French Navy came completely for revenge, and it was even more attentive than before. As a result, the two sides were much stronger at Tobruk than at the British seas, and dozens of cannons opened fire fiercely, turning the British positions upside down.

The Italians have Tobruc's design drawings, which, although very sloppy and unprofessional, are still a very important reference. Some firing points and trenches can be reinforced, but some important defensive facilities cannot be removed, such as ammunition depots and large barracks, which are definitely important targets worth bombarding, even if they do not have the original design function.

According to the memories of the Italians and the reconnaissance photos of the German Air Force reconnaissance planes, Rommel identified most of the military facilities and a number of important hidden targets. This time, with the support of the navy's giant artillery, he unhurriedly cleared the known enemy gathering area little by little.

"Cavour! your shell misses the target, 17 meters to the south! Yes! Correction to the south!" A German artillery cadet with his face on the scissor gun mirror is guiding the guns on the Italian battleship to make firing corrections, and with the help of these observation posts, the Italians find that their guns can still be described as accurate.

After a long wait, the next round of fire from the battleship Cavour finally smashed into the positions of the British defenders, and a very sturdy-looking machine-gun pillbox was hit by a large-caliber shell, and the entire top was lifted up, and the surrounding fortifications reinforced with reinforced concrete were also destroyed by the huge shaking, and many corpses of British soldiers were scattered all around.

"Beautiful! Cavour! You hit the target! The enemy is completely destroyed! Now, readjust the angle of the artillery, the coordinates, 53,77! Fire...... "One British position after another was patronized by large-caliber artillery, and the morning passed quickly, and the British found that the Germans had not stormed any of the defensive lines, but that most of these lines had been destroyed by the artillery and were in ruins.

In another time and space, several elements that defeated the Desert Fox Rommel are now reversed into the Desert Fox's winning cards, which has to be said to be a very interesting thing. The British Mediterranean Fleet was redeployed due to the defeat at home, and the entire Mediterranean was controlled by the Italian navy, which deprived Montgomery of naval artillery support, and at the same time, the loss of Malta allowed Rommel to obtain more supplies than the British in North Africa.

In his previous life, Rommel had to give up many of the victories he had received due to logistical pressures, and the German Afrika Korps, which was now relatively more well-stocked, showed its sharp fangs against the British.

When the supplies are insufficient, Rommel can still play a series of dazzling offensive operations, so do not doubt Rommel's determination to attack when the strength in his hands has greatly increased. As soon as his tank number exceeded the 1,000 mark, he did not hesitate to give orders to General Frederick and Garibaldi to re-encircle Tobruk and begin the attack.

Of course, there was another important reason for him to launch an immediate offensive: the Führer had instructed the Supreme High Command to send a newly formed Army Group K to the North African front to ensure a decisive victory for the Axis powers in North Africa before the end of 1940 arrived. The goals of this victory included the entry of troops into Egypt, the occupation of Cairo, and the control of the Suez Canal, extending the hand of the Axis powers into the Middle East.

It is no wonder that Accardo is so anxious to take a German colony in North Africa, in fact, the main reason is that Accardo's promise to the entire Jewish consortium must be fulfilled. After all, the Jews also want a result, and they don't support Accardo's squandering of their funds for no reason.

After some analysis with Augustus and others, Accardo decisively decided to carve out a region in the Middle East and hand it over to the future "Israel", whose position was almost the same as that of Israel in later generations.

This is also one of Accardo's plans to disrupt the Middle East, the world's most important oil producer will never be controlled by a country in the future, so the situation here is naturally as chaotic as possible, and the more chaotic it is, the more beneficial it will be for the Germans to install their own forces in the Middle East in the future.

In addition, the German top brass decided to give the United States a warning in this regard, so this time Accardo instructed Rommel to attack Tobruk, which can be said to be a powerful offensive supported by all parties at a certain time.

"Boom!" Another shell landed on the British defenders' position, this time the shell hit an important ammunition storage warehouse built underground, although more than half of the ammunition inside had been emptied by the British, and the rest of the place was used as a miscellaneous storage warehouse, but this shell blew up the entire warehouse, which still made the British feel distressed. There are 40,000 soldiers' clothing, 3,000 steel helmets and many soldiers' tent quilts.

The German offensive is still ongoing, the opponent's naval artillery is too powerful, we have lost the first-line defensive position, and the other side is infiltrating our second-line defensive position. "In the front headquarters, a division commander in British India was reporting to the Tobruk General Headquarters at the core on the battlefield.

Because a high ground was lost near this area during the previous German attack, the German observation posts could unscrupulously observe the deployment of British positions and direct their own artillery strikes.

"There is no better solution, the most fatal thing now is actually the German artillery observation posts, hold their positions, and wait until the night when the enemy planes cannot take off to bomb, we will organize a counterattack and recapture the high ground. "In the headquarters, the commander of Tobruck had just received an order from Montgomery to hold on for 13 days, and he had no extra troops to hope for a counterattack at night.

The division commander of the British Indian troops also knew that in the present state, there was indeed no good way to deal with the Germans: if they attacked now, then with the help of superior artillery fire and tanks, the Germans could obviously easily repel the British troops, and this was also the result that the Germans most wanted to see - the opponent came out to counterattack the superior armored forces of the German army.

"I had to wait until the night. With a sigh, the commander of the British Indian Division said helplessly.