Iron Cross

"How many troops does he want?"

"At least 5 armored divisions."

When he opened his mouth, there were 5 more armored divisions! Attlee thought to himself: Do you really think that the armored division is just a cabbage and can be used however you want? There are now only 5 armored divisions left in the British Empire (including the Guards, 6th, 9th, 11th and 42nd Armored Divisions). Among them, the 6th Armored Division was taken to North Africa and is still in Kenya. Fortunately At the beginning, the Americans sent an armored division and included it in the rapid column. Otherwise, this division would have gone to the Horn of Africa with Cunningham. Now it would have been annihilated, and not even 5 armored divisions could be assembled.

Attlee refused painfully: "Tell him that there is no local force to support him, and even if there are armored divisions now, they can't transport it."

Brooke added: "Is the plan to organize the 79th Armored Division ahead of schedule?" According to the original plan, the division would start training in April and be composed of personnel drawn from the Royal Engineers and Guards Armored Forces. However, there is currently a shortage of troops and an urgent need for new personnel. of troops.

"The strength of one 79th Armored Division alone is not enough." Churchill said, "Consider keeping the reserve forces of the 1st, 7th and 10th Armored Divisions in the country, and also transfer some personnel from domestic infantry divisions to restore the 1st Armored Division. Let’s organize the division.”

"Where's the equipment?"

"Detain the tanks that were originally intended for the Russians and let the Americans fill the gap. In addition, stop producing old tanks. Stop the Crusaders, Valentines, and Matildas, and focus on Cromwell and Churchill tanks," Churchill said mockingly, "Although I said that the Churchill tank is probably the worst Churchill."

"agree."

"Agree." The cabinet's voice was now unanimous.

"I heard that your improved 17-pound tank gun has good performance?"

"The performance of the gun is good, but there is no suitable hull. Experts tried to install a large turret with a 17-pound gun on the Cromwell cruise tank. It was very difficult. They went through extensive modifications such as extending the hull and expanding the width of the fighting room. "We just successfully built one a few days ago, the Army No. A30 (Challenger tank). It has many problems and is very imperfect. It will take at least 6 months to enter the mature and stable stage," Brooke said with a bitter look on his face. Some people suggested that it be developed based on the body of the American M4 Sherman tank. Its changes would be smaller than those of the Cromwell. However, there were many objections - the main reason was that the M4 armor was too weak, and even if it was produced, it would be an offensive and defensive weapon. Weak freak."

"We can't control that much anymore. The Americans are also researching new tanks." Churchill made the final decision. "Any car body can be tried. Now we need to find something that can deal with the Tiger first, and then in the second step we will discuss how to maximize the effectiveness of the tank." Protect yourself."

"Okay, then I will also establish this project." Brooke asked, "As for the support requested by General Wilson?"

"We can only allocate a group of aircraft from India to him. I'm afraid the army's strength will not be enough. Of course, we can't just sit idly by." Churchill turned his head and asked Eden in doubt, "Shouldn't the Russians send 150,000 troops to support him? ?The coordination with Stalin has not been completed yet?”

"It's done. Stalin promised to draw 100,000 troops from the Caucasus and 50,000 troops from the Central Asian reserve army." Originally, Stalin only planned to draw 50,000 troops from the Caucasus and 100,000 troops from Central Asia, but Ai, who has been dealing with the Russians for a long time, Deng knew very well what the Red Army's so-called reserve troops were, and he hurriedly asked the other side to draw out the main troops. In the end, it was 100,000 from the Caucasus and 50,000 from Central Asia. Even so, Eden still added uneasily in the end: "You can't place too high hopes on the Russian troops. Even if they enter on a large scale, they will only be in northern Persia. Now the Germans are focusing on the south, and the primary target is the oil fields." ”

"It exploded... it all exploded." Churchill gritted his teeth and slapped the table. "This crude oil cannot be left to the Germans."

"It's easy to blow it up. What will we do if we have no source of crude oil in the future?" Before the war, Britain had three important sources of oil, one was the Iraqi oil field group, the other was the Persian oil field group, and the third was the Borneo oil field group. As the war progresses, two of the three oil field groups have fallen into the hands of the Axis, and the third seems to be unsustainable. Britain, which has a global maritime territory to take care of, has an annual oil demand of more than 12 million tons. In an era when North Sea oil fields had not yet developed oil, the British Isles' crude oil supply was entirely imported. Germany also has the technology to turn coal into oil, and Great Britain has nothing but its own reserves of 3 million tons - and this reserve is only enough for the British for three months.

"What else can we do? It doesn't matter what the Americans want!" Churchill was furious. "Tell the Americans that we need a large amount of refined oil. The quantity is up to them. If the British Empire cannot survive, everyone will be finished."

Everyone looked at each other. The Prime Minister has now fully carried out his rogue role. He originally only imported oil, but now it is better to directly ask the Americans to provide refined oil - even refining it will save trouble.

In the evening, the door of the Congress hall was closed tightly. Facing the crowd of members in the audience, Churchill braced himself and introduced the general situation of the war in North Africa and the Middle East. Now that the German leaflets had made it so clear, he simply No longer hiding anything, he described the situation in detail, even more seriously than it actually was. In the end, he still emphasized his determination to resist to the end.

Other cabinet members, including Attlee, Eden, Brooke and others, sat aside and looked at Churchill with worried eyes. In just a few minutes, everyone was on pins and needles and restless.

The congressmen quickly fired: "Mr. Prime Minister, is Lieutenant General Montgomery's request for reinforcements from five armored divisions true?"

"This...is true."

"Did you or another minister refuse?"

"It's me." Churchill followed, "This is also a unanimous decision of the cabinet. We believe that the troops he has are sufficient. In fact, the Eighth Army has twice the enemy's troops, and its main equipment, including tanks and aircraft, is larger than the enemy's." There are more enemies.”

"So, you admit that you have the strength of five armored divisions in your hands, but you think he has enough troops and refuse to allocate them to him?"

"I would like to emphasize one more point. North Africa is only a part of our global strategy. It is impossible for me to give him all the troops that can be sent out. The strength of the Eighth Army is completely sufficient, and it even has three times the strength. Isn't the German Afrika Korps exactly the same? Are you surrounded by us in Tobruk?"

"Then the enemy sent reinforcements, landed at Matruh, and took our retreat?"

"The battlefield situation is changing rapidly, and frontline commanders should be prepared to respond to changes in the enemy's situation."

"Which general, Montgomery or Alexander, do you think should bear more responsibility?"

"We are still analyzing and reviewing the battle process..." Churchill used to want to blame Montgomery, but now he feels that Alexander cannot escape the blame anyway, so he will not judge him anymore and simply postpone it first.

"Let's go back to the topic of armored divisions." Another congressman stood up and asked, "Although we have a large number of tanks, can the quality be comparable to that of the enemy? I heard that the Allies so far have no tanks that can match the enemy's. Tiger tank."

"...What determines the victory of a war is justice and strength, not one or two technical weapons."

"Is it possible to think that Britain is inferior to Germany in tank development?"

"Well... that's right." Churchill said, "The Germans are a traditional continental country. It's normal for their army weapons to be stronger than ours, just like our navy is infinitely stronger than theirs."

"Since you know that the German Army is stronger than ours in terms of combat effectiveness and weapons, and the process of Dunkirk and the Battle of France also proved this, why do you still insist that Montgomery's troops are sufficient? London's judgment is more accurate than that of the front-line generals. "?"

Churchill couldn't help but sweat broke out on his forehead: "This... this question is difficult to answer and cannot be generalized."

"Under the current situation in the Middle East, how much more support do you think we need to send?"

"This is a military secret, so I have no comment."

"Is it true that General Alexander abandoned his troops and escaped without authorization?"

"This is not true. This is a wanton slander and rumor made by the enemy."

"Then how do you explain this photo?" Another congressman stood up, waving a leaflet in his hand, "Everyone has seen it, or do you think it is a forgery?"

Of course, Churchill did not dare to deny it directly, and only said hesitantly: "There are some misunderstandings among the frontline troops."

"What kind of misunderstanding can develop to such a situation? Are there many ulterior things hidden behind this misunderstanding? Has the frontline commander lost control of the troops?"

Attlee knew that he could no longer let Churchill fight alone, otherwise he would have to be ousted by the excited MPs today - although the Labor Party and the Conservative Party have now formed a unanimous cabinet based on the needs of the war, this does not mean that the Prime Minister cannot be changed. He stood up and rescued Churchill in time: "The cabinet has just met and decided to remove General Alexander from his post and let him return to the country for investigation. The frontline troops will be led by Lumsden. At present, the British and American Allied Forces have agreed, General Eisenhower of the United States serves as the supreme commander of the African theater and has full command of all troops currently in Africa.”

After Churchill's full defense and pleading, and even cabinet members such as Attlee and Eden took the initiative to help him bear part of the responsibility, he finally passed the danger. The MPs did not initiate a no-confidence motion, but made many demands, including heavy Reorganizing the army, shrinking defense lines, developing more powerful weapons, and requesting more support from the United States—none of this is easy.

As soon as he walked out of the venue, Churchill didn't even have time to communicate with other members about the follow-up work. The frowning adjutant handed over the latest battle report: "...the transport fleet returning to South Africa was intercepted by the Japanese fleet in the Mozambique Strait. The aircraft carrier Hundred Eyes, the USS New York, The battleship Texas and other warships were sunk, more than half of the transport fleet was lost, and one enemy aircraft carrier was damaged. The enemy seemed to have the intention of attacking Madagascar or South Africa. "