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"Don't worry too much about the whereabouts of the Germans"
When Churchill, who was far away in London, learned that his troops had retreated before the Germans had arrived, the prime minister, who had personally messed up the British army's low-hanging victory, couldn't help but be furious. In a telegram sent to Wavell on March 26, 1941, the Prime Minister almost uttered:
"I think you're like a turtle that is afraid of being poked in the head, retracting its head into its shell when [the Germans] are far away."
Wavell's call back was also unceremoniously, and he directly told the prime minister, who likes to manipulate: First, our troops have now traveled long distances, fought for months, and have been alone in Libya for more than 1,000 kilometers; Secondly, most of my elite troops and heavy weapons and equipment are not exactly your lords who are stubbornly transferred to Greece?
German aerial shot of the port of Tripoli
Perhaps out of self-confidence, perhaps as usual, Wavell finally told the chancellor that, with his intuition, it was impossible for the Germans to launch a large-scale offensive in a short period of time. On March 30, Wavell also made a point of informing the United Kingdom troops stationed in Nîmes that "they need not care too much about the whereabouts of the German and Italy troops" because "I do not believe that they will be able to attack again this month, and they will get next month at the earliest." ”
The day after the United Kingdom general said these words, Rommel began a major attack on Brega.
The German commander, who had just returned to the front from France, had only one panzer regiment, two machine-gun battalions, two reconnaissance battalions, three artillery batteries and one anti-aircraft artillery battalion at his disposal—a small number of troops comparable to the forces he commanded in France, let alone the United Kingdom opposite.
The High Command had no appreciation for Rommel's ambitious plans, and sneered at them – and this was normal, since no one wanted the North Africa battlefield to seriously interfere with the impending Barbarossa Plan.
In accordance with the order he received from Berlin, he was not allowed to attack the port of Brega until the 15th Panzer Division arrived in Libya at the end of May. But Rommel found on the front line that the United Kingdom was still retreating, and on March 24, Streicher's light armoured forces effortlessly captured a vital water point, which left Rommel in a dilemma.
The Afrika Korps arrives in Tripoli
German telegraphers intercepted the United Kingdom telegram and learned that the United Kingdom troops retreating to Brega were digging trenches and calling for reinforcements - by the end of May, it was estimated that the British would not be able to gnaw on the turtle shells.
On 31 March, Rommel ordered Streicher to attack the port of Brega despite Berlin's orders. The United Kingdom retreated again. Immediately, the Germans set up a tight minefield and anti-aircraft artillery fire net to prevent the enemy from counterattacking.
Soon, the German Air Force told Rommel that the United Kingdom on the opposite side had doubled away again...
At this time, Rommel realized that the United Kingdom was planning a full-scale retreat from Cyrenaica, apparently they only intended to preserve the remaining troops, and did not want to establish a few forward bases in Libya at all.
The situation was much better than Rommel had anticipated, and the gates of Cyrenaica were opening to the German-Italian forces, and although his superiors had strictly forbidden him to attack before May, he admitted in a letter to his wife on 3 April:
"I took the risk and disobeyed all orders and instructions, because the opportunity to attack was in sight."
Four swords piercing Cyrenaica
Rommel's bold offensive in early April violated a traditional military principle – "no dispersal of forces" – and he boldly divided the German "Afrika Korps" and Italy's Twentieth Army into four offensive forces (pictured above). Tanks, armored vehicles and infantry transported by trucks were allocated to each unit.
The offensive lines of these four armies were roughly parallel, and they swept across the Cyrenaica Peninsula to the north and east separately:
The 3rd Reconnaissance Group, which had always been active, was the first to advance north along the coastal road, first capturing the port of Benghazi, which the British had abandoned, and then eastward through the desert to the British base in May Chile.
The second force, consisting mainly of Italy, followed the 3rd Reconnaissance Group to Benghazi and would continue its march along the coastal road towards Delna.
The third unit was deployed in the south, consisting of Poonat's machine-gun battalion and Herbert · The 5th Panzer Regiment, commanded by Albridge, was the vanguard and advanced through the desert through the Mses Oasis towards Me-Chile. This unit was supported by anti-tank artillery units and Italy infantry along the way.
The fourth force would penetrate from the southernmost point into the center of the peninsula and follow a famous ancient trade route to Tenggerdel, 60 kilometers south of Mekili, and finally to the Egypt border.
Rommel hoped that by the rapid interweaving of four combat-ready troops, he could trap the main British forces before they retreated to Egypt, thus completely destroying all the mobile forces North Africa United Kingdom.
The Supreme High Command in Berlin deliberately ignored the name "Rommel", but they never intended to forgive him for his dazzling achievements. As for the titular commander, General Garibaldi of Italy, he now regards Rommel as a "betrayer" – but who cares about him?
Rommel's commanders were frightened by the plan to immediately cross the desert peninsula. Because all the supplies of the 5th Light Panzer Division were still piled up on the border between Tripoli and Cyrenaica, Rommel simply ordered the entire division's trucks to be unloaded in the desert and then sent back the empty ones, each with a group of reserve drivers (drawn from the various tank formations), to deliver gasoline and ammunition to the front line from those munitions depots all day.
The desert treats any force that dares to challenge it equally. Now it was the turn of the Germans to taste the bitterness: in addition to the troops advancing along the coastal road, several of Rommel's other troops entered the brutal sand sea that had tormented the United Kingdom's 7th Panzer Division two months earlier.
The axles of the car were stuck in the soft sand and could not move, and the engine, which was not adapted to the desert climate conditions, struck due to overheating; The ubiquitous dust blocked all the crevices of the machine.
The most terrifying of all is the sudden and violent sandstorm from the depths of the Sahara Desert, which the Arabs call "Qamsin", and the Bedouins call it "kiburi" – which often erupts in spring, sweeping across the desert at speeds of 115 kilometers per hour and causing the surrounding temperature to soar above 50°C.
Anyone who dares to spend hours in such an environment will almost be driven into madness by the heat and harsh conditions:
Gales swept across the desert, covering hundreds of square kilometers of sandstorms, leaving the soldiers huddled in a ball and struggling to breathe through their gas masks, the cloud-like fine dust reducing visibility to zero. Strong winds can pull trucks and power poles off the ground. The sand and dust not only disrupted radio communications, but also disable the compass, and in extreme cases, the Kibli generated a large amount of electrical charge and detonated an arsenal.
Rommel later recalled: "The dust slammed into the windshield of the car like rain. We covered our faces with handkerchiefs, which made us have to gasp for breath in pain. Sweat trickled down my body, and the heat was unbearable. ”
The energetic general endured trials with his men, keeping an eye on their progress like an eagle. If he wasn't among the soldiers, he would have been above them—he would have stayed in the reconnaissance plane overhead, sometimes circling around to see if there were any lost troops, sometimes flying low to encourage the soldiers to keep going.
Early one morning, he mistook a retreating British convoy for Germany troops and almost landed among them. At the last moment of landing, the pilot and Rommel found that the soldier was wearing a flat "soup pot helmet" on his head, so he pulled the plane up in time. While the other unit stopped to rest because of exhaustion, a note in a box fell from the sky, which read:
"If you don't go forward at once, I'll come down. Rommel. ”
Rommel's new offensive alarmed the German high command, and the brilliant tactician had thought that his reckless offensive had completely destroyed Nazi Germany's elaborate plans for months to attack the Balkans and the Soviet Union, and Hitler's carefully constructed strategic defense line was shattered by the sudden good news in North Africa.
Many military fans in later generations lamented that Germany did not reinforce the North Africa battlefield in time, but this was only because of the accurate judgment that later generations could only draw after mastering the overall history. In the first half of 1941, Germany had no intention of expanding its front in North Africa because it was clearly beyond the established plans and Germany's supply strength at that time.
But the panicked reaction of the United Kingdom led to an unprecedented victory for Rommel, and in just four days, the German-Italian army swept more than 300 kilometers of desert from Brega to the ancient fortress of Mekili.
After the United Kingdom lost the fortress of Mekili in a daze, the exhausted German units continued to attack Drna , and others advanced towards the border areas of Tobruk and Egypt , at the urging of Rommel.
Along the way, the United Kingdom troops had long since withdrawn, and Arabs, dressed in brightly colored cloaks, gathered around German army vehicles to sell eggs, oranges, dates and other delicious food.
The locals generally have little affection for the British Empire.
The machine gunners of the 8th Machine Gun Battalion of Bonnat were almost running out of ammunition to prevent a breakthrough by the United Kingdom, but they were remarkable, not only capturing Derna, but also capturing more than 900 British prisoners, including 4 generals. Among them was the newly appointed commander of the North Africa Ground Army, Lieutenant General Philippe · Niem, and his predecessor, General Richard · O'Connor.
Tobruk: An iron wall built by Italy people
On April 10, 1941, Rommel, who had already trampled on the soles of 2/3 of the Cyrenaica and wore the large goggles that had just been captured, calmly told the "Afrika Korps" about his next ambitious target, the Suez Canal.
The first step towards this goal is the Tobruk Fortress, located 170 kilometers east of Drna, which not only controls the transport routes into Egypt on the coastal road, but is also the best and only working seaport in eastern Benghazi.
Rommel's army needed at least 1,500 tons of drinking water, food, and other supplies a day, and without Tobruk, all his supplies would have had to be transported from as far away as Tripoli 2,000 kilometers along the winding seaside road to the front line. And this road has always been one of the favorite targets of the United Kingdom Eastern Mediterranean fleet shelling detachments.
At this moment, reinforcements from Germany had arrived, and Rommel took advantage of the situation to get rid of General Streicher and Colonel Albrech, whom he had long been disliked, and handed over the command of the vanguard to Major Generals Heinrich · von · Prittwitz, who led the 15th Panzer Division to Libya.
The Afrika Korps parading in Tripoli
The triumphant Rommel had already overestimated the combat effectiveness of the German army, while his opponent had gradually recovered from his state of panic.
On the same day that Rommel was targeting the Suez Canal, in a seaside hotel in Tobruk, General Wavell gave a crucial order to the senior British commanders sitting around the table: everything possible must be done to hold Tobruk.
The Australia 9th Division, which had narrowly escaped from the encirclement of Derna, had entered the fortress in an orderly manner, and together with the United Kingdom army, they would build a strong defensive line around the port city to repel the invading German-Italian forces.
"Speed is everything!" Ready to repeat the old trick, Rommel had an Italy infantry division deliberately raise sand and dust west of Tobruk to create the illusion of a large number of armored troops attacking, and ordered the 5th Light Panzer Division to detour from the desert hinterland to the southeast and launch a surprise attack on the port.
The United Kingdom were indeed withdrawing from Cyrenaica, but they were moving into Tobruk one after another, and then staged the second Dunkirk retreat. Unlike Rommel had predicted, the remaining troops were numerous and well-equipped, and these brave Australia soldiers were already planning to fight him here.
On 10 April, Rommel hastily mobilized the vanguard of the 3rd Reconnaissance Armoured Convoy, the 8th Machine Gun Battalion and an anti-tank artillery battalion to launch a tentative assault on Tobruk's perimeter line under the command of Major General Prittwitz, who had just flown to the front line from Tripoli.
The 15th Panzer Division under the command of the German Major General was still slowly unloading ships in Tripoli, and in his eagerness to join the battle, he left his troops and flew to the front line, commanding the first and last desert operation in his life - at noon, Major General Prittwitz was discussing the battle with his subordinates in the command car, and several British anti-tank shells hit the vehicle, and the major general and the driver were killed on the spot.
A few hours later, Rommel, who was conducting reconnaissance south of Tobruk, spotted a British command vehicle approaching him with billowing smoke and dust, and he immediately ordered his soldiers to set up their machine guns and prepare to shoot. Unexpectedly, it was General Streicher who jumped out of the command car that had stopped suddenly, and he shouted loudly to tell the news of the death of Major General Rommel Prittwitz.
Rommel interrupted him angrily: "How dare you chase me behind in a United Kingdom armored car? I was about to give the order to shoot you. ”
"If that's the case, honorable commander," Streicher shot back sharply, "then you'll lose two Panzer Division commanders in one day." ”
German Panzer Divisions advancing along the coastal road
Annoyed, Rommel had not yet figured out the greatest difficulty he was about to face—neither the fortified lines of Tobruk nor the need for rest and replenishment of the German army that had been fighting for many days—but how he would properly resupply his troops in the siege that was about to begin.
Tobruk is not only the most strategic port in Cyrenaica, but also the best port in North Africa. In addition to this, the fortress blocked about 60 kilometers of coastal roads nearby, and Rommel had to go south into the desert and make a large circle to avoid the fortress's artillery if he wanted to send supplies to troops on the Egypt border.
As long as Tobruk was in the hands of the British for a day, the main forces of the German army would never dare to continue eastward.
The morale of the German and Italian troops, encouraged by Rommel's belief in a quick victory, was now high, and the Germany hoped that the United Kingdom would retreat as soon as they saw a large number of Germany tanks appear in front of them, and in this way, on April 11, the Germans officially launched a tentative attack on Tobruk.
General Streicher ordered the exhausted 8th Machine Gun Battalion to attack from the southern front, while Colonel Albrech commanded all 20 tanks and armored vehicles at hand to attack from the right flank. They adopted the "deep penetration attack" designed by Rommel on the map, which is also the Desert Fox's style of playing to cut through the French line on the Western Front - "concentrate superior forces at a certain point, force a breakthrough, capture both flanks, and then penetrate like lightning before the enemy has time to react, and penetrate straight into the enemy's rear." ”
At nearly 5 p.m., Rommel urged his troops to attack, because aerial reconnaissance told them a strange result: a large number of United Kingdom troops were retreating in a chaotic manner. As a result, the German tanks roared, rolled up billowing smoke and dust, and rushed straight to Tobruk's outer defenses.
The 8th Machine Gun Battalion followed closely behind the last few tanks, their armored vehicles wrapped in yellow sand, and the soldiers on the vehicles could only see the looming tail of the tanks in front of them and the occasional fireballs exploding in front of them through their goggles. Suddenly, the German soldiers were surprised to find that many German tanks had turned around and ran back from the dust, and the dense artillery fire behind their butts was closely chasing them.
The commander of the tank unit told Ponat: "There is a wide and deep anti-tank trench 300 meters ahead, and we cannot rush through it!" The anti-tank trench was cleverly concealed with a layer of slabs and sand, and the Germans did not discover it until they had sunk into it.
A German machine gunner hid behind a rock, using a telescope to reconnoiter enemy lines.
Colonel Ponnart personally went to confirm that, having paid the price for the lives of 11 able-bodied young men, he reported to Streicher and Rommel that there was a large barbed wire barrier behind the tank trap and that the troops could not advance.
To make matters worse, the 8th machine-gun battalion was pinned down by artillery fire, and they had to dig bunkers in the cold wind for the night.
The first tentative assault failed, and the optimistic Rommel did not know that this was only the beginning, and that he would suffer his first defeat on the impregnable wall of Tobruk – the first real defeat of Hitler's commanders in World War II.
German artillery units besieging Tobruk
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