81_81266 Accardo looked at the map of Britain in front of him with his hands behind his back, and he did not rush to the Soviet-German war front, because he knew that there was a more detailed battle plan there, which was enough to hold the situation on the Western Front.

The war did not go exactly according to his plan, and although the Soviet Red Army was not ready for war, Stalin's conceit made him decide to go to war when the Germans were not ready. Stalin felt that the Germans were not capable of attacking Britain and holding their Eastern Front at the same time, and that the Soviet Union could easily plant the red flag of victory on the roof of the Führer's residence in Berlin as long as the war began.

Accardo was not in a hurry to launch a full-scale counterattack against the Soviet Union at this time, and his intention from the beginning was to seize the British islands and create an absolutely safe Atlantic barrier. It is used to completely stifle the US attempt to attack Europe.

While God has given the United States a unique defensive environment, it has also dug a huge pit for the United States that is inconvenient to attack. Accardo did not believe that the United States would dare to counterattack Germany across the Atlantic and fight a landing war with Germany on the English Isle. Therefore, as long as Britain is defeated, even if the United States wants to stab it in the future, it will never be able to directly burn the flames of war to the European continent -- then Germany can truly defend itself against the enemy outside the country.

At that time, the main battlefield was North Africa and the Eastern Front, and Accardo was confident that Rommel would play a different outcome in North Africa, as long as he withstood the pressure of the Soviets, Accardo concentrated his forces on sweeping the remnants of the British forces in North Africa...... When the German armored forces entered Cairo, the restored Jews, the powerful Germans, the Italians, the Turks, these forces were enough to make the Middle East a mess, and the Suez Canal and North African resources were all in the hands of Accardo, and at that time, what was the United States?

Powerful industry? Germany also has the world's resources? Eurasia, Africa, and Africa are only fighting North and South America! Therefore, Arkado knows better than anyone that the seemingly messy world pattern is actually clear, and as long as it takes North Africa and holds its position on the eastern front to defeat the Soviet Red Army, Germany will be a well-deserved hegemon in the world.

The reason is very simple: At that time, Germany was a continental country with unlimited room for expansion and partners, while the United States, on the other hand, had an enviable geographical advantage that became a fatal limitation, and the expansion of alliances after the finalization was of course inferior to Germany, which straddled Asia, Europe and Africa.

Therefore, in Accardo's opinion, as long as he wins two wars, his road to supremacy will be smooth. However, he also knew that winning the war in North Africa and defeating the Soviet Red Army were two huge problems that would not be as easy as they seemed. Because the outcome of these two battlefields was obviously unknown, it was easy for the Americans to intervene and turn these two battlefields into a dead end that the Germans did not want to see.

Of course, North Africa and the Eastern Front still seem a bit far away, because the war on British soil is not over. The fighting in London was fierce, and the fierce fighting that had been going on for a month was still going on, and the news of the Soviet Union's declaration of war on Germany and Italy encouraged Churchill to be at the end of his rope and strengthened his determination to hold London.

"How does it feel to go to Africa?" Accardo suddenly asked, asking his confidant Rommel who had been standing behind him silently.

"My Führer, Italy has quite a few troops in North Africa, but they are not very combative. These troops waste most of their supplies and limit the size of our future troop commitments in Africa. ”

Accardo nodded, Rommel had said that he was aware of all this. Italy's investment in North Africa is not insignificant, and in all fairness, the combat effectiveness is okay, these troops still helped the German ** team a lot, at least without them the German Afrika Korps could not have gained a foothold in North Africa.

However, he still spoke: "Erwin, I know that you don't like the combat capabilities of these Italian troops, but they are at least numerically superior, and we must also rely on Italian troops in North Africa, because the war on the Eastern Front has begun, and we really can't spare much troops to support you." ”

"In this case, I really don't have much certainty, and my troops may not be able to hit Tobruk. Rommel was clearly not satisfied with the number of troops at his disposal, after all, he was now in charge of attacking in one direction, and the numerical disadvantage made him feel a little uneasy.

He pointed to the map and continued: "Now only a part of the 7th Panzer Division and 2 divisions of infantry have been transported to North Africa, and I think I should at least wait until the 7th Panzer Division is fully transported before I have some chance of winning." ”

"Oh, don't wait for the follow-up troops, just fight back?" asked Accardo with a raised eyebrow and a smile.

"No, as long as the 7th Panzer Division arrives, I am confident that I will defeat the British forces here and here, and counterattack on this line. Rommel replied confidently.

In order to confuse the British troops, he ordered his men to repeatedly pass by the viewing platform in empty trucks to be inspected by Italian officers in North Africa. He then camouflaged the bushes with sticks and tents, forcing British reconnaissance planes to triple the size of the German armored forces. Now the British army is facing the retreating Italian troops, and the main reason why they are not fully pressed is that they overestimate the strength of the German Afrika Korps.

Rommel took advantage of his delaying tactics to get the British to abandon the offensive on their own initiative, and with less than one Panzer Corps, they stopped the British plan to occupy ****** without firing a single shot. Of course, the large-scale presence of the Luftwaffe in North Africa was also an important reason for Britain to stop the offensive, after all, losing air supremacy in the local battlefield was not good news for any general.

While Accardo was talking to Rommel, Montgomery, who had just arrived on the front line in North Africa, was also persuading his superiors: "General, the Germans must not be as strong as we seem to be, and the Italians should be knocked out to the sea in one go!"

"Oh, you said that the reconnaissance information provided by the Air Force is fake, how can you see it?" The old general was obviously unwilling to take the risk, and just asked lightly.

"Although the Italian ME-109C fighter is not as powerful as the German FW-190D fighter, it is still more than enough for air defense operations in North Africa, and our fighters are not yet advantageous, let alone reconnaissance aircraft!" Montgomery said, pointing to intelligence on the table.

The old general waved his hand, still unwilling to believe his deputy. After all, this subordinate who had fought with the Germans had not been victorious, but had been sent to North Africa to replace his old partner.

He seriously suspected that this General Montgomery had been frightened by the Germans, and had even lost the fearlessness that a British general should have. So he was now unenthusiastic about Montgomery attacking the Italian troops before the Germans arrived: "General Montgomery, the Italian defense line has been strengthened by the Germans, this is the intelligence provided by the Air Force, you can't dismiss this evidence because of your own subjective suspicions." ”

"In that stack of information, there is an analysis of the logistics and supply of the Italians, and there are reports on their transport capacity, which can be corroborated, and the German troops will not appear in North Africa on such a large scale so quickly!" Montgomery was about to be by the old stubbornness above him, he just didn't want to act, which left him with no way at all.

It was clear that the defeat of the Italian North African army was enough for the veteran general to enjoy for a while, so he was in no hurry to create a greater feat to retain his title of commander-in-chief of the British army in North Africa. Montgomery could guess, however, that Germany was rushing troops to North Africa.

Britain now has about 250,000 troops in North Africa, but it can not push so many troops to the front line, after all, it also has to defend Egypt, Somalia and other regions, so the British troops on the front line are actually less than Italy, only a little more than 160,000, and most of them are locals.

It can be said that this force is still very abundant to fight 350,000 Italian troops, after all, as mentioned earlier, the actual combat effectiveness of 350,000 North African Italian troops is only 130,000 at most. In Rommel's eyes, the rest of the rabble is basically waste of food. Of course, garbage has a use for garbage, to help the main forces hold the rear, these troops can still complete the task.

Because more and more Luftwaffe appeared in the skies over North Africa these days, and there were even instances of German dive bombers starting to attack British supply bases in droves, Montgomery became more and more anxious about the situation in North Africa. The main reason was that Montgomery knew very well that as long as more than 100,000 German soldiers and an armored unit arrived here, the British soldiers on the front line were in danger of being wiped out.

Therefore, he has recently been doing his best to strengthen the defense of the fortress of Tobruk, hoping to use this fortress to stop the German attack in the future and save the British expeditionary force in North Africa. He himself rushed to the front, hoping to convince his immediate superiors to launch an offensive before the Germans were ready, disrupting the enemy's strategic deployment.

But apparently he failed.

"Intelligence shows that the Germans have appeared in North Africa, and we have not been able to stop the German sea forces. The old general pointed to the map and said: "A few hours ago we intercepted a telegram from the Germans to the Italian North African High Command, using the Italian cipher that we have cracked. ”

"Oh, what does that say?" asked Montgomery quickly.

"Above is the letter of appointment that informed the Italian officer, Erwin Rommel was appointed supreme commander of the Italian North African Army and the German Afrika Korps. The old general replied: "Our opponent is coming." ”。