Survive as a World War II Soldier - Chapter 115



Only Noblemtl

#115

A series of battles that took place in North Africa, including Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia, were later called the Battle of the Desert.

The reason was that the area was a desert.

The North African campaign began with Italy attacking British colonies, but both sides had the same goal.

“Suez.”

The Axis powers needed a victory in North Africa to secure the rich oil resources of the Middle East.

Of course, Suez was important to the Allied powers, including Britain.

“But not for us.”

“yes.”

The moment Britain loses Suez, its access to the India it so cherishes will triple.

And we couldn’t let the Germans, who were already lacking nothing but resources, get oil.

Naturally, the British army had no choice but to fight tenaciously.

The Italian army, which had confidently entered the battlefield in the face of the fighting power of the British army, not only lost Egypt and the Suez Canal, but also lost their own colony, Libya.

“Like those fucking pasta guys.”

“But we are allies, so we can’t just leave it alone, right?”

“shit.”

So the one who was dispatched was the famous Desert Fox, Erwin Rommel.

Rommel swung into action quickly before word of Italy’s defeat spread.

“How much supply can we possibly receive anyway? We’ll always be last in line.”

For him, who knew full well that he would not be able to receive the troops and supplies he wanted, the best strategy was a short-term decisive battle.

And Rommel, he had more than enough ability to do that.

Within a week, Rommel had captured Lieutenant General Richard O’Connor and had annihilated the British Western Desert Army.

“Shouldn’t he take responsibility for the defeat? Let’s dismiss Wavell and send him to India.”

“Then who do you send to that place?”

“How about Claude Auchinleck?”

“Okay. Then let’s gather the remaining soldiers first.”

Not only the Indian colonial army, but also the armies of Commonwealth countries such as Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, and even the Foreign Legion provided by Free France.

The British, who scraped together the 8th Army, appointed Claude Auchinleck as its commander.

But Auchinleck fails to live up to Churchill’s expectations.

Initially, they succeeded in pushing back Rommel, but soon they were counterattacked, Tobruk was taken, and they were forced to retreat to El Alamein.

Of course, he succeeded in stopping Rommel’s subsequent offensive, but defense was not what Churchill wanted.

“When on earth are you going to start the offensive?”

Auchinleck held out steadfastly in the face of Churchill’s demands for an aggressive offensive.

“You have to be ready to go.”

“preparation?”

“We need to occupy Syria. Then we need armored units for desert warfare. Armor alone is not enough, so we need infantry to support the armor. And to properly operate ground forces, we need fighters, bombers, reconnaissance planes in the sky… Oh, and when will the Mediterranean sea blockade be carried out?”

Wouldn’t this be the perfect answer to make the impatient Churchill suffocate?

“So it got cut?”

I nodded to the adjutant’s question.

“They even flew all the way to Cairo and cut off his head.”

“wow”

“The successor is Lieutenant General Montgomery.”

“To be exact, General Harold Alexander is the successor, but the commander who will actually lead the battle is Montgomery.”

Bernard Law Montgomery.

Perhaps Churchill expected Montgomery to have a brash personality like our Mary, but as someone who knows the future, I found that to be laughable.

“But do you really intend to get involved in North Africa?”

“You need training.”

“Are you talking about training?”

“Yeah. Training.”

No matter how much training you do, in the end it’s no better than actual combat.

Compared to the European mainland, where the Germans, like war machines, were holding on tenaciously, this Africa was the perfect appetizer.

“Especially here in Morocco, there is a high possibility that there will be less resistance than elsewhere.”

“Hmm.”

Vichy France.

Free French people who had taken refuge in London were calling Vichy France, which had barely managed to preserve its national identity after surrendering to Nazi Germany, traitors.

However, not all Vichy French were traitors.

Some of them ended up remaining in Vichy France, but rather than cooperating with the Nazis, there were many who continued to resist by participating in resistance activities.

The leadership also decided to surrender only to prevent indiscriminate sacrifice.

There were also many who said that if given the chance, that is, if they were convinced that the United States would drive out the Nazis, they would abandon Germany and return to the Allied forces.

“Can you trust people like opportunists?”

“Still, if we can reduce the sacrifice of our soldiers, we should join hands.”

“That may be so.”

There was one more thing that needed to be done, to keep Churchill’s lifeline going.

There was a reason why Churchill went to Cairo and took the drastic measure of blowing up Auchinleck.

“Isn’t the mood in the British cabinet a bit odd?”

“Yes. There is also some ulterior motive that a motion of no confidence will be submitted against Churchill.”

“That’s difficult.”

“Huh? Didn’t you hate Prime Minister Churchill?”

I don’t like it.

But ousting Churchill was another matter.

There is a reason why they say that an old pipe is a good pipe.

If you get rid of Churchill and then something worse comes up that looks like a great leader, how are you going to handle it?

It was killing me to deal with the butterfly effect I had created during the interwar period, and I absolutely refused to add anything more.

So, he had to remain as British Prime Minister until the end of the war.

For his sake, I secretly sent a telegram to Marshall in Washington.

##

Marshall, who received MacArthur’s contact, immediately went to see Roosevelt.

The number of people gathered at the White House at Marshall’s request was five.

There were Roosevelt, his aide Arthur III, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral King, and Secretary of State Hull.

Arthur III asked curiously after checking the thick document Marshall handed him.

“Operation Roundup?”

“Yes. This is the operational plan sent by General MacArthur from London. He reported the operational plan along with his opinion that it would be a good idea to take advantage of Germany’s concentration on the Eastern Front to advance into the European continent.”

Of course, it wasn’t a perfect plan. Since it was a landing operation, cooperation with the Navy as well as the Army was necessary.

However, the problem that those who reviewed the documents commonly pointed out was not that part.

“Hmm. If you look here, it looks like the main force is the British army?”

“Yes. Our army is still under-trained, so we don’t have enough troops to deploy for landing operations like this.”

Everyone in the conference room looked dumbfounded at Marshall’s answer. Secretary of State Hull, who had barely come to his senses, asked a question.

“Did the British approve this?”

Marshall chuckled and shook his head.

“no.”

Roosevelt scoffed at Marshall’s reply that that couldn’t be true.

“This, this is them telling us to catch the wind.”

“yes.”

King opened his mouth with a look of bewilderment at Marshall’s plain answer.

“Then, should our Navy insist that this operation must be carried out?”

Marshall replied that he would appreciate it and handed over another report.

“What is this?”

“Wouldn’t it be necessary to establish a beachhead for the Roundup operation?”

Arthur III burst into laughter as if he was amazed at the plan that made people ask, “Why did you make it so detailed when you wouldn’t even put it into action anyway?”

“They say that if you want to deceive your enemy, you have to deceive your own troops first. It’s better to do it half-heartedly than not do it at all.”

That was Marshall’s answer after reading Arthur III’s expression.

If you’re going to fool Churchill and Britain, you have to do it right. If you get caught later, it’ll be a problem.

“That’s true.”

Everyone nodded to him.

“And even if it wasn’t now, a mainland landing operation was unavoidable. If we make plans and review them several times, wouldn’t things get better?”

Thus, a few days later, Roosevelt sent a telegram to Churchill requesting that a second front be opened as soon as possible.

Churchill, who had been running in a hurry, expecting to see the North African battlefield at the call to open a front quickly, was bewildered by the two fronts that were different from what he had expected.

“Didn’t you say you would land in North Africa if Montgomery gave you the signal?”

“Me?”

Churchill’s appearance of beating his chest as if he was frustrated was ignored by everyone.

“If we are going to open a front, shouldn’t we land in France?”

“How about Brest or Cherbourg on the Cotentin Peninsula?”

The steel general, who had been desperately waiting for a blow to the back of the Germans’ heads, welcomed them with open arms.

“I don’t know which one is better, but why don’t we just do both? When? Let’s do it right now!”

Stalin was not the only one who was delighted by our bold American proposal to quickly invade the European mainland.

This was also because the governments in exile huddled together in London were also sulking with sparkling eyes.

Even within Britain, there were opinions that it would be better to end the sluggish war quickly.

however,

“Brest or Cherbourg, that’s fine. But who’s going to do it?”

Who is it? There is only one country with a trained and elite force capable of deploying in a dangerous landing operation in the current situation.

“The bravery of the British army···.”

“We also work hard···”

“This time, we will establish a bridgehead and use it as a base for the Western Front…”

Everyone says they will never give up and will do their part, but

“Even so, they are just governments in exile. If we gather them all together, will we be able to form a legion?”

“But isn’t it better than us?”

With only three divisions trained to a level that could be deployed for operations, we and the government-in-exile were at odds.

After reviewing the detailed plan, the British government and Churchill began to voice their opposition more heatedly.

“I know the US military lacks training. So wouldn’t it be bad to go too hard mode from the beginning?”

Britain tried to change Roosevelt’s mind somehow. But what kind of person was our Roosevelt?

It was not a friendly greeting where Churchill would listen to his whining from across the ocean.

In the end, the only person Churchill could depend on was me.

“Doug, you know that landing on the mainland with the full force of the US military is like asking for death. How can we start off with such high difficulty? Wouldn’t it be better to go to North Africa, Algeria, or somewhere like Vichy France, where there is little resistance and they will just open the door, and gain experience and proceed calmly and step by step?”

Churchill’s appearance, pouring out his words without even taking a breath, showed how desperate he was.

And actually, I thought the same thing.

But why do we have to go through such a cumbersome process?

If you just give in to what they want from the beginning, you’ll end up being a fool.

Aren’t people originally creatures that want to lie down when they sit down and want to hold on to something when they lie down? Even these British bastards were originally shameless.

When he seemed to have been persuaded by Churchill, he said that he would go to North Africa instead of mainland Europe.

“What if that is the judgment of the field command?”

Roosevelt accepted it, although he clearly showed his displeasure.

The steel arch-enemy up north was not really pleased with it, but what could be done about it?

It’s a situation where even just stabbing the Germans in the back of the head or the side is enough, so we have to accept it.

And Churchill was able to keep his position as British Prime Minister thanks to his achievement in preventing a dangerous plan in which the British army would become the main attacker.

##

“The American army is coming?”

“Yes. The US military will move according to the Lieutenant General’s schedule, so please let me know when the offensive will begin.”

Montgomery frowned at the adjutant’s words.

When he heard that there was a lot of noise about going to mainland Europe for a while, he was quite relieved.

“I guess I won’t be paying much attention to this for a while.”

“I guess that’s true, right?”

In his view, the mainland landing was a truly ridiculous operation.

“It’s bound to fail no matter what you do.”

Of course, I was a little shaken by the news that Churchill was foaming at the mouth in opposition.

“No, I wonder if it might work.”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

But the task given to him was here in North Africa.

It was a job to hunt desert foxes.

And for this, the two things he needed most were supplies, more supplies, and indifference.

Churchill was making a fuss to beat up Rommel and drive him out as soon as possible, but Montgomery thought that was the worst of the worst.

“The longer we delay like this, the more advantageous it will be for us.”

“That’s true.”

Although they failed to completely control the Mediterranean, the German and British armies clearly had an advantage in terms of supply capacity. And as time went on, the gap between the two would only grow.

But things went wrong when the American troops unexpectedly decided to land in North Africa.

“There’s nothing I can do.”

It would be nice to be able to fight with a prepared force whenever and wherever you want, but as always, things don’t always go as planned, whether in war or in life.

“So where are our Yankee friends coming from?”

If possible, I hope you can come and help before the Tobruk offensive.

“They say it’s going to Algeria.”

“what?”

Really, nothing went as planned.

With Montgomery’s disappointment, a huge torch began to burn in North Africa.

Where do you want to go?