The decisive battle against the Third Reich

"Where else can they land?" General Strike said in confusion: "If they don't land in Sicily, and the Tunisian Strait is under our blockade, then they... can only land in Greece!"

The officers of the command center were surprised and turned their eyes to Rommel.

Rommel thought about it, then nodded slightly and said: "Landing in Greece is indeed an option. They occupied Crete, which is a good forward base. In addition, they also have King George II of Greece. They can use George II to call on the Greeks to support them in liberating Greece!"

"More importantly, the Greeks hate the Italians!" Colonel Slain agreed: "And most of the people occupying Greece are Italians. The Greeks will eagerly hope that the king's troops will drive away the Italians, except for the guerrillas."

"How many troops do we have in Greece?" Rommel asked the staff officer beside him.

"Only three divisions, general!" The staff officer replied.

The officers were stunned when they heard this, which almost meant that Greece was an undefended country in front of the British army.

"Don't the British worry about our oil?" Major General Strike said: "As mentioned before, the point is that we have discovered oil. If the British land in Greece, they can't cut off our supply lines, and of course they can't stop us from developing oil fields, right?" "They can!" Rommel pointed to the map and replied: "If they successfully occupied Greece, they could enter the Adriatic Sea with their sea and air superiority, and then they could use Greece as a sea and air base to land directly in Pescara, Italy, and then go straight to the Italian capital of Rome along the road..." The officers nodded involuntarily. Pescara is only 210 kilometers away from Rome. With such a short distance and the Italian army defending it, they can reach Rome in a few days. In contrast, landing in Sicily and then fighting northward from southern Italy is nearly a thousand kilometers, and there are mountains and rivers everywhere along the way. The complex terrain is not conducive to the operation of mechanized troops. It is conceivable that it will take longer to reach Rome. "In fact, there is no need to fight at all!" General Strike said with a serious face: "As long as the Allies land in Pescara, the Italians may surrender. Once Italy surrenders, Sicily and Sardinia, which are mainly defended by the Italian army, will soon fall into the hands of the Allies, so our supply lines..."

Needless to say, if the situation develops as expected, the British will occupy two countries across the Mediterranean, namely Greece and Italy, and then trap the African Corps on this side of the Mediterranean.

"More importantly!" Major General Voigt said: "North of Greece is Romania, which means... they may cut off our other oil transportation line!"

"So..." Rommel nodded: "This is the real purpose of the British! I should report this idea to the Führer..."

"No, General!" Qin Chuan stood up and said: "You shouldn't do this!"

"Why?" Rommel asked.

"Because if you do this, you will be fooled by the British!" Qin Chuan replied.

"What?" Rommel and the officers all looked at Qin Chuan in surprise.

"It's actually very simple!" Qin Chuan said, "The reason why the British are so easily exposing their strategic goals is that they hope you think so!" "Captain!" Major General Voigt said, "Do you mean that all of us, including General Rommel, have been fooled by the British?" "Although I don't want to say that!" Qin Chuan glanced at Rommel and said, "But I'm sorry, General, I think it is true!" "It doesn't matter, Captain!" Rommel replied, "You have embarrassed me more than once, and what makes me even more angry is that you are right every time!" The generals couldn't help but laugh, only Major General Voigt's eyes showed a little unnoticeable jealousy. Major General Voigt's words just now were obviously intended to alienate Rommel and Qin Chuan, but he didn't expect Rommel to face Qin Chuan's questioning with this attitude. In fact, this is because Major General Voigt knows too little about the relationship between Qin Chuan and Rommel. If it was a few months ago, Major General Voigt's attempt to alienate Qin Chuan might have been useful, but after Qin Chuan's suggestions were proven to be correct again and again, Rommel and even Colonel Slaine and others had formed an inertial trust in Qin Chuan.

"Well, Captain!" Rommel waved his hand at Qin Chuan and motioned him to the map: "Tell me why we were deceived by the British!"

"Yes, General!" Qin Chuan walked to the map and said: "It is not impossible to land in Greece, and landing in Greece can indeed intimidate Italy and even cause Italy to collapse, but gentlemen... Three-quarters of Greece is mountainous, and such terrain is also not suitable for mechanized troops to fight."

"Captain, you seem to have forgotten the many favorable conditions for the British to land in Greece that we just mentioned!" Major General Voigt interrupted.

"Of course!" Qin Chuan replied: "These favorable conditions do exist, such as they have a king, and our troops in Greece are weak, but gentlemen, you seem to have forgotten one thing, we can build tunnels on the mountains in Greece... For an area where three-quarters of the territory is mountainous, tunnel tactics will definitely be a nightmare for the British. The British have tried this on the Gabes Line. Will they jump into the quagmire of Greece?"

In fact, the British and American troops have never been able to adapt to fighting in such a complex terrain...Historically, they landed in Sicily, then landed in Italy from Sicily and pushed north from the south.

Montgomery rashly thought that if the Italians surrendered, the Allies would liberate the entire Italy in a short time, so he named this operation the "Avalanche" plan, meaning that this battle would liberate the entire Italy as quickly and unstoppably as an "avalanche".

But the result surprised everyone... The war lasted for a full year and four months. With the Allied forces having an absolute advantage in manpower and equipment, it took a year and four months to liberate Italy.

It is conceivable that if the battlefield was moved to Greece, where the terrain was more complex, and the Germans also knew the tunnel defense tactics, then how long it would take for the Allies to occupy Greece would obviously be unknown. Greece might even become a quagmire for the Allies, just like the Vietnam War.

"So, Captain!" Rommel asked, "What do you think the British target is..."

"Sicily, General!" Qin Chuan replied, "It's always Sicily!"