Cairo, Allied Command in the North African Theater of Operations. At this time, it was already more than three o'clock in the morning, which should be the most sleepy time period for people, but a room of senior generals and senior staff officers, their expressions were excited at the moment, and they were gathering in groups to discuss what was fierce. Jiang Qiang himself seemed to be relatively leisurely, drinking coffee and smoking cigars with Stilwell, Li Jinglin, Chang Yuan and others, and his expression was very calm.

Li Jinglin held the coffee cup, stirring it gently, and said to Jiang Qiang with a smile on his face: "Boss, now wait for the final security news from the navy, it seems that there should be no accidents!" Lu Shengfeng smiled and said: "Yes, although there was a little accident in the middle, and the few remaining night fighter groups of the German army were ambushed, resulting in the loss of more than half of the torpedo group, but generally speaking, we can be described as a complete victory tonight!" ”

"Now that we have managed to inflict heavy damage on the Italian naval fleet and regain the ground lost during the day, this is already a major victory." Stilwell also raised his eyebrows proudly and said, "Not only that, but we have also found a countermeasure to the Axis forces that is difficult to resist at night. If we can continue to magnify this advantage, it will undoubtedly help us to crush the Axis allies step by step! ”

After speaking, Stilwell stretched out his thumb and praised: "Jiang, you are so powerful!" "Everywhere, in the final analysis, it is everyone's credit, and the role I play is actually just a thread!" In the face of everyone's praise, Jiang Qiang spoke very modestly on the surface, but his physical reaction was very honest, and his heart was already happy. Prior to this, they had already received very good news, not only about the progress of the entire air raid carried out by the naval forces, but also about the major victory in the night counteroffensive of the Matrou Fortress.

At the same time as the naval forces were successful in risking air raids, the night counterattack of the Matlu Fortress was also "faked and really done", and extremely beautiful results were achieved, and the positions lost during the day have been successfully recaptured, and are being urgently repaired and reinforced. Although in the course of the counterattack, the German-Italian forces held their positions and put up extremely stubborn resistance, and the fortress of Tobruk was forced to send a large number of combat aircraft to help.

But it should be said that the Allies have an absolute advantage in technical equipment such as night bombers, ground artillery, and night vision devices, and it can be said that they have deep pockets. In addition, there is a good saying: the mourning soldier will win. The Allied soldiers, who had long been full of anger, under the conditions of night operations, infinitely magnified this advantage, and turned into a group of downhill tigers who ate people and did not spit out bones!

With limited air support alone, the German-Italian front-line troops had no way to resist the repeated bombardment of artillery and bombers with their flesh and blood, and to resist the frantic assault of the Allied armored forces. The special forces, who have all the luxury equipment of the whole body, also attack in the rear in helicopters at night, causing great threat and pressure to the enemy army.

Under the protection of the night, these well-trained elite soldiers are completely equivalent to demons from hell and ghosts roaming the world, constantly harvesting the lives of the enemy, giving extremely heavy psychological pressure and morale blows to the German-Italian coalition forces. After several hours of continuous fighting, the German-Italian forces, which had paid a heavy price, had to bow their heads and face the reality, and finally had to grit their teeth and retreat dozens of kilometers to stabilize their position.

Just as Jiang Qiang and the others were happily bragging, a Huaxia communications staff officer ran over with a happy face and said, "Report to the general seat!" Commander Liu sent a telegram that the recovery operation of the group was completed! So far, everything is going well, the fleet has lifted anchor and returned home! "It was perfect! You can go back to sleep with peace of mind! Jiang Qiang snapped his fingers with great pleasure, the most dangerous moment of the fleet is over, and as long as he doesn't die, he basically won't die!

Immediately after that, a stone stirred up a thousand waves, and a room of people followed suit. "We've finally pulled back a game!" "This battle created a precedent for aircraft carrier night battles! What a significance! "Thank God forbid!" "The damned aggressor has finally suffered God's divine punishment!" "Haha, we won!" "What a cool word!" "Today, the people are so happy!" After receiving the news of the victory, Jiang Qiang, Stilwell, Auchinleck, and others, who had been waiting at the Allied Headquarters in Cairo, all let out a long breath.

Then, a group of people sang and danced wildly, dancing happily and hugging each other. There is no longer any estrangement and mustard between each other, and they have become real comrades-in-arms in life and death! These days, for this highlight moment, they have been planning for a long time, looking forward to it for a long time, and they have held back their strength, and now they are finally bitter! This cow can indeed be blown for a lifetime! There is no feast in the world that will not be dispersed, no matter how excited and happy you are, there will always be a high and a low.

When they finished venting their emotions and drank coffee and wine, everyone went back to their respective homes to find their mothers with satisfaction, after all, they tossed all night, and it was fake if they were not sleepy! Jiang did not go out of the headquarters and returned to his home to enjoy the gentle township, but couldn't wait to return to the rest room of the headquarters quickly. It's not that I want to go back to sleep early because I'm sleepy, but before that,

At present, the Martin B-26 "Marauder" bomber, which flies the farthest in Jiang Qiang's hands, has a maximum range of only 1,770 kilometers, and even if the fuel tank is increased after modification, it is only more than 3,000 kilometers! Now this P-47N Thunderbolt fighter can fly up to 3800 km, which is really fragrant! In the future, even if there is no sea dominance, starting from Shandong itself, its combat radius can completely cover half of Japan, and if only unilateral operations are considered, it can completely cover the whole of Japan!

If you can go to sea for two or three hundred kilometers, you can bring Tokyo, Japan into the combat radius, and this will be even sweeter. Because there will be such a day in the future! On a stretch of sea, 270 kilometers northwest of Alexandria, a large fleet was moving at full speed. At this time, it was already past five o'clock in the morning, and the sky was already dark.

Huzi stood on the deck, looking at the horizon that gradually began to glow and redden, and his mood improved little by little. After tossing and turning for more than half a month, after a series of organization and planning, the dust finally settled and the Myanmar Navy made its debut in North Africa without danger! At this moment, Huzi's mood still can't be completely calmed down, the past is like smoke and a dream, and the past is always flashing back in his mind!

When he was a small battalion commander of the Third Route Army, Huzi felt very satisfied and honored, thinking that he was also a master, and he could eat and drink spicy food! At that time, Huzi never thought about it, nor could he think about national hatred, family hatred, and national righteousness, let alone become a senior general of the world's anti-fascist alliance and contribute to peace and justice in the world! However, just a few years have passed, and Huzi has grown from an insignificant local militia battalion commander step by step to a commander of the Tiger Ben Navy with heavy troops, standing on the stage of the World Anti-Fascist League, and moving towards one peak after another in his life!

Thinking about this, Huzi felt incredible, and he felt that this was like a dream of Nanke, which made him feel very unreal! But the more this is the case, the more the tiger cherishes and has more fighting spirit! Because he stood high and saw far, because Jiang Qiang outlined the grand blueprint for him, so far it can only be described as the first step of the Long March. Huzi is always looking forward to the Chinese nation to stand up again, achieve great rejuvenation again, and become the most powerful, prosperous and happiest country in the world!

"Report to the military seat!" At this moment, Nie Gang, a communications staff officer of the Navy, hurriedly came over and reported: "The forward open-way destroyer reports that it has found that 4 enemy submarines are gathering 10 kilometers in front of our army's route!" "Very good, it's about to dawn, so let's practice their hands!" Order anti-submarine helicopters and anti-submarine aircraft to be dispatched immediately, and don't let these enemy submarines escape! The corners of Liu Qiang's mouth curled slightly, there was no danger of being discovered by the enemy at this time, because not only was it almost dawn, but it was also more than 200 kilometers away from Alexandria Port, even if the German bomber group was going to run to do something now, it would be too late.

As for the German submarine wolf tactics, don't think about the role, their own naval fleet is not those transport fleets, but has super anti-submarine capabilities. The more German submarines came, the more they died, and they didn't even want to make a wave. "Yes!" Nie Gang was also extremely excited, it would definitely be a pleasure to be able to take out a few hateful enemy submarines before returning to the port to rest.

Rommel, who was located in the fortress of Tobruk, could only sigh helplessly after hearing the news. I tried my best, this round of fighting, I really tried my best! Although Rommel is very calculating and is a very great master tactician, a wise man must make a mistake, not to mention that when he meets Yang Fan, the means he can use are not enough to turn the tables!

Meneki, Chief of Staff of the Afrika Korps, said to Rommel: "Your Excellency, I really don't understand, how can the Allies have frogman troops?" How could their navy be able to sneak up on the port of Tobruk at night! Rommel took a deep breath and said, "I don't understand it either, it only shows that there is a lot of information in this that we don't know!"

And all this seems to point to the Chinese Expeditionary Force, which has recently joined the North African Theater, which also shows that they are far more powerful and difficult than we imagined! "Is it the reason for the Chinese Expeditionary Force?" How could they possibly have such abilities? Menekie was stunned, and subconsciously asked twice, but he didn't know if he was asking Rommel or himself. Rommel did not pick up, but looked down at the sand table in front of him, as if thinking about how to deal with the current situation.

After waiting quietly for a long time, Menekie asked with an ugly face: "Your Excellency, what should we do now?" Do you want to continue the assault on the Fortress of Matroux? "The Italian fleet anchored in the bay of Tobruk last night was devastated, and the main battleships were almost completely destroyed, although there were still quite a few of the remaining small-tonnage battleships.

However, it is difficult for them to suppress enough firepower on the coastal defense line of the Matrou Fortress, let alone against the powerful coastal defense artillery. Without the cooperation of the naval fleet, relying solely on the army to force the intensive technical equipment of the allied forces can only be described as half the effort. Coupled with the further deepening of his understanding of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, Meneki really had a sense of trepidation.

Rommel raised his eyebrows and said, "Why attack?" The total strength of our army is at least twice that of the Allied forces, and although the navy suffered heavy losses last night, our army still has an absolute advantage! The reason why the Allies took the risk of attacking the port of Tobruk was, in the final analysis, because they were now under too much pressure on the army! So at this time, it depends on who can grit their teeth and hold on! ”

Rommel didn't panic, after all, he still has a lot of chips in his hand, and although the Italian Navy has suffered a lot of losses, it can still guarantee a supply line at sea. As long as there were enough military supplies, Rommel would have enough self-confidence and capital to win the North African battlefield.

"I see, Your Excellency! Then let's let all these damn things go to God! Seeing that Rommel was still so calm and confident, Menekie suddenly found the backbone, instantly became murderous, and no longer felt confused and panicked: yes, there are twice as many powerful troops in his hands as the allies, and the Mediterranean supply line is still well controlled, so he is still afraid of a yarn?

After daybreak, Rommel Afrika Korps regrouped and launched a storming of the fortress of Matru. The same recipe and the same taste, the three-plate axe tactics of aircraft, artillery, tanks, and tanks have also been tried in the North African battlefield, but compared with the three-plate axes of the Japanese army, the three-plate axes of the German-Italian coalition army are much more powerful and sharp than the three-plate axes of small Japan.

Under the protection of a large number of escort fighters, dozens of bombers launched large-scale air raids on Allied positions, and the Italian artillery units took advantage of the situation to carry out carpet saturation shelling. In the face of this menacing three-board axe tactic, the Allied troops were not ambiguous at all, and still adopted yesterday's response tactics. In the first time, the Allied Command sent a large number of fighters to the Matroux Fortress to participate in the battle, compete with the Luftwaffe for air supremacy, and desperately play a war of attrition.

Anyway, the current Allies have only one tactical routine, that is, to use the superiority of position and technical equipment to consume the living forces of the Axis armies and fight a war of attrition with Rommel. As long as it was able to deplete the German fighter group, the Allies would firmly occupy the initiative in the war. Before the Allied air force repelled the German fighter group, and the second wave of German attack aircraft arrived, the Allied rocket artillery units, bomber groups, and ground attack aircraft used this window to come out and do things.

Especially when the German fighter group was not too strong, the Il-2 ground attack aircraft were even more afraid of death, fully revealing the true power of tank killers and causing great damage to the ground armored forces of the German-Italian coalition forces. The biggest feature of the Il-2 ground attack aircraft is its thick skin, which is known as a flying tank. THE IMPORTANT PART IS BASICALLY IMMUNE TO THE 20MM GUN, THE ONLY WEAKNESS IS THE RADIATOR IN THE BELLY POSITION, AND THIS IS A COMMON WEAKNESS OF AIRPLANES WITH WATER-COOLED ENGINES.

In order to cover this weakness, the Il-2 ground attack aircraft usually fly very low, usually less than 100 meters, and will descend to a lower altitude once intercepted by enemy aircraft. Therefore, to attack this weakness, you have to risk kissing the earth, and the attack is not ordinarily difficult. As a matter of fact, quite a few German fighters crashed headlong into the ground when they tried to attack the radiator of the Il-2 ground attack aircraft at an ultra-low altitude due to poor technology, or when they were not paying attention when dodging the tail machine gun of the Il-2 ground attack plane.

In addition, it should be mentioned that the Italian naval fleet in the North African theater was disabled, and the coastal defense line of the Matrou Fortress was no longer subjected to the indiscriminate bombardment of large-caliber naval artillery, and the defensive pressure on the ground forces was greatly reduced. Moreover, in turn, the battleships of the British Navy could enter the war in turn, causing great pressure and damage to the ground forces of the German-Italian forces. So under this ferocious war of attrition, even if the Luftwaffe was fierce and the total strength of the German-Italian forces was twice that of the Allies, there was not much to do with the Allies!

In the case of not being able to control air power, the two sides will compete at most to see who has more fighters, who has sufficient technical equipment, and who has strong logistical supply capabilities! Obviously, the United States, backed by deep pockets, Yang and the Allied camp in Burma's industrial areas have an advantage in this regard.

As for the small number of people, it is really not too big a problem, because in war, the power of people has been greatly weakened. In front of airplanes, tanks, artillery and automated weapons, human flesh and blood are no different from papier-mâché! Otherwise, in the early days of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Chinese army, which had an absolute superiority in strength, would not have been defeated by the small Japanese army, and lost a large area of land in a short period of time!

Therefore, even if Rommel was very determined and the German troops were very fierce and fierce, they could not push the high ground in one breath in the face of the war of attrition of the Allied army's dense technical equipment positions, and could only bite the bones hard. The fortress of Matroux inevitably fell into a long period of positional warfare and tug-of-war, with both sides gritting their teeth and depleting the other's vital forces.

At this time, the construction of other islands was in full swing, and the construction of fortifications and cave hangars was being stepped up to lay a solid material foundation for the future strategic layout. The Axis powers, on the other hand, were stepping up their operations on Gozo, which was not far away, and had no plans to conduct amphibious landings on other islands of Tsushima for the time being, but only sent bombers to visit from time to time.

Because for Rommel, in fact, he never wanted to attack the island of Malta. This is not only because of the unique topography of Malta Island, where there are too few places where amphibious landing operations can be carried out, and all of them are under the control of British forces, but also because the risk of attacking Malta is too high and the benefits are not proportional to the risks. Malta was isolated from the sea, and if it were to attack Malta, its troops would have to carry out an amphibious landing operation, while Germany had no naval power in the Mediterranean, and Rommel's troops were not well suited for landing operations, so they had to rely heavily on the Italian army and navy.

But it is clear that there are now more than 10,000 Allied troops on the other islands of Maham, including two or three thousand Burmese Asian Liberation Army, and the combat strength is by no means easy for the Italian army to conquer. The last amphibious landing operation on the other islands of Tsushima is enough to illustrate this point, and the German-Italian forces have made great efforts to achieve heavy casualties but have been hit again and again.

At the same time, Rommel also had an unspeakable secret, that is, the German Army Headquarters was at Cloommel's neck, because the German Army Headquarters was opposed to any overseas operations of the German Army. In this regard, Rommel complained in his letters to his wife. At this time, Germany was waging a war of annihilation against the Soviet Union with all its might, and it really did not have too many resources to tilt towards the North African battlefield, so it would be even more difficult for Rommel to obtain the war resources he needed for amphibious operations.

Under these circumstances, Rommel was not interested in attacking the other islands of the Horselands, so he could only retreat to the second place and firmly occupy the islands of Gozo and intensify the bombardment of the other islands, so that the Allies could not build a strong defense system under their noses. For Rommel, as long as the other islands of the Mahama did not threaten the Afrokorps' supply lines in the Mediterranean, then there was no real threat.

As long as he can take Egypt, this isolated island will be self-defeating. But it is clear that this is just Rommel's wishful thinking. "Gentlemen, please be quiet." After making some opening remarks, Jiang Qiang looked solemn and pressed his hand weakly, and said in an excited tone, "Ladies and gentlemen, now let's get down to business, as everyone has been expecting, from today onwards, our Allied forces in the African theater will officially enter the strategic counteroffensive stage. ”

"We have only one topic on our agenda today, and that is to arrange the deployment of a counteroffensive campaign against the Axis armies! The campaign was roughly divided into three phases,...... "Immediately after that, Jiang Qiang came out with the counteroffensive plan that had been discussed with Stilwell and others.

It has been half a year since Jiang Qiang arrived in the North African theater of operations, and after a long period of obscene development and a protracted war of attrition, he has finally come to an end! Today, the African Allies not only have absolute superiority in air and sea supremacy, but also have become plump up in the land forces, and have the strength to stand up to Rommel and the Afrika Korps. Correspondingly, Rommel Afrika Korps was unable to move forward due to the lack of technical equipment supplies, especially the bottleneck of fuel shortage, and was forced to switch to strategic defense.

Having accumulated enough strength, there is really no need for Jiang Qiang to continue to keep a low profile, and the African battlefield needs to be resolved as soon as possible to create the prerequisites for opening up a second battlefield in Europe.