The decisive battle against the Third Reich

Wavell could no longer continue to command in North Africa.

Shortly after the failure of Operation Tomahawk, Wavell received a telegram: "Prime Minister to General Wavell: General Auchinleck will succeed you as Commander-in-Chief of the British Forces in the Middle East, and you are an unparalleled talent. and highly distinguished officers, who will fill the vacant post of Commander-in-Chief of Britain and India.”

"Excellent people" and "outstanding officers"...these are words used by the British to comfort losers, and Wavell certainly understands.

Wavell decided to obey this arrangement because he knew that he had completely failed in North Africa. Although he was a little unconvinced by the defeat, he could obviously win...

After thinking about it, Wavell telegraphed back to London with a heavy heart: "I obey the arrangement unconditionally. I am entirely responsible for the failure of North Africa. I am waiting for General Auchinleck to come and take over my command..."

Before Wavell left, he showed the gentlemanly manners of an Englishman and the courage that a soldier should have.

In this regard, Qinchuan believed that this was Churchill's lack of broad-mindedness and vision in employing people. If Churchill had always appointed Wavell as the commander-in-chief of the British forces in the Middle East, Rommel in history might have been defeated in North Africa faster.

However, the British generals were replaced one after another, and if they failed again, they were replaced... The result was that every general who went into battle was unfamiliar with desert warfare and needed an adaptation process, and when they were almost adapted, they would leave. Being replaced is not far away.

The reason why Montgomery, who was last on the battlefield, was able to win was entirely because the British army had an absolute advantage in strength, equipment and supplies. It can almost be said that no matter who is in command, they can win as long as they push forward without thinking.

Auchinleck was not completely inexperienced in commanding desert operations. He had commanded the British army to defend the Suez Canal in North Africa during World War I. This was one of the reasons why he was chosen by Churchill to replace Wavell.

But the experience of World War I often proved useless and even harmful.

This should be viewed in two. Many German generals such as Rommel himself fought in World War I. After having experience in World War I, he always avoided turning the battle into trench warfare similar to World War I. , other German generals also developed new tactical theories based on this, and "Blitzkrieg" was born.

But if those who cling to the experience of World War I think that future wars will remain unchanged and build strategies, tactics and even research and development equipment based on this, it will be a joke.

France's "Maginot Line" is one of the jokes. What the French concluded from the trench warfare in World War I was that future wars will be fought between the enemy and ourselves in the trenches, so they built the most luxurious and most luxurious line in the world. Strong trenches to support its military theory of "absolute defense."

The UK will be better than France, but it is still only half as good... This is mainly reflected in the fact that the research and development of weapons and equipment is mainly aimed at trench warfare, such as infantry tanks.

The newly appointed General Auchinleck suffered greatly.

He immediately counted his troops and equipment, and was surprised to find that he only had a hundred "Matilda" tanks in his hand that were frequently malfunctioning and unusable.

"It seems I'm here to clean up the mess!" General Auchinleck said to his staff.

"No, General!" the staff officer replied: "The Germans have far fewer tanks than we do!"

"Oh, really?" General Auchinleck replied: "But the German tanks can at least drive in front of our positions. We can feel the enemy's threat all the time and need to be on guard, but the Germans need to worry about us. A tank?"

The staff officer couldn't help but be speechless.

General Auchinleck was right. The German, Italian and British defense lines were roughly thirty kilometers apart... The reason for such a distance was because the British army retreated before and the German army did not pursue them, so a buffer zone was opened in the middle.

Thirty kilometers does not even take an hour for the German "Plank 3" tanks, so the British army has to worry at any time that German tanks will suddenly appear in front of them and penetrate them, so everyone feels a bit in danger.

However, this distance takes three hours for the "Matilda" tank. There is no guarantee that many tanks will not malfunction on the way. The German army can detect them from a long distance and have enough time to prepare.

In other words, the German army is much more confident in its defense than the British army.

"What's worse is not this!" General Auchinleck said to his staff: "What's worse is that we only have 'Matilda'. If we want more or more advanced tanks, we have to use them for more than a month." Time is transported from the British mainland, and the Germans only need a few days to get everything they need from Italy, so it won't be long before the German tanks will double, but we are still these Rubbish……"

As he spoke, General Auchinleck raised the equipment list in his hand.

The staff was speechless, because the transportation line from the British mainland around the Cape of Good Hope was indeed much longer than the supply lines of the German and Italian armies.

In desperation, General Auchinleck sent a telegram to Churchill: "Although we have an advantage in strength and even in the number of tanks, these are only data on paper. The tanks we have are all Tanks with backward performance, if we don’t get more tanks and supplies, I believe we will have to withdraw from North Africa!”

Of course Churchill would not allow this to happen.

Because if Germany occupied Egypt and then controlled the "Suez Canal", then the transportation between Britain and colonies such as India and Australia would have to go around the Cape of Good Hope. This would not only at least double the voyage but also increase many uncertain risks. .

Churchill's reply was: "I will give you everything you want. All you have to do is drive the enemy into the sea!"

Churchill did it, and his method was to ask the United States for help.

At this time, the United States had not yet participated in the war. In principle, it could not help any of the warring parties. However, this was in name only because the United States passed the Lend-Lease Act to provide a large amount of equipment and materials to the Allies in the name of Lend-Lease to support the Allied operations. .

At this time, the United States happened to have a batch of strategic supplies shipped to India. This batch of supplies was originally sent to Burma to support the Chinese Expeditionary Force. However, Britain and the United States had a closer relationship, so Roosevelt agreed to Churchill's request without much thought. , and instead used this batch of materials to reinforce North Africa.

In this way, the British army's supply line is not transported from the British mainland to North Africa, but from India via the Red Sea and then via the Suez Canal to Egypt... This transportation line is even shorter than the German transportation line to Tobruk via Italy.