Chapter 421: North African Campaign

North Africa, Libya.

P City.

The airport in P City was extremely busy early in the morning. The ground crew refueled and loaded the planes in an orderly manner, and then pulled the planes to the end of the runway to line up and wait for takeoff. The workload was so heavy that even the idle pilots joined the ground crew.

After two hours of busy work, one after another BF109F, Stuka bombers, Mosquito bombers, and Il-2 attack aircraft took off, forming a huge formation and flying towards Egypt.

Standing on the balcony of the office, Rommel looked at the sun above his head and sighed. "What a good weather." Libya's climate is warm in winter and hot in summer, with an average winter temperature of 15℃. Now is a good weather for troops.

After waiting for several months, Yannick issued an order to attack Egypt.

The North African campaign in the original time and space was originally a war between the Italians and the British.

When World War II broke out and the German army was advancing triumphantly in France, Italy, as an Axis ally, was not to be outdone. It sharpened its sword for peace and took the opportunity to send troops to North Africa in an attempt to seize the Suez Canal and control the passage from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean.

In terms of strength, military fans familiar with the history of World War II know what level Italy is at and what role it plays in the Axis alliance, but Mussolini was not convinced and wanted to take on the porcelain job without the diamond drill.

At that time, the British army deployed only a small number of troops in North Africa, about 20,000 to 30,000 people. In the first phase of the campaign, Italy deployed 230,000 troops in Libya. The Italian army attacked from the border area between Libya and Egypt, where the British army had only one reinforced regiment. As a result, the Italian army quickly advanced and showed a momentum of unstoppable.

However, after the British army regrouped and reinforced, it immediately launched a counterattack against Italy, resulting in 130,000 Italian soldiers captured.

Mussolini had no choice but to ask for help from the little mustache: This won't work. For the sake of the alliance, you have to help your brother.

Although the ally was not strong, they were still in the same pot. In order to help Italy, the German army sent the so-called "Africa Army" led by Rommel.

In the early days, the number of people in this "Africa Army" was quite small, with only two divisions: the 15th Armored Division and the 5th Light Division. A total of 318 tanks were equipped. There were only two independent artillery battalions for supporting firepower: one 100mm cannon battalion and one 210mm mortar battalion. Including logistics and independent units, there were only 55,000 army personnel in total. However, it was given the scary title of "Africa Armored Army" - this surprised Rommel, and he couldn't even figure out whether he really became the commander of the army.

As the reinforcements had not all arrived, the British thought that the German support was very few, so Rommel did not dare to act rashly, so he withdrew the ace 7th Armored Division from the battlefield for repairs and replenishment. However, Rommel did not wait for the German army to arrive. He took advantage of the favorable opportunity and conditions of the British army's redeployment and underestimation of the enemy, took a bold offensive action, and quickly advanced 450 miles to the south.

After that, Rommel insisted on speed first, turning from passive to active. Before the reinforcements arrived, in order to prevent the enemy from knowing his strength, he used cars to convert many fake tanks to confuse the enemy and flexibly used mechanized troops. In less than a week, the British retreated more than 200 miles; in less than two weeks, the British retreated 400 miles, leaving only a unit besieged in Tobruk. For a time, the Desert Fox became famous.

The moon waxes and wanes, and Rommel was no longer as unrestrained as when he first arrived, and the autumn wind swept the fallen leaves. Just when Rommel dominated Africa and the war was critical, Churchill sent a large number of reinforcements, and in July 1941, he also sent a famous general. He was Rommel's rival, Auchinleck.

The first battle Auchinleck commanded in North Africa was the Crusades. During the battle, at a critical moment, Auchinleck flew from Cairo to the front line, judged that the German army suffered heavy losses, and opposed the British army's retreat. As a result, the German army was also severely damaged, and only more than 90 tanks were left out of more than 170 tanks. After a series of offensive and defensive battles, although Rommel once took the initiative, he was already at the end of his strength and eventually retreated westward. The German troops remaining in the Egyptian border area surrendered one after another.

The Crusades achieved the expected goal. This was the first military victory of Britain over Germany in World War II. Even Churchill exclaimed: "Auchinleck saved this battle, and he used his actions to prove his outstanding qualities as a field commander."

The German army's combat effectiveness was very strong, but it suffered from insufficient manpower and poor support. Although Italy had more than 300,000 troops, they were simply vulnerable and useless except for causing trouble. Of course, in the later period, due to insufficient supplies, the Italians were forced to make a little contribution, that is, to let the German army rob a large amount of supplies to solve the urgent problem, including vehicles and fuel.

After that, the British army continued to send reinforcements, and even the United States joined in; Montgomery, who succeeded Auchinleck (Churchill and Auchinleck had a less than harmonious relationship. As prime minister and politician, Churchill always hoped that the British army in the Middle East would continue to send good news to boost the morale of the British people and increase Britain's position in the anti-fascist alliance. However, as a soldier and battlefield commander, Auchinleck could not avoid the objective reality on the battlefield and could not sacrifice the lives of soldiers in vain. After arriving in Cairo on August 4, 1942, Churchill urged Auchinleck to resume the attack as soon as possible. Auchinleck firmly resisted and insisted that the attack could not be launched until September anyway. Churchill was furious and dismissed Auchinleck's position as the commander-in-chief of the British army in the Middle East and the commander of the 8th Army) vowed to defeat the German army at a cost of 4 to 1. The British and American coalition forces had 230,000 reinforcements, while the German army had less than 30,000, with a huge disparity in strength.

Not only was the German army at a disadvantage in terms of numbers, but it was also very short of weapons and equipment. For example, the British army had 1,500 aircraft, while the German army had only 350. The British army had more than 3,000 tanks, while the German army had only 260. The number of British artillery was 6 times that of the German army. Due to the lack of aircraft, the sky was completely controlled by the British. At this time, even if Rommel had extraordinary military talents, he was powerless to save the situation.

This time, the British expeditionary force in Dunkirk was all surrounded by the German army, and the United States did not have time to get involved; although the British supported North Africa in advance, the British troops stationed in Egypt were only 50,000.

On the other hand, the German army stationed in Libya had 100,000 troops, in addition to 250,000 Italian soldiers and 50,000 French soldiers. The total force of 400,000 completely crushed the British army of 50,000.

There is an interesting stalk in later generations called "If you are poor, you can use tactics to intersperse, and if you are rich, you can bomb me."

When the number of tanks supporting Libya reached 1,000 and the number of various combat aircraft reached 1,500, Yannick ordered Rommel not to engage in any fancy mobile warfare and to just crush them all the way.