"The Italians should have a taste of the whip. Six British tanks surrounded and annihilated an entire battalion. This is really a shame. This damn nation should all be shot, and now we have to fight for them! I really feel sorry for them.
The Commander-in-Chief is saddened to have to fight with such a force."
The one who issued the curse was Rommel's new translator, Lieutenant Albrut. This lieutenant, who had just been transferred to North Africa, happened to encounter an embarrassing and humiliating scene by the Italians.
This was an unplanned war.
Because Rommel and Berante ignored the Italian officers to discuss the next combat strategy, an Italian division commander under Garibaldi felt that it was a loss of face for the Italian Army.
Although Garibaldi himself did not feel any shame, after all, there were differences in abilities between people, and Garibaldi was good at accepting the existence of this gap.
However, the division commander under Garibaldi could not sit still. He decided to bypass the German and French troops and only rely on the Italian troops in his hands to launch a final attack on the British defense lines.
In the opinion of this division commander, the British have been defeated, and collapse will happen sooner or later. The Italian Army has been humiliated by the British troops in Africa during these days. If it does not take this opportunity to regain its face,
After the Germans and French win the war, what prestige will the Italian army have within the Allies?
Therefore, the Italian division commander quickly organized the semi-motorized infantry division of the Ariti Division under his command.
Since this is a powerful mobile force that is rare in the Italian Army in North Africa, it has been reserved by Garibaldi as a strategic reserve force for the Italian Army's High Command in Africa. It has not experienced any wars, is well-organized, and has normal strength.
The aggressive Italian Ariti semi-motorized infantry division rushed in front of Montgomery and became the first training ground for the new Egyptian army after Montgomery's reorganization.
The Italian division commander who launched this offensive was already a rare nationalist among the top brass of the Italian army in North Africa. Moreover, this division commander also carried the opportunistic ideas that had been popular during Mussolini's period and liked to fight speculative wars.
Unfortunately, this ambitious but mediocre Italian major general happened to meet a famous British general like Montgomery who was quite capable. As a result, the assault he organized was quickly used by Montgomery to use the fierce artillery fire deployed on the defense line.
Stopped.
At the same time, the Italian army even began to show signs of collapse under the indiscriminate bombardment from Montgomery's concentrated artillery and fighter planes.
On the other hand, Montgomery committed all 3 battalions of Australian troops at one time to counterattack the Italian Ariti Division. The Italian army suffered heavy losses and about 400 people were captured, while the rest fled one after another.
The disastrous defeat of the Italian army and the three-nation coalition of the African Allied Powers brought the originally overwhelming battlefield situation to an abrupt end. Rommel had to order the entire army to stop attacking and temporarily maintain defense.
Because among the entire Allied forces in Africa, except for Berante's French army, which relied on France's own transportation force for supplies, Rommel's German army almost entirely relied on Italian transport fleets to supply various materials and ammunition.
In other words, Rommel's army only provided men and equipment from Germany, and then it was all Italians who supported them.
Needless to say, the benefits of this are that Germany's own logistics department does not have to worry about arranging transportation capacity for the supplies of the African Army. It only needs to regularly transport some of the required German parts and equipment from the north to Italy, and then the Italian logistics department will be fully responsible for the rear.
transportation arrangements.
It was easy, but the disadvantage was also obvious, that is, the key logistics of Rommel's army were handed over to the unreliable Italians.
For example, this time, an Italian division commander launched an offensive on his own initiative. As a result, he brought with him a large amount of war materials that were guarded and preserved by the Italian army.
However, with a little effort in Montgomery, using only 6 tanks taken over from Wavell, plus powerful Australian infantry, the Italian Ariti Division was defeated.
It didn't matter that he just defeated an Italian division. What was more important was that Montgomery also seized a large amount of war supplies that the Ariti Division's logistics troops had lucked into!
This was originally a key material that Rommel needed to launch the next round of general offensive. Although only part of it was captured, it was enough to cause Rommel heartache.
The Ariti Division can be said to be one of the most well-organized Italian divisions in Africa today. This division brought with it enough supplies to theoretically require a reinforced division.
The loss of such a large amount of supplies increased the risks of Rommel's subsequent operations.
The offensive can still be launched, and the ammunition and supplies expected to be needed, if supplemented by the part that Rommel had previously asked his logistics officer to lead the German army's stockpile, can support the entire planned offensive process.
But in this case, the German-Italian Allied Forces in North Africa will not be able to have any additional reserves of supplies. If there are any unexpected changes, the German-Italian Allied Forces will not be able to produce any emergency reserves.
Rommel patted the aggrieved interpreter lieutenant on the shoulder to comfort him, and then turned to his adjutant and gave instructions: "Let our 15th Armored Division evacuate the attack position."
Now that the Italian Pig teammates have sent their heads and equipment, we can only accept the facts and continue to prepare for the next action on this basis.
After all, Rommel couldn't find Garibaldi and ask him to call the Italian division commander who had killed him and give him a beating, right?
As for sending the Italian division commander to a military court, Rommel, as a German general, had no control over it.
What he can do now is to withdraw the exhausted German armored divisions that have just experienced the British Operation Tomahawk from the front line and replace them with infantry to defend the positions they have gained.
Of course, these infantrymen are basically Italian soldiers.
In this way, the German tank crews will have time to take a breather and replenish the tanks with fuel and ammunition. The German infantry can also be replaced by Italian infantry and have a good rest.
While waiting for the next wave of supplies to arrive, it is not a bad decision to rest the troops that have just finished a big battle. Although, this was not Rommel's original intention.
As for what to do if the Italian pig teammates were too tired to perform military missions? That was not something Rommel had to consider.
Anyway, after using up the Italian troops this time, except for the three Italian divisions under the German-Italian Army, Rommel was too lazy to drag the other Italian crane tail troops to Cairo.