The decisive battle against the Third Reich

"So I think we should not use the 'General Grant' tanks as tanks!" Qin Chuan continued: "At least, we should not arrange professional tank crews for them, but should assign car drivers and gunners to them. This That's what I said about giving it to the artillery. The 'Stuart' tank is another matter!"

As soon as Qinchuan finished speaking, there was a discussion in the conference room. Some people agreed with Qinchuan's opinion, because everyone saw the poor performance of the "General Grant" tank. The reason why Montgomery ordered the British army to "only aim at long range" It is precisely because of this that close combat is not allowed."

But some people don't think so, and Major General Gro is one of them.

"Second Lieutenant!" Major General Gro asked: "What you said is correct, but we have no other choice, because everyone knows... Our supply lines are blocked by the British, and it is difficult for us to transport tanks from Italy. Come here, this puts us in a situation where we have no tanks to use, but..."

As he spoke, Major General Gro spread his hands and said with an incredible expression: "In this case, on the one hand, we have no tanks to use, but on the other hand, you ask us to hand over the captured tanks to the artillery. You Don’t you think this is a huge waste?”

Major General Gro's words were agreed by many people, including an officer of the 15th Armored Division who said: "If the 21st Armored Division does not plan to use these tanks, then just... we don't mind using them, and We promise to use them as tanks instead of armored cannons!"

The conference room couldn't help but burst into laughter.

"General!" Qin Chuan replied: "So I think it's time to discuss the island of Malta!"

The officers couldn't help but be stunned when they heard this, and Rommel couldn't help but look at Qin Chuan in surprise.

"Do you mean to attack Malta, Lieutenant?" Rommel asked.

"Yes, General!" Qin Chuan replied.

The conference room fell into silence, because they couldn't believe that a second lieutenant would actually attack the island of Malta. It was a big battle.

"Second Lieutenant!" Major General Gro said: "You seem to have imagined Malta Island too easily. We don't have the extra troops to attack Malta Island, not to mention we only have one air wing!"

What Major General Groh said is true. The German and Italian troops originally planned to attack Malta Island, but the German 24th Air Wing stationed in Sicily was transferred to the Soviet Union by Hitler. This plan went bankrupt.

The reason is very simple. The most important thing in the battle to seize the island is air superiority, because the enemy fighter planes can draw a circle with the island as the center and the combat radius of the aircraft as the radius. All warships, transport ships, troop transports, etc. that enter this circle will become the targets of the fighter planes. .

The combat radius of the fighter planes is several hundred kilometers, so if they do not control the air, the landing troops may be blown to pieces before they even see the island.

"This is not a question of whether!" Qin Chuan said, "It's a question of whether or not!"

"What do you mean?" Major General Gro asked.

"It is true that there are many difficulties in seizing the island of Malta, but if we don't add it to our territory... what will happen over time?"

Qin Chuan's words immediately silenced the officers in the conference room.

"We will fail eventually, gentlemen!" Qin Chuan said, "We will fail one day."

After a pause, Qin Chuan continued: "Although we can grow potatoes to fill our stomachs, although we can use sniper tactics to consume the enemy's artillery shells, although we can use guerrilla warfare to slow down the British ammunition storage and even damage their morale, even if we We can also defeat the British offensive time and time again and seize equipment from them. But... our ammunition and tanks cannot be transported, and we can only watch the British accumulate more power and tanks and then move towards our defense line. Attack!"

"Yes!" General Strike agreed: "This time we can rely on the second lieutenant's method to make the British fall into a trap. What about next time? Do we still expect the British to fall into the trap? Even if we are equipped with 'General Grant' What about tanks? We only have a pitiful total of more than 200 tanks, and they have all types of tanks, such as 'Matilda', 'Valentine', 'Crusader', 'Pop 3', and 'Stu. Art', and now with the addition of the 'General Grant' style... God, our armored division has become a tank museum, we can't defeat the British with such equipment!"

"But what else can we do?" Major General Gro said: "attack Malta like the ensign said?"

"The second lieutenant is right!" Rommel said: "We have only this choice, because now the battle situation is obvious. The enemy and we have fallen into a stalemate, and time is not on our side!"

In fact, there is no doubt about this. Although there are indeed many difficulties in tactics, it must be fought strategically, otherwise the African Corps will definitely lose.

From this point of view, General Gro still lacks strategic awareness.

"But how to solve the problem of the aircraft?" an officer asked: "We can't win without air supremacy!"

Rommel raised his head towards Qin Chuan, signaling Qin Chuan to answer this question.

"As everyone knows!" Qin Chuan replied: "We have reached a stalemate with the British army at the Alexander Line of Defense. In addition, the British army has just suffered heavy losses. They will not be able to launch another large-scale attack in the short term, so we can The 24th Air Wing stationed in Tobruk and Matruh was transferred back to Tripoli to participate in the battle for the island of Malta, and there was also the Italian Air Force..."

"We can't count on the Italian Air Force!" Major General Gero said: "They only have some old-fashioned fighters, and these fighters are no match for the British fighters at all!"

"But they can at least provide some cover or attract firepower from the British Air Force!" Qin Chuan said.

"Okay!" General Gro said: "We have to rely on the Italian Air Force. So what troops will we use to attack? We need German troops for the defense line. Do we also have to rely on Italian troops to seize the island?"

General Gero is right in saying this. The 15th Armored Division and the 21st Armored Division are the mainstays of the Alexandria defense line. Once Tripoli is pulled back and invested in the direction of Malta Island, the British army will definitely take the opportunity to launch an attack on the defense line.

Moreover, Tripoli and Alexandria are more than a thousand kilometers apart, and there is desert along the way. The air wing can go back and forth in a few hours, but the armored division takes more than a month to go back and forth.

"General Gro!" Qin Chuan replied: "You seem to have forgotten that the 90th Light Division is trapped on Sicily and cannot be transported over!"