January 31, 1941, Tripoli, Libya
The port of Tripoli has been controlled by the 7th Armored Division. All the soldiers have disembarked and are resting in a very orderly manner. The troops are scattered throughout the port area in battalion and company units, eating, sorting out their clothes, and maintaining their weapons. , waiting for the heavy equipment to be hoisted off the ship, and as soon as the heavy equipment gets off the ship, the crew members will go up and drive away, and then go to the temporary station of their own troops.
After the equipment is available, the troops will either launch defense in a combat formation and take over from the vanguard, or they will garrison at designated locations according to orders from their superiors. By the time the last armored vehicle was hoisted off the freighter, the 7th Armored Division had the entire Tripoli under control.
To say that the Noodle Country currently has at least 30,000 combat troops in Tripoli, if we add those logistics personnel, police and a small number of colonial troops, the total force should be more than 50,000, and they are well-equipped and trained. There are 50,000 people with good training, but such a force did not make any response when the 7th Armored Division took over the defense of Tripoli.
The most ridiculous thing is an armored regiment from the Noodle Country. Because the regiment leader thought that the British were coming, he took the officers and officers to the gate of the barracks with the equipment catalog and surrendered. Lieutenant Hans who came to guard was dumbfounded. I A reconnaissance company with only a few light armored vehicles, and you, a fully armored regiment, surrender? Why surrender?
After taking control of Tripoli, a tank regiment of the 7th Armored Division officially entered the city of Tripoli under the leadership of division commander Rommel. Compared to the Noodle Country army, which was frightened by the British, the 7th Armored Division The neat military appearance and powerful equipment made the eyes of the citizens of Tripoli brighten. Everyone suddenly felt that they did not need to prepare to welcome the Britons. These were the troops of Hans's 7th Armored Division that drove the Britons into the sea.
Without government organization or rehearsal, the people of Tripoli flocked to both sides of the street and spontaneously welcomed the Hansi army. Countless flowers and silk scarves were thrown to the slowly advancing troops. Citizens who were close to them also He handed all kinds of food, tobacco and alcohol to the soldiers. The most exaggerated thing was that a local uncle actually threw a leg of lamb that was being roasted in his kitchen onto the tank. Fortunately, the commander on the turret was wearing a helmet, otherwise this A leg of lamb can send that guy away.
Rommel, on the other hand, was sitting in an open-top car and calmly signaled to the citizens on both sides. Even if British lurkers fired two shots during the period, there was no way to stop Rommel. His calmness and calmness made Tripoli The citizens here saw for the first time the calmness, calmness and fearlessness of General Hans, which was in sharp contrast to the Noodle Country army in their impressions.
From beginning to end, Rommel ignored the senior officials of Noodle Country who came over. After the city entry ceremony, a regiment of armored units passed through the city and headed for the Sirt Basin. His 7th Armored Division rushed to Libi Country. On the one hand, it was to embolden the Noodle Country, and on the other hand, it was to protect the Sirt Basin. He also received information before departure that the empire had actually discovered a super large oil field in the Sirt Basin, a super oil field that could meet the needs of the empire. Big oil fields.
As the commander of the 7th Armored Division, he knew very well the importance of oil to this war. Although the empire's armored forces were invincible, in fact, the logistics system that supported the huge empire's mechanized forces relied on millions of The mules, horses and even donkeys were supporting them. The reason was naturally not that the empire did not have enough vehicles, but that they did not have enough fuel. In order to solve this problem, the empire even planted castor beans on a large scale in the vast occupied areas. fuel to make up for the gap in coal-fired oil.
But now, the empire has oil fields, not in the distant Caucasus, nor in the chaotic Balkans, but in northern Africa, in the colonies of the allies. As the three main countries of the Axis powers, everyone is short of oil, and they are still short of oil. It's true that once oil is available, they can immediately let themselves go.
The question now is whether the oil field can be controlled, and whether it can be transported back to Europe after controlling the oil field. The person in the Prime Minister's Office urgently transferred him to North Africa with the purpose of controlling this oil field. There is no need to rush. , the British frontline is already very close to the Sirt Basin. If the British did not know that there are oil fields there, they would probably have occupied the Sirt Basin by now.
Not to mention that after he disembarked blindly, the Prime Minister's Office told him that the Air Marshal himself was in the Sirt Basin. There were only more than a thousand armed air force personnel around him, and he didn't even have an armored vehicle or a cannon. What was this? ? This is a proper way to give someone away, okay?
If it weren't for the meaningless trip alone, Rommel would have wanted to take the Crane transport plane assigned to the 7th Armored Division to the Sirt Basin.
In the evening, Rommel finally saw the dots of fire on the horizon from a distance. Needless to say, they were the flames of exhaust gas burning in the refinery. However, the flames were a bit small, and the distribution of the distillation towers in the refinery was too small. Wide? Didn’t you say that an oil field was just discovered? Why is the refinery even built?
It wasn't until he got closer that Rommel discovered that these so-called oil refineries were all small "refineries" run by one or two air force soldiers and three or five local people. Well, if these large pressure cookers can also be called oil refining Factory words.
"General, welcome to Sirt Basin!" When the car stopped by the field airport, a fat man covered in oil greeted him enthusiastically, scaring the guards into raising their submachine guns. It was Rommel who stopped them in time, because this guy's voice was so familiar. After a closer look, if he wasn't an air marshal, who was he?
"Your Excellency, Marshal, Rommel is leading the 7th Armored Division to report to you!" Rommel jumped off the barrel truck and saluted the Air Marshal very respectfully.
"General, don't be restrained, let me show you something good." The air marshal gave Rommel a bear hug very excitedly, and then pulled Rommel to a row of oil drums. Just before Rommel came, He was studying these things.
"Your Excellency Marshal, this is gasoline, high-grade gasoline!" Just by opening the lid of the oil drum and smelling it, he confirmed that this was high-grade gasoline, and it might even be of better quality than the ones imported by Bald Eagle.
Due to the limitations of coal-fired oil technology, the most commonly used gasoline by Hans is No. 70, which has many impurities, is not powerful, and causes great damage to vehicles. He dreams of getting high-quality imported fuel every day.
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