The attack of the Second Army was very sharp, and after conquering Selum in one day, it conquered the coastal cities of Sidi Barani, Matru, and Fukai in half a month, and its troops had already occupied Deba and pointed directly at El Alamein.

In this series of battles, the Second Army fully appreciated the diversity of the British army.

At Sidi Barani, the 25th Division of the Anglo-Indian Army allowed the Fourth Army to stop there for three days. After the battle, it was learned that the soldiers of this unit were basically composed of Sikhs, and their brave and warlike state made the officers and men of the Fourth Dispel the notion that the British and Indian troops were all waste. However, although its combat effectiveness was good, the Fourth Army was more elite, but in order to reduce casualties, the Fourth Army fought more slowly.

Later, the Fourth Army encountered the Australian 4th Division at Matru, which fought very tenaciously. In addition, Matrouh is the only large port city in western Egypt, and in order to ensure the integrity of the port as much as possible, the Fourth Army can only grind a little bit.

In the end, it took four days to conquer the area, driving the remnants of the 4th Australian Division, the 25th and 37th Divisions of the British and Indian Army out of Matru, leaving a relatively intact port.

At this time, Admiral Gardner, taking into account the state of the Fourth Army's continuous march and operation, sent the Tenth Army to take the lead. The subsequent battles at Fucay and Deba were the responsibility of the 10th Army.

In these two battles, because Deba's enemy was the Anglo-Indian army, which was relatively weak, it was easy to fight. And the enemy of Fouquet was the 3rd South African Division, which had strong combat effectiveness and was not so comfortable to fight. At this time, the South African army was all conscripted local whites, and blacks were not even qualified to join the army.

At this time, there was widespread skepticism about the ability of blacks to fight wars, believing that they were too primitive to train them into armies. (Major General Forbeck has something to say at this time)

With the exception of France, which suffered heavy casualties, the black army was organized into an army and placed on the Western Front, no other country took on the task of attacking and defending the black army, and they all took it as a vigilance. You can't use them to transport supplies, or you'll find that supplies will be shipped to their destination for a lot less, especially alcohol, cigarettes, and other valuable items.

The black army sent by France to fill in the battle line was also very poor in combat, and its lack of military knowledge and laziness made it the best position for the German army to break through.

For this reason, the French could only let them take on some auxiliary tasks, and for this reason they made some troubles, they stole in the rear, and harassed French women, and even women who were not afraid of death slept with black soldiers. I just don't know what to do if he sees a black-skinned child after his husband returns.

And the Second Army, which had reached Deba, did not continue to attack. Instead, they constantly strengthened the fortifications and waited for the arrival of large forces. What made the commander of the Second Army, Admiral Gardner, so nervous, was it because Deba was only 40 kilometers away from El Alamein,

El Alamein's location is very important, as it is the western extension of the Taka Plateau. Except for the El Alamein Flat, which is close to the sea, the rest of the area is bare mountainous terrain, and 40 kilometers south of El Alamein is the Katara Depression, which is full of salt lakes, swamps, salt pans and sand dunes, and the logistics cannot keep up with the attack. Further south is the Great Desert, where no one wants to eat sand.

So El Alamein became a strategic point in the western part of Egypt, and as long as it was not breached, then Egypt would not be occupied by the enemy in the west. Conversely, if it were breached, the enemy would be able to pounce on Alexandria and the rich Nile Delta.

It was here that the German-Italian forces were defeated by the British in World War II, and Rommel's dream of capturing Egypt was shattered. This time, the British had not only several fortified positions on the El Alamein line, but also a lot of minefields.

The commander of the British army in Egypt, Admiral Archibald Murray, has a total of 31 divisions in this area, with a total strength of 430,000 people, more than 1,700 cannons, and three strong defensive lines, each of which is 2-3 kilometers apart.

At this time, Admiral Murray's arrangement has already been seen, this is the way to fight a dumb battle in a tough village, don't think about playing tricks and fighting for consumption.

Don't think it's a big deal, it's already amazing. First of all, you need to choose the place where the enemy has to fight, and then you have to be able to consume it steadily, and will not be attacked by the enemy's various tactics, so that the enemy can only be slowly consumed. And Alamein's terrain also gave him this confidence. Without breaking through El Alamein, the Italian army could not attack Alexandria, it could only fight, it had to fight, and it would not work if it did not fight.

As for the enemy to put up a turtle formation, Prince Filipto, as the commander of the Italian army, felt a little embarrassed by this. Because the position chosen by the enemy is too good, three lines of defense in succession plus sufficient troops, let the elite soldiers led by him fight with the enemy's patchwork troops, which is a big loss.

For this purpose he was ready to use a secret weapon, for which he sent a telegram to Rome.

And his secret weapon is the tank that Italy has studied for a long time.

That's right, tanks. Since the beginning of the project, Italy has been secretly studying tanks for ten years.

Thanks to Italy's strict secrecy (under the cover of construction machinery and heavy tracked vehicles), the Allies did not find out until the beginning of the war. In fact, not only the Entente, but also Germany and Austria did not know that their allies had done this thing.

In fact, the reason for this, in addition to using other vehicles as a cover, is that these developed tanks are produced in small quantities for testing. In addition, when conducting off-road tests, the turret and weapons are not installed directly, can a person who has never seen a tank guess what this thing is?

At present, the Italian army is secretly equipped with two tanks, one is the CV5 light tank. It is 3.3 meters long, 1.5 meters wide, 1.36 meters high, weighs 4.7 tons, has no turret, and has a crew of two (driver and commander).

It is armed with two Maxim heavy machine guns on the front of the body. It is also equipped with a 36 hp petrol engine, which allows the tank to reach a maximum speed of 31 km/h. Moreover, the tank has 20 mm frontal armor, which is effective against rifle and machine gun fire. Of course, the most satisfying thing for the military is that this small tank has excellent climbing ability and can fight in the mountains.

At present, the tank units in the hands of Prince Filipbeto do not have this tank.

There is also the CV7 tank, which has a total length of 5.1 meters, a width of 1.82 meters, a height of 2.1 meters, a weight of 10.3 tons, a rotating turret, and a crew of four. The CV7 is armed with a 57 mm short-barreled cannon and three Maxim machine guns. It is also equipped with a 63 hp diesel engine, which can propel the tank to a top speed of 23 kilometers per hour. In terms of armor, the tank was armored with 11-35 mm armor steel.

This tank is the unit of the armored regiment in the hands of Prince Filiberto. The regiment is armed with 92 CV7 tanks, has two tank battalions, as well as a maintenance transport battalion.

In order to transport these CV7 tanks, Fiat has also developed a 10-wheeled heavy truck with a load of up to 12 tons.

At this time, in order to break the situation, Prince Filiberto intends to make the tank a new weapon come to the fore.

"Report, telegram from Rome."

A report interrupted Prince Filipto's train of thought, and instead of being angry, he was expecting some good news from Rome.

After receiving the telegram, Prince Filiberto was stunned at a glance. Because this telegram has only one word, agree.

Needless to say, the only person who could send a telegram in such a style was his own cousin of the king.

At this time, Prince Filipbeto was overjoyed. "Immediately order the commanders of the various units to come to the meeting, and I will issue combat missions."

"Yes."

Yes, Prince Filiberto has already drawn up a battle plan, and he almost cut the tip of the butter knife, although he has a regimental tank, but how to use it and when to use it, it is better to say it. Although my cousin is good to himself, there are some things that are better to be cautious.

(End of chapter)