Chapter 601

The German army suddenly appeared in the Balkans, and as soon as it appeared, it played a long lost *. The 400 fighter planes of the air force have gained the advantage against the sky. Now with a large number of P-40 and zero fighters in service, the fw-190d fighter, the main force of the German army, can't completely crush the opponent in performance. However, the air force construction of several countries in the Balkans can not keep up with the trend of the world.

In addition to the 11 P-40 modified aircraft equipped by the Greek air force, the fighters of the other Balkan countries are mostly at the same level as those of the Polish air force. In the face of the fierce German air force, we can imagine how much we can do.

17 hours. This is the time when the German Air Force fighter fleet under Catherine's command completely destroyed the air forces of several Balkan countries. In addition to the 300 enemy aircraft to increase the performance of German pilots, almost no results. In fact, the Balkan air force has a lower crash rate than the German air force.

In the afternoon of the same day, the German Stuka 2 attack plane began to crush the ground under the cover of fighter planes, and the backward Stuka also joined the slaughter team. The strategic air force appeared in groups in Crete, bombing British facilities on the island. Within 24 hours, the whole Balkans were covered with the wings of the German eagle.

Under general Hawke's command, the 8th mechanized infantry moved as fast as it did in France. In many places, they even received a warm welcome. The local Serbs regard the German team as liberators. They are willing to join the leadership of the steel axis and share the fruits of victory brought by the war.

Even Hawke could not believe that the war was going on so smoothly. The Yugoslavian troops in the front were vulnerable because of heavy casualties. According to battlefield experience, the speed of 25 kilometers per day is absolutely not slow. In fact, the Yugoslavian troops in front of the German army had been almost consumed by the Italian troops, so the German army picked up a cheap one. However, in Mussolini's eyes, the Italian troops were defeated in four hours after the Italian troops failed to defeat them in two days.

The local customs are extremely complicated, so everywhere they go, some places even throw flowers at the German soldiers who enter the city. Many people can't wait to hang up the banner of the Third Reich. Unfortunately, it will soon be handed over to Italy, and Germany lacks interest in these non strategic areas.

After passing some pro German and pro Italian areas in the border area, the resistance began to become strong. The Germans had to bypass the city and use their best field encirclement tactics to annihilate the Greek and Yugoslavian troops. The cities behind them were surrounded by Italian infantry and German infantry, and began to bombard endlessly.

Undoubtedly, the Balkan Peninsula is of great significance to the North Africa strategy of the German and Italian forces. Once the Balkans are occupied and the Navy and air force are deployed on Crete, it can not only connect with Turkey and become a back-to-back border ally, but also move forward the transportation line from Italy to North Africa and put it on the route from Crete to Egypt in the Balkans. The distance is nearly doubled, and the route is safer.

Once the Balkans become a new supply base for the German army, Romanian oil fields will be completely at ease, Germany's strategic depth will be further expanded, and its military operations in North Africa will receive more support. Rommel's African Legion will get multiple supplies. Whether the allies can defend the Suez Canal will be a problem, not to mention the vast area of Egypt.

If Alexandria Port in Egypt is lost, the supply of British and American forces in the territory will collapse even more, and the oil in the Middle East will become the bag of the axis powers. At that time, the resources controlled by akkado will exceed those of the United States, and the United States will fall into production difficulties due to the lack of raw materials.

Of course, all this is just deduction, and it's not entirely in accordance with the German script. Neither the United States nor the United Kingdom will watch the Germans gain their own advantages in the Middle East. They are not willing to give up their oil interests in the Middle East, or even give part of them to Germany.

The British army is also in the final desperate struggle. They don't want to see their middle east area eventually become occupied by Germany. So about 20 British Indian divisions are heading to the Middle East, hoping to get to Egypt and stabilize the situation before the end of the Balkan chaos. The combat capability of these Indian divisions is not high, but the victory lies in sufficient personnel. The British armed the army of nearly 350000 people with a lot of backward weapons in the local stock. Some of the old howitzers were even made in 1898, which was a giant made 40 years ago.

In order to defend the Middle East, the United States even discussed with Chinese envoys the issue of Chinese Expeditionary Forces going to the Middle East. The U.S. government is even willing to offer 0.5% of the local oil share in exchange for China's sending troops. However, since China has never sent troops to such a far area in modern history, and the logistics supply of the United States can not be guaranteed, this exciting plan finally came to an end.

Another thing that led to the plan's failure was the collapse of the US Navy, the invasion of Australia by Japan, the rupture of the supply line across half the world between the US and China, and the failure of Chinese troops in Myanmar's territory due to lack of ammunition and equipment.

Even some members of the United States have felt that this war is a victory for Japan. If the United States wants to avoid greater losses, it can only choose the right time to withdraw from the war. Because the United States is now facing a common enemy from all walks of life, and the voice of the people calling for a decisive war with Japan is rising, the American high-level officials who doubt that the war will fail only dare to complain in private, far from rising to the height of the will of Congress. In this case, the United States mobilized 40 divisions of local guard forces to prepare for the possible Japanese landing forces. At Roosevelt's insistence, four American elite divisions were sent to the Middle East, including 300 M4 Sherman tanks. Roosevelt hoped to strengthen Barton's strength and win the North African War to stabilize the situation. On this point, Roosevelt and several senior generals of the military had serious differences. Nimitz, commander of the Pacific fleet of the US Navy, and General Eisenhower, supreme commander of the Allied forces, both hoped that the United States would take the lead in launching a counter offensive in the Pacific, while Roosevelt personally felt that the United States should first resolve the battlefield in North Africa. In the end, the American generals won. They sent most of the American soldiers to defend the islands in the Pacific Ocean and delayed the Japanese attack. Roosevelt could only help Barton win four divisions of American soldiers within his power. However, the number of tanks has been reduced to 200, and the number of airplanes is only 110. Compared with the strengthening of German forces in North Africa in the same period, these forces were barely maintained. However, on the other hand, some depressing news came to the Americans that the implementation of the Australian withdrawal was not complete. In fact, we all know that it is a very difficult order for Australian troops to give up their homeland and withdraw to the United States. Those local troops will never give up their homeland. There are various problems in the process of giving up the Australian order. The biggest problem is that young soldiers are not willing to give up their families. The United States had to use all the ships it could find to rush Australian families to South America and the United States, so as to mobilize the Australian Army to follow. But until the end, there were still four divisions of Australian troops left at home. They refused to board the ship to retreat, but picked up the heavy weapons left by the American soldiers and drove in the opposite direction. There, they were determined to fight the aggressors to the death. At the same time, opposite them, the Japanese are struggling eastward in the desert, hoping to find rich Australian cities and launch a new round of attacks. All through July, it was almost good news for the Japanese. After annihilating the U.S. Pacific Fleet, the Japanese Navy, after more than ten days of cruising, covered the infantry and controlled the island system in Southeast Asia. The Japanese army has found the scarce oil resources, and the strategic situation is good. The base camp is working out an attack plan to land on Oahu Island. Once Oahu Island is taken, Yamamoto believes that the United States will obediently return to the negotiation table and humbly seek peace with Japan. In this way, Japan's biggest gamble will end in victory, and Japan will become a new generation of hegemony in the Asia Pacific region. The Japanese flag has covered Northeast China, North China and the whole southern coastal area. And Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Philippines in Southeast Asia, as well as northwest Australia. In Japan's view, the war will end in the next three months. Once the United States withdraws from the war, Japan will have the opportunity to turn around and teach China a lesson. However, the illusions of these high-ranking officials have not changed the personal experience of the Japanese officers and soldiers at the grassroots level. In the desert of Australia, the troops of the seven divisions of Japan were overwhelmed by the huge territory. They asked for support from their base camp in Tokyo countless times, not because they met with tenacious resistance, It's that they really don't have any troops on the long front. As a front-line commander of Japan, general Ogawa repeatedly moaned in his heart: for the Japanese army, it's impossible for Australia not to fight, but for the soldiers of the Japanese army, the vast territory of Australia can definitely be regarded as a big pit of dissatisfaction.