The decisive battle against the Third Reich

After the British army escaped from Aghdabia, the German army received orders to rest and regroup.

The German officers and soldiers were a little surprised by this, because the British army was already defeated at this time, and it was a good time to pursue them. Why did they stop and let the British army escape from the German army's sight? !

More importantly, this was not Rommel's usual style.

This is indeed not Rommel's style. This is the joint order of the heads of state of Germany and Italy, namely Hitler and Mussolini. Both of them were frightened by Rommel's bold move... The British were frightened by Rommel. were deceived by his bluff, thinking that Rommel was landing with a large number of German troops, tanks and armored vehicles, but Hitler and Mussolini knew very well that Rommel only had one division of less than 20,000 German troops. Although the Italian army There are 80,000 people, but they are all the defeated soldiers who were chased back from Egypt by the British army. At most, they can only serve as a foil, that is, the German army charges at the front, and the Italian army follows behind to take over the territory occupied by the German army. town.

What particularly worried Hitler was that Rommel had less than a hundred tanks, and some of the hundred tanks had already been lost on the front line, and some had just arrived in Tripoli.

The Italian army has more than 400 tanks in its hands, but most of them are old M13 and M15 tanks with backward performance. These tanks are almost targets in front of British tanks and anti-tank guns.

On the other hand, the British army has more than 150,000 people, 1,114 tanks, 1,000 artillery pieces and 1,500 aircraft...

Hitler knew very well that what Rommel was doing now was a risky advance. As long as the British knew Rommel's falsehood and concentrated their forces to counterattack, Rommel would undoubtedly be defeated.

And this defeat will probably cause the German and Italian armies to completely lose their foothold in North Africa.

Therefore, Hitler strictly ordered Rommel's troops to stop. If the British troops wanted to retreat, let them withdraw. The German army took this time to build fortifications and gather strength. After more than a month, the 15th Armored Division would arrive as scheduled. It would not be too late to advance in the direction of the British army at that time.

But Rommel always ignored Hitler's orders... Rommel served as captain of the Guard at the Führer's headquarters beside Hitler, so he knew Hitler's character very well. He knew that what Hitler wanted was victory, and as long as he could win on the battlefield, even against his will, he would eventually receive honors and rewards.

Rommel was unwilling to give up this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It was like being in front of a table of delicious food but he could only smell it but not touch it.

So Rommel commanded the troops to move forward.

Until Rommel's boss, General Garibaldi, appeared in Rommel's command... In fact, Garibaldi was only Rommel's nominal boss. Hitler was willing to hand over command to the Italians just because the Italians might He was more familiar with the desert battlefield and needed to make use of Italian troops and logistical supplies. Rommel, who was arrogant and invincible on the battlefield, did not take Garibaldi, who had suffered repeated defeats, seriously.

"We must stop the attack!" Garibaldi almost roared at Rommel: "You have no idea how dangerous our situation is. Our army is very tired, our supplies are very lacking, and our preparations are not sufficient. , we only have enough ammunition for two days!”

"The British will not be as fragile as he shows. They may have designed a trap waiting for us! Don't you see it? They want us to attack and use this method to lengthen our army's logistics supply line. Wait until Launch a counterattack when the time is right! This is how we were defeated before!”

…

Rommel watched quietly as the Italian general roared in front of him, his fat face flushed with anger like a balloon about to explode.

"Did you listen to what I was saying?" Seeing that Rommel didn't take it seriously, Garibaldi asked dissatisfiedly.

"Of course, General Garibaldi!" Rommel replied: "I'm listening!"

"Then execute my order!" Garibaldi glared at Rommel. He was very dissatisfied with this arrogant German general who did not obey his orders. If it were not for the fact that he saved himself and the Italian army in the crisis, He believed that he would propose replacing this guy who did not understand military discipline.

"I have stopped attacking!" Rommel replied: "My troops are in Aghdabia, and they are not continuing the pursuit!"

"But..." Garibaldi couldn't help but be speechless after hearing this.

God, Aghdabia is already hundreds of kilometers away from Garibaldi's first "stop offensive" order.

After thinking about it, Garibaldi softened his tone and said to Rommel: "General, I hope you can face this problem squarely. Logistics problems determine that we cannot go any further. It will overwhelm our troops. Now. , we should garrison in Aghdabia, do you agree?"

Rommel did not answer Garibaldi. He just picked up the coffee and took a sip. He was still thinking about how to attack. He stopped in Aghdabia not because of any orders, nor because of Mussolini or Gary. Purdy... He didn't have to listen to Hitler's orders, so why would he care about what other people said? !

The reason why Rommel stopped the attack was simply because of logistical supply problems. The German army could not fight without ammunition and supplies... but logistical supplies required the cooperation of Garibaldi. After all, the Italian army was a grain transport brigade.

So...how can we convince the old-fashioned, timid and visionless Italian general in front of us?

At this time, a signal soldier came in. He handed Rommel a telegram and said: "General, order from the High Command in Berlin!"

Rommel took the telegram, looked at it, and then grinned.

"General Garibaldi!" Rommel raised the telegram in his hand and said triumphantly: "Berlin gives me complete freedom of movement!"

"What?" Garibaldi couldn't help being stunned after hearing this, then sighed and said, "Okay, General! But I have to declare that if our army is defeated, I will not be responsible for it!"

"Of course!" Rommel nodded: "I will say that it was all my own will!"

What Garibaldi did not expect was that Berlin's order was just the opposite. Hitler severely criticized Rommel in the message and insisted that Rommel stop advancing and cooperate with the Italian army to build a line of defense.

Rommel cleverly deceived Garibaldi and got tens of thousands of Italian troops to cooperate with his offensive plan... although the Italian army's cooperation was not willing.