Imperial Overlord

In recent days, Churchill has begun work on rebuilding the radar station in southern England. He judged that even if the other party's spies had not been caught, they should have been effectively contained.

As long as the other party cannot obtain detailed information, it cannot attack the radar, and it can ensure that these important radar systems can continue to be used.

In his judgment, the United Kingdom has begun to rebuild three radar stations, but in this process, it will take time.

Now that the annoying spies of the other side were contained to a certain extent, Churchill thought he could take advantage of this time to win several victories, so as to complicate the one-sided war situation.

What he has high hopes for is North Africa... After all, on all fronts, the only thing that doesn't have to face the German army head-on is the barren land of North Africa.

It is a pity that, in North Africa, the British team won first and then lost. From the original pressure of the Italian army all the way into Libya, to the last time they were driven back to Egypt by the German team.

What's even more embarrassing is that the two commanders of the British troops, Admiral Wavell and Lieutenant General O'Connor, became prisoners of the enemy.

"However, let's keep our mouths shut, the Germans will definitely publicize this matter." A staff member looked at Churchill and persuaded.

This is not a small defeat, but a battle that cannot be overemphasized to be the battle of Egypt's destiny.

It is impossible for the German side not to publicize such a victory. If the other side works hard and captures the port of Matrouh, it can be said that Alexandria will fall into a very crisis situation.

At that time, Churchill was even more difficult to explain how this failure came about - without the previous failure to pave the way, it would be even more abrupt after experiencing a more tragic failure.

"Think of a way! Let Admiral Can Anning direct the navy to find two Italian ships for a sneak attack...or let the Australian 6th Infantry Division defend Matrouh." Churchill didn't know what to do, so he gave two random examples.

"Sir! If the 6th Infantry Division is encircled and wiped out at Matrouh, what are we going to do to prevent the Germans from entering the Egyptian hinterland?" asked an army general.

What he was worried about was not the German army entering the Egyptian hinterland, because everyone knew that the German supplies were almost the same as the Italians, which were not very good.

It is unrealistic to rely on this kind of logistical supplies to push Egypt flat. He is more worried that the Germans will reinforce North Africa, and the British Mediterranean fleet will be in danger.

If the anchorage is lost, the British Mediterranean fleet will have to retreat to the Indian Ocean along the Suez Canal...

This is definitely not good news, because after all, the Mediterranean Fleet is a fleet stationed in the Mediterranean Sea, and it is responsible for the task of supporting the local fleet to a certain extent.

After Germany occupied Egypt and cut off the Suez Canal, if the Mediterranean Fleet wanted to support the H fleet of Gibraltar, or to support the mainland, it was not a task that could be completed in the short term.

What's even more frightening is that although the Axis powers severely damaged the British Navy's H fleet and occupied Malta - after all, the Mediterranean Sea is still relatively wide, and the supplies that have been rushed to Gibraltar can still barely pass through.

As long as it is dark and passes through Malta, the Luftwaffe base, it is rare to encounter enemy troops who come to harass.

As for the Italian fleet, they don't come out to patrol much now, and the possibility of encountering them is lower than that of encountering the French fleet.

And what about the French fleet? No fire was actually fired on any ships - although the French hated the British navy, they still exercised considerable restraint.

Of course, all of this has to start from the bottom line, that is, the Suez Canal must be in the hands of the British.

After all, no matter how clumsy the Italian fleet is, there is no problem holding a canal.

"Sir! Now is not the time to think about other issues..." Another army general persuaded: "If you let the Germans break them down, there is really no room for manoeuvre!"

His concern was the reluctance to defend Matrouh, the annihilation of the Australian 6th Infantry Division by Germany, and the collapse of Africa as a whole.

The British army in North Africa now not only has to face the German army in the direction of Libya that has rushed into Egypt, but also always guards against the threat from the direction of Ethiopia.

Although the Italian troops in Ethiopia are all local troops recruited from the local area, the combat effectiveness is at most 5 levels.

However, although these troops could not face the British army head-on, they were more than enough to receive the open territory.

"What do you mean...to give up Materou?" Churchill asked fiercely, looking at the general speaking with his sharp eyes.

"Uh..." The army general didn't dare to speak again when he heard Churchill's questioning. If the other party puts the black pot that Matrou lost on his head, what will he do?

"Report! Report! Good news! Good news!" Another officer ran in quickly, with the happy expression on his face of a sleeping female secretary.

He rushed into the conference room and looked at everyone's expression like a dead mother. After being stunned for a while, he quickly opened his mouth to report: "Mr. Prime Minister! Good news! Great news!"

Someone said good news here, and Churchill thought it was a turning point, so he quickly stood up, grabbed the telegram with his hand, and looked at it carefully.

It turned out that this telegram came from the frontline defenders of Matrouh, that is, the headquarters of the 6th Infantry Division, which was not yet fully in place in Australia.

On the morning of August 31st, that is, today, the other party found that the Italians and German teams outside the city had already retreated.

The enemy did not attack the important port of Matrou as imagined, but chose to pack up all his belongings and retreat.

"Retreat?" Churchill couldn't believe his eyes after reading it. When he was hesitating whether he should give up Materou, the enemy helped him make a choice one step ahead of him.

From the periphery of Tobruk to the periphery of Matrouh—the German army in North Africa didn’t even look at it, and just turned around and left.

They didn't even try to attack Matrouh once, so they used a gorgeous turn to complete Churchill and his staff.

"The German commander in North Africa... who is he?" Churchill felt that he was about to be paralyzed with joy and sorrow.

...

"Do you think I want to retreat? I withdraw my fist now to wait for a better fight in the future." Rommel leaned on his car, took a sip of water with the smell of gasoline, and smiled. Marshal Graziani, who just arrived here, laughed.

His troops have consumed a lot of ammunition due to their rapid attack. In fact, all the tanks in Rommel's hands have only about half of the ammunition left, and these ammunition cannot be replenished from Tobruk.

A small amount of these ammunition is in Benghazi, and more is in Sirte further away... This makes Rommel who attacked Matrouh very embarrassed.

Although on the way, the German army rescued more than 60,000 Italian troops and seized a large number of Italian materials seized by the British.

It is a pity that most of these materials are not used by Rommel now, and many of them can only be returned to Italy in exchange for favors or other things.

Because there were too many Italian prisoners who wanted to retreat in the direction of Tobruk, the transportation of some of Rommel's much-needed supplies was delayed.

Therefore, although Rommel hit the city of Matrouh, he really has no ability to attack any more.

Not only did he lose the ability to attack, he was even worried, afraid that the British follow-up troops would see something and launch a counterattack to drive him away.

Since he was afraid of this and that, Rommel simply gave up Matrouh and retreated to West Dubai with his troops.

This time it was his carefully prepared retreat, without any panic. Almost all the empty trucks he brought were filled with supplies that had been lost in Italy outside Matrouh.

After taking away these scattered artillery pieces and discarded ammunition, the 20,000 Italian prisoners who were carried to the front line finally understood why Rommel brought them with them.

At the desperate moment when they thought they were going to be sent to the front line to die, they found that they were only being escorted to carry things...

It seems to be a huge irony, because Graziani, who hurried to the front line knowing that his troops were taken away by Rommel, is now laughing and watching his soldiers happily working as German porters.

"But ~www.wuxiaspot.com~ retreating like this, will it have any adverse effect on the situation?" Graziani "finally" pushed his front line to Matrou again, and now feels a little pity.

"It's nothing to influence. My original plan was to relieve Berdi, and I've done it now." Rommel replied to the Italian marshal with a smile.

Although he did not report the withdrawal of troops from Matrouh to his superior army command, he believed that the front-line commander should have the freedom to judge the situation arbitrarily in this case.

Rommel has only 3,000 people in his hands, 13 tanks have been lost, and at least 30 are scattered behind because of problems such as failures.

With less than 90 tanks left, he didn't want to waste it attacking urban targets like Matrouh.

It was obviously unrealistic to expect his 3,000 men to defeat Matrouh's defenders and take over there. Rommel decided to shorten his supply line, take a breath and wait and see.

"When all my troops are in place, come back to trouble the British." Glancing at Matrouh in the distance, as the commander of the German African Army, Rommel turned and climbed into his car.