John Schettler - Grand Alliance

“How many of these new tanks do the British have?”

“This we do not yet know, and our operatives in Cairo have been unable to even confirm the existence of this new unit. How it came to reach its position south of the main battle area is somewhat of a mystery. Halder suggested it must have deployed by rail here, to the railhead north of the Al Farafrah Oasis, and then moved by road to Siwa.”

“That is a long march. Why not simply deploy it in the north, along the coast?”

“We do not know. Perhaps they meant to achieve surprise by this maneuver.”

“It seems they have done that well enough!” Hitler folded his arms, an elbow in each hand in the guarded posture he often took when unhappy.

“Reports indicate that no more than ten or fifteen of these new tanks were actually engaged,” said Paulus, “so this may be a special Schwere Panzer unit that is only recently arrived. Donitz should see that no more arrive, because this new tank could unhinge the balance of power in a mobile battle, just as it did at Bir el Khamsa.”

Hitler frowned at the mention of the name. “Our first major setback,” he scowled. “I can see the British kicking the Italians out of Egypt, but not German troops!”

“Yet we had just two divisions there, my Fuhrer. That is hardly a force capable of driving all the way to Cairo and beyond. Unless Rommel is strongly reinforced, you should expect he can do nothing more than hold on defense.”

“At Benghazi? We will need that port.”

“It will be held, but not by German troops.”

“Then by who? You do not expect the Italians to hold it for very long!”

“That will be up to Mussolini. Yes, Rommel has posted six Italian divisions, largely infantry, in positions all along this line. Granted, these are not reliable troops, but there are 50,000 men there now, and if the British want Benghazi, they will have to commit several divisions to invest it and take the time to plan an offensive. At present they do not have sufficient forces in theater to do this while also building up a strong front opposite Rommel at Mersa Brega.”

The delicate moment had come, for Paulus knew Hitler had ordered Benghazi held, and nothing had been said about any further withdrawal to the west. He folded his arms behind his back, with an almost casual air, as if the dispositions he was describing now were contemplated all along.

“Mersa Brega?” said Hitler. “That far west? What about Agedabia?”

“It is also occupied by the Italian armor and motorized divisions. They will form a kind of trip-wire to delay any move by the British into Tripolitania. Our forces will stage here, just where you ordered Rommel to take up his blocking position before he ran off into Egypt. I have finally talked some sense into the man, and he now sees the wisdom of your earlier orders. He told me personally that he would obey his Fuhrer’s instructions and build a strong defensive position.”

There, Paulus had couched the decision to withdraw to Mersa Brega as something that was in accord with Hitler’s own wishes. The bird was out of the oven, and now he only needed to baste it well.

“You have an uncanny eye for good defensive ground, my Fuhrer. How you managed to determine this from a simple map like this is astounding, but I saw that ground personally when I was there, and it is one of the best defensive positions in North Africa. Rommel has posted both his divisions there, and they will soon be joined by a third, the 90th Light Motorized Division. The delivery of 1200 trucks from the French at Tripoli allowed us to deploy this unit much sooner than we might have otherwise. So now the other troops you have scheduled for this buildup are staging at Toulon and Naples.”

“Other troops? What other troops?” Hitler had been mollified by the flattery Paulus had used, but now he asked a difficult question. He was given to issuing quick orders and then forgetting all about them when he wished. The matter of further reinforcements would be somewhat delicate, so Paulus had to be cautious here, and adroitly changed the topic briefly.

“Rommel and I have discussed how to handle these new British tanks, but it will need more troops and particularly more artillery.”

“Artillery? Why not more tanks?”

“Because they are useless against this new enemy armor. That was very clear from the reports I read on this encounter. We cannot use the new blitzkrieg methods in these circumstances. Instead we must used well tried infantry tactics and good artillery, just as we did in the first war.” Paulus knew that Hitler had fought in that war. The trenches of WWI were the place where he had learned virtually everything he knew about combat.

“You remember it well, do you not?” Paulus continued, taking Hitler back to those days in his mind. “When the first tanks made their appearance they were a fearsome new threat, but we adapted. They were few in number, and could be resisted by stout hearted infantry in good defensive positions-troops who will hold their ground even if overrun by enemy armor-with even better shock troops to back them up when the time came to hit back. The British cannot storm a position like the one you have chosen at Mersa Brega with a few new tanks, and if they try, they will face a sea of infantry that will wash over them like a storm of steel. That is the way we defeat these new tanks of theirs-we will pound them with artillery and then send in the infantry, just as we did before. Even our own blitzkrieg tactics are vulnerable if the enemy is resolute and holds the shoulders of our Schwerpunkt. We must do this now-hold like good armor on those battleships! Yes, I stopped at Toulon to have a look for myself. Hindenburg was hit and damaged, but the armor held, my Fuhrer. In just the same way we will hold the line here and let them waste themselves trying to break through. Then, when they are exhausted, we can release our mobile units in a strong counterattack as before.”

Hitler was silent, brooding, but Paulus could see something smoldering in his dark eyes. He had been a veteran of many hard engagements in the first World War, Ypres, the Somme, Passchendaele and the Marne, earning numerous citations for bravery and the Iron Cross 1st Class. Ironically, he had stumbled into the rifle sights of a British soldier, Private Henry Tandey, who had decided to let what he thought was a wounded and unarmed man go safely back to his lines. Hitler still remembered the incident.

“Then we fight a defensive battle now?”

“For the moment. That was your wish, my Fuhrer. So we will establish a strong position there at Mersa Brega, and build up strength behind it like water behind the dam-troops and supplies-we need both in abundance if Rommel is ever to move east again. It is a thousand kilometers to the Suez Canal.”

“Well he cannot march that distance with foot soldiers!”

“No, my Fuhrer, but good motorized infantry divisions can get him there. We must have mobile artillery to support them, and by all means, air power. This is the real genius behind your plan. I knew it when I saw you had selected the Herman Goering Brigade for service in North Africa.”

Hitler could not recall this, but he listened as Paulus explained. “With those troops there, Rommel’s requests for air support will get top billing. I have looked over the list of units you proposed for the Afrika Korps. They will do the job, my Fuhrer. With the 90th Light, Grossdeutschland Regiment, 1st Mountain Division and the Goering Brigade, we will have the good veteran troops we need to stand against anything the British throw at us. And once we stop them, then we hit back, just like we did when you won that Iron Cross.” Paulus pointed to the medal that Hitler still proudly wore.

Now Hitler recalled that he did, indeed, order the troops that had taken the Rock of Gibraltar to move to Italy for service in North Africa. But that had been when he was flush with the victory Rommel had handed him in overrunning all of Libya. He had been willing to overlook the fact that Rommel had disobeyed his orders to do so, and now the thought of rewarding both disobedience and defeat with the commitment of these elite troops seemed to gall him.