On the evening of May 6, Cairo, the General Headquarters of the Allied Forces in North Africa. After two days of hard fighting, the Allied forces broke through the first minefield and broke the first line of defense of the Axis armies, advancing the front more than 100 kilometers in one fell swoop. This was a breakthrough for the Allies, and it also greatly increased the difficulty of the attack. Because the advance of more than 100 kilometers at once means that the rear supply line has been lengthened by more than 100 kilometers at once, and the airfield is also farther away.

The Axis air forces, which were much weaker in air power, had finally learned to be wise, and instead of continuing to engage in a head-to-head battle with the Allies with deep pockets, they had turned to guerrilla tactics. Their main target was no longer the Allied air forces, but the Allied ground forces, which were advancing on the front line. Although the Allied air force is strong and has air supremacy, the other side does not fight hard with you, but only uses the spare time to conduct guerrilla warfare, and if there is a chance, it can quickly and accurately eat some lone aircraft groups, or launch a round of air raids and bombing against the Allied ground forces.

As the battle line lengthens and the take-off distance from the airfield becomes longer, it will become more and more difficult for the Allies to make timely and effective countermeasures in the face of such a fast, accurate, and ruthless guerrilla warfare method. You can't just let the fighter group patrol the airspace near the battlefield all the time because of the enemy's air force attack, right? Even if the Allies have a lot of money and are not bad for aviation gasoline, then you have to consider the physical exertion of the pilots and the wear and tear of the aircraft's hardware, right?

It was precisely because of such guerrilla tactics adopted by the German Air Force that the Allied armored forces were able to completely defeat the enemy forces on the first line of defense after two days of arduous and bloody fighting under the condition of gaining the upper hand. After breaking through the first line of defense of the Axis armies, the Allies were not faced with a smooth road, but a second minefield on a much larger scale. Behind this minefield there was a second line of defense laid by Rommel, a fortified line of defense laid out on a ridge.

Although the altitude of this ridge is not very high, the average elevation is only twenty or thirty meters, but in the extremely flat desert area, it is an insurmountable and dangerous terrain. Rommel's defensive strategy was still to take advantage of the rapid minelaying in the desert steppe area, set up minefields extensively, rely on high ground for defense, and inflict heavy damage on the Allied forces with melee firepower, so as to delay and crush the Allied attack.

Therefore, it is not as easy as before to break through this minefield with the same old tricks. "There is nothing to say, our combat goals will never change, let alone waver." After synthesizing all aspects of information, after careful consideration and weighing, Jiang Qiang pointed to the two ridgelines on the sand table and said very resolutely,

"Obviously, then, the next goal is to break through this core line of defense of the Axis forces." "That's right, by breaking through this highland defense, we can force the Axis forces to fight a decisive battle in the open desert. And only by occupying this high ground can we continue to assault forward in depth without worries! Stilwell smiled and said, "In that case, the Axis forces will be completely passive, and the Allied victory will be just around the corner." ”

"That's right!" Jiang Qiang nodded with a smile and said, "Although we have already gained the initiative in the war, our opponent is the Desert Fox, so it is necessary to fight steadily and steadily, and we must not leave an opportunity for the opponent to take advantage of." Front-line troops can pause the offensive, give them a little rest, and send more follow-up troops to consolidate the fulcrum of the advance,

At the same time, logistical supply lines must keep up with all their efforts, and supply points must constantly move forward with the troops. In addition, radar stations and airfields must also advance step by step, and we must escort the ground troops on the front line and do everything possible to ensure air supremacy on the battlefield! "In the current World War II period, aircraft engines are still mainly propellers, so the requirements for airports are not high, and flat, solid ground can allow planes to take off and land.

Therefore, airstrips can even use grass directly, and only permanent military bases will use part of the cement runway. It was not until the end of World War II, after the aircraft entered the jet age, that the planes became heavier and heavier, and the ordinary ground could no longer meet the take-off and landing of jet aircraft, and it was only then that the airport had to use a cement runway to be competent. Therefore, with Jiang Qiang's engineering troops, it is completely possible to level out an airstrip for aircraft to take off and land on the grass near the coastline in a short period of time, and even to lay a cement runway for heavy bombers to take off and land in an emergency.

Speaking of this, Jiang Qiang paused, looked up into the distance and said: "The other islands of Maladow should also play a big role at this time, as long as they can choke the shipping routes of the Axis countries, then we can't lose if we want to!" Patton nodded and agreed: "That's right, we really don't need to be in a hurry, as long as we have air supremacy and choke the enemy's supply lines, then the Allies will definitely win and achieve the greatest success at the minimum cost." ”

"Well, that's true!" "Then it's such a happy decision!" "Destroy the enemy and protect yourself, this is the royal way!" Li Jinglin, Meng Wuan, Auchinleck and others also nodded in agreement. All kinds of information are clearly placed on the table, everyone is a senior general who has experienced a hundred battles, and they can naturally see it clearly, and this set of plans formulated by Jiang Qiang is undoubtedly the best choice.

At 9 p.m., the headquarters of the defenders of the other islands of Maham. After receiving a telegram from the Allied General Headquarters in North Africa, Army Regiment Commander Yu Xueli, Air Force Brigade Commander Wei Minyong, British Major General Commander Remes, Chief of Staff Daniel, and others gathered for a meeting. At this moment, the island of Malta has not only established a complete coastal defense system, an anti-aircraft artillery network, built a cave hangar enough to accommodate 800 combat aircraft, and built a large number of cement runways.

And more importantly, after a series of reinforcements, the island of Malta has more than 400 tanks and armored vehicles, as well as more than 600 combat aircraft. After three or four months of indecent development, Malta finally regained its vitality and became active again, not only with sufficient self-protection ability, but also with powerful attack ability.

Leames said happily: "The Allies have launched a strategic counteroffensive on the African continent, and it is indeed time for us to turn defense into an offensive and expand our range of activities, so that those damned devils can taste our wrath!" ”

Wei Minyong nodded excitedly and said, "The Allied Air Force on the other islands of Majia has long been fed up with grievances and has been waiting for this moment for a long time. We're going to leave the Axis convoys within our radius of attack, and let all the damned Nazis and fascists feed Aquaman! "Report that the submarine forces have spotted an Axis fleet heading to the port of Tubrug in North Africa in the sea area 410 nautical miles east of our island!"

It seems that the heavens are beautiful, and when everyone is full of ambition to do things, a news comes over. "Haha, it's really sleepy and I met a pillow, let's just take this transport fleet!" Wei Minyong's eyes immediately lit up, and he said to the communications staff officer in a hurry, "Hurry up and call back to our submarine force, let them stare this fleet to death, and our air force will set off immediately." "But it's a little too difficult, isn't it?"

When Wei Minyong's eyes lit up, Remus was stunned, he really didn't understand where they got their confidence and courage? It was already the dead of night, and it was already dark outside, and the visibility on the sea was very low. And the idea that a group of bombers should fly at least 750 kilometers across the vast sea to find and successfully attack a fleet of transports that are discrediting the advancing is crazy, right?

Even if a submarine can surface and follow along, even if the other islands of the Mala are equipped with mosquito night bombers, with search radar and an ultra-long range of 3,500 kilometers, they are enough to carry out air raids across the Mediterranean. However, the difficulty of successfully achieving this combat objective at night is not ordinary.

Wei Minyong smiled and said to Limus: "General Limus, our general seat often tells us that as long as the mind does not slip, there are always more ways than difficulties. It's not easy to do, but that doesn't mean it can't be done, right? Yu Xueli nodded and said: "The so-called raising troops for a thousand days is a while, and now that the counteroffensive war in the North African battlefield has begun, and hundreds of thousands of Allied soldiers are fighting bloody battles against the Nazi fascists, we must naturally go all out to cut off the sea supply lines of the Axis army." ”

Wei Minyong said murderously: "That's right, no matter what, we must also play our due role, we must strangle Rommel's Afrika Korps and turn their planes and tanks into a bunch of useless toys!" "I'm sure God will bless you!" Remus stared blankly at the excited Yu Xueli, Wei Minyong and other Chinese officers, and suddenly had a sense of relaxation to lie down and win.

"Boom," and not long after, 60 Mosquito fighter-bombers and 30 Mosquito escort fighters took off one after another in other Malaysia. After completing their formation in the air, these combat planes, led by three reconnaissance planes, flew rapidly toward the northeast of the islands. "Oh, look, the mosquitoes on the other islands of Malaya are out again!" "I don't know where these damn mosquitoes will be targeting this time!" "Oh, they're flying northeast, are they going to bomb the port of Taranto on the Italian mainland?"

"No, no, no, according to this point of view, they should not be going to intercept the fleet of night transports!" "Oh my God, this is a bunch of crazy people!" "Hurry up, send a telegram to the coalition headquarters immediately!" At the same time, on the island of Gozo, which was only a few kilometers away, German sentries discovered the situation at the first time, and then the German radar crews also saw it from the surveillance screen.

And after further observation and calculation, the radar crew was shocked to find that the group of planes that had just taken off was actually going to a certain sea area in the Mediterranean Sea to carry out a bombing mission. Unable to capture the heavily defended island of Mabe, the German-Italian forces turned to the relatively weakly defended island of Gozo, and finally conquered the second largest island with a land area of 67 square kilometers after paying a huge price. In the past few months, the German-Italian forces have not been idle, intensifying their air raids and bombardments on the other islands of Malada, while carrying out large-scale construction on the island of Gozo.

Now Gozo not only has several thousand troops garrisoned, but also a sizable defensive system has been built, which to a large extent poses a direct military threat to the other islands of the Malays. These days, the soldiers on the two islands can be said to look up and not look down every day, and they will shoot at each other every day when they are idle.

Although the German radar crews had gained insight into the operational intentions of the Allied air forces on the other islands of Maladow in a short period of time, it was of little use except to add to the annoyance. Not to mention that the German and Italian air forces can't lock the flight path of the bomber formation at night, even if they can collide very powerfully, they can't compete with it. Guided by the wireless signals of their submarines, the bomber formation on the other islands of Maladow flew at full speed for more than an hour, and then, after some careful searching, they finally found the Italian Navy convoy sailing at full speed on a sea surface.

The reconnaissance planes dropped flares one after another at an altitude of 5,000 meters, illuminating the sea below as if it were daylight, and the five Italian transport ships naturally had no way to hide in the eyes of the pilots. "Quick, drop bombs and sink them immediately!" "Damn Nazi fascists, die all!" "Devils, go to God!" At this time, the Allied pilots were naturally not polite, and pressed the nose of the plane one after another to turn on the dive bombing mode, aiming at the fleet on the sea and dropping bombs.

In addition to continuing to rush at full speed, the anti-aircraft weapons on each ship were in full swing, and anti-aircraft machine guns and anti-aircraft guns fired a series of dazzling bullets. In the face of dense anti-aircraft fire, the Allied pilots were undaunted and continued to dive downward, and only then suddenly pressed the throwing switch when the optimal projection angle was reached.

Immediately afterwards, one after another heavy bombs smashed into the Italian transport fleet with a fierce roar. After a while, a cluster of skyrocketing flames continued to rise in the air on the hulls and the sea, and the earth-shattering explosion was even more deafening! Five Italian transport ships exploded violently one after another, igniting a raging fire, especially the oil tanker full of fuel oil burned to the sky, like a fire in winter, dispelling the darkness and illuminating a huge area.

Taking advantage of his illness to kill him, after the first blow, the Allied pilots did not be polite, but all of them were like chickens, and continued to dive and bomb back and forth until they threw all the bombs they carried on the enemy ships. Although the lethality of aerial bombs to ships is not as simple and crude as torpedoes, and can even hit the soul with one shot, there is a good saying, if you talk about toxicity regardless of dose, you are playing hooligan. After the number of aerial bombs increases, it can still cause devastating damage to ships, and it is completely possible to directly sink these small-tonnage transport ships.

After an almost frantic saturation bombardment, the five Italian transport ships suffered a fatal blow without any suspense, turning into a roaring fire ship. "Haha, well done! Return now! "Even, Ness!" "Finish the job!" After the bomb was still light, the Allied pilots circled in the air and admired their masterpiece before turning the nose of the plane to return to the aircraft with satisfaction.

On the morning of May 7, the headquarters of the Axis coalition forces. "What? Oil tankers and supply ships were all blown up and sunk? And it's also a group of bombers from the other islands of the Males? When he received the telegram, Rommel was stunned for half an hour, and his face became unprecedentedly ugly. In the end, Rommel's lieutenants even feared that their commander would not be able to bear the pressure and take out his pistol and commit suicide.

Sure enough, in response to the old saying "blessings are not double, disasters do not go alone", since Jiang Qiang led the Chinese Expeditionary Force to the North African battlefield, the Axis army has not had a good life. From the initial all-round superiority, the whole of Egypt could be captured with one kick, and then gradually lost sea and air supremacy, and the Axis side can be said to have bad news one after another, and the situation is getting worse day by day.

In the face of Jiang Qiang's extreme obscene defense and the strategy and tactics of using hard power to fight for attrition, Rao is Rommel is resourceful and can be called a master tactician, and he has really been tortured to the point that he has no temper in the past few months. Now something even more heart-wrenching has happened, and the other islands of Malta have quietly built another airfield, and the Maltese air force has begun to become active again. As the heart of the Mediterranean, once it beats, the sea supply lines of the Axis Afrika Korps may be completely cut off.

Meneki, who was standing on the side, frowned and said, "It's a big trouble now, we don't have much oil and food, especially the oil is only enough for four days." If we don't get fuel supplies as soon as possible, and don't use the Allies to attack, we'll have to collapse first. All aircraft, tanks, armored vehicles will be turned into toys. "At present, the Axis army in North Africa still has millions of troops, and there are extremely large armored clusters, and the daily consumption of food and drink is an astronomical amount.

The food is better, after all, Libya is in the hands of Italy, and some problems can be solved. But fuel shortages are a fatal problem. In fact, Libya is extremely rich in oil and gas reserves, of which oil reserves are about 43 billion barrels, the largest in Africa; The proven reserves of natural gas reached 1.54 trillion cubic meters, ranking fourth in Africa. Moreover, Libyan oil reserves are shallow and of particularly good quality.

If Libya's oil fields had been discovered earlier, I am afraid that World War II would have been another version. "Ahem, ahem!" At this moment, Rommel couldn't help coughing violently, and his face turned very pale. "Your Excellency, are you alright?" Seeing that Rommel was coughing too badly, Meneki hurriedly picked up a glass of water and handed it to Rommel. "I'm fine! Ahem, ahem, ahem,......"

Rommel wanted to be stronger, but his throat and eyes were so itchy that he couldn't control his cough, even after drinking a few sips of water. Rommel was physically and mentally exhausted for a long time after a long period of military life in the desert, and now he has suffered from a variety of diseases such as low blood pressure, dysentery and gastrointestinal diseases, so that he is bedridden most of the time.

For this situation, German military doctors have repeatedly strongly recommended Rommel to return home for treatment. In fact, it was not only Rommel who was plagued by illness, but also many German and Italian officers and soldiers of the Axis armies, and many senior German generals died of illness or had to return to China for recuperation. On the other hand, the situation on the part of the Allies is much better, not only because of the medicine and supplies that are very powerful, but more importantly, there is a "secret magic weapon".

And this "secret magic weapon" is that the Allies have a very strict sanitation system, strictly stipulating that when entering the toilet, they must dig deep pits, and even specially made "toilets" with cloth lids. In this way, the exposure of the droppings to the air will not attract flies, and as a result, more flies will be proliferated, and the entire barracks will become a paradise for flies.

In addition, the food of the German and Italian armies is very simple, basically eating canned food, and the meat nutrition is not very lacking, but it is basically difficult to eat vegetables. People on the earth know that if you don't eat vegetables for a long time, you will be deficient in certain nutrients, such as vitamin C, carotene, cellulose, iron, which is not conducive to the normal development of the human body, and can also lead to anemia or peripheral neuropathy and other diseases, such as bleeding gums, decreased resistance and so on.

In addition, the blood transfusion conditions of the German and Italian armies were very primitive and simple, and there could only be people on one side who were drawing blood and someone receiving blood transfusions on the other, unlike the Allied forces, which had special blood transfusion kits, which could quickly and timely carry out blood transfusion and rescue of the wounded. Wounded and bleeding on the battlefield was the most common, and the poor and inefficient blood transfusion conditions of the Axis armies not only caused many wounded soldiers to die due to excessive blood loss, but the physical condition of those who donated blood became even worse.

Therefore, all kinds of factors have been combined, and both the health and morale of the Axis troops have been greatly affected, and they have long been much worse than before. And in this extremely difficult situation, the island of Malta showed its fangs and began to do things.

The supply line, which was already very difficult, suffered the final fatal blow and was very likely to be completely cut off, which was undoubtedly news that made Rommel deeply desperate! Go out first, and let me be quiet! After thinking about it for a long time, he couldn't figure it out, but became more and more distraught, and Rommel could only hold back the crowd in order to calm himself down.

As soon as everyone had left the tent, Rommel took out a pen and paper and began to write a letter to his wife: "Dearest Lucy, I am gradually despairing, I am very tired during the day, and at night I lie with my eyes open, and the weight on my shoulders keeps me awake. What happens if something goes wrong here. Such thoughts torment me day and night, and if it turns out, I can't think of any way to fix it.

At present, the only solution in front of us is to greatly increase the air power of the Afrika Korps and regain air supremacy, but it is clear that the Führer's target at the moment is Volgograd of the Soviet Union, and he will not agree to this request! ……”

Rommel loved his wife dearly, and he liked to write to her to share the joy of success or the pain of failure. Unlike a few months ago, the last few letters from home have no joy to share, just endless worries and anxieties, even despair!

"Well done! Now I'm going to see how Rommel turns the tables! "After receiving the relevant information, Jiang Qiang smiled, he had worked hard for so many months, and he could finally use a two-pronged approach to completely strangle the supply line of the Afrika Korps." But that's not enough, we need to get the fire on the fire! ”

After pondering for a moment, Jiang Qiang pointed to the southern attacking troops on the sand table and said, "Send a telegram to General Patton, asking them to continue to strengthen the offensive on the Tria Ridge, and make a posture of outflanking and breaking through in depth." I'm going to get the Axis armored forces to move south as much as they can, and consume as much fuel as possible! ”