Chapter 965: The Battle for the Middle East

In the office of the Führer’s residence, it seemed the smoke-filled battlefields were far away. The room was filled with the most exquisite works of art in the world, a collection of the finest creations of human civilization. On the walls hung paintings by famous masters, and in the corner of the living room, a suit of medieval knight’s armor was casually placed—a truly precious antique.

“My Führer!” Gascoigne was asked by Akado to sit down. He sat respectfully opposite Akado. It seemed Akado was holding a small meeting. In the office were Chancellor Dominis, who had succeeded August, and the Reich Foreign Minister, Ribbentrop. “Forty minutes ago, ‘Operation Leap’ in North Africa officially began.”

Akado nodded in response to Gascoigne’s report. He then looked at Ribbentrop and said, “You are in charge of foreign affairs. What is your take on this matter?”

Operation Leap was a plan devised by the Führer, Dominis, and many other political and military leaders. The purpose, to put it bluntly, was to use a single campaign to firm up Italy’s resolve for the war. Akado and Dominis still hoped to resolve the differences within the Axis through internal means, rather than having to passively clean up the mess after a complete falling out.

“My Führer. I do not know how far the operation to mobilize Marshal Garibaldi has progressed, so I can only analyze the current situation,” Ribbentrop, a diplomatic genius, said. His thorough analysis of international relations and situations had been an important asset to Hitler in another timeline, and in this one, he was, without a doubt, the strongest diplomat in Akado’s Foreign Ministry.

He thought for a moment and then continued to say to Akado, “I have heard that the Americans have been frequently active around the King of Italy and the Mussolini regime. They hope to create a split within the powerful Axis, which is more in line with America’s interests of fishing in the troubled waters of the Middle East. Italy is clearly leaning towards the United States. They believe that to be content with a corner is more in line with Italy’s long-term interests. Moreover, in some of the occupied territories, the Führer has already begun to carry out cultural reforms, which has indeed caused a certain degree of panic among our Axis allies. The Italian special envoy once met with me. He hoped to get the bottom line of the Third Reich’s territorial demands from you.”

For the past hundred years, Europe had been wracked by one war after another, but everyone had a relatively reasonable bottom line, which was to fight a “chivalrous” war. After a war was over, reparations would be paid, some border territories would be ceded, and compromises would be made on colonial and foreign policy, and then peace would come.

But this war had ultimately changed. Germany was now engaged in a war of permanent occupation, of resource integration, of national annihilation. This had made all the countries feel the seriousness of the situation. Before, everyone had a chance to make a comeback, but this time Germany was not planning to give the defeated countries any chance: the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg had been clearly incorporated into the Third Reich’s rule. The occupied territories of France and Britain had also completely become German territory. Even Poland, Norway, Ukraine, and Belarus would, in the future, join the embrace of the Third Reich in the form of a federation.

Therefore, the German occupation had brought pressure on Italy. Now, of the independent countries in Europe, apart from the neutral ones, Romania, Vichy France, and Northern Britain were all subservient to Germany. Only Italy existed as an independent entity—and this entity was not very honest now, often fantasizing about flirting with the enemy and getting out of the war.

“Only those who do not advance and retreat with the Third Reich will worry about its threat!” Dominis said with a cold snort after hearing Ribbentrop’s words, his tone sarcastic. “That fellow Mussolini is just playing the game of a wallflower, of course he’s afraid we’ll settle the score with him.”

That was true, but the connection between Germany and Italy was very deep. If they were to fall out with Italy just because of some unsavory news, it would not be worth the loss. Ribbentrop ignored Dominis’s interruption and continued to say to Akado, “But this time, we and Garibaldi have taken the initiative, opening the prelude to the offensive in the Middle East. I imagine Mussolini will have to hesitate for a while longer. After all… the benefits of the Middle Eastern oil fields, he also wants a part of.”

The main purpose of Akado launching this North African campaign was to systematically delay the time of Mussolini’s wavering. As long as Italy did not cause any trouble when the German front was tight, then after Germany had turned the tide on the Eastern Front, to deal with him would be as easy as turning one’s hand.

The entire Battle of the Suez Canal was, in fact, launched for this one strategic objective. Just in case, Rommel had even thrown the Italian units in the Afrika Korps, whose stance was relatively ambiguous, to the front line, preparing to cruelly consume these soldiers to prevent them from causing any trouble if Italy were to switch sides.

Akado waved his hand, signaling Ribbentrop to stop speaking. He then smiled and pointed at Gascoigne, saying, “The reason the African campaign was allowed to begin was because a month ago, Marshal Garibaldi had already clearly stated that he would stand on our side. That is why the battle for the Suez Canal was approved, and ‘Operation Leap’ officially began.”

To say that this campaign was to drive out the Anglo-American joint forces in the Middle East was not as accurate as to say that it was launched to firm up Mussolini’s position. Fortunately, Germany’s oil consumption in North Africa was already almost self-sufficient, which undoubtedly gave Rommel a lot of room for choice and made a two-front war for Germany possible.

“In that case, then my Führer. I know what to do next,” Ribbentrop nodded, having understood Akado’s plan. His diplomatic strategy from now on would be to lull Mussolini, to delay Italy’s withdrawal from the war as long as possible.

On the banks of the Suez Canal, the ground was already almost completely covered with the bodies of Italian soldiers. Although the American positions had been battered by the German artillery and air force, the entire Suez Canal defense line was still intact, and the American army’s counter-attack was still very strong.

Another assault boat charged onto the riverbank. A dozen or so Italian soldiers, in a hail of bullets, jumped out of the boat, holding their guns and looking for cover behind the piles of bodies, dodging the bullets coming from the other side. They were not the first batch of Italian soldiers to land on the riverbank. In this vicinity, about 200 other Italian soldiers were already returning fire.

Moving his eyes from the battery commander’s scope, Rommel was very satisfied with his surprise attack tactics. He pointed with a triumphant air in the direction of the front line and gave the order to continue the attack to some of his staff officers and officers. “It’s about time. Commit the reserves and begin the attack.”

A staff officer picked up a field telephone beside him and, after a few seconds of silence, began to give the combat order. “…Is this General Friederici? The Marshal has ordered an attack. You may begin your action.”

On the other end of the line, the voice of General Friederici, the commander of the 7th Infantry Corps, a fierce infantry general of the Afrika Korps, came through. “Yes! This is Friederici. I understand. The attack will begin immediately!”

Less than thirty seconds after the communication had ended, some of the concealed fire points on the German artillery positions also began to join the artillery duel. The dense artillery fire was twice as much as before. The shells of the Afrika Korps rained down on the American positions as if they were free.

For a moment, the American forward positions were filled with explosions and firelight. Over a hundred cannons had been concentrated by Rommel and were used to form an overwhelming firepower advantage over the American defensive positions at the river crossing.

Rommel had once emphasized in his book, “Infantry Attacks”: “No matter how small the caliber of the weapon, and no matter how few the number of weapons, one must always use fire support for an infantry attack.” Now, with Germany’s weapon caliber and numbers exceeding the opponent’s, Rommel’s emphasis on concentrating fire had given him a terrifyingly dense firepower locally.

While the American soldiers were cowering in their trenches, praying for this nightmare to end quickly, on the other side of the Suez Canal, the German infantry launched their second wave of the river crossing battle. Every assault boat had machine gun fire cover, and on the other side, the Germans had even, with mules, horses, and manpower, pushed 20 88mm cannons directly to the riverbank.

Under the cover of the machine guns and artillery fire, the German sappers quickly built simple shelters along the canal with sandbags. And the German Air Force’s 88mm anti-aircraft guns were thus pushed to the front line positions. After a flurry of activity, these cannons became the fire support for the crossing German army.

The terrifying anti-aircraft weapon here became a superweapon for destroying earth and wood fortifications. The 88mm anti-aircraft gun, with its direct fire and straight trajectory, and its super-high rate of fire and muzzle velocity, could deal with a fixed bunker with ease. In one minute, the German anti-aircraft gunners could pour more than 15 shells on a target, enough to turn it into a sieve.

Although the assisted loading device could not be used in a direct fire role, the rate of fire still exceeded 10 rounds per minute. This cannon, born for anti-aircraft combat, showed an unparalleled power when firing at a ground target.

Soon, the German sappers began to build a pontoon bridge under the cover of these high-angle guns, and the crossing German infantry were also desperately expanding their forward positions from the bridgehead established by the Italian cannon fodder. When more than 1,000 German troops had successfully crossed the river, all the American defenders seemed to have realized that their canal defense line might not be able to hold.

“Retreat!” At the command, the American soldiers began an orderly retreat to the second line of defense.

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