Reborn as a police officer in South Africa

At the same time that southern Africa declared war on Germany, the Fourth Armored Division of the Second Army first left its base and entered the Mahdi Kingdom, heading towards the Mahdi capital Khartoum.

The Commander-in-Chief of the British Forces Command in the Middle East, Temporary General Archibald Percival Wavell, arrived at Kondra at noon on the 3rd.

Wavell was born into a military family in Colchester, England. His grandfather and father were both generals.

Wavell participated in the last world war and lost his left eye due to a head injury during the battle, hence his nickname "One-Eyed Dragon".

After receiving reinforcements from Australia and India, the number of troops that Wavell could command increased to 50,000, which was a huge disparity compared with the Italians' 500,000, which made Wavell sleepless.

The British colonies in North Africa were attacked from both sides by the Italian colonies. Wavell was under great pressure. The participation of southern Africa in the war finally gave Wavell some relief.

"General, welcome to Southern Africa -" Feng Fu personally went to the airport to greet Weiweier.

"Thank God, we can finally fight side by side again!" Weiweier and Feng Fu shook hands warmly and looked at Feng Fu with slightly complicated eyes.

There must be mixed emotions.

Compared with the stronger Second Army, the troops commanded by Wavell were mostly composed of colonial servants, which made Wavell very uncomfortable.

Under normal circumstances, the southern African army should be Britain's colonial servant army.

Unfortunately, due to the British government's cunning operations, it now seems that the British military has become a colonial servant army in southern Africa, at least from the perspective of equipment.

The force commanded by Wavell consisted of three parts, one part was the Egyptian army, one part was the Australian Expeditionary Force, and the other part was the Indian army.

In the last world war, the Anzac Army performed well, but after twenty years, Wavell was very doubtful about whether the Australian troops could go all out as they did in the last world war.

Needless to say about Indians, during World War I, Wavell served as the liaison officer to Grand Duke Nikolay Nikolayevich, the commander of the Russian Caucasus Army Group, and William Robert Robertson, the Imperial Chief of General Staff. For India

The capabilities of the military are clear.

As for Egypt——

There are only eight battalions of the British army in Egypt composed entirely of British troops.

After Operation Sickle began, these eight battalions were transferred back to the mainland by Winston to assist in the defense. As a result, Wavell and Winston had a fierce quarrel, and they still have a bad relationship.

Right next to Wavell's special plane, several Southern African military transport aircraft were loading.

Wavell was surprised to find that the Southern African Air Force actually loaded all armored vehicles onto transport aircraft, which gave Wavell a new understanding of the air transport capabilities of the Southern African Air Force.

You must know that the "Alligator" armored vehicle in southern Africa has a total combat weight of 17 tons, which is heavier than the tanks installed by European countries before the outbreak of the European War.

Using aircraft to transport armored vehicles, at least the British Air Force currently does not have this capability.

"The Second Army has many vehicles. We must first establish a forward base in Khartoum to prepare for the follow-up operations of the armored forces." Feng Fu's introduction had a hint of Versailles.

After the outbreak of the European War, Wavell reorganized the British troops in the Middle East into the Nile Army.

They are also group armies.

Feng Fu's Second Group Army has a total strength of nearly 140,000. The entire army has more than 800 tanks, more than 3,000 vehicles, and about 3,500 artillery pieces. Its strength is second to none in the world.

This does not include more than a hundred helicopters.

The Nile Army has a total of 50,000 troops and 275 artillery pieces, most of which are old models that participated in the last world war. There are only four tanks in total, and they are all French Renault tanks produced during the last world war.

There is no way around it.

After the outbreak of the European War, Britain sent almost all new equipment to the Western Front with the British Expeditionary Force.

As a result, during the Dunkirk evacuation, the British army lost all its heavy equipment and the number of rifles was seriously insufficient. It was good that the Egyptian side still had tanks available.

One of the important reasons why Weiweier took the initiative to find Feng Fu was that he hoped that Feng Fu could support the Nile Army with some heavy weapons.

This is somewhat difficult for Weiweier, who has a strong self-esteem, to say.

But the situation was stronger than the people. When they came to Feng Fu's headquarters, Weiweier still made this request.

"Sorry General, I'm afraid this won't work. I don't have the power." Feng Fu decisively rejected Weiweier's request.

However, facing Weiweier's expectant eyes, Feng Fu couldn't help but feel soft: "In this way, if we capture the Italians' heavy weapons in the next battle, we can give priority to supplying the Nile Army."

It is really embarrassing to say that the Nile Army led by Wavell was not even equipped as well as the Italian troops in North Africa.

Fat Baldhead had spent a lot of money in North Africa. When he attacked the Abyssinian Empire, he used a large number of armored troops, and then he successfully conquered the Abyssinian Empire.

Nowadays, Italian troops in North and East Africa possess a large number of heavy weapons, including tanks and artillery, and the air force has more than 500 aircraft. If southern Africa does not participate in the war, the Nile Army will really not be able to withstand the Italian attack.

But the miraculous thing is that after the Italians declared war on Britain and France, the North African side only invaded and occupied two border towns in Kassala and Garabat, and never launched any offensive again. This gave Wavell a chance to breathe.

, finally waited until southern Africa joined the war.

The fat bald man is still very cautious. Of course, this has a lot to do with the mustache's requirements.

Mustache did not want to see a fierce conflict between Italy and Britain in North Africa before defeating France.

This can also be understood to mean that Mustache does not want to see Italy monopolizing North Africa.

In the absence of Southern Africa participating in the war, 500,000 vs. 50,000, even if the Italians fight, the Egyptians and Indians cannot fight.

Australia has only one division in North Africa, and it is not full-

The key point is that the Australians cannot fight either. The Australian and New Zealand forces that fought bravely in World War I no longer exist.

"The Italian troops in North Africa have already posed a huge threat to Egypt and may attack Egypt at any time. If possible, can part of the Cypriot army be sent to Alexandria to assist in the defense?" Wavell retreated to the next best option. An island in Cyprus, with the army, navy and air force added.

With 100,000 troops, it would be enough to raid the Italian mainland.

Once Italy occupies Egypt, the connection between Britain and India will be cut off, and Port Elizabeth will also face the threat of Italy.

Wavell requested the Cyprus garrison to strengthen Egypt's defense, also to ensure Britain's oil supply.

Feng Fu also knew this, but Feng Fu was not worried.

"The Italians' focus is not on North Africa, but on Greece. Before occupying Greece, the Italians will not launch a large-scale attack in North Africa." Feng Fu knew the situation of the Italians well.

"Is the information accurate?" Weiweier doubted the authenticity of the information.

"It's absolutely true!" Feng Fu said firmly.

It's absolutely true.

This is thanks to the contribution of the Department of Mathematics, Nyasaland University.

In 1918, German inventor Arthur Scherbius invented a cryptographic machine "Enigma" and applied for a patent for this machine.

At that time, the "Enigma" was expensive, and few people were interested in this kind of cipher machine. It was not until nearly ten years later that Germany selected the "Enigma" as a cryptographic machine dedicated to the German government, and even the German navy, army and air force.

The working principle of "Enigma" is very complicated. Colonel Erich Folgibel, chief of communications of the German High Command, believed that "Enigma" was a perfect communication device and it was impossible for the Allies to decipher it.

The French and British indeed failed to decipher the "Enigma" code.

This is mainly because France and the United Kingdom do not have a heartfelt fear of the Germans, so they have not invested enough in "Enigma".

Before the outbreak of the European War, the threat from the Germans was increasing day by day. Zdziszlo Krilovski, the director of the Department of Mathematics at the University of Poznan, organized a research team to decipher the "Enigma" cipher machine.

The Poles' deciphering work progressed very smoothly. Although the "Enig code" code was changed every day, in 1938, the Poles were able to successfully decipher the German code of the day within two hours.

In December 1938, Germany upgraded its "Enigma" cipher machine, making it 15,900 times more difficult to decipher than before.

Theoretically, the upgraded "Enigma" can still be deciphered, but the time and money required will greatly increase.

The Poles ran out of time and were severely short of funds.

Before Germany attacked Poland, Polish deciphering work had completely stopped.

At the same time that the Poles were deciphering the "Enig code", the Department of Mathematics at Nyasaland University also began corresponding deciphering work.

Compared with the Poles, Nyasaland University has a stronger technical foundation and more abundant financial resources. Alan Matheson Turing showed his talents in the process of deciphering the "Enigma". He produced a

A machine specially designed to decipher "Enig code", this machine was named "computer" by Nyasaland University.

Like the Poles, Nyasaland University also uses the exhaustive method to decipher the "Enig code".

The exhaustive method refers to the process of deriving the "Enigma" by listing all possible combinations between letters, and then deriving the German army's password combination that day.

There are approximately 105,456 combinations of "Enigma". Turing built a total of six machines. His daily task was to list all 105,456 combinations and find the correct answer.

In January 1939, Germany upgraded the "Enigma", and the number of key combinations increased from the previous 105,456 to 1,590 billion.

This time the Poles were finally helpless.

Nyasaland University didn't care. If six machines were not enough, they would use sixty machines. Turing could not do it alone, so all the teachers and students in the entire mathematics department were mobilized to work on deciphering the new German code.

Facts have proven that as long as the investment is large enough, there is no unbreakable castle.