Imperial Overlord

As early as June 28, 18 days after Italy declared war on Britain, Li Le had not had time to make some necessary changes.

The Italian commander in North Africa, Marshal Balbo, commander of the 10th Army, was killed by his own anti-aircraft artillery fire.

So Italy's current supreme commander in North Africa is a Marshal named Rudolf Graziani.

There is a very interesting little problem here, that is, although the battle in North Africa started in July, in fact, the Italian Marshal Graziani only slowly launched an attack on the British army in September.

And this time, because of Li Le's change, Graziani got a lot of supplements, so even if he was reluctant, he led his troops into Egypt in mid-August.

Yesterday, the Italian army had occupied Saleum, and their army had not received any of the weapons and supplies left by the British army, and could only continue to advance along the road.

Compared with Germany's Rommel, Marshal Graziani's commanding style is more like Montgomery - at best, he is steady and solid, at worst, he is timid.

Unlike the cunning but always hungry desert fox, Montgomery had to wait until he was fat before he had the guts to fight back.

The same is true for Marshal Graziani, although the Italian army in the Ethiopian colony has easily captured Somalia and is expecting the army of the motherland to attack Egypt.

However, Marshal Graziani was still cautiously waiting for his supplies, and slowly marched towards Matrou in the distance.

As in history, the British are desperately strengthening their army in Egypt, hoping to withstand the frantic Italian attack.

You must know that compared to the Italians, their current strength is pitifully weak and cannot be compared with the 250,000 troops in the hands of Graziani.

In fact, the commander of the British army in western Egypt was a lieutenant general named Richard O'Connor.

He only had the British 7th Armored Division and the Indian 4th Infantry Division plus some direct troops, and the number was only about 36,000. Neither of the two divisions was at full strength, and there were only 60 tanks of all kinds capable of fighting.

Compared with the original historical time and space, the number of tanks in the hands of British commanders was smaller, and there was no timely replenishment.

Now they have to face almost seven times the force of the Italians, and they have to hold Matrouh, which has to be held.

The British defense was almost a copy of the Italian offensive, and they also placed their infantry along the coastline road, and then placed the armored forces on their own flanks in the south.

This arrangement mirrored the Italians' offensive arrangement, so both sides quickly discovered the fact that their tank units met the enemy's tanks, and their infantry collided with the enemy's infantry.

After the attack on Bug Bug, the logistical supply of the Italian army was unsustainable, and they were indeed not ready to fight a war.

The shortcomings of the logistical supply chain forced them to slow down their attack and stop near Bug Bug.

After pretending to counterattack once, the British army on the opposite side turned around and started their own escape. They abandoned West Dubai Guerra and moved everything that could be moved there.

The Italian army followed, and in one triumphal triumph, the capture of Gera, West Dubai. Now, they are not far from Zavier Telfaye.

As long as they occupy Zawiye Telfaye again, they are really not far from the important city of Matrouh in western Egypt.

"Can't go on the offensive any more," the commander of the Italian Front Corps, Marshal Graziani, complained to his officers in his own command.

Because his supply environment is already very bad - half of their transport and supply vehicles are busy on the road all the way from the Libyan border to where they are in Gera, West Dubai.

200,000 soldiers eat horse chews, and the daily consumption is huge. Tanks need to be supplied with materials, and all cannons need to be supplied with ammunition, which is too large for the Italian logistics force.

"Marshal! The leader's order is for us to capture Matrouh as soon as possible and capture this important stronghold!" A general reminded helplessly.

His army was not ready for war at all, and when he attacked, he was still in the dark. Until now, he still can't believe that his army won.

From the border all the way to Gera West Dubai, the Italian army didn't actually annihilate any of the British teams in an organized way, so it really can't be said that they have won.

They just seized some unimportant strongholds, only to find that they were getting further and further away from their rear.

This feeling made Marshal Graziani feel the danger. He guessed that the British were not defeated, but were choosing a position more suitable for the decisive battle.

In his opinion, the perfect location was in Matrouh—the closest to the British supply base and the furthest from the Italian supply depot.

If war broke out there, every shell consumed by the Italian army would have to be transported from far, far away.

Although the replenishment of supplies has been strengthened, the Italian army in North Africa is still facing a shortage of supplies.

Some troops were forced to move forward without even refilling their basic ammunition and attacked the British.

After several encounters, the arms of the Italian army were no longer enough to support them to fight a battle against a large city like Matrou.

So Marshal Graziani was reluctant to attack Materou, he felt that if there was a decisive battle there, it would be a disaster for Italy.

But Mussolini didn't think so. He hoped that his army could concentrate its superior forces to occupy Matrouh as soon as possible, and even attack Alexander.

The capture of Matrouh means that Italy has destroyed the British frontline airport closest to Libya, making a huge contribution to the safety of Libyan oil fields.

As long as Matrouh is captured, the oil fields in Libya will have a good depth. If the British Air Force wants to attack, it can only take off from the airport near Alexandria.

For their pilots, the distance is much farther, and it is easier to warn and intercept.

In addition, Mussolini eagerly hoped that the Italian army would seize Egypt with its own fighting power, so that his situation of becoming the second child of the Axis powers 40 years later would be improved.

At least Italy can control the Suez Canal by itself, which can make him proud in front of the Germans.

Even when the Italian army was approaching Matrouh, Mussolini had begun to fantasize that he could open a toll bill for the Suez Canal to the German head of state.

"Our army is very tired. Attacking in such a vast wilderness is very exhausting of physical strength and energy." The marshal said to his officers worriedly.

His fears are well-founded, it's irritating that British armour is destroying more and more Italian tanks these days.

Because there is no radio station, Italian M11 tanks are very passive when facing the enemy's attack or organizing and coordinating their own attacks.

This caused inexplicable losses of many Italian tanks, and soon Italian troops were stopped, forcing them to wait for supplies from Berdi on the far front.

You must know that it is not easy to transport supplies to Berdi. The British Mediterranean Fleet stationed in Alexandria often harassed this too small port and sank small Italian transport ships.

After all, the commander of the British Mediterranean Fleet is Can Anning, a very difficult admiral.

Even though he was reluctant, even though his troops were tired and scattered, Marshal Graziani chose to obey the order and let his troops move on.

Along the way, they did not encounter the deadly resistance of the British team, which was the only reason they kept going.

On August 22, the Italian army finally felt the pressure, and they had reached Kefervesil - less than 30 kilometers away from the port of Matrouh.

It's just that at this time, 250,000 Italian troops were scattered on the road, and it was obvious that they could not gather the strength to attack Matru.

Indeed, at this moment, history is no longer the same as before. After more than a month of really painstaking preparations, Italy has gone farther than in history.

And here, under the city of Matrouh, the British army no longer retreated, they had very strong fortifications, and they were backed by their own port for supplies.

What makes the Italian army even more depressing is that UU reading www. uukanshu.com They also got more timely air force and naval support.

The Italian fleet did not dare to fight within the air defense circles of Alexandria and Matrouh, which allowed the British warships to open fire on the Italian army unscrupulously at sea.

"We have to retreat... This will only destroy the entire legion here!" Seeing his soldiers scattered on the road, Graziani finally made up his mind.

These days he has been struggling between Mussolini's orders and the actual situation of the army, and when the British were on the verge of collapse, he walked to Kefervesil in a confused way.

Obviously, they did not have the strength to really capture Kefervesil, so he thought that he must give up Kefervesil and gather his troops.

Although the Italian army still has an absolute advantage in numbers, this advantage obviously cannot support them to win the war - this is not the seventeenth century, and the side with the larger army is more likely to win.

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