Iron Cross

"Ike, I have some sad news for you..." White, the chief of staff of the African Theater, walked into the headquarters and said with a sad face, "Our counterattack plan has been ruined..."

"How is that possible?" Before Eisenhower could speak, Patton, who was also at the headquarters, was the first to jump up. "Why do those bastards in the Joint Chiefs of Staff do this?"

"It's none of the Joint Chiefs' business."

"Is it Marshall?"

"No." White shook his head and shook the telegraph in his hand and reported, "The Joint Chiefs of Staff sent a secret telegram saying that the Royal Navy suffered a disastrous defeat in the North Sea and lost 4 battleships, 8 escort carriers, and 8 cruisers in the North Sea. The main force of the German fleet is now drifting in the Atlantic Ocean. No one knows where they are. As for the Kenya landing battle, the navy currently has insufficient strength and the Royal Navy needs to devote its main force to the battle to defend the Atlantic route. , so it will be postponed for 3-6 months, let us wait patiently.”

"300,000 tons... God! Including those that sank in the Indian Ocean, there should be 600,000 tons, right?" Eisenhower, who had been silent just now, was shocked by the news. He stood up in shock for a long time. Only then did he come back to his senses, "Is it the German fleet and not the Japanese?"

"It's the main force of the German navy. I haven't heard of any Japanese ships."

"Are you sure it's not the Japanese pretending to be a navy?"

"no!"

Eisenhower murmured to himself while reading the telegram: "It shouldn't be. How come the Royal Navy can't even defeat the Germans? It's understandable that the army can't defeat it. The navy is Britain's strength..."

"Whether you believe it or not, this is the fact." White spread his hands and said helplessly, "The country has also informed us that after the batch of goods arrives next week, there may be more variables in subsequent transportation. I hope we can save a little."

A huge transport fleet arrived in Cape Town a week ago, carrying the most urgently needed supplies and equipment in the African theater. The escort carriers were fully equipped with B-25s, B-24s, B-17s, C-47s, etc. Models - They were all originally sent to the UK. The Liberty Wheel and Victory Wheel were filled with all kinds of combat materials, and even included 50 Shermans in the form of spare parts. It was not that the country was too lazy to assemble them. , but plans to fly it to Kenya and then reassemble it - the United States of America is quite good at logistics.

After several days of intense transportation, these tanks have just been assembled and put into Patton's command. Together with the arrival of other arms and supplies, the African theater has finally restored some morale and combat effectiveness. Just when everyone is planning a counterattack, unexpectedly, But a basin of cold water was poured on his head.

"I knew the British were the biggest troublemakers in the world, and they couldn't do anything bad." Barton cursed, his face full of annoyance. There was a dull atmosphere in the headquarters. Eisenhower didn't know who to get angry at, so he could only smile bitterly.

Just when he was about to say a few words to smooth things over, even more unfortunate news came: on the afternoon of February 13, after five days of fighting, the German army captured Addis Ababa, and the Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie was missing. , after several days of security war, the German and Egyptian coalition forces have eliminated all resistance forces in the city. A grand entry ceremony will be held tomorrow (February 17), and Mussolini himself may come. It is said that Germany will move Ethiopia into the next step. Handed over to Italian management.

"Ike, let's send planes to bomb the Germans." Patton was obviously very annoyed. "Now we have a lot of heavy bombers. It would be great to mess up the city entry. We can't let the Germans be too proud, in case they kill Musso." Rini or Guderian himself made a lot of money."

"No, we can't waste transportation capacity and bombs. It's not good for us." Although Eisenhower was furious for a moment, he quickly calmed down. "The telegram was very vague, but I think their underlying meaning was probably It means that shipping may be cut off in the short term. We must immediately rush to transport supplies, increase the workload by two hours a day, and strengthen our own strength at all costs; the plan to guard the northeastern corridor should be abandoned immediately, and the troops should speed up the construction of fortifications on the spot."

"You doubt that the Germans will be here soon?"

"I don't know when they will come, but I feel they will definitely come, maybe this month, maybe next month." Eisenhower forced a wry smile at Patton, "George, you must be mentally prepared for a hard fight. We are not fighting for the British." People, we are defending Kenya for ourselves.”

The day after Marshal Guderian, commander of the Africa Army, commanded troops to occupy Addis Ababa, Marshal Rommel of the Middle East Army was not to be outdone and decisively occupied Tehran.

In the Persian offensive at the end of January, Rommel adopted dazzling tactics. He first divided the entire Middle East Army into two clusters, the north and the south. The north cluster, with the Viking Division as the main force, was deployed between Tabriz and Tehran. On the flank of the logistics line, south of Tehran is the South Road Cluster with the Grossdeutschland Division and the 15th Armored Division as the main force. This deployment made the Red Army’s Persian Army feel very uncomfortable: if the Red Army focused on defending Tehran, the German army would attack Tabriz; if the Red Army focused on defending Tabriz, the German army would attack Tehran; If the troops are evenly distributed, the German North Route Group may face a situation where the supply lines between Tabriz and Tehran are cut off. Although the Middle East Group Army does not have an advantage in strength, it does have air superiority.

The hesitant Persian Army Mezov could only respond with a tit-for-tat strategy, sending reinforcements to Tehran, which had the basis of the 402nd Infantry Division, the 1st Mountain Cavalry Division, the 23rd Cavalry Division and two independent motorized regiments. Two more infantry divisions and one tank brigade were added in an attempt to overtake the Germans at the two main strongholds in the north and south. Unfortunately, this reinforcements encountered the well-prepared Viking Division on the way and was quickly surrounded. Especially the armored brigade was defeated by the 506th Tiger Heavy Equipment Battalion directly under the Middle East Group Army. In order to save these troops, Mezov made a second wrong decision and simultaneously dispatched troops from the direction of Tabriz and Tehran to respond.

Not long after the Red Army troops left Tehran, Pahlavi, who had received instructions from the German army, immediately hinted that the Iranian army was in chaos. When the city was in chaos, German and Italian paratroopers quickly airborne and took control of Tehran's city defenses with lightning speed, and then the German division The tank troops of the 15th Armored Division rushed all the way, fighting from Isfahan to the city of Tehran all day and night. The Red Army troops that had just turned back to rescue Tehran ran into a large number of German troops. With the cooperation of internal and external cooperation, the city of Tehran successfully changed hands. , together with the troops in the Viking Division encirclement, the Red Army lost a total of more than 50,000 people.

Pahlavi, who regained Tehran and got rid of the control of the Soviet Union, was young and energetic. The next day, he announced his joining the Axis Group and declared war on Britain and the Soviet Union. At the same time, he also claimed 1,000 tons of gold for the two countries' brazen invasion during Iran's neutrality period. . Now, except for Tabriz in the north, which is still in Russian hands, the rest of Iran has been liberated. When Pahlavi announced that he would join the Axis, he immediately began to expand the Iranian army. Many military officers who had fled during the British-Soviet joint invasion and were hiding among the people went to Tehran to report. The public voice about revenge became stronger and stronger.

Germany promised to support 10 divisions of British equipment in Iran, on the condition that all crude oil output in Iran and the Abadan refinery would be fully used by Germany, plus 100-year exploration and mining rights in several areas. Pahlavi made a large sum of money. He immediately agreed and agreed to send three divisions to follow Rommel north to fight the Red Army and prepare to recover Tabriz as soon as possible.

"Your Majesty, this is the Tiger tank." After taking Tehran, Rommel received another batch of domestic assistance, including the fully loaded 508th Heavy Armored Battalion. Because he immediately commanded the airborne troops to occupy Tehran and protected the royal family, Pahlavi was very grateful. In addition, he admired Rommel very much. The relationship between the two was very good. Compared with being drained by wine, sex and wealth, Compared with the physically weak and incompetent Faruk I, Rommel also admired the enterprising and youthful Pahlavi more.

"I really want to have such a powerful weapon..." After looking at the Tiger's majestic appearance and experiencing one personally, Pahlavi was deeply fascinated by it. He suddenly turned his head and said to Rommel, "Marshal, I am willing to pay any price to equip us with such a battalion.”

"this……"

"I understand." Pahlavi recalled the harsh conditions of "designated use and designated parking area" when Stalin "aided" a T-34 tank regiment of his. Then he heard that the T-34 faced the Tiger in this battle. In the scene where the latter was killing me like melons and vegetables, he said sincerely, "I understand your difficulty, and I promise to put it under your command after I get it - I have complete confidence in you."

The call back from Berlin came the next day: it agreed to sell the car, and the price of the car was calculated at 600,000 marks a car - which was also the price given to Japan. The personnel sent by Iran to Germany for training must have received Western education and formal military education, have a basic knowledge of vehicle driving or artillery operation, and can speak German or English. The training fees will be paid by Iran. Germany promises that if the personnel are in place and the inspection is passed, the army will be ready within half a year. Berlin does not attach other political conditions. Except for necessary German instructors and liaison officers, Iran will be free to use this armored battalion in the future.

"I will pay 200,000, no, 400,000 marks to train a crew." Pahlavi was very excited. He never dreamed of having such good conditions. Not only did Germany agree to sell it at an ally price, but it also agreed to train personnel, which is even more rare. The only thing is that there are no strings attached - except for Japan, even Italy has not got the Tiger yet. He thought Rommel was doing the work behind his back, so he held the latter's hand and said repeatedly: "Marshal, I will always remember everything you have done for us. No matter what difficulties you encounter in the future, as long as you use it, I and the whole of Iran will do our best.”