Four hundred and seventieth chapters tripartite confrontation
"Report to the Prime Minister, reports of the North African war have been sent back!"
Churchill, who was deep in thought, was interrupted by the confidential secretary's report and continued to be in a daze.
Waving his hand, Churchill signaled his confidential secretary to read out the contents of the battle report.
To be honest, he was too lazy to read, or was afraid to read frontline battle reports.
Long before he became Prime Minister of the British Empire, he vigorously promoted a campaign to invade Norway.
As a result, except for some good news about the defeat of the Norwegian army some time ago, in the later stages of the campaign, almost all the news was about defeats one after another.
If Chamberlain, the then Prime Minister, had not been standing in the foreground, acting as a shield for him and being held fully responsible for the defeat, Churchill might have been burdened with debts that he would not be able to repay.
The blame for the Norwegian campaign could still be thrown at Chamberlain, his superior, but when 200,000 of the main force were wiped out at Dunkirk, Churchill had already reached the position of Prime Minister. Can the blame be thrown at His Majesty the King?
No one would accept the blame given to the King, because His Majesty the King had nothing to do with this war, and the one responsible for the execution was his Prime Minister Churchill.
With no other choice, Churchill had no choice but to blame General Alexander, who accepted the British Expeditionary Force.
There is a theorem in ancient and modern times, both at home and abroad, that is, if something goes wrong, someone has to bear the blame. To put it bluntly, there must be one person who takes the blame as a representative.
Churchill was more slippery. He first blamed his superior, Chamberlain, and later blamed his subordinate, Alexander, for the new failure.
However, the disasters seem to be endless.
As the saying goes, misfortunes never come singly, but the bad things that have happened to Churchill have happened four times in a row.
"Operation Ballista" was a surprise attack on the French naval power, but it was disrupted by the Italians.
The French main fleet was successfully disabled by the Forbes fleet sent by the British Royal Navy, but the Forbes fleet was also defeated by the Italians who came behind.
The four aircraft carriers in the hands of the British Home Fleet were already suffering from a large shortage of carrier-based aircraft after the disastrous defeat in the North Sea. They finally gathered all the remaining carrier-based aircraft and placed them on the most advanced aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, allowing the Forbes Fleet to take the lead.
To attack the French fleet.
As a result, that idiot Forbes actually surrendered!
The captured destroyer can be tolerated, but how can a fine aircraft carrier, HMS Ark Royal, be given to the Italians?
Churchill had always been worried about Italy, the southern European hegemon, and he had always focused his diplomacy on two aspects.
The first is to win over the United States to support Britain. It would be best if the United States can participate in the war. Even if it cannot participate in the war, it should at least sell more weapons to the British army.
The second is to prevent Italy from participating in the war. Once Italy participates in the war, this last major hegemon in Europe, which looks huge in every aspect, is definitely an existence that every force should be in awe of.
Today's Europe is no longer the era where all the heroes stood together twenty years ago.
Austria, Poland, Czechoslovakia, France, and other industrial and military powers have withdrawn, leaving only a handful of powerful countries in Europe.
The German Third Reich, which annexed several of the above powers, is undoubtedly the most powerful superpower in Europe at the moment.
After all, not to mention Denmark, Belgium, and Hungary, which were small countries that were annexed by Germany, just the entry of four major European countries into Germany increased Germany's national power exponentially.
Once the top seven powerful countries in Europe, now there are only three countries: Germany, the United Kingdom, and Italy.
The other four countries, without exception, were all defeated by Germany on its own!
Now, Italy has entered the war as a military ally of Germany.
In other words, among the last three major forces in Europe, two major forces have chosen to join forces to deal with the British Empire, which is failing one after another.
Different from the famous tripartite confrontation in Chinese history, at that time, Wu and Shu were the second and third most powerful forces respectively. They joined forces to deal with the most powerful Wei State. This was considered a balance of power.
But in Europe today, Germany, which ranks first in military power, and Italy, which ranks third in military power, join forces to attack Britain, the second most powerful country. This is too much, and it is clearly an asymmetrical showdown!
Mussolini launched an offensive in North Africa, something Churchill had always been worried about but could not avoid.
It happened after all, but Churchill was powerless to change anything.
Now he doesn't even have the troops to defend his homeland, and is facing the danger of German landing at any time. How can he have the extra energy to take care of the arrogant Italians in Africa?
"Don't talk about the process, just talk about the results." Churchill, who concluded that North Africa would fail, waved his hand and instructed his confidential secretary: "It is nothing more than adding another stain to my career in power."
"Okay, Prime Minister." The confidential secretary nodded respectfully, opened the telegram from the document bag and read: "The North African troops, led by General Wavell, annihilated 30,000 enemies and captured nearly 20,000 Italian officers and soldiers.
, destroyed more than 200 Italian artillery pieces of various types, and destroyed more than 300 tanks and armored vehicles. However, our army’s losses did not exceed 4,000 people!”
Great victory in North Africa?!
"What did you say?!" Churchill, who was already prepared to receive the bad news, stood up from his seat and asked incredulously.
"Prime Minister, General Wavell successfully defeated the Italian offensive. Moreover, they are still launching a counterattack! General Wavell reported that he is preparing to capture Benghazi and seize the Italian Libyan colony!" The confidential secretary also looked excited.
Report again: "We won!"
"This guy Wavell actually defeated the Italians?" Churchill said to himself with trembling lips.
The total number of British troops deployed in Africa is only 90,000, and they are also distributed in East Africa and North Africa.
But the Italians have a total of 230,000 North African troops, which is more than twice the total strength of the British army in Africa. If you include the 300,000 Italian troops in East Africa, the British army's strength in Africa is simply
It can be said that even the Italian army is less than 20%.
With such an absolute military disadvantage, Churchill really could not have imagined that Wavell would actually engage in a classic battle of defeating more with less!
Soon, Churchill proudly reported in detail the course of the war in North Africa to the House of Representatives.
After the report, all the members stood up and applauded. This was a scene that had not happened since the failed invasion of Norway.
It must be said that the British Empire has waited too long for a victory...
After the report, Churchill proudly held a press conference and said: "When I walked into the House of Representatives to speak, the warmest applause I received usually only came from the Labor Party seats, and the Conservative Party always responded with a few points.
Treat me with reservations. But today, in this solemn harmony that echoes through the sky, everyone is united! All the people of the British Empire are proud of it!"