Iron Cross

ps: I am on a business trip today, so the second update will probably be late, sorry...

On January 21, 1943, in the Allied Escort Command Headquarters in Mombasa, Kenya, U.S. Army Lieutenant General Dwight David Eisenhower, the top commander of the Allied African Theater, listened to comprehensive reports from all aspects with a sad face.

There is no doubt that Operation Torch was a complete failure. The losses were more than ten times greater than the Dieppe landing battle in August last year, which was recognized as tragic. Although this outcome basically had nothing to do with his command, it still made him feel extremely sad. : Dozens of warships, more than 100 aircraft, more than 200 medium and large transport ships, more than 10,000 naval officers and soldiers, more than 40,000 army troops, and the equipment of 4 entire divisions were sent without even seeing a single German. into the bottom of the sea or become a trophy for the enemy. His whole heart seemed to be breaking as one death notice after another kept coming out of the typewriter.

This was the most disastrous defeat the United States had suffered since the Pearl Harbor incident. Even in the Battle of Bataan, which shocked the United States, there were only more than 10,000 US soldier casualties and more than 15,000 prisoners (although most of these prisoners of war later died). Coupled with the loss of nearly 20,000 naval officers and soldiers (the fleet and the Guadalcanal garrison) in the recent Battle of the South Solomon Sea, in just 3 months, the combined fleet actually caused more than 70,000 casualties to our side. In his heart, It has become the most vicious enemy of the United States.

He knew that there were strong calls in the country for President Roosevelt to change the policy of "Europe first, Asia later". Although he agreed with the president's views rationally, in the face of such a bloody situation, he was emotionally more willing to stay with ordinary soldiers and people. Same position - the mood of the soldiers is easy to understand. One is anger, the other is frustration. The war is by no means as easy as they imagined.

He couldn't help but sigh. It has been 13 months since the United States entered the world war, but despite its huge potential and sufficient supplies, the military, especially the army, is not ready for a global war at all. The ones that can be pulled out to fight now are the basic troops that were trained and cultivated before the war. He watched them grow up. They are the few and only outstanding troops in the United States. Although the domestic army has expanded to more than 3 million in one breath, many of them are still in the rush to train new recruits. The proportion of veterans in them is less than 10%, and the officers are also rookies with little practical experience. After losing these basic troops - he really I can't imagine the consequences of pulling the newly established troops out to fight.

He clearly realized that this kind of loss was not worth mentioning to any country among the United Kingdom, Germany, and the Soviet Union. Which one did not suffer hundreds of thousands or even millions of losses? The British lost 300,000 horses in the North African campaign alone, and the 100,000 horses on the battlefield in the Middle East were probably not saved. The Russians lost 6 million troops, if not 7 million. For Stalin, 70,000 to 80,000 troops were just a week's loss. . Even the Germans, who have been advancing vigorously, still failed in the Battle of Moscow? He estimated that Germany had lost at least 1 million so far—in fact, since the beginning of the Soviet-German war, Germany's casualties on all fronts had exceeded 1.2 million.

But the British, Germans, and Soviets could bear these losses without caring, but the United States could not - there were too few experienced soldiers and officers. Whatever they were afraid of, they got what they wanted. The number of casualties in a single battle in the United States rose from a few thousand to 12,000, and suddenly now it has reached 50,000 in one go. But their current opponents are world-famous generals who have been famous since the beginning of the Polish campaign - Guderian, Rommel, Kesselin, which one is not a famous figure?

If he had a choice, Eisenhower would now like to bring these troops back to the United States or the United Kingdom, or even return to South Africa if it fails, instead of hiding in Kenya like this, not knowing what he can do - catch and destroy them in the mobile fleet After the fleet returned empty-handed from the Mozambique Strait, everyone gave up any hope for sea transportation, because no one knew where the damn Japanese fleet would appear from. Without the help provided by the fleet, where would he find enough supplies and support? To build a defense line in East Africa? He didn't think that digging trenches in the style of World War I could stop the German armored forces - what's even more tragic is that now even barbed wire and mines are not enough!

"Sir, a ship came into the port today - it came from Madagascar along the coastline secretly, and no Japanese were encountered on the way."

"What brave men." Eisenhower sighed. "What's on the ship?"

"Some flour, rum, olive oil, woolen coats... Oh, and a little gasoline - about 1,000 barrels. He said the Madagascar defenders asked him to bring it to us."

"Very good, very good." He was very happy, "Buy them all, you can give me a little more money."

"Well..." the logistics officer said in embarrassment, "We don't have the budget for this, and apart from gasoline, there is no shortage of other things."

"We need supplies, and we must not let go of anything. Who knows when we will be able to resume normal navigation." He explained patiently, "Gasoline is our most urgently needed supply - just for the sake of them taking risks to help transport gasoline. All should be given reasonable remuneration.”

He was not being hypocritical; this was a real need. Soldiers must obey orders first. The Torch Plan failed, but the war continued. The title of commander of the African Theater sounded impressive, but he knew how heavy the burden on his shoulders was. President Roosevelt and General Marshall gave him clear instructions to do everything possible to build a reliable line of defense in East Africa to preserve the Allied counterattack. He carefully considered it for two days and repeatedly communicated with his subordinates and held meetings several times. Everyone felt that this task was difficult to complete.

What's more terrible is that the African Theater is also responsible for saving those soldiers who retreated from the front. They include British and American officers and soldiers who landed on the beach in the Horn of Africa, including British, Australian and New Zealand officers and soldiers who retreated from Cairo and Aswan, including the remnants of the defeated soldiers who retreated from Sudan, Eritrea and other places. What's worse, they don't have a strong organization, sufficient logistics, and even don't have many vehicles available. The number of such troops was 20,000 at the beginning, and then 40,000. Finally, the total of all aspects was found to have exceeded 60,000.

In theory, these troops were under the control of the Allied African Theater Command, but apart from being able to roughly figure out their location on the map and contact them by telegraph, he was powerless to do anything about their other actions.

If these were strong and powerful troops with fighting will and sufficient combat supplies, he would not hesitate to lead the other three divisions in his hands to launch a counterattack - unfortunately, these more than 60,000 people had lost their fighting spirit and abandoned their baggage, and were a critically ill patient who was panting and in urgent need of rescue. What he had to do now was not to counterattack, but to rack his brains to save these troops as soon as possible. After painful thinking, Eisenhower decided to let all these troops retreat to Kenya - trying to stop the German army here, Sudan, Ethiopia, and Somalia had to be abandoned.

Churchill gave a long and long explanation of his reasons for disagreeing with such an arrangement, but President Roosevelt agreed without hesitation. Marshall hinted that he could exercise the authority of the highest commander of the African theater. The usual "good guy Ike" immediately understood and decisively issued an order. All troops expressed their support and obedience, and only hoped that Mombasa would provide help. London finally agreed with a pinch of the nose.

At the same time, the German army made rapid progress. After replenishing logistical supplies, settling the rear, and collecting enough trains, Guderian led 3 armored divisions and 2 Egyptian infantry divisions to the south. When Ramsden retreated, there was an agreement with Germany not to attack for 10 days. This agreement was of course observed, but Ramsden did not dare to pin all his hopes on the German army's trustworthiness, and he would not stay in Aswan foolishly. The Australian and New Zealand coalition forces found all the ships and cars that could be collected in Aswan and retreated southward regardless of everything.

Although Admiral Alexander's behavior made people feel particularly shameless, it must be said that the decision to retreat in advance was very wise. The more than 10,000 troops under his command easily grabbed enough ships to go south along the Nile River, while Ramsden took a lot of time and effort to do the same thing. When the last New Zealand soldier boarded the ship and left Aswan, Guderian's vanguard was less than 15 kilometers away from Aswan Airport.

Although General Ted of the Royal Air Force was not dismissed like Alexander, he was relentlessly reprimanded by London, forcing him to pull himself together to deal with the current situation. He planned to fly to Cosmos after collecting gasoline from all the planes in the direction of Aswan, but the final result was a headache. Not only were there many planes but little fuel, but the flight distance exceeded 900 kilometers. In the end, those short-legged Spitfires, Hurricanes and other short-range fighters had no choice but to give up - giving the fuel to planes that needed it more.

Since the Australian and New Zealand divisions only had a few infantry weapons with them, and now they were so poor that even grenades and mortars were considered high-end firepower, the Egyptians ignored them when they negotiated with them. After Egypt abolished all Anglo-Egyptian agreements, the Egyptian army could theoretically use force, but the foundation accumulated by the British Empire over the years was still there, and the Egyptian commander did not want to make a big deal, so he just turned a blind eye.

After hitting a wall, the poor British could not even find enough explosives to destroy these planes, and they were reluctant to use gasoline explosions. The final solution to the problem was ridiculous. Under the matchmaking of local municipal officials, the Egyptian side secretly provided several boats and a dozen trucks to Ramsden, while the British army pretended to retreat in a hurry, allowing the Egyptians to successfully take over the airport and the more than 20 Spitfires and Hurricanes that were stranded. Both sides believed that they had made a good deal.

When the German reconnaissance troops rushed into the airport, on one side were cheering Egyptian soldiers, and on the other side were the British Desert Air Force that had just left overhead. There were less than 100 planes left.