Chapter 28: Old Matters of North Africa

  The War Office meant that you could go and fight, but the credit must be ours. Churchill, faced with the danger of a domestic government collapse, also had to agree to let Gott take command of the Eighth Army.

  But fate played a trick on him, General Gott was shot down by the Germans while en route to take over. To know that this air route did not have any signs of Germans, even Churchill's plane flew this route without escort protection.

  Almost two hundred years later, an old file from World War II was accidentally discovered, revealing the truth. The file mentioned that the plane on which General Gott was shot down did not have any signs of being attacked by German fighter planes, and the cause of the crash was due to an explosion caused by a bomb inside the plane. It is clear that General Gott had boarded a deathtrap plane. As for who planted the bomb, the file did not mention it. The wreckage of the plane was directly taken over by the C15 military intelligence agency at the time, and outsiders were not allowed to see it. General Gott's death became a mystery.

  At the time, Churchill's private secretary later recalled that 'when the Prime Minister learned of General Gott's plane being shot down, he just "hmm" and did not show any concern or sadness. That night, the Prime Minister even drank a glass of 26-year-old whiskey, which showed that his mood was still good.'

  So Montgomery became the commander-in-chief of the Eighth Army. The War Office this time was tightly closed-mouthed. Soldiers are still soldiers, compared to politicians, they don't have a comparable thickness of skin, and their hearts are even more incomparable. With Montgomery taking over as commander of the Eighth Army, the power of the British army in North Africa was firmly in Churchill's hands.

  As soon as Monty arrived at the Eighth Army, three small fires were lit. First, he directly removed Lieutenant General Ramsden, the acting commander of the army group. To know that Little Monty had just been promoted to lieutenant general rank, but with Churchill's sword in hand, Little Monty dared to remove not only lieutenant generals but also full generals. It is said that 'people have as much courage as they have land'. That's absolutely right.

  Mongke immediately appointed his trusted subordinate, General Gügan, as the chief of staff of the army group. He convened a meeting overnight and gave a speech that was both encouraging and intimidating to his subordinates. His words quickly spread to the lower ranks. Mongke's words, familiar with the troops, really catered to the tastes of these junior officers and soldiers. The morale and combat effectiveness of the army were greatly boosted.

  Then Monty replaced almost all the commanders at the army and division levels, promoting a large number of young officers to take charge of military affairs. In this way, the power of the Eighth Army was firmly in Monty's hands. Those young and hot-blooded officers were also stimulated by Monty's promotion tactics, eager to go and settle accounts with Rommel immediately.

  After the largest purge, the Eighth Route Army became Mao's own vegetable garden, where he could plant or harvest as he pleased.

  The benefits brought by the extensive use of young officers are also obvious. The dull, rigid and dogmatic atmosphere that used to exist in the British army has disappeared. Instead, it is replaced with a vigorous, fast and agile one.

  Enthusiasm alone is not enough. Comrade Monger deeply knows that the most important thing to do now is to win the battle and consolidate his position. Monger still has a good set of strategies and tactics, whether from a strategic or tactical perspective. He determined that Rommel would definitely attack under Hitler's coercion, despite the fact that the German supplies were not keeping up, and the most critical oil was scarce.

  Mongke then laid out a box formation defensive position near the Alamein Pass, with all three sides of armoured troops in ambush and camouflaged. Waiting for Rommel's visit.

  Rommel didn't want to attack at this time, but he had no choice with Hitler's urgent telegram every day to end the North African war. On August 31st evening, Montgomery went to bed as usual. When Rommel launched an attack after midnight, he was already asleep. Montgomery's chief of staff, de Guingand, decided to wake him up and tell him the news. Montgomery replied with one sentence "Good, couldn't be better." Then he fell asleep again.

  Everything happened exactly as Montgomery had predicted. It can be said that Rommel lost the battle in the first few hours of the Battle of Alam Halfa. In fact, the British Air Force began to move on the evening of August 30 and bombed Rommel's armored car park with "Wellington" bombers. When the Afrika Korps was struggling to clear a path through the minefield, they found that the minefield was much wider and more complex than expected. The first channel was not opened until 4:30 am on August 31. At 8 o'clock in the morning, Rommel received a report that progress was still very slow. General von Vaerst, commander of the 21st Armored Division, was killed by a mine, and Neumann-Silkow, commander of the Afrika Korps, was unable to command due to injury. Bayerlein took over Neumann's command and decided with Rommel to continue attacking, attempting to make a rapid dash eastward at night. As a result, the German tank column advanced slowly through the minefield while the British Eighth Army and Air Force were fully prepared: tanks had been deployed to combat positions, and artillery was ready to open fire.

  As the tanks were extremely wasteful of petrol on the soft going in the hollows, Rommel adopted a compromise solution and ordered his armoured forces to make a pre-arranged left hook to the north. The German tanks thus moved towards the concealed tanks of 22nd Armoured Brigade. A tank battle ensued with casualties on both sides but the Germans were pinned down in front of their positions without making any progress.

  Rommel, short of fuel, stopped using tanks that evening. The Afrika Korps thus ceased to be active under the illumination shells and bombs of the Royal Air Force and the artillery bombardment of XIII Corps. On the next day, the Germans made some scattered attacks but nothing as fierce as on 31 May. At 06:40, the German 15th Panzer Division made a short thrust against the Alam Halfa ridge. At 07:05 and 08:30, two small local attacks were made. During this time, the Germans also engaged in a fierce battle with the 8th Armoured Brigade. The brigade commander remembered Montgomery's instruction that tanks of XIII Corps should not be committed to close-quarter combat and withdrew the 8th Armoured Brigade after losing several tanks.

  On September 2, Rommel began the first stage of his withdrawal and accelerated it on the 3rd. One important reason that forced Rommel to withdraw was that the Desert Air Force bombed Tobruk, Rommel's base in the rear from which he had launched his attack, making it impossible for him to receive supplies. Lack of gasoline meant he could not launch another attack.

  But Montgomery refused all requests to send tanks into the attack and actually forbade Horrocks from continuing to pursue the enemy and occupy the Himeimat high ground. He wanted to leave Rommel with an observation post there so that the Germans could see the various deceptions the British would undertake as they prepared for their next big battle. By 7 September, the Afrika Korps had established itself on the original minefield and behind it, whereupon Montgomery called off the attack.

  In this battle, the German army lost about 2,900 people and 49 tanks and armored vehicles; The British army lost more than 1,700 people and 67 tanks, of which 13 "Grant" tanks could still be repaired. But the British army had the initiative on the battlefield.

  The Eighth Army Headquarters was filled with excitement and joy. But for Montgomery, the peak of this excitement was the visit of President Roosevelt's special envoy Wendell Willkie. Montgomery personally accompanied Willkie on a tour of the forward areas. At a time when the Allies were suffering setbacks in Norway, France, Greece and the Far East, it was a proud moment to be able to show the American President's special envoy the spectacle of the German army in full retreat.

  With the assistance of the Desert Air Force, Montgomery gave Rommel a real drubbing at Alamein and taught him a lesson he would never forget: "Whoever is compelled to fight against an enemy possessing superior air power, even though he has the latest type of weapons, will be like primitive tribesmen attacking modern European troops with bows and arrows."

  But the British Army was still the British Army, and the German Army was still the German Army. In places where his predecessors had failed to win, Montgomery gave Rommel a slap in the face, but also slapped some bigwigs from the British War Office. This victory not only boosted the morale of the Eighth Army to an all-time high, solidifying Montgomery's reputation as a military genius, but also made Churchill's days at home much easier. Churchill couldn't help but praise Montgomery highly, repeatedly praising his own good judgment in appointing him.

  Churchill sent a telegram to Montgomery, urging him to break through Rommel's defenses as soon as possible and destroy the German army in North Africa. However, Montgomery did not follow Churchill's orders, but instead formulated a plan codenamed "Lightfoot" for the Battle of El Alamein. The plan did not include any intention to attack Rommel in September, but rather required a steady and steady advance at the end of October.

  Churchill was annoyed and ordered an attack on the German lines to be made by September. But Montgomery threatened to resign in a telegram to Churchill, delaying the attack. In the end, it was this stubborn Montgomery who emerged victorious.

  In fact, the British not attacking was what gave Rommel a headache. Due to his lack of gasoline and air power, he could only lure the British out of their positions in order to launch an effective strike. The British not attacking made his plan fall through, infuriating him so much that he cursed them as "pig-headed", saying they were timid and afraid to attack. It can be seen from this that Montgomery's order not to attack was correct.

  After a month of reorganization, the combat effectiveness of the entire British Eighth Army has made significant progress. In addition, Churchill also gathered nearly 100,000 troops from various places and stuffed them into the Eighth Army. At this time, the Eighth Army was strong and powerful. However, a severe problem was placed in front of Montgomery.

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  The second update is slightly late, sorry about that.