"From the map, the Cazop Trail should be further north, but the Italians don't have the right map, so I think this road should be the Cazop Trail."
Rudolf Ribbentrop is telling the truth, although the area around Tubruk has long been the territory of the Italians, it does not mean that the Italians have seriously mapped the area around Tubruk.
In other words, the maps they gave to the Germans seemed to the Italians so accurate that any experienced scout could follow them to find his way to Egypt.
By the light of the flashlight, Lieutenant Schwarzenegger looked at a map provided by the Italians for a long time, and finally threw it to the side.
"The general direction is right," he said, shaking his head, "we are now going to find the Pachistan Highway and then we will just follow the Pachistan Highway eastward." ” There are two roads around Tubruk, one is the Cazop Trail, which existed before the Italians occupied Cyrenaica; One is the Basistan Highway, which is a branch road of the coastal road built by the Italians, Balbia Boulevard, which is built around Tubruk, and as long as you find this Bachistan Highway, you can drive the car onto Balbia Highway.
Although here in Cyrenaica there are desert Gobi, all places where armored clusters can pass.
However, the speed of armored vehicles passing through the Gobi is relatively slow and the fuel consumption is high, which is better than walking on a flat road.
Therefore, the 17th Company of the Greater German Brigade of Lieutenant Schwarzenegger was now tasked with finding the Bachi Highway in the chaotic battlefield.
Then see if the road is still passable.
Ribbentrop thought for a moment and said, "Understand, sir, let's go east first, and then we will go north when we see a road to the north, so that we will probably find the Bachi road." ” "Yes, that's it."
Schwarzenegger smiled, "But you have to be careful, the crossroads to the Bachi Highway will be defended by the Indians."
I think your remaining 2 half-tracks were wrecked somewhere, not far from the Bachi Highway. ” Gustav Schwarzenegger's crow's beak was quickly fulfilled, and after more than 30 minutes of the 17th Company's convoy moving east along the Kazop trail, they were stopped by a group of Indians pulling 2-pounder anti-tank guns.
One of the only two half-tracked armored vehicles left in the armored platoon of Second Lieutenant Ribbentrop was also damaged by a 2-pounder gun.
"Shoot back and kill that anti-tank gun" Second Lieutenant Ribbentrop reacted quickly, although the vehicle he was riding in was damaged by a 2-pounder gun and broke its tracks and could not move, but the 20 machine guns on the car were still intact.
The "aim at the target" gunner had already aimed 20 machine guns at the direction where the muzzle flame had just flashed.
"Fire" Second Lieutenant Ribbentrop did not hesitate to give the order to open fire.
The gunner immediately pulled the wrench with force, and after a roar, a string of tongues of fire shot towards the pitch-black front.
The shells exploded near an intersection, and a flash of light lit up in the sand, and some figures in khaki uniforms could be faintly seen in the light of the fire.
To his disappointment, the 2-pounder gun was not destroyed, and then another shell hit Rudolf Ribbentrop's car.
With a loud bang, Second Lieutenant Ribbentrop felt a ball of fire rise in front of him, and his whole body seemed to fly, and then he slammed into the sand, losing consciousness.
Second Lieutenant Rudolf von Ribbentrop was wounded on the battlefield for the second time "Admiral, the Indian 10th Division reports that the Germans' tanks have arrived in Adeim."
Most of the people at the headquarters of the British 8th Army in Tubruk were busy packing up their things and preparing to run away, and only a few staff officers were still gathered around Lieutenant General Alan Cunningham to report to him the latest developments in the battle.
After the 1st Panzer Division and the 1st Panzer Brigade were crushed by the German Panzer Corps, the 8th Army had lost the capital for a decisive battle with the Germans in Tubruk.
Moreover, the seizure of the Matrou airfield between Tubruk and El Alamein by the German airborne troops also made the rear of the 8th Army urgent.
Therefore, Alan Cunningham, immediately after the fall of Knightsbridge in the afternoon, gave the order for the main forces of the 8th Army to retreat.
With the exception of the Indian 5th Division, the 10th Indian Division, and the 3rd Indian Motorized Rifle Brigade, the rest of the British forces in Tubruk were to begin their retreat before dawn.
And those three Indian troops, needless to say, are the unlucky ones in charge of the palace.
Of course, it is not all because of racial discrimination, but because the combat effectiveness of these Indian units is not weak.
The officers and artillerymen of these units were white British, and their equipment was no worse than that of South African, New Zealand and Australian troops, and there were quite a few Gurkha mercenary battalions with very good combat effectiveness.
And the most important task of these Indian rear forces now is to prevent the Germans from rushing up the Bachi Highway.
Because German tanks would soon be able to rush east of Tubruk on the Balbia Highway as long as they marched along the Bachi Highway.
As soon as the Germans rushed there, the 8th Army was essentially finished.
Even if several British, South African, New Zealand, and Australian divisions in the 8th Army could rush out of Tubruk, if they withdrew through the desert Gobi, they would definitely not be able to outrun the German pursuers pursuing along the Balbia Road.
"Adam must hold on at all costs" With Alan Cunningham's order, the troops of the Indian 5th Division, which had just been withdrawn from the frontal front, were thrown into Adem at the intersection of the Kazop Trail and the Bachi Highway.
At the same time, a large number of German tanks and armored vehicles also rushed to Adaim along the Kazop Trail.
The bloody slaughter was staged again "I'm not just a loser, I'm also a deserter," Admiral Cunningham said.
While the Indians were fighting for the future and fate of the British Empire, Admiral Andrew Cunningham's flagship of the British Mediterranean Fleet, the Warweary, was slowly sailing into the Suez Canal.
The British High Command agreed to withdraw the Mediterranean Fleet, because the remaining four "Queen Elizabeth" class battleships and two fleet aircraft carriers of the Mediterranean Fleet were very important for the defense of the British homeland.
"Admiral," Rear Admiral Krachley, the chief of staff of the fleet, whispered to Cunningham, "you have not lost, the naval battle is a draw, and we have lost on the lack of air supremacy." ” According to reconnaissance by British intelligence, the Italians lost 2 aircraft carriers, 1 battleship and 1 heavy cruiser during the Mediterranean operation.
And the British losses were 4 battleships and 1 aircraft carrier.
In terms of losses on both sides, it was about a draw.
But the Mediterranean fleet is now being driven out of the Mediterranean, and Germany and Italy will soon take the whole of the Mediterranean, North Africa and the Middle East.
"Admiral, I have just received a telegram from the First Sea Lord," said Rear Admiral Krachley, taking a copy of the telegram from one of his staff officers, and reading it through it, "the First Sea Lord, asking your opinion on operations in the Indian Ocean. ” After the Mediterranean is fought, the next step is the home North Atlantic operation and the Indian Ocean operation.
Sir Pound, the First Sea Lord, sent a telegram asking Cunningham for his opinion on the Indian Ocean operation, and in fact he was preparing to appoint him commander-in-chief of the Eastern Fleet.
Although Cunningham lost in the Mediterranean, no one can deny that he is one of the most aircraft carrier-using admirals in the world today.
Free novels bring you joy and joy ---> storyskyline.net
Compared with the North Atlantic, the climate and sea conditions in the Indian Ocean are not bad, and they are more conducive to the power of aircraft carriers.
Moreover, in the North Atlantic operation on the British mainland, because both sides have a strong shore-based air presence, the role of battleships is obviously greater than that of aircraft carriers.
So the ones that can stay in the Indian Ocean are aircraft carriers.
"Let's go to the North Atlantic with the Ark Royal and the four Queen Elizabeth classes."
Cunningham thought for a moment and said, "If I want to bring the Athletic and the Cyclops to the Indian Ocean, I will need at least 50 submarines and 1,500 common aircraft, including 120 Short Sunderland seaplanes."
Also, give me 10 more equipped camouflage cruisers. ” Needless to say, 50 submarines, 120 long-range seaplanes that can act as bombers, and 10 camouflaged cruisers, Cunningham is ready to break the engagement.
"Admiral, we are going to strike at the German-Italian oil routes in the Arabian Sea and the Red Sea," asked Rear Admiral Krachley.
"No," Cunningham shook his head, "that's not a priority, because the oil fields of Iraq and Iran would have been destroyed, and the Germans would not have been able to restore production there without 12 months."
And we will also conduct blockade operations in the Gulf of Aden and the Gulf of Oman. ” "So who are those submarines, seaplanes and camouflaged cruisers going to be used against?"
"Japanese" Cunningham said that "the battlefield of the Eastern Fleet is not only the Indian Ocean, but also Southeast Asia is our battlefield" Rome, Villa Medici.
Hirschmann was hosting a banquet for Isoroku Yamamoto, who had just returned from visiting naval bases, shipyards, and aircraft factories in Germany, and was on a mission to inspect the German navy, shipbuilding, and aircraft industry in addition to watching the war.
In the middle of the dinner, a staff officer from the Supreme Command of the German-Italian Forces in the Mediterranean walked in and delivered Hersmann a copy of the telegram he had just received.
After seeing it, Hersman laughed: "Admiral Yamamoto, the British Mediterranean Fleet has been defeated by us, an Italian submarine cruising near Port Said found that the British battleships were sailing into the Suez Canal, and they fled in disgrace, and the Mediterranean Sea is now German and Italian." t1706231537: