The Rise of the Third Reich

December 1940, Alexandria, Egypt.

This famous city under the protection of the British Empire has now completely emerged from the shadow of the invasion of the "Roman Legions".

In September, when the Italians had just begun to cross the border and march towards Alexandria and Cairo, the Arabs and Westerners in Egypt thought of Caesar, Octavian and their invincible Roman legions at the same time. The history of the Roman Empire's conquest of Egypt seems to be about to repeat itself. Faced with as many as 200,000 or more "Roman warriors", there is obviously no way to stop the tens of thousands of British and Indian Asan.

All Arabs once believed that the new Caesar of the Roman Empire would soon become the master of Egypt, and they needed to make changes quickly to adapt to this unstoppable historical trend! King Farouk I of Egypt, who loved gourmet food and beautiful women, even prepared a dozen "Cleopatras" for the 20th-century Julius Caesar.

But by December, Farouk I had turned these "Cleopatras" into his mistresses. Because the Italian army was obviously different from the ancient Roman legions. They moved too slowly, and they had to rest for several months after fighting for a few days.

The Italians started their offensive on September 13th and stopped at the important Egyptian town of Barani in West Tibet on September 16th. There is still 130 kilometers away from Mersa-Matruh where the main force of the British army is gathered. This pause lasted for almost three months. Until December, the Italians did not attack again. Instead, they built fortifications at a place called Maktila, 16 kilometers east of Barani in the West, and put on a show of Prepare for a long-term garrison posture.

Did these 20th century Romans come all the way to Africa just to seize a piece of worthless desert? Just when the people of Alexander and Cairo were confused, the "Caesar" suddenly invaded Greece under the control of the pro-German faction for no reason.

Then something happened that surprised everyone. Mussolini's Roman legions were defeated by the "vulnerable" Greeks. With the support of a small amount of air force sent by the British, the Italian offensive that started on October 28 was crushed by November 3. On November 14, the Greeks assembled 12 infantry divisions, 2 cavalry divisions, and 3 infantry brigades to launch a counterattack, defeating the Italian 11th Army, and on the 21st, they invaded Italian Albania and occupied southeastern Albania. The important town of Korca!

Seeing that the Roman Empire was completely defeated by the Greeks in the 20th century, the leading figures in the Kingdom of Egypt all gave up their doubts that the British Empire might be over. They started running to Alexandria when they had nothing to do, and brought all kinds of condolence items to take pictures of the British master. Their flattery.

On the morning of December 8, His Majesty King Farouk personally arrived in Alexandria from Cairo with his mistress and senior officials. First, he watched a football match (British Army VS Royal Navy) accompanied by Commander-in-Chief Wavell and Commander-in-Chief Cunningham. In the evening, he attended a reception held by the British side to welcome his arrival. He was always in high spirits. It was close to the early morning of December 9 before they dispersed drunkenly.

King Farouk returned to his palace in Alexandria and fell asleep with his mistress in his arms. The half-drunk General Wavell, the commander-in-chief of the British forces in the Middle East, went directly back to his headquarters to prepare for war. In a few hours, the counterattack codenamed "Operation Compass" will begin.

In Admiral Wavell's plan, Operation Compass was a limited counterattack aimed solely at driving the pesky Italians from Egyptian soil. Because in the imagination of British Prime Minister Churchill, the Balkan Peninsula was the best passage for Germany to move south to the Middle East. So Admiral Wavell didn't get enough ground troops to defeat the Italians...at least that's what he thought.

And Churchill's view is not unreasonable. Once Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Greece all fall into German hands, the German bombers and Fokker Zero fighters deployed on Crete can fly to Alexandria and the Suez Canal at any time to drop bombs. There will no longer be a place for the Eastern Mediterranean!

In addition, as long as the Germans deploy enough aircraft in Greece and Crete, they can cover the useless Italian fleet from the air to capture Cyprus.

Once Cyprus is controlled by the Germans, Türkiye may fall to Germany. Even if Turkey does not change for the time being, the Germans and Italians can land in Syria, Lebanon and Palestine under the cover of the air force deployed in Cyprus... In this way, the British Empire will lose the entire Middle East! The oil bottleneck that has blocked Germany's progress will also be completely resolved.

With sufficient oil supply, Germany's rule on the European continent will be strengthened. France, which is still barely maintaining neutrality, is likely to completely fall into the arms of Germany. The powerful French navy will become the German navy like the Italian navy. An accomplice of the empire.

By then, the British Empire will be completely finished, and Mr. Winston Churchill will most likely go down in history as "the last British Prime Minister"!

"Anthony, John." In the early morning of December 9, 1940, the British Army in the Middle East had begun "Operation Compass." Churchill was talking with his two most important aides, Secretary of War Anthony Eden and Chief of Staff General John Deere. However, the content of the conversation had little to do with "Operation Compass".

"I don't need to emphasize the importance of the Balkan Front. It is a front that affects whether our empire can continue to survive." As he spoke, Churchill threw a cigar butt into a shiny copper can filled with sand. , and then lit another cigar.

"And your task is to establish the Balkan front. Now is the best opportunity. Admiral Wavell will soon drive Mussolini's Roman legions out of Egypt. This will greatly encourage the Greeks, Serbs and Turkey The courage of the people to resist the Nazi and fascist invasion.”

Churchill continued to talk about his plan. His idea was to bring Yugoslavia, Greece and Türkiye onto the British chariot. In this way, Britain could use a small number of troops to stop the German army from moving south in the densely mountainous Balkan Peninsula.

"The Germans are now responsible for the oil supply of most of Europe," Churchill said. "Every month, millions of tons of oil are taken out of their limited reserves to supply countries like France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and Norway. . Soon, their oil depots will be empty, and by then, the strategic bombing of Germany will begin! The United States and the Soviet Union will also join the war because of Germany's inevitable defeat, so that we can achieve final victory!"

I have to admit that Churchill was very good at finding unlucky people who could bleed for the British Empire. When France and Belgium were defeated by Germany and the Soviet Union's price was too high, he turned to Yugoslavia, Greece and Turkey.

"Prime Minister, what are we going to do to impress Türkiye?" Army Secretary Eden asked.

Türkiye is clearly the most important and critical link on the Balkan front. Because it seemed difficult for Yugoslavia to withstand the German attack, and could only rely on the dangerous Isthmus of Corinth and Crete to persist in resistance. Without Turkey's participation, as long as Germany and Italy concentrate their forces on the attack, the progress in the Balkans will still not be good.

"French Syria and Lebanon," Churchill puffed on his cigar, "I will give them back to Turkey as long as they are willing to join."

This is the best condition he can give. It is impossible to hand over Iraq and Saudi Arabia to Turkey, and Turkey cannot afford it now.

"Add to that Albania for the Italians," Aiden said. "The Turks are always obsessed with European lands."

Churchill nodded, "Okay, you can add Albania, but it can only exist as a Turkish enclave."

Today, Albania and Türkiye are not bordering each other. They are separated by the land of Greece and Yugoslavia. It was conquered by Türkiye in history, and later became independent due to Turkey's weakness. If Britain allows Turkey to re-enter those territories, I am afraid that it will plunge into the Balkan quagmire.

"In addition," Churchill thought for a moment, then said, "Anthony, you have to make the Turks believe that they can't stay out of it! If the British Empire loses in the Mediterranean, Turkey will become the target of carving up between Germany and the Soviet Union. In fact, Stalin had already proposed to recover Constantinople, but it was not carried out because of our opposition.”

Taking Constantinople was a condition for Stalin to consider joining the British and American sides! Because in Stalin's view, this was Britain's debt to Russia, which must be paid off first before talking about anything else.

Of course Churchill would not agree to Stalin's request - if Stalin declared war on Germany and marched into Poland, Constantinople and even the entire Turkey could be handed over to the Soviet Union. But paying off debts and so on... The British Empire owes too many people, how is it possible to pay them all?

"Prime Minister, if we inform Turkey of the Soviet Union's ambitions, will it cause Turkey to defect to Germany?" General Dill, the chief of the Imperial General Staff, said with some worry.

"No," Churchill said with certainty. "Turkey is afraid of us. It was afraid before the last world war. Unless our fleet in the Eastern Mediterranean no longer exists, Turkey will never fall to Germany." He paused. "As long as our advantage in the Eastern Mediterranean still exists, Turkey will only consider when and on what terms it will join our side."

"But the Mediterranean Fleet may also encounter setbacks." Admiral John Deere reminded in a low voice, "The German Air Force has moved to Sicily and has paralyzed Malta with indiscriminate bombing..."

Churchill smoked a cigarette and was silent for a long time before saying: "I will not allow the fleet to suffer a defeat in the Mediterranean. More warships and aircraft will go there soon!"