In June 1940, Mussolini officially went to war with Britain in order to obtain Egypt and the Suez Canal, the choke point, thus officially opening up the North African battlefield.
Mussolini (left)
However, the combat effectiveness of the Italian army is "obvious to all": it is possible to be strong and strong, but it is really not possible to fight a war. Therefore, the British army did not expend much effort to defeat the Italian army.
How easy was it for the British and Italians to fight at that time?
It is said that the British army captured a total of 130,000 Italian prisoners of war, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill specifically asked a British officer on the front line: How many prisoners of war have we captured?
The British officer replied: We captured 5 acres of Italian officers and 200 acres of Italian soldiers.
Hitler and Mussolini
After being beaten to the point where his "bottoms" were dropped, Mussolini had to urgently ask for help from his "nemesis" Hitler. But the British did not believe that the Germans would really run to North Africa to stir up trouble: because far North Africa was not very tempting for Germany, there were no core resources.
Moreover, Nazi Germany had already focused all its attention on Western Europe and had no time to take care of the battlefields of far North Africa. However, hitler, after receiving Mussolini's request for help, unexpectedly decided to send troops to North Africa, and the leader chosen was one of the three famous generals of Nazi Germany: Rommel.
When he first arrived, everything Rommel faced was strange
In early 1941, the first units of the German Afrika Korps arrived in North Africa. When Rommel rushed to the North African battlefield, he found himself facing an extremely unfamiliar combat environment:
It was a desolate land, with hardly a single tree, not even a bush to find; except for the sand dunes and the Gobi, even a few small mountains were bare stones, and from time to time there were gusts of sand and wind. Thousands of miles of desert, resource-poor North Africa, almost no industrial base.
Rommel
Therefore, the German army is simply unable to achieve any situation of "feeding the war with war".
German officers and men were also extremely uncomfortable when they first arrived in North Africa, although they had a short period of adaptation training before coming. However, those trainings are completely different compared to the actual harsh environment.
What followed was Rommel's embarrassment: when his officers came to North Africa, they had almost no topographical and climatic data about the North African desert. The Intelligence and data available to the Italian army was scarce, and many of the maps they provided were inaccurate and incomplete.
From here, Rommel finally learned the truth: why the Italian army and the British army fought became the British army "catching pigs".
In desperation, Rommel tried to obtain some useful military data from local literature. However, he soon discovered that the military value of the materials was minimal. So he had to let the Germans go out on the ground to scout themselves to obtain military data.
In addition, when Rommel is free, he will also take a He111 bomber to conduct aerial combat environment reconnaissance.
In fact, Rommel's first Afrika Korps at that time were very limited, about 30,000 people. The armored forces were also very limited, and Rommel had few decent heavy tanks in his hands. (The Tiger tank came to North Africa only later.)
Perhaps in Hitler's view, he was just hindered by the "old friendship" with Mussolini, and sent a little soldier to North Africa to "walk down the scene". But Rommel, as the supreme commander of the North African Legion, certainly did not think so: the extremely "self-disciplined" German general, in fact, no matter what position he was assigned, he would do everything he could to do his best.
Dissatisfied with the strength of an army, Rommel was named "Commander of Army Group"
When Rommel first arrived, he gave the British a "dismount": the German army captured Massabrega in one fell swoop, forcing the British army to the area of Ajdabia. When the British soldiers saw the "Black Iron Cross" logo on the other tank, the British believed that the "Germans" had really come.
The arrival of Rommel and the German Army of North Africa did surprise the British: after all, the current opponent was not the Italian "ragtag", but the elite division of Nazi Germany, plus a German predator.
In just over a week, Rommel quickly reversed the decline on the battlefield. However, the British army was "deeply rooted" in North Africa, and the German army's strength at that time was far from that of the British army.
After the Germans captured Massabregard, Rommel also deliberately held a military parade: let the only tanks in his hand have been running around the battlefield, and the smoke and dust made the British mistakenly think that the Germans had many tanks, which was actually Rommel's helpless move.
Because of the entry of Rommel's Army of North Africa, the British urgently formed the Eighth Army of North Africa. The army group claims to have 100,000 men and more than 700 tanks. Thus Rommel's Army of North Africa, the ratio of their strength to the British army at that time was 1:3, and the ratio of the number of armored weapons was 1:2.
By mid-1941, the Germans had only two divisions in North Africa: the 15th Panzer Division and the 5th Light Division, with a total of 318 tanks. There were only 2 independent artillery battalions supporting firepower: a 100 mm cannon battalion and a 210 mm mortar battalion. Adding to the logistics and some independent units, Rommel's Army of North Africa totaled only 55,000 men.
As for the Italian troops, in fact, in Rommel's view: there are no them all the same.
But on August 15, 1941, Rommel's North African troops were given the frightening title of "African Panzer Army" by Hitler, which surprised Rommel himself: how did he become the commander of the army group with less than one army under his command?
Just like the Battle of Cao Cao's Chibi that year claimed to be 800,000 troops, there was indeed a strong suspicion and smell of "scareming people".
However, Rommel was very sober, he knew that his troops and weapons were not superior, so he often used the tactic of "fighting and retreating" in the battle with the British army, and in the process, he constantly sought opportunities to cause a large number of casualties to the British army.
In view of Rommel's outstanding performance in North Africa, Hitler promoted Rommel to commander-in-chief of the German "African Army" in March 1942 and gave 150 tanks as a supplement.
After receiving some reinforcement, Rommel quickly caught the British by surprise: repelled the British Eighth Division and advanced into the El Alamein region near Alexandria, Egypt.
At the critical moment, the logistics of the North African Legion was always "off the chain"
The British troops deployed in North Africa at that time actually had the strong support of the United States: the United States not only provided a large amount of equipment and materials to the British, but also directly transported hundreds of thousands of American boys (soldiers), including the later famous General Patton.
General Montgomery
With the replenishment of troops and equipment, the British Eighth Army, which had been destroyed by Rommel, was "strong and strong" again. Later, in order to deal with Rommel, the British also sent Montgomery to the North African battlefield to command.
Later, the Allies also successfully controlled the Eu-African passage, thus cutting off the logistical supplies of the German-Italian coalition forces.
Therefore, the German army in far North Africa, it is not easy to get logistical supplies: there is a towering Alps between Germany and Italy, rail transportation is not smooth, and if you want to transport goods in large quantities, you can only transport them by sea.
At that time, the logistics of the German army could only be achieved through the Mediterranean, but at sea it was the domain of the British Royal Navy. The Strait of Gibraltar, the main route from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, has always been under the control of the British.
So Rommel asked Hitler for supplies and troops in the war, but almost every time he didn't get anything. Hitler was having a broken heart over the situation on the Eastern Front, so he really didn't have any extra resources for Rommel. After all, the North African battlefield is only a secondary battlefield compared to the eastern front.
The poor food and weather in North Africa also gave Rommel a headache
In addition to the "overstretched" armament and strength of the German army in North Africa, there was also a headache for Rommel at that time: the problem of poor food for the army.
It is well known how important a delicious meal is for soldiers in a fierce battlefield for the recovery of morale and physical strength.
But the food provided by the Italians at that time, whether it was canned, coffee, or jam, was bland, and the German soldiers felt as if they did not put salt. Many German officers and soldiers joked that the chef of the Italian army must be a vegetarian, otherwise how could the taste be so bland?
For example, the canned beef brought by the Italian army, the German soldiers called them "Mussolini's old donkey", which means that it is too difficult to nibble. It's not that the Germans are particularly picky, it's that these foods are really too hard to eat. Even the Italian soldiers themselves found it unpalatable and joined in the swearing.
Soldiers eating in the desert
In addition, even in the hot weather in North Africa at that time, food is indeed prone to "taste". For example, olive oil, which was commonly consumed by the German army, melted easily in hot weather. There were also potatoes, which had always been beloved by Europeans, which were also easily rotten and spoiled in North Africa, and the Germans were later forced to replace them with dried beans from Italy.
The taste is not good, maybe the German soldiers can gradually adapt and simply endure it. However, often such materials are often delayed due to the loss of sea supremacy. Even if it is successfully transported to North Africa, the material will suffer a certain degree of loss.
Thus, Rommel was also tearless in his army food: he had to start with himself, tighten his belt with ordinary soldiers, and save the rest of the food for the second meal.
Drinking tea Rommel
At the worst time, Marshal Rommel actually had only one piece of bread and one cup of tea for a meal. Only when victory was achieved on the front line did Rommel give himself a few pieces of beef jerky and a glass of wine to celebrate.
But as the war continued, German logistics in North Africa became less and less optimistic: German food supplies and complementary foods began to be greatly reduced. Once the diet was short of vegetables and fresh meat, the German soldiers would have a large number of non-combat attrition.
Coupled with the increasingly obvious disadvantages in terms of armor and equipment, Rommel had to order the "stop the pursuit" in the case of several big victories, so he repeatedly missed the best chance to win.
Under such harsh combat conditions, Rommel himself suffered from severe mouth ulcers and stomach problems, and he had to return to Germany for convalescence. As soon as Rommel left, the North African Legion was even more "defeated", and Nazi Germany soon withdrew from the north African arena.
epilogue
Although the North African theater has never been the main battlefield of Germany, Rommel still used the only troops and equipment in his hands to drive the British to Egypt, and was once in a terrible situation.
Therefore, many people believed that if the logistics and soldiers of the Rommel Army of North Africa had been sufficient at that time, North Africa might have become the domain of the German army. But war is like that, there is never a "what if"!
Rommel pushing carts in the desert
The reason why people call Rommel the "Desert Fox" is mainly because of his series of impressive achievements in the North African battlefield. But Rommel belonged to the evil Nazi camp after all, and no matter how many military achievements he had, he was doomed to escape the fate of a tragic "cannon fodder".
Behind every "glory", in fact, there is more heartache.
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