0p0 Third Reich Episode 319
Third Reich Episode 319
Therefore, General Garibaldi, the coach of the Italian army, will definitely think that the time has come and start planning a counterattack against the British army.
Unless he dared to wait for the British army to defeat the Italian army in East Africa and transfer the tanks back to the Italian army in North Africa.Otherwise, Garibaldi would never sit idly by.
And it was precisely because of General Wavell's sophisticated secret plan that General Garibaldi, who had always been cautious, was also fooled.
The current Italian army has actually missed the best time to attack, and the current British army has become stronger after receiving more support from the Commonwealth forces.
Two days later, General Garibaldi finally couldn't sit still. He ordered the Italian troops in the position to divide into three groups from the left, middle and right, and launched a sudden counterattack against the British army in the early morning.
I thought that the British army would be caught off guard, but the British army had actually thought that the Italian army would fight back.
The British tank troops ambushing at the back suddenly rushed out, and Wavell ordered them to cooperate with the light army to attack the Italian army. The Italian army was frightened and fled one after another.
In the following period of time, the British army captured 13 Italian routs, 400 tanks, and 1290 cannons one after another.
Garibaldi himself also fled to the west of Libya in a despondent car, and arrived at the Algeria-Libya border area managed by Berente's French army.
Since then, the Italian army in North Africa has never been able to compete with the British army.
The secret strategy used by General Wavell looks like hide-and-seek when he was a child, but it deceived the enemy's eyes, lured the Italian army to attack him, and at the same time won valuable offensive opportunities for his troops.
But General Wavell was not playing games, but tricks.It was this strategy that enabled the British army to achieve a phased victory and was able to turn around and deal with the Italian army in East Africa.
Text Chapter 491 The Officer of 5 Acres of Land
Italy's defeat in North Africa hastened their disintegration throughout Africa.
Having dealt with the Italian army in North Africa, Wavell was free to support the outnumbered British army in East Africa.
Although even if the British forces in North Africa and East Africa join forces, the strength of the British army in East Africa is still not half that of the Italian army in East Africa.But at this time, no one dared to pat their chests to guarantee that the Italian army would win.
With support from the North African army, Wavell was able to draw on almost 10 troops in East Africa.
Looking at the strategic schematic map, Wavell smiled and said to many generals in his headquarters: "We have been bullied by the Italians in East Africa in order to win the battle in North Africa in recent months, and now it is finally time to fight back. Give them some color."
I saw Wavell use the telescopic pole to circle an area on the map next to the wall, and couldn't help laughing.
"Ethiopia!" The quick-responsive generals had already guessed Wavell's intentions.
There are actually many reasons why Admiral Wavell decided to start the counterattack plan against Italy from Ethiopia.
On the one hand, Ethiopia's strategic geographical location is extremely important.The reason why Italy has long been trying to annex Ethiopia is to connect it with Eritrea and Italian Somalia, then infiltrate into Sudan, and then connect with Libya to establish an Italian African colonial empire.
In this way, Italy can get a passage to the East without going through the Suez Canal, and it can also endanger the British passage to the East through the Suez Canal, as well as their colonies in Africa.
Although the Ethiopian people have made great efforts to resist the Italian aggression, they still have not escaped the fate of being colonized.
On the other hand, the excessive use of poison gas by the Italian army during the conquest also made the Ethiopian people hold a grudge against the Italians, thinking that one day they must avenge their deep hatred.This provided a basis for public opinion for Wavell to instigate opposition to the local people.
And Wavell took advantage of the psychology of the Ethiopian people to think of the strategy of using the Ethiopian uprising to contain the Italian East African army.
"The task of contacting the Ethiopian guerrillas is entrusted to you, Colonel Harrell. Tell them to concentrate all available manpower to create chaos in Ethiopia, and our troops from the British Empire will cooperate with them on the frontline battlefield against the Italian army. Carry out a large-scale frontal attack." General Wavell said to his direct descendant, Colonel Harrell.
Although Britain, like Italy, is a Western colonizer and invader, at least Britain has not tortured Ethiopian officers and soldiers with poison gas. In the eyes of Ethiopians, the British obviously have to be kinder, and the British trip is not to take over Italy's colony, but to help Ethiopia regain its independence.
Therefore, the Ethiopian people will undoubtedly stand on the side of the United Kingdom when it comes to the choice between the United Kingdom and Italy.
It's not that the British gave up their colonial ideas and suddenly wanted to change their ways and become good people out of mercy.
Wavell decided to help Ethiopia become independent rather than take over the colony.One is because the current British Empire really doesn't have the energy to expand the colonies, and can't be distracted from managing new colonies.Even its original colony is showing signs of disintegration.
Another point, after all, Wavell's strength is still at a disadvantage.Although he has concentrated the troops transferred back from North Africa, if he wants to win a more secure victory, he must win the Ethiopian uprising as much as possible.
Only in this way can the rear of the Italian East African army be restrained, so that it cannot be ignored at the end, thereby reducing the risk of fighting with it.
And since we want to fight for Ethiopia, it is natural to help it become independent, which is more tempting than continuing to colonize them.
Sure enough, on the second day after Colonel Harrell went to Ethiopia, he sent back a message: "Colonel Harrell has now negotiated with the supreme commander of the Ethiopian guerrillas, and he conveyed the meaning of General Wavell, and the Ethiopian guerrillas also They expressed their willingness to cooperate with the British Army in this operation."
"Please convey to Commander Wavell that our army can unite with the masses of the people in Ethiopia to launch an armed uprising within the specified time. In due course, our army will capture the government, hospitals, warehouses, police stations and power supplies in large and medium-sized cities in our country. So come to cooperate with your army's actions." Laika, the leader of the Ethiopian guerrilla forces, assured the British army representative Harrell.
After Wavell received the news that the Ethiopian guerrillas agreed to cooperate vigorously, he happily laughed loudly in the headquarters: "God-sent! East Africa will be restored in my hands!"
You must know that the Ethiopian guerrilla forces are not ordinary militias. Its predecessor is the armed forces of the Ethiopian government.
Ethiopia was the first African sovereign country recognized by European powers, and the Ethiopian army was also developing rapidly, and even had an air force called the Royal Ethiopian Air Force.
The Ethiopian Air Force was established in 1924 with only a few French aircraft, and just 11 years later in 1935, this air force was completely destroyed by the Italian invasion.That's why Ethiopians hate Italians so much, they destroyed Ethiopia's air force dream.
As for the Ethiopian army, it was reorganized as a guerrilla unit, which was disbanded in name at the request of the Kingdom of Italy, but in fact it has always existed in the territory, causing riots from time to time.
With this powerful guerrilla force as an internal response, Wavell finally ordered a counterattack in East Africa after a week of preparations.
He first ordered the British and Indian 4th and 5th divisions to launch a fierce attack on the Italian army in Kassala, and captured the Italian troops that could not be withdrawn the next day, creating a first-hand advantage.
At the same time, an armed uprising supported by the British army also broke out in Ethiopia. This uprising greatly affected the supply and stability of the Italian army's rear, and disrupted the morale of the Italian army in East Africa.
Three days later, the British army entered Kismayo without resistance. Seven days later, the British army occupied Mogadishu and seized supplies including 3 gallons of gasoline. By the 7th day, Italian Somalia had All were captured by the British army.
In Keren, Ethiopia, although the British army met with tenacious resistance from the elite blackshirts of the Italian army, the British army finally captured Karen after paying the price of 3000 casualties due to the flanking of the local guerrillas. The captives, including the black shirts, amounted to more than [-] Italian officers and soldiers.
At the same time, another assault force mixed with the Australian army and the British army captured the Duke of Aosta and his 135 soldiers at the cost of [-] deaths in an assault.
Afterwards, when Wavell asked Churchill about the results of the battle, he uttered the classic line quite vividly: "There are too many captives in the Italian army, and it is impossible to count them for a while. It is about officers who captured 5 acres of land, and 200 acres of land. soldiers."
And Wavell's line was also printed on the headlines of the British Times and was vigorously distributed.
In this battle, Italy itself lost all its colonies in East Africa, not to mention, but also let the disheartened British nationals see hope of victory again, and had the courage to continue to fight against the Allies.
Chapter 492 History is a Little Girl
Reinhardt leaned on the leather chair behind his desk, repeatedly flipping through the battle report in his hand.
"As expected, Mussolini finally lost the Italian colony in Africa." Reinhardt said to himself with some gloating.
Reinhardt was actually not surprised that the Italian army would be defeated on the African battlefield. On the contrary, it would be incredible if he received news that the Italians had unified the British African colonies.
Throwing the expected Italian failure on the table casually, Reinhard also got up and stretched, and walked to the meeting room.
Italy's huge failure in Africa also means that the German army should immediately show its talents in Africa.
Based on Reinhardt's understanding of Mussolini, when he lost even his capital, it was time for him to move reinforcements around.
Although the last time Reinhardt fainted from Mussolini's direct anger and went to the hospital, for this, Reinhardt confessed for 3 seconds.
But this time, he is really going to give Mussolini a solid German army as an aid to help him win back the dominance of Africa.
It wasn’t because Reinhardt’s conscience found out that he was determined to make up for Mussolini. The reason why he planned to let Rommel take people to Africa to help Mussolini clean up the mess was largely because of the layout of Germany’s war against Britain. able to proceed smoothly.