African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1738 North African Battlefield
Let alone Governor Stafren, anyone else facing the situation of the Dutch East Indies colonies would first and foremost be wary of East Africa.

However, while the Dutch East Indies colonial government was strengthening its defenses in East Africa, they did not expect that the Japanese army was already advancing menacingly from the north.

Due to the changes in the course of history, Japan's attack on the Dutch East Indies this time involved significantly fewer troops than in the previous era. However, the Dutch East Indies were also weakened compared to the previous era, for example, the colony on Kalimantan was occupied by East Africa.

Another change was that Japan's expedition to the Dutch East Indies was launched using the Far Eastern Empire as a springboard.

In the previous life, when Japan launched its war against the Dutch East Indies, Japan had already expanded into Southeast Asia, so it could use the Indochina Peninsula and the Philippines as springboards. However, now that Japan's war against the Dutch East Indies has been brought forward, Japan has not yet occupied the aforementioned areas.

Therefore, the Japanese army and navy could only first assemble at ports in the southern part of the Far Eastern Empire, then pass through the South China Sea, and finally head straight for the various islands of the Dutch East Indies.

……

North Africa, Egypt.

While Germany and Japan were launching new large-scale wars, Italy, one of the three Axis powers, was not idle either. In addition to cooperating with Germany in its war against mainland France, Italy's main offensive was in North Africa.

In May 1939, Italy launched the first war against Tunisia and achieved considerable success. At the end of the month, it also launched the war against Egypt.

At this time, the highest-ranking British military commander in Egypt was General Bouville, who served as the Commander-in-Chief of British forces in the Middle East. His military jurisdiction covered a vast area, including Egypt (Sudan), Cyprus, Malta, Aden, and British Somalia.

Currently, British military forces in the Eastern Mediterranean, North Africa, and the Red Sea coast are all under its unified command and control. Its headquarters are currently located in the British General Staff building in Cairo, Egypt, also known as the "Grey Palace."

"General, according to intelligence from the border, Italian troops have officially entered the Egyptian border, and we must now fight Italy."

In the command post, the intelligence chief was reporting to General Wavell.

General Wavell asked, "Approximately what is the size of the Italian army?"

The intelligence officer replied, "According to our investigation, Italy has amassed at least 100,000 troops, and they are advancing from Cyrenaica toward western Egypt."

"At the same time, Italy has also launched an offensive against Malta, and the situation is now extremely critical."

Malta's location is quite unique, almost right under the nose of the Italians, less than 100 kilometers from Sicily, Italy. However, the British also attached great importance to Malta.

Malta, a key strategic island in the central Mediterranean, is an important naval and air base for the United Kingdom.

It can be said that without Malta, the British Royal Navy in the Mediterranean would be completely divided into two parts by Italy, so holding Malta was of paramount importance to Britain.

The same applies to Italy; the presence of Malta directly threatens the security of the Italian navy and also the passage between Italy and its North African colonies.

Both sides are bound to engage in fierce competition over Malta.

General Wavell asked, "What's the situation in Malta now?"

Wavell also attached great importance to Malta, as it was of great importance. If it fell into Italy's hands, the military area under Wavell's command would be effectively cut off from the British mainland.

An intelligence officer said, "It is unlikely that Italy will be able to take Malta in the short term. Malta is our core naval base in the Mediterranean, so its defenses are very strong and it has sufficient supplies."

"However, we cannot be complacent in the slightest. Malta is too close to Italy, and the military pressure is enormous. Moreover, as an isolated island, its supplies must be replenished regularly. If the war drags on for too long, Malta may also fall into a difficult situation of running out of ammunition and food."

Wavell frowned and said, "It seems I must meet with Admiral Cunningham regarding the security situation in Malta!"

Admiral Cunningham was the Commander-in-Chief of the British Mediterranean Fleet, primarily responsible for naval affairs, while General Wavell was responsible for the army and the Royal Air Force.

Similarly, in Malta, which was his military jurisdiction, General Wavell was primarily responsible for the air force and army on the island, while the navy was under the command of Admiral Cunningham.

Moreover, the navy is of even greater importance. For example, Egypt's material support to Malta must rely on the escort of the Mediterranean Fleet.

General Wavell stated, "Given Malta's current situation, we must work closely with the navy to counter the threats from Italy and Germany."

Besides the pressure from Italy, Malta also faces the threat from Germany, which cannot be ignored, given that Germany also has territories along the Mediterranean coast and inherited the naval power of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

However, like the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the German Mediterranean Navy was also suppressed by the British Royal Navy in the Adriatic Sea. However, the German Mediterranean Fleet was in a relatively better position because Italy was its ally, so the German Mediterranean Fleet had a high probability of breaking through the British blockade of the Adriatic Sea.

The intelligence chief said, "General, we are now facing the threat of the Axis powers, and we are in an extremely dire situation."

"The naval power of Germany and Italy should not be underestimated. If it weren't for the French navy being able to share the pressure with us, the combined Italian and German navies would be enough to pose a fatal threat to the Empire's naval power in the Mediterranean."

Because of France's presence, the main force of the Axis powers in the Mediterranean, namely the Italian Navy, had to concentrate its efforts on keeping an eye on the French naval forces in the Mediterranean.

This is why the Royal Navy can still operate with ease in the Mediterranean, especially in the eastern Mediterranean. With the help of naval bases in Greece and Malta, the Royal Navy can also exert pressure on the Italian and German navies.

General Wavell said, "That depends on how Admiral Cunningham arranges things. We are under a lot of pressure right now, and it would be good enough if we could cooperate with the Navy."

"Now, in addition to taking care of the defense of Malta, we must pay more attention to the aggressive army coming from the Cyrenaica direction of Italy."

"The Italian army in Cyrenaica this time numbers 100,000, while our forces in western Egypt number only 30,000, a difference of three times."

"If we can't stop this wave of Italian attacks on the Egyptian army, then there's no need for us to think about the future anymore."

General Wavell's words were not alarmist, because Egypt was currently Britain's most crucial foothold in the Mediterranean. If Egypt were occupied by Italy, Britain's position in the Mediterranean and the Middle East would inevitably collapse completely. For example, Wavell's headquarters as Commander-in-Chief of British forces in the Middle East was in Cairo, which served as the command center for British army and air force in the Mediterranean and the Middle East.

The command center of the British Mediterranean Fleet was in Alexandria, not far from Cairo.

If Italy were to occupy Egypt, it would mean the complete collapse of Britain's naval and air command center in the Mediterranean and the Middle East. Subsequently, British forces in other colonies would be leaderless and vulnerable to being defeated one by one by the Axis powers.

Therefore, withstanding the Italian attack on Egypt was the most important task in all of General Wavell's missions. As for why he had previously paid so much attention to Malta, it was also for the defense of Egypt.

After all, if Malta fell, it would mean that Britain would lose its forward base that threatened the Italian mainland and the sea routes connecting North Africa. At that time, Italy would be able to more recklessly transfer troops and supplies from its homeland to support the North African battlefield, putting greater pressure on the British forces in Egypt.

Conversely, if Malta were in British hands, Britain could use its navy and air force to continuously attack Italian transport fleets, threatening or even cutting off Italy's material support to the two colonies of Cyrenaica and Tripoli.

It should be noted that Italy currently has over 200,000 troops in North Africa. This size of force is simply not something that Italy's two colonies, Cyrenaica and Tripoli, can support in terms of supplies and weaponry.

After all, the total population of Italy in these two colonies was only a few hundred thousand. Even if those few hundred thousand people tightened their belts, they could not possibly feed an army of two hundred thousand, let alone provide other supplies.

Therefore, the Italian army in North Africa was extremely dependent on supplies from its homeland.

However, Italy was also facing a shortage of food and supplies, as its domestic food production was not high. Before the outbreak of war, Italy had to import a large amount of food from overseas every year to meet its domestic needs.

At present, Italy is heavily reliant on Germany and other Axis members for strategic materials such as food. As for East Africa, although it is connected to Italy by the North African Railway, the line itself has limited capacity and is also a key area of ​​focus for Britain and France.

Not to mention that Britain still controls the Suez Canal and the Strait of Gibraltar, Italy's maritime imports have essentially come to zero.

Meanwhile, since the outbreak of the war, the British and French air forces have repeatedly bombed the Italian-controlled North African railway in Cyrenaica, greatly increasing the difficulty for Italy to import supplies from East Africa.

General Wavell said, "At present, the most important thing for us to defeat the invading enemy is to attack Italy's logistics."

“In addition to using Malta to strike at Italian shipping convoys in the Mediterranean, the North African railway must also be a key line of focus.”

The intelligence chief said, "Although we and France attacked Cyrenaica's North African railway multiple times, Italy quickly repaired the route, allowing the railway to continue to provide Italy with necessary supplies."

The North African railway within the Cyrenaica province of Italy is less than 400 kilometers long, so even though Britain and France bombed the railway several times, it was not difficult for Italy to repair it.

In fact, if you want to sabotage the North African Railway, it would be best to target the middle section of the railway, which is controlled by East Africa. After all, most of the middle section of the North African Railway is uninhabited, and if it is damaged, it will cost much more to repair.

However, Britain and France clearly did not dare to do so, after all, offending East Africa would likely be futile even if they joined forces with the Soviet Union and the United States.

Of course, while the sabotage of the North African railways by Britain and France did not achieve the most ideal results, Italy also suffered greatly.

After the North African railway was affected by the war, although East Africa did not stop operating the railway, East African trains no longer entered Cyrenaica. Italy could only receive goods from East Africa in the border town of Jallu, and then transfer them to its own trains to be transported to the port of Benghazi.

The need to change vehicles in Jialu town significantly slowed down the import progress of goods from East Africa for Italy and the Axis powers.

Moreover, the North African railway in Cyrenaica province was under close scrutiny by Britain and France, requiring frequent emergency repairs. The Benghazi railway station and port, the terminus, were also frequently visited by the British and French air forces.

In addition to these threats, East Africa's export policies are also unfriendly to Italy. After all, Italy is currently at war, and East Africa inevitably restricts the export of some direct military and strategic materials to belligerent countries, except, of course, by adding money.

This means that Italy has to spend significantly more money to buy some strategic materials that it relies on for imports from East Africa.

Italy was naturally extremely dissatisfied with this, but there was nothing they could do but grit their teeth and accept it.

After all, apart from the Axis powers, East Africa was now the only country from which Italy could obtain war resources, while the Axis powers themselves were relatively resource-poor.

For example, Germany doesn't even have enough oil, iron ore, rubber, etc., so the amount it can supply to Italy is extremely limited.

For Italy, being able to import from East Africa at "high prices" is already a relatively good situation.

In short, Italy's supply situation was not good, and General Wavell was well aware of this. Therefore, given the current situation, he was prepared to continue to work on Italy's logistical supplies.

He continued, "In addition to continuing high-intensity attacks and cutting off Italy's supply lines, the Italian army that invaded Egypt this time, although it had an absolute advantage in numbers, was also a force to be reckoned with."

"However, their desire to threaten the Nile River basin and the Suez Canal through the desert regions of western Egypt means that logistics remains the Italian army's biggest weakness and fatal vulnerability."

Most of Egypt is desert, and if Italy wanted to attack Egypt from Cyrenaica, it would have to cross this vast desert region.

This was clearly a difficult challenge for the Italians, especially in trying to supply the troops at the front through the extremely difficult-to-access desert.

"Based on this, I plan to form multiple flexible assault teams from the Western Desert Forces to focus on striking Italian supply convoys while continuously harassing the main Italian forces."

"With our advantage in the terrain, I think we can definitely deal a heavy blow to these invading Italian enemies."

Even before World War II, Britain had already begun to develop military deployments in the western desert of Egypt. After all, the Suez Canal was a vital shipping artery, and Britain could not afford to ignore the threats posed to Egypt's surrounding areas.

Therefore, in the desert of western Egypt, the British built many hidden supply depots and military outposts. Relying on these depots and outposts, General Wavell and the British forces in the western Egyptian desert had the basis to launch guerrilla warfare.

This was also the only optimal solution that General Wavell could choose when the enemy was stronger and he was weaker.

(End of this chapter)