"Rudolph, welcome to Africa!"

Rudolph. Feng. Second Lieutenant Ribbentrop carried his luggage on his back and walked down from the Italian cruise ship "Augustus" with a platoon of soldiers who had just belonged to his command. Schwarzenegger's gruff voice. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

"Ensign...... Oh, it's the lieutenant! "Rudolph. Ribbentrop found that the other party had also taken the rank of SS lieutenant, and hurriedly changed his words, "You are a lieutenant, congratulations." ”

"You're also an SS second lieutenant." Gustav. Schwarzenegger laughed and got a bear hug with his old men.

Rudolph. Ribbentrop was wounded in combat in May last year, lay in a hospital at the front for 20 days, and then limped to the Braunschweig Military Academy to attend a training course for platoon officers, completing all training in early February this year and being awarded the rank of second lieutenant in the SS.

Gustav. Schwarzenegger smiled and said: "But you are still my subordinate, and I am now the company commander of the 17th Mechanized Reconnaissance Company." ”

"It's great that you're my company commander." Rudolph. Ribbentrop replied with a smile. He is now the platoon commander of the 17th platoon of the 1st company of the Greater German Infantry Brigade.

The Großdeutschaft Infantry Brigade was the original Großdeutsche Flag Brigade. After the online campaign, the unit was expanded to include a mechanized artillery battalion, a mechanized chemical battalion, a mechanized infantry training battalion, a heavy transport battalion, a mechanized reconnaissance company (17th company), and a mechanized air defense company (18th company), and the number was changed from a flag team to a brigade.

Gustav. Schwarzenegger served in the armored reconnaissance company during the invasion of Poland, so after the Großdeutsche Brigade received the order to leave for Africa, he was appointed commander of the 17th Company, and his rank was promoted from second lieutenant to lieutenant.

However, he did not immediately take over the troops, but followed the advance team of the brigade headquarters to Benghazi to familiarize himself with the situation, and today he was ordered to come to the docks to receive the troops -- most of the officers and men of the 17th Company would arrive on the cruise ship "Augustus", while the heavy equipment and small number of soldiers of the company would be transported to Benghazi by cargo ship tomorrow.

Since the area of operation of the British Mediterranean fleet had been compressed to the sea east of Crete-Tubruk, the shipping route from Italy to Benghazi became very safe, and the only thing to worry about was the British submarines. So it was easy to move troops and equipment from Italy to North Africa.

From February 16 to today (February 20), a large number of people and equipment have arrived every day, and the docks in Benghazi have become very busy as a result. Everywhere there were piles of supplies that had just been unloaded from the ship, and everywhere there were large groups of soldiers in formation and then leaving quickly - according to the order, the arriving troops had to leave the dock in the shortest possible time, so as not to delay the advance of the follow-up troops.

Rudolph. Feng. Ribbentrop's platoon was no exception, and they and another platoon belonging to the 17th Company, which had only 2 platoons, 1 platoon of armored vehicles, 1 platoon of motorcycles, and 1 company with armored vehicles.

Today, however, there are neither armored cars nor motorcycles to sit on, and everyone is carrying their luggage and following Gustav. Schwarzenegger walked to a makeshift camp of tents outside Benghazi.

"The troops will settle down today, get a good night's sleep, receive equipment tomorrow, debug and desertification modification the day after tomorrow, and then two days of desertification training, and then they will go to the front line."

On the way to the barracks, Gustav. As he walked, Schwarzenegger told Rudolph about his plan to move his troops. Ribbentrop and another platoon commander, Sergeant Caramel (due to the rapid expansion of the troops, there were now insufficient officers in the German army, so most companies had only the company commander and the first platoon commander as officers).

"So fast?" Rudolph. Ribbentrop was stunned, "But the troops have only arrived in Africa, and they are not familiar with the situation here. ”

"I know," Schwarzenegger shrugged, "but it's an order." I reckon we'll be on the front soon! ”

"Going to the front soon?" Sergeant Caramel interjected, "Offensive or defensive?" What is the situation at the front now? ”

"It can't be defense," said Rudolph. Feng. Ribbentrop took up the question and replied, "The British have lost most of their sea supremacy, and they have no air supremacy, and the port of Tubruk will certainly be blocked by the Italian fleet and our aircraft." In this case, the British simply did not have the strength to attack, and I think we were going to attack soon! ”

Schwarzenegger smiled and nodded, "Rudolph, you really learned something at the Braunschweig Military Academy." However, it is still not completely guessed, in fact, the offensive has already begun! ”

"It's already started?" Sergeant Caramel was stunned.

"Yes, from the sea and from the air!" Schwarzenegger said with a smile, "The air force is dispatched every day, and the navy of the Italians shells Tubruk every day." Maybe by the time our army strikes, the British will be almost dead. ”

……

The pattern of warfare is revolutionizing, and the blitzkrieg, marked by a rapid assault of massive tanks and mechanized troops, is only the beginning of the revolution in mechanized warfare, not the end.

In this "Mediterranean War", the mode of war has changed a lot, and air power has become the real protagonist on the battlefield.

Even when Rommel's Afrika Army was being deployed at an accelerated pace but not yet, pilots like Hersman Jr. had already half-crippled the British Empire's military forces in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Standing on the top of the bridge of the battleship "Veneto" and looking into the sky, while his vision suddenly opened up, what Kuroshima Kameto Osaku saw was a scene that made his scalp tingle, and he only saw that under the blue sky and white clouds, hundreds of fighters were strangled together, large, small, single-winged, double-winged, strings of bullets, bombs and torpedoes, drawing their own deadly lines between the sky and the sea.

Explosions, smoke and fireballs make up a magnificent and all-new mode of war!

War at sea is no longer a matter of a fleet duel of just a few hours to determine victory or defeat, but a protracted sea-air battle to determine life and death. The huge and mighty battleships became the targets that could only dodge left and right in this encounter, but the small but powerful fighters became the real hegemons on the battlefield.

Beginning on 18 February, five battleships and six heavy cruisers of the Italian main fleet would sail to the sea near Tubruk every day, and bombard the British-controlled Tubruk with 381mm, 320mm, 203mm and smaller secondary guns.

The British, on the other hand, would do everything in their power to send out their warplanes to attack and torso the Italian fleet. The Fokker Zero and FW-190 fighters flying from Benghazi engaged in the fiercest battle with the invading enemy planes.

At the same time, the German and Italian air forces' JU88, S.M.79, Z.1007, Fokker 99, and JU87 bombers were also dispatched one after another, and bombs were dropped on British positions, assembly areas, and logistics lines as if they were not paying for money.

And behind such fierce battles in the air is the consumption of aircraft, crews and fuel!

Although the Fokker Zero and FW-190 have performance advantages, the Black Island Turtle Man keenly observed that the Fokker Zero is not invincible! In the confrontation with the British "Spitfire" and "Hurricane" aircraft, the German Fokker Zero was shot down quite a bit. Without the help of the FW-190 aircraft, which has surprisingly good dive performance and is fast, the Fokker Zero may only have a tie or a slight advantage over the Spitfire.

And even if an ace pilot pilots fly a Fokker Zero, there are times when they are shot down. From time to time, there are Fokker Zeros dragging black smoke down in the sky, and from time to time, you can see parachutes like cotton. The battleships and heavy cruisers of the Italians put their speedboats out into the sea and scurried around salvaging pilots who had fallen overboard.

In other words, it is not that Britain and the United States cannot make up for the disadvantage in quality with quantitative superiority, the key is how much quantitative superiority Britain and the United States can come up with in the future.

Japan, on the other hand, is unfortunately at the bottom of the world's major powers in terms of aircraft, fuel and pilots. If the war cannot be won in the short term but falls into a protracted war of attrition, then even if the Americans exchange three Spitfires for one Zero, it will be enough to exhaust Japan to the point of exhaustion by virtue of their huge superiority in national strength.

In other words, Japan's war strategy must be to win in the short term, not to choose long-term confrontation......

And at the time when the "immortal staff" of the Japanese Combined Fleet, Kuroshima Kameto, was thinking about the future and fate of the Japanese Empire on the "Veneto". The attacking Infantry General Rommel had reached the front line and was appointed commander of the Afrika Army's armored group. Lieutenant General Thoma, accompanied by Lieutenant General Thoma, began to observe the forward positions of the British troops.

"Admiral, ahead is the minefield laid by the British." On one of the forward positions of the Italian 10th Army, von . Lieutenant General Thoma pointed to a large desert ahead of which not even a single grass grew, "Behind the minefield was the British line, which stretched south from the seashore to Bir Hakim, blocking the Balbia Avenue, the Kazopp Trail, and the Abd Trail. According to aircraft reconnaissance, the British deployed heavy forces behind this line and turned several important oases such as Gubi Well, Knightsbridge, Bir Hakim and Bir Ahmat into their strongholds. ”

"No problem, let's go around." Rommel said, "Let the paratroopers parachute behind their backs and cut off the retreat of the British troops on the Tubruk line." (To be continued.) )