81_81266A man dressed in a German major costume jumped off the ship's overhanging ladder, took a deep breath of fresh air, and closed his eyes feeling very satisfied. He was followed by two officers, a captain and a second lieutenant.

Not far away, a field vehicle painted in desert yellow was being transported off the ship by a group of shirtless Italian soldiers, and although it was only the middle of March, it was still hot on the ancient and mysterious African continent.

"I heard that General Keitel's Army Group B is moving into Dutch territory, and the Führer has made up his mind to support Rundstedt's Army Group A?" asked the major, putting on leather gloves to avoid sunburn.

The ensign nodded: "Britain is not an opponent that an army group can conquer, not to mention that we have been pumped out. ”

Two Italian officers approached him, their clothes covered with yellow sand and dust, and they looked a little wolf-like. However, it was clear that they had just returned from the desert in the distance, and that they had not suffered defeat.

"Welcome to Africa, General Rommel...... In order to deceive British intelligence, you had to come here in the costume of a major as a last resort. The Italian officer in charge of the reception stretched out his hand and shook Rommel's hand, and said with a smile.

Rommel walked to the car he had just put down with his hands behind his back, seemed very satisfied with the old Mercedes Benz that had followed him for many years, and said with a smile on his face: "It doesn't matter how you got here, the key depends on how you get there." ”

As he spoke, he pointed in the distant direction: "The Führer said to me, as promised to General Rundstedt, when I take Cairo, when I will give me the scepter of the marshal." ”

Speaking of this, he smiled slightly, and then spoke: "But my troops are still on the way, and this time your defeat has made the Führer very angry, and the surrender of the British, who had been negotiating, was terminated by your defeat. ”

"General, after the start of the war, oil imports from the Middle East were cut off by the British, and now Italy's fuel reserves cannot withstand depletion at all, and we in North Africa are Italy's only hope...... But the British were clearly better prepared than we were, and they had very elite infantry. The Italian officer explained.

"These are your problems, I'm only here for tourism this time. Rommel got into the open-top car, which had been unroofed, the second lieutenant had started the car, and the captain was in the co-pilot's seat.

Rommel said to the Italian officer who was standing by and did not know what to say: "If you are really in a hurry, then move the train as fast as possible, so that my troops can reach the port as soon as possible, and the other thing is to tell your leader, Mr. Sù, to prepare fuel and ensure the smooth transportation of ammunition......"

No one knows when the Italian army will be ready for war, but everyone knows that the Italian army in the ****** is almost the most capable army in the entire Italian kingdom, but unfortunately it was still lost to the British North African defenders who were far inferior to them.

Most of the British navy, which had lost its naval supremacy in the Mediterranean, either retreated into Egypt or directly into the Indian Ocean, but the Italian navy was unable to pursue the British navy due to lack of fuel and war preparations. Although the control and control of the British shipping line in the Mediterranean Sea were basically cut off, the Italian navy was unable to control the Suez Canal, and the only shelling of Egypt was the sinking of a destroyer by the British air force.

As for Italy, the air force, which can be described as shabby compared to the Luftwaffe, has rejuvenated itself in North Africa. Italian aircraft are very mediocre, but they are large and durable, making them ideal for use in a vast region like North Africa.

Of course, the most elite batch of Italian air force fighter units now use ME-109C fighters, the number of which is as many as 300, and Italy has purchased a production license for this aircraft, and the number of such fighters in the Italian army continues to rise.

Rommel's new Army Group L was not an Italian unit, but a regular German main army with four infantry corps and the German 7th Panzer Corps, with a total strength of more than 300,000 troops. The entire army group had as many as 1,400 vehicles, and the 7th Panzer Corps, after being reinforced, had 3 tank divisions with as many as 800 tanks.

One can imagine how huge the amount of food and oil that such a behemoth needs to consume every day, plus the ammunition needed for combat and the replenishment of worn parts, the logistics are enough to make people have a headache.

Therefore, since Italy was defeated by the British army in North Africa and had to ask the Germans for help, the Italian leader Mussolini personally inspected the logistics preparations of the Italian army for the North African operation, and before the German troops entered Africa, he barely prepared the logistics such as transportation and supplies in the direction of North Africa, and even did not hesitate to transfer a part of the Italian army's supplies, so that the logistics supply of the German Army Group L reached the level of 90%.

This level of logistics supply is actually very high, you must know that the supply of logistics materials is nothing more than about 85% of the level of the German ** team, and the transportation and distribution of some minor items will be slow for several days. However, this achievement of the German army has already embarrassed Italy, which is a mess of supplies.

Italy's troop supplies can only be maintained at 60% of the level, and this fragile supply rate allows Italian troops to only play 50% or even 40% of their combat capability. If we calculate that the combat level of the Italian army itself is only 80 percent of the combat level of the British ** team, then the actual combat effectiveness of the Italian army can be easily converted into about one-third of the British ** team.

"In two months' time, I'm going to fight back here. Standing on the seat of the car, Rommel looked at the barbed wire fence in the distance and the defensive positions of the Italian defenders in the distance, and muttered to himself: "Counting the Italian troops, I will have about 600,000 combat troops in my hands, which is twice as many as the British." If there is enough fuel, ammunition and food, will it be too fast to hit Tobruk in one go?"

A gust of wind and sand blew and hit the windshield of the car, making a crackling sound, and everyone subconsciously covered their eyes. The lieutenant leaned on the steering wheel, cursing at the ghost weather he had never seen before.

"The desert is flat, with only hills and vast flat terrain. Rommel excitedly ignored the yellow sand and shouted loudly: "This is the paradise of the armored forces! Give me 1,000 tanks here and I will be able to sweep through the air!" Haha! If I win the battle against the British, I will be the German field marshal!"

Shouting and shouting, his voice changed its taste, and after the wind and sand passed, he spat and spat out a mouth full of sand. Then I found that my mouth was still astringent, and I could still feel the squeak of sand rubbing against my teeth.

From then on, he will stay away from the main battlefield in Europe and fight his own piece of the sky here, he is the supreme commander here, commanding a qiē, and also responsible for a qiē operation. If he wins, he will win the same honor as Brauchitsch, and if he fails, he will die in the sand.

His Luftwaffe fighter unit had been modified in Italy by mechanics to install special air filters and other equipment to adapt the expensive fighters to the desert climate of North Africa, and a full 300 fighters and 200 old Stukas and 150 Do-217s were assigned to his command to ensure air supremacy over his regiment.

I have to say that since there is a new Stuka 2 attack aircraft, Germany's attack aircraft forces are gradually eliminating Stuka, so this time Catherine of the Air Force was able to generously take out 200 Stuka to support Rommel, more with the mentality of using old things than reluctantly parting love. Of course, there is no doubt that these aircraft were more than a little more advanced than the fighters used by the British in North Africa.

Of course, German tanks and armored vehicles are also receiving the camouflage paint of desert yellow, and at the same time, the engines are also in full swing to install air filtration systems suitable for use in desert areas, temporary sleeping bags and windproof tents are distributed to troops, and dozens of desalination systems have also been transported to Italian ports for delivery to ******.

The gray classic German ** team clothing can no longer be used, and is replaced by the same style German ** clothing produced with pale yellow fabric produced by a cloth factory in Italy. In some places, improvements have been made to suit the desert geography, such as the neckline, which can be tightened.

According to the preliminary investigation and the advice of experts, Rommel's L Army also temporarily customized 3,000 goggles in Italy, which were distributed to tank commanders and drivers, reconnaissance troops and car drivers, and all the troops were conducting various survival training in the desert, including camping in the wilderness and how to avoid sandstorms.

Another problem that plagued Rommel was that Italy's transport capacity could not guarantee that all of his troops would be in place, and that his troops could not be all in place, Italy claimed that they could only transport about 30,000 men and equipment to Africa at the same time, while Rommel himself knew that Army Group L, which claimed to be 350,000 troops, was in fact only 150,000 men, and the other 200,000 were still being trained and recruited.

"Let's see how good the British are in Africa. Rommel finally spit out the sand in his mouth, sat back in the car, and looked at the major dress on his body that had been blown by the yellow sand: "It seems that the Italian officer was not so sloppy originally, and I have lived here for a few days, so I guess it is the same." ”。