Bismarck

Even though Lütjens was a veteran of many battles, he still frowned and muttered quietly: "What the hell is going on..."

Hitler, Goering, Goebbels, Himmler and other core leaders of the Nazi Party on the stage couldn't help but smile bitterly when they saw the generals and senior government officials below whispering to each other and looking at each other.

In fact, I'm afraid some people are already beginning to feel dissatisfied...

In Bismarck's perception, Stauffenberg was chatting with a few people in a corner of the conference room - but Bismarck was very clear that it was more like whispering than chatting...

Although Bismarck had scanned the folders and large briefcases carried by those people at the first opportunity, fortunately, no bombs were found. Otherwise, for the captain's safety, she would have taken action at the first opportunity.

In fact, in his previous life, he had a good impression of these people, but after looking up some information, Bismarck changed his opinion of them...

From liking to contempt!

Bismarck did not hold any opinion on the debate about whether Hitler was a murderous devil or a German hero. But who were the people in the assassination group in history?

They all spoke very nicely, saying that Hitler held "radical positions that challenged the international order" as soon as he came to power and would "completely destroy Germany".

But what about them? No matter how beautiful their words were, what were they doing when Hitler was trying to recover lost territory and revitalize the country?

Didn't the Junker Officers Corps, to which they belonged, collude with Britain and France to plot a coup, trying to continue the Weimar Republic, which was a humiliating country that ceded territory and paid indemnities?

Even in history, what would the conspiracy groups do after assassinating Hitler? To put it bluntly, wouldn't they just surrender to Britain and the United States? In the end, wouldn't they still serve as pawns for Britain and the United States to fight against the Soviet Union? Wouldn't they still have to continue fighting? !

They are all the same, there is no difference.

It can be said that Hitler fought the war in order to free his country from the Treaty of Versailles and to prevent Germany from being besieged and destroyed by several major powers, but this group of people in the conspiracy group fought the war outright for the interests of their own small group!

In addition, they all say that the SS massacred civilians, as if the Wehrmacht had never done such a thing... At that time, the SS had only a few divisions, but how many divisions did the Wehrmacht have?

It seems that many of the killing orders issued by the Soviet Union were actually aimed at the Wehrmacht, such as those "arsonists" who implemented the Three Alls Policy everywhere on the Soviet battlefield (including elite Wehrmacht units such as the 18th Armored Division). For example, Stalin personally ordered that if they encountered the 197nd Regiment of the 332th Infantry Division (which killed Zoya), they would shoot anyone they caught and absolutely not take any prisoners...

To put it bluntly, the so-called assassination group is actually a group of Junker warlords who, for their own political interests, are doing treasonous activities under the guise of patriotism!

The Junkers and Hitler were simply incompatible.

The purpose is despicable and the means are crude!

It's just that due to some reasons, under decades of constant flattery, he was transformed from a traitor and a traitor into a hero, that's all!

Thinking of this, Bismarck silently rolled his eyes at Stauffenberg and the people around him.

At this moment, Hitler, who was sitting on the rostrum, shouted a few times into the radio microphone for silence. After the military and political leaders in the meeting hall had quieted down, Hitler began to speak in his unique and charming voice and tone.

"Everyone, I know you are all confused, confused about why we are going to war with the Soviet Union without declaring war. However, what I can say, and what I can only say, is that the enemy is too strong, the situation is too bad, Britain and the United States have reached an alliance, and the Russian Federation is also desperately expanding its military!..."

"If you do not want to repeat the humiliating territorial indemnity of the Treaty of Versailles, if you do not want the Greater German nation to be destroyed by the dual attacks of Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union, if you do not want to continue to be slaves of a conquered nation that has lost its rights and humiliated its country, then I can only say that our Greater German Empire has no other choice..."

The mustache man was delivering a mobilization speech on the stage, and the reactions of the audience were different. Some shouted sincerely, some flattered, some focused, some were dismissive, and there were even a few who pulled their military caps down a little, using the brim of their caps to cover the bottom of the German Wehrmacht caps, with contemptuous and sinister eyes...

Zeppelin on the side smacked his lips and seemed to be listening very carefully, but in fact he had no interest. For her, as long as the order came down, it was time for her to take action, and the rest was none of her business.

Bismarck also glanced at the captain, only to see that the captain was sitting in a daze, looking calm and composed, and it was obvious that he didn't know what he was thinking about...

But Bismarck did not forget the group of people in the corner. In fact, in the corner of her eyes, the sneaky group in the corner secretly glanced at Hitler on the stage with indifferent eyes and continued to mutter something...

Moreover...Curious Bismarck looked around the entire venue and found that there seemed to be quite a few people like this...

---------

Just as the mustache began to give a speech to the German military and political leaders, explaining and mobilizing them for their decision to invade the Soviet Union,

The German army, which had been on high alert all day long, finally showed its strength towards its destined opponent!

Moreover, this time the German army is fully prepared!

Although the bitter victory in the Soviet-Finnish War made Hitler look down on the Soviet Union, the spiritual outlook he saw during his visit to the Soviet Union at least gave him a glimpse of the Soviet Union's true potential... Especially the drawings and production of the tanks that Bismarck had copied back from the factory in Leningrad after successfully "evacuating from the island", as well as the high morale of the Soviet military and civilians he saw along the way, with no signs of "corruption and incompetence" at all...

After returning to his country, Hitler, despite opposition from the German Junker class, began to desperately expand the military and reorganize the industry!

With the support of Hitler and Goering, Speer successfully became the Minister of Military Industry of Germany and carried out a series of reforms and reorganizations in the production of German weapons and equipment! Many designs that were originally dragging down or deliberately creating obstacles to use were abandoned, and the organization and management of the industry became more efficient...

The former Type 34 and Type 50 tanks have been retired or converted to armored vehicles, and the Type tank, the main force during the Battle of France, has basically been modified and equipped with a long-barreled mm gun (which the little mustache has been urging the army and military industry to equip, barely enough to fight the T), but now it has all been sent to the infantry divisions to serve as self-propelled anti-tank guns. Everyone knows that the Type tank, which has exhausted its potential, will be completely eliminated soon!

The current mass-produced Type 40 tanks have also been urgently modified, changing the overall structure of the front armor of the vehicle body from the original flat type to a 75 mm thick high-angle inclined armor. Even the early-production Type 42 tanks that could not be modified were equipped with additional armor in front of the vehicle body. In addition, the short-barreled 75mm howitzer originally designed as an infantry tank was also urgently removed, and a -caliber mm cannon was urgently installed in the turret. The tracks and road wheels of the tank were also urgently replaced with wider tracks and a new suspension system with a larger size and larger gap, and it has undergone swamp march test runs. Fortunately, the suspension system of this tank is a balanced suspension system with leaf springs, and changing a spring balance group does not require large-scale changes to the vehicle body structure. The German military's test report believes that this improved tank can fully compete with the "new medium tank with tilted armor like the Soviet Union"!

The new heavy tank "to counter the new Soviet heavy tank" is also under development and will be put into production soon! It is said to be a tilted armor, less than 50 tons, and the main gun is a 88 anti-aircraft gun with armor-piercing shells to simplify production!

Although during the test, there was still some uncertainty about whether it could penetrate the "Soviet-style 160mm armored square box tank (after adding additional armor), the German army is now trying to import tungsten ore from Spain and Portugal, while trying to "borrow" a few 105 anti-aircraft guns from the navy and pull them to the shooting range to start testing their anti-tank performance...

-

In order to defeat the Soviet Union, whose true strength had been revealed, Hitler mobilized the entire country's troops and prepared even more powerful combat power!

20 German divisions, including 138 armored divisions, as well as 14 Romanian divisions and 2 Hungarian divisions, formed a powerful assault force (far more powerful than in history) with a total of 210 million people, 5700 tanks, 8000 aircraft, and 78000 artillery pieces of various types!

If we include the more than 300,000 Italian troops following in the rear and the Finnish troops fighting on the northern front to regain lost territory, as well as the air force, engineers, logistics, security forces, etc., a total of 5.1 million powerful forces thoroughly launched their attack front under the cover of night!

Under the cover of darkness, the steel torrent began to flow quietly.

This is the clash of true power, the culmination of the world war!

--

In Eastern Europe in the late night of June 6, the crooked waning moon in the eastern sky was reduced to a thin slit, emitting a dim and nameless cold light. The toads in the ditch and the cicadas in the woods were also singing in a feeble manner. But in the bushes below this scene, several shadows holding snorkels, daggers and submachine guns, were enduring the rampant mosquitoes. Under the cover of the night, they slowly, slowly, controlled themselves to not make any sound and sank into the small river that served as the Soviet-German border, and then swam towards the Soviet land across the border little by little, like a hunting venomous snake, silently!

The barbed wire with empty cans and bells hanging on the river bank could not stop the well-equipped scouts who had undergone rigorous training. Soon, the telephone line connecting the outpost to the rear was also cut. The Soviet border guards who were standing and dozing at the sentry post, although they vaguely felt someone approaching in a half-awake state, but before they could react from the half-awake state, they were covered by the enemy's mouth and cut their throats! After clearing the sentries standing guard outside, the lives of the border guards who were sleeping soundly in the outpost also ended inexplicably in the submachine gun fire that broke into the door... Although several Soviet officers and soldiers discovered the figures of the German attackers and began to try to fight back, how could the outposts that were caught off guard and outnumbered be the opponents of the German army that had been planning for a long time, had deployed all its elite troops, and had devoted all its national strength to the war without declaration!

After clearing the outposts and opening the roadblocks on the border, countless tanks, cars and armored vehicles carrying infantry came from the deep darkness on the west side with rumbling engines and clanging tracks! At this time, the scouts had already cut off the

Even in the sky under the waning moon, the buzzing sound of planes could be heard. The dark fleet was like vampires in the night, and under the cover of night, they rushed straight towards the direction of the Soviet airport marked on the map - another hour would be dawn - as long as they could blow up more than 112 planes on the airport at dawn, and then control the hegemony of the sky through continuous deployment and suppression, the Soviet Union's four fronts, 32 infantry divisions and 200 armored divisions, 16000 million people and tanks assembled on the Soviet-German border would be nothing but a pile of scrap metal under the iron wings of the German Air Force!

The sky in the distance was pale, but there were also explosions. Countless billowing smoke rose from the ground, and an endless catastrophe had come! For a time, from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea coast, across thousands of kilometers of the European continent, there were countless gray Iron Cross Legions everywhere, along the road, heading east, grabbing murderous weapons, and advancing wildly eastward towards the heartland of the Soviet Union!

The war between the Red Star and the Black Cross, which lasted for four years and resulted in tens of millions of casualties, just for the sole hegemony of the European continent, began as if it was destined...

ps: Klaus's conclusion... Everyone has different opinions. It's just a description in the novel, so don't argue about it~

ps：历史上苏德战争的德军兵力是136个师(17个装甲师,另外包括14个罗马尼亚师和2个匈牙利师),190万人(不包括空军和后勤),3300坦克,4100飞机(不包括1000架运输机和联络机),42000-47000门的火炮和迫击炮。苏联不包括北方方面军的总兵力144个师(其中32个装甲师,但除了利沃弗的第六十军以外绝大多数部队不满员),15000坦克(其中T34和KV共计1600辆),飞机10000架,火炮32000-59000说法不一。包括空军,总兵力约240-250万人。

Chapter 419: The Mediterranean Sea is not peaceful either

As the core of the empire, the "Wolf's Lair" was always busy. After all, every day, it had to collect and process all the information about the hot spots and situations in the entire Third Reich's occupied area and even some other hot spots that the upper echelons were concerned about. Then, guided by the national strategic goals, according to these intelligence and information, as well as the military and economic situations, it adjusted the implementation of the national plan and formulated the overall plan for the next step.

Of course, the intrigues and scheming behind the scenes are also inevitable... The interests are intertwined everywhere between the various military services and within the military services, so the desire for complete unity is only a fantasy of the lower-level soldiers, and it is impossible for the higher-ups.

"The 'Barbarossa' plan is currently progressing smoothly! The two million heavy troops deployed by the Soviet Union on the border have suffered a devastating blow... It is expected that our army will be able to advance to Riga, the Dnieper River and Kiev around mid-July. Then the General Staff plans to let the Northern Army Group focus on defending the three Baltic countries. If the situation permits and there is spare capacity, it can attack Leningrad at the right time; the Central Army Group will move south along the west bank of the Dnieper River, and together with the Southern Army Group, encircle and destroy the Soviet Southwestern Front! If this plan is successful, then the Central Army Group and the Southern Army Group will merge, concentrate all our mobile main forces, rely on the Don River to advance southward into the Donbass region, and strive to capture Stalingrad in one fell swoop before the cold winter of December arrives, cutting off the throat of the Soviet Union's southern resources transported to the north - at that time, we can seize the Soviet Union's resources to meet our country's war preparation needs..."

In the large conference room of the Wolf's Lair, General Halder, Chief of Staff of the German Army, was reporting to Hitler and other senior German military and political officials on the situation of the German Army on the Soviet battlefield.

The people in the conference room who were listening to the report all had relatively relaxed expressions—except for the man with the mustache.

He knew very well that defeating this country could not be judged by how many of his troops were destroyed, but by the mobilization capabilities behind them. If they destroyed one and then replaced ten, it would be of no use.

"It's true that we annihilated more than one million Soviet troops, but how many did they replenish?!"

Looking at these generals who showed satisfied looks, Hitler spoke with a gloomy face, and when he spoke, Halder was stunned...

"Well...Führer, the Soviet Union's internal affairs and military data are not open to the public, and their counterintelligence is very good. We have no way to get the Soviet Union's conscription plan, nor can we make an assessment..."

I am not Stalin, who knows how many soldiers Stalin recruited! Halder began to complain in his heart.

But when the leader heard this, he was a little unhappy...

"You don't know how many people they have recruited and reorganized, and neither do I! But I dare say that Stalin is definitely mobilizing the whole country, and is definitely working hard to reorganize and train new troops! - Listen to me! Soviet Russia is not Tsarist Russia! Their population is twice that of our country! Their weapons production capacity is only higher than ours!!" The mustache looked gloomy and started to scold people. "... In short, the Soviet Union's reorganization speed will never be lower than their loss rate! So every time we win, the favorable situation may be very short-lived - the war must be long-term, and we must find a way to gradually accumulate advantages in order to finally win! Do you understand?!"

"Your idea of ​​thinking victory is just around the corner is really..."

"...Yes!" Halder lowered his head and responded reluctantly.

"Well, let's start the next topic: the Navy's strategic report..." He was too busy to care about Halder's little mood. The mustache nodded slightly and announced the start of the next topic. Raeder also stood up and took out a stack of documents...

"Now I will report on the navy's situation. It will be divided into four aspects: the combat readiness and combat plan of the local fleet, the combat summary and next plan of the submarine force, the report on naval shipbuilding and logistics, and the situation of the Mediterranean fleet and the coordination report with the Italian allies..."

"...Now let's report on the fourth aspect: the situation of our Mediterranean Fleet and coordination with our Italian allies...In order to coordinate operations in the Mediterranean theater, we have reached the following agreement with our Italian allies: First: The operational demarcation line between us and Italy in the Mediterranean is the Corinth Canal-Ionian Islands-Benghazi line at the innermost part of the Gulf of Patras. The area west of the line is under the responsibility of the Italians, who are mainly responsible for besieging Malta and ensuring shipping from Italy to North Africa; the area east of the line is under the responsibility of our Mediterranean Fleet, which, in addition to being responsible for shipping safety, must also suppress the British Mediterranean Fleet based in Alexandria and support the offensive of the North African Army...Of course, the best result is to clear the British Mediterranean Fleet and occupy the Suez Canal together with the African Corps!!"

"...Second: The Mediterranean Fleet lacks light warships. In addition to the 12rd Torpedo Boat Squadron and submarines being mobilized, and a Greek destroyer to be repaired as soon as possible, the Italians also agreed to bring their warships under the command of our Mediterranean Fleet when they fight west of the demarcation line, and agreed to hand over the th Squadron and the Dodecanese Squadron stationed in the Aegean Sea and Rhodes, a total of three light cruisers, destroyers, six submarines and several auxiliary ships to the command of our Mediterranean Fleet Command. But as a price, our country needs to provide them with ship fuel including heavy oil and diesel, and arrange for the sea transportation of their supplies..."

"...Third: According to the principle of proximity, the supply of the African Corps is based on which theater the port closest to the front line belongs to. Although the African Corps has now advanced to the important town of Bardia on the Egypt-Syria border, the port of Tobruk is still in the hands of the British. The nearest major port for the Army is Benghazi, so the Mediterranean Fleet is responsible for transportation!..."

"The Italians will transport the fleet to Athens via the Gulf of Patras-Corinth Canal, and then our Mediterranean Fleet will be responsible for arranging the shipping matters..."

Raeder stood on the podium, reading out his arrangements for the Mediterranean Fleet in an eloquent voice, and the man with a mustache nodded repeatedly - after all, he was a naval marshal, and although he had some problems, his professional ability was indeed not exaggerated.

only…

"…In order for the Mediterranean Fleet to better perform its combat missions, in addition to the supplies for the previous Battle of Crete, the Navy Headquarters plans to send three campaigns of ammunition supplies at one time,…a total of about 8000 rounds of 380mm main gun shells, 30000 rounds of 150mm secondary gun shells, 70000 rounds of 105mm anti-aircraft shells, and 20 tons of ship fuel, in addition to spare inner tubes for replacing 380 main guns, one set for each warship…"

Lütjens, who was sitting at the edge of the navy seat, far away from Raeder, heard the news, glanced at Raeder who was talking eloquently, and frowned slightly...

--

"...So, we were given three campaigns of supplies by Raeder, and then asked to take full responsibility for the situation in the Eastern Mediterranean?"

Because the "Wolf's Lair" was going to hold a meeting, some rooms were arranged for senior military and political officials to rest. In Lutjens' room, Zeppelin, who was sitting on a chair, and Bismarck, whose cat was sitting on the sofa with only its head exposed, stared blankly at Lutjens, who had a blank face.

At the meeting, Raeder, contrary to his usual practice, handed over the command of the Mediterranean theater of operations to Lutjans, and even gave him supplies for free. With a wave of his hand, he approved a full 8000 tons of heavy oil, which was equivalent to 380 rounds of 150 main gun shells and a full 105 rounds of and shells for four battleships of two large battleships!

This includes 8,000 main artillery shells, totaling more than 100,000 artillery shells!

There are still 200,000 tons of oil - Germany's oil production last year, minus the oil imported from Romania and the oil seized from France, the Netherlands and Belgium, the Austrian oil fields plus the synthetic fuel plants, at most less than 4.8 million tons of oil, right?

"When did Raeder become so kind?" Bismarck and Zeppelin looked at each other, both feeling a little puzzled.

"There must be something fishy going on here!" Bismarck, who had been tricked several times, said that there must be something wrong. There is no such thing as a free lunch, and Reger would not be kind.

"…I'm thinking, this might be our supply for the next six months, no, it might even be our last batch of supplies…" Looking at the expressions of his Bismarck and Zeppelin staring at each other, Lütjens rubbed his brows and threw himself on the sofa…

"What?! The last batch?!"

Bismarck and Zeppelin were both stunned.

The captain responded calmly: "...We can't expect to get supplies for at least half a year."

Seeing that Bismarck and Zeppelin were still confused, Lütjens continued to explain: "Now our country is at war with the Soviet Union, and it seems that the war will never end. But the Soviet Union is such a big country, how can it be defeated in a day or two? The head of state himself said in the meeting today that we must guard against the long-term resistance of the Soviet Union..."

Seeing the two ship girls showing a slightly thoughtful look, Lütjens continued to say expressionlessly: "The Soviet Union is so difficult to fight, how can the country have extra production capacity to produce ammunition for us..."

"…The ammunition for the three battles only looks like a lot, but whether it's the Mediterranean Fleet or the reinforcement of the army, which battle will be easy to fight? Look at the Battle of Crete, 960 main gun shells were used up in one go. Besides, each time you three go to sea, you use 20 tons of oil, and the rest will be burned by the Italian destroyers and transport ships. Daily activities also consume oil. I don't think tons of fuel will be used for more than a few major operations... If we take so much ammunition and fuel, but can't achieve any results, what do you think the Führer will think?"

At this point, Lütjens, who was lying on the sofa, couldn't help but let out a sarcastic sneer.

“··· ···”

Of course, Bismarck had no idea what the mustache man thought.

Seeing the looks in Bismarck's and Zeppelin's eyes, Lütjens could only smile bitterly and said, "There's nothing much to say... If we can break through the Suez Canal, we might be able to go back, but with such limited supplies, we really need to plan carefully when we go back..."

"Ugh…"

ps: Please recommend the new book~

Chapter 420: Merry Christmas

Cyrenaica, called Barqa in Arabic, refers to the entire eastern region of Libya, accounting for about 48% of the country's area.

The capital of Cyrenaica is Benghazi, and Tobruk, a key throat of the North African coastal highway more than 300 kilometers east of Benghazi, is the second largest city here and also an extremely important and excellent seaport!

On April 1941, 4, Tobruk was surrounded by Rommel. However, due to the heavy losses in the previous Cyrenaica Campaign, and the desire for quick success, Rommel sent a considerable part of his already insufficient troops to the east of Tobruk, on the Baltiya line on the border between Egypt and Syria...

The result of the conceit was that the Desert Fox, with its scattered and severely exhausted forces, had no way to deal with Tobruk. Moreover, Tobruk was now like a fishbone stuck in Rommel's throat, making him in a dilemma.

The terrain around Tobruk is like a semicircular open-air theater facing north and south. The lowest point of Tobruk is a deep-water port. From the coast, the terrain goes all the way south, including two cliffs rising to a plateau of 400 to 500 feet.

Long before the outbreak of the war, Italy had already turned Tobruk into a fortress. Although the low morale of the Italians prevented the fortress from offering any resistance to the British army, the British quickly inherited all the fortifications captured intact from Italy and improved them.

On the plateau outside Tobruk, the British established a 28-mile perimeter, with each point on the perimeter an average distance of 9 miles from Tobruk. The entire perimeter was defined by concertina wire, and on the outer edge of the wire there was an unfinished tank trench, ranging in depth from 2 to 12 feet, covered with thin plates, and covered with sand. There was also a minefield on the outer edge of the tank trench. Along the inner edge of the entire perimeter were 150 support points numbered consecutively from west to east in a zigzag pattern. This entire perimeter was called the Red Line.

In the depth behind the red line, there is a large minefield, and behind the minefield is the second line of defense - the blue line. At the end of the blue line is the green line, the last line of defense of Tobruk. The British city defense commander has ordered that all strongholds must be defended to the death, and if they are breached, the tank brigade will go forward to counterattack. If the entire perimeter is lost, the headquarters reserve will defend the green line and resist until the Mediterranean Fleet comes to reinforce.

Now, the British-Australian coalition forces are defending here with four infantry brigades of 32000 people and a tank brigade of 86 tanks...

In Rommel's eyes, Tobruk was a thorn in his side. As long as Tobruk was still in the hands of the British, Rommel could not go too far in the direction of Egypt. From Benghazi to Alexandria in the east, Tobruk was the only available deep-water port on this thousands of kilometers of front. Without Tobruk, the 1500 tons of fresh water and supplies Rommel needed every day would have to be transported from Benghazi, thousands of miles away, or even farther away, Tripoli, by trucks along the desert - and in the process, these trucks themselves also need oil, and fresh water for cooling, and that's not all, these trucks have to leave oil and water for the return trip! After such a trip, I'm afraid that Rommel would not even get one ton of the ten tons of gasoline and fresh water he loaded when he set out!!!

Moreover, it would have been fine if the division was old and tired just sitting under the fortified city of Güton, but on June 6, at the strong request and support of Churchill, the British Middle East Theater Commander Wevel assembled 15 troops, including 250 tanks, and launched a full-scale attack on Rommel's severely under-manned defense line near Baltiya under the code name "Operation Tomahawk"!

Although Rommel occupied three strategic positions including Halfaya Pass, Salloum Pass and Sidi Omar, and relied on the concentrated use of only twelve 88mm anti-aircraft guns and superior tactical adaptability to defeat the British army, which had almost twice the number of troops but was extremely rigid in fighting, in three days, Rommel's available troops were even worse due to the losses in this battle, as the troops that were originally insufficient were added...

What’s worse, Hitler was busy launching the Barbarossa Campaign at that time, and he couldn’t spare much supplies for him. In order to ensure the Barbarossa Plan, the German Army General Staff even sent Lieutenant General Paulus to North Africa to “watch this crazy guy and don’t let him cause any more trouble!” (Paulus was Rommel’s senior brother and the only person in the German Army at that time who could persuade Rommel…)

Even if the supplies were drawn out, there were still two major obstacles: the Malta Fortress and the hundreds of kilometers of desert from Benghazi to the front line...

To put it bluntly, Rommel now has trouble even drinking water - if he fails to capture Tobruk...