At a time when Japanese soldiers were looking at the desert and were at a loss, on the other side of the world, thousands of people were already accustomed to desert life.

Three German soldiers jumped out of their armoured vehicles, wearing shorts, baring sun-tanned knees, and carrying rifles in front of a huge stone boundary marker. It says "Egypt" in Egyptian script and English.

"Signal to the troops behind that we have entered Egyptian territory and have not found any British reconnaissance troops. "An officer stood on the roof of an armored car, held a telescope and observed the surrounding scene for half a day, and found that there was really nothing to report.

Recently, the British army adopted a tight defense in Egypt, and many of the defensive lines originally deployed on the outskirts of Egypt were abandoned, and Montgomery concentrated his troops in key areas, hoping to rely on complete fortifications to stop Rommel's attack.

But Rommel did not rush into Egypt this time, but humbly accepted the advice of his deputy, General Frederick, and began to play a steady routine. He built a complete water station supply line in the rear, and sent special forces and elite armored units to hunt down the British sabotage detachment. Although it does not seem to have achieved any large-scale victories, it has managed its supply lines along the way without leaking.

"General, the forward troops have entered Egypt, and the main forces of our army are gathering and camping on the Egyptian border. The staff officer put down the phone in his hand, raised his head and shouted loudly to Rommel, who was studying the map: "The armored units are still advancing slowly, and according to the plan, they will arrive at the designated position in two hours." ”

"All troops were ordered to slow down their march and expand the search area. Rommel looked away from the map and then gave the order: "Let the air force be dispatched, reconnoiter all suspicious areas, make sure that the flanks of the troops are free of enemy threats, and then set up a defensive line and wait for the arrival of the follow-up troops." ”

"General, do we really have to wait for Scherner's Army Group K to arrive in North Africa before starting the Egyptian campaign?" The staff officer was a little puzzled, it was not difficult for Rommel to win the battle in North Africa now, as long as Rommel showed the momentum of his crazy offensive in France, then Cairo could even be taken in 10 days.

"Don't be in a hurry, Chief of Staff. I could have ordered my troops to advance 200 kilometers a day if needed, but there was no point in doing so, the enemy was waiting for me to make a mistake, and this was their only chance to turn defeat into victory. Rommel smiled and said, "But as long as I don't make mistakes, then the North African campaign will inevitably be my final victory." What I have to do now is not to take the risk and win, but to hold on to the moment and wait for the victory. ”

It's not that Rommel doesn't want to attack, but Accardo ordered him to delay the time of the attack, Schellner, who is responsible for supporting Rommel to expand the North African battlefield, is now on the way, if the two armies converge, it is the critical moment for Accardo to kill in North Africa, Accardo hopes to make a time difference, so that the United States does not have time to increase troops in the Middle East, and Germany can drive straight into and occupy the world's largest oil production base.

However, even Accardo himself felt that it was impossible to hide the eyes of everyone from the movement of such a large corps, so he would open the prelude to the Balkan campaign at the same time, hoping to interfere with the sight of local spies in the chaos and achieve the purpose of confusing the public. As for the effect, only God himself knows.

"The fuel transport unit has just received news that a 30-man British assault detachment has appeared near Benghazi, but they have been spotted by our helicopter sweep unit, and after a fierce battle, the opposing side has lost 17 men and captured another 13. An officer walked in from outside the tent and handed Rommel a copy of the paper: "They have also sent the interrogation records of the prisoners, and there is some information that you need to see for yourself, General." ”

"What kind of intelligence?" Rommel was stunned for a moment, then took the report and found that the above problem was indeed quite serious - Britain was using some immature special forces in an attempt to build some attack bases on Rommel's long supply line, and then these troops would sabotage and attack Rommel's supply line and paralyze Rommel's logistics and transportation.

"What does the commander of the Italian army, who is in charge of road security in the back, say?" Rommel frowned and asked: "Send a telegram to General Garibaldi, asking him to urge the Italian troops in the rear to sweep away these enemy attack strongholds as much as possible." ”

"If Garibaldi's Blackshirts were allowed to turn back against these strongholds, they would still be able to win. Letting those second-rate Italian troops who don't even have basic supplies do this kind of thing is no different from sending weapons and ammunition to the other side. The staff officer was obviously not at ease with the combat effectiveness of the garrison troops in the Italian rear, and said: "Let's try it with the 'Desert Scorpion' special forces." ”

The Desert Scorpion is an elite special force characterized by desert special operations, with only 120 members, but this "company" is definitely not an ordinary company, but an "army aviation special force" that uses helicopters as its means of transportation. They are responsible for dealing with enemy stragglers scattered behind their own lines and protecting the supply routes of their main forces.

The force relied on helicopters to maneuver in the desert, so it came and went like the wind, relying on rockets from helicopters and 13mm heavy machine guns to provide fire suppression, which was more than enough to deal with British surprise detachments with only light weapons and armored vehicles. This force was formed at the behest of Accardo, because in another time and space, the British surprise attack detachment caused incalculable losses to Italy's logistical supplies.

However, now the situation has changed, and the maturity of the combat theory of the German special forces, as well as the research and development of special operations weapons, are more than a little more advanced than the British army. Although these German special forces could not be used as one on the frontal battlefield, they were like fish in water in such skirmishes.

Unfortunately, although this force has been divided into 4 groups to carry out tasks in different areas, it is still unable to protect the security of the entire supply line, and there are still a large number of defensive vacuum areas, as well as the areas that the Italian army is responsible for. The Italian units in these sections were unevenly combative, some were able to repel invading British squads, while others were able to collapse at the touch of a button.

Although the Germans had moved their supplies from the distant city of Tripoli to the newly restored and operational port of Brega. However, the long supply lines of the German army still had to pass through the entire Benghazi and Tobruk regions, so the German army's logistical supplies were once again stretched, and this time the Afrika Korps urgently needed to replenish not weapons and personnel, but ammunition and precious fresh water and oil.

In order to delay the German attack, he sent a small number of troops to carry out desert training to strengthen survival, and then secretly crossed the German defense line from the depths of the desert in an armored vehicle to attack the vulnerable German supply routes.

"Alright! Let the desert scorpion run more. After all, their way of fighting is more resource-efficient, and their losses are relatively small, which makes me very satisfied. Rommel nodded, then added: "Apply to the High Command and ask for more special forces." ”

"Yes!" the staff officer straightened up, turned and went to the telegraph room.

In northern Africa, where the yellow sand is the main theme, the two armies are not competing for courage or perseverance, but for every ton of oil and every shell transported from thousands of miles away.

For the first time in war, the advantages of every link were so clearly laid out that every commander could not avoid it, and every commander shook his head and sighed. In the end, shrewd command and whimsical tactics could not be separated from the logistics supply of truckloads of supplies, and they were inseparable from the boring statistics.

The job of deceiving the adversary has become extremely complicated, with countless supplies and a wide variety of equipment that need to be supported by a huge rear. How many rounds do a force need to replenish 7. 92 mm caliber bullets, 13 mm caliber machine gun ammunition, 20 mm caliber machine gun shells, how many 40 mm caliber anti-aircraft shells need to be transported, 75 mm anti-aircraft artillery shells, 88 mm artillery shells, 105 mm, 150 mm and so on and so on and so on. These munitions have to be manufactured, distributed and produced by the munitions departments in the rear, and there are not 10 or 7 departments that pass through them. If we count the clothes, tents, daily necessities, food, oil, and spare parts for equipment, and the salaries of the troops, the personnel on leave can boast about the mountains and mountains -- as long as one of the hundreds of links up and down is known to the enemy, then there is basically no secret to speak of.

Of course, the German Army Group K was moving towards North Africa little by little, and American spies already knew about it. A British spy at the Quartermaster Office had received an important piece of information that the Germans had urgently ordered a batch of North African summer uniforms, and the spy knew that the summer uniforms of Rommel's Army Group L had been sent to North Africa a month earlier.

The vulnerability was immediately discovered by US intelligence, who began to mobilize spies in Italy in the hope of finding some clues. As it turned out, the Italian intelligence services were not at least as good as the two German intelligence agencies. American intelligence in Italy got a hint they wanted to know: the Italian ships that arranged the transport, the formation of Army Group K, the approximate number of heavy weapons. If it weren't for the fact that the Italian transport clerk didn't know much about it, he probably would have told Schellner's underwear the color to his bold "American friends" who drank together.