Battle of the Third Reich

The army photographer picked up the camera and took a precious commemorative photo. With the tall Caterpillar as the background, the head of the empire raised his right arm to salute the officers and soldiers. The sun shone on the young and handsome face, and the whole picture exuded A sacred breath like a religious ceremony.

At that time, the military photographer took a lot of photos on the pier, but in the end, only this photo survived and became an important testimony to the head of empire's trip to Egypt, and appeared in various historical books of later generations.

Xu Jun’s trip was a secret visit. Before the head of state announced it, all news about the head of state was classified as state secrets. Except for a limited number of official agencies, the private news media had no knowledge at all, even if they were sensitive to smell. I am afraid that what is felt by the multinational news agency is difficult to detect the truth, because in today's continental Europe, any attempt to detect the whereabouts of the German head of state is dangerous and reckless.

Xu Jun did not stay long on the pier, and after a few greetings with the officials he received, he took the car arranged by the garrison and left the heavily guarded port. The British side is also very clear about the nature of the visit of the German head of state. When the peninsula war is in full swing, the German head of state’s sudden visit to Egypt will surely attract the attention of many countries here. This is obvious for the current plan of the British and German implementation in the Middle East. Is quite unfavorable.

Therefore, the British side also imposed a strict news blockade on this matter. Except for the military personnel responsible for reception and escort, few people knew the news of the visit of the German head of state. Even the Egyptian king who was stealing was now in the dark. in. Frankly speaking, the British also squeezed a lot of sweat. They were really worried that if the German head of state and the secret meeting met, Faruk I suddenly itched his hand and stole Reinhardt von Steide’s wallet or medal. After all, the British are afraid to think about it.

"My head of state, after eating, you can rest in the residence." Weiller suggested. Xu Jun began to close his eyes and relax as soon as he got on the bus. He got up too early in the morning and did not sleep well on the plane.

"No, time is running out, we will rush to Cairo after dinner." Xu Jun opened his eyes and raised his hand to rub his cheek vigorously.

"General, General Küchler has set off from the front line." Disenhofen turned back and explained to Weiler.

"I’m going to hear his report in Cairo. The African Army is progressing smoothly. It can overachieve the headquarters’ plan, but they also face many problems. If they can’t find a solution in time, they may be waiting for one. A disaster." Xu Jun rubbed his eyebrows and took a deep breath.

Küchler's telegram was sent directly to the port of Taranto yesterday. In theory, this was a violation of military regulations and was a very serious leapfrog report. However, Quixelle received a special license from Xu Jun. He could use a dedicated codebook, skip the Army Command and the Supreme Command, and report directly to the head of state. Of course, this privilege is limited in time. After the war, Will be taken back.

It can also be seen from this that the head of state attached great importance to the war on the peninsula, because even when the British generals landed, none of the front-line generals and marshals had such privileges. Out of communication security considerations, this telegraph by Küchler was very brief, except that he would immediately rush to Cairo to report the current situation to the head of state.

The biggest difficulty facing the African Army is still in the supply of materials, which was predicted by the headquarters before the war. The Headquarters War Office estimated that the African army would face logistical pressure, but it now appears that the impact of the local environment on supply and transportation has been seriously underestimated.

The logistics capacity of the African Army is approaching its limit. With the high-speed advancement of the front-line troops, the logistics supply line is still being extended rapidly. At present, the logistics force of the African Army has been unable to catch up with the footsteps of the assault troops. .

Desert towns on the Arabian Peninsula are far away from each other, because the primary condition for becoming a human settlement is that they must have or be close to the water source, which also requires the army to carry a lot of supplies in order to move between cities and towns.

The African Army is a reorganized force. It was built based on the armored grenadier division created by the head of state. It is one of the most mechanized military units in the German Defense Forces. Therefore, this Peninsular War was also an actual combat test of the ability of the command headquarters to implement large-scale mobile operations against this new type of German troops.

The Germans have had several successful attempts before. For example, in the Battle of England, an experimental armored grenadier company was incorporated in the armored teaching camp. Although the record is very impressive, after all, the scale is really limited, and it cannot reflect the What are the obvious gaps between conventional motorized infantry units?

This attack by the African Army was the first time that armored grenadier units were engaged in combat at the battalion level, so the actual combat data obtained on the battlefield and the feedback from officers and soldiers were particularly important. The command headquarters was in each grenadier battalion. Observers were sent to collect battlefield data and sort out the combat logs and reports of all units.

Xu Jun believes that as the war in the Middle East peninsula progresses, the emergence of a new German army will surely attract the attention of potential enemies and even try to imitate the formation of similar units. But Xu Jun is actually not worried about the latter. This arm has obvious advantages and also has obvious flaws.

Its dependence on logistics supply is too strong. Once the supply of materials, such as fuel and repair parts, is cut off, the combat effectiveness of these troops will quickly decline with the loss of vehicles. After losing the half-tracked troop transporters, grenadiers could only rely on manpower to deliver supplies and ammunition. The amount of ammunition carried by individual soldiers was limited. As a result, the continuous combat capability was not even comparable to conventional light infantry troops. This is something that has indeed happened in history, and how these soft underbelly Xu Jun might not know.

When formulating a battle plan, one of the most important goals is to destroy the enemy command and logistics supply units as much as possible, while protecting the safety of your own supply line. Now it is necessary to add as much air control as possible to the battlefield, because in the area where the air control is completely controlled by the side, the armored grenadier can exert its maximum power, combined with the powerful armored force as a spearhead, the German mechanized infantry assault The tide will be a nightmare for all enemy defense units.

The African Army has achieved very good results in the battle, but at the same time, Xu Jun’s concerns have also appeared one after another. Because of the special geographical environment of the Arabian Peninsula and the backwardness of the road infrastructure, the German logistics vehicles have lost more than before The expectations are even more serious.

The ubiquitous fine dust blocked the air filter, and even mixed into the oil pipeline, worn the engine cylinder wall. Due to the intrusion of dust, various inexplicable problems began to appear in the on-board circuit. The standard military tires were often damaged by sharp gravel cuts. In just a few days, they almost consumed the spare tires of the African army's logistics reserves.

And every bullet consumed by the African Army at this moment needs to be transferred from the material bases in Tunisia and even Italy and France, and then transported to the ports of Egypt or Trans-Jordan by cargo ships, and then transported to the German army on the Saudi border by road and rail network. The logistics stack, after accounting and distribution, is distributed by the African Army's logistics and transportation department to every soldier who needs to be supplied.

The whole process seems to be very simple. Actually, a lot of manpower and material resources are consumed in the supply process. Countless labors, crews, dock workers, logistics management personnel at all levels and transport soldiers, in this long stretch of thousands of kilometers With hard work on the supply line, the progress of the African Army can be so smooth, and the merits of these people must not be missed.

The Germans once again saw the necessity of unifying European military equipment. Britain, France, and Italy all established military bases in the Middle East, but the Germans could not get more help from them except food and daily necessities. Because of the differences in caliber systems, the Germans could only stare at the hoarded British, French, and Italian ammunition and panted.

The African Legion temporarily supplemented a batch of French-style 65mm mountain guns to increase the firepower of the battalion company. The total weight of this gun was only 400 kilograms. The maximum range was as high as 6,500 meters. The Germans in history It was also equipped with the captured artillery and gave it a bkamp; nbp; equipment number. This kind of cannon can reach 18 rounds per minute, and it is used to bombard those fast-moving nomad cavalry. However, because the shells consume very fast, they also increase the logistics supply pressure.

"This war exposed our shortcomings in remote supply. In fact, the performance of the African Army's logistics system has greatly exceeded my expectations." The head of state sat on a beautifully carved Arab high-back chair and took the commander of the African army. The telegram from the ministry threw it on the table in front of him.

"The headquarters can discuss these issues afterwards, but the urgent need to solve them now is to find a way to replenish the frontline capacity as soon as possible, otherwise the African army may really be dragged down in the desert." Looking out over the farmland beyond the train window, thinking about where to find the breakthrough of the problem.

"My head, the British special envoy Sir Fay is waiting outside. He hopes to receive your visit." The door opened and Dizenhofen walked in at a brisk pace.

"Sir Fay? I seem to have heard the name." Xu Jun looked at Weierle.

"My head of state, this jazz is a member of the British House of Lords and one of our many collaborators within the British government."

"He is ours?"

"It can be the same, my head." Weiler scratched his nose.

"Then invite him in, Eric." Xu Jun nodded and ordered.

"Observe, my head." The adjutant nodded respectfully and turned and walked out of the carriage.

amp;nbp;p: Thank you for your consideration, today's update is offered.

It is a pity that there is something happening today and I can't make double changes. I will try to make up for the missing chapters as soon as possible.