After Rommel experienced the defeat in Tobruk, he quietly wrote the following in his diary: "Italy's equipment is too poor, and most military and political leaders are generally not interested in war. Their incompetence has caused me to
The battle plan was completely in vain."
In fact, the defeat in Tobruk had nothing to do with the Italian army. Rommel's attempt to pass the blame this time was not very good.
In addition, it was not the Italian military and political leaders who stopped the Italian Afrika Korps, but the German head of state, Reinhardt, who stopped it through Rossi.
In the final analysis, it is still because of the German leader.
Of course, what Rommel said actually had a lot to do with his strong sense of honor.
He often said: "There is no real soldier who does not want to get a medal."
In other words, he believes that qualified soldiers should want to get military medals.
When Rommel was still a junior officer, he regarded honor as the best carrier to realize his self-worth. Because of his sense of honor, he even had a fight with Reinhardt 20 years ago.
Rommel's greatest shortcoming is precisely his greatest strength.
He always thinks about how to maximize his advantages and achieve the best results on his own battlefield. But in this way, he is suspected of focusing on tactics and despising the overall strategic situation.
Of course, it is not a bad thing to pay too much attention to the battlefield you are responsible for. Even Manstein, Germany's most famous strategic master, actually liked to do this.
The difference is that if Rommel could make strategic achievements like Maninstein proposed the plan to encircle the main force of Poland's counterattack or bypass the Maginot Line, then he would not be caught in the trap of being a master tactician and a strategic dwarf.
Leave the braid on.
But it's actually not a big deal.
After all, in a war, someone will naturally make strategic decisions. As a battlefield commander, what Rommel needs is understanding and execution, so that he can transform the orders of the head of state into beautiful tactical victories through his own hands time and time again.
To think on behalf of the headquarters, as long as he does his job well, he can already become a famous general.
In fact, Rommel could do this.
But this time in the battle of Tobruk, if Rommel could have a strategic vision like Manstein and put more effort into logistical supplies, then perhaps a defeat like this could be resolved to a certain extent.
avoidance.
Of course, a defeat is a defeat. The biggest reason for this failed attack was due to Reinhardt's opposition, which resulted in the inability of the French and Italians responsible for the supply of the African Army.
Therefore, due to insufficient supplies, Rommel was unable to concentrate all his forces and could only supply limited troops for combat, resulting in the failure of the attack.
Fortunately, the French troops that Pétain promised Reinhardt to send to Africa have now arrived on the northern coast of Algeria, and the equipment of the remaining two armored battalions of Rommel's 15th Armored Division has also arrived.
Algeria, Algiers port.
The two German noncommissioned officers who were responsible for supporting the French landing force in Algiers watched as Vichy French troop transport ships arrived one after another in front of them. Former enemies, wearing familiar military uniforms, came to Africa to fight alongside them.
time.
Two German non-commissioned officers who had participated in the French campaign were deeply moved.
"What do you think the Frenchman will think now? He fought with the British before, and now he comes here to fight with us... It's really hard to understand." One of the German sergeants said to the man next to him.
The youngest of the several black soldiers joked.
This black soldier was a native of Algeria. He was one of the black soldiers temporarily recruited by Lieutenant General Hans who came to Africa with Rommel and learned from Berante's method.
This black soldier has been influenced by the Germans since he was a child, so he can barely understand some daily German. He can also fully understand the words of this German non-commissioned officer.
Then he replied slowly in broken German: "Sir, I don't know what the French would think. But I think this is not bad. At least the British will be frightened when they see our formation. They will
We certainly didn’t expect reinforcements to arrive one after another behind us, although most of them are French.”
The black soldier did not expect that he could speak so much German in one breath. He looked at the several black soldiers next to him in surprise and nodded to them, meaning to ask if everyone understood.
The two German staff sergeants easily understood what he meant and told him: "We understand, but it took us a while to think about what you said. It's best to practice your German more."
Hearing the praise from the German noncommissioned officer, the black soldier laughed happily. His dream was to live in Germany in the future, and learning German well was the first step.
In front of them, the entire city of Algiers was filled with the rumble of German Panther tanks and the cheers of onlookers. The Leopard tanks arriving this time seemed to be endless. Those who didn't know better would have thought that there were at least two regiments.
!
In fact, the two armored battalions ordered by Rommel to arrive in Algiers from the port first circled the French parliament building here several times to show their bluff.
At the same time, in order to deceive the British aerial reconnaissance, Rommel also ordered hundreds of fake tanks made of wood and cardboard to look like the real ones, and then mounted them on "Volkswagen" cars to circle around, while the real tanks avoided enemy reconnaissance.
Secretly arrived at the front line and planned to build the 15th Armored Division.
In fact, a large part of the reason why Rommel failed in his last attack on Tobruk was because the troops were not fully organized and the strength of each unit was insufficient. This time, with the support of these French divisions, plus the 15th
The armored division's best two battalions of tanks were sent, and Rommel's grasp of the African battlefield would be further enhanced.
After all, he didn't lose much in the first place.
The Italian allies did not join, the French allies did not join, and even Lieutenant General Hans's 30th Infantry Division did not join. The only ones who actually participated in the previous battle were the dissatisfied 15th Armored Division. Moreover, this dissatisfied 15th Armored Division did not join.
The 15th Armored Division could not all be put in place because of the lack of attention from the allies in terms of supplies.
Therefore, failure in this case cannot mean anything at all.
Now, he gave full play to his cunning deception skills, allowing the British army to misjudge the number of reinforcement tanks, so that he could fully formulate the next battle plan that dazzled Wavell.
Fortunately, the intelligence agents installed by the British among the local people in Algiers successfully brought back the false news spread by Rommel.