stonecrandall Chapter 1062
Chapter 1062
The generals at the front certainly could not know the dilemma of the decision-makers in the rear.
After taking Sudan, Rommel did not stay here for too long, but immediately marched eastward, took Ethiopia, and then continued to move south, bypassing the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, marching along the coastline, closely following the British army, and maintaining a distance of about 200 kilometers.
This distance is only about half a day for the German light division, so they can monitor the opponent’s every move from behind, and wait until the British army has almost beaten the rebels in the southern Philippines before entering the field.
In this way, neither the British army nor the local rebels in the southern Philippines can pose any threat to them.
In this case, it will be easier for the German army to control the southern Philippines, and then control the gold and diamond mines in the southern Philippines.
Rommel does not have many troops. If he cannot completely wipe out the two local armies, the German army may fall into a long and cruel security war next. That kind of thing is obviously not what Rommel wants to see, because he has greater ambitions!
“The Empire once had our own colonies in Africa, but after we were defeated in World War I, these colonies were forcibly divided up. But now those countries that once used unequal treaties to bind us have been defeated by us, and this land will eventually welcome their true masters!”
The northwestern region of South Africa was once one of the empire’s colonies in Africa. After the defeat, the Germans who lived and worked here were basically expelled, and several victorious countries divided up the empire’s colonies here.
However, the empire has been operating here for a long time and has cultivated a group of pro-Germans in the local area!
The interests of these people suffered huge losses after the entry of countries such as the British Empire and Gaul. These two countries certainly would not have any good faces for the pro-Germans in the colonies, so these people who once relied on the German Empire for their livelihood had a miserable life after the German army left.
This group of people was looking forward to the arrival of the German army and had been waiting for a long time.
As early as when Rommel’s North African Corps entered North Africa, these pro-Germans scattered across Africa happily sent representatives to contact Rommel secretly, expressing their willingness to provide all necessary assistance for the German military operations!
Although they have declined, their influence in the local area is deeply rooted and cannot be eliminated in a short time. So if they really stand on the side of the German army, then for the German army’s actions It is still of great help!
Rommel naturally welcomed these people’s surrender. After all, now is the time to use people. He has a small number of troops under his command, and Africa is so large. If these pro-Germans cannot be used to help, it will be very difficult for the German army to conquer the whole of Africa!
At this time, in the action of marching into Southern Philippines, Rommel contacted the Namibians in the northwest and asked them to organize a lot of armed forces to march from the northwest of Southern Philippines. Taking advantage of the opportunity of the local army of Southern Philippines fighting the British army, they went directly south and went straight to Cape Town, the capital of Southern Philippines!
Although Cape Town is not the largest city in Southern Philippines, this city is one of the earliest areas where European immigrants landed.
In addition, due to its extremely important geographical location, it was regarded as the capital of the Southern Philippines colony by the Sun Never Sets.
Even later, large gold mines were discovered around Johannes City, which quickly improved the status of Johannes City in a short period of time, but did not take away the position of Cape Town as the capital!
However, as the capital of Southern Philippines, the political significance of this city is extremely important. Only by taking it can the situation in Southern Philippines be truly controlled!
“Our goal is to occupy the entire South Philippines, but before that, our goal is to occupy the gold mines around Johannes. This gold mine is the largest in the world with the largest reserves. It is of great significance to the empire!
And it can be predicted that whether it is the local armed forces of South Philippines or the army of the sun never sets, they will definitely lock their eyes here. It can be predicted that this will be the place where the British army and the local defenders will fight a decisive battle in the near future!”
Rommel made the above judgments based on the intelligence he collected in advance and his own analytical ability.
“In this case, our next action will be simple!”
“After advancing 300 kilometers to the south, the 1st Light Division marched in a northwest direction, with its target being Pretoria, north of the city of Johannes!”
“The Second Light Division will be directly commanded by me. It will move south along the eastern coastline, bypass the British army’s flank, and capture Durban, the most important port city on the eastern coastline. In this way, we will be able to cut off the retreat routes of these two armies by land and water, leaving them with no way to escape. As long as we occupy these two places, we will immediately move towards the city of Johannes and wipe out the troops trapped there!”
Rommel’s battle plan was very simple and very direct, because it was calculated without intention. Their enemies didn’t even know that there was such a powerful army behind them before they were attacked. In this case, the German attack would be extremely sudden. This sudden attack could easily catch the opponent off guard and cause chaos!
Especially when the opponent was still fighting each other, this action of the German army was even more lethal!
The reason why Rommel brought two light divisions instead of one light division in the original plan was to increase the success rate of the operation and make this operation foolproof!
As long as they can take over Nanfei and go south to this big gold mine, it will be a great achievement for him and the entire North African Corps!
The soldiers under Rommel were obviously also very clear about the importance of this operation, so they thoroughly implemented and executed Rommel’s orders.
On October 18, 1929, the third day after the British entered South Philippines, as Rommel expected, the British and the local defenders fought fiercely around the large gold mine in Johannes.
The scale of this battle was quite large. The British army devoted all its efforts and invested more than 30,000 troops at once. Only less than 10,000 logistics and non-combat personnel were left in the rear, and there were almost no reserves. From their actions, it can be seen that they are planning to win the battle in one battle and decide the outcome!
The defenders of South Philippines also had the same idea. They knew that the British army had been exhausted after a long expedition and crossed thousands of kilometers. If they could not repel the British army at this time, when the British army recovered, they would be greeted by a more terrible enemy. Therefore, this decisive battle was their best opportunity!