In General Mountbatten's office, a group of staff officers were busy. After the oil line was ignited, the American forces quickly retreated to the third line of defense. All the front-line airfields had already been planted with explosives, and where there were none, oil had been planted, in a word, nothing was left for the Germans.

In the rear oil-producing areas, a large number of American and British soldiers were stationed, which was also a plan drawn up in combination with the tactics of the Germans in the previous campaign. Mountbatten looked at the reports and battle records of the Soviet-German battlefield and the North African theater, and he believed that the main reason for the defeat of the Anglo-American alliance was that the German army often used innovative tactics to induce the opponent to make wrong judgments.

For example, the German army likes to use helicopters as a new type of technology to quickly project troops and sweep occupied areas, for example, the German paratroopers are unpredictable and often appear in the deadliest places, for example, the German army has an elite special forces in their hands, and they always use indiscriminate means to suddenly use cold arrows.

The Germans extended a linear battlefield, blurring the front line and the rear, forming a new method of air and ground integration and in-depth assault.

It was only after this conclusion that the senior commanders of the United States and Great Britain realized how terrible the Germans really were, and in just twenty years, they had completed the transformation and understanding of future warfare while breaking the limits of Versailles.

Although there has not yet been a generational gap between the two sides in terms of weaponry, the German generals are indeed a generation more advanced than Britain, the United States, and other countries in terms of the command form of the two sides and the understanding of the capabilities of the opponent's troops, and this generational difference in command consciousness has made the myth of the invincibility of the German army on the battlefield.

After analyzing the German army's means of warfare, Mountbatten drew up a new set of defense plans. He no longer concentrated his forces on the Suez Canal defense line, after all, the Germans would have too many loopholes to exploit.

In fact, the Allies had lost much hope for the defense of the Middle East, and the original plan of Roosevelt and other high-level Americans was to prevent Accardo from using the Middle East oil fields to further strengthen the war potential of the Third Reich. So the Allied understanding of the defensive war in the Middle East is actually very simple: it is not so much to defend as to destroy.

Therefore, Mountbatten was determined to prevent the surprise attack of the German special forces to seize the oil field facilities, and also to prevent the sudden airborne landing of German paratroopers and other means to occupy the oil field area. To this end, he scattered his forces throughout the Middle East, without concentrating them near the line of defense. This effectively prevented the Germans from using new tactics to raid the oil fields, but left the forces too scattered to withstand a frontal German attack.

Fortunately, Mountbatten never had the luxury of holding the Suez Canal line. All he has to do is stall for time and give him the opportunity to turn the entire Middle East into a sea of fire. The burning oil can not only slow down the pursuit of the German army, but also consume oil resources, destroy oil-producing equipment and factories, and make it completely impossible for Germany to use Middle East oil to expand its production capacity in a short period of time after occupying the Middle East.

What's more, after the oil is burned, it not only pollutes the environment and destroys the equipment, but also has a lot of toxic gases permeating the burning area. In this way, Germany wants to use Middle Eastern oil, at least in two years. And for Britain and the United States two years, it is difficult to say how the situation in the world has become.

Judging from the current situation, it was only a matter of time before the allied forces of the United States, Iceland, Britain, the Soviet Union, and China defeated Japan. Importantly, in two years, the United States, having defeated Japan, will have more warships, and it is not impossible to defeat the German fleet in the Atlantic. So the United States needs these two years, and Iceland and the United Kingdom, which happen to hug the thigh of the United States, also need it.

"Report! The entire second line of defense has now been ignited, and the parts that have not been accidentally ignited, we have already completed the ignition ourselves. 40,000 tons of crude oil will definitely make the Germans stand still for a long time. A staff officer triumphantly reported. It is a very proud thing to be able to stop the German army from advancing, and the generals who can do this are all high-profile generals in the Allied sequence. Mountbatten's first battle after arriving in the Middle East was able to deflate the desert fox, which exceeded everyone's expectations.

Mountbatten was not carried away by the advantages he had already achieved, and he was able to become the number one in the Asian theater of the British Empire, and his mind was mature and steady enough. He looked at the map in front of him, pressed his finger to the red line that represented the flame, and didn't speak for a moment.

He was calculating Rommel's countermeasures, after all, the fire after the oil was ignited was not so easy to extinguish. If Rommel tried to make a quick pursuit, he would have had to rush out of the fire from a few preset positions.

He had already laid mines in those places, which was a big reason for the chaotic and slow retreat of the American and British troops. Coupled with the British death squads and the blocking of the American Royal Highness troops, the Germans should not be able to bargain.

Thinking of this, he withdrew his fingers, then turned around and ordered to his assistant: "Let all the air defense units enter the alert, and the defenders of the oil fields will immediately enter the combat state, as long as there is any trouble, there is no need to consult the headquarters, and the blasting plan can be directly executed." ”

After saying his order, Mountbatten finally felt a little lighter. The German army did not strategically bomb the oil fields in the Middle East, but they were considering the possibility of seizing the oil fields. Mountbatten drew up a-for-tat plan for the defense of the oil fields, so for him, this time Rommel could not bargain for anything in any way.

In the distance, directly opposite the Mountbatten headquarters, on the embankment of the Suez Canal, next to Rommel's command car, the atmosphere in the German command headquarters seemed a little heavy. The desert fox Rommel's planned operation to force the Suez Canal was successfully completed, but everyone was not happy.

The sudden oil war of American tyrants made the German army, which was stretched thin in terms of oil resources, realize the cruelty of the battle. The battle plan that was originally drawn up now seems to be basically unusable.

Rommel looked at General Frederick, an infantry warrior who had just returned from the frontline battlefield, and asked the topic he was most interested in: "Is there a ......problem with the strength of the American defensive line?"

General Frederick grabbed his steel helmet, brushed the golden hair on his forehead, pointed to the map and said, "Marshal." According to my experience with the U.S. military, the U.S. military has only about 4 to 7 divisions on the front line, and the firepower is not much. This is not a preparation to defend the defensive line, this is the way to delay the offensive of our army. ”

Rommel nodded, Frederick was the most capable general under his command, and the commander of the 7th Army, the most elite infantry corps of the Afrika Korps, in this case, what he analyzed was often the most intuitive and correct.

Since the American and British armies did not concentrate so many main forces on the frontal battlefield, it is self-evident where these forces were. It seems that the opponent already knows exactly what the Germans really want, and is ready to destroy it.

At such a time, risking the use of special forces and paratroopers to raid those oil fields and factories is obviously sending the enemy a record of success. Even if the German paratroopers and special forces had obvious numerical superiority, they could not waste the elite so no chance of winning. The enemy is waiting for the Germans to throw themselves into the net near these intended targets, and then send people to their deaths, it would be complete fools.

Combined with some ground photos provided by the German reconnaissance plane, Rommel smiled bitterly, and then looked at his favorite general and Marshal Garibaldi, who was a little further away: "Originally, it was planned to use special forces and paratroopers to cooperate with armored forces to surprise and capture about one-tenth of the oil fields." Now it seems that this plan is too optimistic for us......"

Then Rommel, Germany's supreme commander in Africa and one of the three marshals of the army, finally made up his mind: "Since you won't let me take my fair share, then don't even think about taking your part!"

After muttering this, he immediately turned to Garibaldi and the air force liaison officer, pointed to some markings on the map, and gave his combat order: "Immediately dispatch all air forces and destroy all oil fields and facilities in these places at any cost! including oil fields, oil processing plants, oil pipelines, and reserve areas! All of them!"

"Hiss......" Garibaldi gasped, and Rommel was terrified by his boldness to change the battle plan. Even if you know that the opponent is prepared, but so many resources are said to give up, it takes great courage: "Dispatch the entire air force, even our rags?"

"Yes! As many as you want, you will dispatch as many as you want! According to the comparison of aerial photographs detected by the reconnaissance plane, all suspicious targets will be destroyed!" Rommel did not hesitate at all, and said firmly: "Since they don't want it, and they don't want us to want it, then burn them all!"

Maybe three months ago, Rommel would have hesitated to make this decision lightly. But now that Libya's oil fields have begun to produce oil, Rommel's Afrika Korps is not as rich as the Middle East, but it also has a lot less scruples and worries. That's why Rommel immediately began to counterattack, using air superiority to defuse the enemy's delaying tactics.

About an hour after Rommel changed his battle plan, German DO-217 bombers once again appeared in the sky over the battlefield. This time, however, the planes did not drop their bombs on the heads of the American troops on the front line, and their engines flew over the sky with a roar, towards their targets.