The battle on the southern front has come to an end, but the Italian army, which should have arrived in time, has yet to arrive.
The biggest reason for this result is not because they deliberately slowed down their advance. The biggest reason is... they went in the wrong direction?!
The person responsible for clearing the way for the large Italian army was the Reconnaissance Company directly under the Legion led by Captain Carter. This Reconnaissance Company was part of the troops directly under General Garibaldi, and Captain Carter was also considered a confidant of Garibaldi and was deeply respected.
General Garibaldi's confidence.
The six leading soldiers of the Italian reconnaissance company were responsible for leading the way at the front of the entire Italian army. They were about 1 mile away from the main part of the reconnaissance company, and 10 miles behind the reconnaissance company was the main Italian army.
The reconnaissance company is like the eyes and ears of the Italian army, tasked with clearing the way for the Italian army. However, their vision and hearing seem to be quite problematic...
"Call Captain Carter! Call Captain Carter! Please answer if you receive it! Please answer if you receive it!" The communication soldier in the vanguard called Captain Carter on the radio.
"I'm Carter, speaking." Captain Carter immediately replied.
"Reporting to the captain, we found an unknown town 2 miles ahead. The enemy situation in the town is unknown. The strange thing is that this town did not appear in our planned march route." The signal soldier continued to report.
"Understood, continue the investigation and report any situation immediately." After Captain Carter replied, he thought for a while and ordered to his subordinates: "Bring the map and compass over here."
Because they were not familiar with the situation on the Algerian border, they almost went in the wrong direction several times. Fortunately, they finally corrected it in time. Otherwise, they might have made a big mistake and delayed the fighter plane - although they had no intention of fighting.
.
After repeated positioning and deduction by Captain Carter and several other officers, they discovered that they had made a huge mistake - the troops' marching route had deviated 30 degrees eastward, causing the entire Italian army to have entered a 25-mile-deep territory in Libya.
place.
What is dramatic is that the British did not realize that the Italian troops had penetrated deep into their rear base areas. If these more than 100,000 Italian troops were replaced by German troops, the British troops on the front line would probably have been wiped out.
Fortunately, it was the Italian army and not the German army.
"If there is no miscalculation, we should now be in the area west of Sedles in western Libya. The unknown town mentioned in the news just sent by the soldiers is probably Sedles." Carter said to himself.
"As far as I know, Sedles is the foundation of the British army's rear. Almost all the British army's baggage and ammunition are stationed here." Carter's well-informed adjutant said to him: "I suggest reporting it to General Garibaldi immediately.
, explain our current situation.”
Carter nodded after hearing this and agreed with the suggestion: "Yes, we should report it to General Garibaldi immediately, and also report our dereliction of duty."
Although leading the troops astray was a serious dereliction of duty by the reconnaissance company, after all, his troops were one of the troops directly under Garibaldi, so if they made mistakes, as long as they were reported in time, they would not be severely punished.
Sure enough, after receiving the news from the reconnaissance company, Garibaldi, instead of holding Carter accountable for his dereliction of duty, actually praised Carter in public.
When he held an emergency seminar, he praised the generals under his command: "Carter, the captain of the direct reconnaissance company, when leading his troops on a reconnaissance mission, unexpectedly discovered in the intelligence that the British army had stored ammunition and baggage in the rear.
Si. I announced a commendation for Captain Carter, and at the same time, ordered the troops to prepare for battle and move closer to Sedles in two directions!"
Get closer? This is going to be a war!
"General, wait a minute..." The one who spoke was the major general who was backed by Mussolini. He was afraid of war from the bottom of his heart and always found some trouble when General Garibaldi decided to go to war.
"I think we should hold the reconnaissance company commander accountable instead of rewarding him. It was he who led our troops in the wrong direction, causing us to enter Libya and penetrate deep into the rear of the British army... This was originally a
This is an unnecessary battle." The major general began his eloquent talk about being greedy for life and fearing death, and the key is, he seemed to be addicted!
"Secondly, we don't know the defensive situation of Sedles, and even if Sedles's defense force is not many, this is the territory of the British after all. I can guarantee that as soon as we start fighting, there will be a steady stream of
When the British troops come to support us, we will definitely not be able to hold on. So my suggestion is to return the same way and move closer to Highlands 3 and 4 as originally planned."
After hearing what he said, General Garibaldi nodded perfunctorily, but there was a hint of anger on his face.
But he still replied calmly: "What you said makes sense. In this case, you take your division to join the German and French troops, and we will attack Sedeles."
"But, but, general..."
"Stop talking, it's decided." General Garibaldi interrupted the major general unceremoniously this time, because he couldn't bear it anymore. This was not the first time this guy had shown blatant cowardice...
...Although many other generals are also timid, no one will say it out loud!
"Of course, if you don't want to go to Ejele alone, you can also follow us to attack Sedles." Garibaldi added.
The major general was stunned. He did not expect General Garibaldi to speak to him like this. After all, he had Mussolini as his backing. Others, regardless of their military rank, would show courtesy to him, but this time Garibaldi
It didn't save him any face at all.
In fact, it's not that Garibaldi didn't give him face.
On the contrary, Garibaldi has tolerated and forgiven his behavior more than once. But this time, Garibaldi really couldn't bear it. The major general did not consider the German and French forces who were still fighting with the British, and focused on
All he wanted to do was avoid war and be lazy, and he didn't take the war to heart at all.
He didn't even think about it, who did Libya originally belong to? It was land that belonged to Italy. If he didn't work hard to get it back, could he really just rely on his allies to help get it back?
It's not that Garibaldi cares about the safety of the French and German allies. On the contrary, if it were in the past, he also hoped that the French and German allies would suffer as much damage as possible.
The situation is different now. If France and Germany lose the battlefield initiative in North Africa, then the British will control the southern coast of the Mediterranean. This will undoubtedly be huge bad news for Italy.
Italy could not bear the consequences, which was why Mussolini unexpectedly joined forces with France in North Africa.
Mussolini did not sincerely want to support Vichy France, but supporting France was actually supporting Italy itself. Only by attacking the British army could Mussolini's goal be achieved.
What Mussolini hoped more was to find a strategic balance point in North Africa to balance the strengths of Britain, France and Italy. He did not want any of the three countries to be far more powerful than the other two... Of course
, except for Italy, which is far ahead, but unfortunately they can't surpass it.
Today's Italian African Army has been greatly reduced in strength compared to before. If the British had not been ruthless to attack Berante's Algerian Army, which would have only caused more trouble, and the Germans finally sent reinforcements, Garibaldi's more than 100,000
The Italian army may have been cleared by Wavell long ago.
