Iron Cross

"Let me see your original battle plan." Guderian was the first to break the silence.

Colonel Westphal held a pointer and drew on the map, describing Rommel's general combat ideas and details before leaving.

Guderian frowned: "What is the basis for making this plan? Is there any reliable intelligence source?"

"Yes. We have obtained a relatively detailed and complete map of the British army's defenses." Lieutenant Colonel Mei Linjin handed Guderian a map. "Our artillery hit a jeep that came for reconnaissance on the front line. It was found next to the British major who was driving. "

"Yeah, this cannonball is really a coincidence..."

Hearing that Guderian's tone was not quite right, there seemed to be a hint of sarcasm in it. Lieutenant Colonel Mei Linjin was confused and said, "The destruction of the jeep cannot be faked. All the frontline officers and soldiers saw it. We verified the situation with British prisoners. , this major’s name is Smith, and he is indeed a staff officer at the Eighth Army Headquarters.”

"Alas..." Guderian sighed and said in a joking tone, "You have really spent too much time with Rommel."

Colonel Westphal's face suddenly dropped: "What you said is not funny at all."

Guderian said nonchalantly: "Let me ask you, apart from Rommel, which senior general of the empire often risked his life on the front line to personally observe the enemy's situation during battles? Not to mention the marshal, I am afraid there are none above the rank of major general. It turns out that I am like this too, but I have basically changed this habit.”

"This..." The people in the headquarters looked at each other, as if there was no one else but Rommel to do this. Everyone has always followed this spirit of leading by example, and now it sounds like Guderian has done a great job in this matter. wrong?

"Gentlemen, although I don't have many opportunities to deal with the British, I still met some British during the French campaign." Guderian said with a smile, "Think about the image of the British officers in your mind. They are The most important thing is hierarchy. Why would a major do it himself? Even if he came to do the reconnaissance, would he come out alone? Where would his guards be? "

"Wow..." The expressions of the staff officers in the headquarters changed drastically and they began to whisper. Some people want to ask why the British would send a real major to die, but they think this question is stupid - what is the big deal about sacrificing a major to deliver false information? Who knows what other things happened to this major.

"And..." Guderian shook the map, "Look at this map. It's so new. It's so new that there are no traces on the folds. You can find any old map and compare it. Which one has no leakage? "We are all experienced officers. There is no need to check this kind of thing. You can understand it immediately: because the creases are often in contact with the hands, sweat will inevitably fall on them, especially in the climate of desert combat. Old maps are covered in marks.

"Take a step back... Suppose this is a new map that has just been completed by British reconnaissance personnel. Look at the lines and outlines on it..." Guderian pointed at the map with his hand, "Can you draw it so well?" Is it symmetrical and consistent in thickness? In my impression, the scouts are always in a hurry and nervous state, and there is no ability or need to draw such a detailed picture. "

Lieutenant Colonel Mei Linjin took another look at it carefully, recalling some of his doubts when he first got this map, and said decadently: "I understand what you mean, this is not a reconnaissance map at all, this is clearly a British comparison A carefully concocted fake map that already had a map..."

This sap woke everyone up: the original targeted and thought-provoking strategic deployment was based on false intelligence, and the African Army's passwords and information had been completely mastered by the British. No matter which angle you look at, this battle is unwinnable. All factors point to one path - complete failure!

Now everyone is looking eagerly at Guderian, hoping that the new commander, who has been in office for less than a week, will come up with something. This attitude is just like how everyone looked at Rommel every time the situation was unfavorable in the past two years, expecting him to come up with something. Just like a whim.

"Don't change the password yet." Guderian smiled slyly, "Changing the password will not achieve the effect of paralyzing the opponent. I have communicated with the head of state before coming here, and I will use a better method."

Under the watchful eyes of several major generals in the headquarters, Guderian personally drafted the telegram on the spot and sent it to Berlin using the original telegram code. The message was written very artistically and with the style of a master strategist: We have noticed that the opponent's troop deployment is different and are changing the established combat deployment. The attack originally scheduled for August 31 will be postponed to after September 7. In order to avoid If the British see the flaw, they will choose an opportunity to let the Italians launch a feint attack on the northern front to divert the British's attention. In addition, in view of the shortage of supplies and troops, we hope that the base camp can add more as soon as possible.

Berlin's reply came back in the evening: first, it agreed with Guderian's combat deployment and told him not to worry. If September 7 was too late, it was okay to postpone the launch of the offensive until September 10; second, it told him that due to the The war on the Eastern Front is fierce, and the German army is preparing to launch the battle to capture Stalingrad with all its strength. The main force of the air force is deployed in the Caucasus and has no time to take care of the Mediterranean. It is asked to wait until after December, when the Eastern Front enters the season of ice and snow that is not suitable for combat before considering major operations. Large-scale supply can only be maintained at present. On the afternoon of September 6, two Italian oil tankers will replenish 6,000 tons of gasoline at Tobruk Port, allowing him to arrange the response.

Of course, both of these pieces of information were false information created to fool the British. Guderian had already communicated with Hoffman before leaving. Before the code was completely changed, all the operational plans for the first phase of the African campaign were made by Guderian. Ann made a plan, and Berlin did not care. If Guderian needed to cooperate, the base camp would follow his wishes - anyway, not a single sentence in it would be true, but the overall meaning seemed very realistic. The so-called news of gasoline replenishment was true, but the time did not match. The real time was that the oil tanker docked on the morning of September 3. This was a little trick that Kesselring and Guderian had discussed.

"Gentlemen, I have sent the confusion telegram. Soon the British will understand our combat deployment, but our real combat direction is..." Guderian drew an arrow on the map and patted it heavily. After a moment, "Actually, it's here."

The arrow Guderian drew on the map pointed to Tobruk behind them, and the conference room exploded. If Guderian's deployment was followed, wouldn't all their achievements in the past six months be in vain?

"Gentlemen, if you knew the exact situation of the British on the other side, you would not be surprised by this." When Guderian told his men the actual situation of the British Eighth Army facing them, everyone in the Africa Army Command They couldn't sit still: Montgomery had 230,000 troops, and the number of tanks and aircraft was basically 1,500. However, the African Army had less than 80,000 troops, only 500 tanks (and half of them were Italian Fiat tanks with poor performance), and aircraft There are only 350 of them. The British army not only has three times the strength of the African Army (the African Army has less than 100,000 people in total, excluding the troops left behind, there are less than 80,000 people on the Alamein front, of which 50,000 are Italians), it also has major technical weapons. It also has an overwhelming advantage.

Chief of Staff Colonel Bayerlein immediately cursed and said: "This battle is impossible to fight. The enemy has 3-4 times the advantage in major weapons such as aircraft and tanks, and has 5 times more troops than us." No one pointed out. There was a calculation problem in his words, because Italians were never counted in the African Army's campaign decisions. At most, they could offset the same number of British people - which was often not possible.

Lieutenant Colonel Mei Linjin was very nervous, because it was the responsibility of the Intelligence Division to ascertain the enemy's situation. He had already suffered a loss on the fake map. The information he originally collected was that the Eighth Army had a slight advantage over the African Army, but it was not impossible. He subconsciously asked Guderian: "Sir, is this situation reliable?"

"Reliable. After the head of state arrested Canaris, he reorganized the intelligence agency and unearthed a lot of information." Although Canaris' arrest was still a confidential matter in the country, Guderian was not afraid that the news would spread from the African Army. He said without hesitation, "Because I found that you don't even know that the commander of the Eighth Army has been changed from Auchinleck to Montgomery. This is a problem."

Merlinjin looked embarrassed. The radio listening unit that Marshal Rommel originally relied on was knocked out by the British. Now he, the intelligence director, is almost blind. Intelligence information from Egypt has been coming in one after another these days, but now it seems that that line is obviously fake, and the intelligence agent may have been taken advantage of by the British.