The decisive battle against the Third Reich

So the British army started from several aspects at the same time.

On the one hand, they used submarines to secretly transport equipment or risked using transport planes to airdrop equipment to the militiamen on the island of Crete at night, supporting them in carrying out guerrilla warfare against the Germans on the island or harassing, destroying, and demolishing German factory construction.

To be honest, this really gave the German and Italian troops a headache, because most of Crete is mountainous, and only the Mesala Plain in the south has dozens of kilometers of flat land. Such terrain itself is very suitable for guerrilla operations... The militiamen simply disappeared into the mountains. It was almost impossible for the German and Italian troops to enter the mountains to search, because not only would there be no results, but they would also lose troops and generals in unfamiliar mountainous terrain.

On the other hand, the rapid mobilization of the navy and air force confuses the German army.

Montgomery even mobilized hundreds of fishing boats in Port Said and carried out landing combat training. At the same time, he also mobilized a paratrooper division from the mainland to actively carry out airborne training, posing as if he wanted to recapture Crete.

The most important link is the "Sherman" tank required by the United States.

Of course, Montgomery had no choice but to leave it to Churchill.

Churchill personally flew to Washington to meet with Roosevelt.

"Mr. President!" Churchill said to Roosevelt: "The situation in North Africa is extremely urgent. We have no way out. If this continues, we will only be driven out of Egypt by the Germans!"

Roosevelt's face was not good-looking. He was very disappointed with the British performance in North Africa. It can even be said that the reputation of American equipment was ruined by the British.

But Roosevelt had no other choice. As the president of the United States, he could not allow Britain to continue to be defeated like this...

The importance of North Africa is unquestionable. Once the Suez Canal falls into German hands, the entire Mediterranean will become the German inland sea. All countries around the Mediterranean will be under the guns of the German and Italian troops. At the same time, Britain and its colonies would also be split into two.

On the other hand, Roosevelt knew that the United States would be dragged into this war sooner or later... In fact, the United States at this time could be regarded as participating in the war, providing equipment assistance to China, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, etc., and at the same time it stopped oil and scrap steel from Japan. , rubber and other strategic materials, freezing overseas accounts, etc.

(Note: The United States imposed sanctions on Japan on July 28, 1941. Before that, 80% of Japan’s oil came from the United States)

One side supplies the allies, and the other side imposes sanctions on the Axis powers... So the United States is no longer neutral. It's just that the Axis powers are temporarily wary of the United States' strong industrial capabilities and have not broken out.

But in the end, Roosevelt believed that the United States could not escape war, no matter how unwilling its people were.

Therefore, helping the UK now is actually helping ourselves.

Thinking of this, Roosevelt asked solemnly: "Your Excellency, Prime Minister, I still say the same thing, how can I help you!"

"New type of tank!" Churchill said: "I heard that you are equipping a new type of tank... We urgently need these tanks to launch a counterattack in Africa!"

"Are you talking about the 'M4' medium tank?" Roosevelt asked.

Like all previous tanks, the US military only has code names for the tanks. The name "Sherman" was actually given by the British.

"Yes, Mr. President!" Churchill replied: "I accidentally knew its performance data. It was simply developed for the African battlefield. I believe we can use it to beat the crap out of the Germans!"

In fact, Churchill was unintentionally right. Although the "M4" medium tank was not developed for the African battlefield, it was almost the same. It was a tank urgently developed by the United States after absorbing the shortcomings of previous tanks. Most of the shortcomings were exposed at the hands of the British on the African battlefield.

"But we haven't even had time to equip it yet!" Roosevelt hesitated because the US military also needed to prepare for the upcoming war, so it also needed this tank training.

After thinking about it, Roosevelt added: "And the 'M4' medium tank is not within the scope of the Lend-Lease Act!"

"But the United States has not yet entered the war, hasn't it?" Churchill said: "You can't use this tank even if you are equipped with it, but we urgently need it to defeat the Germans! As for the Lend-Lease Act... who cares? The United States has Now that we are using aircraft carriers to help us transport fighter planes, do we still care about the Lend-Lease Act?”

Churchill was right.

From the perspective of fear of being involved in the war, the US aircraft carrier transporting fighter jets to the UK can be said to be a more serious quasi-war or even an act of war. Germany can tolerate this, so for the "M4" medium tank Of course, I will choose silence.

Although Roosevelt knew that war was inevitable, he wanted the United States to have more time to prepare, so he was still somewhat cautious in this regard.

After thinking about it, Roosevelt thought that it was unlikely to anger Germany, or that Germany could only swallow this breath... At this time, Germany was at full war with the Soviet Union, and was fighting fiercely with the United Kingdom on the other. How could this be possible? Provoke the United States!

"Okay!" After careful consideration, Roosevelt nodded and agreed: "We will deliver the new tank to you as soon as possible!"

"Thank you very much, Mr. President!" Churchill almost cheered in his heart. He finally saw a little glimmer of victory again.

Roosevelt did what he said, and immediately shipped more than two hundred "M4" tanks that had just rolled off the production line to North Africa. In addition, they continued to produce them at full capacity day and night, striving to have the other two tanks within the half month requested by Churchill. Hundreds shipped to Africa.

As soon as Montgomery received the "M4" tank, he conducted preliminary tests on it. The test results made Montgomery overjoyed:

It can penetrate 50MM of armor at a distance of 800 meters, while the armor of the German "Plank III" tank is only 47MM.

At the same time, if the "Type III" tank wants to penetrate the 76MM armor of the "Sherman" tank, it must enter at least 500 meters.

(Note: The PAK38 anti-tank has a penetration depth of 78MM at a distance of 500 meters. Although this is higher than the "Sherman" 76MM armor, the actual thickness of the sloped armor makes it less likely to be penetrated).

This means that the Sherman has the advantage of "I can penetrate the enemy but the enemy cannot penetrate me" over the Panzer III tank. This is undoubtedly very useful on the battlefield and can also give the tank crew A great psychological help.

Of course, this will in turn create a psychological pressure on the enemy tank crew.

More importantly, the mobility performance of the "Sherman" tank is comparable to that of the "Plank 3" tank... Then, the "Plank 3" tank seems to be destined to be used as a target.