6. Battle of Kenya (I)

France is finished.

This surprised the yin strategists who hoped that the Germans and the French would fight to the point of losing both sides. Now it was their turn to swallow the bitter fruits they had made.

It is exactly the old saying that Chinese people often say: intelligence is mistaken for intelligence, and in the end it will shoot yourself in the foot.

It's a bit of a pity that Hitler's tank army could not travel to the English Channel, while the German navy was far from an opponent of the declining British Royal Navy.

Although the British warships have now become so destined to turn around and escape as long as they see the shadow of the Republican Navy, they still have great experience in dealing with their German cousin.

The British successfully directed a great retreat in Dunkirk, and hundreds of thousands of British and French coalition forces were rescued from desperate situations and successfully retreated from the sea to the British Isles. Now the Germans turned their guns and began to march towards Paris, and France's defeat has become unsurprising.

The British still have no time to deal with the Italians who did not have much threat. Although the two sides fought some small-scale battles, the Mediterranean fleet commanded by the British Navy General Cunningham still firmly controls the sea control in the Mediterranean, and they can cut off the supply line between the Italians and North Africa at any time.

The 180th Division landed in the Port of Kismayyu in southern Italy. After a short rest, the armored division began to march towards British East Africa after joining with an Italian infantry division led by General Jala and General Gazera.

In June, the weather was very hot. After crossing the Tana River, the Sino-Italian coalition forces continued to advance towards Nairobi.

The Second Armored Regiment where Yang Haiming was located had entered the mountainous area of ​​central British East Africa along a dry river. "This ghost weather can kill people!" After the troops entered a forest, battalion commander Luo Qi ordered the troops to start resting. Yang Haiming, who had been promoted to platoon leader, drilled out of the turret. The temperature in the car was as high as 4 or 50 degrees, and his combat uniform had already been soaked in sweat.

The tank was parked in the shade of the tree, and the cool breeze blew over, making people feel much more comfortable.

The British in this area obviously built some fortifications, and there were some trenches strengthened by trees scattered on the edge of the woodland. These trenches were not very coherent, and there was no trace of the British defending. It was obvious that they had retreated before the Republicans arrived.

"What did the boss eat today? It smells quite fragrant." Lu Yongjiang walked over with a kettle, and bursts of meat smell came from the two cooking chariots in the direction of the camp.

"The Italians brought some mutton, and today they can finally improve their food." Yang Haiming said, "I want to vomit when I eat the lunch meat contained in the iron box every day."

"I heard that there are elephants in this area. Can that thing be eaten?" Lu Yongjiang asked.

"Of course it can be eaten. Have you never heard of elephant pulling? But there is an order on it that wild animals must not be hunted unless in special circumstances. Do you want to violate discipline?" Yang Haiming said, "Besides, our motor is so turbulent, those things have long been gone, and you have to be able to see them if you want to fight."

The officers and soldiers of the Third Battalion were preparing for lunch. Everyone sat in groups of three or three on the trees to enjoy the cool and chat, while some people were lying on the grass, narrowing their eyes and napping.

Before the rainy season came, there was a golden patch of grass everywhere, and there were weeds over one person tall everywhere.

Whoosh! A shell passed through the air with an extremely sharp whistling sound. The soldiers who were still very comfortable just now became panicked. This was obviously a warhead fired by a long-range artillery.

"British people's heavy artillery! Get on the car quickly!" the officers shouted.

"Lying down! Lying down quickly!" Yang Hai shouted, the sharp whistling sound was getting closer and closer to them, as if he was coming towards their area. Experienced veterans threw a few at a loss to the ground, shells passed over their heads, and exploded about 150 meters away from them. The shrapnel flying everywhere made the branches and leaves in the forest fly randomly.

"Hurry up, get in the car!" Yang Haiming jumped up and rushed towards the chariot that was parked more than 20 meters away.

Boom! Boom boom!

The shells began to make continuous noises, and the earth was trembling. Yang Haiming got into the turret. Before the hatch was covered, he saw a transport truck in the direction of the battalion department being blown into the air. Then, he saw a cooking truck being blown over on the open space.

"Grandma's, our mutton!" Yang Haiming cursed, picked up the walker in his hand and shouted, "The enemy is there at 11 o'clock!"

The tank started to start with a roar. Several destroyed cars were burning with fire and rolling smoke. There were some wounded and killed comrades in the woodland. They were talking and laughing just now, but in a blink of an eye, they turned into a bloody body.

"Boss, are you okay? I think you are injured!" Lu Yongjiang's voice came from his headphones.

"Hey, it's nothing, I was bitten by a mosquito." After he said this, Yang Haiming found that his left arm was cut by shrapnel, and half of his sleeve was soaked in blood. He gently stepped on the driver's shoulder with his left foot, signaling the chariot to turn left, "San'er, you go to the right, we're on the left!" After that, he took out his first aid kit from the utensil on his side, pulled out a bandage, and wrapped the wound around with his right hand.

"Damn it, how did those bastards in the air team reconnaissance!" The battalion commander's scolding came from the headphones. The Army Air Force sent fighter planes forward for reconnaissance. According to their report, no enemy was found in front of them, but the Second Regiment was suddenly attacked by the British.

After the initial panic, the Second Armored Regiment launched a counterattack in the direction of the enemy's attack.

There are a total of about 120,000 British troops in British East Africa (Kenya), 1 British infantry division, 4 African divisions, 1 armored brigade that was quickly formed with the aid of the Americans, and 6 Indian divisions retreated from India. The British commander of Kenya was General Alexander, but the general seemed to be afraid of being beaten by the Chinese in Southeast Asia and India. He has been ordering the troops to preserve their strength and constantly retreating.

Lieutenant General Alan Cunningham believed that such a continuous retreat would really affect the morale of the entire British army. He turned out to be the supreme military commander of the British East African colonial emperor, with four African divisions and an armored brigade under his command. The lieutenant general strongly advocated a large-scale combat operation with the Republican army.

Prime Minister Churchill also believed that if the Republican army was allowed to advance directly without counterattacking, Britain's rule in the entire North Africa would collapse quickly, so he repeatedly emphasized that the British troops stationed in North Africa would carry out tenacious resistance.

"We have no way out, otherwise we will face the situation of losing the entire world!" The Prime Minister also ordered the British troops on the front line to not retreat.

Lieutenant General Cunningham led 50,000 British colonial troops to fight the Republicans in the Kakunike area, while General Alexander led the British and Indian troops to prevent the Republicans from advancing to Nairobi in the Kibwezi Mountains.
Chapter completed!