Iron Cross

"Why is the Prime Minister so angry?"

"I heard that General Montgomery captured 40,000 Italians."

"What's there to be angry about?"

"Because Guderian and the Germans were let go."

"He just ran away, ah... only caught some Italian trash?"

After all, Eden and Attlee were a bit more tender. They read the telegram over and over again but failed to see anything fishy in it. Instead, they were dissatisfied with Churchill's anger and persuaded them: "Your Excellency, we should look at this from a more positive attitude." At least we won the Battle of El Alamein, thwarted the Axis powers' coveting of Egypt, defended Cairo and Alexandria, and captured tens of thousands of Italians. Although we suffered some losses and did not capture the Germans, overall The result is still acceptable - our personnel losses are not very large. Do we recommend that they continue to advance and capture Tobruk as soon as possible, and the country will also provide supplies at the appropriate time?"

Churchill said sullenly, "I hope you will read this telegram instead."

"Look at it from the other side?" Everyone was confused. Only Menzies knew the inside story relatively clearly, but he did not dare to say anything.

But keeping silent did not mean that Churchill would let him go. Instead, he was directly named: "General Menzies, you must understand the actual situation inside. Please coordinate your intelligence personnel in Egypt immediately. I want to know within an hour." "True and complete." Churchill emphasized the words "true and complete."

"As you wish, Your Excellency Prime Minister." Menzies reluctantly accepted this offending job.

It didn't take long for the Egyptian side to call back. Menzies understood the ins and outs of the whole thing through the personnel placed in the Eighth Army. Everyone was stunned by this.

madman! All the senior generals of the Third Reich are crazy! How dare the dignified general lead less than 70 tanks to attack the Eighth Army? It looks like a suicidal behavior no matter how you look at it, but it can actually have such good results. The Eighth Army was also a waste. Hundreds of thousands of troops were beaten like this by the Germans with 70 tanks and two armored battalions. It was depressing to watch.

Everyone is wondering why there is no such figure in the British Empire? The Anti-French War made Lord Nelson and the Duke of Wellington successful, but where are the Nelsons and Wellingtons of the new era? I thought Hitler was destroying the Great Wall by replacing Rommel, but I didn't expect that the new Guderian was not a fuel-efficient lamp either. And General Montgomery, who everyone had high hopes for, seemed to have done something at first. Over time, it seemed that he was following the old path of Auchinleck-if this was the case, it would be better to let Auchinleck continue to do it.

"There is only one explanation. Guderian's troops were far from enough, and he had to launch a counterattack with such a weak force to confuse our army. However, it still achieved good results." After learning the exact news, Churchill's mood calmed down. came down, and asserted with a sneer, "Those three divisions and 40,000 Italians were not the results of the Eighth Army. They were obviously abandoned by the Germans on their own initiative in order to delay our pursuit. The Germans were in such distress that they had to Tens of thousands of friendly troops were abandoned. Immediately sent a telegram to Montgomery, asking them to pursue the enemy resolutely and quickly. They must be dealt with before Guderian retreats to Tobruk. If this task is not completed, I don't mind continuing to adjust. The commanding officer of the Eighth Army."

"As for the supplements..." He put out the cigar in the ashtray viciously, "I won't give it to them until I win this battle."

Everyone looked at the Prime Minister's ferocious expression and realized that Churchill might be very disappointed with the performance of the Eighth Army. This disappointment was not only because Montgomery or General Alexander were trying to hide something, but also because Guderian achieved such a jaw-dropping victory with a weak force. In the end, they actually retreated arrogantly. This was like a slap on the Prime Minister's fat face. No wonder he was so angry.

"Has the Prime Minister called back?" Montgomery, who was feeling a little depressed, was very nervous. This was the third time he asked Chief of Staff De Lagan. His worry about gains and losses was evident because he didn't know what to do now. .

After listening to Major General Langton's advice, Montgomery commanded the Eighth Army to quickly crush the Italians on the northern front with a huge force. The Italians pretended to resist at first, but not long after the British army strengthened their strength, they sent out negotiations. Deputies held white flags demanding surrender. Montgomery was very confused by this. He had captured Italians not once or twice, but this was the first time he encountered such a straightforward and thorough situation like today.

He was worried that there was some kind of trap in it, so he deliberately summoned several main officers from the headquarters to participate in the negotiation process. As a result, the news he got after questioning surprised him: Guderian ran away, and not only ran away, but also took away the Southern Front. Of almost all the troops, only the Italian infantry divisions remained on the northern front. They lacked ammunition and supplies, as well as transport vehicles and armor, and had no choice but to surrender to Montgomery. In this way, Guderian also sent a telegram asking them to withstand the British attack for three days so that they could rearrange their positions, and hypocritically said that they would arrange troops to support them. The Italians saw through this "tactic" at a glance. Several division commanders angrily sent telegrams to Mussolini to complain, and then simply sent representatives to surrender.

"Where is Guderian now?"

"Most of the German armored forces are in Tel Akakir, and the infantry units have gradually retreated towards Tobruk." The angry Italian negotiators did not hide anything and told Montgomery everything they knew. , a lot of information was revealed without even waiting for the British to ask. The only condition for their surrender was that the British should provide sufficient logistical supplies.

Therefore, the Eighth Army won the "victory" of the Battle of El Alamein after only one day of fighting, and captured 40,000 troops from 3 divisions. However, the British army did not capture many useful weapons and equipment, and instead had to give these tens of thousands of Italians The prisoners provided supplies and supplies, and as a "reward" for the Italians' happy surrender, Montgomery decided to provide for their needs. After disarming the Italians, the situation during the advance to the southern front was exactly as the other party said. The German positions were empty, and the fortifications, artillery, and tanks seen in advance were all fake models made of various materials. , occasionally mixed with the wreckage of one or two scrapped vehicles. However, the minefields laid by the African Corps caused the British army to suffer a lot. They lost more than a dozen tanks and armored vehicles. After hundreds of officers and soldiers, they reluctantly opened a passage. The desert is densely covered with minefield signs, and the Eighth Army has no energy to clear them one by one.

Based on this special situation, several staff officers racked their brains and spent several hours thinking hard before drafting the "victory" message. Montgomery did not want to do this, but reluctantly agreed after de Lagan's persuasion. and took great pains to report it to General Alexander in Cairo in advance using very obscure words. I don’t know if the latter understood the meaning between the lines. Anyway, the reply was also vague, reading like an approval or a hint. He was free to move without interference, and in short he allowed the Eighth Army to pass by. Then Montgomery locked himself in his room and meditated for a day. Finally, he couldn't wait any longer and hesitantly sent the message to Churchill.

But the delay in London's call back made him worried. He didn't know that the reason why London called him back so late was entirely because Churchill asked the intelligence personnel to verify what originally happened - De Lagan's idea was a good one. , and did everything he could, but he just didn't expect that the boss he met had used these tricks very smoothly when covering up the failure of the Battle of the Dardanelles 25 years ago.

"Telegram, the telegram from London is here." The adjutant came in with a gloomy face. When he saw this posture, Montgomery's heart sank suddenly. It took him a long time to accept the thin telegram paper. The content of the telegram made him feel A slap in the face: there was not a single word of encouragement for the "Great Victory", but instead a cold order asking him to continue his efforts to quickly and completely eliminate Guderian.

"It seems that the Prime Minister is very dissatisfied with our performance." He handed the telegram to Dragan with a wry smile, scratching his scalp in distress, "Judging from the content and tone of the telegram, the Prime Minister should have noticed something. I I didn’t want to hide it from him at first, but... maybe we should send him another telegram to tell him the truth. "

"Sir, the matter is over. We don't need to worry about what has happened but should look forward. As long as we catch Guderian, the Prime Minister can still explain it. To say the least, even if we can't catch Guderian, Derrian, as long as he can severely injure Guderian, he can also explain to London." De Lagan was obviously more open-minded than Montgomery, who was worried about gains and losses. He dissuaded his irrational impulse at the critical moment and said, "I don't think it will happen again. How much does it mean to send a defense telegram? Indeed, as you said, the Prime Minister's tone was a bit harsh, so I think London should have understood what happened here instead of the other way around. There is no need for us to bother to explain, and the mainland did not refuse. Our supply requirements just put forward additional conditions, and all we have to do is complete this task - at least I am very optimistic about this."

"Tell me carefully." Upon hearing that the chief of staff was so confident, Montgomery's nervous mood finally relaxed, and his mood also eased a bit.