"Of course!" Barton replied, then asked, "And then?" ”

"No then!" Zhang Chi said: "That's it!" ”

"What?" Barton was a little confused when he heard this: "I heard you right, you mean...... We just need to fly five hundred C47s to Algiers, and then that's it? ”

"Yes!" Zhang Chi's answer was affirmative. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

"But...... I don't understand how this can be called reinforcements! Barton said, "I mean, will it help you?" ”

"Of course!" Zhang Chi said: "It helps a lot! ”

After waiting for a while, seeing that Zhang Chi had no intention of continuing, Barton replied, "Okay, I'll do it!" ”

Sure enough, it didn't take long for Patton to transfer 500 C47s back to Algiers Airport in two batches, which was a trivial matter for Patton, and he didn't even inform Montgomery about it.

On the other hand, Zhang Chi ordered the Chinese troops who were in Algiers at this time to assemble urgently and then drive to the airport with great fanfare...... As for why they were driven to the airport, they were ordered to stay put.

These were originally trivial, and the movement of transport planes and troops was a common occurrence in wartime, but it caused quite a stir in Kesselring's command.

"Gentlemen!" Kesselring waved the document in his hand and said to the German officer sitting in his seat: "We have just received information from Algiers that the Chinese army is massing at the Algiers airport, and 500 US transport planes are on standby at any time, what do you think about this?" ”

Suddenly, there was a commotion in the conference room.

"Marshal!" Staff Officer Wolf replied: "It is clear that the Chinese army is going to be airborne!" ”

"Chinese troops?" Someone laughed and said, "If I'm not mistaken, they even guided us!" ”

What the German officer said was true, President Chiang had formed several elite German armor divisions before the Anti-Japanese War, and they were all equipped with German weapons and hired German instructors and military advisers for training, but they were all wiped out in the Battle of Nanjing.

"General Ludwig!" Kesselring retorted: "But don't forget, the fighting history of this Chinese army...... Even if you don't know any of this, you should know that they defeated Rommel's Afrika Korps on the African battlefield not long ago! ”

General Ludwig was dumbfounded by Kesselring's words.

"The strength of this army must not be underestimated!" "Even though they only have one division...... But as you know, our troops in Sicily also have only four divisions. Of course, there were many Italian troops, but they were almost negligible, weren't they? ”

"Yes!" Wolf added: "As far as I know, this Chinese army is very good at fighting tough battles, that is, they have almost no air supremacy and no tanks, using a strange anti-tank trench to block the attack of one of Rommel's armored units, and even the 'Tiger' tanks in the attacking troops!" It seems to me that they are far more of a headache than those Americans and British. Gentlemen, if such a force ......"

As he spoke, Wolf stood up, pointed to the map on the table with his baton, and said: "I estimate that this Chinese force will have two choices: one is to parachute to the west of Palermo, so that they can form a French army with Palermo in the north, a sophisticated Chinese airborne division in the west, and the US Seventh Army in the south...... This creates an encirclement around us! ”

A group of German officers couldn't help nodding their heads, so that the two German divisions could not escape from the enemy's encirclement, let alone capture Palermo.

"What about their other option?" Kesselring asked.

"The other option is what I'm more worried about." Wolf paused, pointed to the map and said: "If the Chinese army is parachuted directly between Messina and Palermo, such as Nicosia, then it will cut off the retreat of our 15th Mechanized Infantry Division and Goering's Panzer Division back to the port of Messina, and then these two divisions will only be surrounded and annihilated, or surrender!" ”

It was like dropping a bomb in a conference room, and the scene was immediately chaotic.

"I don't think the Chinese army has the ability to do this!" Someone objected: "That's the Goering division and the motorized rifle division...... One airborne division of the Chinese army can hold off two of our divisions? ”

"If it's just a Chinese airborne division, maybe it doesn't have this ability!" Wolf responded: "But don't forget, we are still facing the British Eighth Army and the American Seventh Army at the same time, and the Chinese army only needs to hold us back for a few days...... It will only take a few days, gentlemen, and the enemy will soon come up like ants and bite us to death! ”

Wolf was right.

First of all, mechanized and armored forces rely heavily on roads, so it is not difficult for the Chinese army to hold off the two German divisions for a few days, and they don't even need to fight, they only need to break roads and blow up bridges or occupy a few high ground next to the road.

Secondly, the British Seventh Army and the US Eighth Army had a total strength of about 400,000 men, while the German army had only more than 70,000 men, and there were more than 100,000 Italians...... But as said before, the Italians are unreliable.

"Gentlemen!" Finally, Kesselring concluded: "We have always wondered why the Americans would leave the battlefield and let us attack Palermo, but now we have the answer. As Colonel Wolf said, they are trying to lure us into attacking Palermo, and then they will cut us in half and eat us separately, especially the 15th Mechanized Division and the Goering Panzer Division, once the Chinese troops are airborne in Nicosia, they will be dead, even if they take Palermo, because then we will get a port that will be in ruins, and we will not be able to transport tanks, artillery, armored vehicles, etc. ”

The German officers couldn't help but nod their heads.

So the conclusion is not at all surprising.

"Order the 15th Mechanized Division and the Goering Panzer Division to abandon the attack on Palermo!" Kesselring ordered.

It was difficult to make this decision, because to give up Palermo would also mean to give up Sicily...... The port of Messina was lonely and destined to be a retreating port.

But Kesselring eventually had to make that choice.

However, Kesselring did not want to be defeated like this, and he wanted to have a nice finish before leaving to prove that he was not invincible, just as Rommel had done when he withdrew from the African battlefield.