After everyone arrived, Jiang Qiang said with a smile: "Before the meeting, I want to tell you a good news, today we won the first battle, which can be regarded as a preliminary flag......" "What? Is that okay too? "How simple it is?" "Boss, is there really no problem?" "I'll you, you're too powerful!" "yes, I was worried about it before." "Then it doesn't need to be said, when have we ever suffered a loss, and what can't be done." "Well, the boss is wise, those ghosts just don't clean up!" "It's a pity that I didn't even get a chance to play."

After listening to Jiang Qiang's narration, the expressions of the people in the room lit up, and they kept stretching out their hands to praise, and all kinds of rhythms flew all over the sky. Before this, everyone was very relaxed on the surface, but in fact, most people were worried that today's matter would be too big, and they were really afraid that Jiang Qiang would be stabbed in a big basket and would not be able to end it. Among them, Duan Zhongyi is the most worried, because today's events are directly related to his children. If you mess up because of this, it will be too much of a sin. After Jiang Qiang pressed his hands, he nodded with a smile and said: "Okay, this matter is over, we have to unite with them to fight in the future, so as long as they are not too much, there is no need for us to get along with them." ”

"Yes!" "Understood!" "If people don't offend me, I won't offend anyone!" "Rest assured, we know what to do." Everyone nodded in response and gladly accepted the order. "Good!" After Jiang Qiang nodded, he directly turned to the topic: "In the coming days, we will have the following two key tasks: first, we must let all officers and soldiers adapt to the new combat environment as soon as possible and carry out adaptive training in an orderly manner;

Commanders at all levels should eliminate their strangeness with friendly troops as soon as possible, familiarize themselves with them as soon as possible, and conduct a large-scale confrontation and actual combat exercise with the allied forces after the troops adapt to the new environment. "At present, through a set of combination punches, the Chinese Expeditionary Force has made a good start, but it does not mean that hundreds of thousands of allied troops can be obedient, so then another dose of fierce medicine is needed.

That is, through a large-scale actual combat exercise, these arrogant British Imperial troops and the US army all understood that the Chinese Expeditionary Force was not only hard-fisted, but also more powerful in actual combat, so that they were completely convinced by nothing to say. At the same time, Jiang Qiang also wanted to specifically check the combat effectiveness and tactical level of the allied troops, so that he could better plan the layout in the upcoming actual battle.

"It's been very hard for everyone to take a boat these days, so I decided to take a three-day holiday for the whole army first, so that all the officers and soldiers could adjust their state first and fall to the time difference. On February 11th, we started acclimatization training again. After chatting a few words, Jiang Qiang waved his hand and said: "I won't do much long-winded, after going down, everyone can do whatever they want, if they are busy, they won't have the leisure time to go to the mountains and rivers."

If you don't have anything else to do, then dismiss the meeting! "Stand up! Salute! "Goodbye Sosa!" Everyone stood up in unison, saluted Jiang Qiang, and then ran away. As Jiang Qiang said just now, it must be very fresh to arrive in a new place. When you first arrive at the place, it is rare to have a two-day or three-day vacation, and everyone naturally wants to go around and appreciate the exotic customs thousands of miles away. Since it is inevitable that there will be distracting thoughts if he is not an immortal, Jiang Qiang also has the same thoughts. After eating, Jiang Qiang took a group of people to take three helicopters and began to wander around, in the name of checking the surrounding terrain and familiarizing himself with the local environment. After a few laps around the dock, Jiang Qiang ordered the pilot to fly straight to the desert not far to the north.

"Wow, oh my God, what a beautiful desert!" "How can there be a silver desert in the world?" "yes, I didn't have dazzles, did I? It's amazing! "Well, you read that right, the reason why this desert is silvery is due to the 100-million-year-old gypsum seabed that has been altered several times, and the gypsum crystals have been weathered and eroded." "Wow, Boss, you know so much. Can we go down and have some fun? "After flying north for less than an hour, I came to the sky near the desert. In the distance, when a glittering silver desert appeared in the field of vision, everyone, including Jiang Qiang, couldn't help but shout, especially a few girls who were screaming excitedly.

When we think of deserts, we often think of yellow sand. In fact, due to the different minerals that make up the sand, the desert takes on many different colors, such as the colorful Arizona Desert, the red Simpsons Desert, the black Karakum Desert is ......, and the Yemeni Silver Desert in front of you. "Of course it's no problem, these two days are supposed to give everyone a sneak peek and have some fun!" Although he has long known about Yemen's very unique silver desert, after all, today is the first time to visit the scene, and Jiang Qiang is also full of freshness.

Thinking and directing action, Jiang Qiang immediately ordered the helicopter to land on a piece of Gobi Desert near the desert. Three helicopters landed on the ground one after another, and Jiang Qiang and others jumped off the helicopter one after another. "Wow, that's so cool, come on, go over and see, what's going on!" "I'm going to take some back as a souvenir." "Let's go over and take some pictures!" "Hey, wait for me!"

As soon as you jump off the helicopter, the girls start to have fun, and you chase me to the desert in front of you, and start to get in touch with nature. Before coming here, not to mention the beautiful silver desert in front of them, even if it was an ordinary yellow sand desert, they hadn't seen it, and it would be strange if they weren't excited at the moment. Although the sun is shining at the moment and the temperature is really not low, it can't stop their excitement.

Jiang Qiang and the others strolled forward with interest, checking the surrounding environment and scenery as they went. For them, it is secondary to enjoy the scenery, but it is important to feel the desert terrain, as well as the natural geographical conditions such as climate and environment. Because the next main battlefield is in the deserts of Africa.

"It's winter, why is this place still so hot." After stepping on the soft desert and walking forward for about ten minutes, Meng Wuan felt that his whole body began to become hot, and a circle of fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. "yes, it's too hot, and it's boundless, and it's panicking to look at!"

Chang Yuan also began to feel that the heat was unbearable, and subconsciously took off his military hat and shook it like a fan. "The desert is a terrain characterized by sparse vegetation and an open field of sight, but objects are easily disoriented due to the lack of bearing." At this time, Sun Liren also stopped and half-squatted on the ground, grabbed a handful of sand with his hands, and said while leaking sand down: "The loose soil in the desert area is not conducive to passage and construction of fortifications. At the same time, there is an extreme shortage of water in the desert, and the temperature difference between day and night is very large, which tests the survivability of the troops. ”

"What Brother Fu Min said is that the desert environment and climate are really a new topic for us, and we must be familiar with the environment! Otherwise, the harsh desert conditions alone would have been enough for us to drink a pot. Hearing what Sun Liren said, Duan Zhongyi immediately became interested, and asked with a smile: "I didn't expect you to have a lot of research on desert warfare, what are you paying attention to in desert warfare?" ”

"Brother Depei praised it falsely, and I can't talk about any research, but when I was in the military academy before, I read some books and materials." Sun Liren waved his hand very modestly, and then continued: "As far as I know, the most important thing in desert warfare is two points, the first is air supremacy, and the second is the supply line. As for the details of the desert warfare, to be honest, I really don't know that much, but I'm sure we must have already made up our minds. So I think it's the most appropriate and useful to let us sit down and give us a live class at this time! ”

Sun Liren didn't want to study Yang Fan, but really thought that Yang Fan knew more and understood more deeply than himself, and he really wanted to learn something from Yang Fan. "Alright! Then I'll tell you about it! Looking at a pair of eager eyes, Jiang Qiang smiled and nodded, before he came, he had done a lot of homework with everyone, including desert warfare. However, at that time, since everyone had not experienced the actual environment, it was difficult to appreciate the essence of it, so Jiang Qiang did not explain too much, but prepared to grind the gun after arriving at the place. After sorting out his thoughts, Jiang Qiang began to teach on the spot: "Commander Sun was right just now, compared with ordinary land warfare, desert warfare is actually more like naval warfare, and its tactics are also very close to naval warfare.

First of all, air supremacy is the first priority, and it is no exaggeration to say that whoever holds air supremacy in a desert war will basically win the victory. It's just that in the vast desert area, it is impossible to build an airfield, coupled with the monotonous desert terrain and easy to lose direction, so when fighting in the desert area, especially in the deep desert area, it is often difficult for the planes of both sides to play a big role. At this point, we have a large number of helicopters, and we must have a lot of room to maneuver. ”

"Secondly, logistics. Desert areas lack almost all the resources needed for operations, so logistics support has become one of the main factors affecting the outcome of operations. In this regard, we can lay water pipelines and oil pipelines, set up relay stations, and use transport convoys and helicopters for transportation, and so on. "The desert is conducive to mechanized units such as tanks, armored infantry fighting vehicles, self-propelled artillery, and desert operations, whether they are campaigns or tactics, must be mechanized operations. Therefore, compared with ordinary land warfare, desert warfare requires very high mechanization and mobility.

Well-directed, well-trained, and well-equipped modern mechanized units have a decisive advantage in desert operations. There is no need to worry about this, we have enough combat vehicles and sufficient transport vehicles to ensure sufficient cross-country ability and maneuver speed. "The most effective and fastest way to kill the enemy in desert warfare is the flank attack. In desert combat, due to the lack of terrain to rely on, the defending side has at least one wing exposed to the attacker.

Therefore, flank attacks have become the most effective tactics in desert warfare, which requires all possible reconnaissance actions. When the enemy's weak or undefended flanks are identified, they maneuver their main forces to the open flanks of the enemy, from where they open gaps into the enemy's rear. Capture targets behind enemy lines before the enemy can make an effective response, destroy the enemy's logistics support system, and cut off the connection between the enemy's front and rear, so as to quickly defeat the opponent. ......" Jiang Qiang talked eloquently, while Meng Wuan and others took out paper and pen and took notes seriously.

Time is like an arrow, the sun and the moon are like a shuttle, and time passes quietly between the fingers. In the past month or so, the Chinese Expeditionary Force has completed adaptation training and has initially adapted itself to the climate and environment of desert operations. Half a month ago, Jiang Qiang also organized a large-scale confrontation exercise according to the plan.

The total number of troops participating in the confrontation exercise reached 550,000: the Chinese Expeditionary Force had 220,000 troops against the 330,000 troops of the Anglo-American coalition. The powerful Chinese Expeditionary Force won more with less without any suspense, completely conquering the arrogant British and American troops, and made them deeply realize that the Chinese Expeditionary Force fighting side by side with them was by no means a fish belly army, but a trustworthy and respected steel hero.

After a series of operations, the Chinese Expeditionary Force not only firmly established its core position, but also gradually eliminated the sense of strangeness and estrangement with the British and American allies, and the two sides have become one. At the same time, the morale of the British and American troops has also been greatly improved, and it is no longer the same declining appearance as before. After the completion of the training and integration, hundreds of thousands of troops in Yemen began to move to Egypt one after another, and the final preparations before the war were in full swing.

The situation in the North African theater of operations seems to be evolving for the better. On the Soviet side, it was a mixed bag. Despite the fall of the Far East, the post-Belga Military Region was also facing the threat of the Kwantung Army, and the European theater was facing the onslaught of more than 5 million German troops and servants, and the land area was still shrinking. However, the Soviet Red Army, with its strong will and continuous material assistance, withstood the frantic attack of the German army.

At the end of the year, when the harsh winter came again, the Soviet Red Army miraculously stabilized the front on the Leningrad, Kirov, and Stalingrad lines. As the time entered the end of 41 years, as the temperature in Northern Europe entered minus 40 degrees or even 50 degrees, a large number of technical equipment of the German army failed to varying degrees. No matter how hard the Germans tried, they were never able to get past the strong Soviet defenses. Due to climatic factors, the Führer had no choice but to order a temporary suspension of the offensive.

It's just that "the harvest of mulberry elm and the loss of the east", on this front the Soviet Red Army stabilized the defensive line, but in the North Caucasus there was a collapse. After the German blitzkrieg on the Soviet Union, after more than a year of fighting, the Führer again focused on the Caucasus, which was dominated by the production of grain and oil. The German High Command implemented an operational plan codenamed "Rat Grass" in an attempt to encircle and annihilate the Soviet forces deployed south and southeast of Rostov and capture the North Caucasus.

Once the North Caucasus is occupied, the Germans will detour the main line of the Caucasus Mountains from the west with one army group and seize Novorossiysk and Tuapse; In addition, one army group made a detour from the east and captured Gronny, Baku and other places. The ultimate strategic goal of the Rat Grass battle plan was to break through the southern mountains, establish direct contact with the 26 Turkish divisions deployed on the Soviet-Turkish border, and create conditions for an invasion of the Near and Middle East.

The Caucasus was a famous grain production base in the Soviet Union at that time, and at the same time it was the site of the Baku oil fields. Taking the Caucasus would not only supply the German army, but also create an excellent opportunity to invade the Middle East and the Near East and cut off the British and French colonies from the mainland. So far, the German and Soviet forces have been engaged in months-long mountain operations in the Caucasus Mountains, seizing several mountain passes and posing a serious threat to the Caucasus hinterland. With the successive victories of the Axis Alliance, Turkey has long begun to waver, and if it were not for the fact that they lost too badly in World War I, which has an extremely serious psychological shadow, I am afraid that they would have joined the Axis Alliance to declare war on the Soviet Union.

Turkey and the Soviet Union are known to be standard feuds, with religious and territorial disputes between the two countries going on for centuries. In World War I, Turkey was divided 70% of its territory by the Allies because it was on the wrong side. Now that the world situation is in turmoil, the Axis Allies have the advantage, the Soviet Union and even the Japanese can't beat it, and Turkey is naturally extremely hot. At this time, it is natural for Turkey to jump out and take a piece of the pie to retaliate against the feud, and by the way, restore the majesty and vast territory of the Ottoman Empire.

Obviously, in this case, once the Germans broke through the southern mountains and established direct contact with the 26 Turkish divisions deployed on the Soviet-Turkish border, it would be the last straw that broke the camel's back. Once Turkey throws itself into the Axis Alliance, the world situation will inevitably have a series of chain reactions, and the balance of victory in the war will definitely be greatly tilted in favor of the Axis Alliance again.

April 22, 1942, Cairo, Egypt, General Headquarters of the Allied Forces in the North African Theater. Jiang Qiang finally summoned all the officers at the rank of major general and above of the 1st and 2nd armies of the Chinese North African Expeditionary Force, the 7th Army of the US Army, and the 8th Army and the 18th Army of the British Army to hold a military seminar. The huge war room of the headquarters was full of stars, and dozens of generals and officers gathered together, looking very lively. But in fact, everyone's faces were not very good-looking, especially the British generals such as Cunningham, commander of the British Mediterranean Fleet, Alexander, commander of the 18th Army Group, and Ritchie, commander-in-chief of the British 8th Army, all had ugly faces, not only their brows were wrinkled and their faces were sinking like water, but they also had thick dark circles in their eyes.

Their bad state is not because of overwork last night, nor because they have made some bloody plots with Yang Fan and the Huaxia Expeditionary Force. Rather, it was because of a heartbreaking and humiliating event last night: the Mediterranean Fleet of the British Royal Navy in Alexandria, Egypt, was attacked by the Italian army and suffered heavy losses! Time back 9 hours ago, the port of Alexandria, Egypt.

It was the middle of the night, and the sky and the earth were shrouded in a thick night, and all the space was filled with black except for the cold stars twinkling in the sky and the sporadic lights on the port docks. There was no wind tonight, and the inky black sea near the harbor seemed unusually quiet, except for the sound of patrol boats and the sound of waves rising and falling along the shoreline. Dozens of British ships anchored in Alexandria Harbor were gently undulating with the waves, and most of the sailors on board were immersed in sweet dreams, except for a few sailors who were on vigil and were holding their posts.

In two days, it will be the traditional Western festival of Christmas, and the officers and men of the British fleet are relaxed and happy, and are silently looking forward to the arrival of Christmas. However, it was such a peaceful and quiet night, but there was a fierce murderous motive hidden in it. At some point, several deep black shadows floated on the sea in the distance, and eight Italian Navy "frogmen" drove four man-operated torpedoes in pairs and quietly approached Alexandria Harbor in the night.

During World War II, there was such a magical force in many countries: they were part of the navy. Units tasked with underwater reconnaissance, demolition, and special combat missions are called "frogmen" because of the equipment they carry that includes swimming tools in the shape of frogs' feet. This is an amphibious unit that wears a mask, fins, rubber suits, oxygen tanks, and other special tasks while swimming underwater for a long time. During World War II, the Japanese frogman unit was known as the death squad, but the Japanese death squad frogman plan ultimately failed. However, another Axis power once used a six-man frogman force to severely damage the two main battleships of the British Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet, so that the British Royal Navy lost its absolute superiority over the Axis fleet in the Mediterranean, and finally could only watch the German reinforcements commanded by Rommel land in North Africa.

The frogman attack was the most successful in the history of the Italian Navy, and the results were far-reaching. Coincidentally, the same event finally happened in the current time and space, and this time it was not 6 frogmen, but 8 frogmen. In the European theater and the North African theater, Italy and Germany formed an alliance to attack cities and gain an advantage, but the actual presence of the Italian army was very weak, and it can only be described as a fighting auxiliary. But in the Mediterranean, the Italian Navy can be said to be a typical land snake.

Although the British Royal Navy still has the world's largest displacement surface combat force, it is not far behind the Italian Navy in the Mediterranean. At this time, the Italian navy had 6 battleships, 19 light and heavy cruisers, hundreds of other ships, and could also be supported by German submarines. At this time, the British naval forces near the Mediterranean Sea consisted of only 6 battleships, 2 aircraft carriers, 1 battlecruiser, 22 destroyers and 12 submarines.

Prior to this dispatch of the frogman troops, the Italian Navy had fought several naval battles with the British fleet in Calabria, off the coast of Crete, Cape Teulada, and Cape Matapan in order to be able to overthrow the British Mediterranean Fleet. In addition to this, the Italian Navy constantly engaged in naval battles to attack and protect transport fleets, as well as naval and air patrol encounters.

At this stage, the British sea transport fleet was attacked by the Italian navy and suffered heavy losses. However, the British Mediterranean Fleet was relatively strong and well organized and commanded, so the Italian Navy could only use light forces to cooperate with submarines and aviation to harass and sabotage the British Mediterranean convoy. The Italian navy could not take advantage of the British battleships on the high seas, so it launched several large-scale sneak attacks on the most important British military port, but each time the results were very limited.

So in order to pull out this thorn in the side, the Italian side decided to send the last killer weapon, that is, the human torpedo they had just successfully developed: "Pigs". However, Alexandria's defense level is very tight, not only a large number of patrol ships are constantly cruising and patrolling in the nearby waters, but also three barrage nets are arranged underwater, and it is not easy to invade the military port and sneak attack.

In order to ensure the success of the infiltration operation, the Italian Navy conducted months of rigorous training for dozens of operators.

In order to break through the layers of interception deployed by the British Navy and lock on to the target in the complex water situation of the military port, each group of torpedo launchers is controlled by two people, one person is responsible for marching and the other is responsible for carrying time bombs. After several hours of stealth, the specially trained 8 Italian frogmen spent a lot of physical strength and finally succeeded in safely passing the layers of interception by the British Navy and reached the predetermined target.

However, due to the amount of physical strength they had exerted before, they no longer had the strength to place the bulky one at the bottom of the warship, so they could only place it directly below the hull. Since the average water depth of Alexandria Naval Port did not exceed 13 meters, the British battleship would still suffer heavy damage under the hull according to the power of the explosion. However, just as the eight frogmen had just finished laying and were about to evacuate, they were discovered by a British patrol boat. In order to avoid revealing their strategic intentions, the eight men were captured and responded to the British army's cross-examination in silence according to the pre-agreed plan.

It wasn't until 10 minutes before the explosion that an Italian captain suddenly spoke: "For humanitarian reasons, I can tell Your Excellency the captain that your warship will explode in another 10 minutes!" It's still too late to evacuate, but you'll have to hurry! At this time, the British army had just woken up from a dream, but it was too late, and all the officers on duty quickly evacuated the warship under the urgent order of the commander.

Sure enough, less than 10 minutes later, two battleships, one destroyer and one 7,500-ton oil tanker exploded one after another. With the sound of violent explosions, a few minutes later, the battleships "Warrior", "Queen Elizabeth", and the battlecruiser "Counterattack", the main force of the Mediterranean Fleet, began to sink gradually. For a time, the entire Alexandria port was in flames, and after a long time of brewing, the Italian Navy finally succeeded in pulling out the thorn in the side of the British Mediterranean fleet.

As a long-term pig teammate, the Italian army finally played an extremely beautiful sneak attack, reversing the balance of strength between the Italian Navy and the British Navy in one fell swoop. And it was only 8 Italian Navy "frogmen" who caused all this.