Redemption of WWII

No.17 Chapter Crisis 2 This chapter is free

Churchill secretly decided that Egypt and the Suez Canal must not be lost, and that control over Egypt and Suez must be increased. 【】Churchill urgently dispatched his naval direct line 'Cunningham' to North Africa as the commander of the Nile Army.In addition, Cunningham mobilized many troops from various colonies and replenished tanks and aircraft in large quantities.

Cunningham was named Andrew Brown Cunningham and was born in Ireland.Because the beginning of his name is the English letter b.So people used to call him b when talking about him.Churchill knew Cunningham when he was Secretary of the Navy. At that time, Cunningham was an ordinary officer on a battleship.Because Churchill appreciated the young officer very much, and Churchill was also cultivating cronies, Cunningham's rank was rapidly promoted.

The good times didn't last long, because of the Dardanelles Strait approved by Churchill in World War I, the Royal Navy paid a heavy price and failed to capture the Strait.Churchill became the target of fierce attacks by the British Conservative Party.In desperation, Prime Minister Asquith, who had decided to cooperate with the Conservative Party at the time, had to remove Churchill from the position of Secretary of the Navy.And Cunningham was ostracized by other factions within the Navy.The day was pretty rough.

However, as Churchill's confidant, Cunningham climbed to the position of fleet commander little by little in 20 years.Its Churchill's political resources still gave Cunningham a lot of help.

This time in North Africa, Cunningham can be said to shoulder a heavy responsibility.Although Cunningham is an admiral, Cunningham's ability to control the army is also very strong.After Cunningham took office, he first rectified military discipline and replaced a group of officers.Troop training was then stepped up, and finally Cunningham gave the intelligence services a complete overhaul.Firmly controlled the Nile Army.

After several fires, the morale of the British army was greatly improved, and no one mentioned the withdrawal of Egypt.

Cunningham is not a person who is content with the status quo. His goal is not to stick to the border of Egypt, but to lead the troops to defeat Rommel and regain the previously lost territory.So a large-scale offensive began, and Cunningham's attack hit Rommel's weakness like a dagger.Rommel had only 2 regular German divisions in his hands at that time, and the others were multinational troops.Most of them were Italian troops, and a small part was sent by the surrendering government of France.

Rommel knew his situation and worried that the Italians would not be able to withstand the attack.

So a retreat of thousands of miles was staged.Rommel took the lead and led the elite German team to retreat again and again, while the Italians were retreating and were constantly being chased by the British.As soon as the German-Italian coalition forces retreated, it was nearly 1000 kilometers. Not only was Tobruk, which had been besieged by the German-Italian coalition forces for 242 days, about to be rescued by the British, even Cyrenaica and eastern Libya were completely lost.

At this time, Cunningham can be described as high-spirited and triumphant.But this was unanimously dissatisfied by all the army generals.Why is this?Think about it, no matter how many battles you win at sea as an admiral, no one will object to you, but when you come to the army, not only do you not lose any battles, but you even win such big victories.Isn't this slapping all the army generals in the face?

This time it was very lively, no matter the front or the rear, there were too many people picking on Cunningham's faults.And the political strength of the army is also very strong. Every day, several MPs representing the army call Churchill, either saying that Cunningham violated military regulations, or that his hands and feet were not clean when he was in Egypt. (Actually, every general had unclean hands and feet in Egypt)

Churchill didn't take it to heart at all, and still firmly supported Cunningham.But the storm intensified, and tabloids began to report some of Cunningham's youthful affairs, with eyebrows and eyes.Even the government mouthpiece, The Times of London, later reported on the Egyptian Legion's violations.At the end, he viciously pointed out the responsibilities of the commander.

The news of Cunningham's big victory was just a few words in the newspaper's wartime newsletter. "We regained some fronts in Egypt today, and the results are still being counted."

Because Cunningham did not offend one or two people.Instead, it offended the entire army.Even the army generals far away in India jokingly telegraphed to Churchill saying, "Request General Cunningham to be the supreme commander of Indochina. Only under his leadership can we stop the Japanese attack."

Churchill took the trouble, but there was nothing he could do.Under pressure, he had to remove Cunningham's post as commander of the Nile Army (8th Army).So Cunningham became a general who was dismissed after winning the World War II.Cunningham was succeeded by General Rich, then a general of the army.So all the honors are given to Rich, such as "The Great Rescuer", "The God of War in North Africa", "Prince Tobruk", etc., the most funny "Desert" given by a British hunting association Fox Hunter' title.The British radio stations and newspapers also began to bombard the news of the North African Army in turn.

For a while, the North African Army became the symbol and pride of all British armies. People were talking about General Ritchie everywhere, and for the first time, London had a festive atmosphere.Bars everywhere were crowded, and even people clinked glasses and said jokingly, "May God bless poor Rommel, because our 'Desert Fox Hunter' is going to catch him to make a shawl for his wife."

As soon as Rommel retreated, he retreated to the port of Brega, the starting point when he first entered North Africa.And General Rich has already been dazzled by various rewards, and has long forgotten the horror of the German army.As if those victories were really fought by himself, coupled with the deliberate praise of his subordinates, he regarded himself as the undefeated god of war.

At this time, due to the heavy snow on the Eastern Front, the cold weather was not conducive to large-scale operations of mechanized troops.Coupled with the news from London of Churchill's vigorous energy from German intelligence, Hitler could not help but feel a little annoyed.So with a swipe of a pen, a division of infantry, plus a large number of tanks, and 2000 tons of fuel were transferred directly to Rommel from the battlefield plan for transfer to the Eastern Front.

And Rommel took great pains to prevent these things from letting the British.In the end, they managed to hide the truth from the British intelligence department and got the troops and supplies to North Africa.And Hitler also secretly ordered Goering and Doenitz to secretly mobilize a powerful navy and air force to strengthen the control of the Earth Sea.At the same time, Rommel was also named a general of the army, and his North African Army was upgraded to the African Armored Army.

It's interesting to come to Hitler to treat his cronies.Although Rommel was defeated, not only was he not punished, he was given a military rank.

Of course, Rommel's spirit was lifted, and he immediately ran to the front line to deploy the offensive plan overnight.Just like a child who has a new toy must take it out to make everyone envious, this time Rommel revealed all his wealth.

1942年1月21号上午8点30分，隆美尔的进攻开始了。像所有经典的德国式的进攻一样，隆美尔的闪电战术瞬间击破了第8集团军的防线，德国人的坦克的轰鸣成了第8集团军士兵心的噩梦。

At this time, the Wizards woke up from the dream, and hurriedly dispatched troops.Surrounding Rommel everywhere, the military strength of the two sides is actually not much different at this time.But the high quality of German officers and soldiers was revealed at this time.The German army lined up the tanks in a long snake formation. The cannons and 88mm anti-aircraft guns basically moved forward with the soldiers' footsteps, and the two infantry regiments followed the tanks in trucks.The German tanks, artillery, and infantry all rushed towards the British army. The British artillery and guns whizzed past their heads. After the tank was severely damaged, it would still rush forward as long as it could move, while the infantry commander stood straight. Stand on the truck to boost morale, and when the commander is shot, he is immediately replaced by the next-level officer.The most epic thing is that one of its regiments had only one captain officer commanding the battle after the battle, and all other senior officers were killed or wounded.

The British army was frightened by this so-called momentum, and morale began to drop.The gap in the defense began to grow wider.Rich would have no choice but to retreat.After retreating for a while, I suddenly received a telegram from the Army Headquarters.The telegram was strict with General Rich in every possible way, requiring Rich to hold the line of defense and not let the navy make a joke.

Richner had no choice but to gather troops and counterattack Rommel.Rommel, the old fox, is worthy of being a tactical expert. While pretending to attack the 'Mikeli City', he moved the main force of his troops to other places.Rich was really fooled and mobilized the main force of the British army to reinforce 'Mikeli City'.As soon as the main force of the British army broke the siege of Maikili City, General Rich received the news that Rommel's armored group appeared in the important supply base of the British army 'Benghazi'.

When the bad news came, Rich couldn't believe his eyes. He hurriedly wanted to mobilize the main force of the British army to rescue 'Benghazi'.But after all, the distant water can't quench the near thirst. Even if the British army can reach 'Benghazi', they will be exhausted.There is no longer any strength to fight.Besides, would Rommel give him this chance?

Rommel's armor took 'Benghazi' in less than a day.Facing the mountains of British military supplies, Rommel couldn't even close his mouth.The most important is the 1300 trucks parked in 'Benghazi'.And a few gasoline.All of a sudden, Rommel's African Army became a real mechanized army.

Under the leadership of Richie, he had no choice but to give up 'Mikeli City' and retreat to the 'Jazara Line of Defense' for defense.For the next three months, both armies were stationed on the Jazala Line.

Hitler also transferred the strength of two German divisions to Rommel from other countries, and at the same time replenished a large number of tanks and fuel.

On Rich's side, because Japan dropped a bomb at Pearl Harbor in the United States, which severely damaged the Pacific Fleet of the United States, the United States was forced to join the war.Roosevelt's dream of getting rich on both sides also came to naught.Although the United States is not yet ready to send troops to the African and European battlefields, it has never been stingy in providing weapons and equipment.Because it can make money, the Germans can't make money, so they have to make more money from the British.So 400 original American Grant tanks were directly allocated to Rich under the direct intervention of the Ministry of War.In addition, Ritchie also had more than 400 original British tanks, which made the number of British tanks twice that of Rommel.

The fierce battle is intensifying