When Montgomery came to the Defense Hall with his adjutant and two other personal staff officers, what was waiting for them was Wavell and his party, who had already arrived.
"Why did you arrive now?"
Before Montgomery could say anything, Wavell started to attack.
"I was delayed on the way, so I came a little late." Although Montgomery and his party were not delayed on the way, and he rushed over as soon as he received the news of Wavell's summons. However, since the other party had already blamed himself
If you are late, there is no need to dwell too much on this issue.
Montgomery has always been a pragmatic person, so he didn't have time for Wavell to argue about whether he was late. Even if Montgomery was delayed, it wouldn't be a big deal.
"Delay? Do you know how bad your behavior is! During Operation Tomahawk, it was because of your delay that the frontline troops did not receive timely support. In the end, the entire front was unable to attack and had to withdraw."
Unexpectedly, Wavell was not simply trying to vent his anger. He seemed to have made up his mind from the beginning to make a fuss about Montgomery in the rear.
Sure enough, Wavell immediately blamed: "The failure of Operation Tomahawk was because you delayed sending troops to support the front line. I didn't expect that you still don't know your fault now, and continue your delay and your bad behavior!"
"Wait!" Montgomery, who realized something was wrong, quickly interrupted Wavell's frame-up and made a timely statement: "Before Operation Tomahawk started, I reminded the African High Command many times to be careful of German sneak attacks from the flanks.
As a result, the African High Command not only did not listen to my advice, but sent me to stay in the rear, and in order to deal with me, several motley troops were sent to me to deploy defenses."
"Even so, I have not made any complaints. Since the African High Command ordered me to deploy defenses and not interfere in the frontline fighting, then I will act according to the order. As a result, now, you have in turn blamed me for not sending troops to support!
"
Montgomery, who had swallowed his temper and pretended to be a grandson in order to join the army, now lost his temper, pointed at Wavell's nose and cursed: "Confusing right and wrong, confusing right and wrong, you really think that I, Montgomery, am a fool who has no brains and is at your mercy."
?"
Now Montgomery has soldiers and power, and is responsible for the defense of Egypt. He can be said to be the most powerful general in the British army in Africa. In other words, after thirty years of Hedong and thirty years of Hexi, now it is Montgomery's turn to show his power.
Got it!
A week ago, this scene would have been unimaginable.
At that time, Wavell held the main Commonwealth force of about 50,000 men, with more than 300 tanks. And all the troops Montgomery held at that time were Australian and Egyptian troops that Wavell did not want.
The total number was less than 40,000, and the level of weapons and equipment was completely incomparable to the troops in Wavell's hands, and there was not a single tank.
In the blink of an eye, the main army in Wavell's hands became a remnant of less than 10,000 soldiers who had lost all their armor.
However, the eliminated troops in Montgomery's hands became a new force equipped with captured weapons from Italy, expanding the number of troops by one-third to about 50,000 in total.
Today, Montgomery has the capital to scold Wavell.
He couldn't stand Wavell's conceited battle plan, and he was even more disgusted by Wavell's inexplicable confidence that he had drawn from the Italian copy.
If possible, Montgomery might even have dragged this smart-alecked idiot from his position as the supreme commander of the Commonwealth forces in Africa at the beginning, and replaced him with this important task early on.
It's a pity that at that time, Montgomery had just arrived in Africa and had no troops or power, so he could only endure it and watch that idiot Wavell act smart.
Most people thought that Montgomery would be proud to have been praised by Wavell. However, he simply did not like Wavell who praised him so much because of a military exercise.
How can such a general who praises himself so much just because of a successful exercise continue to be surprised after seeing his actual combat results?
Wavell is just a stupid attack that Africa has defeated the Italians. Facing the arrogant and incompetent Italians, there is nothing to be proud of after winning a few games. If you calculate it this way, when you fought the powerful German army in Belgium for a day and night,
Isn’t it worth writing home about?
Montgomery's fierce reaction made Wavell unable to react for a moment.
Wavell's last impression of Montgomery was a week ago. At that time, Montgomery was still dull and unsociable.
Unexpectedly, when we met again, the other person's face changed faster than the weather in Africa!
The speed of this face change is probably even more exaggerated than the change in temperature difference between day and night in Africa.
Wavell originally intended to blame Montgomery for the failure of Operation Tomahawk.
This is not because Wavell is sinister and vicious, pushing others forward when bad things happen.
It's really because the responsibility brought by his failure is so heavy that Wavell can't bear the responsibility at all!
The last mobile counterattack force of the British Empire in Africa was wasted. From now on, Britain will no longer have any initiative in Africa and can only be passively beaten.
In any colonial empire, any general who made such a mistake would be a sinner of the country. What’s more, this happened in the majestic “Empire on which the Sun Never Sets”!
Placing the blame on Montgomery was also Wavell's helpless move.
What's more, Montgomery has Gott as a back-up, and London may not do anything to him.
After all, Wavell heard that in Britain, Gott's power was infinitely close to that of the German head of state in Germany.
The war gave Gott great power and status. These would have been impossible in peacetime. But under the flames of war, everything was not so absolutely impossible.
Anyway, from Wavell's point of view, if you Montgomery takes the blame, for the sake of your Duke Gott's backing, the consequences will definitely be a hundred times better than if you take the blame yourself. This is the best arrangement in theory.
"Lieutenant General Montgomery! Please recognize your status!" Wavell, who was at a loss, had no choice but to use his rank of general to suppress Montgomery, who was a lieutenant general.
"You'd better not be so showy and rebellious when talking to the commander. It's one crime for you to disobey orders, but now you're going to contradict the commander, and it's another crime for you!"