The decisive battle against the Third Reich

"Phone?" The colonel turned his head and looked at Qin Chuan in confusion, asking, "What do you mean?"

"We often need to communicate with the crew in the tank, sir!" Qin Chuan replied, "For example, tell them which direction needs fire support and which direction is dangerous. You know, tank crews can't hear the shouting from the outside world when they are fighting, which often makes it impossible for us to coordinate with them effectively. Sometimes we are even attacked from behind without knowing it!"

The colonel seemed to understand something. He took a pen and tapped in the air a few times, saying, "So, you mean... install a phone on the tank?"

"Yes!" Qin Chuan said, "We can install the phone on the back of the tank. It shouldn't be difficult. It only We need a wire to connect to the tank, so that we can contact the tank by phone at any time, even if the hatch is closed! "

The colonel nodded in surprise and joy and said: "It's a good idea, Sergeant. It's a piece of cake to do this, but it can solve the problem of real-time communication between infantry and tanks... Why didn't we think of this before? God, we are so stupid!"

The colonel said without hesitation, and immediately ordered the assistant beside him: "Werner, go get a set of communication equipment immediately!"

"Yes!"

The device was quickly installed. As Qin Chuan said, it was not complicated at all, and it was just a phone installed in the tank cabin, which had almost no effect on the tank space.

Then the colonel asked Qin Chuan to try to contact the crew in the tank. Except that the "rumbling" sound of the tank engine would affect the call quality, there were no other problems.

Qin Chuan could even say to the tank:

"Three o'clock position, six hundred meters, tank!"

"Ten o'clock position, five hundred meters, anti-tank gun!"

...

There is no doubt that the flexibility and sensitivity of the tank to the outside world have been greatly improved, which is especially important when the tank is fighting at night or ambushed by the enemy.

"Great!" The colonel shook Qin Chuan's hand and said, "This is simply a pioneering work. I can't wait to see its performance on the battlefield! Thank you, sergeant!"

"No, colonel!" Qin Chuan replied, "I should thank you!"

The colonel thanked Qin Chuan for this groundbreaking idea.

Qin Chuan thanked the colonel because the colonel put Qin Chuan's idea into practice and greatly enhanced the coordination ability of infantry and tanks, which ultimately reduced the danger of soldiers on the battlefield.

The colonel certainly understood what Qin Chuan meant by this. He smiled and said, "My name is Conrad!"

"My name is Frick, sir!" Qin Chuan replied.

"Nice to meet you, Sergeant!" Conrad took out a notebook and wrote something on it, then tore it off and handed it to Qin Chuan: "Sergeant, this is my office phone number. If you have any ideas, I mean ideas like phone calls...then call me, okay?"

"Okay, sir!"

After Conrad left, Qin Chuan stuffed the phone number into his backpack and almost forgot about it.

You have to know that this is a desert, and there are no phones in Libya, so Qin Chuan didn't take it seriously.

Tanks were continuously shipped from Italy.

During this period, the sea transportation lines between Germany and Italy were still smooth, because Hitler transferred the elite 2nd Air Force of the Air Force to Italy, and Air Force Marshal Kesselring commanded the bombing of Malta.

This ensured the safety of the transportation line from Italy to Libya, so the strength of the African Corps was quickly supplemented: the 5th Light Division received 150 tanks, including more than a dozen "No. 4" tanks with better performance than the "No. 3" tanks.

In addition, the 5th Light Division was supplemented with infantry and artillery, so it was no longer suitable to use the designation of "Light Armored Division", and it was officially renamed the 21st Armored Division.

The 15th Armored Division also received 100 tanks, which brought the total number of tanks in the African Corps to 250, and most of these tanks were "No. 3" equipped with 50MM caliber tank guns, which greatly increased the strength of the African Corps.

Of course, these tanks were temporarily equipped with telephones at the rear because of Qin Chuan's idea.

Rommel was even more proud of it.

That afternoon, when Rommel was looking at the map and thinking about how to attack the British defense line, a telegram was handed to Rommel.

The telegram came from the Supreme Command in Berlin, and it said: "Lieutenant General Rommel, in view of your excellent performance on the battlefield, the Supreme Command has decided to promote you to Army General!"

"I'm a general!" Rommel was a little surprised by this, so much so that he repeated: "I'm a general!"

"What?" The staff officer was a little unbelievable.

Rommel tried to keep himself calm and handed the telegram to his staff. There was a cheer in the headquarters, and then the information spread throughout the African Corps.

Rommel can be proud of this, because he does not have rich "background" or "connections" like other German generals. He is a commander from a grassroots background, and he has grown from an ordinary company commander to a general. What is particularly noteworthy is that in World War II, he jumped from a lieutenant colonel to a general in just two years, the youngest general in the German Army.

Rommel seemed very calm in his subsequent speech to the entire army. He said: "This is of course a happy thing, but if possible, I will add more stars to my epaulettes! Soldiers, You are a part of these honors that I will never forget!”

The soldiers cheered. To a certain extent, this was Berlin's affirmation of their achievements, and their morale rose to a new level. Everyone, including the Italian army, thought it would not take long to attack Egypt and conquer Egypt. took over all of Africa.

Qin Chuan had little interest in this.

On the one hand, this is because he has known very well about Rommel's life, which is nothing new to Qin Chuan.

On the other hand, Qin Chuan knew very well that this battle would not be as easy as the German soldiers imagined.

Qin Chuan was right. There is a saying on the battlefield: "Never underestimate your opponent."

While the German and Italian troops were desperately transporting supplies to strengthen their equipment and combat effectiveness, the British army was not idle either.

Although this is somewhat difficult for the British army, the British army, which is unwilling to give up the Suez Canal or even the connection between the British mainland and the colonies, will certainly try every means to reach or even exceed the equipment level of the German army.