We must defend Egypt, we must defend it!

This is the general content of the commander-in-chief of the British Army in the Middle East, General Archibald Percival Wewell, received an order from the British Supreme Command on the afternoon of February 17, 1940.

Due to the loss of air superiority in the Eastern Mediterranean and sea superiority, most of them were lost. Now the British army in the Middle East could count on the defense of the army. The British army in North Africa now faced no longer the Italians who were easy to bully, but instead replaced them with the terrible Germans.

Everyone knows that this is not easy, because since the beginning of the World War, no one has blocked the German attack on land. And now the German god of war is Marshal Heinsberg Hessmann.

However, General Wewell was still ready to do his best to complete this "impossible task". After receiving the order, he immediately invited General Cunningham, the commander of the Mediterranean Fleet, General Arthur Ted, the commander of the Mediterranean Air Force, and Lieutenant General Cunningham (the younger brother of Admiral Cunningham), to his commander.

"Andrew," Admiral Wewell first called Admiral Cunningham's name, "I just received the information that the Italian Navy's main fleet had left the Port of Taranto, probably in the early morning. The whereabouts were unknown."

Now that Malta is not the stronghold, the difficulty of surveillance of the Italian fleet has increased a lot. Reconnaissance planes, submarines and spy boats disguised as fishing boats have no place to settle down. They can only rely on spies lurking in Taranto to venture into reconnaissance, and from time to time, people will be arrested by fascist secret police.

In addition, since Hessmann hid the Enigma crypto machine in the 1920s, it was not allowed to be used by the German communications department. At the same time, he also bought the patent for this crypto machine, and the commercial Enigma machine was not allowed to be released.

Therefore, the Polish and British and French intelligence agencies did not know the existence of the Enigma before the war. It was not until the beginning of the war that Hessmann began to use the Enigma, so there is no possibility that Britain would crack German secret codes now.

So the British Middle East Command is now in a dark look and has no idea about the movements of the German and Italian troops and fleets in the Middle East. He can only guess the command of war.

"Maybe they were going to attack Crete!" said Admiral Cunningham, "I will lead the fleet when they start landing!"

While he was speaking, Alan Cunningham, who had just been transferred from the East African battlefield, glanced at his brother. Using four old Queen Elizabeth class to deal with the Italian main fleet with two brand new Richelieu class battleships was almost the same as he was. Maybe in a few days, he would be chanting his eulogy at his brother's memorial service.

"It may also be that they went to bombard the Port of Tobrook!" Admiral Cunningham frowned and said, "If that were the case, the chances of a fleet's decisive battle would probably be very small."

"Can the Port of Tobrook be defend?" Weiville asked Alan Cunningham. "Is the troops strong enough?"

"Under the current circumstances, the troops are still sufficient." Lieutenant General Alan Cunningham replied.

Now all the troops on the front line of North Africa belong to Alan Cunningham's 8th Army. The main troops come from colonies, including the 5th Division of India, the 10th Division of India, the 10th Division of South Africa, the 1st Division of New Zealand, the 9th Division of Australia, and the 3rd Motorcycle Brigade of India. There are also British local troops, namely the 1st Armored Division and the 2nd Armored Division (only 1 Armored Brigade). There are also the Polish Independent Brigade and the 1st Free French Brigade. The total number of troops is less than 150,000, and there are hundreds of tanks of various types, and their strength is very strong.

In addition, there are troops under the command of the 1st Army around Alexander, including the 7th Armored Division and the 4th Indian Division. These two divisions are the heroes of the "Compass Operation", and they fought from Egypt to Tobrook all the way, and were only withdrawn not long ago for replenishment.

In Syria (French Syria has been controlled by Free France), Palestine and Jordan also deployed the British 50th Division, which was also under the command of the 1st Army, as well as some colonial garrisons. Air forces were also deployed in Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

In the East Africa direction, there are also the 5th Indian Division and the 2nd South African Division belonging to the 32nd Army, as well as some indigenous Sudan and Abysians.

In the Greek direction, the British army also deployed the 2nd New Zealand Division, the 6th Australian Division, the 44th Infantry Division, the 14th Infantry Brigade and other units.

These British troops deployed in secondary directions are added together, and without counting Uncle Black and Arabs, there are about 150,000 people. The ground troops under the British Command of the Middle East are currently as many as 300,000, which is indeed not a small number.

"And the defense of Tobrook is quite strong," said Alan Cunningham. "The Italians have been operating there for many years and turned it into a fortress. However, the shore artillery there was blown up before the Italians retreated and was not supplemented later. So if the Italians use battleships to bombard Tobrook, it will be difficult for us to stick to it."

"Arthur?" Weiville glanced at the frown commander-in-chief Arthur Ted in the Middle East Air Force. "Can they use planes to stop their battleships from approaching Tobrook?"

Tobruk is not only an important supply port on the North African coastline, but also a gateway to defend Egypt. It is impossible to abandon it. Otherwise, as long as Hessman deploys Folk Zero, S.m.79 and Ju88 to Tobruk, the Mediterranean Fleet will not be able to stay in Alexandria.

If the Mediterranean fleet leaves, then the entire North Africa and the eastern coast of the Mediterranean are landing wherever they want. Even if Egypt temporarily keeps it, the oil-producing areas in the Middle East will not be kept.

"Do your best," Arthur Ted smiled bitterly. "As long as I can send a bomber, I will fight the Italian fleet!"

"Yes, that's what it should be!" Weiville nodded in agreement, "Now is the most dangerous moment in the British Empire, we must fight to the end!"

He thought for a while and said to Admiral Cunningham, "In addition to night combat, the fleet must also be prepared to withdraw troops from Greece at any time."

Now the German troops in the Balkan direction have been deployed to Bulgaria and Albania, and may launch an attack on Greece at any time. At the same time, the front line of Tobruk may also start at any time. Therefore, the plan to abandon Greece (excluding Crete) and concentrate troops to defend Tobruk and Crete has been made.

Of course, once the battle on the front line of Tobruk was unfavorable, Vevere also planned to further concentrate troops to defend Egypt and withdraw all the troops on the eastern coast of Tobruk and the Mediterranean to Egypt to defend.

Just as Wavell told all his plans, a staff officer from the British General Command of the Middle East quickly walked in.

"Admiral, the submarine discovered the Italian fleet, with at least 5 battleships! The coordinates are 35.5 degrees north latitude; 18.5 degrees east longitude. The course is southeast."

"Southeast?" Admiral Cunningham frowned, "It's going to Benghazi, or maybe it's Tobrook."

Weiville clapped his hands, "Okay, no matter what these Italians want to do, we can't let them do it!"

...

"This is my son Rudolph, he is a pilot, this is Admiral Rommel."

At a military airport outside Rome, Hessman introduced his son Rudolph to Rommel. He and Rommel were preparing to take a -200 passenger plane to Benghazi.

Hessmann's trip has two purposes: one is to check the situation of the German African Army and the Italian North African cluster; the other is to help Rommel establish his authority and facilitate him to command the Italian army.

Hessman and Rommel both need people, so the landline naturally needs escort. Today, it happened that Hessman's squadron was the escort. So before the plane took off, Hessman called his son to his landline.

"Rudolph is so big, it's really a blink of an eye," Rommel had met the young Rudolph, "or was a pilot of the Naval Air Force, who graduated from Keel's Naval Academy?"

"Admiral, I graduated from the Lechfeld Officer School and the Karlsruhe Air Forces School."

"Are there any results?" Rommel asked with a smile.

"8 shots down." Hessman Jr. replied.

"It's 17 less than the Blue Max," Hessman said to Rommel with a smile. "We've all taken the Blue Max, and it's our turn now."

Rommel shook his head with a wry smile, "Marson, my Manfred cannot be compared with your Rudolph. He is too brave and in good health, so he can't get the Blue Max."

"Manfred is still young," Hessman said, "He seems to be born in 28 years old, only 13 years old this year. When he reaches the age of enlistment, the war will definitely be over."

"I must have received the Blue Max Medal, too." Little Hessman interrupted.

Hessman smiled and nodded, then waved to his son, "Do it well, I'll wait to see your blue Max."

Hessmann saluted and left the cabin. Hessmann told Rommel: "I think he will get what he wants soon, because now is the best time and we have great advantages in all aspects. We can take some risks at this time, but I don't want you to take too much risk, ignoring the fact that the British Army is also a powerful military force."
Chapter completed!