In addition, in the Battle of Bidav Gate, the remaining Italian troops surrendered. Within a week, the British army captured Tobruk, advanced almost non-stop to Benghazi, and defeated the 10th Italian Army.
, captured more than 13,000 prisoners in the battle.
Facing the British offensive, General Garibaldi adopted the tactic of holding firm and not fighting, aiming to wear down the British army and wait for the success of the Italian army in East Africa.
He knew very well that as long as the Italian army in East Africa could advance into Egypt, the British army in front of him could retreat without a fight.
When the time comes, he will lead the Italian army in North Africa to launch a counterattack, and maybe there will be a chance to retake Tobruk Fortress and restore the situation to the previous situation.
That being said, a battle was defeated after all, and the news soon spread to Rome, Italy.
Mussolini's assistant received the battle report, and before he could tell Mussolini, he secretly read the contents of the report.
Sure enough, it is still the law, if the leader hums a tune, something will happen!
No, the defeat has come again. Maybe the leader will faint from anger again this time.
After thinking about it, the assistant tiptoed into Mussolini's ward, greeting his leader with a smile on his face.
In fact, he was observing Mussolini's mental state to see if he could withstand the blow of failure again in his hospital bed.
After some observation, the assistant decided to speak.
He cautiously said to Mussolini: "Leader, the battle report has just come from the front. How about I read it to you now?"
"What did you say? You must read it to me! I am the Prime Minister of Italy. If you don't read it to me, who can you read it to?" Mussolini replied angrily, thinking that this assistant was getting more and more stupid.
, and I don’t know what medicine he took wrongly recently.
"Okay, leader, you must hold on, I will read you the battle report now." The assistant swallowed his saliva and said cautiously.
"Our army suffered successive defeats on the North African battlefield. Within a week, the British army advanced to Benghazi. The British army defeated our 10th Army and captured more than 13,000 Italian soldiers."
With a heavy heart, the assistant read today's battle report to Mussolini, and then secretly glanced at Mussolini's face.
Unexpectedly, Mussolini was calm and calm, showing no sign of anger.
"Is that all?" Mussolini asked calmly.
"Yes, that's all."
The assistant was thinking to himself at this time: "Is the leader so angry that he can't speak? Or is he slow to react? Otherwise, why doesn't he show any angry reaction at all?"
Just when the assistant was confused, Mussolini spoke: "I believe General Garibaldi. He must have his own ideas. One failure does not mean anything. What I want is the result. As long as the final victory is achieved, the process and so on
None of it matters."
It turned out that Mussolini, who was rarely enlightened, had complete trust in Garibaldi.
He believed that Garibaldi just needed time. After experiencing consecutive military defeats, Garibaldi was the first general to give Mussolini hope.
Although North Africa is still losing, East Africa has begun to win.
The defeat of the North African Army has indirectly proved the importance of the East African Army's operations. The more urgent the British army's offensive in North Africa is now, the more critical the situation facing the British Army in East Africa.
At least both sides are not losing together!
One loss and one win, this at least reached Mussolini's psychological bottom line.
And it was Garibaldi who gave this advice and created this situation.
........
Libya, Benghazi front line.
Although the British army surrounded Benghazi, after all, the Italian army was more numerous.
The Italian army relied on the fortifications built here by their last two governors, so it was not too difficult to block the British offensive.
Moreover, the one who leads the Italian army now is Garibaldi, not some random general!
Garibaldi understood that he could hold off until the East African Army achieved an assault, and he would win!
But the British commander, General Wavell, could not sit still at this time.
On the battlefield in East Africa, the British army was retreating steadily, and the Italians were about to penetrate Somalia and invade Egypt. What Wavell wanted now was to destroy the Italian army in North Africa as soon as possible so that he could use his hands to support the battlefield in East Africa.
However, Garibaldi just hid behind the Benghazi defense line and avoided fighting, accompanying him in a war of attrition.
Otherwise, it can be said that human imagination has infinite possibilities.
In desperation, Wavell followed the advice of his subordinates and mobilized transport planes to drop thousands of leaflets over Benghazi in an attempt to anger the Italian defenders in Benghazi and force them to come out for a decisive battle with the British troops.
The content of the leaflet is roughly as follows: "Italy and the United Kingdom are both European countries, but they do not belong to the same blood. The Italian blood is inferior to the British, so the Italians are now huddled in their positions and dare not fight a decisive battle with the British.
."
This is a typical method of provoking generals. It must be said that Europeans are indeed not as skilled as Asian military masters in using provoking generals.
What's even more pity is that Wavell's trick may be really useful against the Germans, but using provocation to stimulate the Italians will...
When these leaflets were picked up by the Italian soldiers in the forward guarding positions, these soldiers all looked at the planes in the sky with confusion, thinking: "The British are crazy, why don't they drop bombs and throw down paper?"
As for the insult and contempt for Italian officers and soldiers revealed in the leaflet, the Italian officers saw it.
They were not very angry, nor did they angrily ask Commander Garibaldi for revenge. Originally, many people in this army signed up to join the army just to make a living and get a share of military pay.
It's too late for them to be happy if they can avoid fighting. Who would be so foolish as to fight to death?
The British are free to scold them. Anyway, the Italians believe that their superiority is reflected in the elegant arts such as painting, architecture, and literature. In terms of rough war without any sense of beauty, you British can look down on it. It doesn't matter.
.
Of course, there are still a few angry youths in a large army. The few Italian officers were successfully angered by the British and went to Garibaldi to discuss and report the matter.
But when they saw Garibaldi, they discovered that the commander had actually obtained the British leaflet.
However, Garibaldi, the tolerant commander, was enjoying his favorite spaghetti with meat sauce specially prepared for him by the chef.
The paper that Garibaldi placed under the noodle bowl to prevent the noodle soup from spilling on the table was the British's provocative leaflet.