Iron Cross

In the evening when Alexander ran away, Guderian sent a special envoy under a white flag into the chaotic city of Cairo, which brought a huge impact to Lumsden and others: at 5 p.m., the Canal Army commanded by Marshal Rommel It has rushed into Lebanon and Syria, giving full play to the Desert Fox's ability to run thousands of miles and strike with lightning speed. Two armored divisions under its command opened fire from left to right. The Grossdeutschland Division occupied Beirut, and the Viking Division occupied Damascus. The British army and the Free French were there. The resistance force was negligible, with a total of less than 5,000 people. They were no match for the elite German troops. They were beaten to the point of abandoning their armor after three strikes, five divided by two, and many people chose to surrender. Some of the remaining soldiers were defeated and retreated south. into Transjordan—but Ramsden knew they were just hanging on.

Only then did he understand why the German army had only besieged the northern part of Cairo in recent days and had not launched an offensive. This was because the German army had only deployed one 20th Motorized Infantry Division in Cairo, and the strength was very insufficient. There were still many, and the scene was supported by a bluff force composed entirely of newly liberated Italian prisoners. However, now that three armored divisions of the African Army under the command of Guderian have arrived, the weakness of the German army's insufficient strength has been overcome.

Earlier, he received news of the fall of Cyprus Island. There were less than 2 companies of British troops on the island, which was no match for the German and Italian fleets and landing forces - now Germany had an absolute advantage in the Middle East.

Special told Ramsden with a relaxed and cheerful expression: Germany's complete victory in the Middle East is just around the corner, and the surrendered officers and soldiers of the Eighth Group have also been properly accommodated - they are taking a transport ship to the Italian prisoner of war camp in Tobruk Port. He brought He received a personal letter from General Guderian, hoping that Lumsden could follow Lieutenant General Montgomery and lead the British army in Cairo to surrender.

Lumsden did not directly reject the special envoy's request, but simply made three counter-requests: "First, give him 48 hours of internal consideration and discussion time; second, during this period, the two sides ceased fire and the German army was not allowed to attack in any way. Cairo; thirdly, there are now a large number of British wounded in various hospitals in Cairo, and we hope they can be properly accommodated in the future.”

The special envoy agreed with the above three points and proposed that the ceasefire take effect at midnight tonight - this would also give Ramsden more time to consider, but he also guaranteed that the German troops would not launch any offensive between now and zero o'clock Action - unless forced to fight back due to attack.

After the German envoy left, both Mosshead and Freiberg looked at Ramsden nervously. Unexpectedly, they did not lose their temper this time. They only frowned and asked in an uncertain tone: "Are you considering surrendering? Don't you want to hold on to the end?"

Lumsden shook his head firmly.

"Then continue the fight? But where is the way out? You just promised the Egyptians not to engage in large-scale fighting in Cairo."

Ramsden shook his head too.

The two of them were confused by his attitude: neither fight nor surrender, is there any other way out? The breakout route was rejected by Ramsden just this morning.

"Do you dare to fight north?"

"To the north?" The two were shocked.

"Go north." Ramsden pointed to the map and said, "Just now the special envoy proudly announced that they were making smooth progress in the direction of Syria, Lebanon, and Jerusalem, with multiple routes opening up. He also let slip that they were reorganizing the Italian prisoners. Now, I think this might not be our opportunity. We now have two divisions, at least one of which is an armored division.”

"You mean to hit the port?"

"Let's outflank Rommel's retreat."

"It's too late..." Mosshead sighed, "Rommel has at least one German division in the north of Cairo, and there are probably 1-2 Italian divisions. If we leave one division to defend the city, it will be very difficult to dispatch just one division. But if all two divisions are dispatched and we leave the city with our front foot, the Egyptians will be able to bring in Guderi from the south. By then, we will be surrounded by enemies from both sides before we can capture the port. "

Freiberg said bitterly: "If Alexander, that bastard, had not allowed more than 30,000 people to retreat in the past two days, we now have every chance to retake the port and block Rommel's retreat."

Lumsden sighed: "What a great opportunity. We still have a chance to make a comeback."

"It can't be overturned." Mosshead shook his head. "Even if those 30,000 people don't leave, what can we do if we take back the port? The German army will counterattack soon. They have more people than us and control the sea. They can completely By constantly mobilizing troops, we will inevitably fail in the end—the difference is that we can delay the failure for a long time.”

"This is not necessarily true. If the 10th Army presses forward, it can join forces with us." But Ramsden felt lack of confidence when he said this - the main force of the 10th Army is still in Persia, which is at least 1,500 meters away from Egypt. Kilometers, by the time they were mobilized, the Egyptian officers and soldiers would have been killed long ago. After all, the key to the problem is that Egypt is the gateway to the Middle East and the key hub of the British Empire in the region. Once the enemy opens this portal, no other force can resist their attack.

"Then use the ceasefire period to buy some time for the friendly forces... There is no need to count on Alexander's side, but I hope that the garrison forces in the direction of Mosul and Basra will have the opportunity to blow up the oil fields."

"After this, why do you still worry about the oil fields? That is what the 10th Army should consider. We can just think of our own way out."

"No!" Ramsden said resolutely, "We are a whole, and we should not be divided into yours and mine; let alone Great Britain, the Dominions, and the colonies. If we always adhere to the policy of differentiated treatment, we will end up with The members of the empire are at odds with the mainland, and this war will definitely be unwinnable.”

The other two sighed and said nothing more: Alexander's behavior really broke their hearts. Fortunately, the British Empire still had senior officers like Montgomery and Ramsden. If they were like Alexander, why would they fight in the future? Wouldn’t it be better for each autonomous region to take care of itself? Why bother to come to Europe and take a trip through these murky waters?

After the German army occupied Alexandria and eliminated Cunningham's rapid column, the instruction to blow up the oil field was directly issued by London to the Middle East Theater and ordered the 10th Army to execute it. However, the order must be issued by Alexander on an ad hoc basis in the name of the commander of the Middle East Theater. Before Alexander ran away, he had asked the 10th Army to make all preparations for destruction and was only waiting for the final order. However, due to the wide distribution of oil fields and numerous facilities, the British never thought that one day they would blow up these hard-working constructions with their own hands. The facilities were built, so there was no preparation at all before the war. Now they are still hurriedly ordering the engineering troops to install explosives and lay out the overall destruction plan.

It was not until the afternoon of the 26th that the 10th Group Army telegraphed to the headquarters that the overall destruction work was not yet fully ready and everything would take time. Lumsden was anxious and asked how long it would take. Half an hour later, he got a reply that it would take at least 5-7 days. At first, Ramsden thought that the Germans would at least give him this time, thinking that it would be too late to order the bombing of the oil fields after the fall of Cairo. Unexpectedly, the Germans did not come to open Cairo at all. Instead, they first pointed their troops in the direction of Iraq. It disrupted his plan.

After occupying Beirut and Damascus, the German troops are still 700 kilometers away from Mosul in a straight line and the railway mileage is less than 1,000 kilometers. They are already in a very dangerous situation. Although Basra in the south is farther away from the German threat, Ramsden It is conceivable that they are also the next target of the enemy's urgent attack.

"On the one hand, I have to make time to blow up the oil fields, and on the other hand, I have to buy time for General Wilson to adjust the deployment of the 10th Army - his troops are deployed in twos and threes in an area 1,000 kilometers long and more than 700 kilometers wide, which is inappropriate. Contraction and adjustment will only allow the Germans to defeat them one by one. If Guderian's troops were to overwhelm them all at once, I'm afraid he would not be able to bear it immediately.

"Then how do you finally decide to reply to the Germans? Now you can only delay it for 2 days."

Lumsden smiled and said: "I have already thought about the answer: The British Empire respects Egypt's independence and autonomy. In view of the importance of Cairo's geographical location and historical value, our army has decided to withdraw from Cairo and Egypt and retreat southward into Ethiopia. No. If the Germans want to fight against the Germans, they can fight with us once in Ethiopia.”

"Is this okay?" Mosshead almost laughed. "How stupid do the Germans have to be to agree to this condition?"

"They will definitely not agree to such conditions."

"If you don't agree, they will raise objections. We can also make revisions and considerations - this is the best way to delay." Lumsden said with a smile, "If you want to delay time, you can't just say something, at least to Germany. When people think about it, they feel that we are indeed considering it, but the internal opinions are very different and the asking price is relatively high. "

"Then it can only take two days. What will happen next?"

"Give the Germans a little more sweetness." Ramsden took a look, "Give the Germans the three defense strongholds outside the city in the north and the airport in the south, and withdraw the troops back to the city to defend."

"Is this okay?"

"Why not? You can't hold it in a fight anyway. Besides, the plane has already escaped. Why do you need an airport? Is it left open for the officers to escape?"

"What if the Germans don't agree?"

"I have expressed our sincerity... The Germans must also show some sincerity." Lumsden said with a smile, "The Germans will not force it. They are now paying great attention to their popular support and reputation in Egypt. They are almost No bombers were dispatched to attack the Cairo target, and there was not even artillery fire. This fully shows that they do not want to fight - this is their weakness and the only thing we can exploit. "

The two men admired Lumsden's wit and immediately rushed back to their troops to deploy, preparing to delay as much time as possible.