Chapter 17 Crisis 2

  Churchill secretly decided that Egypt and the Suez Canal must not be lost, and that control over Egypt and the Suez must be strengthened. Churchill urgently dispatched his naval ace 'Cunningham' to North Africa, as commander of the Nile River Group Army. In addition, Cunningham was also given a large number of troops from various colonies, and a large number of tanks and aircraft were supplemented.

  His name is Andrew Browne Cunningham, born in Ireland. Because the first letter of his name is ABC in English alphabet, people are used to calling him ABC. When Churchill was serving as First Lord of the Admiralty, he knew Cunningham, who was then an ordinary officer on a battleship. Due to Churchill's high appreciation for this young officer and Churchill's cultivation of his confidants, Cunningham's military rank was rapidly promoted.

  The good times did not last, as the Royal Navy paid a heavy price for its failure to capture the Dardanelles during World War I, which Churchill had approved. He became the target of fierce attacks by the British Conservative Party. Under pressure, Prime Minister Asquith, who had already decided to cooperate with the Conservatives, was forced to remove Churchill from his position as First Lord of the Admiralty. Cuningham also faced opposition from other factions within the Navy. The days were not going smoothly.

  However, as Churchill's confidant, Cunningham still managed to climb to the position of Commander-in-Chief of the Fleet in 20 years. Among them, Churchill's political resources also gave Cunningham a lot of help.

  This time in North Africa, Canning can be said to have a heavy responsibility. Although Canning is a naval commander, his ability to control the army troops is also very strong. After taking office, Canning first rectified the military discipline and replaced a batch of officers. Then strengthened the troop training, and finally Canning thoroughly reorganized the intelligence department. Firmly controlled the Nile River Group Army.

  After several fires had been put out, British morale was greatly boosted and no one mentioned withdrawing from Egypt again.

  Cunningham was not a man to rest on his laurels, and his aim was not merely to hold the frontier of Egypt but to defeat Rommel and regain lost ground. A massive offensive campaign began, with Cunningham's attack aimed squarely at Rommel's weak point. At that time Rommel had only two regular German divisions, the rest being multinational forces, mostly Italian troops, and a small contingent from the French collaborationist government.

  Lombard knew his own situation and feared that the Italians would not be able to withstand the attack.

  A thousand-mile retreat was staged. Rommel led the elite German troops to retreat again and again, while the Italians behind were constantly pursued by the British during the retreat. The German-Italian army retreated nearly 1,000 kilometers, not only would Tobruk, which had been besieged for 242 days, be rescued by the British, but Cyrenaica (eastern Libya) was also completely lost.

  At this time, Cunningham was in high spirits and very pleased with himself. However, this caused dissatisfaction among all the army generals. Why? Think about it, you're a naval commander who wins victories at sea, no matter how many, nobody will oppose you, but you come to the army not only without losing battles, but also winning such big victories. Isn't that slapping all the army generals in the face?

  This is going to be lively, whether it's the front or the back, there are many people who are picking on Canning. The political power possessed by the army is also very strong, and every day several members of parliament representing the army will call Churchill, saying that Canning has violated military regulations, or that he was not clean-handed in Egypt. (In fact, every general in Egypt was not clean-handed)

  Churchill paid no attention and continued to support Kitchener firmly. However, the storm grew more violent, with some newspapers reporting on Kitchener's youthful indiscretions in lurid detail. Even the government's mouthpiece, The London Times, reported on the Egyptian Army's misbehavior, pointedly noting the responsibility of its commander.

  The news of Kitchener's great victory was merely a few words in the war telegrams of the newspapers. "Our forces today recovered some Egyptian positions, the results are still being counted."

  Because Canning was not offending just one or two people, but the entire army. Even the military leaders in India were jokingly sending telegrams to Churchill saying "Requesting General Canning to take command of the highest position in Burma, only under his leadership can we stop the Japanese advance."

  Churchill was relentless, but there was no way out. Under pressure, he had to remove the commander of the 8th Army Group, Canninganero River. As a result, Canningan became a victorious general who was replaced during World War II. He was succeeded by General Richie, then an army lieutenant general. All the honors were bestowed upon Richie, such as "Great Savior", "God of North African War" and "Prince of Tobruk". The most ridiculous one was the title of "Desert Fox Hunter" given by a British hunting association. Meanwhile, British radio stations and newspapers began to bombard the news of the North African army corps.

  For a time, the North African Army became the symbol and pride of all British armies. Everywhere people were talking about General Ritchie's news, and London had a festive atmosphere for the first time. The bars were crowded everywhere, and even when people clinked glasses, they couldn't help but say with a smile: "May God bless poor Rommel, because our 'Desert Fox Hunter' is going to catch him as a scarf for his wife."

  Romel retreated to the starting point of Brega Port when he first entered North Africa. General Li Chi had already been praised by various rewards, and had forgotten the horror of the German army. It was as if those victories were really won by himself, and with the deliberate flattery of his subordinates, he became an invincible war god.

  And at this time, on the Eastern Front battlefield, due to heavy snow and cold weather, it was not conducive to large-scale combat for mechanized troops. Moreover, the German intelligence department received news from London that Churchill was full of energy, which made Hitler somewhat annoyed. With a stroke of his pen, an infantry division, plus a large number of tanks, as well as 2,000 tons of fuel, were directly allocated to Rommel's hands from the battle plan for the Eastern Front.

  Rommel went to great lengths to prevent the British from seeing these things. In the end, he successfully deceived the British intelligence department and transported troops and supplies to North Africa. Meanwhile, Hitler secretly ordered G?ring and D?nitz to assemble a powerful navy and air force to strengthen control over the Mediterranean. At the same time, Rommel was promoted to Colonel General and his North African army corps was upgraded to the Afrika Panzer Army.

  It seems that Hitler still treated his confidants quite well. Although Rommel lost the battle, not only was he not punished, but also gave birth to a military rank.

  Rommel was greatly encouraged and immediately ran to the front line to deploy an attack plan overnight. Just like a child who has new toys must take them out to show off, Rommel this time brought out all his assets.

  January 21, 1942 at 08:30, Rommel's offensive began. Like all classic German offensives, Rommel's blitzkrieg tactics instantly broke through the Eighth Army's defenses, and the rumble of German tanks became a nightmare for the soldiers of the Eighth Army.

  At this time, Rommel suddenly woke up from his dream and hastily deployed troops. The four sides surrounded Montgomery, and at this time, the military strength of both sides was not much different. However, the high quality of German officers and soldiers showed up at this time. The German tanks were lined up in a long snake array, and the shells of artillery and 88mm anti-aircraft guns basically advanced with the footsteps of soldiers. Two infantry regiments followed closely behind the tanks in trucks. German tanks, artillery, and infantry rushed towards the British army together, and the British shells and bullets whizzed over their heads. Tanks that were heavily damaged would still charge forward desperately if they could move, and infantry commanders stood upright on trucks to boost morale. When a commander was hit, he was immediately replaced by a lower-level officer. The most remarkable thing was that one regiment had only one captain left in command after the battle, with all other high-ranking officers killed or wounded.

  The British troops were intimidated by this meaningless momentum, and morale began to decline. The gap in the defense line began to grow larger. General Ritchie had no choice but to retreat. After retreating for a while, he suddenly received a telegram from the Army Headquarters. The telegram was extremely severe towards General Ritchie, demanding that he must hold the defensive line and not let the Navy laugh at him.

  Ritchie had no choice but to concentrate his forces and counterattack Rommel. Rommel, the old fox, proved himself a tactical expert by pretending to attack Mersa Matruh while moving the bulk of his forces elsewhere. Ritchie fell for it, concentrating British forces to relieve Mersa Matruh. No sooner had they lifted the siege than Ritchie received news that Rommel's armored force was appearing at the important British supply base of Benghazi.

  The news came, and Ritchie could hardly believe his eyes. In the flurry, Ritchie thought of gathering the main force of the British army to rescue 'Benghazi'. However, distant water cannot quench present thirst, even if the British army can rush to 'Benghazi', they will be exhausted. They won't have the strength to fight anymore. Besides, would Rommel give him this opportunity?

  In less than a day, Rommel's armored forces took Benghazi. Faced with the mountain of British military supplies, Rommel couldn't close his mouth in laughter. Most importantly, there were 1,300 trucks parked in Benghazi and countless gasoline. Suddenly, Rommel's Afrika Korps became a truly mechanized army.

  Richthofen was forced to abandon "Mikeli" and retreat to the "Ghazala Line" for defense. For the next three months, both armies were stationed on the Ghazala line.

  Hitler also withdrew two German divisions from other countries and gave them to Rommel, as well as a large number of tanks and fuel.

  While Richthofen's side was severely damaged by the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in the United States, which forced the US to enter the war. Roosevelt's dream of making a fortune on both sides also turned into a bubble. Although the US had not yet prepared to send troops to the African and European battlefields, it did not hesitate to provide weapons and equipment. Because they could make money, the Germans' money was gone, so they had to make more from the British. As a result, 400 American-made Grant tanks were directly allocated to Richthofen under the direct intervention of the Army Department. In addition to the over 400 British-made tanks that Richthofen originally had, the number of British tanks was twice that of Rommel's.

  The fierce battle is escalating

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  The third watch is over. Tomorrow is a rest day, stable for three watches.