The decisive battle against the Third Reich

"Captain!" Hitler looked at Qin Chuan: "I want to hear your opinion!"

"Yes, Mr. Fuhrer!" Qin Chuan answered and glanced at Rommel, who nodded slightly.

"Mr. Fuhrer!" Qin Chuan pointed at the map and said: "I think we should reinforce Greece!"

"What?" Hearing this, Rommel looked at Qin Chuan in surprise. He knew that Qin Chuan might have a different opinion, but he didn't expect him to say something so shocking.

"Reinforce Greece?" Hitler smiled: "Interesting!"

"Yes, reinforce Greece!" Qin Chuan said: "Since we have seen through the British trap, and the British don't know that we have seen through their trap, why can't we use their trick against them..."

Hearing this, Rommel suddenly realized: "You mean, let the British mistakenly think that we have been fooled and put the main force in Greece?"

"Yes!"

"But... what's the point?" Rommel asked: "I mean... if Sicily is empty of troops because of reinforcing Greece, it may not be able to stop the British attack in the end, then we still get nothing!"

What Rommel said makes sense. First of all, the large-scale reinforcement of the armored forces cannot be concealed from the British, especially the British intelligence units... For example, according to Rommel's combat plan, three armored divisions and two mechanized infantry divisions reinforced Sicily. So many tanks, cars, and artillery were loaded and unloaded at the port, and only a few spies could find it.

So, if you want to deceive the British, you must not reinforce or reinforce less. And such a result will make the German army lose Sicily.

"So we have to change our defensive tactics!" Qin Chuan said to Rommel: "Sorry, General! I think your defensive tactics just now can't stop the British attack in Sicily!"

"Well, tell me the reason!" Rommel nodded with interest, and then said to Hitler: "Your Excellency the Führer, I am used to being embarrassed by the captain!"

"That's good!" Hitler smiled knowingly: "I also hope someone can embarrass me! For victory, for Germany, for our common ideals, we should speak freely!"

"Of course!" Rommel motioned Qin Chuan to continue.

"Our mobile defense tactics might work in the desert!" Qin Chuan continued, "On the one hand, the terrain is the reason. The desert is more suitable for armored units to maneuver, but most of Sicily is mountainous. Once any high ground is occupied by the enemy or the road is blocked by enemy artillery fire, the armored division will be unable to move." Rommel retorted, "Captain, but the coastline is open and flat, suitable for the armored division to charge!" "That's the second point I want to make!" Qin Chuan replied, "The enemy has a large number of warships and fighter planes. It is conceivable that they can completely control the sea and air on the battlefield!" There is no doubt about this. With the strong support of the United States, the Allied fighter planes have increased dramatically to thousands, and this is still a preliminary estimate, while the German fighter planes are less than 300... This quantitative disadvantage is no longer compensated by the quality of the pilots. As for the navy, although the German army had a fleet, and even an Italian fleet, this fleet could not enter the battle through the Tunisian Strait full of mines... To be precise, it was not impossible, but the risk of doing so was too great. The German navy was used to block the Tunisian Strait. If it entered the battle through its own minefield without air control, it would probably be annihilated, and the defense of Sicily would lose its meaning.

"In this case!" Qin Chuan said: "Any fortifications and armored forces near the sea will be destroyed by the bombing of enemy aircraft and naval guns!"

Rommel couldn't help but reveal a trace of horror in his eyes. He suddenly realized that he seemed to have made a mistake, a big mistake.

But this is not surprising.

In this era, amphibious landing operations are still new... Just as Britain, the United States and other countries have no experience in landing operations, Germany has no defensive experience in dealing with amphibious landing operations.

Therefore, Rommel thought without thinking that the most difficult moment for the enemy was the landing, so he should deploy heavy troops along the coast and destroy the enemy as many as they came up. And once the enemy landed successfully, it would actually be a land battle between the enemy and us.

Germany did make this mistake in the Battle of Sicily. Two elite armored divisions launched a fierce attack on the beach where the enemy landed... The result is predictable. No matter how thick the armor of the tanks is, they are nothing in front of the large-caliber naval guns. They were quickly bombed to pieces without even a wreckage left.

On the other hand, the Japanese army in the Pacific battlefield has also been making this mistake. The US army always used planes and naval guns to blow the Japanese heavy troops deployed on the coastline to pieces before landing.

It was not until the late stage of the war that the Japanese army realized that it was just using the lives of soldiers to consume the enemy's ammunition, while the Americans had almost endless ammunition.

So there were casualties in the Battle of Iwo Jima... It was also the first battle in which the US casualties exceeded those of the Japanese.

"Captain!" Rommel said, "You mean, we mainly defend with infantry!"

"You can say that!" Qin Chuan replied, "My plan requires an armored division, three infantry divisions, two mechanized infantry divisions and one paratrooper division."

Qin Chuan's requirement was two fewer armored divisions than Rommel's.

"The two armored divisions that are missing!" Qin Chuan explained: "They are to reinforce Greece with great fanfare, and the other armored division is to reinforce Sicily!"

Hitler nodded: "If we don't reinforce Sicily at all, it will arouse the suspicion of the British!"

"Yes!" Qin Chuan replied: "But the infantry reinforcements can be made more concealed, for example, in the dark at night without making too much noise!"

Rommel added: "We can make them think it is reinforcements for North Africa, but they disembark in the port of Palermo!"

Rommel was right. The Afrika Korps had always been short of troops. It was not surprising to see reinforcements of infantry on the transport ship from the French port of Toulon to Algiers. It would be difficult for spies to detect that these soldiers disembarked in the port of Palermo during the transportation.

"That's what I think too!" Qin Chuan replied: "But I hope to replace these troops!"

"Change a batch?" Then Rommel realized what Qin Chuan wanted to do: "You mean... the 200th Infantry Division?"

"Yes!" Qin Chuan replied: "We need troops with experience in constructing tunnel fortifications and tunnel operations!"