The arrival of the Third Army greatly improved the defense power of French North Africa and forced the Italian North African Army to deploy troops to strengthen the defense of French North Africa. This gave the newly appointed governor of Libya and commander-in-chief of the Italian North African Army Lu
Dolph Graziani brings huge pressure.
The Italians' operations in North and East Africa originally had a complete combat plan.
According to the pre-war plan, after the war began, Italian North and East Africa would launch attacks on Egypt at the same time, control the Suez Canal, and cut off the connection between Britain and the Far East.
The plan was good, but just when the plan was about to be implemented, Air Marshal Itano Balbo, the former governor of Libya and commander-in-chief of the Italian North African Army, suddenly died unexpectedly, disrupting Italy's plan.
Itano Balbo is the legendary man who flew a plane alone to southern Africa and almost set a world record.
On June 28, 1940, while returning from a patrol, Itano Balbo's plane was shot down by an Italian Navy anti-aircraft gun over the northeastern port of Tobruk. Itano Balbo was killed on the spot.
The war had just broken out, and the commander-in-chief of the Italian North African Army died in such a strange way. Rodolfo Graziani, the then Chief of Staff of the Italian Army, was urgently ordered to go to Italian North Africa to put out the fire.
Graziani was born in 1882 and began serving in the Italian colonies in 1908. He previously served as commander-in-chief in Libya. During the Second Abyssinian War, Graziani commanded the Southern Army Group Commander and was promoted to marshal in 1936.
In 1939, he was appointed commander of the Italian Army.
As early as 1930 in Libya and 1935 in Abyssinia, Graziani had organized and used mechanized combined arms forces in actual combat.
Graziani understood armored forces earlier than Guderian.
Strangely, Graziani does not have an outstanding record to support him.
This fully illustrates Graziani's level.
When Graziani arrived in Italian North Africa, he was very dissatisfied with the preparations of the Italian North African Army.
In Graziani's view, the Italian North African Corps was poorly trained, poorly equipped and had serious supply problems, and was simply not equipped to fight against the powerful mechanized forces in southern Africa.
As for the Nile Army led by Weiweier
Sorry, although Graziani is not very capable, he really doesn't take Wei Weier seriously.
The fat bald man doesn’t think so.
When Graziani was transferred to North Africa, southern Africa had not yet entered the war.
From Fat Bald's point of view, the weak Nile Army was no match for the Italian North African Army, which had a total strength of 300,000.
Just as the Third Army of Southern Africa arrived in Algiers, the fat bald man finally couldn't bear it anymore and ordered Graziani to immediately launch an attack on Egypt, completely defeating the Nile Army, opening up the connection between Italian North Africa and East Africa, and saving the already
The endangered Italian East African Army.
Graziani was helpless. On October 28, the Italian North African Army commanded by Graziani officially launched an attack on the Nile Army led by Wavell.
The mobilization of the large army will definitely not be hidden from the eyes of the reconnaissance planes in southern Africa.
After discovering that the armored troops of the North African Army had left the camp, Arthur and Feng Fu, who had arrived in Khartoum, took the initiative to propose to Weiweier that if the Nile Army needed it, the idle Mediterranean theater and the Second Army that had been "marching"
, can provide assistance to the Nile Army.
Wavell refused without hesitation.
Since entering the war, the southern African army has performed very steadily.
Incredibly stable!
If I have to use a derogatory word to describe it, then it is with ulterior motives.
As Stoudemire said, whether it is the actions of the Second Army in British East Africa and Italian East Africa, or the actions of the Third Army in French North Africa, they will have a serious impact on the British, French and Italian colonies.
, after the war is over, it is hard to say whether the colonies of Britain, France, and others in Africa can be preserved.
Even if it is not annexed by southern Africa.
If the colonial natives take the initiative to resist the British and French colonial forces, Britain and France, which have just experienced a world war and have been severely damaged, will probably not be able to respond.
Compared with its colonies in Africa, the Suez Canal is extremely important to the British government.
Therefore, Weiweier's attitude was extremely determined.
Even though the strength of the Nile Army was far inferior to that of the Italian North African Army, Weiweier resolutely rejected the "good intentions" of Arthur and Feng Fu.
Since Weiweier's attitude is so determined, then so be it!
There is a saying that if you are not afraid of opponents who are like gods, be afraid of teammates who are like pigs.
This statement is wrong in certain circumstances.
Graziani perfectly played what is called a pig-like opponent next.
Wavell was smart and knew that the Nile Army was no match for the Italian North African Army.
At the same time, Wavell also knew very well that Italians did not understand the discord between southern Africa and Britain.
So when Graziani attacked, Weiweier invented a very magical tactic and created a "rubber army".
In this "Rubber Army", the rubber tanks, after being deflated, can fit into a cricket bag.
The "field gun" can be stored in a cookie box.
A two-ton truck is no larger than an ammunition box.
In order to convince Graziani that the Nile Army had received assistance from the armored forces in Southern Africa, Weiweier ordered the engineers to create traces of tank tracks and even built a fake road to the south of Sidi Barani, because Graziani's
The army is stationed there.
Graziani is not stupid either.
After discovering that the Nile Army had a suspected powerful armored force, Graziani ordered the Air Force to strengthen its reconnaissance of the Nile Army.
At this time, Wavell asked people to lead groups of camels to move in the desert. The camels dragged rakes behind them, and when they moved, they would stir up dust all over the sky. From the air, it looked like a huge column of tanks in action.
So Graziani confirmed that there was a powerful armored force on his flank.
On November 1, the Third Army arrived in Algiers, and French North Africa was electrified to join the Free France.
Graziani immediately ordered the troops to stop the attack and defend against possible attacks from the direction of French North Africa.
Although the strength of French North Africa is not strong, it has huge potential.
The headquarters of the French Foreign Legion is in Algiers, French North Africa.
The hundreds of thousands of French colonial servants that Free France has formed may also reinforce French North Africa at any time.
The Nile Army has received assistance from the Southern African Armored Forces.
For a time, Graziani was really in a state of panic and was besieged on all sides.
At this time, the troops sent by Mustache to reinforce Italian North Africa had also been assembled and were ready to go to Italian North Africa for support at any time.
Cunningham, the commander-in-chief of the British Mediterranean Fleet, was under great pressure. In order to completely cut off the connection between the Italian mainland and Italian North Africa, Cunningham proposed to Arthur and Mike Tolan that he hoped that the Cyprus Squadron could send more warships to strengthen the defense
Control of the Central Mediterranean Sea.
Arthur and Mike Tolan are in a bind.
The home port of the Cyprus Squadron is more than 1,500 kilometers away from the Italian mainland.
After occupying the Twelve Islands, even starting from the Twelve Islands, the distance to mainland Italy is more than 1,000 kilometers.
Alexandria is also more than 1,500 kilometers away from mainland Italy.
Therefore, it is simply impossible to completely block the Mediterranean Sea.
Of course, if Britain agrees to lease Malta to the Cyprus Squadron, then the problem can be easily solved.
Malta is only 80 kilometers away from mainland Italy.
The waterway between mainland Italy and Tunisia is only 280 kilometers away.
If the fleet sets off from Malta, it will be possible to cut off the connection between the Italian mainland and the Mediterranean.
Cunningham was extremely troubled when he received Arthur's reply.
Rent!
It sounds nice, but in fact, most of it is borrowed but never repaid.
But without borrowing it, the Cyprus Squadron would probably not participate in the war.
Even though Cunningham always looks confident, only Cunningham himself knows how much pressure he is under.
When the time came in November, all submarines in the Mediterranean Fleet had been lost.
Although the losses of the Italian Navy were equally heavy, the performance of Italian submarines has been greatly improved after receiving help from Germany.
In order to build more submarines, Italy even slowed down the construction progress of the third and fourth ships of the "Veneto" class battleships.
Cunningham knew that the Cyprus Squadron had submarines, many of them, and they were submarines with advanced capabilities.
The Cyprus Squadron also has many light cruisers and destroyers, and its anti-submarine technology is world-class because of the use of helicopters. If the Cyprus Squadron joins, the crazy actions of Italian Navy submarines will be greatly restrained.
Although there are various advantages.
Unfortunately, Cunningham did not have the power to decide. In the end, the matter of whether Malta should be leased to the Cyprus Squadron still had to be reported to Winston.
Winston is in a good mood these days.
The Battle of Britain ended with a British victory. Although Britain also suffered a tragic victory, it was a huge boost to British military morale. People began to believe that Britain would win the final victory just like the previous world war.
After Germany began to implement the "Sea Lion Plan", the British Air Force and the Southern African Air Force moved quickly to conduct indiscriminate bombings on the port cities across the strait and the gathering German ships. The Germans' preparations were very difficult. The Southern African bombers
, at most, they would be dispatched three to four times a day, tilting tens of thousands of tons of bombs onto the heads of the Germans.
The situation is good, but the hidden dangers are getting bigger and bigger.
The British government pays for all the fuel and aerial bombs used by the Southern African Air Force.
Oil is easy to handle, with full supply from Port Elizabeth. Britain can get as much as it wants, as long as it pays.
Aerial bombs are also easy to handle. Southern Africa also has as many as they need. The key is money.
The crux of the problem is that Britain now has no money