The Rise of Australia - Chapter 977

c958 A new version of the Normandy landing

While Mussolini was busy looking for trouble for the royal family, Britain, France and Australia were also not idle.

Since the Italian soldiers gave the Allied forces the opportunity to completely encircle Tunisia and Bizerte, the Allied North African Joint Operations Department would naturally not let it go.

On January 6, 1938, more than 300,000 British, French and Australian troops rushed to Bizerte in an attempt to completely block the retreat route of the German and Italian troops in Tunisia in a short period of time.

As for the coastal salient in Tunisia, as long as the encirclement was achieved, they would be unable to escape.

The troops stationed in Bizerte were originally less than 100,000 Italian troops.

After all, Bizerte is not a strategic location compared to Tunisia, and because it is relatively close to Tunisia, it is natural that ports and airports will not be built.

But after the Italian army surrendered one after another, the German army suddenly realized that something was wrong.

In order to avoid being surrounded, the German army had planned to break out to Bizerte and even Annaba in the west while reporting to the German Supreme Command.

As long as they escaped from the Tunisian region, the encirclement of the British, French and Australian troops would be basically impossible to form. At the same time, there were many German and Italian garrisons in Constantine and Algiers, and with the Spanish army further west, the safety of the German corps in Africa could be basically ensured.

But it was easier said than done.

Although it was known that they could ensure their own safety as long as they broke through Bizerte, who could guarantee that there were no British, French and Australian troops that had been prepared around Bizerte?

This led to the German army almost advancing while scouting the situation on the way to Bizerte. Although the distance between Bizerte and Tunisia was not far, it still took the German army most of the day to arrive.

At this time, the British, French and Australian troops also came to a place not far from Bizerte.

Thanks to a large amount of air force reconnaissance, the British, French and Australian troops naturally discovered the German army that wanted to evacuate.

In order to ensure the encirclement of the German and Italian troops, most of the British, French and Australian coalition forces with only 300,000 people were composed of local soldiers from the three countries.

Compared with the colonial army, the combat effectiveness of these troops was still at a certain level. Although the combat effectiveness of the British and French native armies was still far behind that of the Germans, with the support of the air force and navy, it was still no problem to stop these Germans.

Thus, a battle that was enough to determine the fate of the entire North African battlefield officially began, with the 300,000 troops of Britain, France and Australia and the 400,000 troops of Germany and Italy.

Although the German and Italian soldiers were in an advantageous position, the fact that there were as many as 100,000 Italian soldiers actually reduced the Germans’ hope of winning.

At this time, the Italian army was just like the object of ridicule in the history of World War II. Although Germany did not openly dislike Italy, Italy at this time had indeed become a drag on Germany.

The North African Joint Operations Command of the Allies had long been prepared for the German army with stronger combat effectiveness. In order to completely eliminate the German army in Tunisia, Britain, France and Australia mobilized more than 2,000 aircraft, and a large number of royal fleets were waiting on the coast, ready to bomb Tunisia and Bizerte with naval guns at any time at the command of a single order.

This encounter lasted for four days and ended with a tragic victory for Britain, France and Australia.

On the Allied side, Australasia suffered the heaviest losses, with more than 150,000 casualties. It can be said that almost only one in ten soldiers survived without injuries.

The casualties of Britain and France were close to 100,000, and almost all the coalition forces that blocked Germany’s retreat were injured. You must know that this was a battle fought with both the air force and the navy having advantages.

Of course, the results of the battle on the German side were also quite tragic.

The number of participants on both sides of Germany and Italy eventually exceeded 400,000, because the Italian army in Tunisia also participated in the breakout.

Although it was only a medium-sized encounter with less than 700,000 people at the beginning, after the continuous arrival of reinforcements from both sides, the total number of soldiers participating in this battle finally exceeded one million, and even approached 1.5 million.

The total casualties of Britain, France and Australia combined were nearly 340,000, of which the number of deaths exceeded 130,000.

Germany and Italy were not much better, with a total casualties of more than 300,000, and the number of deaths was also more than 100,000.

However, the difference is that the 300,000 German troops took most of the casualties and were also the main force attacking the British, French and Australian troops.

The 400,000 Italian troops, which had a larger number of people, had less than 100,000 casualties.

However, this does not mean that Italy’s losses were small. Because the remaining more than 300,000 Italian soldiers all chose to surrender, which also instantly brought the number of Italian prisoners in North Africa to more than 400,000.

Mussolini’s worries came true.

The 400,000 Italian troops in North Africa did become prisoners of Britain, France and Australia. This is lucky news, but also unfortunate news.

Fortunately, the casualties of Italian soldiers were relatively small, and the families of those soldiers could still accept it. But unfortunately, more than 400,000 Italian prisoners were in the hands of Britain, France and Australia. If the 400,000 Italian prisoners could not come back because of Mussolini’s disposal, the families of these prisoners would transfer all their hatred to Mussolini.

Mussolini, who had no other choice, could only put his hope on the Germans. Mussolini ordered his men to send a telegram to the German government, asking whether Germany had any intention of continuing to send troops to North Africa to rescue the prisoners.

After all, part of the German army eventually chose to surrender. Although the number of German prisoners was less than one-fifth of that of Italian prisoners, it was still tens of thousands of prisoners.

As for Italy sending troops alone to rescue prisoners, Mussolini dared not even think about it.

Most of the hundreds of thousands of Italian troops in North Africa became prisoners. If only hundreds of thousands of troops were sent, it would be nothing more than giving Britain, France and Australia another batch of prisoners.

If Italy had millions or even millions of troops to mobilize, wouldn’t it be nice to use these troops to attack France and win the final victory of the war?

After all, it is necessary to cross the Mediterranean to go from Italy to North Africa. Once discovered by the British, French and Australian fleets, the troops going to North Africa to rescue prisoners may not be able to see the land of North Africa and will be directly lost in this small Mediterranean.

At this time in Germany, the Prime Minister’s office was also in a mess.

The German Prime Minister’s mentality was about to explode. He couldn’t believe that most of the elite 300,000 German troops had been lost in Tunisia.

At present, there are only Spanish troops and a small number of German and Italian troops in the North African battlefield, and these troops can’t make any waves at all.

If the British and French pacify the North African battlefield and turn their attention to the French battlefield, can the German soldiers in the French battlefield hold on?

“Reinforce the troops! We must reinforce the troops!” The German Prime Minister shouted angrily in his office!

“Yes, Prime Minister!” The guard at the door replied hurriedly, and just after walking a few steps, he found something wrong and turned back to ask, “Where do we need to reinforce the troops? Prime Minister.”

“France!” The German Prime Minister gritted his teeth and gave the answer, obviously without any idea of ​​rescue for the North African battlefield that had lost its advantage.

“Yes!” The guard was also straightforward, without any further questions, and hurried to execute the order.

On January 8, 1938, the smoke of the French battlefield also enveloped the entire northern France again.

Millions of French troops marched out of the Tours Line of Defense and charged towards the German positions across the river without hesitation.

In the core of the offensive, from Tours to Orleans, the French formed a powerful armored group, the purpose of which was to tear through the German defense line and go around to Orleans or even Paris as soon as possible.

Not to mention, the Germans at this time really couldn’t come up with a matching armored group to deal with it.

The Germans did not have tanks and armored vehicles, but the problem was that most of these tanks were transferred to the Eastern European battlefield, where the two armored groups played a great reputation in the Eastern European battlefield.

But on the French battlefield, the only armored forces left in Germany were two tank divisions, which were also scattered in Tours and Orleans.

It was a bit too difficult to rely on these two tank divisions to resist the armored group formed by the French.

However, the Germans were not completely without means of resistance. Although they were at a disadvantage in terms of armor, in order to hold their defensive positions, the Germans repaired a large number of military airports in northern France and deployed a large number of aircraft and bombers.

At the same time as the French counterattack officially started, thousands of German planes flew up in groups and moved towards their respective goals in a mighty manner.

On the British, French and Australian side, a larger number of aircraft took off from the rear airports in France, the airports in Britain and the aircraft carriers in the Atlantic, and also headed towards the German positions on the front line.

The offensive in World War II was relatively simple, and the competition was the potential of each country, that is, the number of aircraft and tanks.

If the Germans were not fighting on two fronts, perhaps their military production capacity plus the support of Italy could barely compete with the three countries of Britain, France and Australia.

After all, France was in a state of residual blood at this time, and only Britain and Australasia had strong military capabilities.

But unfortunately, the Germans were blindly arrogant as in history. They chose to fight on two fronts and firmly believed that they could solve the enemies on the Eastern Front.

Are the enemies on the Eastern Front so easy to solve? Not to mention Germany at this time, even Australasia, which is basically ranked in the top two in the world now, dare not say that it can completely defeat Russia in the battle of annihilation.

Perhaps Australasia can gain an advantage in war with various advanced military technologies, but it is a bit unrealistic to completely destroy a country that ranks first in the world in terms of territory and population, and even ranks first in the world among the great powers.

When the German Prime Minister announced the increase of troops, the French counterattack had been launched for three days.

During these three days, the French army successfully crossed the Loire River and destroyed several German military airports in northern France.

In these three days of air battles, the German Air Force also lost more than it won.

There is no way to do this. After all, how could Germany gain air force advantages on both fronts when it was fighting on two fronts?

What’s more, Britain, France and Australia in this history divided part of the land of the United States. Needless to say, the industrial production capacity of the United States is naturally independent. Although the most elite Great Lakes industrial zone has been independent, the east and west coasts of the United States still have a certain industrial scale.

With the transfusion of these regions, and the fact that France did not perish early, the Germans were not as powerful as they were in history.

On January 17, 1938, after careful preparation, more than 500,000 elite British, French and Australian soldiers, escorted by warships from the three countries, crossed the English Channel to the Normandy region in northern France.

Although the direction of this world and history is different, the importance of Normandy is very high both in history and in this world.

The reason is also very simple. Normandy is located in the central region of northern France and is close to Paris, the capital of France.

Moreover, opposite Normandy is Britain, both the British air force and navy can quickly support Normandy.

Coupled with the fact that south of Normandy is Tours, the temporary capital of France, and the defense line built by the Germans, it is simply a perfect place to retreat.

If we land in Normandy, whether we march southeast along the railway to Paris, or go south along the road to surround the German army, it will be a very suitable choice.

Once the Normandy landing is successful, it will also directly cut off Germany’s influence on Brittany. The German garrison in Brittany will be trapped on a protruding peninsula surrounded by sea on three sides, just like Tunisia.

It can be judged from the fate of the German army in Tunisia that as long as the Normandy landing can be successfully achieved, the German army in Brittany will only be wiped out.

In order to realize the entire landing plan, the 500,000 landing troops were all the elite main forces of the three countries. What’s more important is that after the 500,000 main landing troops, there are still more than one million landing troops.

As long as these 500,000 troops can tear a hole in the beaches of Normandy, millions of troops will swarm in and strive to widen the narrow hole into a Sunshine Avenue.

Of course, it’s still easier said than done.

Especially in the landing battle, the casualties were definitely huge. Although the casualties of the Normandy landings in history are not as exaggerated as imagined, they were carried out in the later stages of the war.

At that time, the number of Allied troops on the entire front was far greater than the number of German troops.

But things are different now. Although the numbers of the British, French and Australian armies are still superior, the German army is not at the end of its rope.

Although Australasia also had to pay casualties, the casualties of Britain and France were obviously greater.

Moreover, such a battle can form a battlefield in Normandy similar to the meat grinder of Verdun, which will consume the manpower of Britain, France and Germany crazily.

This is also the reason why Arthur did not refuse the Normandy landing. Although success will defeat Germany faster, it can increase the losses of Britain and France in this war, or even increase them significantly. Of course, Arthur is still happy to see it.

As for whether the attacks by Britain, France and Australia would allow the Russians to take advantage of the situation, Arthur was basically not worried.

First of all, intelligence from the front showed that Germany was planning a new attack on Russia. Judging from history, it should be the so-called Battle of Sudaringrad.

Moreover, it is impossible for Germany to withdraw its main army in Eastern Europe at this time. Because their army takes a step back, which means that the Russian army takes a step forward.

If Germany did not want to give up the large tracts of Polish and Russian territory it had occupied, they would have to keep their troops stationed in these lands and wait for the arrival of domestically trained recruits.

The Russians will take the initiative to hold back the German army, and wars between the two sides will only continue to happen. Under such circumstances, no country in Europe participating in the war was spared, and they would continue to suffer more casualties in the subsequent battles.