The decisive battle against the Third Reich

Because Crete had already aroused dissatisfaction among the Italians, Rommel did not dare to rush to declare Libya's independence. After all, there was no need to rush.

But in fact, sometimes it doesn’t matter whether to declare or not, because the German army did this in Egypt and Greece, so the Libyans also took it for granted that Germany would support Libya’s independence, and many of them even guessed that Germany was obstructing the independence of Libya. It was because of the Italian army that they did not do this.

These policies of the German army quickly won the support of the people, including Egyptians, Greeks, and even Libyans and people from other countries.

This support comes from many aspects, the most important of which is that the German army easily organized a militia.

In fact, this militia was not organized by the German army...

In Crete it was Colonel Dennis, in Egypt it was General Shreve.

With the support of Germany, they obtained a large amount of equipment, and at the same time, these troops armed with patriotism had no shortage of men, so they only needed to distribute the rifles and grow quickly.

Of course, the combat effectiveness of this unit cannot be complimented, especially the Egyptian army of General Shreve. After the guns were distributed, armed robberies, internal fights, etc. soon occurred. As mentioned before...inside Africa There are always countless tribes, and the interests of tribes are always greater than the interests of the country, which makes it difficult for them to be organized together towards the same goal.

But this was nothing to Rommel, because his purpose was not to let these troops defeat the British army... Of course these troops could not defeat the British army. What he wanted was to arouse the hatred of the local indigenous people against the British and intensify them. contradiction.

Then Rommel received intelligence from General Shreve: "A large number of American troops have landed in Port Said!"

General Shreve even provided detailed unit numbers: U.S. 10th Aviation Group, 1st Armored Division, 503rd Airborne Regiment," as well as the British 1st Airborne Division transferred from the UK.

This was the result of Churchill's efforts. The day after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, he flew to Washington to discuss with Roosevelt, and reached a consensus with Roosevelt that the African battlefield was superior to the China, India, and Myanmar battlefield, so the U.S. military originally located in India to support The entire 10th U.S. Air Force of the Chinese Expeditionary Force was transferred to North Africa.

As a result, the British army undoubtedly had overwhelming strength in North Africa.

Rommel, who was holding the intelligence, raised his eyebrows and said to his staff: "Interesting, the situation developed exactly as the 'legendary sergeant' said, as if he saw it!"

The staff knew what Rommel meant. The British sent a large number of fighter planes and airborne troops obviously not to break through the Alexander line of defense. They were used to airdrop into Algeria.

Rommel did not think twice and forwarded the information to Hitler.

Hitler couldn't help being stunned when he saw this telegram. He walked back and forth anxiously in front of the headquarters, then shook his fist and cursed: "This is what those idiots in Japan did. Look at them, they did it at this critical moment." What?"

No wonder Hitler was so angry. Hitler actually hoped that Japan would not fully attack China and attack the Soviet Union together with the German army. However, Japan was afraid of being beaten by the Soviet Union in the Battle of Nomenkan and did not do so.

That's all, but Japan wants to provoke the United States at this time... Hitler was a person who came from the First World War. He always believed that one of the reasons why Germany failed in the First World War was that America enters the war.

Therefore, what Hitler hoped most was that the United States would always be watching from the side. Even if it secretly helped the Allies, it could be tolerated, but Japan disrupted Hitler's overall plan.

From this point of view, the Japanese are indeed as later generations evaluated them...a giant in tactics but a dwarf in strategy.

Of course, Japan also had its own reasons for launching the war.

For example, the United States imposed a ban on fuel sales to Japan, but Japan only has half a year's worth of fuel reserves.

But the problem is that Japan's opponent is China. At this time, let alone fuel, China doesn't even have a few tanks. Japan is fully qualified to take care of the overall situation of the Axis powers and slow down the attack on Pearl Harbor... Japan is considering, I just hope to occupy the entire territory of China as soon as possible and get out of this quagmire.

Of course, angry as he was, Hitler still had nothing to do about this reality. After thinking about it, he sent a telegram to Rommel: "No matter what method is used, the Alexander Line of Defense must be defended!"

"Dear Führer!" Rommel replied: "I wonder if you have noticed that the British target of gathering airborne troops is probably Algeria?"

After hearing this, Hitler couldn't help but be stunned. When he turned his eyes to Algeria, he opened his mouth for a long time and couldn't close it... The French were very clear about their overt and covert disobedience to Hitler, so the Allies could take over Algeria with almost no effort, and in this way, Africa The Legion will soon collapse.

"How do I need to support you, General!" Hitler asked helplessly, because he knew that in this case, the Afrika Korps led by Rommel would not be able to avoid ultimate failure even if it had three heads and six arms.

"Obviously!" Rommel said: "We must be the first to take control of Algeria, Your Excellency the Führer!"

Hitler agreed: "I will arrange it!"

So Hitler hurriedly transferred the two infantry regiments stationed in France: the 36th Infantry Regiment and the 155th Infantry Regiment to Africa to prepare for the occupation of Algeria. He even sent part of the 200th Infantry Regiment in Italy to rush to Tripoli and stage a scene. The drama of occupying Tunisia.

This scene was started by a German fighter plane... The German fighter plane made an emergency landing at the Tunisian airport on the pretext of malfunction, and then a battalion of German troops entered Tunisia on the pretext of protecting the confidentiality of the fighter plane. Then more and more German troops poured into Tunisia like a tide and disarmed the French colonial army.

The French Vichy government immediately protested against Hitler.

Hitler replied to Petain: "Dear President, we have reason to believe that the British will land or airborne in Algeria. Since Algeria is related to the life and death of the Afrika Korps, we hope to enter Algeria and defend together with the French army! "

Pétain was not a fool. He refused at the first opportunity: "Dear Head of State, we have the ability to defend our territory, not only that... the German army entering Tunisia and disarming the French army is a violation of the armistice treaty we signed. I I believe the head of state will handle this properly!”

Hitler ignored Petain's words at all. Who would take a puppet government seriously?

It's just that it is difficult for the German army to enter Libya because there is a Matre defense line in front of them.