Chapter 587: Advance into Egypt

After the capture of Tobruk, Rommel held a grand victory parade. German vehicles stretched along the road, seemingly without end. And on the edges of the road, German tanks advanced, kicking up dust, looking menacing and majestic.

This time, the Afrika Korps had captured about 31,000 Allied prisoners, including 9,000 Australian soldiers who had suddenly transformed into allies. These soldiers were from Australia and naturally could not be treated as prisoners anymore, but the Afrika Korps still did not dare to simply integrate a force of nearly 10,000 Australian troops into its own combat sequence.

So this Australian unit was ordered to move to the rear, receiving the same treatment as the second-rate Italian troops that Rommel had left behind. The meaning was all too clear: We don’t need you for fighting. If you could just repair bridges and pave roads in the back and not cause trouble, that would be great, thank you very much.

A triumphant Rommel finally let out a breath of relief. The first major battle he had commanded since returning to Africa from the General Headquarters had ended in victory. The Italians, to thank the French for their support in this battle, had even mobilized some second-rate troops to help Vichy France reoccupy some areas in West Africa.

The relationship between Italy and France was now as sweet as honey, and by extension, German-French relations had also improved immensely. The spending power of the German soldiers in Paris was simply staggering. Many not only purchased perfume and silk stockings but also didn’t miss out on fine dining and various tourist attractions. The most popular business, however, was still that characteristic Parisian landmark, the “Moulin Rouge.”

A large number of French people discovered that German money was extremely easy to make. As long as they had a product, they could sell it. Hats, clothes, shoes, baby carriages, wheelchairs—these Germans would buy anything you could think of.

And so these shopaholics from Germany used their newly distributed francs or marks to buy things. The French would happily sell them things. After selling their goods, they would pay taxes to the Vichy French government, which would then be paid as reparations to Germany. The Germans would then distribute these reparations, allowing the Germans to continue shopping there.

This seemingly simple flow of goods and capital was no different from direct robbery, but because the Germans had given up a portion of the benefits to the Vichy French government and the local French people, the level of local resistance was reduced. Everyone had gotten some benefits, and many had even made a small fortune. In such an environment, it was no longer so easy to incite the people to rise up against the Germans.

The return of some of the West African colonies to French rule gave the French people a reason to cheer up. The rapid advance of the Germans in France had not caused much trauma to the locals, which became the capital of the pro-German faction. And so, a new line of thought was quietly born among the French high command: The Germans need France’s support. We will eventually become allies. The German aggression will eventually end!

In fact, the exploitation and plunder had not decreased but had been diluted and shifted to some unknown, non-sensitive areas. The large war reparations and occupation costs that the Vichy French government owed Germany had to be repaid with steel, coal, and other mineral resources. These things were not directly related to the lives of ordinary people, so the resistance they aroused was not as strong as direct exploitation.

Rommel stood in his car, reviewing the rolling torrent of steel that was his army as it advanced towards Egypt. He was now incredibly close to his marshal’s baton. Between him and Cairo, there were only the few troops under the command of America’s Patton and Britain’s Montgomery. The Battle of El Alamein was about to begin, and this time, Rommel’s forces were immensely powerful.

“General, your troops won a great victory at Tobruk, capturing more than 20,000 prisoners and rescuing more than 9,000 of our Australian allies. Can you now predict how long it will take for the German-Italian Afrika Korps to capture Egypt?” a reporter, clearly unaccustomed to the North African weather, asked. His clothes were disheveled from the wind and sand, and the leather-bound notebook in his hand was flapping back and forth. He held the notebook down with the hand that held his pen and looked up at Rommel, who was standing in his car.

Rommel’s car was covered in mottled marks. After speeding through the desert every day, even the best quality car would be eroded by the wind and sand. Compared to the cars of the generals in Berlin, the Mercedes-Benz convertible that had been issued to Rommel at the same time now looked as battered as a historical artifact.

The car’s mudguards, due to the rainy weather on the march, were caked with mud and sand. Then, due to the dry and windy conditions, large patches of paint had peeled off, and the chassis was covered in rust spots, a stark contrast to the brand-new military vehicles that could be seen on the streets of Berlin.

Rommel had originally been gazing at the tank units that were rumbling past in the distance, a smile in his eyes. Hearing a reporter come up and ask him a question, he looked down at the person who had spoken. It was an Italian reporter. This was the first time Rommel had heard his question, and it was quite novel.

The German reporters were basically under the control of the Reich’s propaganda ministry. Their questions were all uniformly distributed by their superiors to avoid asking about military secrets or embarrassing topics. These German reporters were well-trained. They liked to take pictures but rarely spoke or asked questions. They transmitted the image of the brave and fearless German army back to the homeland to build momentum for the Reich’s sacred war of external expansion.

The Italian reporter looked up at Rommel, hoping he would answer this question. If Rommel were to boastfully give a specific time, then this news would absolutely cause a sensation throughout the Kingdom of Italy.

“I cannot tell you when our army will enter Egypt, nor can I tell you the specific time we will capture it. I can only tell you one belief, a belief that is engraved in the bones of everyone here,” Rommel said after a thought. “We will use everything to strive for victory! This is the only thing I can tell you. We stop for victory, we die for victory, we advance for victory, and we kill our opponents also for victory.”

After speaking, he continued to look up at the advancing armored torrent in the distance. Every soldier was waving at him in salute, including the Blackshirts of General Garibaldi on the Italian M13 tanks. Compared to the German tanks, the performance of these M13 tanks was very backward, and the combat quality of the armored crews was not high either. But the Italian infantry could not do without this equipment. After all, the German tanks could not be dispersed to give these Italians courage.

General Schörner was now leading his 12th Panzer Corps into Italy and would soon enter the North African theater. This panzer corps included the 30th Panzer Division and the 12th SS Panzer Division. Although most of the soldiers were new recruits, their equipment was brand-new Panther and Tiger tanks, and their combat effectiveness was not to be underestimated.

And coming along with these two divisions were over a hundred thousand infantrymen. These were also mainly new recruits, but their training was very thorough. These forces would strengthen the combat effectiveness of the Afrika Korps and completely drive Patton and Montgomery east of the Suez Canal.

For the operation of this large army group, Akado had personally ordered the assembly of 110 transport vessels of all types to join the already-strained Italian Mediterranean transport fleet, to provide transport and supply for the entire North African German-Italian forces. Malta, as a strategic core, was now playing its role. The ships of Germany and Italy, when traveling between Europe and Africa, suffered very few losses. This meant that the original loss rate of about 30% could now be truly delivered to the African region. Originally, these supplies were used to feed the fish; now they could be used for combat.

Intelligence provided by reconnaissance planes indicated that in the western region of Egypt, the Allied soldiers were strengthening their defensive lines. They wanted to turn Egypt into a huge fortress to resist Rommel’s invasion. The entire northwestern part of Egypt was a crisscrossing network of trenches, like a giant construction site.

Patton and Montgomery had a disagreement on how to defend Egypt. Patton advocated for a strategic showdown in Egypt to wear down Rommel’s armored forces, and then to withdraw to the Suez Canal to deploy a defensive line and hold that short line to the death. This plan practically gave up the entire Africa, so it was rejected by Montgomery.

Montgomery preferred to use strong defensive lines to nullify the German armored and air superiority, and to use a self-destructive style of fighting to delay the progress of the war. His plan was to sacrifice Patton’s entire Eighth Army and his own Ninth Army to delay the capture of Egypt.

However, the two finally reached an agreement on the issue of attriting the armored forces under Rommel’s command. In the end, Patton also gave up his idea of an armored battle and proposed a compromise.

This plan was to use Montgomery’s Ninth Army as the vanguard to wear down the German armored forces on the positions. If a tactical opportunity arose, Patton’s armored forces would immediately enter the battle, take a bite, and then run. With this soft-but-firm local counter-attack strategy, they would do their utmost to weaken the advantage of the armored forces under German command.

At this moment, Rommel had about 1,300 tanks, of which more than 250 were Italian M13s. And Patton, if you counted Montgomery’s assets, had about 1,200 tanks. These tanks were also qualitatively inferior to the equipment in German hands, so the gap in armor was actually very huge.

Moreover, Rommel’s Afrika Korps also had the full support of the Italian Mediterranean Fleet. Although he could not concentrate the massive naval power he had had during the attack on Tobruk, at the very least, Rommel could get cruisers and destroyers at a relatively fast speed. The cannons on these ships could guarantee Rommel’s artillery advantage in the coastal areas.

It seemed that from this moment on, there was nothing that could stop Rommel’s great army from advancing into Egypt.

Published: 2025-09-08T03:36:06.000+00:00
Last Edited: 2026-01-09T15:46:14.000+00:00
URL: https://www.patreon.com/caleredhair/posts/mtr-c587-advance-138391070

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