After the Second World War, many famous generals were selected, and many meritorious men were selected, but among these meritorious men there were some who were forgotten. And the reason why these people are forgotten may be because their fame is not very large, it may be that someone has erased their credit. Therefore, Xiaobian believes that this is unfair, because the merits of any general should not be erased by history, and their contributions must be known to future generations. Only one person remembers them, then their efforts and efforts are not in vain.
The forgotten celebrity I want to talk about today is Auchin laker. Churchill once said: "It can almost be said that before El Alamein we never won, and since then we have never lost." Churchill's words were in praise of Montgomery, but he missed Auchinlake's credit. For before the Second Battle of El Alamein in 1932, the British had twice won hard-won victories in North Africa, and the commander of this hard-won victory was Marshal Auchinleck.
Marshal Auchinleck was a brave and innovative general in Britain's modern military history. In the Second World War, the war situation in North Africa was precarious, so in this case, it was Marshal Aukinlake who turned the tide and stabilized the war. It was precisely because of the foreshadowing of Auchinleck that montgomery's victory at the Battle of El Alamein laid the foundation for the eventual allied victory over the German army in North Africa.
Regrettably, however, it was not the British who first realized the military prowess of Marshal Auchinleck, but his rival Germany. Rommel of Germany at the time said of Auchinleck: "He was the only one of many British generals with great general talent, and his talent was still above Montgomery." At the same time, Rommel's chief of staff, Behring, also said: "It is a pity that no one in England recognizes the wonder of Auchinlake's victory in the war, albeit on a very small scale!" ”
From these two sentences of the opponent, we can see that O'Kinlake's military talent is worthy of recognition. Because the person who can make the opponent respect and praise must have many shining points, and he must have something that the enemy fears. But as Rommel said, Oakinglake's talent was not appreciated by britain. And this reason may also be because Oginlake came from a commoner family, unlike other military class members from the nobility.
Oginlake was born into a very ordinary civilian family, but his mother was not pedantic, but a woman with a lot of brains and personality. And dare to despise authority, so under the influence of his mother, Auchinlake is also a person who advocates fairness and does not discriminate against others. Growing up, Auchinlake was sent to the Royal Army School in St. Hurst for training due to his academic performance, and was subsequently appointed as an officer in the British Army in India at the age of 18.
During his tenure, Auchinleck painstakingly studied military history and studied the military tactics of famous generals around the world. But for these he will not copy the whole school, because Auchin lakerck found that in the cruel battlefield, if you want to make a contribution, you can't always follow the practices of your predecessors, you have to innovate, only in this way can you make a difference in your talents. So after the outbreak of World War I, Auchinlake learned a lot on the battlefield and put it all for his own use.
Later, after the outbreak of World War II, Auchinleck was ordered to return to the country and lead the Second Combined Expeditionary Force of Britain, France and Poland to carry out landing operations in narvik, a northern harbor in Norway. After that, because Japan launched an attack on the British colonies in Southeast Asia, the British attached importance to it, so Auchinleck was transferred back to India and served as the commander-in-chief of the British army in India for a period of time.
It was precisely because of this that Auchinleck had class contradictions with many aristocratic-born British troops. Because of the influence of traditional conservative style, the british aristocratic members regarded India as an inferior nation and were prejudiced, so the nobles generally despised and ignored the Indian troops. Oginlake, on the other hand, does not think so, in his eyes no country is inferior, no country should be prejudiced.
Therefore, Auchinleck trained the Indian soldiers equally, and fully exploited the advantages of the Indian army, and it is precisely in this way that Oginleck is incompatible with the nobles.
Auchinleck's ideas and actions were also rewarded, and in the 1941 North African campaign, the Indian army was as brave and warlike as the British army, which played an irreplaceable role, and some Indian troops were much stronger than the noble British army. Later, the battlefield in North Africa changed suddenly, and the German Axis African Legion under the command of Rommel, a famous German general known as the "Desert Fox", took advantage of the tragic losses of the British army in the Middle East in the Greek region and was seriously injured, and began a fierce offensive. So the Germans attacked the city all the way, driving 1500 kilometers, encircling 30,000 British troops in Tobruk, a Libyan harbor.
In this situation, the British were extremely worried, because if Egypt fell, the sea communication line from the Mediterranean to India would be cut off by Germany. So Churchill and the cabinet, after several searches, finally decided to send Oginlake to the battlefield to turn the tide of the war. As a result, Auchinleck was transferred to North Africa, promoted to general, and took over as commander-in-chief of the British Army in the Middle East. For this battle, The task and the burden on The shoulders of Auchinlake are naturally extremely heavy, so if Auchinlake wants to complete the mission this time, he must be familiar with the other side's combat methods.
In order to drive Rommel's army out of Africa, Oginlake and his colleagues drew up an action plan against Rommel,code-named the Crusaders. At that time, in order to break through the blockade, the British army continued to increase troops to North Africa. At the same time, in terms of military combat readiness, such as tanks, armored brigades, etc., the combat readiness has also been doubled.
So when everything was ready, Auchinlake launched a massive counteroffensive before Rommel could strike, with 100,000 British troops and 700 tanks attacking Rommel's army.
Because of the extremely tight camouflage of the operation in advance, the route of the attack was also chosen more cleverly, and finally the British attack became more intense under Rommel's mistake that the British would not launch a large-scale attack. After 5 days of fierce fighting between the two armies, Rommel desperately made a crazy shock operation, and Rommel's plan made the British army panic.
So Auchinleck personally went to the battlefield to take command, and finally stabilized the situation and gave the British the final victory. Although the British also suffered heavy losses in this battle, the British gained control of the Mediterranean.
This time the battle lasted for some time before it really ended, and this time the German Axis army lost more than 60,000 people and 300 tanks, and finally the German army had to retreat 600 kilometers away to treat the wounds. The battle commanded by Auchinleck was the first major victory of the British army against the German army since the Second World War, and at the same time, the myth of Rommel's invincibility known as the "Desert Fox" was broken by Auchinleck.
Churchill was naturally pleased, praising: "O'Kinglake saved the battle, and he proved with his actions his outstanding qualities as a field commander." Later, however, at the Battle of El Alamein, a dispute arose over the strategic disagreement between Auchinlake and Churchill. Therefore, the editor believes that it is precisely because of this that Oginlake was finally removed from his post and removed from the credit of the war.
However, after the end of the Second World War, various things were clarified and the truth surfaced. The British military and political circles found that there were problems with the treatment of O'Kinlake, and that mistakes had been made in the first place, so after the investigation, The humiliation suffered by Oginlake was finally clarified. It is history that proves that Auchinlake was a distinguished commander in Britain's modern military history, and it was his own military talents and efforts that cleared the slander against him. Therefore, in 1947, Auchinlake was awarded the rank of field marshal and received the military honor he deserved, and after that, Auchinlake also spent his old age at home, living to the age of 97.
References: "Steel Cannon", "Selection of Famous People"