My Italy - Chapter 694 Battle of Egypt (3)

The attack of the Second Group Army was very sharp. After capturing Salloum in one day, it successively captured coastal cities such as Sidi Barani, Matruh, and Fouquet within half a month. Its troops had already occupied Deba. , pointing directly at Alamein.

In this series of battles, the Second Army fully appreciated the diversity of the British army.

At Sidi Barani, the 25th Division of the British and Indian Army allowed the Fourth Army to stay here for three days. It was only after the battle that we learned that the soldiers in this unit were basically composed of Sikhs. Their bravery and fighting skills made the soldiers of the Fourth Army dispel the notion that the British and Indian troops were all useless. However, although its combat effectiveness is good, the Fourth Army is more elite, but in order to reduce casualties, the Fourth Army fights slower.

Subsequently, the Fourth Army encountered the Australian 4th Division in Matruh, and they fought very tenaciously. In addition, Matruh is the only large port city in western Egypt. In order to ensure the integrity of the port as much as possible, the Fourth Army was a bit unable to let go and could only grind little by little.

It finally took four days to conquer the place, driving the remnants of the Australian 4th Division, the British and Indian 25th Division, and the 37th Division out of Matruh, leaving a relatively intact port.

At this time, General Gardner took into account the continuous marching status of the Fourth Army and sent the Tenth Army to take the lead. The subsequent battles at Fouquet and Deba were left to the Tenth Army.

In these two battles, because Daiba’s enemy was the British and Indian army, which was relatively weak, the battle was easy. Fouquet’s enemy was the South African 3rd Division, which had stronger combat effectiveness and was less comfortable to fight. At this time, the South African army recruited local white people, and black people were not even qualified to join the army.

At this time, various countries generally expressed doubts about the ability of black people to fight, believing that they were too primitive and could not be trained into the army at all. (Major General Vorbeck has something to say at this time)

Except for France, which suffered heavy casualties, organized black troops into troops and placed them on the Western Front, no other country assigned black troops to offensive and defensive tasks. They all used them as security tasks. You cannot use them to transport supplies, otherwise you will find that the supplies will be much less shipped to the destination, especially alcohol, cigarettes, and other valuable items.

The black troops sent by France to fill in the battlefield also had poor combat effectiveness. Their lack of military knowledge and laziness made them the best position for the German army to break through.

For this reason, France could only allow them to undertake some auxiliary tasks, and some troubles were caused. They stole things in the rear and harassed French women. Some women who were not afraid of death even slept with black soldiers. He just didn’t know how to explain it if he saw black-skinned children after his husband came back.

The Second Army, which had reached Daiba, did not continue the attack. Instead, they continued to strengthen their defenses and waited for the arrival of large forces. The reason why General Gardner, the commander of the Second Army, is so nervous is because Deba is only 40 kilometers away from Alamein.

The location of Alamein is very important, as it is the western extension of the Taka Plateau. Except for Alamein, which is close to the sea, other areas are bare mountainous terrain. In addition, 40 kilometers south of Alamein is the Katara Depression, which is full of salt lakes, swamps, salt pans and sand dunes. If you want to attack from here, Logistics can’t keep up. Further south is the great desert, and no one wants to eat sand.

Therefore, El Alamein has become a strategic point in western Egypt. As long as it is not breached, Egypt will not be occupied by enemies in the west. On the contrary, if this was captured, the enemy could attack Alexandria and the rich Nile Delta.

Historically, the German-Italian forces in World War II were defeated by the British army here, and Rommel’s dream of conquering Egypt was shattered. This time the British not only had several solid positions on the Alamein front line, but also vast minefields.

As for General Archibald Murray, the commander of the British army in Egypt, a total of 31 divisions were deployed in the area, with a total strength of 430,000, more than 1,700 cannons, and three strong lines of defense, each The defense lines are spaced 2-3 kilometers apart. Although most of them are civil structures, in key areas, such as Miteriya Ridge, Ruwaisat Ridge, Alam Nail, etc., they are all solid reinforced concrete permanent structures. Prepare fortifications.

At this time, Admiral Murray’s arrangement has been seen. This is the way to fight a dull war with a stronghold. Don’t try to use tricks to waste money.

Don’t think this is anything special, it’s already great. First of all, you need to choose the place where the enemy has to fight, and then you need to be able to steadily consume it, so that it will not be broken by the enemy’s various tactics, so that the enemy can only slowly consume you. The terrain of Alamein also gave him this confidence. Without breaking Alamein, the Italian army cannot attack Alexandria. It can only fight, must fight, and cannot do without fighting.

As for the enemy’s formation of a turtle formation, Prince Filiberto, as the commander of the Italian army, felt a little embarrassed about this. Because the enemy has chosen such a good position, with three consecutive lines of defense and sufficient troops, it is a huge loss for the elite troops he leads to fight against the enemy’s patchwork troops.

To this end, he prepared to use a secret weapon, and for this purpose he sent a telegram to Rome.

And his secret weapon is the tank that Italy has been studying for a long time.

That’s right, it’s a tank. Counting from the establishment of the project, Italy has been secretly researching tanks for ten years.

Thanks to Italy’s strict secrecy (covered by construction machinery and heavy tracked vehicles), the Allied camp did not discover it until the war started. In fact, not only the Allies, but also Germany and Austria did not know that their allies had created this thing.

In fact, the reason for this is that, in addition to using other vehicles as cover, these developed tanks are produced in small quantities for testing. In addition, during the off-road test, the turret and weapons were not installed. Can a person who has never seen a tank guess what this thing is?

There are currently two tanks secretly equipped by the Italian army, one is the CV5 light tank. It has a total length of 3.3 meters, a width of 1.5 meters, a height of 1.36 meters, a weight of 4.7 tons, no turret, and a crew of two (driver and commander).

It is equipped with two Maxim heavy machine guns on the front of the body. It is also equipped with a 36-horsepower gasoline engine, which allows the tank to run at a maximum speed of 31 kilometers. Moreover, the tank’s frontal armor is 20 mm, which can effectively withstand rifle and machine gun fire. Of course, what satisfies the military most is that this small tank has excellent climbing ability and can fight in mountainous areas.

The tank force currently in the hands of Prince Filiberto does not have this tank.

There is also a CV7 tank, which has a total length of 5.1 meters, a width of 1.82 meters, a height of 2.1 meters, a weight of 10.3 tons, a rotating turret, and a crew of four. CV7 is equipped with a 57mm short-barreled cannon and three Maxim machine guns. It is also equipped with a 63-horsepower diesel engine that can drive the tank to a top speed of 23 kilometers per hour. In terms of armor, the tank has 11-35 mm armor steel.

This tank is the armored regiment in the hands of Prince Filiberto. The regiment is equipped with 92 CV7 tanks, two tank battalions and a maintenance and transport battalion.

In order to transport these heavy CV7 tanks, Fiat has also specially developed a ten-wheel heavy-duty truck with a load capacity of up to 12 tons.

At this time, in order to break the situation, Prince Filiberto planned to make the tank, a new weapon, stand out.

“Report, telegram from Rome.”

A report interrupted Prince Filiberto’s thoughts. At this time, he was not angry, but rather looking forward to the good news from Rome.

After receiving the telegram, Prince Filiberto took one look and was stunned. Because this telegram has only one word, Agree.

Needless to say, the only person who can send a telegram in this style is my cousin the king.

At this time Prince Filiberto said with great joy. “Immediately order all unit commanders to come to a meeting, and I will issue combat missions.”

“yes.”

Yes, Prince Filiberto has already drawn up a battle plan, all he needs is the tip of a knife to cut butter. Although he has a regiment of tanks, he still needs to decide how to use them and when. Although my cousin is kind to me, there are some things where it is better to be more cautious.