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Text Chapter 1047 Hitler¡¯s Counterattack

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    Yang Qiu, who finished the Cape Town meeting, came to the Diego Garcia base.

    Diego Garcia is located at the southernmost tip of the Chagos Islands. It is the meeting point of many shipping routes between the Cape of Good Hope, Singapore, the Red Sea, and Australia. Its strategic location is very important.  It was originally under the jurisdiction of the British Seychelles Territory. Because it occupied too many strategic islands, the United Kingdom did not pay much attention to this archipelago. There was only an ordinary naval gas station on it.  After Yang Qiu used warships and aircraft to move here, he immediately pushed through Congress to pass the country's first overseas unorganized territory proposal, declaring Chagos as a Chinese Indian Ocean territory.  In the following more than a year, the navy "forcibly relocated" more than 2,000 indigenous people on the island to Madagascar. It also completely blocked the islands on the grounds of military needs, purchased a large amount of raw materials and equipment from the United States, South America and other countries, and also transferred goods from Iran.  Thousands of Soviet prisoners of war came to build this naval base.

    After nearly two years of construction, the Diego Garcia base has been completely renovated.  Not only can it berth maritime behemoths such as Shandong-class battleships, it also has 17 berths, desalination equipment, long-range radar, electronic listening stations, independent oil depots and ammunition depots, and a 3-kilometer-long runway.  The designers opened a 180-meter-long dry dock on the east side of the atoll.  Of course, these dry docks and submarine docks can only be used for routine maintenance.

    As the country¡¯s first offshore territory, Yang Qiu put a lot of effort into it. Not only did he use his connections in South America, but he also used diplomatic power to help purchase necessary equipment in Europe and the United States. He was completely prepared to supply a super aircraft carrier battle group.  Therefore, after the construction was completed, Zhu Binhou immediately made it the most important Indian Ocean base of the Third Fleet.  However, there is still a lack of necessary conditions for long-term maintenance of the fleet, so the Navy's planned Third Fleet headquarters was chosen in Port Blair in the Andaman.

    When Yang Qiu arrived, he encountered the battleships "An Hai" and "Zhen Hai" coming from Cam Ranh Bay and the French fleet with the lease. The four warships sold to the United Kingdom were also refueled here to prepare for Alexandria.  Because Britain was in a hurry and had no time to dismantle confidential equipment such as radars and radios on shore, naval technicians ran all the way to dismantle them.  Immediately after docking, a large amount of equipment was unloaded.  But Zhu Binhou was still uneasy, and finally arranged for three waves of people to take the forms and check them separately.

    When he heard that they were being sold, Zhu Binhou was still a little reluctant to part with them. After all, these four warships originally belonged to the Third Fleet.  Fortunately, the Navy Ministry has promised that when the battleships "Shanghai" and "Chongqing" complete their maintenance, they will be immediately allocated to the Third Fleet to fill the gap.  Before the four warships could leave, Murong Han and Shi Zhaoji, who were finishing up in Cape Town, took two Y-9s and landed at the airport.  As soon as he landed, Yang Qiu saw soldiers unloading wooden boxes from the plane and transferring them to the battleship Shanxi.

    "what."

    "It's a gift from Churchill. They are all antiques and cultural relics that were stolen back then. Because the escorting destroyer encountered a German submarine, it arrived in Cape Town yesterday." Murong Han took out a list and handed it to Yang Qiu.  .  "You can keep it and send it to the National Museum when you return home" Yang Qiu did not read the list.  In fact, many domestic university professors and historians have suggested that the country should take back the national treasures scattered overseas, but he has never taken the initiative to use state means to do these things.  Because he feels that if some things are kept in China for a long time, they will become exquisite works of art, making future generations forget the stories behind them.  But when placed abroad, it can always remind the people of that humiliating history.  As for spontaneous actions among the people, he still supports them.

    "Before taking off, the British told me that Hitler was very dissatisfied after hearing the declaration. He accelerated negotiations with Stalin and ordered a full-scale German offensive. The latest news is that Guderian has launched an autumn offensive, and Rommel has also begun attacking Benghazi.  .According to the British, this attack was large-scale, with a total investment of at least 3.5 million troops. After Roosevelt received the news, he had asked Marshall to send all 2.8 million troops mobilized after the war to Europe and North Africa before the end of the year. He also agreed  Proposal for strategic bombing of France and Spain. Churchill also invested 200,000 Commonwealth troops who had just arrived in North Africa into Spain. The domestic 350,000 troops were also ready to enter Spain. Even de Gaulle invested 100,000 troops into Spain. According to  The numbers Zhang Xiaozhun gave us before. Coupled with this mobilization, the number of allied troops from Britain, the United States, France and other countries deployed in Spain and North Africa by the end of the year will exceed 7 million! Among them, 4.5 million are from the army alone!"

    "Eisenhower also came to me, hoping that we could dispatch some transport ships to Western Australia. He said that the two US Marine Divisions and four Infantry Divisions stationed in Australia for training and originally prepared to be deployed in the Southwest Pacific were rushing to Western Australia by train, but they  The transportation power in the Indian Ocean is insufficient and cannot be transported quickly to the Middle East. Zhang Xiaozhun sent a telegram to remind us to be careful about the Eastern Mediterranean, because he received intelligence that Germany and Italy have accelerated the dispatch of troops to Tripoli, and the number may be 5 to 10 armored divisions.  , 20 to 30 infantry divisions" Murong Han paused and said seriously: "From all indications, the next two years will probably be the most difficult two years."

    "Stay"It is important to mobilize all the transportation forces in the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf to transport the US military. They should also bleed.  "Yang Qiu agreed to help the US military transport troops. Because for the Allies, the chain reaction after the failure of Crete had just begun. For Hitler, the "Cape Town Declaration" had already pushed him to the world.  With Japan no longer able to contain China and the United States, it has to find a reliable new ally.

    While countries were still digesting the Cape Town Declaration, an angry Hillert launched his counterattack from North Africa and responded to the declaration with its steel army.

    Although the German army occupied Malta before, due to the counterattack of British and American naval and air forces, the supplies of the North African Army could not be guaranteed. It was not until the victory of the Battle of Crete that Rommel finally received stable logistical support from the European continent.  From the end of the Battle of Crete to October 10th alone, 3 German armored divisions, 5 infantry divisions and 3 Italian infantry divisions arrived in Tripoli, including the "Adolf Hitler" division.  The 1st SS Panzer Division.

    This "Boy Scout", which was ridiculed by the German Wehrmacht during the Battle of France, has a completely new look. It is equipped with all Type IV F2 tanks that were inspired by the "long barrel revolution" of China and the Soviet Union and were improved to use the 75mm/L43 cannon.  Their arrival greatly increased the total strength of the German-Italian North African Army from 220,000 to 450,000, the total number of tanks also increased from 740 to 1,370, and various types of armored vehicles and air force were also greatly strengthened.  The strong investment of troops and logistics allowed Rommel to recover from the two-front battle and pointed the spearhead directly at the Nile River in Egypt.  In order to prevent Algeria's British and American coalition forces from attacking.  He first deployed the 7th Armored Division, the 17th Armored Division and 5 German and Italian infantry divisions in Setif and Tunisia, Algeria to prevent the British and American coalition counterattack. He personally led the 15th Armored Division, SS 1st Armored Division, 5th  The Light Division, the 116th Armored Division and the Italian Ariete Armored Division totaled 250,000 troops. Under the protection of 742 tanks, they launched an attack on Benghazi and Tobruk, intending to seize Egypt and the Suez Canal and control the entire Eastern Mediterranean.

    Benghazi is one of the most important seaports in Syria and is also very close to the oil fields sold by Jin Bihui to Germany and Italy.  Although the oil field had not been developed and the British army had never known the existence of the oil field, Hitler was worried that Yang Qiu would sell the news to Churchill.  So Rommel has been asked to take back Benghazi.

    In order to protect Benghazi, Auchinleck, who replaced Wavell as the commander of North Africa, placed the strongest 13th Armored Corps here.  The 13th Armored Corps has 1 armored division, 2 infantry divisions, 1 armored brigade and several reinforced units, with a total strength of 80,000, as well as 236 Crusader tanks, 110 Matilda tanks and 137 US-aided tanks.  M3 Grant Lee medium tank.  But because too many aircraft were lost in the Battle of Crete, there were only 92 combat aircraft.  However, the commander, Lieutenant General Nimes, always believed that his armor was stronger than Rommel, so he was completely sure to defeat the enemy and hold on.

    But he underestimated Rommel too much!

    At 8 a.m. local time on October 10, 1941, Rommel decisively let the SS 1st Armored Division, which had only been here for five days, take the lead in launching an attack on Benghazi.

    Although the attack was sudden, Lieutenant General Nimu did not panic.  But because of the lack of understanding of the SS 1st Armored Division.  The impression still lingered on the "Boy Scouts" during the Battle of France, so he rashly believed that he had an armor advantage, so he concentrated 339 tanks in an attempt to have a "Central Asian-style" tank showdown in the Gobi south of Benghazi.  .  Completely destroy Rommel.  But the result surprised him greatly. As soon as the two armies met, the British army was massacred!  With the help of 88 guns, in just ten minutes.  More than thirty tanks were easily destroyed by the No. 4 F2, and even the thick Matilda couldn't stop it.  Only then did Lieutenant General Nim realize that he was facing a new type of tank.  But this realization came too late.  A total of 162 No. 4 F2 tanks of the SS 1st Armored Division, like hot iron pincers, with the cooperation of 88 ground guns and aerial J87 Stukas, beat the intercepting British 7th Armored Division into disarray. Final statistics  , as many as 171 British tanks were destroyed!  Auchinleck was horrified when he received the news. In order to prevent the remaining troops from being annihilated, he had to order a retreat.

    At this time, Lieutenant General Nim, who was in a panic and made a mistake, made another stupid move. In order to protect the only retreat channel, he first let the South African 3rd Armored Brigade move to Mekili in advance, and joined the Australian 9th Division to protect Balbia Avenue, and then captured the  4,000 tons of Italian explosives were detonated, completely destroying the city of Benghazi to cover the retreat.  The violent explosion hindered Rommel's attack, but when the veteran Rommel saw that Benghazi was destroyed, he simply did not enter the city and rushed directly towards Meqili.

    The South African 3rd Armored Brigade, which was sent to protect Mekili, was a force established after the United States entered the war. It is equipped with M3 "Grant Lee" medium tanks aided by the United States.  The weird twin turrets of the M3 had been proven unable to deal with German tanks during the North African landings, but Lieutenant General Nim had no tanks to use at this time, so he had to let them go up.  According to what he later said, he just wanted to use the firepower of the 75mm gun equipped with the M3 to push the Germans away so that the main force could pass.  But the inexperienced South African 3rd Armored BrigadeWhile protecting, we encountered a group of more than ten German Panzer III tanks.  Lieutenant Colonel Grace, who thought that there was still the main force of the German army behind the tank, did not know that this was Rommel's ambush tactic. Relying on his numerical advantage, he decided to chase and drive away the opponent.  But after only ten kilometers of pursuit, eight camouflaged 88-guns from Rommel's 5th Light Armored Division sounded the clarion call to bury the South African 3rd Armored Brigade.  A total of 120 m3 Grant Lee medium tanks were destroyed within 2 hours by the 88 gun and the 47 Panzer III tanks that followed, while the Germans only lost 13 Panzer IV tanks.

    This ambush battle not only made Rommel more famous, but also made the M3 a feared equipment for British and American soldiers. It was even nicknamed "The Coffin of Six Brothers" (the M3 standard is 6 crew members).  The destruction of the South African 3rd Armored Brigade exposed the main force of Nimes to Rommel. As the SS 1st Armored Division accelerated to cut off Meikeli and block the Balbia Avenue, the British 13th Armored Corps suffered a devastating blow!

    After a day and night of fierce fighting.  80,000 soldiers, including Commander Nimes and O'Connor and other senior generals, were wiped out by Rommel, and more than 30,000 soldiers were killed alone.  Before Auchinleck could react from this sap, Rommel, who occupied Meikili, used the SS 1st Armored Division and the 116th Armored Division as arrows and ordered the troops: "No rest allowed, no cleaning of the battlefield, full speed towards Tobruk"  Advance the Fortress."

    Tobruk is the most strategic port in the Cyrenaica region of Libya, where Italy once built a very strong fortress.  For the German army, by occupying Tobruk, they obtained a good supply base.  But for the British, if they lose Tobruk.  It would be difficult to stop the German army from entering Egypt.  Therefore, even Wavell, commander-in-chief of the British Mediterranean Theater, sent a telegram demanding that Tobruk be resolutely defended and reserved as a "thorn in the enemy's flesh."  Cunningham of Alexandria also ignored the threat of the German air force and dispatched more than ten warships, including the Queen Elizabeth, to assist the more than 30,000 defenders there.

    Faced with the desperate defense of the British army, which had fortresses and heavy artillery support, Rommel continued to attack for two days but still saw no hope of capture. He had to send troops to surround Tobruk first, and then move south to Bir Hakeim, which was controlled by the Free French Army.  The fortress attacks.  Bir Hakeim was a stronghold held by the Free French on the southern flank of the Allied forces.  The fortress commander was the experienced General Knik.  But the more than 3,000 soldiers in his hands were mostly composed of the French Foreign Legion and militia, and their equipment was in a mess. Facing the menacing German North African Army, even Wavell did not think he could hold it.  But it happened to be such a short-numbered major general.  Lieutenant General Knik, whom no one was optimistic about, fought very tenaciously. After five days of fierce fighting, Rommel paid the price of 51 tanks and more than 3,000 casualties.  Then he took the main force and broke through the encirclement.

    Although Lieutenant General Knick eventually lost Bill Hakeim, he bought Auchinleck time to mobilize.

    On the morning of October 17, the Bir Hakeim Fortress had just been captured.  Rommel, who was preparing to continue eastward, encountered a unique armored force, the Egyptian 1st Armored Division.

    The Egyptian 1st Armored Division is a force formed by Egypt to strive for true independence. In order to get rid of British influence, when Bezuy proposed the cotton-for-aid plan to his government, the Egyptian government immediately purchased 180 Type 31 vehicles from China.  tanks, and also hired Chinese instructors to train this unit.  After the war broke out, the British took over the Egyptian 1st Armored Division in accordance with the original agreement. In order to ensure combat effectiveness, many Commonwealth soldiers were packed in. Therefore, the unit reached the east of the fortress the next day after the Knik breakout.

    Because of the dazzling performance in Central Asia, countries around the world only know that the Type 36 "Siberian Tiger" main battle tank is very powerful, but they don't know much about the Type 31 "Golden Leopard".  Therefore, Rommel also made an empirical mistake, thinking that the Type 31 "Leopard" was weaker than the Type 4 F2, so he believed that the SS 1st Armored Division would easily defeat this force just like it did against the British tanks a few days ago.  But in fact, even though the exported Type 31 tank is similar to the German Panzer IV tank, the internal differences are very large, and the L50/70mm rifled cannon is stronger than the 75mm gun equipped with the F2 type.

    After the two sides met in the dry river bed east of the fortress, a fierce tank battle broke out.  In one day of fighting, the SS 1st Armored Division destroyed 72 Type IV Type F2 tanks, while the Egyptian 1st Armored Division also lost 79 export Type 31 tanks.  It seemed that the two sides were evenly matched, but considering that the people sitting in the Type 31 were some unknown tank crews from Egypt, New Zealand and other countries, the result is self-evident.  This defeat shocked Rommel and the German army and they had to stop in front of the Bir Hakeim Fortress.  Hitler became furious after asking, demanding that the development of new tanks be accelerated and that the general staff send more tanks to North Africa.

    At the same time, in order to contain Rommel, Wavell and US Army Commander Joseph McNerney also mobilized 3 armored divisions and 7 infantry divisions to launch a fierce attack on Setif.  Although Rommel's 7th Armored Division destroyed "mountains of tanks" in a few days, under the indiscriminate bombardment of three British and American aircraft carriers and Army aviation, they finally had to abandon Setif and retreat to Tunisia.

    ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ??The failure of the tank battle also made the US military realize that productivity does not represent armor superiority, so it canceled the short-barreled 75mm gun design of the M4 tank and used the long-barreled M3 75mm gun, and quickly delivered the first one at the end of September.  A batch of 122 vehicles were shipped to Europe.  As hundreds of tanks and U-series armored vehicles supplied by Yang Qiu to Auchinleck arrived one after another, the United States and the United States began to exert force. In the following months, the two sides launched continuous meat grinder-style battles in North Africa and Spain.  , both sides paid a total price of hundreds of thousands of soldiers killed and injured.  But this was not the real crisis yet. When D?nitz followed Hakan's suggestion and enjoyed the abundant resources that were not consumed by the Eastern Front, he began to launch the vii-type U-type submarines that were modularly produced and equipped with new torpedoes one by one.  , also means that the Atlantic Strangulation War, which is more cruel than ever in history, has officially begun.

    But none of this affected Yang Qiu¡¯s Asia strategy.

    On October 20, Zhu Binhou dispatched an aircraft carrier and four cruisers to protect the Marines as they landed on the Cocos Islands and Christmas Island, and then announced that the operation to open up Malacca had officially begun

    (To be continued, please search Piaotian Literature. The novels will be better and updated faster!
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