The decisive battle against the Third Reich

The first place to have problems was Crete.

After the German army withdrew from Crete, the British army immediately contacted Colonel Dennis in the hope of entering Crete... Originally Montgomery did not want to be in such a hurry, but Crete was too important to the British army. The British army could only use the airport on Crete to transfer fighter planes to the island of Malta instead of relying on aircraft carriers to transport them there.

But Colonel Dennis refused without a second thought.

The reason for rejection is very good: "Greece needed the British troops to stop the invasion of Germany and Italy before. The British troops could be said to be reinforcements to Greece. But now the German and Italian troops have taken the initiative to withdraw from Crete. The British troops Why should we enter Crete?”

In fact, Colonel Dennis had another consideration. He was worried that this would anger the German army and lose its support. At the same time, he did not want Crete to once again become a battlefield for the German, Italian and Allied forces... Considering the interests of Greece , Colonel Dennis's approach is obviously right.

But this was not in the interests of the United Kingdom, and then the United Kingdom played its usual tricks...it brought the Greek King George II, who was in exile in the United Kingdom, to Egypt, and used George II to lead the Allied forces to liberate all of Greece as an excuse. British troops land on Crete.

The British landing met little resistance.

On the one hand, this is because the National Liberation Front has never fought an anti-landing war. On the other hand, they do not want to rebel against the King of Greece and the army with the slogan of "Liberating All Greece"... From this aspect, the National Liberation Front The goals of the Front and the Allies were even the same.

but.

Things soon changed when British troops landed.

The British army occupied three airports on Crete immediately... For the island, the airport is the absolute top priority.

Then, the British army seized several arsenals left by the German army on the island... This process almost caused a conflict, because these arsenals can be said to be the supply bases of the National Liberation Front on Crete.

But after being surrounded by a large number of British troops, they finally had to give up.

Then, the British released a large number of government prisoners from the prisons and put weapons in their hands to rebuild the government army.

All these National Liberation Fronts endured. They were unwilling to break out into civil war at this time or to confront the King of Greece and the powerful British army behind him.

But the next order they received made them extremely angry.

King George II asked the National Liberation Front to lay down its arms and disband the army...Obviously, George II was worried that if this armed force became stronger, it would threaten his dominance.

This caused strong dissatisfaction among the National Liberation Front and even the Greek people, and then a large-scale demonstration broke out in Crete.

However, as usual, the police opened fire on the demonstrators.

Taking this as a trigger, the all-out battle between the National Liberation Front and the Greek government forces and the British army officially began. The British army invested artillery and fighter jets that day.

Of course Colonel Dennis and others were hostile to the British and government forces, so they could only avoid the mountains and turn to guerrilla warfare.

This sudden situation stunned everyone, especially the National Liberation Front in Greece, which made them clearly realize that... even if they drive the Germans and Italians out of Greece, the fruits of victory will still fall to the king. and the British, so they even tried to cooperate with the puppet regime established by the German and Italian troops in Athens.

Rommel was stunned when he received this information. Although this was exactly what he hoped for, he did not expect that it would happen so quickly.

"Interesting!" Rommel said to himself: "Everything develops just as the lieutenant said!"

If Rommel was still hesitant about retreating before this, Rommel was completely determined after the Crete incident.

Because this can be said to have only advantages and no disadvantages for Germany... If there is any disadvantage, it is that it reduces the occupied land. But these lands are only superficial data. They are barren and contain nothing but sand (no oil fields have been discovered in North Africa at this time), so what is the point of occupying these lands?

Instead, retreating... Of course, retreating after declaring their independence could cause a lot of trouble for the British and Americans.

The enemy's troubles are one's own interests.

What's more, as the German army retreats, the Allies will face the same problem as the German army did before...the supply line is too long, which is a serious problem in the desert.

So Rommel didn't think much and took the initiative to withdraw from the Alexander Line to the Matruh Line a few days later.

The British army advanced with cheers, but what awaited them was the vigorous war of independence launched by the Egyptians led by General Shreve... If the British army did not take these guerrillas seriously before, then now They should be careful, because the Egyptian guerrillas at this time have grown in size, and they still have a large number of "iron fists"... "Bazookas" have not been given to the guerrillas for the time being, because they are worried that the performance of this new equipment will Captured and copied by the British Army.

Problems arose when the German troops retreated to the Libyan border:

Rommel wanted Libya to be independent, but the Italian commander Garibaldo and even Mussolini were unwilling to do so.

"You are crazy!" Garibaldo said: "Let Libya be independent... We have achieved so many victories, and now not only have we not gained any benefits, but we have to lose our colonies! I will never agree to this kind of betrayal of Italy." An act of profit!”

Not only Garibald, but other Italian officers also expressed opposition.

Rommel was unwilling to pay attention to this at all, because he knew that these Italian officers were only worried about their villas and mansions in Tripoli.

"Then!" Rommel said: "Just use your rifles to defend Libya!"

With that said, Rommel continued to retreat with the German troops.

As a result, the Italian army was in disarray... Just kidding, the Italian army couldn't even deal with the British army driving the "Matilda" tank, how could it stop the British army driving the "Sherman" tank now? The British army, not to mention the American army in addition to the British army.

So Garibald hurriedly contacted Mussolini, hoping to get Rommel to change his mind through Hitler.

At this time, Hitler saw what Rommel wanted to do... This is actually very obvious. After declaring the independence of these countries all the way, these countries will stand on the opposite side of the Allies together with Germany. Crete and Egypt are one Living example, this is obviously beneficial to Germany.

Therefore, Hitler uncharacteristically did not stop Rommel, but sent a telegram to Mussolini: "Your Excellency Prime Minister, you should declare Libya's independence, otherwise... the British will do this as a liberator! "