Much like Rommel's dilemma when he faced Montgomery in the original historical time and space, when Rommel faced off against Wavell, he had more troops, more abundant material resources, better weapons and equipment, and a more stable rear base camp as a guarantee. If Rommel could still lose in this way, he could simply find a piece of tofu and kill him.

But even if the facts are very unfavorable to the British camp, the front-line generals under Wavell still want to struggle.

This is already the last battlefield on which Britain can struggle, and the last where the situation has not yet eroded. And now, it is also their last chance to fight for success and victory in North Africa.

"Commander, we can't retreat!" In a hurry, the chief of staff of the Wavell command couldn't help but speak: "Once we retreat today, there will be no chance to come back in the future." The Australian government has sent a telegram asking all Australian troops in Africa to return to their homes immediately after Operation Tomahawk is over. ”

"Yes," Wavell's adjutant said, "The Australian Navy has even sent a convoy of convoys, just waiting to transport their troops." In addition, the New Zealand fleet is also sailing in conjunction with the Australian Navy, and it is also necessary to take advantage of this opportunity to withdraw their troops. ”

The people in the command who had the second most say in the command after Wavell all spoke, and everyone hoped that if they could hold on a little longer, maybe things would turn around. Although no one can say what kind of turnaround will be able to save the current situation, everyone is unwilling to give up all the efforts made so far.

To put it another way, in less than a week, the "Operation Prisoner of War" launched by the British Commonwealth army with all its might came to an end, and the aggressive attackers returned to their starting positions, leaving more than 200 tanks on the battlefield, fighting with a lot of losses, but accomplishing nothing.

Moreover, reports came back from the British armored forces that they were really destroyed by the enemy only about a few dozen tanks, and the rest were captured tanks that were unable to move due to various malfunctions.

Once the Commonwealth army retreated, as Rommel occupied the battlefield, he was free to repair the damaged German tanks and put them back into service. It can even repair the tanks left by the British army on the battlefield for future use by the opposing British army.

In that case, the British army in North Africa could really surrender.

Therefore, the front-line generals thought that they could not retreat under any circumstances, and no one, including Wavell's adjutant and chief of staff, wanted to suffer the losses caused by the retreat!

But......

"We have to retreat, give up on continuing Operation Tomahawk, we will indeed lose a lot of troops and equipment. But if we don't retreat, and when Rommel completes the encirclement, we should be captured en masse! ”

It is true that Wavell is not a first-class general in military standards, but he is at least more sober than the front-line generals, and he is good at receiving lessons.

Wavell is actually better at running than offensively.

Even in the face of the Italians, who were low in combat effectiveness, Wavell first retreated sharply, and then slowly launched a counterattack.

"Commander, if we give up the offensive now, then we will soon lose our existing allies within the Commonwealth, and we will be even more passive in the future." The chief of staff reminded again worriedly.

I can't even beat the younger brothers of the Commonwealth with me, and after the younger brothers are gone, won't it be even more difficult to deal with the situation?

"There's no way around it." Wavell just shook his head after hearing this, and then sighed: "I don't want to give up the opportunity." But the point is, I found that our army did not have a chance at all from beginning to end! ”

Waving his hand, Wavell said with some reluctance: "If the New Zealand troops want to leave, let's go, anyway, they estimate that they have lost almost all of them in the Kapcuso area, and it doesn't matter if there are a few remnants of the soldiers who escaped, and they will be returned to the New Zealand government." ”

"As for the ...... of the Australian troops," Wavell said here, he paused obviously and said with some hesitation: "I originally kept the three battalions supported by Australia with Lieutenant General Montgomery, which was his capital to defend the Egyptian defensive line. ”

Wavell's face gradually showed an expression that seemed to be guilty: "I have already decided to be sorry for Lieutenant General Montgomery after rejecting Lieutenant General Montgomery's excellent advice." Now, it is a bit aggrieved to transfer the three core battalions in his hands again, leaving only three local infantry divisions recruited by Egypt to him. ”

Before the war, Wavell looked down on the cautious and timid Montgomery. But in the late stage of Operation Tomahawk, the reason why he dared to retreat was still relying on Montgomery.

He admits that fortunately, Montgomery had to take the training and deployment rights of the three Egyptian divisions before he set out, and stepped up to equip them with a large number of weapons that had been captured from the Italian army, and greatly expanded the size of these three divisions.

If it weren't for this, Wavell would not have the confidence to retreat!

The reason why he chose to retreat was actually to a large extent because he thought that with Montgomery's 3 reinforced divisions and 3 Australian battalions, he could meet him, re-consolidate the defensive line, and hold Egypt to the death.

"Let's contact the Australian military again and try to get them not to transfer these three battalions." After much thought, Wavell was determined to hold on to the Australian troops, which he had not looked down on before, and try to keep this reliable Commonwealth force.

The staff officer who recorded Wavell's instructions almost dropped his jaw to the ground after listening to it.

You know, just a few days ago, Wavell looked down on Montgomery and was dissatisfied with the other party's excessive caution. Moreover, the command of Montgomery's Australian troops was more because Wavell didn't want to command Australian troops, and then he wanted to take Montgomery's favor by the way.

Although Wavell was promoted to the highest rank of knight in Bath because of a series of exploits before Operation Tomahawk, after a series of successful battles against the armies of Italy, France and Germany, his status increased greatly.

However, Gott, who was originally only a viscount in London, was also promoted to duke because of the royal family's view, and then was personally commended by George VI, and became a hot representative of the British military.

Moreover, after listening to Gott's power in London, it is also terrifying, far beyond the scope of all the power of a general.

Therefore, Wavell also has a reason and purpose to sell Gort's favors. Maybe one day, he Wavell will ask Gort for help.

Now Wavell is simply in love with the Duke of Goth, who sent him Montgomery in the first place: "I believe that with Montgomery deployed in Egypt to respond, our retreat will not be in great danger." ”

At Wavell's insistence, he immediately ordered the Commonwealth army to abandon the areas already occupied and quickly evacuate.

Due to the experience of retreat accumulated during the previous war with Italy, without waiting for Rommel's encirclement to close, Wavell fled after burning all kinds of baggage supplies in a panic.