The Rise of the Third Reich

"Rudolph, welcome to Africa!"

Second Lieutenant Rudolf von Ribbentrop, carrying his own luggage and a platoon of soldiers who had just come under his command, stepped off the Italian cruise ship "Auguste" and set foot on the African coast. Land, the rough voice of his old superior, Gustav Schwarzenegger, rang in his ears.

"Second lieutenant...oh, it's a lieutenant!" Rudolf Ribbentrop discovered that the other party had also taken the rank of SS lieutenant, and quickly changed his words, "You are a lieutenant. Congratulations."

"You are also a second lieutenant of the SS." Gustav Schwarzenegger laughed and gave his old subordinate a bear hug.

Rudolf Ribbentrop was injured in combat last May and lay in the frontline hospital for 20 days. Then he limped to the Braunschweig Military Academy to participate in the platoon-level officer training course. He completed all training in early February this year and was awarded the rank of SS Second Lieutenant.

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

"It's great that you are my company commander." Rudolf Ribbentrop replied with a smile. He is currently the platoon commander of the 1st Platoon of the 17th Company of the Grossdeutschland Infantry Brigade.

The Grossdeutschland Infantry Brigade was the original Grossdeutschland Flag Brigade. The force was expanded after the online campaign with the addition of a mechanized artillery battalion, a mechanized engineer battalion, a mechanized infantry training battalion, a heavy transport battalion and a mechanized reconnaissance company (17th Company), as well as a mechanized anti-aircraft company (17th Company). 18th Company), the designation was also changed from flag corps to brigade.

Because Gustav Schwarzenegger had served in the armored reconnaissance company during the invasion of Poland, after the Grossdeutschland Brigade received the order to go to Africa, he was appointed as the commander of the 17th company, and his military rank was also raised from second lieutenant. Promoted to lieutenant.

However, he did not go to take over the troops immediately. Instead, he followed the advance team of the brigade to Benghazi to familiarize himself with the situation. Today, he was ordered to come to the dock to pick up the troops - most of the officers and soldiers of the 17th Company will take the "Ogus" The cruise ship "Capital" arrived, and the company's heavy equipment and a small number of soldiers will be transported to Benghazi by cargo ship tomorrow.

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

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

Rudolf von Ribbentrop's platoon was no exception. They and another platoon belonged to the 17th Company - this company only had 2 platoons, 1 armored vehicle platoon, 1 motorcycle platoon, and 1 A company headquarters equipped with armored vehicles.

However, there were neither armored vehicles nor motorcycles to ride on today. Everyone carried their luggage and followed Gustav Schwarzenegger on foot to a temporary camp composed of contiguous tents outside Benghazi.

"The troops will settle down and have a good sleep today. They will pick up the equipment tomorrow and carry out debugging and desertification modifications the day after tomorrow. Then there will be two days of desertification training, and then they will set off to the front line."

On the way to the military camp, Gustav Schwarzenegger told Rudolf Ribbentrop and another platoon leader, Sergeant Karamel, about the troop's departure plan (due to the rapid expansion of the troop). , there are currently insufficient officers in the German army, so most companies only have company commanders and first platoon commanders as officers).

"Separate so soon?" Rudolf Ribbentrop 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'll be on the front line soon!"

"Will you be going to the front line soon?" Sergeant Karamel interjected and asked, "Is it going to be offensive or defensive? What is the situation on the front line now?"

"It can't be defense," Rudolf von Ribbentrop answered the question. "The British have lost most of their sea control and no air control. Tobruk Port will definitely be attacked by the Italian fleet." With our aircraft blockade, the British have no power to attack at all, and I think we will launch an attack soon!"

Schwarzenegger smiled and nodded, "Rudolf, you did learn something at the Braunschweig Military Academy. But you still haven't completely guessed it. In fact, the attack has already begun!"

"Has it already started?" Sergeant Karamel was startled.

"Yes, from the sea and the air!" Schwarzenegger said with a smile. "The air force dispatches every day, and the Italian navy also bombards Tobruk every day. Maybe by the time our army attacks, the British will be dead." about there."

…

The mode of war is undergoing revolutionary changes. The blitzkrieg, marked by rapid assaults of large-scale tanks and mechanized troops, is only the beginning, not the end, of the revolution in mechanized warfare.

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

Just when Rommel's Afrika Korps was speeding up its deployment but not yet in place, pilots like Hersman Jr. had already semi-crippled the British Empire's military power in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Standing on the top of the bridge of the battleship "Veneto" and looking into the sky, Captain Kuroshima Kameto saw a scene that made his scalp numb when his vision suddenly opened up. He only saw blue sky and white clouds. Underneath, hundreds of fighter planes 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 balls and fireballs form a magnificent war picture in a brand-new mode!

The war at sea is no longer a fleet duel that can determine the outcome in just a few hours, but a long-lasting battle between sea and air to determine life and death. The huge and mighty battleships became targets that could only be dodged left and right in this confrontation, while the small but capable fighter jets became the real overlords on the battlefield.

Starting from February 18, 5 battleships and 6 heavy cruisers of the Italian main fleet will sail to the sea near Tobruk every day during the day, using 381mm, 320mm, 203mm and smaller caliber secondary guns to attack the British The controlled Tobruk came with a fierce attack.

The British will do their best to dispatch fighter planes to attack and destroy the Italian fleet. The Fokker Zero and Fw-190 fighter jets flying from Benghazi joined the invading enemy aircraft in the fiercest fight.

At the same time, bombers of the German and Italian Air Forces such as Ju88, S.M.79, Z.1007, Fokker 99 and Ju87 were also dispatched one after another, dropping bombs on British positions, assembly areas and logistics lines for free. Throw it away.

And behind such a fierce aerial battle is the consumption of aircraft, crew and fuel!

Although the Fokker Zero and Fw-190 have performance advantages, the Kuroshima Turtles still 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 a lot. Without the assistance of the Fw-190 aircraft, which has surprisingly good diving performance and is very fast, the Fokker Zero might only be able to tie with the Spitfire or have a slight advantage.

And even ace pilots flying Fokker Zero aircraft were shot down sometimes. From time to time, there are Fokker Zeros dragging black smoke downwards in the sky, and from time to time, you can see parachutes that look like cotton. The Italian battleships and heavy cruisers put their speedboats into the sea, scurrying around to salvage the fallen pilots.

In other words, it is not that Britain and the United States cannot use quantitative advantages to make up for their qualitative disadvantages. The key is how much quantitative advantage can Britain and the United States exert in the future?

Unfortunately, Japan is at the bottom of the world's major powers in terms of the number of aircraft, fuel and pilots. If the war cannot be won in the short term and instead falls into a protracted war of attrition, then even if the Americans exchange three Spitfires for one Zero, they will be able to rely on their huge national strength advantage to exhaust Japan to the point of exhaustion.

In other words, Japan's war strategy must be to win in the short term rather than choose long-term confrontation...

And just when Kuroshima Kameto, the "Fairy Staff Officer" of the Japanese Combined Fleet, was thinking about the future and destiny of the Japanese Empire on the "Veneto". Infantry General Rommel, who was quick and agile in attacking, had already arrived at the front line. Accompanied by Lieutenant General Feng Toma, commander of the African Army Armored Group, he began to observe the British forward positions.

"Admiral, there is a minefield laid by the British ahead." On a forward position of the Italian 10th Army, Lieutenant General von Thoma pointed to a large expanse of desert in front of him, where not even a single blade of grass grew. Behind the area is the British defense line, which starts from the sea and extends southward to Bir Hakim, blocking Balbia Avenue, Kazopu Trail and Abd Trail. According to aircraft reconnaissance, the British are behind this defensive line. Heavy troops were deployed and several important oases such as Gubi Wells, Knightsbridge, Bir Hakim and Bir Ahmat were turned into their strongholds."

"No problem, let's go around it," Rommel said, "and let the paratroopers land behind them to cut off the retreat of the British troops on the front line of Tobruk."