The decisive battle against the Third Reich

Of course the British army knew that the Germans were already planting crops, and they could easily detect this... Not to mention the spies scattered among the people, even the reconnaissance planes could see Matruh, El Alamein, And the lush green area outside Alexandria.

Of course, this is only one aspect. Another part of the reason is that Montgomery cannot bear the internal pressure...part of this pressure even comes from the Egyptian African Army.

The Egyptian African Army has always been a colonial army subordinate to the British Army. Many of their officers and soldiers are people who follow the wind or just make a living. At this time, the German and British armies are facing each other, and it seems that the German army has the upper hand... ...The German army fought all the way from Tripoli to Alexandria. At this time, they also used sniper tactics and guerrilla tactics to defeat the British army. In addition, under the propaganda of the guerrillas, the people turned to the German army one after another... This is a very important part of the guerrilla work. Xiang, which is what Qin Chuan said, makes full use of the power of the masses.

This job is not even difficult to do, because the British colonial rule in Egypt for decades, controlling, manipulating and even suppressing independence movements, has long caused strong dissatisfaction among the Egyptian people. At this time, the appearance of the German army seems to be a good opportunity to overthrow the British rule. .

Coupled with the various "good deeds" of the German army in Egypt, the guerrilla propaganda quickly spread among the Egyptian people. Many people believed that the German army launched this war in order to resist, as they were oppressed by the British like Egypt, so the people began to In support of the German army, many people from the British-controlled areas even fled to the German-controlled areas, hoping to fight for Egypt's independence with the German army.

Under this situation, many Egyptians, including African officers and soldiers, were thinking in their minds... What if the British were driven out? Isn’t it time to join the German army and make some plans for the future?

Therefore, Montgomery needed to use a victory to tell these eager Egyptians: the British army has always been the most powerful military force in Africa, the British army will achieve final victory, and only by standing on the side of the British army can there be a future.

The German army quickly got the news... Because of the help of the guerrillas, the German army had many more sources of intelligence. They even knew how many tanks the British army had. For the guerrillas, they only needed a few civilians to keep an eye on them. Unloading cargo in Port Said.

So Qin Chuan was summoned to Rommel's headquarters for a meeting.

"Although we have achieved very good results during this period!" Rommel glanced at Qin Chuan at this point, and then continued: "In fact, these results are completely beyond my expectation. I believe we have done what we have done." All that can be done!”

After a pause, Rommel came to a turning point: "However, our supply lines are not optimistic. Just when we are trying our best to change all this, the Italians do not dare to face the British air strikes because of cowardice and laziness. Advantage, which has allowed us to receive only twenty tanks and a small amount of equipment in the past month or so. In the same period of time, the British added more than two hundred tanks. We estimate that... Now the British There are at least two hundred and fifty 'General Grant' tanks and one hundred and fifty 'Stuart' tanks in hand. If we add 'Matilda' and 'Valentine' tanks, they are likely to There are five hundred tanks!”

This number is quite astonishing.

These tanks might have been nothing before, because the German army could basically fight one against two, that is, more than 200 tanks could match the 500 British tanks.

But now...the German army can barely get together a hundred tanks through tinkering, which even includes the "Stuart" and "Matilda" captured from the British army...At this time, the German army is mainly defensive, Coupled with the severe shortage of tanks, the "Matilda" had to be used.

Just because the German army did not have spare parts for the "Matilda" and the failure rate of the "Matilda" tank was very high, this batch of tanks was not favored.

"General, are the British planning to attack?" Qin Chuan asked, he had heard something from Rommel's tone.

"Yes!" Rommel said: "We have just received news that the British intend to launch an attack before we harvest!"

As soon as Rommel finished speaking, the officers in the headquarters started talking because they were very aware of the current situation of the German army...The German army lacked not only tanks, but also gasoline, ammunition, soldiers, etc. Even the 90th Light Division and its equipment had been It's in Italy but can't be shipped here.

"They won't be able to break through our defense line so easily!" Colonel Slain stood up and said, "Just like when we attacked them before, there are several miles of deep minefields in front of the defense line, as well as barbed wire fences and anti-tank trenches. They cause a lot of trouble!”

"Yes!" Colonel Olbridge said: "I agree with Colonel Sline, and we have found the weakness of the 'General Grant' tank. In addition, it is very heavy. If you launch an attack, you must be careful. "

Colonel Olbridge is an expert in commanding tank operations. Of course he knows the difficulties of tanks fighting in the desert... The "Plank III" tank, which only weighs 20 tons, needs to be careful about whether it will get stuck in the desert and be unable to move, even more so. Not to mention the 27.7-ton "General Grant" tank.

Moreover, Colonel Olbridge had previously defeated multiple General Grants with twenty-four No. 3s, so it was inevitable that he would underestimate the enemy.

"Gentlemen!" Rommel said: "I am pleased with your fearlessness, but at the same time we must also see our own shortcomings!"

Rommel turned his attention to Colonel Slain and continued: "Landmines, roadblocks, etc. are indeed a big trouble, but the British are different from us. They have sufficient ammunition and can use artillery shells and grenades to clear mines, or... they can also Imitate us and produce a batch of mine clearing tanks!”

What Rommel said is true, the mine-clearing tank is not a high-tech thing, it only needs simple modifications.

Then Rommel looked at Colonel Olbridge and said: "Perhaps the performance of our tanks is better than that of the British, and our tank crews are also more qualified and more experienced in combat. But the problem is... in this battle we are defensive , complete defense. The price of defense is that we don’t know which point the British will attack, so any point may be attacked, that is, every point must be defended, which forces us to spread our limited tanks and anti-tank equipment to The sixty-six-kilometer-long defense line will make us vulnerable!"

Colonel Olbridge was speechless.

This is the difference between offense and defense. The offensive side can always concentrate its superior forces to find the enemy's weaknesses, while the defensive side can only wait passively in many cases.