Chapter 49: Rommel's Judgment

  (This volume is purely about the German army's battle, and has little relation to the main character. For chapters related to the main character, please read directly from Volume 2.)

  "The moon is full and bright over the nine continents, some families are joyful while others are sorrowful. Some couples share a bed together, while others are scattered in different provinces."

  When Montgomery fainted in the face of cruel reality, his opponent, the old fox Rommel, was also not at ease. Since receiving the message from Butler's butler, Old Philip, that the Fuehrer had agreed to Rommel's supply plan, Rommel had been somewhat caught off guard.

  To be honest, Rommel was not pleased. The reason is simple, the message from the Führer to himself was actually conveyed through this butler in front of him. Is his own army command headquarters not as important as a private butler?

  However, Rommel misunderstood Philip on this point. Old man Andri was afraid that the intelligence would leak and endanger Andri's safety, so he used a private password for the family, and this private password book was an unpublished book.

  This book was fundamentally unknown to the outside world, as it was used only by core members of the Babariya family and had never appeared in written form. It was passed down orally from one generation to the next.

  Including Liu Qi's father and Liu Qi's steward, old Philip, the first thing to do when they were young was to recite this book. However, Andrei followed Hitler to Berlin before his father asked him to recite it, so Andrei didn't know about it.

  However, old 'Philip' as the steward and core manager of the next chief of the Barbaria tribe was entitled to use this password book. Therefore, Old Philip's telegram sent through the German command's 'Enigma' teleprinter was not only intercepted by British intelligence but also sent to Bletchley Park, Britain's codebreaking centre for decryption.

  In Bletchley Park, Britain, hundreds of mathematicians, logicians, linguists and economists worked on this telegram using the world's first computer prototype. The result was that the so-called 'super secret' original computer worked continuously for three days and nights, with smoke and flames coming out of the machine, finally exploding and leaving a mess that took a week to repair.

  Hundreds of researchers had to use pen and paper to study the telegram for several days and nights. These scientists used all mathematical formulas in the world, all available books, and nearly 100 languages to repeatedly compare with this telegram, and they all came to a surprising uniform conclusion. That is, this telegram was indeed written in German, an infinite non-repeating number that can be calculated like π. And it's likely that this was a conspiracy by the Germans to destroy "Colossus", the world's first computer.

  The result left British intelligence officials and Churchill in a cold sweat, the 'super secret' piled up with countless money and manpower was actually discovered by the Germans, and the Germans could find a way to deal with the 'super secret', and this method was actually an inexpensive telegram. It's just too hard to accept. Just like on the wedding night, the newlyweds finished their business, the man took out a 100-yuan bill and handed it to the woman, but the woman actually gave him 50 yuan back, equally helpless and embarrassed.

  Let's not mention how the British managed to keep the "super secret", let's just talk about Rommel. Rommel was also very clear about the domestic production of weapons and materials, and he knew that the large quantity of materials on the order would never be fully allocated to him. There were only a few tank manufacturing factories in the country, with a monthly output of only a few dozen vehicles, and his request for 500 tanks seemed excessive even to Rommel himself. Originally, he thought he could make an outrageous demand, ask for more than he needed, so that others would have room to negotiate.

  It's enough to get half of what Rommel would be satisfied with, thank God and Andri.

  But old Philip meant that there was no one to haggle, not only three armored divisions and three infantry divisions were fully equipped. That's nearly 100,000 combat troops, all of whom were elite field troops who had fought in the French campaign before. They were directly transferred from important areas in France and the Netherlands. The role of these troops locally is also very large, now they have been transferred over for a reinforcement telegram. Although most of the tanks of these troops stayed in their original garrison to wait for the reception of new troops, 200 No. 4 tanks were still urgently transported with the troops.

  What Rommel least expected was that the old Philip said that 300 No. 5 tanks transported from Germany were produced in an emergency to deal with the Soviet T-34. The No. 5 tank used a sloping armor similar to the Soviet T-34, making the tank's defensive effect better. And the 75mm long-barreled main gun made any tank in the world at that time unbearable. The mobility of the No. 5 tank was also first-class, and the wider tracks and larger road wheels greatly improved its mobility on soft ground, making it a paradise for the No. 5 tank in the North African desert.

  Rommel was confident that the No. 4 tank could withstand the British attack well, but now the performance of the No. 5 tank has given Rommel the confidence to surpass the British. But what made Rommel confident to collapse was the 40 No. 6 tanks found by Andre's mother from the bottom of the box of MAN company.

  Even Field Marshal Rommel didn't know about the existence of the No. 6 tank, which shows how valuable it is. From Philip's simple introduction, Rommel learned that these 56-ton tanks were a nightmare for enemy forces, and their main gun was an 88mm high-explosive howitzer. This was simply a killer weapon, capable of destroying anything in its path.

  The armor defense of the No. 6 tank also surprised Rommel, knowing that the 105mm frontal armor was not something that any British or American tank could penetrate. Not to mention that after adding the gun mantlet, the turret's defense reached an astonishing 180mm.

  Is this having both the thickest shield and the sharpest spear?

  It can be imagined that during the war, the No. 6 tank would destroy a British tank with one shot, while the British tank would only scratch the No. 6 tank and make it itch. Thinking of this made Rommel feel a bit crazy. However, Rommel didn't particularly like this tank because just by looking at its weight, he thought the No. 6 tank must be slow as an ant.

  And then there's that half squadron of air force, you know the air force is Gorin's turf. That old man guards his air force like a treasure, nobody can get in, and yet Old Philip's telegram managed to transfer over half a squadron, that's 1000 planes, not 1000 models.

  Although both he and G?ring were Hitler's confidants, Rommel was far inferior to G?ring in terms of rank. One was a wounded comrade-in-arms who had been with Hitler for 20 years, the Reich Marshal, while the other was only a former instructor at the Army Academy who had served as Commander of the SS-Begleitkommando des Führers. The difference between the two could be seen even with one's toes.

  There was also that lukewarm 'Mussolini' who usually didn't care about himself, but this time he actually mobilized the entire Italian navy. Usually, the Italian navy wasn't enthusiastic about itself either, one reason being that it had long been intimidated by the British Mediterranean Fleet, and another being that all the credit had been stolen by the Italian Army.

  Is it possible that this time 'Mussolini' took the wrong medicine and got confused? This is simply an impossible thing to happen.

  But all the impossibilities became possible because of a telegram from that young master's steward, just like the Imperial Ministry of Defense was their family business. And those arms dealers, who usually didn't even see a rabbit let alone shoot an eagle, this time actually pulled out so many tanks and artillery directly from the warehouse and delivered them to their own doorstep.

  What a series of actions, what kind of energy is needed to achieve this! First, the mobilization of 6 divisions of the German army, followed by dozens of trains loaded with 350 tanks, and the route of the trains actually passed through neutral Switzerland. Then there were Goering's 1,000 aircraft. Of course, Rommel did not know that Goering was also forced by Hitler to deploy those planes, and he had set many obstacles for the pilots.

  The entire Italian Navy was used as a decoy to cover this supply convoy, luring the British into the Atlantic. In the end, it was the French fleet that escorted the supply convoy. Even Hitler himself would not have expected the French fleet, which he thought he could manipulate at will, to escort his own supplies just because of a telegram from a young nobleman's steward. This is even more unbelievable than Lei Feng (a legendary selfless Chinese hero), although the term "Lei Feng" did not exist yet at that time.

  What Rommel couldn't stand the most was that old butler. That old butler, Philip, was like a nobleman, while he himself was treated like a vegetable farmer. He had to haggle over the price of radishes and cabbage for a silver coin, whereas Old Philip would casually hand out a gold coin without even needing change, as if afraid of getting his hands dirty. It was as if a child asked an adult for pocket money, intending to ask for one dollar, but the adult slapped a hundred-dollar bill on the child's face instead. All this gave the proud old fox Rommel a strange sense of loss.

  Rommel originally thought he was high above, the marshal of the army, the god of war, the superstar of the world, and the pride of Germany. He could get whatever he wanted, but the ruthless reality shattered this dream of his. He endured the Führer's verbal abuse countless times with a smile on his face, asking for supplies from the Führer, but the Führer did not respond.

  The butler, who claimed to be a young master, solved the huge problem with just one encrypted telegram. Moreover, not even a hint of excitement was revealed on his face, as if he had done something extremely trivial and was afraid that others would find out. Rommel was also an old fox who had experienced many things and seen many people pretending to be arrogant, but he had never seen anyone as arrogant as this.

  However, a reminder from Old Philip made Rommel feel annoyed. Old Philip's original words were: "Respected Marshal, I have obtained everything you wanted for you. But I just want to remind you of one thing, the safety of our young master must be put in the first place. As long as you do this, the Babariya family will treat you as a friend. No matter what difficulties you encounter in the future, we will not stand by and watch."

  The old fox is very clear about the meaning of this sentence, what you want I have given to you. Not only not less, but more. Next, the safety of my family's young master is guaranteed by you, if you are greedy for merit and do not go to rescue our young master, the Babariya family will not let you off. Don't look at you as a marshal, to us it's just a dish, think about how to eat it however you want.

  Romel didn't want to save Andre, and he sent many people to find that young master, but the prison staff said Andre took the guards and prisoners and ran to where the British were. However, the British defense was very strict, and the people who were sent couldn't get past the British line at all. It's also unknown how Andre and his group managed to run over there, this part of the intelligence from the British area Romel could rarely get firsthand, most of it relied on some aerial reconnaissance and military achievements judgment.

  And this line of desert is so vast, where to find it. Plus there's no food or water in the desert, I'm guessing it'll be over soon. So Rommel judged that Andri isn't dead or captured.

  Being captured is one thing, but Rommel was always very fond of his own feathers. He treated prisoners of war with great favor. This made it difficult for the British to do anything to German prisoners of war. Moreover, the old fox still had several British generals in his hands who were captured at Tobruk. As long as they knew that Liu Qi had been captured, exchanging two British generals for a small colonel would be a very willing transaction for the British.

  So Longmu always thought in his heart: "God, if you want to tease Andri, please be gentle, don't play him to death."