Iron Cross

Guderian initially went to Africa to take office in a complacent mood. He first went to Rome to meet with Mussolini. After the meeting, the Italian Prime Minister had a good impression of this famous armored hero, and greatly appreciated Hoffman's decision to increase investment in the African Army. Together with his son-in-law and Foreign Minister Count Ciano, he gave Guderian He drank a lot of ecstasy, and even hinted in his words that Rommel's marshal title was not worthy of the name and was not as good as Guderian's contribution to the Blitzkrieg, which made the latter very intoxicated.

But this good mood lasted less than three days before it was shattered: when he left Rome, Mussolini patted his chest and promised that the supplies would be shipped out soon. For this promise, he even paid tribute to the Italian leader. A glass full of red wine, but he didn't expect that it had been three days since he arrived at the African Army, and the relevant materials were still backlogged in the warehouse at the port, and there was no action to even load them onto the ship. Guderian had no choice but to bite the bullet and ask his men to find Marshal Kesselring to help communicate. The new commander-in-chief of the Southern Front knew the temper of the Italians and reassured him that he would find a way.

Finally, the day after Marshal Kesselring took action, the Italians were slowly loaded onto the ship and ready to be shipped. Only then did he understand why the head of state arranged for Kesselring to be the commander-in-chief of the southern front, while Guderian only He could be the commander of the Afrika Korps - he really doesn't have Kesselin's ability to maneuver both ways.

The inspection of the troops a few days later made him even more discouraged. He had seen the incompetence and laziness of the Italians on the Eastern Front, and also learned about Rommel's evaluation of Italy in his conversation. His performance was sufficient, but the situation during the on-site inspection was far worse than he imagined - the Italians here were no longer incompetent and lazy, but simply a joke. He heard a lot of jokes ridiculing the Italians in the headquarters. He originally thought they were exaggerations by the staff officers, but unexpectedly they were all true, and even the Italians themselves admitted them without hesitation.

This made him admire Rommel's work. He could not imagine that the Afrika Korps, which relied solely on four undermanned German divisions and carried Italian waste, could achieve such outstanding results. He heard that Rommel had a very bad attitude towards the Italians and got angry at every turn. He originally thought that Rommel had a bad temper, but now the actual situation is here. No one can feel better with the virtues of the Italians. Now he can understand why the Italian leader and Rommel dislike each other. This matter cannot be reconciled at all. He feels that he will soon go down the same path as Rommel.

The first batch of reinforcements scheduled to be transferred to Guderian was the Fourth Armored Division led by Major General Eberbach. This was a new force drawn from Army Group Center and also an old subordinate of Guderian's command in the original Second Armored Group. But we haven’t reached the designated location yet. The people left in the African Army are all Rommel's team. Although they are typical German officers and can support the appointment of the new commander, they admire Rommel's history of leading the African Army to fight a bloody path in the long sand. They were stunned. In contrast, they were not familiar with Guderian's achievements. There are also some people who are Rommel's most trusted confidants and have opinions about Guderian's arrival. They think that he squeezed out Rommel by any means in order to regain the leadership of the head of state and prepared to come to pick peaches. Fortunately, Hoffmann and Kesselring knew the difficulty of Guderian's management. After Rommel left, the veteran Afrika Korps commander General Nilin was also transferred back to the country. Rommel's old partner, Afrika Korps chief of staff Alf Major General Red Goss also returned to China to recuperate due to physical discomfort. Colonel Bayerlein took over the post of Chief of Staff of the Afrika Korps, and the Afrika Korps headquarters was absorbed and merged by Guderian. Now the German African Armored Group is equal to the Afrika Korps, and Guderian directly manages his four divisions. From this point of view, it is understandable that the African Army has some emotions towards Guderian.

This suspicion reached its peak when Guderian held his first military meeting after taking office and when he decisively halted the offensive plan that the Afrika Korps had planned, prepared and basically prepared before Rommel left. The staff team of the entire headquarters made a noise, believing that Guderian's purpose in halting the offensive plan was not simple, but just to show the majesty of his new commander and to flaunt his different combat style from Rommel. The commanders of the two main armored divisions, Major General Georg von Bismarck, commander of the 21st Armored Division, and Lieutenant General Gustav von Walster, commander of the 15th Armored Division, were also skeptical, but their styles were cautious and they did not want to He directly contradicted the commander who had only been in office for a few days.

Guderian did not choose to argue. He waited patiently for them to finish all their complaints, and finally used his trump card. He said: "Actually, the reason why I stopped the attack on El Alamein is very simple. Your offensive plan and deployment policy have been changed." The British on the other side knew it, because the British had our telegraph code."

"This is impossible." Lieutenant Colonel Friedrich von Meringen, the chief of intelligence, was the first to jump up.

"Impossible?" Guderian shrugged, "Gentlemen, we can make a good bet."

Rommel's confidant, Colonel Siegfeld Westphal, chief of operations, asked sullenly: "How do you want to fight?"

Guderian was very familiar with tactical deception. He used the original telegraph code to send a telegram to Berlin, which meant: "After aircraft reconnaissance, it was found that the British troops currently deployed in the north are relatively weak, and the south is more dense. "In order to strengthen the breakthrough force, it is recommended to postpone the attack for a few days to allow the Afrika Korps sufficient time to change their deployment." Then regardless of Berlin's reply, the Italian infantry units in the south (mainly the Brescia Division) were ordered using the same telegram code. Switched with the German 164th Light Division on the northernmost flank to strengthen the offensive power. The Italians originally resisted Guderian's order asking them to adjust their deployment, but after hearing the news that the British army in the north was empty, and that the main force of the Eighth Army was in the south and needed to carry out the main offensive mission, they immediately made arrangements according to this request.

The results of the aircraft reconnaissance in the evening of the next day supported Guderian's view. The British Eighth Army on the opposite side was making targeted adjustments. An armored brigade was transferred from the center to strengthen the southern flank. Even so, Montgomery was still unwilling to take risks, and gradually transferred the strength of the two Australian infantry brigades in the rear to the center for mobile support. Anyway, the Eighth Army had enough troops. What if the Germans jumped over the wall in a hurry?

After the investigation results came out, the headquarters was silent. No one regarded this as a coincidence. Everyone understood that Guderian's guess was correct. Everyone broke out in a cold sweat involuntarily - if they attacked according to the original plan, they would be in trouble. After crashing into the firepower network prepared by the British, Guderian's authority was immediately established.

The atmosphere at the military meeting the next night was much better. Guderian explained the inside story: "Gentlemen, this is not a baseless guess. Before I left, the head of state had just cracked the treasonous group in Berlin and captured A large group of conspirators, many of whom are marshals and generals in high positions, have long had a lot of our information, and these telegram codes were provided to the British by traitors."

When Guderian named the list of people involved one by one, everyone was stunned. The effect was no less than that of a 500-kilogram aerial bomb dropped on the scene. Everyone thought sadly: They fought bloody battles to defend the empire in North Africa, far away from home. A few shameless big shots in Berlin betrayed them all in the blink of an eye for their own pitiful selfish interests - this was a stab in the back against the African Army. ! In fact, Guderian was in a bad mood when he mentioned these names, because there were many of his old colleagues and old superiors, and he didn't understand how they got to this point.

Chief of Staff Colonel Bayerlein's face turned pale: "What to do now? If the situation is true, it means that the British have dug a trap in front and are waiting for us. The risk of temporarily changing the combat plan is not small. As long as we If there is any other move, the British will know that we have noticed their trick and pounce quickly, and they know all the weaknesses of our existing deployment."

The combat meeting fell into a brief silence.