Chapter 228: The Rarely Generous Desert Fox! (First Update!)

Zheng Dongguo and Du Yuming were both students of the first term, and both are alumni.

In terms of personal development, both sides are on par with each other, but strictly speaking, Zheng Dongguo has more prospects than Du Yuming.

At least you won't be blamed for no reason.

The main problem is still a matter of personal character.

"General, we won't be assigned to the expeditionary force, right?" Liao Yaoxiang was originally from the Fifth Army, under the command of Du Yuming.

During the last expedition, he was ordered to withdraw to the country, but he was blocked by the Japanese army, so he had no choice but to withdraw to Imphal.

Now that I know Du Yuming has once again become the commander of the expeditionary force, I am naturally a little surprised.

"No, we are still directly under the Allied Command, but there should be some strategic coordination between the two sides." Zheng Dongguo shook his head.

"Then shall we continue like this?" Liao Yaoxiang asked after a moment's hesitation.

Strictly speaking, they missed the opportunity to fight. If we really take it seriously, they will definitely be punished by military law.

But every time he found an excuse, Stilwell was speechless.

The logistics supply was poor, the morale of the troops was low, the roads were bad, the marching speed was slow, etc.

Although Stilwell was an expert on China, he still believed in the Allied way of thinking at heart, which was that if logistics were insufficient, the troops would protest and refuse to follow orders.

Mai Paopao once said that if he gave his subordinates something like fried noodles to eat, he would definitely be faced with a gun to his head.

So Stilwell could only increase the logistics supply capacity.

But now the Suez Canal is blocked and the speed of US military aid has slowed down. It will take some time to complete the supply.

In addition, there are more than 100,000 more mouths to feed, which is enough to give Stilwell a headache for some time.

"Let's increase the marching speed for now. When the expeditionary force arrives, I will feel out Du Guangting's attitude." Zheng Dongguo thought for a moment and said.

When Liao Yaoxiang heard this, he knew that there was no other way and he had to do this for now.

.........

In Alexandria, Rommel looked at the list in his hand and his face was filled with joy.

He also didn't expect that there were so many supplies in the port of Alexandria. It was simply incredible.

At the same time, he also secretly weighed the strength comparison between the two sides.

If there had been no raid on Alexandria, even if the German army had won the Battle of El Alamein, it would have eventually stopped at Alexandria and would have been unable to continue the attack.

In addition, once the support from the mainland is cut off, the outcome that awaits the North African Corps is total annihilation.

Rommel broke out in a cold sweat at the thought of this.

Fortunately, Alexandria is now his. Relying on the captured supplies, he enables the North African Legion to continue fighting.

But this also completely angered the Allies.

According to intelligence, the Allies will mobilize heavy troops to encircle and suppress the navies of the four countries.

In other words, if he did not take Cairo at this time, he could 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 the artillery to the Cairo front line. I need your artillery shells to teach those damn Allied forces a lesson." Rommel said to his adjutant.

"Yes." The adjutant also knew that the situation was urgent. Now was not the time to celebrate the victory. They needed to drive the Allied forces out of Cairo in one go.

After seizing supplies from Alexandria, the German army's mechanization level increased significantly.

So towing these heavy artillery is not too difficult.

At the same time, Rommel discovered that laying the 88 anti-aircraft gun flat was very effective.

Especially when facing the Allied tanks, they were almost killed one by one.

This time he specifically emphasized the need to take the 88 anti-aircraft gun away.

Three days passed in a flash, and outside Cairo, the German vanguard had begun to set up artillery positions.

"Speed ​​up, and try to get all the artillery in place before six o'clock tomorrow." Compared to the Sichuan Army Corps, they still need to borrow artillery from others.

The professional quality of the German artillery was very high, especially the North African Corps, which were elite troops who had experienced bitter battles.

With excellent combat qualities, it didn't take long for thousands of artillery pieces to be deployed.

Montgomery in the city looked extremely ugly.

I originally wanted to wait for reinforcements to arrive and launch a counterattack.

As a result, the German army arrived faster than expected.

This was completely beyond his expectation.

"Lieutenant General Patton, when will your country's reinforcements arrive?" Montgomery asked.

In fact, the first troops to arrive at this time should be the Australian troops.

After receiving the British army's telegram for help, they immediately sent the five newly formed infantry divisions to Cairo.

However, due to the attack of the Japanese Navy, naval escort was necessary, so the task of escort fell on the US military.

In addition, there are various weapons support.

Planes, artillery, tanks and more.

Lieutenant General Patton was also helpless because transportation would take time.

What they lack most now is time.

No one expected that the navies of the four countries would unite to launch a surprise attack on the port of Alexandria.

More importantly, the combined power of German submarines and fighter planes was so enormous.

If it weren't for the appearance of the last hundred German fighter planes, Alexandria would not have been lost so quickly.

Because at that time, the British army already had the ability to counterattack.

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 at least half a month."

This is the maximum speed at full speed.

Montgomery's heart trembled when he heard that it would take half a month.

Because he himself was not sure if he could hold on for half a month.

"Lieutenant General Montgomery, I suggest that we can withdraw Mountbatten's Fifteenth Army from India. It is one of the few elite troops. I can write to General Stilwell and hope that he can use transport planes to send them to Cairo as soon as possible. It is estimated that it will only take a week." Lieutenant General Patton also knew that the situation was urgent, so he could not even take care of other battlefields.

We must defend Cairo now, otherwise if we lose the Suez Canal, we will be in real trouble.

The German army must not be allowed to catch its breath.

Hearing this, Montgomery frowned slightly.

The situation in India had also deteriorated to the extreme.

Admiral Wavell telegraphed him more than once requesting reinforcements.

"If the 15th Army is withdrawn, the situation in India will become even worse." Montgomery wanted to reject his proposal.

Who knows, Lieutenant General Patton shook his head and said.

"Lieutenant General Stilwell has already transferred more than 100,000 expeditionary troops from China, who will soon enter India for support. At the same time, he has also transferred some troops composed of indigenous peoples. Hundreds of thousands of troops will definitely be able to stop the Japanese army."

"We must defend Cairo now. Otherwise, if Cairo is lost, it will cause a chain reaction."

The original strategy of the US military was to pick up the ready-made situation later and slowly fight the Japanese in the Pacific theater.

Once the forces in Europe are almost exhausted, a second battlefield will be immediately opened up, while reaping the entire Europe at the same time.

Who knew that the British army would collapse so quickly?

If they don't make an effort, they will be in real trouble.

But in Montgomery's eyes, India is indeed more important than Cairo.

But Lieutenant General Patton's proposal is indeed very good.

"Okay, I can send a telegram to Admiral Wavell, but I don't know if it will succeed." Finally, Lieutenant General Montgomery agreed to Patton's suggestion. Just as he finished speaking, there were bursts of rumbling sounds outside the city.

"Damn it, it's artillery fire, are the Germans attacking?" Montgomery's face looked extremely ugly. He did not expect the German army to act so quickly, smoothly, without any delay.

In fact, including the British troops on the battlefield, they all believed that the German army would need at least three to five days to prepare.

"What a fast speed." 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 understand." Montgomery took a deep breath and immediately began to write a letter to Admiral Wavell to analyze the pros and cons.

The British troops in the city were smoking cigars and chatting loudly on the battlefield.

Who knew, suddenly there were bursts of sharp whistling sounds in the sky.

"Damn it, it's artillery fire... Get out of the way..."

"Bombardment..."

"Hurry and hide."

The British soldiers who came to their senses roared wildly.

Outside the city, thousands of artillery pieces of various calibers fired at the British positions inside the city almost simultaneously.

The vast sky from north to west was flashing with lightning, as bright as if it was on fire.

The whole world trembled. Rommel, who was commanding in the rear, looked at the city of Cairo surrounded by artillery fire and a smile appeared on his lips.

"The artillery fire is still not strong enough. Let the logistics department continue to deliver shells and let the British troops in the city have a good taste of being bombed."

"Also, notify the Air Force to launch an attack on Cairo as soon as daybreak. I need to completely reduce Cairo to ruins." Rommel said coldly as he looked through the telescope at Cairo in the distance engulfed in flames.

"Yes." The adjutant responded quickly.

It has to be said that with the material support from Alexandria Port, Rommel's tone of voice became much more heroic.

If it were before, he would not dare to give such an extravagant order.

The artillery bombardment lasted for two hours, mainly targeting the buildings in the city.

According to the experience and lessons of the German army on the Eastern Front, all houses and buildings should be bombed into ruins as much as possible, otherwise they would become cemeteries for the German soldiers.

So Rommel's order was to bombard the building.

Don't see any intact buildings.

The British troops in the city were stunned by the explosion.

Especially when watching the buildings behind him being blown down and turned into ruins, he knew that the next battle would be extremely difficult.

In the past, Rommel would use the few resources he had and come up with various tactics to win the battle.

Now!
With sufficient supplies, he can also indulge himself.

The British defense line was directly torn apart by fierce artillery fire.

The British artillery in the city could only watch helplessly as the German artillery bombarded them.

It was because the Germans bombarded them with artillery fire, most of which were abandoned by the British.

"Forward!" As the order for the general attack was issued, the German officers and soldiers on the battlefield shouted loudly and launched an attack towards Cairo.

The tank roared!
Tanks appeared on the battlefield!

Panzer II, Panzer III.

British tank.

M3 light tank.

Tanks of all types appeared on the battlefield.

This time, Rommel invested a lot of money.

The goal is to capture Cairo in one fell swoop.

Rommel put all his troops forward, he wanted to take Cairo in one go!

The German 15th Armored Division still serves as the vanguard of the entire army!

They were originally just a light armored division, equipped with light tanks.

Now that they had seized the supplies from Alexandria Port, they suddenly became wealthy.

Although there are tanks of various models, at least they are much more luxurious than before.

Moreover, they were all Allied tanks, so we wouldn’t feel bad even if they were destroyed.

Lieutenant General Gustav von Furst even personally drove an M3 light tank and crushed towards the enemy's position.

Because Rommel often liked to drive tanks or infantry fighting vehicles himself and walk on the front battlefield.

So the commanders of the two armored divisions will also drive tanks and charge first.

The artillery is roaring, the planes are roaring, and the tank guns are roaring!

The British positions had long been bombed to pieces, and the defense line was like tofu dregs, unable to withstand the fierce attack of the German army.

At this time, countless British soldiers were wailing under the tank tracks, and countless soldiers were killed by bullets.

The British army had lost a large number of heavy weapons, and facing the surging attack of the German army, their resistance seemed ridiculous.

Finally, the British army could not bear the huge casualties and began to abandon their weapons and flee to the rear. To them, all this was like a nightmare.

Screams were heard from the British positions, and countless British soldiers were shot and killed by German soldiers who rushed into the positions.

Faced with the powerful firepower of the German army, the British army, which had lost its fighting spirit, had no ability to fight back at all.

With the support of tanks, planes and artillery, the German soldiers advanced slowly with a barrage of bullets, and the infantry and tanks coordinated various tactics, leaving the British army on the opposite side confused.

Eventually, one position after another was lost.

In about half an hour, the British army's first line of defense was completely breached, while the German army was continuing to advance towards the second line of defense.

When the battle report was delivered to Rommel, he just said coldly: "Too slow, speed up."

"Yes!"

"Tell Lieutenant General Fuster that in one hour, I want to see the German flag raised in Cairo."

"Yes!"

There was no way, since the 15th Armored Division was his ace armored division.

If we don’t put pressure on them, who should we put pressure on?

The 21st Armored Division is still resting.

If time was not urgent, he would definitely wait for the arrival of the 21st Armored Division before launching the attack.

Upon receiving the order, Lieutenant General Foster gritted his teeth and without saying a word, he personally led his troops to rush towards the battlefield.

Now the 15th Armored Division was like crazy, pushing forward desperately.

The German soldiers continued to support each other, relying on the powerful firepower of tanks, submachine guns, and machine guns to take down bunkers one after another.

If it really doesn't work, just level the 88 anti-aircraft gun and fire it at the British positions in the distance.

After the anti-aircraft guns are leveled, all beings are truly equal.

The power was beyond their expectations.

With the addition of the 88 anti-aircraft gun, the advancement speed was indeed much faster.

Especially those bunkers, it is very difficult to destroy them with the tank guns of light tanks.

But the 88mm anti-aircraft gun is different, its power is enormous.

For a time, the bunkers on the British positions were destroyed one after another.

Another hour later, the British army's second line of defense outside the city was destroyed.

The city of Cairo today is no different from an undefended city.

The only thing the British troops in the city could do was fight in the streets.

But do the British troops, whose morale has already collapsed, have the courage to fight street battles?

(End of this chapter)