Chapter 228: The rare and generous Desert Fox! (First update!) Zheng Dongguo and Du Yuming were both students in the first batch and both are alumni. In terms of personal development, both sides are equally matched, but strictly speaking, Zheng Dongguo has a better future than Du Yuming. At least he won’t take the blame for no reason. The main problem is still a matter of personal character. "Military seat, won't we also be assigned to the expeditionary force?" Liao Yaoxiang was originally from the Fifth Army and was under the command of Du Yuming. During the last expedition, he was originally ordered to withdraw to the country. However, he was blocked by the Japanese army, so he had no choice but to withdraw to Imphal. Now that I know that Du Yuming has become the commander of the expeditionary force again, I am naturally a little surprised. “No, we are still directly under the Allied Forces Command, but there should be some strategic cooperation between the two sides.” Zheng Dongguo shook his head. “Then shall we continue like this?” Liao Yaoxiang hesitated and asked.
Strictly speaking, this was a delay in fighting. If they were serious, they would definitely be dealt with by military law. But every time he came up with a reason, Stilwell was speechless. Logistics and supplies are not good, the morale of the troops is low, the roads are not good, the marching speed is slow, etc. Although Stilwell was a China expert, he still believed in the Allied thinking: if logistics were insufficient, the troops would protest and refuse to carry out orders. Mai Paopao once said that if he gave something like fried noodles to his subordinates, he would definitely be waiting for him with a gun to his head. So Stilwell could only increase his logistics supply capacity. But now that the Suez Canal is blocked, the speed of military aid from the US military has slowed down, and it will take some time to completely complete the supply. In addition, there are more than 100,000 more mouths, which is enough to give Stilwell a headache for a while. “Let’s increase the marching speed for the time being. When the expeditionary force arrives, I’ll test Du Guangting’s tone.” Zheng Dongguo thought for a while and said. Upon hearing this, Liao Yaoxiang knew that there was no other way but to do this first. … In Alexandria, Rommel looked at the list in his hand with joy at the corner of his mouth. He also didn’t expect that there would be so many supplies in Alexandria, which was simply unbelievable. At the same time, he also secretly weighed the strength comparison between the two sides. Without the assault on Alexandria, even if the German army won the Battle of El Alamein, they would eventually stop at Alexandria and would be unable to continue the offensive. Coupled with the cutoff of local support, the result waiting for the North African Army is the complete annihilation of the army. Rommel broke into a cold sweat when he thought of this. Fortunately, Alexandria is his now. He relies on the captured supplies to give the North African Army the ability to continue fighting. But it also completely angered the Allies.
According to intelligence, the Allied forces will mobilize heavy troops to encircle and suppress the navies of the four countries. In other words, he will not take advantage of this moment to capture Cairo and reach the Suez Canal in one go. What awaits him will be endless revenge from the Allies. Thinking of this, Rommel could no longer sit still and directly ordered an attack on Cairo. "Move all artillery to the Cairo line. I need your artillery shells to teach those **** Allies a lesson." Rommel said to the adjutant. "Yes." The adjutant also knew that the situation was urgent. Now was not the time to celebrate victory. The Allies needed to be driven away from Cairo in one go. After capturing the supplies in Alexandria, the mechanization level of the German army increased a lot. So there is not much difficulty in towing these heavy artillery. At the same time, Rommel discovered that leveling the 88 anti-aircraft gun worked very well. Especially when facing Allied tanks, almost every shot was fired. This time he specifically emphasized that the 88 anti-aircraft gun should be taken away. Three days passed in a blink of an eye. Outside Cairo, the leading German troops had begun to set up artillery positions. “Speed up the pace and try to have all the artillery in place before six o’clock tomorrow.” Compared with the Sichuan Army’s artillery, they still need to find someone to borrow. The professional quality of the German artillery is very high, especially the North African Corps, which are elites who have experienced hard battles. Possessing excellent combat qualities, thousands of artillery pieces were all deployed in a short time. Montgomery in the city looked extremely ugly. Originally, I wanted to wait for reinforcements to arrive and launch a counterattack. As a result, the German army came faster than expected. This was completely beyond his expectation. “Lieutenant General Patton, when will reinforcements from your country arrive?” Montgomery asked. In fact, the first to arrive at this time should be the Australian army. After receiving a telegram from the British army requesting reinforcements, they immediately sent the five newly formed infantry divisions to Cairo. However, due to the Japanese naval attack, naval **** was necessary, so the important task of **** fell on the US military. In addition, there are various weapon supports. Planes, artillery, tanks, etc. Lieutenant General Patton was also helpless. Transportation takes time. What they lack most now is time. No one expected that the navies of the four countries would unite to attack Alexandria.
More importantly, the German submarines and fighter planes were so powerful together. If it had not been for the appearance of the last hundreds of German fighter planes, Alexandria would not have been lost so quickly. Because at that time, the British army already had the ability to fight back. However, the appearance of hundreds of German fighter planes completely shattered their hopes of counterattack. Thinking of this, Lieutenant General Patton said in a hoarse voice. “It will take half a month at the fastest.” This is already the fastest speed at full speed. Montgomery's heart trembled when he heard that it would take half a month. Because he himself was not sure whether he could last for half a month. "Lieutenant General Montgomery, I suggest that Mountbatten's Fifteenth Army be transferred from Tianzhu, which is one of the few elites. I can write to General Stilwell, hoping that he will use transport planes to send them to the airport as soon as possible. Cairo, it is expected to only take a week. "Lieutenant General Patton also knew that the situation was urgent, so he did not even care about other battlefields. Cairo must be defended now, otherwise we will be in real trouble if we lose the Suez Canal. The German army must not be given a chance to breathe. Hearing this, Montgomery frowned slightly. The situation in Tianzhu has also become extremely corrupt. Admiral Wavell sent him telegrams more than once requesting reinforcements. “Deploying the Fifteenth Army will make the situation in Tianzhu even more corrupt.” Montgomery wanted to reject his proposal. Who knows, Lieutenant General Patton shook his head and said. “Lieutenant General Stilwell has dispatched more than 100,000 expeditionary troops from China and will soon enter Tianzhu for support. At the same time, he has also dispatched some indigenous troops. Hundreds of thousands of troops will definitely be able to stop the Japanese army.” “We must defend Cairo now, otherwise losing Cairo will cause a chain reaction.” Originally, the . military’s strategy was to pick up ready-made products from behind and slowly fight the Japanese in the Pacific Theater. When the European side is almost exhausted, immediately open a second battlefield and harvest the entire Europe at the same time. Who knew that the British army would collapse so quickly now. If they don't do their best, they will really be in trouble. But in Montgomery’s eyes, Tianzhu is indeed more important than Cairo. It’s just that Lieutenant General Patton’s proposal is really good. "Okay, I can send a telegram to General Wavell, but I don't know whether it will succeed." Finally, Lieutenant General Montgomery agreed to Patton's suggestion. As soon as he finished speaking, there were rumbling sounds outside the city. "Damn it, it's an artillery attack, the Germans are coming?" Montgomery's face was extremely ugly. He did not expect that the Germans would move so fast, smoothly and without any delay. In fact, including the British troops on the position, everyone believed that the German army would have to prepare for at least three to five days.
“It’s so fast.” Lieutenant General Patton was also a little confused. He didn’t expect the speed to be so fast. “Lieutenant General Montgomery, we have to speed up.” “I see.” Montgomery took a deep breath, and then immediately began to write a letter to Admiral Wavell analyzing the pros and cons. The British troops in the city were smoking cigars and talking loudly on the position. Who knew, suddenly there were sharp whistling sounds in the sky. “Damn it, it’s a shelling... quickly dodge...” “Shelling…” “Get away quickly.” The British soldiers who came back to their senses roared crazily. Outside the city, thousands of artillery pieces of various calibers fired at the British positions in the city almost simultaneously. The vast expanse of sky from north to west was sparkling with lightning, as bright as if it were on fire. The whole world trembled. Rommel, who was commanding from the rear, looked at the city of Cairo surrounded by artillery fire, with a smile on his lips. “The artillery fire is still not strong enough. Let the logistics continue to transport the artillery shells and let the British troops in the city have a good taste of being bombed.” “In addition, inform the Air Force to launch an attack on Cairo immediately at dawn. I need to completely blow Cairo into rubble.” Rommel said coldly through the telescope, watching Cairo in the distance plunge into a sea of flames. “Yes.” The adjutant responded quickly. I have to say that after receiving material support from Alexandria, Rommel's tone became much more heroic. In the past, he would not have dared to issue such an extravagant order. The artillery fire lasted for two hours, mainly suppressing the buildings in the city. According to the experience and lessons of the German army on the Eastern Front, those houses and buildings should be bombed into ruins as much as possible, otherwise, they will become cemeteries for the burial of German troops. So Rommel’s order was to bomb the buildings. Don’t see any buildings that are still intact. The British troops in the city were directly stunned by the bombing. Especially as he watched the buildings behind him being bombed and turned into ruins, he knew that the coming battle would be extremely difficult. In the past, Rommel would use the only resources at hand to come up with various tactics to win the battle. Now! If supplies are sufficient, he can also be extravagant. Directly tore apart the British defense line with fierce artillery fire. The British artillery in the city could only watch helplessly as the German artillery bombarded them indiscriminately.
Most of the artillery fire that the Germans bombarded them with was discarded by the British army. “Forward!” As the general offensive order was issued, the German officers and soldiers on the battlefield gave out strong shouts and launched an attack on Cairo. The tank roared! Tanks appeared on the battlefield one after another! Pwk II tank, PzK Panzer III. British tank. M3 light tank. Tanks of all types appeared on the battlefield. This time, Rommel spent a lot of money. The purpose is to capture Cairo in one fell swoop. Rommel pressed all the troops in his hands, and he wanted to take the city of Cairo in one go! The German 15th Armored Division still serves as the vanguard of the entire army! They were originally just light armored divisions, equipped with light tanks. Now that we have captured the supplies in Alexandria, we suddenly become rich. Although there are various types of tanks, at least they are much more luxurious than before. Moreover, they are all Allied tanks. Even if they are destroyed, they will not feel bad. Lieutenant General Gustav von Furst personally drove an M3 light tank and crushed it towards the enemy's position. Because Rommel often liked to drive a tank or an infantry fighting vehicle himself and walk on the frontline battlefield. So the commanders of the two armored divisions will also drive tanks and take the lead in charging. The artillery is roaring, the planes are roaring, and the tank guns are roaring! The British army's position had long been bombarded to pieces, and the defense line was like tofu dregs, unable to stop the fierce German attack. At this time, countless British soldiers were wailing under the tracks of the tanks, and countless soldiers were shot to death by bullets. The British army, which had lost a large number of heavy weapons, seemed ridiculous to resist in the face of the surging German attack. Finally, the British army could not bear the huge casualties and began to drop their weapons and flee towards the rear. For them, everything was like a nightmare. Screams were heard from the British position, and countless British soldiers were shot and killed by German soldiers who rushed into the position. Faced with the powerful firepower of the German army, the British army, which had lost its fighting spirit, had no power to fight back. With the support of tanks, aircraft, and artillery, the German soldiers advanced barrage slowly. Infantry and tanks coordinated various tactics, showing that the British troops on the opposite side were confused. In the end, positions were lost one after another.
Within half an hour, the British army's first line of defense was completely breached, and the German army was continuing to advance towards the second line of defense. When the battle report was sent to Rommel, he just said coldly: "It's too slow, speed up." "yes!" “Tell Lieutenant General First that in one hour I will see the German flag planted in Cairo.” "yes!" There is no way, who makes the 15th Armored Division his ace armored division. If you don’t put pressure on them, who will? The 21st Armored Division is still resting and recuperating. If time was not urgent, he would definitely have to wait until the 21st Armored Division arrived before launching an attack. After receiving the order, Lieutenant General Foster gritted his teeth and without saying a word, he personally led the troops towards the battlefield. At this time, the 15th Armored Division was like crazy, pushing forward desperately. German soldiers continued to support each other, relying on the powerful firepower of tanks, submachine guns, and machine guns to demolish bunkers one after another. If it doesn't work, just level the 88 anti-aircraft gun, and then blast it at the British position in the distance. After the anti-aircraft gun is leveled, all living beings are truly equal. The power was beyond their expectations. With the addition of the 88 anti-aircraft gun, the advancement speed has indeed been accelerated a lot. Especially those bunkers, which rely on the tank guns of light tanks, are very difficult to destroy. But the 88mm anti-aircraft gun is different, it is extremely powerful. For a time, the bunkers on the British army's position were destroyed one after another. An hour later, the second line of defense deployed by the British army outside the city was destroyed. The current city of Cairo is no different from an undefended city. As for the British troops in the city, the only thing they could do was fight in the streets. But do the British troops, whose morale has long collapsed, have the courage to fight in the street? (End of this chapter)