Chapter 873 Pit
Shulka no longer worries about the African battlefield.
With the attention of the Soviet military and the British government, coupled with the participation of a large number of amphibious landing ships, it is expected that Rommel will be able to eat a pot.
This is indeed the case. The reason is that Rommel’s supply line is too long... It is a full 1,900 kilometers from Tripoli, the capital of Egypt, to Alamein, and there are deserts along the way. A lot of supplies will be consumed while transporting supplies.
The reason why it was shipped from Tripoli was because the British army occupied the island of Malta.
The supplies of the German and Italian armies mainly come from Italy, and the island of Malta is between the African continent and Italy.
Originally, supplies from Italy could cross the Mediterranean Sea and reach the front line of Alamein. There was no need for the painful process of Italy going to Tripoli and then walking nearly 2,000 kilometers to Alamein by land.
However, the British army controls Malta and has command of the sea and air.
This is a nightmare for the Italian transport fleet. They can only choose to cross the Mediterranean at night as much as possible and stay at sea for as short a time as possible.
The problem derived from this is that the land supply line is too long and consumes a lot.
Such a long supply line is placed in front of the British army and the defending army is basically old and weak Italian soldiers, and even the Libyan army...Libya is a colony of Italy, and the Italian rule is not benevolent at all, so of course the Libyans will not be willing to replace Germany , The Italian army worked hard, and they belonged to the kind of troops with extremely low morale and collapsed at the touch of a button.
This is equivalent to a piece of fat placed in front of the British, but they cannot eat it due to insufficient troops, insufficient equipment, and difficulties in landing.
It is different now. With the amphibious landing ships, all the British need to do is to send these amphibious landing ships and infantry to the island of Malta in batches, and then send them to the African continent in batches.
Even the British can conduct a guerrilla warfare on the supply line: secretly send a troop ashore to set up an ambush, and then retreat to the sea after the ambush.
This left the German and Italian troops, who had no sea and air superiority, with nothing to do but look at the Mediterranean Sea from a distance and sigh.
What Shulka didn't know was that the Soviet Union was not ambiguous at all when they cheated their teammates. A considerable part of the amphibious landing ships they sold to the British side were withdrawn from the battlefield.
The Soviet Union's explanation for this was: "We don't want to do this either. You know, our output is limited. At the same time, the army has a great demand for amphibious landing ships. Almost all amphibious landing ships have been put into battlefield use as soon as they leave the factory. Therefore, We can only gather the used ones to the amount you need!"
This reason seems to be sufficient, because the five hundred amphibious landing ships requested by the British side are indeed not a small number.
What's more, the Soviet side patted their chests and promised to send a group of maintenance personnel and parts there, so the British side had nothing to say.
However, until the amphibious landing ship was transported to the island of Malta to start training, the British discovered that there was a big problem. These amphibious landing ships frequently broke down and it was difficult to ensure long-distance navigation. However, the British need to sail 300 kilometers, at least 300 kilometers, to land in Africa from Malta.
Faced with the questions from the British, the Soviet maintenance personnel replied confidently: "Isn't this normal? If they can't start, it will be different if you give them two feet!"
These maintenance personnel are telling the truth, because this is what they did in the Soviet Union. Soviet equipment often has this characteristic, which is rough and has many faults, but it is durable.
But of course, if it is a brand new amphibious landing ship, the failure rate will be much less.
Brigadier General Marne, the commander of the British army stationed on the island of Malta, argued with a blushing face and a thick neck: "This is not acceptable. We can't use this **** to go to the battlefield and expect to defeat the enemy!"
Brigadier General Ma En is of course worried, because this is not a joke. The amphibious landing ship is directly related to the power projection and supply issues of the landing operation, that is, it can directly affect the outcome of the battle.
But the maintenance staff just spread their hands and expressed helplessness.
Brigadier General Marne had no choice but to report the problem to Churchill.
Churchill negotiated with the Soviet Union at the first time... At this time, the Soviet Union gave another suggestion: "If this is the case, I think you should buy more amphibious landing ships... Or, you can wait for us to produce new amphibious landing ships ship to replace them!"
Churchill was speechless.
This cannot be said to be that the Soviet Union did not keep their promises, they just did not produce the new amphibious landing craft in time.
Of course Churchill could not choose to wait, he could wait for Alamein but not.
So, in order to ensure the smooth progress of the battle, Churchill could only grit his teeth and buy 300 more amphibious landing ships.
The Soviet side said: "You can tie two landing craft together with a tow rope, one carrying personnel and the other carrying supplies and equipment. If one of them fails, you can tow it forward or concentrate on one ship. !"
"What if both ships are broken?" Churchill asked angrily.
The representative of the Soviet Union laughed loudly: "Then you can swim there!"
Obviously, Churchill, who was cheated, was very unhappy, but the Soviet Union was just the opposite.
Shulka doesn't care about these, he just needs to know that the British will not fail in Africa.
Shulka once again turned his attention to the training of the troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
As imagined before, the troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs gradually realized their tactical weaknesses during the training with ordinary infantry... It is not terrible to have weaknesses, but what is terrible is that they do not know those weaknesses after they have weaknesses.
Especially on the battlefield, if you know your weaknesses and correct them after a battle.
On the contrary, if you never realize that it is a weakness but take it as an advantage, you may not understand what is going on until you die.
This is the case with the troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. They thought that the high casualty rate in the previous troops was because they were braver than ordinary troops. This is an advantage. It was not until they trained with ordinary troops that this was not the case.
Because the troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs have strict discipline and generally have high physical and cultural qualities, they have made rapid progress during training.
If there is any unpleasantness, it is that there are occasional small frictions with ordinary troops, but they are basically resolved by themselves in the way of soldiers.
From this point of view, Shulka's previous "military regulations for infantry use" are a bit redundant. The character of the Soviets is often to fight and then nothing will happen.
The most important thing is that their mentality has changed... The troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs are increasingly treating themselves as ordinary infantry, and Shulka can feel this.
Originally Shulka thought that the training would continue like this, but he didn't expect that the 11th Division and the 82nd Infantry Regiment would be transferred to other places soon after a telegram.
(end of this chapter)
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