Chapter 254: The Inexplicable Trench! (Second Update!)
Just as Rommel was about to find a reason to refute his subordinates, he saw the communications staff officer hurried over with a telegram.

"Marshal Rommel, I'm afraid our hope of crossing the river is about to be dashed." The communications staff officer knew that Rommel was about to lead his troops across the river.

Hearing this, Rommel's heart skipped a beat.

Did something happen?
As expected, the communications staff's words made Rommel look extremely ugly.

"What? The navies of the four countries gave up the attack on Port Said?" Rommel looked at the telegram in his hand in disbelief.

"Yes, Marshal Rommel, the navies of the four countries need to head west to meet the Allied fleet. The plan to attack Port Said has been canceled." The communications staff officer spread his hands helplessly.

Prior to this, the navies of the four countries formulated a plan to attack Port Said.

This is an important port guarding the Suez Canal.

Since its construction, this port has been controlled by the British instead of the French.

Anyway, it never returned to the Egyptians.

It was not until the collapse of the British and French colonial system that Egypt gradually regained its sovereignty.

In other words, the remnants of the British army led by Montgomery are now in Port Said.

Originally, Montgomery was planning to retreat directly to the south and wait for reinforcements to land from the Red Sea.

As a result, Fatty Qiu sent a telegram stating that the Royal Fleet had already dispatched its main fleet to the Mediterranean.

He had to ensure that Port Said was not lost.

After weighing the pros and cons, Montgomery reluctantly retreated to Port Said.

Rommel originally intended to pursue the remnants of the British army.

As a result, the Supreme Command sent him a telegram asking him to lead his troops to the canal, cross the river to support Persia, and cooperate with the Persian troops and the German troops on the Eastern Front to attack the Soviet troops in the Caucasus region from the north and south.

He originally wanted to refuse, but the Supreme Command stated that the issue of Port Said would be left to the navies of the four countries to resolve.

That's why he felt confident and bold enough to ask the troops to rush to the canal as soon as possible.

The results of it?
We are just about to cross the river to Persia.

Another telegram was sent, asking him to lead his troops to attack Port Said.

Isn't this just making fun of him?

Orders are changed in the morning and evening.

He wanted to curse at those idiots in the Supreme Command.

But after reading the explanation sent by the Supreme Command, he realized that if the main Allied fleet could not be repelled, all his advantages in North Africa would vanish in an instant.

Seeing this, Rommel fell silent.

He knew that the High Command was right.

"Order, assemble all troops, target Port Said." Rommel took a deep breath and gave the order.

"Marshal Rommel, those tanks..." the subordinate asked again.

"Let's take Port Said first." Rommel shook his head. Everything will be decided after taking Port Said.

……

On the other side, Port Said is a port city located on the Suez Canal.

It was originally a deserted village, but later, with the excavation of the Suez Canal, it gradually became a port.

At the same time, it has become one of the most frequently used air routes in the world.

It is also the boundary between two continents.

It is also the main channel in the world.

Of course, this passage was originally controlled by the French.

Later, because of the war, it fell into the hands of the British army.

Due to the importance of this port, the British army would normally station troops here.

In addition, after the outbreak of war, this port city became increasingly important.

Before Montgomery arrived, there were more than 20,000 troops here.

Even during the Battle of Cairo, when Montgomery was under tremendous pressure, he did not withdraw troops from here.

It is obvious that he attaches great importance to this port city and will not allow it to be lost.

Because if this place is lost, it means that the Suez Canal will be completely lost.

Now at least the British Empire still nominally controls the Suez Canal.

Montgomery had not had a good night's sleep since arriving in Port Said.

He simply couldn't understand why he could lose so miserably even though he had such a huge advantage.

The development of the war situation was even more chaotic.

To the point that he himself began to doubt whether he was really incapable of leading troops.

If Port Said had not been in the hands of the British Army, he would probably have been transferred back to his homeland.

Even if I don't go back, I'm afraid I will have to go to India.

Speaking of Tianzhu!

India has been in a mess recently, and the Japanese army has occupied a large area of ​​territory.

They even began to attack cities with ports, which meant that the Japanese army wanted to occupy India for a long time.

This is not very good news.

If it weren’t for the fact that the Japanese supply lines were too long and their troops were insufficient.

I am afraid that more territory will be occupied now.

Fortunately, it is not his turn to worry about these things for the time being.

Because he couldn't provide any support to Admiral Wavell.

What he had to do now was to defend the canal and never let the German army take it away.

In order to deal with the German tanks, since arriving in Port Said, people have been digging anti-tank trenches outside.

The trench was more than four meters long, and the German tanks at the time would definitely not be able to pass through it.

This means that the German armored forces have lost their effectiveness.

Even so, he still couldn't sleep.

Because he was afraid that the German army would attack as soon as he fell asleep.

In contrast, Patton ate well and slept well.

According to him, this battle was not his concern.

"Commander, we have bad news. The reconnaissance troops have discovered the vanguard of the German army and are expected to appear in our defense zone at dawn." Montgomery, who had finally fallen asleep, heard the voices of his subordinates outside, and immediately sat up and rubbed his dazed head.

"So fast?" He muttered and continued.

"Order the troops to immediately enter combat readiness. We must defend the Suez Canal to the death and never lose it."

"Yes." The subordinate responded immediately.

If this is lost, it will be a real big deal.

By then, there will be many places to lose it.

Even the whole of India.

Thinking of this, Montgomery lost all sleepiness. He stood up, put on his clothes, brushed his teeth and washed his face, then walked into the command center.

Fortunately, including the more than 20,000 troops in Port Said, he had more than 50,000 troops.

The combat capability is still good, the only problem is that there are not many heavy weapons.

But it’s much better than before!
At least there were a lot of weapons such as anti-tank guns.

In other words, defending the port should not be a problem.

Thinking of this, Montgomery felt a lot more confident.

"Lieutenant General Montgomery, I'm afraid the next battle will be very brutal." Lieutenant General Patton received the news and walked into the command center and said worriedly.

"The Germans must want to take over Port Said completely."

Hearing this, Montgomery couldn't help but roll his eyes.

What nonsense is this. How could I not know?
But he certainly won't give up the port easily.

Do not!
Even if I die in battle, I will never give up Port Said.

So, what follows is sure to be a very brutal battle.

However, he believed that as long as the Royal Fleet could defeat the navies of the four countries, he would definitely win the war.

"Have all fighter jets on standby and ready to take off at any time."

It has to be said that the British army is very concerned about the operation of Port Said and even built a large number of hangars.

At the same time, there are also many fighter jets in stock here.

Among them are many US P36 fighter jets.

The US military has produced a lot of this fighter jet, but its performance is average and most of them are sold abroad.

The batch of aircraft in Port Said are fighter jets sent by the US military to support the British army.

Originally, the British army looked down on this thing, after all, they had Spitfire fighters.

But right now, I can’t care about so many things. It’s good enough to have a fighter plane.

Otherwise, we would have been bombed by German fighter planes.

He had to hold the defense line, hold Port Said, and ensure that the canal was firmly controlled by the British army.

At this moment, at the Port Said Air Force Base, fighter jets had just been towed out of the hangar and were being loaded with fuel, weapons, ammunition, etc. by ground crew members.

Not long after!
A sharp air defense alarm suddenly sounded above the base.

"Damn it, they are German fighter planes. All fighter planes take off immediately. All fighter planes take off immediately." The officer in charge of the airport shouted immediately.

Some of the ready fighter planes took off directly and quickly, while others were continuously refueled with the efforts of ground crews.

Dozens of German fighter planes appeared in the sky.

The first to arrive were the FW190 fighters, which headed straight for the P36 fighters that had just taken off.

As a result, several P36 fighters were shot down as soon as they met.

These British pilots are not as strong as the German ace pilots.

Not to mention, the fighter planes they flew were far inferior to the German FW190 fighter planes.

So I can only be abused.

The air force bases on the ground faced bombing from Stuka bombers.

Fortunately, the air defense weapons around the base began to take effect.

Anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns continued to pour their fury into the sky.

Two Stuka bombers that had no time to dodge were hit on the tail.

The Stuka bomber lost its balance and began to spin towards the ground.

The pilot decisively pulled out the ejection seat and parachuted.

The air battle was extremely brutal, and overall the British army was at a disadvantage.

Montgomery was not surprised at all when he received the telegram.

"Can you still hold on?" Montgomery asked.

"Okay, but the casualties are too great." The officer in charge of the airport said on the other end of the phone.

"Keep persevering, even if we have to use up all our fighter planes. Port Sayd must not be lost." Montgomery emphasized again.

"clear."

After hanging up the phone, Lieutenant General Patton asked puzzledly.

“We still have an airport, why not use it?”

You should know that in addition to the airport in Port Said, the British army has another airport, which is on the north bank of the canal.

A few years ago, the indigenous tribes on the north bank of the canal launched a rebellion, and it was Montgomery who led his troops to suppress the rebellion.

After the rebellion was suppressed, the British army built an airport there and stationed troops there.

The purpose is naturally to intimidate those indigenous tribes and make them feel more stable.

"Wait a minute. The Germans probably don't know about our airport. I plan to wait for the German airport to be withdrawn and then catch them off guard." Montgomery shook his head and said.

Now it seems that building that airport was the right decision.

This means that the British army has fighter jets available at any time, ensuring a certain air superiority.

Hearing this, Patton suddenly realized, and at the same time he couldn't help but admire him, because he still had so many clever ideas.

"The Germans are coming?" Montgomery asked without dwelling on this issue too much.

"The vanguard has arrived at the battlefield, but their attack has been blocked by the trenches we dug. Before the trenches are resolved, their armored forces will be ineffective and may not even be able to attack," the adjutant said quickly.

This was the only good news they had heard in so many days.

When we were digging trenches before, we thought it was useless. After all, this thing seemed to be of no use at all. But now it seems...

It worked really well and actually blocked the German armored forces.

"Order all troops to be on high alert and be sure to prevent surprise attacks by the German army. Rommel on the opposite side is no fool. He will definitely find a way to break through the trenches." Montgomery was not so optimistic. He believed that Rommel, who was called the Desert Fox, was definitely not a fool.

"Yes."

On the other hand, people were stunned to learn that the British army had dug a trench more than four meters long.

The problem the German army is facing now is not just that the tanks cannot get through.

Even for infantrymen, it was not an easy task to cross.

More importantly, if the British army suddenly flooded the city with water, it would be a devastating blow to the German army.

The total number of German troops under his command was less than 100,000. With such a small number of people, if he lost a few thousand, there would be no need to fight the war.

"What do you think?" After thinking for a long time, Rommel still couldn't figure out how to solve this problem.

In the end, we can only throw this problem to all the staff members of the command, hoping that they can pool their wisdom and come up with a solution.

The result was that everyone in the command center looked at each other in bewilderment. They had not expected that the British army would dig a four-meter-long trench in order to block their armored forces.

Their tanks just drove into the trench and couldn't climb out.

Unless they build a bridge, but the British army is not stupid.

No need to think about it!

The only British artillery must have been focused on the trenches.

As long as there is a bridge, it will be bombed immediately.

More importantly, building bridges requires wood.

There are not so many trees for them in the desert.

So there is really no solution.

Unless they are willing to ignore casualties and use human lives to build a path.

But Rommel could never agree to such a thing.

Let the Italian army go?

Don't even think about it, just let them surrender in a few minutes.

"Is it impossible to cross this trench?" Rommel said angrily.

Port Said was just ahead, and the Air Force fighters were still exchanging fire with British fighters.

As a result, the ground troops were trapped in a trench, which was really infuriating.

"Marshal Rommel, it would be great if we could fill this trench." A staff officer thought about it and felt that the best way was to fill it.

There is no other way.

"I've thought about the problem you raised, but what should we use to fill the gap? Have people carry sandbags? What's the difference between that and using human lives to fill the gap? The British artillery fire must be aimed at us." Rommel had thought of this method before.

If the key person is carried on the back, he will face the bombardment of British artillery fire.

It really affects the progress.

More importantly, no one can guarantee that there is only one trench?
There is nothing more after that?
　If nothing goes wrong, there will be another update, probably around 11 o'clock!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)