"Rudolph, welcome to Africa!"

Lieutenant Rudolph von Ribbentrop carried his luggage and took a platoon of soldiers who had just been under his command from the Italian cruise ship "August" and stepped onto the African land. His old superior Gustav Schwarzenegger's thick voice rang in his ears.

"Second Lieutenant... Oh, it's Lieutenant!" Rudolf Ribbintrov saw that the other party had also rank the rank of SS Lieutenant, and hurriedly changed his words, "You are Lieutenant, congratulations."

"You are also a SS lieutenant." Gustav Schwarzenegger laughed and came down with his old subordinate to embrace him.

Rudolph Ribbentrop was injured in the battle in May last year and lay in the frontline hospital for 20 days. Then he limped to the Brunswick Officer School to participate in the training class of platoon-level officers. He completed all the training in early February this year and was awarded the rank of SS Lieutenant.

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

"It's great that you are my company commander." Rudolf Ribbintrov replied with a smile. He is now the platoon leader of the 1st Platoon of the 17th Company of the Great German Infantry Brigade.

The Great German Infantry Brigade is the original Great German Flag Team. After the online battle, this unit was expanded, adding a mechanized artillery battalion, a mechanized engineering battalion, a mechanized infantry training battalion, a heavy transport battalion and a mechanized reconnaissance company (17th Company), and a mechanized air defense company (18th Company), and the number has also changed from a flag team to a brigade.

Because Gustav Schwarzenegger served in the armored reconnaissance company during the invasion of Poland, he was appointed as the company commander of the 17th Company after receiving an order to travel to Africa, and his military rank was promoted from a second lieutenant to a lieutenant.

However, he did not take over the troops immediately, but followed the advance team of the brigade headquarters to Benghazi to get to know the situation. Today, most of the officers and soldiers of the 17th Company, who were ordered to come to the dock to pick up the troops, will arrive on the "Augustus" cruise ship, and the heavy equipment and a small number of soldiers of the company will be transported to Benghazi by freighter tomorrow.

Since the activity area of ​​the British Mediterranean Fleet has been compressed into the waters east of Crete-Turuk, the waterway from Italy to Benghazi has become very safe, and the only thing to worry about is the British submarines. Therefore, it has become very easy to transport troops and equipment from Italy to North Africa.

From February 16 to today (February 2o), a large number of people and equipment arrived every day, and the docks in Benghazi became very busy. There were piles of supplies that had just been unloaded from the ship, and there were brigades of soldiers everywhere and then quickly left. According to the order, the arrival troops must leave the docks in the shortest time, so as not to delay the advance of the subsequent troops.

Rudolph von Ribbentrop's platoon is no exception. They have only two platoons with another platoon belonging to the 17th Company, an armored vehicle platoon, a motorcycle platoon, and a company equipped with armored cars.

However, today there were neither armored vehicles nor motorcycles to ride. Everyone carried their luggage and followed Gustav Schwarzenegger to walk to the temporary camp consisting of continuous tents outside Benghazi.

"The troops settle down today, have a good sleep, get equipment tomorrow, conduct debugging and desertification modification the day after tomorrow, and then two days of desertification training, and then head to the front line."

On the way to the barracks, Gustav Schwarzenegger told Rudolph Ribbentrop about the plan to depart the troops while walking, Sergeant Caramel, another platoon leader (because the troops were expanded too quickly, there were insufficient number of officers in the German army, so most of the companies only had the company commander and the first platoon leader who were officers).

"So quickly?" Rudolf Ribbintrov was stunned. "But the troops have just arrived in Africa and are not familiar with the situation here."

"I know," Schwarzenegger shrugged, "but this is an order. I guess we're going to the front line soon!"

"I'll be on the front line soon?" Sergeant Caramel interjected, "Is it an offense or a defense? How is the situation on the front line now?"

"It can't be a defense," Rudolf von Ribbentrop took over the question and replied, "The British lost most of their sea control and no air control. The port of Tobrook will definitely be blocked by the Italian fleet and our planes. In this case, the British had no offensive power at all. I think we will attack soon!"

Schwarzenegger smiled and nodded, "Rudolph, you have learned something at the Brunswick Officer School. But I still haven't guessed it completely. In fact, the attack has 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 Italian navy also shells Tobrook every day. Maybe by the time our 6th Army attacks, the British will almost die."

...

The pattern of war is undergoing revolutionary changes. Blitzkrieg marked by large-scale rapid assaults of tanks and mechanized forces is only the beginning, not the end, of the mechanized war revolution.

In this "Mediterranean War", the war mode has undergone considerable changes, and air power has become the real protagonist on the battlefield.

Just when Rommel's African Army and Unit were deployed but not yet in place, pilots like Hessman had already broken the British Empire's military power in the Eastern Mediterranean into semi-crippled.

Standing at the top of the bridge of the Battleship "Veneto" and looking into the sky, while his vision suddenly became clear, Colonel Black Island Turtle saw a scene that made his scalp numb. He saw hundreds of fighter jets strangled together under the blue sky and white clouds, large, small, single-winged, bi-winged, strings of bullets, bombs and torpedoes, drawing their own deadly lines between the sky and the sea.

Explosion, smoke balls and fireballs form a magnificent and new war picture!

The war at sea is no longer a fleet duel that can determine the outcome in just a few hours, but a lasting sea and air versus air to determine life and death. The huge and mighty battleships have become targets that can only dodge left and right in this confrontation, while the small and powerful fighter jets have become the real overlords on the battlefield.

Starting from February 18, five battleships and six heavy cruisers of the Italian main fleet would drive to the sea near Tobrook during the day, and use 381mm, 32m, 2o3mm and smaller caliber sub-cannons to bomb the British controlled Tobrook.

The British would do their best to dispatch fighters to attack and torso Italian fleets. The Fokker Zero and F-19o fighters flying from Benghazi will fight the most fierce battle with the invading enemy aircraft.

At the same time, bombers of the German and Italian air force such as ju88, s.m.79, z.1oo7, Folk 99 and ju87 were also deployed one after another, and bombs were thrown to the British positions as if they were not expensive, and they gathered in the region and logistics line.

Behind such a fierce air battle is the consumption of aircraft, crew and fuel!

Although the Folk Zero and F-19o have performance advantages, the Black Island Turtle still keenly observed that the Folk Zero is not invincible! In the confrontation with the British "Breaking Fire" and "Hurricane" aircraft, the German Folk Zero was still shot down a lot. If there was no such surprisingly good dive performance and rapid F-19o aircraft, the Folk Zero would probably only be able to tie the "Breaking Fire" or gain a little advantage.

Moreover, even if the ace pilot was flying the Folk Zero plane, it was shot down. From time to time, the Folk Zero was dragging black smoke downwards, and you could see parachutes like cotton from time to time. The Italian battleships and heavy cruisers put speedboats into the sea, rushing around to salvage the pilots who fell into the water.

In other words, the United Kingdom and the United States are not unable to make up for the quality disadvantages with quantitative advantages. The key is how large the quantitative advantages the United Kingdom and the United States can have in the future?

Unfortunately, Japan is at the bottom of the world's major powers in terms of aircraft, fuel and pilot numbers. If the war cannot win in the short term but falls into a lasting war of attrition, then even if the Americans use three "Spraying Fire" to exchange for one Zero, it will be enough to rely on their huge national strength advantages to waste Japan to the end of their lives.

In other words, Japan's war strategy must be to win in the short term, rather than choose to fight for a long time...

Just as the "Immortal Staff" of the Japanese Joint Fleet was thinking about the future and destiny of the Japanese Empire on the "Veneto". General Rommel, who had a quick attack, had arrived at the front line. Accompanied by Lieutenant General Feng Thomas, the commander of the African Army's armored cluster, began to observe the frontier positions of the British army.

"Admiral, there is a minefield set up by the British in front." On a frontier position of the 10th Army of Italy, Lieutenant General Von Thomas pointed to a large desert in front of him, which did not even grow grass. "Behind the minefield is the British defense line, which extends south from the sea to Bill Hakim, blocking the Balbia Avenue, Kazop Trail and Abd Trail. According to aircraft reconnaissance, the British deployed heavy troops behind this defense line, and also turned several important oasis, such as Gubi Well, Knightsbridge, Bill Hakim and Bill Ahmat into their strongholds."
Chapter completed!