Bismarck

Especially Zeppelin, who had just led the air strikes on Rashid Airport, Damanhur Airport and Tanta Airport, simply refueled his Edelweiss BF-109 fighter and then attacked again with a fighter squadron!

You know, the British have now begun to organize a counterattack!

It has been more than half an hour since the air raid on the airport, which is enough time for her to refill the tank!

This is the third wave of fighter jets, and also the one under the most pressure!

Look at the officers and soldiers in the cockpit: his wingman Marseille, Bar and his wingman Buckhorn, Grislavsky and Novotny who led the high-altitude cover squadron, and the leader of the GR186's tail-end pilots, and now the rising star Graf who is starting to catch up...

"This kind of aerial combat is really exciting!"

"Also, in this kind of air battle, let me command the entire battlefield fleet!"

After licking his lips slightly, Zeppelin put on his flying hood and jumped towards the cockpit of the Edelweiss fighter plane in two or three steps...

"Colonel Zeppelin, the commander of the GR-186 fighter wing, is here! If there is no one with a higher rank than me, then I will take over the command of the air combat now!!"

With a cold tone and a fiery fighting spirit, she and her 28 carrier-based fighters plunged into the chaotic sky from an altitude of 6,000 meters! !

Just like a hot steel knife cutting through butter...

---

At the British headquarters,

Admiral Arthur Tedder and Lieutenant General Litchi looked at each other, both of them were troubled by the battlefield...

Although Churchill, with his sensitivity to power struggles, immediately coordinated the command and cooperation between the two men of unequal ranks when Auchinleck was dismissed, no one had a good solution in the face of a battle that was almost a complete defeat...

The air combat battlefield is extremely bad...

Although the British still had nearly 600 aircraft available for dispatch by mobilizing troops from the Middle East, in order to capture El Alamein and Alexandria as soon as possible, the aircraft mobilized by the British Army were mainly bombers and heavy fighters. If the Hurricanes were not counted, there were only 150 fighters! Although the German side only had a total of more than 300 aircraft even with Matruh Airport, it had more than 230 fighters!

Moreover, since Rashid Airport, Damanhur Airport and Tanta Airport are not available now, the other airports are more than 150 kilometers away from the battlefield! The British aircraft are at an absolute disadvantage in terms of combat efficiency compared to the nearby Zeppelin aircraft carrier and Deba Airport!

Not to mention, under the command of a certain early warning command fighter, the air battle became one-sided!

As for the situation on land, that is even more...

East of the Alanhafa Mountains, south of the coastal swamps, that is, south of the Alexandria-El Alamein Railway, from the southeast of the town of Hammam, through the Borg el-Arab Fort, all the way to the shore of Lake Mareotis, there is a line of small hills ranging from 108 feet (33 meters) to 276 feet (84 meters) in height. Rommel did not attack this line before because he considered that it was difficult to attack the mountains on the flank, and that the need to leave troops to control the intersections between the mountains would disperse the force, so he finally chose the seawall that was easily covered by heavy artillery.

But this time...

Because the British Mediterranean Fleet had been expelled and the Deba Airport was very close to it, the Italian Navy could operate in the Gulf of El Alamein without restraint! If it were not for the fact that the British Middle East-North African Air Force under Admiral Arthur Tedder of the Royal Air Force still had to be taken into consideration, the Germans would have launched an amphibious landing directly on the seawall!

You know, the Italian San Marco Marine Brigade is an elite force that has been trained for a long time to be able to land on the Malta Fortress. It is definitely not a piece of cake! !

Moreover, even without an amphibious landing, the main retreat route for the British troops guarding the front of El Alamein would only be between the coastal lagoon and several hilltops, through the road and railway between the town of Hammam and Borg el-Arab…

But this time, even the German troops on the beachhead of Alexandria Port began to charge eastward along the seawall road!

After the fierce battle on the El Alamein beachhead, the last five Panzer IVs and three Panzer IIIs that had been hastily repaired, under the cover of ten field guns and fifteen anti-tank guns, led a commando team of more than 1,200 people, under the cover of naval guns and fighter planes. They were bypassing the depression extending eastward from Lake Mareotis, and could take a small road to outflank the town of Hammam and Borg el-Arab Fort!

As long as any of these two towns is captured, the British troops blocking the German army on the Alamein front will be surrounded in the narrow area between the seawall depression and the hilltop! !

Unfortunately, under the cover of artillery fire and air strikes, and under the diversionary attacks of the German 15th and 21st Armored Divisions and the Italian Areate Blackshirt Armored Division in the direction of Alexandria, the Allied forces were simply unable to stop the assault commanded by Rommel himself!

Everyone knew that if they could hold on for another two hours, the previously bombed Rashid Airport, Damanhur Airport and Tanta Airport would be usable again thanks to the desperate repairs of the British airport engineers.

But, I just can't stand it...

The losses were already heavy, and even the remnants of the Free French 1st Armored Division, who still had the will and morale to restore the country, could only swallow their anger and avoid the bombardment and bombing. The demoralized British officers and soldiers could only hide in the trenches, trembling with fear in their eyes...

Although the British Army was more suited to positional warfare in terms of both philosophy and training, they could not persist in this kind of adversity...

And Litchi has absolutely no ability to fight Rommel...

In the case that air supremacy could not be ensured, facing the three-sided siege of German and Italian troops and naval artillery fire, let alone Litchi's command ability, even Auchinleck would have to avoid the Fox's edge when facing the reinforcements that had arrived!

Li Teqi still remembers what Auchinleck said at the combat meeting before he was captured by the military police, that he should consider withdrawing to defend...

However, the military police brought Churchill's handwritten order, asking him to attack...

"Report! The first line of defense has been lost..."

"Report! Our heavy artillery regiment in Hammam was hit by fire from the Italian fleet..."

"Report! Our second-line position has collapsed! The rear guard group left by the Free French Volunteers has been divided and surrounded..."

"report!"

The series of bad news has almost made Li Teqi collapse...

I looked up at the rising sun, the blue sky, and the distant land that had been ruthlessly affected by the continuous artillery fire, and seemed to have been dyed red by the African land...

Li Teqi covered his head and slammed his fist on the table...

This feeling of being surrounded by an airdropped order, what a bright and clear world it is...

"Damn it... I should have listened to Auchinleck and retreated to the Nile Delta. Why did I listen to the Prime Minister and make an offensive deployment..."

The frustrated Lieutenant General Li Teqi was giving orders to organize the retreat while calculating how many reinforcements he could draw from the rear to stabilize the situation, and he was regretting it in his heart.

God bless the king, may more of them be evacuated.

A lieutenant general who was promoted to acting commander-in-chief of the Egyptian Legion by helicopter could only pray with tears in his heart.

If God's spirit in heaven could really hear...

Chapter 498: Nile Delta

The fierce battle lasted from dawn on September 5th to September 6th...

On the battleship Veneto, the commanders of the German Mediterranean Fleet and the Italian Royal Navy Battle Fleet, as well as Rommel, the commander of the African Corps, and his staff, who were picked up by seaplane at the temporary airport in Alexandria, were holding a combat meeting...

"…The traffic from Alamein to the West Port of Alexandria has been completely opened, and the landing operation from the East Port of Alexandria to the Pharos Peninsula has also been successful. The town of Emilia opposite Lake Mareotis and several surrounding highlands have also fallen into our hands. The conditions here can even build a temporary airport!!…The British have retreated to the civilian East Port of Alexandria. The dock of the West Port can now be used normally after a little repair - that is to say, now as long as a route is established from the Italian mainland bypassing Malta to the Port of Alexandria, the logistics problem of the African Corps will be completely solved! ! "

Behind the heavy door of the conference room, the Desert Fox's excitement could not be concealed.

After all, the biggest problem that restricted the African Corps before was that there were no good ports in North Africa, and the routes to North Africa were greatly threatened by the Malta base.

And now, logistics, the biggest problem, has basically disappeared!!

In addition, the main force of the African Corps has now been completely concentrated, and even the field airport has been solved! !

No wonder the Desert Fox is so excited. Looking at his current appearance, he seems to be eager to capture Cairo immediately and then hold a military parade with Mussolini!

Although, even he knew that this was impossible...

"...My Hiberheim decryption team has already deciphered the British communications, and Litchi is now panicking!...What a pity! This attack has used up a lot of my resources. Now I don't have enough troops, supplies, and vehicles, especially not enough engineers to build roads in the rotten land of the Nile Delta! Otherwise, I would have made Churchill look bad!!"

Rommel's tone in the conference room was somewhat gnashing of teeth as he recounted his remaining troops and logistics.

After all, the 15th and 21st Armored Divisions of the African Corps, as well as the Areete Armored Division, had suffered heavy losses, and the Littorio Armored Division almost lost everything! The Trento Division and the Trieste Division, which were stationed in Alamein, also suffered heavy losses. The most important thing was that they did not have many trucks - and these trucks were almost all concentrated on the German 52th Light Infantry Division and the Vogel Paratrooper Division, which were reinforced by JU-164 transport planes...

Moreover, these two troops are not strong...

The 164th Light Infantry Division was smaller than a normal infantry division, and was seriously lacking in vehicles and heavy weapons! More importantly, this division, which had 11500 men and 45 anti-tank guns and 36 field guns, did not bring any artillery because they were in a hurry to take a plane! !

As for the Fogel Parachute Division, it was called a division, but in fact it was only composed of paratroopers. The division had 12 small parachute battalions, an equally small combat engineer battalion, and 47 short-barreled 4000mm anti-tank guns, which together had less than people. In addition to being called a division, it was actually just a brigade-level unit...

Moreover, in order to reinforce quickly, the 47 officers and soldiers of the two divisions came by plane. Apart from light weapons and light artillery such as mm short-barreled anti-tank guns, they basically brought nothing...

Even after getting off the plane at Matruh and Debba airports, they rode bicycles to rush over for reinforcements!! (PS: This is a historical fact)

After gathering all the cars, tanks and ammunition that Alamein could gather, these troops, with the help of warships and air strikes, broke the siege of Alexandria without much effort. However, they were unable to continue the attack before more reinforcements and logistical supplies arrived from the transport fleet that sailed from mainland Italy...

It would take a merchant fleet ten full days to sail from Taranto to Alexandria!

Not to mention, in the city of Alexandria East Port, the British 51st Division, the South African 1st Mechanized Infantry Division, and the remnants of the New Zealand 2nd Division were fighting the African Corps. Even now, the African Corps has no way to threaten their logistics line because of the muddy geology of the Nile Delta that protects their roads and railways to the Egyptian hinterland...

Relying on strong cities and natural barriers, if three divisions of British troops were to be stationed right next to our bed, it would really be a time bomb-level destabilizing factor...

"…Damn it, the British don't have much other things, but they have a lot of cars! We don't have many cars we can use now, let alone the Italian… Italian allies, you are bad-mouthing us, to be honest, your 'possible motorized divisions' are really too weak… They said 'possibly a small number of truck troops', but in fact they are pure infantry!… If Li Teqi runs away, we can't catch up with him…"

After listening to Fox's introduction to the battlefield situation and his complaints, Lütjens and Italian Admiral Iachino looked at each other and could only smile bitterly.

Everyone could tell that the fox was almost complaining about Idaeli...

Victory, it seems, is still incomplete...

Moreover, although the merchant fleet from Italy could avoid the hard journey to the Malta base and the North African desert, it would still take ten days to reach the destination even at sea with a journey of more than 2000 nautical miles...

That’s not to mention that in the Middle East ports of Haifa and Beirut, who knows if there are still British submarines and light warships deployed…

Not to mention, the Italian fleet’s range is generally short…

Even if the forward bases were placed on Rhodes and Crete, they would have to go back for supplies after fighting for two days or even one day under high-intensity combat...

"That won't do. The British are already sending reinforcements from Iraq and India, and their supply fleet will arrive in Suez in four days, which would be on the 10th... Besides, if the Americans have declared war on us, who knows if there will be a bigger transport fleet heading this way..."

Looking at Admiral Iakino beside him, Lütjens said with some worry.

Iakino, who was standing opposite him, had the same look in his eyes… One of his eyes said “head”, and the other said “pain”…

It all comes down to one word: headache...

and……

"Lütjens, there will definitely be the transport fleet you mentioned... If the Americans really have been planning this for a long time! I bet it will take at most one and a half months, or even if they are willing to spend a lot of money to use high-speed transport ships... One month! Just one month! Their large number of reinforcements should be sent around the Cape of Good Hope..."

When mentioning the foreign aid from the United States, Rommel's face was full of gritted teeth!

"If it weren't for these bastards who took advantage of the country's misfortune, the British would never be my opponent!!"

After all, nearly half of the British equipment in North Africa is American!

Not to mention, the British can actually transfer troops from the Middle East and India...

As for the Axis Powers, Italy’s production capacity and Germany’s own strategic ambitions determined that even if the shipping lines were already open, the logistics supplies could not compare with those of the rich…

The only good news is that after taking over Alexandria, the logistics and shipping are at least better than before...

He sighed slightly. Admiral Iachino also opened a memorandum and began to introduce the situation of the Italian Navy and shipping:

"...A new convoy was sent out yesterday, escorted by a whole cruiser squadron. This convoy consists of fifteen transport ships, carrying thirty-two thousand tons of supplies. This includes enough weapons to equip an armored division! Including two hundred tanks, fifteen hundred vehicles and eighty artillery pieces, as well as a complete engineering corps' equipment and materials. In addition, there are sixteen thousand tons of supplies, which are enough for the existing strength of the African Corps..."

"This transport team will arrive here in about eight days. However..." Admiral Iakino considered his words for a long time before speaking: "...Our Navy Department has issued an order that the Veneto and Littorio can only hold out here for ten days at most, and when the transport team sent here finishes unloading the cargo and returns, they will go back with them..."

“Go back...!?” Rommel and Lütjens were both stunned.

What is this ghost?

"...Yes, that's the order from the Navy Department... The two battleships consume too much fuel, and we have to go back to prevent Britain and the United States from sending their main fleet from Spain to force their way into Malta... On the other hand, there are not many targets here now. When the transport team arrives, this place should be able to stabilize... Or... if we don't leave, I can let my battleship fleet cover the Zeppelin and the planes, and take advantage of these two days to bomb the British submarine docks in several ports in the Middle East..." Admiral Iakino also smiled bitterly and explained to Lütjens and Rommel.

"...However, our leader and your country's head of state have already reached an agreement on military alliance and command. Our navy will abide by it. The cruiser fleet and destroyer fleet that should be dispatched will also come, and the transport fleet will also implement relay escort...After I return with the main fleet, the command and arrangements in the Eastern Mediterranean will be yours!"

"Well, I will use the reinforcements from your country properly in accordance with the covenant and agreement and prevent them from suffering additional losses!" Looking at Admiral Iakino with a serious face, Lütjens nodded seriously.

After all, when multiple countries are fighting together, it is not the most difficult thing to treat both sides equally. The most difficult thing is to make both sides speechless...

After all, subconsciously, there is always a concept of "living under someone else's roof"

This is a question of human nature, and has nothing to do with whether it is objectively fair...

but……

"I say, how about we take another gamble? Why don't we just implement plan number two now while the British reinforcements haven't arrived yet...?"

The fox who was gritting his teeth at the local tyrant rolled his eyes, and a bad idea came up again...

Chapter 499: I heard that cats in Egypt can act cute

Bismarck had no idea what kind of gay things Rommel, Iachino and the three handsome old men were mumbling about in the conference room with their captain. Anyway, when his captain came out of the conference room, he knew that he would have to stay here with the captain to accompany VV, and at the same time, he inexplicably became the gunnery responsible for the opposite shore of the African Corps.

The second thing the captain did was to let Bonte and Zeppelin start a large-scale "armed shopping" in the entire eastern Mediterranean. The third thing was to let Lindemann borrow a few destroyers from Dazzara, and then drag his sister, who was holding the pillow tightly, out of the door and searched for traces of British submarines everywhere in the Alexandria Bay.

Bismarck felt at a loss whether to laugh or cry as he watched the little hamster throwing a tantrum and refusing to go out, but was finally dragged away by the stern-faced Lindemann.

After all, she knew very well that her sister was the one who found it troublesome to leave the cabin, let alone being dragged out to sea by Linderman to "fish"...

But watching this scene...

Bismarck suddenly remembered that just now, when Zeppelin left the port, he had teased him, saying that she could wander around the beautiful Mediterranean, while he could only stay in Alexandria and go crazy looking at the Italian fire control director every day...

Looking back at the shadow of the Zeppelin aircraft carrier which had already gone far away in the shadow of the night under the last twilight, the Persian cat gnashed his teeth in anger.

"Zeppelin, don't come back if you have the guts!"

Zeppelin responded to Bismarck over WIFI with just an arrogant middle finger.

then……

"Bismarck, come here for a moment. I'll give you the task."