In the original time and space, after conquering the Caucasus region of the Soviet Union, the German army moved south to invade Egypt from the eastern front.
In this life, now that the British army is collapsing on multiple fronts at the same time, the new plan of the German high command is to arrange that after the African Army Group conquers Egypt, it will join forces with friendly forces in Vichy France and Italy to attack the Soviet Union from Egypt, through the Middle East, and northward.
Caucasus region.
This plan was undoubtedly good news for Rommel.
Although the German troops under his command still only had two divisions, and had not been further supplemented. However, there were three Italian divisions fully under his command, as well as Garibaldi's Italian Army Group, plus Berante's
It is not too difficult for the French army to join forces to complete this combat mission.
In fact, Rommel's African Expeditionary Force resembled an anomaly. It seemed to have been established just to promote Rommel, his confidant general, to general by Reinhardt.
At first, even Rommel himself wrote in confusion in a letter to his wife Lucy: "I don't quite understand whether this proves that I am a commander-in-chief. Formally speaking, this kind of military rank can only be assigned to corps commanders.
But in fact, the domestic troops I actually command are only two divisions, and at most one corps commander."
However, Rommel no longer has this confusion now.
A series of victories made him realize that he was very much in line with Reinhard's arrangements. Moreover, he also commanded the most conveniently dispatched German army, commanded the servant army sent by the Italians in the name of the commander of the group army, and commanded the allied forces as the highest commander.
In the name of the commander, he arranged the French military operations brought by Berante.
This kind of experience is a rare opportunity that many army commanders in China have not been able to get!
Even Reinhard's most trusted General, General Manstein, now only commands the German and Romanian armies at the same time.
Therefore, Rommel, who was completely accustomed to his duties in Africa, had already set up his frontline headquarters in Gambut, which is exactly halfway between Tobruk and the Egyptian border.
The reason why Rommel dared to do this actually stemmed from the fact that his teammates were no longer Italian teammates, but the majestic French general Berante!
In the six days before Rommel's battle at Wavell, Berlant had been concentrating artillery on Tobruk for several days of violent bombardment, constantly weakening the British defenses.
After Rommel's instructions to attack by force, Berante's six French colonial divisions immediately opened a breakthrough in the British army's circular defense line, and then he coordinated with Garibaldi's Italian 21st Army to secure the flanks.
Safe, use the three main French local divisions in hand to rush directly into the Tobruk port, immediately putting the British Commonwealth defenders in Tobruk Fortress to death.
Since most of the troops stationed in Tobruk are colonial native troops such as the British South African 2nd Division and the Indian 11th Brigade, as well as the Commonwealth Allied Forces from New Zealand and Australia, this has resulted in the commanders from the British Army being unable to dispatch various units in a timely manner.
, the entire garrison moved slowly, the reorganization work had not been completed, and it was even more difficult to organize a thorough defense.
Originally, the multinational defenders of Tobruk could still rely on rigid defensive tactics to defend their respective areas.
Moreover, the terrain around Tobruk Fortress is very complex. The sand ridge in the southeast is simply impassable for armored vehicles. The desert plains in the south are covered with attack formation bunkers and firepower points for installed troops, connected by tunnels, and independent strongholds are also built outside.
There are deep anti-tank trenches and dense barbed wire fences, and the perimeter of the fortifications is also covered with countless anti-tank minefields.
But who would have expected that Rommel and his armored division did not come at all. What came was pure infantry commanded by Berante and Garibaldi. This wasted a great deal of effectiveness on the carefully laid out anti-tank positions of the fortress defenders.
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This arrangement can be regarded as weakening the power of the armored forces that Rommel was proud of.
The most important thing is that the person responsible for capturing this fortress is the famous French general, General Berante!
While Rommel was leading his German staff to confront Wavell, Berante had already led his French staff to formulate a plan with Garibaldi based on the defense situation of the Commonwealth defenders.
The Italian 21st Army will perform a feint attack mission, while the French African Colonial Army and the Italian 20th Army will serve as the main attack plan.
On the day the forceful attack was launched, Berante first concentrated more than 90% of the artillery of France and Italy in Africa for bombardment, and used the main force of the French native division to advance to the crossroads leading to the port of Brutok.
Arrange Garibaldi's feign attack troops to attack westward to the Via Barbia Highway.
In the end, Berante did not forget to leave the Italian 20th Army to occupy the British fortifications and destroy the colonial troops of the British South Africa Division.
As expected, less than 24 hours had passed on the day of the general attack. General Klopp, the commander of the British Army's Blutock Fortress and the commander of the British 2nd South African Division, launched an attack on Berante's Army on the Via Balbia Highway.
The French army submitted a document of surrender.
Subsequently, in order to commend Berante's achievements, the French head of state Pétain personally announced on the radio: "The French government has solemnly decided to promote General Berante, commander of the French Afrika Korps, to Field Marshal of the French Army."
Since then, Berante, who was regarded as his successor by Pétain, finally lived up to his expectations and became the only French field marshal after Pétain!
This is the only World War II marshal born in the French army after the start of World War II. Its significance is far more important than the award of the title of marshal itself!
Subsequently, in order to take care of Italy's emotions, the coalition command arranged for the British General Klopp to conduct a separate surrender ceremony to the Italian General Garibaldi.
As for Rommel's German army, he thoughtfully did not let Klopp bring anyone to participate in the third surrender ceremony. From Rommel's point of view, he is only looking forward to the Cairo victory parade in the near future.
Therefore, during the days when the Italian and French allies were on their way from Tobruk to Gambut, Rommel bumped across the desert in a command vehicle every day, visiting every barracks to inspect the construction of the new tactical stronghold on the Salum front.
He ensured that each position would be provided with enough food and ammunition to sustain an eight-day battle, and that the Italian army's rusty cannons that had been abandoned in the desert after the British army failed to fight alone and retreated were repaired and put into the front line.
Here, an Italian infantry division that Rommel had brought in from Garibaldi in advance had used the time away from participating in the battle against the British Army to conduct a week of training and live-fire exercises.
Ship after ship of supplies of artillery and ammunition were also transported from Italy to the African front line under Rossi's arrangement.
Tanks and trucks advanced slowly through the bushes to give the appearance of a large tank force. A reconnaissance battalion shuttled back and forth across the border, performing radio feints to create the illusion of a massive attack by the entire Afrika Korps.
As Garibaldi and Berante gradually gathered their troops, Rommel's plan for the Battle of El Alamein could finally be launched.