Iron Cross

ps: Today is the first day of the Lunar New Year, Shi Zhu wishes all readers and friends a happy New Year! Wish everyone good luck in the Year of the Monkey! In addition, I am not very good at the red envelope system of Qidian. In order to enliven the atmosphere of the book review area, please leave comments enthusiastically. I will mail physical books on history (or military) as prizes to enthusiastic readers until the end of February. Thank you all for your support!

In the combat research room of the Supreme Command in the Berlin base camp, Artillery General Jodel, director of the combat bureau, had locked himself in there for three full days. For three days, except for pacing in the research room and observing the map and sand table, he never took a step outside. The only people who could come into contact with him were the orderlies who delivered meals regularly. No one dared to disturb him. Everyone thought he needed to think in peace, but he knew he was going crazy.

When the head of state shifted the strategic focus to the southern front and launched the "Rolling Stone" plan, he did not have any prior preparation or planning. He only briefly stated the operational intention and direction. After outlining the strategic goals, he handed over the entire matter with both hands. Headquarters. Since then, Yoder has been working on this plan. The early work of deploying troops and completing additional reinforcements went smoothly, but determining the details of the entire operation really stumped him.

The head of state has hinted on several occasions on different occasions: As long as the Rolling Stone Plan is realized, the more than 200,000 troops of Montgomery's Eighth Army are eaten up and the Middle East problem is solved, his and Guderian's military ranks can be moved up. During this period of time, the head of state has dealt with many important people and vacated many positions. The value of another level of promotion will be greatly increased. If this step can be successful, Yodel feels that he will have the power of marshal before the end of the war. The stick is not necessarily a fantasy, but the problem is that the difficulty of implementing the plan is too great, far beyond his initial imagination.

One of the difficulties: 2 armored divisions, 1 motorized infantry division, and 1 paratrooper division (the 7th Aviation Division suffered too many losses after the Crete landing battle and has never recovered. Some paratroopers are regarded as elite infantry They were used in various battlefields, and the remaining troops were reorganized into the 1st Airborne Chasseur Division (which was said to be a division but actually had only 5,000 troops) and sent to the other side from Crete, with a total strength of nearly 60,000 troops, not including The initial task force was a few hundred people.

Difficulty Two: In order to achieve surprise, 60,000 people and corresponding equipment must be sent ashore without the escort of large naval warships. The entire voyage distance exceeds 250 nautical miles - almost twice the distance from Calais, France to the British mainland.

Difficulty level three: To complete this plan within 48 hours, the time can be extended to 96 hours only if it is ensured that the enemy does not have the ability to threaten the first wave of landing troops.

No matter from any point of view, this seems to be an impossible task. You must know that less than 2 months have passed since the British and American Allied Forces tentatively landed in Dieppe. They have more powerful sea and air forces, but the result is still He was beaten into disgrace and had to abandon 6,000 corpses and return in vain, achieving only Zeitzler's meritorious service. Jodl went to Hoffman twice to present the difficulties in person, urging him to change his plan. In order to strengthen his persuasion, he even invited Field Marshal Keitel, Chief of General Staff of the Supreme Command, and General Zeitzler, Chief of Army General Staff, to present the case together. Difficult, but Hoffman obviously couldn't listen to this kind of persuasion, and only repeatedly emphasized: "This is the core strategy and cannot be changed!"

Yodel calmed down and thought about it and found the Führer's strategy very attractive: If this plan can be completed, annihilating the British Eighth Army will not be a problem. At that time, there will be 50,000 African troops under the command of Guderian (purely German troops, the Italians have been beaten by Yoder), and 60,000 landing troops at the back. These two armies can hold together like two large pliers. Clamping Montgomery firmly inside. Although the combined strength of the front and rear forces was less than half of the Eighth Army, Yoder did not think this was a big problem: When the British army fell into the dilemma of being surrounded by front and rear flanks and cut off supply lines, it used 110,000 people to surround 230,000 people. There is a lot to be done, even if the encirclement is not tight, it doesn't matter - he has studied the map, and as long as he firmly holds the two blocking positions, in the unfavorable environment of the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the desert to the south, the British will not be able to escape if they let go. Churchill was not that good at evacuating Dunkirk this time. What's more, once they are in the difficult situation of running out of water and oil in the desert, the British will probably not be able to hold on for a week before they completely collapse.

On the fourth day, Yodel, who had no clue, decided to drag Keitel and Zeitzler to meet the head of state again. The two were not willing to run into trouble again, but they were still shocked when they saw Yodel's haggard face. I had to make a reluctant effort.

The audience recounted the difficulties and their concerns. Hoffman did not get angry, but asked: "What do you think should be done?"

The three of them had discussed it many times before coming, and the consensus was to continue to strengthen Guderian's forces, slowly spend time with the Eighth Army in Tobruk, and then remove the thorn in Malta, and then consider the next move - this is Tactically it is more stable and the deployment is more calm.

"This is impossible!" Hoffman slammed his fist on the table and shouted, "In November, the Americans will be thinking about landing on the coast of northwest Africa. The first choice is probably Morocco. According to your slow consumption, the result will be Gudry An cluster was attacked from both sides by Britain and the United States from the east and west..."

Everyone was startled by Hoffman's angry expression. It seemed that the Führer had not been so angry for a long time. No one knew where the head of state got the news that Britain and the United States would land in Morocco in November, but no one asked curiously about the source of the relevant intelligence. Let's consider this as a premise for the campaign. No one proposed to fight against the British and American landings on the coast of North Africa. This was impossible militarily. The fools who fought against the Allied forces with sea and air superiority far away from the European continent also knew that there would be problems, unless Spain could immediately declare to join the axis.

Morocco is still a colony of Spain and France, and has always been garrisoned by the armies of the two countries. The British and American allies may not destroy Spain's neutral status, but Vichy France and Germany have signed an armistice agreement. Although they can accept German military observers and some The aviation force is stationed in French Morocco, but the profound contradiction between Admiral Darlan, the actual leader of French West Africa, and Marshal Pétain, the head of Vichy France, determines their different political stances and ways of doing things. They had been arguing endlessly about the future of French Morocco. If the German army violated the agreement and entered in a large scale, it would be a political mess - the high command does not have the courage yet.

Zeitzler boldly asked: "Why did the Führer insist on destroying the Eighth Army?"

"This is the British force with the best equipment, the most complete personnel, and the strongest training and combat capabilities. After taking down the Eighth Army, the door to the Middle East will be open for us."

Keitel frowned and asked: "Assuming that we successfully landed and successfully eliminated Montgomery, wouldn't the Allies have landed in Morocco?"

Hoffman turned his head and said: "This is not necessarily true. Once we eliminate Montgomery, we can immediately march to Alexandria and Cairo, and pull out the nails of Britain and the United States in the Middle East - those colonial armies cannot stop us. If I were Churchill, I will give up the landing and transfer our forces to the Arabian Peninsula to save the British Empire’s Middle East colonies, and then the threat of the Moroccan landing will be eliminated.”

Yoder interjected: "The main force of the landing should be the Americans. They will not take chestnuts from the fire for Churchill."

"The Americans will probably not listen to him. Then Churchill will have no choice but to mobilize troops from India and the Far East and then land on the Arabian Peninsula. By the time he comes, we will have already cleared the area near the Suez Canal." Hoffman emphasized, "British and American There are principled differences between the strategic line and the operational direction. Faced with the threat that we are sweeping across the Middle East, no matter which response the British adopt, it will be beneficial to us - they continue to land in Morocco, and our pressure in the Middle East will be reduced; they will land If troops are instead deployed to the Arabian Peninsula, Guderian's threat of being attacked from two sides will be eliminated. You can imagine the strategic significance of controlling the Middle East: firstly, we can control the oil there, and secondly, we can form a southern flank against Russia together with Turkey. Threats can finally cut off the blood supply pipe between Britain and the United States through the Suez Canal and Iran. This is a move that changes the entire pattern of the war, and it is a very crucial move!"

Although Turkey is still a neutral country, none of the three people think that the head of state was wrong: as long as the Third Reich can effectively control the Middle East, Turkey, which is attacked from both sides, will immediately give up its neutrality and join the axis - they were Germany's in the last war. Allies, not to mention that the Turks and the Russians have been mortal enemies for hundreds of years, and as long as Turkey changes its stance, the Russians' southern flank will be completely exposed - not only will they directly feel the edge of Turkey's million-strong army, but in the Caucasus The Grozny oil field in the mountain pass will also be in danger. If the Turks are more courageous and more capable, they only need to advance 500 kilometers from the eastern end of their territory to capture the Baku oil field in one fell swoop.

The three opposing generals fell into deep thought.