Although Germany's measures had some effect in confusing the Soviet Union, they only had a certain effect. Stalin could not fail to see that most of Germany's armed forces were on standby. There were only 300,000 German troops fighting in the British war. Compared with With Germany's armed forces of up to seven million (three million regular Wehrmacht troops), those troops cannot affect Germany's strength at all.
When Germany's situation is relatively calm, the protagonist of the Axis war has temporarily become Italy. Compared with Germany's attack on Britain, the battle between Britain and Italy in North Africa is more suspenseful, although in terms of strength, Italy is now An absolute advantage was achieved, but the Italian army's only chance to show up in France ended in disgrace.
Although the British power on the African continent is weak, Britain's international status is still much higher than that of Italy, and Britain's control over the colonies is very tight. After a hundred years, many people in the British colonies have become dissatisfied with the British. The impression is pretty good. Although not all of them will send soldiers to participate in the war, the delay will definitely not happen. And a lot of Italy's power is contained in Ethiopia. The Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie has been in exile in the United Kingdom. If the British If you make good use of this card, it will indeed give Italy a headache.
Haile Selassie dares to call him emperor. You must know that in Europe and the Near East, not everyone can be called emperor. Napoleon is the emperor, William is the emperor, and Britain only has kings. It is conceivable that Haile Selassie West's prestige in Ethiopia, if Haile Selassie calls on the Ethiopian people to resist the Italian army at a critical moment, even if it does not help the war between Britain and Italy, it can still disrupt Italy's military deployment.
Because of this, many people are now looking forward to the war between Italy and Britain in North Africa, hoping that Britain can regain face from Italy after the German offensive. In the first few days of the war, the situation was still unclear, and the British garrison simply retreated. As people had initially expected, the British were forced to retreat under the strong force of Italy. However, after the British raid on Benghazi, the contest that people were looking forward to finally began.
On the African continent where it is difficult to find any green, Italy and the United Kingdom, now known as one of the three major powers of the Axis Powers, began to fight. One day after the fighting, the situation in Benghazi spread to all over the world, and people speculated on the outcome of this battle. Major General Kermit Bradman, commander of the 132nd Ariete Armored Division, allowed British soldiers who had always looked down on the Italians to see Italian Army soldiers with fighting will for the first time.
Although the 132nd Ariete Armored Division has been passively beaten since the battle in Benghazi began, it has never lost control of Benghazi. Compared with European cities, Benghazi has sparse buildings and less complex terrain. Not a place suitable for street fighting. But Major General Kermit Bradman still did his best to deploy in the city. After all, Major General Kermit Bradman had participated in the Spanish Civil War and was not too unfamiliar with street fighting.
Moreover, Major General Kermit Bradman also knows that although he is now attacked by the British 7th Armored Division, Italy is now in an advantageous position from the overall perspective. Italy has deployed more than 500,000 troops across Africa. army, while the British army only has more than 100,000 people. As long as you hold on, the current difficulties in Benghazi will be lifted sooner or later.
By now, Major General Kermit Bradman has generally understood the British plan. It is nothing more than a sudden attack, winning first and leaving the Italian army exhausted. This is not a brilliant tactic. Kermit Bradman Major General Mann can also implement it himself, but now Major General Bradman has little confidence in his colleagues, fearing that other Italian troops will be forced to retreat by the British. As for why Major General Bradman does not believe in his colleagues, this is too It's simple. No one knows the virtues of his colleagues better than Major General Bradman, who meets other officers every day. If the German army was cooperating with him, Major General Bradman would certainly not be so worried.
But the matter has come to this, Major General Bradman can only do his own thing now. Major General Bradman knows that many Italian soldiers are not willing to join the war. Unlike Germany, the reason why the National Socialist Party stood in Germany To secure a foothold, in addition to winning consecutive military battles, the plan for the German economy is also remarkable. Although this is not the National Socialist Party's own credit, as the ruling party, the National Socialist Party has indeed gained a lot of political benefits. Capital, and at least for now, the German people still support the National Socialist Party’s determination to wage war.
The situation in Italy is completely different. Although Italy, like Germany, hopes to develop through war, so far, Italians have not seen a real change in their lives. Poor people remain poor, so they naturally respond to Italy's military operations. Very indifferent, the Italian army's consecutive defeats were also an important factor.
But no matter what, Major General Bradman still has to live up to his responsibilities. As a soldier, Major General Bradman must fulfill his role. What gives Major General Bradman a little comfort is that the 132nd Ariete Armored Division's The soldiers are performing well so far, and the sentimental Major General Bradman has finally found some comfort in himself.
"It's one o'clock in the afternoon, it's been nine hours!" The sound of gunfire rang out from time to time in the city seemed to remind Major General Bradman of the passage of time. To be honest, the performance of the 132nd Ariete Armored Division so far has already impressed Bradman. Major General Mann was relieved. What he didn't know was that the German SS leaders far away in Europe had been waiting for news of his failure.
To the west of the 132nd Ariete Armored Division, that is, in the hinterland of Libya, it is not that there are no other Italian troops, but those troops are only some second-line troops, and their combat effectiveness is far from comparable to the troops invested by Italy in the attack. In order to conquer the British army garrison In Egypt, the Italian command deployed combat-effective troops on the battlefield at once. Moreover, it would take a day for the nearest Italian troops behind the 132nd Ariete Armored Division to get here.
"Division Commander, we need the assistance of the Air Force!" Major General Bradman's deputy, Deputy Division Commander Ivo Binch looked very anxious. Ivo Binch always believed that his army was the most powerful force in Italy. In fact, it was not Indeed. But I didn't expect that it would still be so difficult to deal with the British 7th Armored Division.
"Our air force in Africa is not strong. Most of the air force is supporting the offensive forces!" Major General Bradman said in a rather helpless tone: "Of course I know the role of the air force. If I have the German Air Force in my hands, Stuka Squadron, am I afraid of those guys?" Major General Bradman said, pointing in the direction of the attack of the British 7th Armored Division.
"I really envy the German Army. Look at them. If they need tanks, they will have tanks. If they need air support, they will have Stuka squadrons. Are you looking at us? Our tanks can even penetrate anti-tank guns. Most of the soldiers The weapons we have are almost the same as they were twenty years ago! Why don't the higher ups let us fight with cold weapons?" Ivo Binchy's expected words were full of envy for the German Army. Compared with his own troops, he felt a little sighing.
"Okay, don't be sad!" Major General Bradman interrupted Ivo Binchy's fantasy and said, "What is the combat attrition situation of each unit now? Can we continue to fight!"
"It's okay. The attrition is not serious now. The British offensive force is only one division. If we only defend, we can still barely hold on to our position!" Ivo Binchy said, "But the attack in the afternoon may be more fierce. After all, if our guess is correct, the British will not wait for our support to arrive. Even if they cannot capture Benghazi, they will try their best!"
"Yes, the battle in the afternoon is the real battle! Hey, Ivo Binchy, last time you said that during the Battle of Dunkirk, the German SS attacked continuously for a week. Is this true or false? !" Taking advantage of the rare free time in the day, Major General Bradman also had a rare gossip. To be honest, Major General Bradman did not believe what Ivo Binchy said. In Major General Bradman's eyes, the German SS The army is nothing more than the Black Shirt Army established by Mussolini. How can it have strong combat effectiveness
"I have also heard that. I have a German friend who is the commander of the 19th Armored Corps. They said that in one week, the SS killed more than 20,000 people in Dunkirk. You have to know the entire In the Battle of France, the number of German casualties was only over 60,000!" Seeing that Major General Bradman did not believe him, Ivo Binchy said, "Don't compare the SS with our group of black shirts, no? I despise the Black Shirts, what else will those people do besides being cannon fodder?"
"These two forces seem to be the same thing!" Major General Bradman said; "Even if the SS and the Blackshirts had the same fanatical fighting spirit, they would not have achieved such great results. The Prime Minister said to the Blackshirts The support from the military is also great, and I haven’t seen how strong the black-shirted army is in combat!”
"Do you know who the leader of the SS is?" Ivo Binchy asked.
"I don't know..." Major General Bradman said honestly.
Ivo Binchy had a look of contempt on his face: "The son of the largest arsenal in Europe is the national leader of the SS. More than 40% of Germany's most combat-effective tanks are in the SS. The SS The seven armored divisions of China can muster more than 2,000 Panzer IV tanks. The Panzer IV tanks are much stronger than our tanks! If we had Panzer IV tanks in our hands, why would we still be here as a turtle? We would have gone out to beat the British. !”
Ah poof... On the slowly moving train, Lin Wei, who was sleeping soundly, sneezed and said with sleepy eyes, "Have we arrived at Renault?" He glanced at the people around him who were also confused and muttered. ,; "Is Louis & Reno talking about us?" Then he started to doze off again.
"Report, General!" While Ivo Binchy and Major General Bradman were still discussing the advantages and disadvantages of the German weapon, Major General Bradman's staff came in and said, "The Prime Minister already knows about our 132nd Ariete Armored Division. The difficulties we encountered and our bravery have been commended throughout the country, and now in our country, there happens to be a wing of dive bombers that have just been shipped from Germany. Many German instructors are still there, working with the German Emperor. After William II communicates, these German instructors and a wing of dive bombers will immediately support our operations! They may enter the battlefield at any time!"
"This is really good news!" Ivo Binchy and Major General Bradman said at the same time. The good news is of course not an illusory national award, but something real, such as a Stuka dive bomber wing in the southernmost part of Italy. It is not far from Benghazi in Libya. Since the Luftwaffe can fight across the sea and bomb the United Kingdom, of course it can also cross the sea to support the Italian army. Moreover, the large-scale appearance of the Luftwaffe can also cause panic among British soldiers. After all, the British mainland is now Shaking under the powerful German attack, these colonial troops in Egypt had no reason not to be afraid of the powerful German Air Force.
But before Ivo Binchy and Major General Bradman could be happy for a while, the British 7th Armored Division launched the attack again. Just as Major General Bradman expected, the attack became more fierce in the afternoon, and the heavy artillery finally made its way to the squadron. In West Benghazi, General Wavell originally did not plan to use heavy artillery, but wanted to copy the German blitzkrieg and capture Benghazi unexpectedly, but now it seems that this is a bit wishful thinking.
But there is also good news. General Berti of the 10th Group Army learned of the plight of the 132nd Ariete Armored Division and immediately said he would do his best to rescue the 132nd Ariete Armored Division. He has sent the 141st Infantry Division to rescue, but the mine Major General German knew that the effect of this measure was only to boost the morale of the soldiers. If he waited for the rescue of the 141st Infantry Division, the 132nd Ariete Armored Division might have been wiped out.
Although Britain does not have the ability to hit thousands of artillery bombardments like Germany, the white heavy artillery has already dealt a big blow to Benghazi now. Soldiers are hiding in houses and trenches, and some unlucky soldiers There is still no way to escape the fate of death. There is no way. After all, even if you are preparing, it may not be without harm. This is an unavoidable blow.
After the bombardment, the 7th Armored Division sent out offensive troops, seeming to realize that tanks had a limited role in street fighting. General Wavell did not send tanks to participate in the attack this time.
"About three battalions of troops, two battalions in the east and one battalion in the south!" Ivo Binch put down his telescope on the third floor and said.
"Replace with the 8th Bessalini Regiment!" Major General Bradman said calmly, "The original troops have reached their limit. It would be better to replace them with the 8th Bessalini Regiment. The 5th and 12th Motorized Infantry The battalion should be able to withstand three battalions of British soldiers for a while!"
"Did you hear that? Hurry up and get the 8th Bessalini!" Ivo Binchy said to the radioman next to him. Seeing the radioman's OK gesture, he said to Major General Bradman, "If the 8th Bessalini The Lini Regiment has also reached its limit, and we only have one engineer battalion and one supply battalion left in our hands. Should we let the 132nd Artillery Regiment come in?"
The 132nd Ariete Armored Division is already a rare three-three unit in the Italian army. Many Italian armies only have two regiments in one division. If it were that kind of unit, Benghazi might have already hung the British flag.
The leader of the 8th Bersalini Regiment was Lieutenant Colonel Alec Gabrielland. After receiving the order from the division commander, he immediately led his troops to the east of the city to deploy defenses. At that time, the remaining troops of the 132nd Armored Regiment, which was fighting the British offensive force, finally could no longer withstand it and retreated behind the 8th Bessalini Regiment.
When the remaining troops of the 132nd Armored Regiment passed by the defensive position of the 8th Bersalini Regiment, the commander of the 132nd Armored Regiment, Colonel Chloe Berryman, found Lieutenant Colonel Alec Gabrielland. , smiled bitterly, "Old man, it's up to you now. I, the commander of the armored regiment, am no longer worthy of my name!"
"Don't worry, I will recover your losses!" Lieutenant Colonel Alec Gabrielland patted his colleague on the shoulder and said.
General Wavell is also very depressed now. The development of things seems to be far from his estimate. Did the Italian army deliberately preserve its strength during the Battle of France, or was the French army much stronger than the British? General Wavell wondered.
General Wavell didn't think about it the other way around. Even if the Italian Army was weak, even if it was only one-tenth of the force, there should still be a few capable troops. But now General Wavell's character has exploded. That's all. If General Wavell stayed with another armored division, even if the 132nd Ariete Armored Division could hold on, Benghazi would now be a city under British control.
"There are still twelve hours before the nearest Italian troops will arrive. The battle must be resolved as soon as possible!" General Wavell has made up his mind. If the battle cannot be resolved by then, General Wavell must withdraw from the battle. Following General Wavell's thoughts, British and Italian soldiers once again fought in this port city.
If Britain fails at the hands of Italy, the blow to Britain will be very heavy. It is not terrible to lose at the hands of Germany. After all, France, which is good at the army, also failed. No country in the whole world can do this. Talking about Britain, but losing at the hands of Italy is different. These are two different issues.