The weather in Tripoli at the end of December was still hot. Although it was right on the Mediterranean Sea, it still made General Antonescu, who had just arrived, very uncomfortable.
That's right, Antonescu had just met Mussolini from Rome, and it had only been two days since he arrived in Tripoli. Antonescu still had fresh memories of meeting that leader in Rome. The Italian
As if summoning his subordinates, the leader asked Antonescu questions, and his posture seemed to place his North African legions under the jurisdiction of Rome.
However, Antonescu did not accept that trick. He directly pointed out that the Romanian army was here to help Italy repel the British and French troops that invaded Libya, so he would formulate a combat plan based on the actual situation on the battlefield. It was considered a soft or hard pushback.
Mussolini's extended hand.
The North African Army formed by Romania is currently in transit. The only troops that have been transported to Tripoli are one unit of the 2nd Armored Division, one unit of the 29th Division, and one unit of the 48th Motorized Infantry Division. In total, there are more than 10,000 people.
, more than 200 artillery pieces, 25 self-propelled artillery pieces, 97 tanks, and 49 various anti-aircraft guns.
Although not many troops arrived, it greatly boosted the morale of the Tripoli defenders and at least let the Tripoli defenders know that they had reinforcements.
Of course, reinforcements are not limited to the North African Army led by Antonescu. Italy has also landed many reinforcements, but their reinforcements are more in Benghazi and Tobruk. Especially in Tobruk,
At present, the Italian reinforcements have reached 8 divisions and more than 60,000 people.
In fact, Italy also had its own selfish motives for deploying Antonescu's North African Army to Tripoli. Although its previous attack on Egypt suffered a disastrous failure, it still did not dispel Italy's ambitions for Egypt. After all, the Suez Canal is too tempting, and no one wants to
Take control of this traffic artery.
Of course, Italy will not do anything too obvious. It also transported troops to Tripoli, and also transported the Ram Armored Division, one of Italy's only two armored divisions, to Tripoli. As for the other armored division, the Trento Division
Transferred to Tobruk.
In fact, Antonescu hoped that the Trento Division would support him more than the Ram Division. Because there was a huge gap between the two divisions. The Ram Division was equipped with Italy's own tanks, while the Trento Division was equipped with a water tank.
Romanian tanks.
Let's see what tanks Italy has?
The first one to appear was the Fiat-3000, Italy's first tank. This tank was copied from the Renault-17, but the difference in performance was not too big.
The second is the famous armored Alto CV33 ultra-light tank. The length, width and height of this armored Alto are only 3.2/1.4/1.28 meters respectively, and the total combat weight is 3.2 tons. It can be said to be the little girl among tanks.
There is also the M11/39, the most powerful medium tank currently in the hands of Italy. This tank has a total length of 4.72 meters, a height of 2.23 meters, and a weight of 11.0 tons. Let me add that M11 represents a total weight of 11 tons. And this tank still uses
Rivet bolt-mounted, the armor is: upper front: 30, lower: 14, sides: 14, top of the car: 8, bottom of the car: 8, turret front: 30, turret sides: 30.
In addition, the layout is somewhat like the M3 Lee tank. The 37mm tank gun it is equipped with is arranged on the left side of the body. (If you are interested, you can check it out, this tank is very confusing)
How can Antonescu rest assured with such a new tank? Fortunately, I heard that Italy is improving its own medium tanks. After they got the Romanian R10 light tank, they tested it and found that it was much better than their own tanks.
.(Italy: Who can tell me why this R10 light tank is 6.9 tons heavier than my medium tank?)
However, the new prototype has not yet been developed, so Italy’s main tank is still the M11/39.
Although Antonescu looked down upon Italian tanks, he still had to admit that Italy chose a good commander to cooperate with him this time. Lieutenant General Giovanni Messe was in charge of the Roman-Italian coalition and was responsible for commanding the Italian army.
In Antonescu's view, this lieutenant general is one of the few officers in the Italian army who can use tanks in combat.
At present, Italy has also transported two divisions to Tripoli. In addition to the Ram Armored Division, there is also the Brescia Infantry Division, and perhaps out of concern for the safety of Tripoli, basically all of the two divisions have been transported to Tripoli.
The division has been incorporated into the Italian North African Army. In the future, the strength of the North African coalition formed by the two armies will be as high as 240,000.
Facing the constant influx of reinforcements from Tripoli, General Catroux, as the commander of the French army, is now somewhat shaken in his confidence in capturing Tripoli, because the French army is still 15 kilometers away from Tripoli. Although he can already see the most important city in Libya
city, but it is difficult to advance further.
General Catroux has sent a message to Paris, hoping to get more reinforcements. He feels that he is only one step away from Tripoli. As long as he has reinforcements and works harder, he can take the city.
So the French army's attack began early in the morning. Facing the sound of French artillery fire, the defenders had breakfast, and then the day's battle began again.
Antonescu got off the plane in a dusty state. He had just taken a plane to inspect the battlefield. This was quite risky. As long as he was discovered by French fighter planes, the RY58 transport plane he was riding on would never be able to escape. Although the four RF20 fighter planes were
It was escorted, but as long as it was known that a Romanian lieutenant general was sitting among them, the risk would be too high.
"Hi, Messe, why are you here?"
Antonescu, who had just gotten off the plane, saw Messe waiting for him at the airport. He said hello awkwardly.
"Lieutenant General Anthony, have you gone to inspect the battlefield again?"
As soon as he saw Antonescu's figure, Lieutenant General Messer became a little angry. He thought he was brave, but he didn't expect that this man was even bolder and dared to inspect the battlefield. He died
It doesn't matter, but it's not good at all if it affects the morale of the army.
Seeing the resentful Lieutenant General Messer, Antonescu couldn't help but touch his nose when he thought of his promise just yesterday not to fly on battlefield inspections.
"Lieutenant General Massey, don't keep a straight face and be happy. Think about it from another perspective, am I back?"
"..."
"Listen to me, during my inspection, I discovered a loophole in the French army."
"What, you found a loophole in the French army?"
Now Messer couldn't pretend anymore and asked directly, with only a few words written quickly on his face.
"Yes, I have discovered several loopholes in the French army. If we take advantage of them, we will not only be able to eliminate the disadvantages of the current battle situation, but we may also be able to keep most of the French troops here."
Speaking of this, Antonescu's eyes also showed a sharp desire, which was his desire for military success.
