Chapter 589

After the German occupation of Tobruk, Rommel held a grand ceremony to enter the city. The German cars went all the way along the road, as if there would never be an end. On the edge of the road, German tanks were also rolling forward with smoke and dust, looking full of evil spirit and awe inspiring.

This time, the North African Legion captured about 31000 Allied prisoners, including 9000 Australian soldiers who suddenly turned into allies. These soldiers are from Australia, so they can no longer be treated as captives. However, the African Legion still dare not put almost 10000 Australian troops into its own battle sequence.

So the Australian troops were ordered to move to the rear, and they were treated the same as those Italian second rate troops left behind by Rommel. The meaning was obvious: we don't need you to fight. Please build bridges and pave roads in the back. Don't make trouble. Thank you very much.

Rommel, complacent, finally breathed out a bad breath. His first large-scale battle after returning to Africa from his base camp ended in victory. In order to thank the French for their support, the Italians even mobilized some second-class troops to help Vichy France recapture some areas in the West African colonies.

At present, the good oil transfer between Italy and France, together with the German French relations, has also improved countless times. The spending power of German soldiers in Paris is simply delicacy. Many people buy more than perfume and stockings. They even pass food and tourist attractions. The most prosperous business is the Moulin Rouge, a feature spot in France and Paris.

A large number of French people find that German money is extremely profitable. As long as they take out their products, they can sell them. Hats, clothes, shoes, baby carriages, wheelchairs, as long as you can think of products, these Germans buy.

So these shopaholics from Germany take the francs or marks they just handed out to buy things. The French sell things friendly, and then pay taxes to Vichy's French government. Then Vichy's French government pays compensation to Germany, and the German pays these compensation, so that the German can continue shopping there.

This seemingly simple flow of goods and capital is no different from robbing things directly. However, because the Germans gave up part of their interests to Vichy, the French government and the French local people, which reduced the degree of local resistance, everyone got the benefits, and many people also made a small fortune. In such an environment, it is not easy to incite the people to fight against the Germans.

Part of the West African colonies returned to French rule, which provided a reason for the French people to cheer up. The rapid advance of Germany in France caused little trauma to the local people, which became the capital of the pro German people. So a kind of argument was quietly born in the French high-level: the Germans need the support of France, we will eventually evolve into allies, and the German aggression will eventually end!

In fact, exploitation and plunder are not reduced, but diluted and transferred to some unknown non sensitive areas. The Vichy government of France owes Germany a large amount of war reparations and garrison funds, all of which have to be paid with iron, steel, coal and other minerals. These things are not closely related to the life of ordinary people, so the resistance caused by them is not as strong as that caused by direct exploitation.

Rommel was standing in his car, reviewing the rolling iron and steel torrent of his army, moving towards Egypt. He is very close to his rank of Marshal. Between him and Cairo, only Barton of the United States and Montgomery of Britain have a little troops. The battle of alamin is about to begin, and this time Rommel's forces are extremely powerful.

"Mr. general, your troops have won a great victory in Tobruk, captured more than 20000 prisoners and rescued more than 9000 Australian allies. Can you predict how long it will take for the German and Italian African Legion to conquer Egypt?" A reporter is obviously not used to the weather in North Africa. His clothes have been disordered by the wind and sand, and his leather book has been torn back and forth because of the wind. He holds the pen hand to press the book which is reactionary by the wind, and looks up at Rommel standing in the car.

Rommel's car is full of mottled marks. Every day it flies in the desert. No matter how good the quality of the car is, it will be eroded by the sand. Compared with the cars of the generals in Berlin, the Mercedes Benz convertible, which was also issued to Rommel, is now as devastated as historical relics.

The fender of the car was covered with sand because of the rainy weather. Then, due to the dry weather and the wind, the paint on the car fell off and the chassis was rusty. It was very different from the brand-new military car that can be seen on the Berlin Street.

Rommel was originally looking at the tank troops that were rumbling through here in the distance. His eyes were full of laughter. Hearing that a reporter came up to ask him, he lowered his head to look at the questioner. It was an Italian journalist whose question Rommel had heard for the first time. It was very novel.

German journalists are basically under the control of the imperial propaganda department, and their questions are uniformly distributed by their superiors to avoid asking military secrets or embarrassing questions. These well-trained German journalists like to take pictures, but rarely ask questions. They passed on the heroic image of the German army to China to build momentum for the Empire's sacred war of external expansion.

The Italian reporter looked up at Rommel, hoping that Rommel would answer this question. If Rommel said the specific time with great success, the news would definitely stir the whole Italian kingdom.

"I can't tell you when our troops will enter Egypt, or when we will take Egypt. All I can tell you is a belief, a belief that everyone here has engraved in their bones. " Rommel thought for a moment and said, "we use everything to win! That's the only thing I can tell you. We stop to win, we die to win, we advance to win, and we kill our opponents to win. " With that, he continued to raise his head and look at the constant armored torrent in the distance. Every soldier waved to him, including general Garibaldi's black shirt on the Italian M13 tank. Compared with the German tanks, the performance of these M13 tanks is very backward, and the fighting quality of the armored forces is not high, but the Italian infantry can not do without these equipment. After all, the German tanks can not be dispersed to embolden these Italians. General sherner is taking his 12th armored force into Italy, and then into North Africa. The armored forces include the 30th armored division and the 12th armored division of the SS. Although most of the soldiers are recruits, they are equipped with brand-new leopard tanks and Tiger tanks, and their combat effectiveness can not be underestimated. And with these two divisions, there are more than 100000 infantry. These infantry are mainly recruits, but the training is very perfect. These troops will strengthen the fighting capacity of the African Legion and drive Barton and Montgomery to the east of the Suez Canal. For the battle of this large regiment, akado personally ordered the assembly of 110 various transport ships to join the already stretched Italian Mediterranean transport fleet to provide transport and supplies for the German and Italian forces in North Africa. As a strategic core point, Malta has now played a role. When German and Italian ships travel between Europe and Africa, they basically suffer little loss, which means that about 30% of the loss can really reach Africa. Originally, these materials were used to feed fish, but now they can be used for combat. Intelligence provided by the reconnaissance plane shows that in the western part of Egypt, allied soldiers are strengthening their defense lines. They want to turn Egypt into a huge fortress to resist the invasion of Rommel. The trenches across northwest Egypt are like a huge construction site. Barton and Montgomery had different opinions on how to defend Egypt. Barton advocated launching a strategic decisive battle in Egypt, consuming Rommel's armored forces, then retreating to Suez Canal to deploy defense lines, and sticking to this short line. This plan almost gave way to the whole of Africa, so it was rejected by Montgomery. Montgomery wanted to use a solid defense line to wipe out the German armored superiority and air superiority. To delay the progress of the war by using a method similar to self destruction. His plan is to spend all of Patton's Eighth Army and his own Ninth Army to delay the capture of Egypt. However, the two men finally reached an agreement on the consumption of Rommel's armored forces. In the end, button gave up his idea of armored battle and proposed a compromise. The plan is to rely on Montgomery's 9th army to take the lead and consume German armored forces in the position. If the fighter plane appears, Patton's armored forces will immediately fight and run away with a bite. With this soft and hard local counterattack strategy, to minimize the German hand of the armored force advantage. At this moment, Rommel has about 1300 tanks, including more than 250 Italian M13 tanks. And Barton's hand, if you count Montgomery's family, has about 1200 tanks. The quality of these tanks is not as good as the German equipment, so the gap in armor is very huge. What's more, Rommel's African Legion has the full support of Italy's Mediterranean fleet. Although Rommel can't concentrate the huge naval power when attacking Tobruk, at least Rommel can get cruisers and destroyers with fast speed. The artillery on these ships can ensure Rommel's artillery advantage in coastal areas. It seems that at this moment, nothing can stop Rommel's army from entering Egypt.