The decisive battle against the Third Reich

Two hours later, the German troops successively occupied various key locations in Algiers, including the airport, port, and provincial government.

This is especially true of the airport. Once the airport is controlled by the Germans, the Germans' follow-up airborne troops, including the Italian "Lightning Division", do not need to airborne. Their transport planes only need to land at the airport one by one.

Then the Zoav Corps opened the Matre defense line under Darlan's order, and then the German 36th Infantry Division and the 155th Infantry Division on the other end of the defense line successfully entered Algeria and controlled key points along the way.

What's pitiful are the French officers. They once thought that the British had launched an airborne and landing attack on Algeria, so Algeria should be "liberated", but they didn't expect to open their defense lines to the Germans... although they didn't know what happened. However, the orders from Darlan had to be obeyed, so they could only let the German troops in and disarm them.

This incident immediately shocked the entire European continent.

The British and American commanders on the Allied side, Montgomery and Eisenhower, couldn't help but stare at each other, seeing the helplessness in each other's eyes.

"We are still a step too late, Monty!" Eisenhower said: "The Germans struck first!"

"I said it!" Montgomery replied: "Our opponents are not simple, they are always ahead of us!"

"You mean Rommel?" Eisenhower said.

"No!" Montgomery shook his head: "I don't think Rommel has such wisdom. I'm not sure who it is, but they always seem to be able to guess what we are going to do and disrupt our plans!"

No wonder Montgomery thought so. He was the commander of the Eighth Army. In the past few months of overt and covert fighting with the German Afrika Korps, he subconsciously felt that there was an invisible hand in the enemy camp suppressing him, such as the Kremlin. The raid on Ritter Island, the defeat of the "General Grant" tank and even the "Sherman" tank... The Germans always happened to have countermeasures or equipment to restrain themselves. This was simply incredible. Sometimes Montgomery even thought about it. It is not possible that the Germans also have "super secrets" that can decipher the British army's code, but this is obviously impossible.

"What do we do now?" Eisenhower asked.

Although Eisenhower was the commander-in-chief of the Eighth Army, he was a general who had never commanded an operation alone. Before that, his main job was civilian work such as drafting documents and writing reports. In addition, the US military had just He lacked actual combat experience in the war, so he needed Montgomery's advice even more.

"We can't do anything!" Montgomery replied: "The Germans' two infantry divisions plus one parachute division entered Algeria... which means they can successfully control it. At this time, if they choose to parachute or land, In Algeria, the risk will increase exponentially!”

At this time, Montgomery regretted a little. Why didn't he implement the landing plan a few days in advance? This was indeed Montgomery's mistake. The British and American troops were actually well-positioned to land before the Germans. Even the landing troops in the UK were well prepared. .

It’s just that Montgomery lacked the confidence to parachute... The Eighth Army’s airborne troops were poorly prepared:

The US 82nd Airborne Division and 101st Airborne Division have just been reorganized from the 82nd Motorized Division. Airborne training has only entered its sixth week and can only provide one paratrooper regiment, the 503rd Regiment.

In fact, only one brigade of the British 1st Airborne Division has been trained, and the other two brigades are being formed. What's worse is that this brigade has not yet become accustomed to the US C47 transport aircraft... Before this, they had all parachuted using Whitley bombers. .

So Montgomery ordered them to conduct emergency training and wait until they were qualified before going into battle.

This training lost an excellent opportunity... In fact, the French in Algeria are waiting for them. They almost only need to be able to parachute to "liberate" Algeria easily.

Of course, Montgomery would not tell all this. He could only sigh and said to Eisenhower: "General, no matter what, I think our airborne troops must continue to train so that mistakes like this will not occur in the future." An opportunity situation!”

"That's right!" Eisenhower set his sights on Crete: "I believe they will come in handy one day!"

The news of the German army's entry into Algeria undoubtedly caused greater panic to the Vichy government. Prime Minister Pétain's headquarters was in panic. Many people thought that Germany was going to completely break up with France.

Petain pretended to send a telegram to Hitler in protest:

"Dear Head of State, I have just learned that the German 36th Infantry Division and the 155th Infantry Division have entered Algeria. They even captured my acting prime minister (Darlan), and the armistice agreement we signed was only a few months old! I cannot tolerate this. This kind of behavior, I hope the head of state can stop this wrong behavior!”

"Dear Chancellor!" Hitler called back: "I believe that these rumors will be disproven after your more in-depth investigation. We have no intention of tearing up the armistice agreement, otherwise I should let the German troops move south. Among them The only problem is that French North Africa intends to join the Allied forces to attack Germany under the instigation of the British and Americans. Germany has to do this out of considerations of its own security! I believe this is just French North Africa's own initiative! , so our armistice agreement is still valid, but I hope that the Prime Minister can prevent a similar situation from happening in France!"

Pétain was relieved when he received the telegram, because he knew that the German army would not move south for the time being.

So he quickly agreed to Hitler's request, which was to investigate British and American spies and French officers who had contact with them in France.

This sounds a bit ridiculous, pitiful and sad, but this is the fate of the puppet government, and they have no other choice.

On the other hand, Qin Chuan and Colonel Slaine found the commander of the Zoaf Corps, Zémamouche, at the first time... To be precise, he is the nominal commander, and the command has always been in the hands of the French.

"We will give you freedom!" Colonel Slaine said.

"What kind of freedom?" Zémamouche asked back in English with a disdainful expression: "Like the freedom the French give us?"

Zémamouche is an Algerian nobleman who has been studying in France since he was a child and knows several languages. This is one of the reasons why the French made him a nominal commander: knowing French makes it easier to communicate, and being a noble makes his orders easier to execute.

"No!" Colonel Slaine replied: "Real freedom, complete freedom. But before that, you need to help us complete one thing!"