Iron Cross

Based on the excessive imbalance of military strength on the southern front, in order to assist Guderian in stabilizing the situation, Marshal Kesselin, the commander-in-chief of the southern front, decided to further strengthen the military strength. The first one to bear the brunt was the aviation force. Under his dispatch, the fighter director who was urgently assigned to the post was added. Rand led an entire wing (the JG3 Udet Wing drawn from the Eastern Front) to the Alamein front to reinforce the 8th Air Force. Major General Mustache personally flew an Fw-190 behind the guidance aircraft.

Just after the plane stopped and pushed open the canopy, before anyone could get off, Garland felt that his whole body was surrounded by scorching air, as if his whole body was suddenly thrown in front of a steel-making furnace, and the wind swept everything away. However, the wind did not bring any coolness to the person's body. Instead, the yellow sand carried by it got into all the gaps unscrupulously. His hair, goggles, and neck were all covered with sand, which made him feel uncomfortable all over and wanted to jump in. Just take a nice bath in the Mediterranean.

"Welcome to Africa, how do you feel?" Guderian, wearing a tropical military uniform and sunglasses on his nose, greeted him with a smile.

After swallowing hard and spitting out the yellow sand in his mouth, Garland opened his mouth in embarrassment: "A barren land, a barren land, what comes into your eyes is nothing but yellow sand or yellow sand. I really don't know what you guys are doing." How to survive."

Guderian laughed loudly: "You have to ask Rommel about this. I have only been here for two weeks, and he has been here for a year and a half..."

"I actually went to see him." Garland jumped out of the cabin and shook hands with Guderian while explaining, "I went to visit him once before leaving. He was hospitalized and in a very bad condition."

"Is he seriously ill?" Guderian was surprised. "He seemed to be in good health when he handed over to me."

"He was crushed by himself." Garland pointed to his head, meaning that Rommel was under too much mental pressure, and then simply told Guderian what he knew about the Canaris conspiracy. "He is in the reserve army. The most relied-upon deputy, Colonel Stauffenberg, who was specially transferred from the Afrika Korps to assist in training and said he would recommend him as chief of staff, was actually an important figure in the conspiracy group. In 1938, he served as the commander of the Halder-Hopner coup attempt. Liaison Officer. As soon as the colonel was arrested, Rommel fell ill."

"Poor Erwin." Guderian responded involuntarily, and then was speechless for a while because he heard Hoppner's name. During the Typhoon Battle, Guderian was the commander of the 2nd Armored Group and Hoppner was the commander of the 4th Armored Group. Seeing that the battle situation was unfavorable, they jointly decided to disobey orders and retreat. Later, they were dismissed by the Führer for this reason. It's just that Guderian was more cautious and made it clear that Hoppner ran away before following him. In a sense, there was a "shared adversity" sentiment between him and Hoppner. He originally wanted to take advantage of it. This time I took the opportunity to serve as the commander of the African Army. Let's see if I can find a suitable opportunity to fish out this old friend. I didn't expect that I would never have the chance again.

"Things have changed..." Guderian sighed, lowering his voice and asked, "What is the Führer's attitude towards Rommel? Will it implicate him?"

"I don't know, there shouldn't be any problem." Garland asked rhetorically, "Rommel was originally the battalion commander of the Führer's guard battalion, and his ability to become marshal was all due to the Führer's cultivation. What is the need and significance for him to oppose the leader? What good will it do to him if the coup succeeds? Who else can use him given his personality?"

Although it was three questions in a row, Guderian nodded to express his agreement with Garland's opinion.

"Actually, the head of state is much smarter than you think. Some people think that he is the commander-in-chief of both the army and the air force. It is nonsense. I dare not comment on the army. I still have a certain say in the air force..." Garland said to Gudry After An left, he gave a brief overview of a series of matters related to jet aircraft selection, aviation armament reorganization, air force personnel adjustments, and the improvement of air defense on the western front. Guderian nodded repeatedly and agreed, "I also found out what you said. Now, since the Führer drove Halder away and promoted Zeitzler to the position of Chief of General Staff, his mood and personality seem to have changed a lot - how should I put it, he is more perfect and wiser, not only can he listen I was advised that he did not attach much importance to the gains and losses of each city and place on the Eastern Front, and he reduced a lot of unreasonable interference in equipment design and specific combat deployment. Before coming to North Africa this time, he clearly told me how the first phase of the war would be carried out. It's up to me to decide. Not only will the base camp not interfere, but it will also provide necessary supplies and help, which was unimaginable before..."

"Maybe it's because he uncovered the treasonous group." Garland thought for a moment and said seriously, "He may have been suspicious of Halder and some of the veteran officers, otherwise he wouldn't have been so stubborn. , if you have determined in advance that one of your subordinates has bad intentions, will you listen to any suggestions he puts forward, whether they are right or wrong? Isn’t it like detonating a latent time bomb?”

"If there are indeed landmines, it would be better to detonate them early. At least the situation is more favorable to us." Guderian changed the subject and asked, "What do you think of the war below?"

"I'm afraid your actions have aroused Montgomery's suspicion. When we came here today, we knocked down a British reconnaissance plane between Tobruk and Matruh Port. When we met him, he was flying from Return to the west. If I were in Montgomery's position, I would be very worried about the current situation." Garland glanced around the airport, "At least the situation here is very wrong. It seems that it will happen soon. It’s like giving up, I don’t believe you came here specifically to greet me today.”

Guderian smiled awkwardly: "You saw it. To be honest, I plan to withdraw in two days. The headquarters is now located at the airport."

"You want to retreat?" Garland was surprised, "Then we still need to come here?"

"The Italians' feint attack lasted for three days and then stopped. They just turned around and asked me for supplies. I was too lazy to pay them any attention, so they stopped as a matter of course." Guderian pointed to the east, "Mr. Montgomery He had already set up his stance, but he was counting on me to hit him."

"Where are the other troops? Where are the people from your staff and operations department?"

"I am the only one left." Lieutenant Colonel Merinzin interjected, "General, please introduce yourself. I am Friedrich Merinzin, the intelligence director of the Afrika Korps. The others retreated a few days ago. Armored troops and anti-tank artillery were concentrated towards Tel Akakir, including Italian paratroopers and our infantry units heading towards Tobruk."

"You left the other Italians in the north?" Garland gasped, "There must be quite a few of them."

"Three divisions, about 40,000 people." Guderian smiled slyly, "I did not abandon them. In my strategy, they will be the last batch of troops to receive the order to retreat - you see, the first to retreat The Italians were the last to retreat, and we Germans were caught in the middle. Isn’t this fair?”

"The Italian leader would go crazy if he knew you were doing this."

"I have been driven crazy by him!"

"This is really..." Garland murmured a few words to himself, giving up the desire to speak for the Italians again, "Let the air force cover your retreat tomorrow?"

"No, quite the opposite... attack!"

"Is there something wrong with my ears?" Garland felt as if his heart was about to jump out of his chest. "You originally had few troops, but you gave up on the Italians, withdrew a group of troops in advance, and still want to attack. Could it be that all your men are... One versus a hundred Superman?"

"The troops I am attacking from the front are only 2 armored battalions, with a total of less than 70 tanks. Without air force cover, I am afraid that they will be beaten to pieces by the British immediately." Guderian rolled his eyes at him, "So I can't do it without you. "

"What? Two armored battalions and 70 tanks dare to charge the enemy. I heard that Montgomery has several armored divisions and more than 1,000 tanks." Garland was completely frightened by Guderian, and he didn't know what to say. He said in a tone of admiration or sarcasm, "Sir, you are truly a man!"

"It's worse than you think. He has 1,500 tanks, including the latest Sherman. His strength far exceeds ours. If we don't attack but turn around and retreat..." Guderian drawled, "Montgomery will immediately see the problem and know that we are exaggerating, and his thousands of tanks will crush us. If I attack and then retreat, he will feel very good, thinking that he has repelled our tentative approach. If we add sufficient and fierce air cover, we can make this tentative attack more deterrent and deceptive, and it will also facilitate our retreat."

"What if we encounter a strong enemy during our attack?" Mei Linjin asked uneasily.

"Before the battle starts, no one knows what will happen in the next second, but you must actively try." Guderian shrugged and said nonchalantly, "But it doesn't matter. You have to believe in my luck. Montgomery is a coward. I'll give him a big scare tomorrow."