81_81266 "The Italian transport ship has just set sail from the southern port and is expected to arrive in ****** this time tomorrow. A staff officer stood behind Rommel and opened a paper to report on the logistics and supply process of the German Afrika Korps.

"Fuel is drawn from the Italian 1st Army, tell them that my troops will strike back in three hours, and let them get all the fuel out for us!" Rommel replied with a smile as he tapped his finger on the map.

The deputy of the Afrika Korps, the Italian general General Garibaldi, frowned when he heard this, and had to persuade him: "General Rommel, all the oil of the 1st Army?

"Either I'll give you all the fuel in my hand, and your 1st Army will attack, and we'll just empty the shelves. Rommel said without looking back.

If Italy's 1st Army had been able to counterattack, Mussolini, the arrogant leader of Italy, would not have sent a dozen telegrams a day to Berlin, asking Accardo for help. So the Italian general Garibaldi immediately shut his mouth.

However, there were still people who did not want to see Rommel take the risk to stand up, and the commander of the 7th Panzer Division stepped forward and said: "General, the 7th SS Panzer Division is still in Italy, and the 17th Infantry Division is also on the way, relying on us and the 7th Infantry Corps...... Isn't it a little too rushed?"

Frederick is now the commander of the 7th Infantry Corps, and his old unit, the 7th Infantry Division, has been expanded into the current Afrika Korps 7th Infantry Corps, and now he has a lot of good things in his hands, not even in the main infantry army.

For example, in his infantry corps, the armored infantry division is the closest to full strength, with seven armored battalions, equipped with the latest Leopard tank turf modified new assault gun "Cheetah", and equipped with more trucks and 105 mm self-propelled howitzers modified from Tank 2.

If you count the 150 old No. 2 tanks that were given to Rommel for free, it can be said that Rommel's Afrika Korps is more mobile and flexible than the average German unit. The disadvantage, of course, was that the troops were very fuel-guzzling, so the troops in Germany were not reinforced on such a large scale in most cases.

"General" Frederick looked at the map, pointed to the British line of defense that Rommel was about to break through, and said: "The Army General Staff asked us to come here, and the order was to stabilize the situation in Africa, not to let us counterattack." ”

Rommel stopped looking at the map, looked back at Frederick, and then asked: "Do you think that if the Führer and the High Command want us to defend, then why don't you send the experienced Liszt or Modell?"

He pointed to the map as he spoke: "Our reconnaissance force has found the junction between their two armies, we can drive straight into this place as long as we tear it apart, the supply lines of the British are too long, and by the time they stabilize their position, we will already be in Tobruk." ”

"What is the explanation from the Army General Staff? We have just received a telegram from them telling us to try to stabilize the situation, and we have started to attack...... To do this is not to take Marshal Brauchitsch into account. ”

"We are here to bring victory back to Germany, to reward the Führer's trust...... As for the others, do I need to care about other people's thoughts?" Rommel sneered, then looked at the commander of the Italian army, General Garibaldi: "Within two hours I will have fuel and ammunition ready, and three hours later, at 5:30 in the morning, the Afrika Korps will attack on time." ”

"Yes!" replied Frederick and the commander of the 7th Panzer Division.

With an order, the German army was in full preparation for battle. The 17th Infantry Division, which had just arrived in North Africa, was responsible for covering the flanks, the 27th Infantry Division was responsible for securing the rear supply lines, and the front was all handed over to the 7th and 7th Armored Infantry Divisions, which were to depart in the early hours of the morning and launch a full-scale assault on the British at dawn.

Since Rommel was able to win the reputation of the desert fox in later generations, he was naturally not a fierce general like Cheng Biting Jin who only knew how to attack, and he organized the attack more by means of cunning and changeable warfare, rather than brute force in a desperate battle.

This time, he put the 7th Armored Infantry Division, the main force of infantry, on the front, and then let go of the large-scale detour task to the more mobile 7th Armored Division, which he prepared to use the 7th Armored Infantry Division to cut into the junction of the two British armies and fight a seemingly classic armored blitzkrieg.

In this way, the British defenders, who did not know their true strength, would definitely take a counterattack, and he knew that the best way to counterattack was actually to flank the German 7th Infantry Division that broke through to the center. As a result, the two British units were stuck by the 7th Panzer Infantry Division in front.

Subsequently, the 7th Armored Division, the main force of his outer circle, would enter the battlefield from the southern area, cut through the British troops on one side in one fell swoop, and after saving the dangerous 7th Armored Infantry Division, he would cut into the British defense line on the other side and use an "unreasonable hand" to completely disrupt the battle deployment of the British defenders.

Once this plan succeeded, Rommel's Afrika Korps would destroy the British defenders on the front, seize the enemy's command hub and supply base, swallow up the collapsed forces of the British front, and then march eastward to hunt down the remnants of the British defeat.

The 40 Stuka bombers were to visit the defensive positions of the British defenders before the attack was launched, and the Italian artillery was to shell the British positions 10 minutes in advance.

After General Garibaldi heard Rommel's order, he nodded and did not talk nonsense, since Mussolini had strictly ordered the Italian army in North Africa to cooperate with the actions of the German Afrika Korps, and handed over the supreme command to Rommel, then he, as Mussolini's confidant, could not get along with his master. So he immediately ordered the fuel of the Italian 1st Army to be transported to the German ** garrison, without even the slightest hesitation.

Of course, he was not idle, but sent Mussolini a very vaguely worded telegram, which claimed that the German Army General Staff ordered Rommel to hold the line. After saying this, he didn't say anything else, he meant to let Mussolini analyze the priorities himself.

Unbeknownst to him, the telegram, like other Italian cables, had been intercepted by British intelligence officers. Only half an hour later, the message was placed on Montgomery's desk like a treasure.

"Rommel was ordered to defend? shouldn't it...... According to the habit of the German Führer, if Germany had made up its mind to defend, it would have brought in more stable generals, and it was not normal to use such a young Rommel. Montgomery held his chin and stared at the intelligence with a puzzled face: "Whether this Rommel is the cousin of the Polish War or the French War, he is famous for his offensive operations, there is no reason." ”

"But the contents of this telegram can never be wrong, so it is impossible for Rommel to go against the decision of the Chief of the General Staff, Brauchitsch, and we are safe for the time being. At Montgomery's side, the commander-in-chief of the British North African Expeditionary Force looked at the map triumphantly, his reinforcements would soon arrive, and the line would be firmly in the vicinity of ******.

"It's been a month of street fighting in London, and the outcome is still unclear. Montgomery rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed: "If Churchill hadn't removed me in the first place, maybe the current front would have just reached the vicinity of Cambridge." ”

The old general pointed to several areas on the map and said: "It's too late to say anything, all we can do is to fight the battle in North Africa so that Churchill can hold out on to his homeland longer." ”

"The Americans are going to war?" Montgomery asked suddenly.

The old general nodded and said: "A telegram from Iceland that a heavily armed American armored division has boarded the ship a few days ago and is making a detour to Egypt. However, they still had no intention of declaring war on Germany, and the division was formed in the form of volunteers. At the same time, a British infantry regiment in Saudi Arabia, a Canadian infantry division, and an Australian volunteer division also came to fight in Africa, with almost more than 50,000 troops. ”

Montgomery was stunned for a moment, then nodded in satisfaction. A division in the United States is much more "substantial" than a division in the hands of the British now, and this division has 30,000 people, and the British can barely make up more than 200,000 troops with reinforcements. So in the face of more and more German troops in Rommel's hands, Montgomery also seemed to have some confidence.

"Because this coalition force of more than 50,000 people needs to be hosted and adapted to desert combat training. So the Icelandic government wants you to go back to Egypt and be responsible for the training and command of these soldiers, including the two tank divisions that the United States has helped us to build, and will form a new army, the 8th Army. The old general said, "The commander is you, Montgomery...... And these units on the front line will be integrated into the 9th Army. ”

"When am I leaving?" Montgomery asked. Being able to command an army group independently was the most beneficial outcome Montgomery could think of right now, and he felt like he might go crazy if he kept giving it to others. After all, he now feels that many of the British combat plans in North Africa are wrong, but he himself has no power to correct these mistakes.

"Let's go now, the plane is ready for you. "It seems that the old general also hopes that this subordinate, who is always giving advice, will get out of here