Six Hundred and Ninety-Seven Sand and Blood

A cannonball just fell straight on the yellow sand formation. Before the sand raised by the cannonball fell, several soldiers carried their rifles and ran bent over from one trench to the other. side trenches. They have been standing here for a whole month. For them, these positions full of bomb craters are their home.

Taking his eyes away from the artillery mirror, Rommel took off the big-brimmed hat on top of his head, shook off the dust twice, put it back on his head again, turned around and shook his head at his adjutant. Obviously he didn't like this kind of time-consuming and labor-intensive attack, but there was no good solution for the time being.

Alexandria, under the siege of Germany, has been holding on for more than a month. This seaside port city already has a lot of supplies. Although the more than 100,000 British soldiers in it are not the main force, they are tenacious under the urging of Montgomery. stick to their combat positions.

"We are still not good at dealing with this kind of fortified city. The casualties of soldiers remain high, and the consumption of ammunition is more than that of mobile warfare." Rommel looked at the map of the entire theater and said with some emotion.

The German army has never been very used to this kind of battle that relies on human life to piling up. It prefers a wide-ranging encirclement and annihilation battle, and is more suitable for the kind of battle that quickly advances to cut the enemy's position and then captures tens of thousands of prisoners. As for repeatedly fighting the enemy for ruins in an environment full of buildings that are not suitable for tank combat, although the German army has experienced many times, it still cannot effectively adapt to this kind of battle.

"The British's marksmanship is very accurate. They relied on the outer positions and the ruins to resist. Although they suffered heavy losses, they still did not flinch. We lost 3 lieutenants this morning. I had to promote some non-commissioned officers to supplement the lost officers. .” A division commander in charge of the attack reported helplessly. His troops suffered considerable losses in the attack, but Rommel still had no intention of replacing them.

Rommel, or the generals of Rommel's immediate boss, the Army Staff Headquarters and the Supreme Command of the Empire, wanted a complete Alexandria that could be put into use immediately, so Rommel had no way to use heavy artillery and bombers to repeatedly bomb the British port. In the last position of the army, Rommel could only use his precious infantry to consume the British troops in the port bit by bit on the periphery.

From the mouth of the prisoners of war, I learned that as the old opponent of the African Army, the commander of the 9th Army, and it can be said that Montgomery, the supreme commander of the United Kingdom in North Africa, is now in Alexandria. For Rommel, this was not just a showdown, but also the end of fate.

Not far away, an Italian tank was destroyed by British anti-tank guns and was burning. Not far from this tank, several Italian army cannons were firing violently. These artillerymen were attacking There was a hidden bunker and a group of bunkers. With it as the core support, the British army built a ring of fortifications nearby, which caused the attacking Italian army to pay a heavy price.

A deafening salvo,

Rommel frowned involuntarily. His headquarters was too close to the artillery position, and the noise really made him feel a little uncomfortable. But this is war, and everything is not positioned according to comfort.

Walking back to his office, he patted the dust on himself twice with his gloves, and the entire small tent was immediately filled with dust. After everything returned to normal, Rommel took off his military coat and threw it away. On a chair beside him.

General Frederick has just come back from Cairo, and the Italian and German forward troops have arrived at the outskirts of Cairo. As expected, there are 30,000 British and American troops in Cairo, and 50,000 local Egyptians. The troops refused to surrender, and solid fortifications had been built. Another quagmire of war was waiting for the arrival of the Germans, which made people unhappy.

Although the travel-stained Frederick was meticulously dressed, he looked a little messy. After all, he had been running around in the desert with his troops for a whole month. To be able to maintain such a decent appearance was already a German for him. The persistent pursuit of military capacity. He said in a hoarse voice: "My general, there are minefields and bunkers around Cairo. My troops tried to attack once, and the opponent resisted very firmly."

This point has also been expected by the Supreme Command. After all, the entry of the Germans into Egypt has broken the original rules of the region and shaken the foundations of many vested interests. Therefore, it is inevitable to encounter strong resistance, and they can only rely on force to fight alone. There is no other better way to suppress.

"Notify Lieutenant General Durrow of the Air Force, send bombers to attack all targets except the port area! We don't have time to spend time here with a group of dead people!" After listening carefully to General Frederick's statement about Cairo After the introduction, Rommel thought for a while before saying: "After all, our General Patton has retreated to the vicinity of the Suez Canal. If he is allowed to strengthen the defense line there, it will not be of great benefit to our future attacks."

In fact, the Allied forces in the Middle East are already strong from the outside, and do not have much strength. However, at this time, Turkey, which has always regarded itself as the second child of the Axis powers, sent troops to the Middle East controlled by the United States and Britain. Big probing attack.

About 10 Turkish divisions attacked southward, but they were disgraced by local armed forces near the border. After an American light armored division arrived, half of these Turks were captured and sent to the end of the road. A timely "Northern Victory" for the U.S. military in the Middle East.

This not only made the United States and Britain see clearly the weak nature of the Turkish threat to the north, but also strengthened their determination to continue fighting against the Germans. As a result, the encirclement of Alexandria and the battle near Cairo inevitably entered the rhythm of a war of attrition, and the dilemma of the Germans' insufficient reserves in North Africa was infinitely magnified.

"It's time for these locals to see our strength. Since we can't do it without bloodshed, then we can simply be ruthless and build a reputation for our future rule!" Friedrich nodded in agreement. He agreed to give full play to his superiority in firepower. After all, the suppression of firepower to reduce his losses is definitely more in line with Germany's current situation in North Africa than the consumption of limited troops.

In Alexandria, there are open-air field hospitals and refugee shelters everywhere. Because the Germans seldom shelled the facilities in the city, as the battle continued, the losses continued to increase. More and more wounded soldiers and refugees could only pile up things on the streets, turning the streets of Alexander , It became a bustling market-like place.

Montgomery took his assistant to visit the wounded in an open-air hospital. In the morning, a front-line division commander was injured by shrapnel and was sent here for amputation. There was blood everywhere in this open-air hospital, and the wailing of soldiers. From time to time someone dies here, from time to time someone becomes disabled here with a missing part.

"If possible, most of the soldiers need to rest. We should abandon some positions and retreat to the city. In comparison, the Germans are not good at street fighting." The British major general who had lost one hand looked at Montgomery, Said a little weakly. Compared with himself, he cared more about those soldiers who fought bloody battles with him. As a veteran British aristocrat, this very gentlemanly middle-aged man has a very traditional British demeanor.

Montgomery doesn't hide the current situation, he seems to be twenty years older these days: "To be honest, we are just fighting for our beliefs. The end is clear to you, me and others. We are just dying. That's all. Compared with the Italians and Germans, our strength and ammunition are not sufficient, and this is the best result I can command."

The teacher who was still very calm after losing one hand looked a little sad. He was willing to die for his motherland in any corner, but he was really unwilling to accept the reality that his motherland had collapsed and perished. As commander here, he knows all too well what the loss of North Africa means to Britain.

"I can't be relied on anymore. I've done everything I can." Seeing that the other party didn't speak, Montgomery laughed and cried, and then continued to talk to himself: "The only thing we can count on now is General Mountbatten's troops in India. If He can keep those elites and return to the British mainland when needed, and things may turn around a little bit."

Everyone knows that this is just self-deception. The troops in Mountbatten's hands are already stretched. The Japanese expansion in Southeast Asia has smashed the British colonial system there. India and Burma have now become the front lines. As for the British soldiers there How much can be preserved can only be prayed for the scale of the Japanese attack, not the command and dispatch ability of General Mountbatten.

Today's Britain is similar to an old master with profound skills, but he was caught off guard by the young German boxer. Before his strong skills have been exerted, there is only a strong breath left. As for fighting back, I am afraid it is already difficult to do.

The wounded British teacher sighed, and glanced at the road beside the hospital bed. The ground was covered with yellow sand, mixed with crimson dried blood, which was so dry that it made people despair.