Chapter 575

Rommel used a very clumsy old method to capture Tobruk. The old method was to use large caliber guns to attack the solid fortress defense system. However, in North Africa, because of transportation and technical problems, it is difficult for both sides to use giant guns with calibre of more than 300 mm, even not many guns with calibre of more than 200 mm.

It is not very realistic to secretly transport large caliber guns to the barren land of Africa, so Rommel naturally thought of the Italian naval fleet with a large number of large caliber guns. So a report on the use of the navy to support Army operations was sent to Berlin in Africa, and a new plan called "Blitzkrieg" in the supreme command came out.

The plan is to use three old Italian battleships to carry out a artillery support operation in Tobruk. But when the Italians got the artillery support plan, Mussolini immediately ordered the navy to assemble all the forces it could find. The whole army of the Italian Navy is in a bad breath, so this time they are going to prove themselves.

So in addition to the battleships that suffered heavy losses in the South Atlantic, Italy found all kinds of combat ships they could find. Some of the old battleships that could not be used to support the land were more than enough, so the Italian Navy combined the old and new with a super luxury lineup of four battleships.

As for why a French battleship appeared here, it was entirely because of another matter. Originally, Charles de Gaulle's French government in exile didn't want to rely on others all the time, but several overseas colonies were upset by the attacks of the axis powers, so Charles de Gaulle took a fancy to the relatively powerful North Africa region of France and stepped into the fight for the French territory of Somalia.

At this time, Britain actually supported the French government in exile to increase its strength in Africa, so it took a tacit attitude towards the French government in exile's interference in French owned Somalia, which made Vichy France completely intolerable. So Vichy France sent its own navy to join the Italian fleet, Retaliated against the British and the British supported Charles de Gaulle government.

This time, the Vichy government of France was in deep pain, so it sent the battleship kubel. Although this old battleship is not suitable for high-intensity naval warfare, its side side 5-seat dual artillery structure is a terrible weapon for land support.

Such a huge fleet has not yet been fully established, because the flagship of the French fleet, the Richelieu, is on the way with the newly repaired Dunkirk. If these two battleships are included, the axis group will gather as many as seven battleships in the waters near Tobruk, and the large caliber artillery will exceed 50 at that time, The test of the entire Tobruk line will be unprecedented.

The Italian and French navies who participated in the battle off Tobruk were different from the last time when they helped Germany land in Britain. At that time, both navies had no experience of cooperation, and they had no choice but to send troops to deal with their duties under the pressure of the German army. So the German Navy that landed in Britain did a very messy job of supporting land artillery.

So this time is not the same as the last time. The Italian Navy is eager to prove its sense of existence in the sea in the earth and is ready to show its strength. The French navy, however, has come for revenge and is more attentive than before. As a result, the performance of both sides in Tobruk was much better than that in British waters. Dozens of cannons opened fire fiercely, which turned the British positions upside down.

Italians have Tobruk's design drawings, although this drawing is very scribbled and unprofessional, but it is still a very important reference document. Some firepower points and trenches can be reinforced and reconstructed, but some important defense facilities cannot be removed, such as ammunition depots and large barracks. Even without the original design function, they are definitely important targets worthy of bombardment.

According to the memory of Italians and the reconnaissance photos of German Air Force reconnaissance aircraft, Rommel identified most of the military facilities and some important hidden targets. This time, with the support of the naval artillery, he cleaned up the known enemy gathering area bit by bit.

"The garfur! Your shell missed the target, 17 meters south! yes! South correction With the help of these observation posts, Italians find that their guns can be described as accurate.

After a long wait, the next round of firing of the battleship garfur hit the position of the British garrison. A strong looking machine gun blockhouse was hit by a large caliber shell, and the whole top was lifted up. The surrounding reinforced concrete structures were destroyed because of the huge shaking, There were many bodies of British soldiers lying all around.

"Beautiful! Gaffer! You hit the target! They're completely destroyed! Now, readjust the gun angle, coordinates, 53, 77! Fire!... " One by one, the British positions were patronized by large caliber artillery. As the morning passed, the British found that the German troops had not attacked the defense lines in any area, but most of them had been destroyed by the artillery into a pile of ruins.

In another time and space, several factors that defeated Rommel, the fox of the desert, have now become the winning cards of the fox of the desert, which has to be said to be a very interesting thing. The British Mediterranean fleet was transferred because of the defeat of its own country, which led to the whole Mediterranean being controlled by the Italian Navy, which made Montgomery lose the advantage of naval artillery support; At the same time, the loss of Maltese made Rommel obtain more materials than the British army in North Africa. Rommel, who was short of supplies in his previous life, had to give up many fruits of victory under the pressure of logistics. Now the German African Army, which is more abundant in supplies, has shown its sharp fangs to the British. If Rommel is able to make a series of dazzling offensive operations when the supplies are insufficient, we should not doubt Rommel's determination to attack when his strength is greatly increased. As soon as the number of his tanks exceeded 1000, he did not hesitate to give orders to general Frederick and general Garibaldi to encircle Tobruk and start attacking. Of course, there is another important reason for him to launch an attack immediately: the head of state has instructed the supreme command to send a newly established k-group army to the front line of North Africa, so as to ensure that the axis powers will win a decisive victory in North Africa before the end of 1940. The goals of this victory include the invasion of Egypt, the occupation of Cairo, the control of the Suez Canal, and the extension of the axis power's hand to the Middle East. It's no wonder that akado is so anxious to win a German colony in North Africa. In fact, the main reason is that akado's commitment to the whole Jewish consortium must be fulfilled. After all, the Jews also want a result. They don't support akado to spend their money arbitrarily without any reason. After analyzing with Augustus and others, akado decisively decided to carve out an area in the Middle East and give it to the future "Israel", whose position is almost the same as that of later generations. This is also one of akado's plans to disrupt the Middle East region. It is absolutely impossible for the world's most important oil producing area to be controlled by one country in the future, so the more chaotic the situation here is, the better. The more chaotic it is, the more favorable it will be for the German to insert their own forces in the Middle East in the future. In addition, the German high-level decision to give the United States a warning is considered in this regard, so this time akkado instructed Rommel to attack Tobruk, which can be said to be the next powerful offensive supported by all parties to a certain extent“ Boom Another shell landed on the position of the British garrison. This time, the shell hit an important ammunition storage warehouse built underground. Although more than half of the ammunition in it had been empty by the British people, and the rest of the place was used as a sundry storage warehouse, the shell destroyed the whole warehouse, which still made the British feel very sad. There are 40000 soldiers' clothes, 3000 helmets and many soldiers' tents and quilts inside. Everyone will feel sorry for changing them for a while“ Hello? I'm front command, right! The German offensive is still going on. The other side's naval artillery is too powerful. We have lost our first line defensive position. The other side is infiltrating into our second line defensive position. " In the front command, a division commander of British India is reporting the battlefield situation to the core headquarters in Tobruk. Because in the previous German attack, a high ground was lost near here, so the German observation post could freely observe the deployment of British positions and guide its own artillery attack“ There is no better solution. Now the most lethal thing is the German artillery observation post. Hold the position. When the other plane can't take off and bomb at night, let's organize a counterattack and take back the high ground. " In the headquarters, the commander of Tobruk has just received Montgomery's order to defend for 13 days. If he has no surplus troops, he can only hope to fight back at night. The division commander of the British Indian army also knows that there is really no good way to take advantage of the German army in this situation: if they attack hard now, with the help of superior artillery and tanks, the German army can easily repel the British army. This is also the result that the German army most hopes to see. The opponent will come out to fight back the German army's superior armored forces“ We have to wait for the night. " With a sigh, the head of the British Indian Division said helplessly