Redemption of WWII

Chapter 28 Old things in North Africa

What the Ministry of War means is that you can go to war, but the credit must be ours. 【】Facing the danger of the collapse of the domestic government, Churchill had to agree to let Gott serve as the commander of the Eighth Army.

But by God's will, General Gott is on his way to take over.The plane was actually shot down by the Germans. You must know that there are no traces of the Germans on this route. Even Churchill's plane flew this route without the protection of an escort plane.

Nearly 200 years later, the inadvertent discovery of an old World War II file brought the truth to light.The file mentioned that the plane that was shot down by General Gott had no traces of being attacked by German fighter jets at all, and the cause of the plane crash was the explosion of zh explosives on the inner wall.It is obvious that General Gott boarded a Reaper plane.As for who planted the bomb, the file did not mention it.It's just that the wreckage of the plane was directly taken over by the then 15 military intelligence agencies.Outsiders couldn't see it at all.General Gott's death became a mystery.

At that time, Churchill's confidential secretary later recalled, "When the Prime Minister learned the news that General Gott's plane had been shot down that day, he just "hummed", neither expressing worry nor feeling sad about it.That night, the Prime Minister made an exception and drank a glass of 26-year-old whiskey. It was a good mood to be the Prime Minister.

In this way, Meng Ge became the supreme commander of the Eighth Army as a matter of course.This time, the Ministry of War tightly shut its mouth.After all, a soldier is still a soldier. Compared with a politician, there is no comparison between being cheeky, and even more so than being black-hearted.With the beginning of Meng Ge taking over as the commander of the Eighth Army, the power of the North African British team was firmly in Churchill's hands.

As soon as Meng Ge arrived at the Eighth Army, three small fires started immediately.First, General Ramsden, the acting army commander, was directly removed.You know, student Xiao Meng has just been promoted to the rank of general at this time, but with Churchill in his hand, Xiao Meng, let alone a general, dares to withdraw even a general.It is said that 'how bold the people are, how productive the land is'.Not bad at all.

Meng Ge immediately appointed major generals De and Guingamp, who were obedient to him, as the chief of staff of the group army.The meeting was held overnight, and the subordinates were even encouraged and frightened.His speech was quickly passed down to the lower classes.The words of Meng Ge, who is familiar with the army, really appealed to the appetite of these junior officers and soldiers.The morale and morale of the army have improved a lot.

Then Meng Ge replaced almost all the commanders at the army and division level, and promoted a large number of young officers to serve as military chiefs.In this way, the power of the Eighth Army was firmly held by Meng Ge.And those young and passionate officers were also stimulated by Meng Ge's means of promotion, and they were so hot that they could not wait to find Rommel immediately.

After a big cleanup, the Eighth Army seemed to have become Meng Ge's own vegetable field, and he planted it as he wanted, and planted it as he wanted.

And the benefits brought about by using a large number of young officers are also obvious. The old lifeless and dogmatic atmosphere of the British army is gone.Instead, it's vibrant, fast, and alert.

Enthusiasm alone is not enough.Meng Ge knew very well that the first thing to do before him was to win the battle and consolidate his position.Meng Ge is still very good at both strategy and tactics.He judged that Rommel would definitely attack under Hitler's intimidation, even though the Germans' supplies could not keep up at all, and the most terrible fuel was not much.

So Meng Ge set up a box defensive position near Alam Halfa Mountain, and all the armored troops ambushing on three sides were camouflaged.Waiting for Rommel's visit.

Rommel actually didn't want to attack at this time, but he couldn't do anything about Hitler's daily telegrams urging the end of the war in North Africa. On the evening of August 8, Montgomery, as usual, hung up when the time came.When Rommel launched his attack after midnight, he was already asleep.Meng Ge's chief of staff, De Guingamp, decided to wake Meng Ge and tell him the news.Meng Ge replied, "Excellent, it couldn't be better." He immediately fell asleep again.

Things happened exactly as Meng Ge expected.It can be said that within the first few hours of the Battle of Alam Halfa, Rommel lost.In fact, the British Air Force began to dispatch at dusk on August 8, bombing Rommel's armored car parking lot with "Wellington" bombers.When the Afrika Korps struggled to open up passages in the minefields, they found that the minefields were much wider and more complicated than expected.The first channel was not opened until 30:8 am on August 31.At 4 o'clock in the morning, Rommel received reports that progress was still very slow.General von Fusmarck of the 30st Armored Division was killed by a landmine, and the commander of the Afrika Korps, Nielin, was also unable to command due to injuries.Bayerlein took over command of Neering and, together with Rommel, decided to continue the attack, attempting to rush eastward during the night.The result was that the German tank columns made slow progress in the minefields while the British 8th Army and Air Force were fully prepared: tanks were in combat positions and artillery was ready to fire.

Since tanks were wasting gasoline moving over soft depressions, Rommel took a compromise and ordered his armored forces to make a predetermined left outflanking movement north.In this way, the German tanks drove towards the concealed tanks of the British 22nd Armored Brigade.A tank battle broke out, and the two armies suffered casualties, but the German army was firmly nailed to the front of the position without making any achievements.

Rommel was forced to stop using tanks that evening due to fuel shortages.Thus the Afrika Korps ceased activity under the lighting and bombardment of the Royal Air Force and the bombardment of the XIII Corps artillery.The next day, the Germans carried out some sporadic attacks, but nowhere near as violent as the 13st. At 31:6, the German 40th Armored Division made a short-term assault on the Alam Halfa Ridge. At 15:7 and 5:8, two small-scale local attacks were carried out respectively.During this period, the Germans also engaged in a fierce engagement with the 30th Panzer Brigade.The brigade commander of the 8th Brigade kept in mind Mungo's instructions that the tanks of the 13th Army were not allowed to engage in close combat, and withdrew the 8th Armored Brigade after losing a few tanks.

On September 9, Rommel began the first phase of the retreat, and accelerated the retreat on the 2rd.The important reason that forced Rommel to retreat was that the desert air force bombed Rommel's rear base Tobruk for attacking, making the possibility of him getting supplies disappeared.A lack of gasoline meant he was forced to renew his attack.

But Montgomery rejected all requests for tanks to attack, and in effect forbade Horrocks from continuing to pursue the enemy and occupying the Hemimat Heights.He said that Rommel should keep the observation post there so that the German army can see the various deceptive measures that the British army will use when preparing for the next major battle.By September 9, the Afrika Korps had established themselves in and behind the former British minefields, and Montgomery ordered the campaign to be halted.

在这次战役，德军损失了约2900人和49辆坦克及装甲车辆；英军损失了1700余人和67辆坦克，其13辆“格兰特”式坦克尚可修复。但英军掌握了战场主动权。

The Eighth Army Headquarters was filled with excitement and joy.But for Mungo, the pinnacle of excitement was the presence of President Roosevelt's special envoy, Wendell Wilkie.Montgomery personally accompanied Wilkie to inspect the forward area.When the Allied forces suffered setbacks in the battlefields of Norway, France, Greece, and the Far East, it was indeed a proud moment to be able to show the US President's special envoy the scene of the retreat of the German regiment.

With the assistance of the Desert Air Force, Montgomery taught Rommel a real lesson on Mount Alam Halfa, and he remembered this lesson for life: "Whoever is forced to fight an enemy who has complete control of the air, even if he has the most New weapons, like primitive man against modern European armies, will be in a very difficult and impossible situation."

But the British army is still those British troops, and the German army is still those German troops.Where the previous commander failed to win, Meng Ge beautifully slapped Rommel, but also the big bosses of the British War Department were slapped by this slap.This victory not only raised the morale of the Eighth Army to an all-time high, consolidated Mungo's status as a military genius, but also made Churchill's life in the country much easier.Churchill couldn't help admiring Meng Ge, and repeatedly praised his good eyesight at the beginning.

Churchill sent a telegram to Meng Ge requesting to break through Rommel's defense as soon as possible and eliminate the German troops in North Africa as soon as possible.But Meng Ge did not obey Churchill's order, but formulated a plan for the Alamein campaign code-named "Light Step".The plan has no intention of attacking Rommel in September at all, but requires a steady and steady attack at the end of October.

Churchill was a little annoyed, and immediately ordered that the German defense line must be attacked within September.However, Meng Ge sent a telegram to Churchill threatening to resign and delay the attack time.In the end, the stubborn Meng Ge won the victory.

In fact, the fact that the British army did not attack was the most troublesome thing for Rommel.Since he lacked both gasoline and air superiority, he had to lure the British army out of the position in order to carry out effective strikes.The British army did not attack, which made his plan come to nothing. He was so angry that he called the British army "pigs", saying that they were too timid to attack.It can be seen that Montgomery's order not to attack is correct.

After a month's rest, the combat effectiveness of the entire British Eighth Army has made great progress.In addition, Churchill mobilized nearly 10 troops from various places into the Eighth Army.At this time, the Eighth Army can be described as strong and strong.But a serious problem was placed in front of Meng Ge.