0p0 Third Reich Episode 312
Third Reich Episode 312
It's over, why is the leader humming a ditty again? !
.........
North Africa, Libya battlefield.
Unlike the great victory of the Italian army in East Africa, the Italian army in North Africa was much more miserable.
Although the morale of the Italian officers and soldiers in North Africa recovered a little after General Garibaldi took office, the Italian army in North Africa had nothing to do in the face of the British army's triumphant advance.
Just days earlier, the northern Libyan towns of Badia and Tobruk had been captured, and fleeing Italian troops were stopped by the British [-]th Armored Division at Bidaf Gate.
You know, from Benghazi to the east, Tobruk is the only deep-water port available.The Italian army has been operating here for many years, repeatedly strengthening the fortifications in this area and building firepower points.
The Tobruk perimeter included the 32-mile-long Via Balbia, where the Italian army built a large number of permanent fortifications and had large-caliber fortress guns as long-range fire support.
However, Garibaldi heard from the commander of the defeated troops that when the British troops passed through the Balbia Avenue, they were not violently blocked at all, and basically hit the Tobruk Fortress with ease.
"Crack!" Garibaldi, who had always regarded himself as good-tempered, finally couldn't help getting angry.
He threw the battle report he received on the ground, gritted his teeth, and rubbed it back and forth with his boots.
Although Garibaldi did not speak, the staff officers around him felt the anger of the new commander.
A staff officer who had followed the two Marshals Balbo and Graziani took two steps forward and comforted Garibaldi who had just arrived: "Commander, your ability is obvious to all. The defeat on the front line, but It has nothing to do with you. Presumably the leader will understand your difficulties and will not blame our command for this failure."
"The reason why I am angry is not that I am afraid that the leader will blame me for my failure." Shaking his head, Garibaldi said with a wry smile: "Tobruk Fortress is a strategic town that we have been operating all year round. It was Marshal Balbo when he was the governor of Libya. With painstaking efforts, a lot of financial, material, and manpower were used to build a super strategic point. Countless supplies, munitions, oil, and equipment, directly overnight, became the spoils of the British army along with the Tobruk Fortress!"
Back in Roman times, Tobruk was a fortress guarding Cyrenaica.Today, the largest airport in eastern Libya is only 15 miles from the port of Tobruk, making it a strategic point.
It can be said that whichever side occupies Tobruk, the British army or the Italian army, has the absolute advantage of taking Tobruk as the axis and deterring a radius of dozens of miles.
Originally, if the North African Italian army wanted to invade Egypt, it only needed to use Tobruk as a logistics base, make good use of this transfer point, and continuously invest troops to suppress the Egyptian British army.
But now, the Tobruk Fortress has been captured by the British army. What makes Garibaldi heartbroken is not only the large amount of supplies seized by the British, but also the "wedge" that restrains the logistics lines of both sides along the Mediterranean coast.
The British won this fortress, and it will be very difficult for Garibaldi to resume his offensive against Egypt in the future.
"Without the fortress of Tobruk, the footsteps of our entire North African Army will be stuck around Benghazi by the British. Once we leave Benghazi too far, our logistics will not be able to keep up, and we will have to retreat back to Benghazi." Garibaldi pointed out to his subordinates in the headquarters: "But the British have Tobruk, they can concentrate their troops to garrison in North Africa. Just need to defend this unavoidable fortress, and our army's logistics cannot be guaranteed. Let's fight to Egypt."
After Garibaldi said so, everyone discovered the mystery.
Only then did they understand why Marshal Balbo had spent years and years repeatedly strengthening the Tobruk Fortress.
But despite the regret, everyone seems to have a little more peace of mind.
Since Garibaldi can accurately understand the intentions and strategies of Marshal Balbo, does this mean that his military talent is no worse than that of Balbo, the No.1 Italian general? !
Chapter 482 The Wrong Opponent
In addition, in the Battle of Bidafmen, the remaining Italian army surrendered. Within a week, the British army captured Tobruk, advanced almost non-stop to Benghazi, and defeated the Italian 1th Army. More than 10 prisoners were captured in the battle.
Facing the offensive of the British army, General Garibaldi adopted the tactic of standing firm and not fighting, intending to drag down the British army and wait for the success of the Italian army in East Africa.
He knew very well that as long as the Italian army in East Africa could advance to Egypt, the British army in front of him would be able to retreat without a fight.
At that time, he will lead the North African Italian army to launch a counterattack, and maybe he will have the opportunity to recapture the Tobruk Fortress and restore the situation to the previous situation.
That is to say, but after all, the defeated battle was defeated, and the news soon spread to Rome, Italy.
Mussolini's assistant got the battle report, and before Gao told Mussolini, he secretly read the content of the report.
Sure enough, it's still the same law, if the leader hums a little tune, something will happen!
No, the failure came again.Maybe this time the leader will be stunned again.
After thinking about it, the assistant tiptoed into Mussolini's ward, and greeted his leader with a smiling face.
In fact, he was observing Mussolini's mental state, to see if he could bear the blow of failure again in the hospital bed.
After some observation, the assistant decided to speak.
He cautiously said to Mussolini: "Leader, the battle report just came from the front line, how about I read it to you now?"
"What did you say? You must read it to me! I am the Prime Minister of Italy. If you don't read it to me, who will you listen to?" Mussolini replied angrily, thinking that this assistant is getting more and more brain-dead , I don't know what medicine he took wrongly recently.
"Okay, leader, you have to hold on, I'll read you the battle report now." The assistant swallowed and said cautiously.
"Our army lost one after another on the North African battlefield. Within a week, it was pushed to Benghazi by the British army, and our 1th Army was defeated by the British army. More than 10 Italian soldiers were captured."
With a heavy heart, the assistant read today's battle report to Mussolini, and then secretly glanced at Mussolini's face.
Unexpectedly, Mussolini was calm and relaxed, without any sign of anger.
"Is that all?" Mussolini asked lightly.
"Yes, that's all."
At this moment, the assistant thought to himself: "Could it be that the leader is too angry to speak? Or is he slow to respond, otherwise why didn't he react at all?"
Just when the assistant was puzzled, Mussolini said: "I believe General Garibaldi, he must have his own ideas, a failure can't represent anything, what I want is the result, as long as the final victory is the process or something None of it matters."
It turned out that Mussolini, who was rarely enlightened, had full trust in Garibaldi.
He believed that Garibaldi just needed time. After experiencing successive military failures, Garibaldi was the first general to let Mussolini see hope.
While North Africa is still losing, East Africa has begun to win.
The defeat of the North African Army has indirectly proved the importance of the East African Army's actions. The more urgent the British army's offensive in North Africa, the more critical the situation facing the British Army in East Africa.
At least no two sides lose together!
One win, one win, at least reached Mussolini's psychological bottom line.
It was Garibaldi who gave this suggestion and created this situation.
........
Libya, Benghazi front.
Although the British army surrounded Benghazi, there were more Italian troops after all.
The Italian army relied on the fortifications built here by their last two governors, and it is not too difficult to block the British offensive.
Moreover, it is Garibaldi who is leading the Italian army now, not a random general!
Garibaldi understood that he could afford it, and if he dragged it on until the East African Army made an assault, he would win!
But the British commander, Admiral Wavell, couldn't sit still at this time.