When Brooke talked about the army's military, everyone suddenly thought of this problem and couldn't help but feel a stinging pain in their hearts: Except for the last Egyptian army, the other troops of the Eighth Army were probably going to be finished. It would be lucky to be able to escape 10,000 more people - this is even worse than Dunkirk, and at least he rescued the people that time.

"What about your thoughts?" Churchill asked immediately.

"The Eighth Army needs to be rebuilt, especially the four armored divisions in it are urgent."

When it comes to rebuilding the armored division, everyone felt a gust of toothache like a wind. It is true that the battleship is a gold-swallowing beast, and the armored division also piled up with money - the cost of a battleship can only build 2 new armored divisions. Brooke suggested that 4 armored divisions are equal to 2 battleships in one breath. And looking at his posture, it seems that 4 armored divisions are just supplementary, and subsequent battles may have to be added.

Sure enough, Brooke said in a deep tone again: "I remember General Montgomery said before the Battle of Tobrook that he needed to add 5 more armored divisions to be sure. At the beginning, we laughed at it and said it was fantastic. Now it seems that he is right - although the number of Germans is smaller than ours, their armored divisions, especially tanks, are much more powerful than us. If he could give him 5 more armored divisions, he might have won now."

Churchill felt very depressed when he heard it. Brooke thought he had enough troops, but now he kept talking about the five armored divisions, which was completely shirking the responsibility. To be honest, he hated Montgomery's lion at the beginning, but now he was extremely regretful. If he had known that he would have sold the slaughter in this way, he would have sent it to the Eighth Army. He understood Brooke and everyone's mood. But he could not let Brooke continue to speak, otherwise it would have caused too much damage to his prestige. He frowned and forced himself to listen to all the words. He spoke first without waiting for everyone to express his opinions one after another:

"I agree with the suggestions of adding four armored divisions, but now we can't just look at quantity, quality is also very important. The military department must work hard to develop new tanks - the front line has reflected that the Germans used new tanks, and all our tanks and anti-tank guns are not their opponents. If it is built at a low level, it will still be defeated in the future."

Aiden stood up to help the Prime Minister: "Contact through diplomatic channels. Russia has firmly denied its relations with the new German tank and said that they also encountered this tank on the front line, and their situation is basically the same as ours. No active tank is an opponent and the loss is huge... As for the T-34, the Russians expressed their regret, but this is a fact and cannot be reversed."

Churchill hurriedly said, "So, don't take out the tanks that are obviously behind. Throw them all to the Russians, and then let the United States give us Sherman who supports Stalin. In the future, considering our own needs, we must reduce the aid to the Russians - I don't think they deserve more! What else can they do besides a mysterious defeat in the Don River in November? And even this defeat will only affect more than 100,000 people, hundreds of tanks and aircraft, and it cannot be compared with the intensity of the North African war - we are the mainstay of the fight against fascist Germany and Italy! We use a corner of the land and a thin force to resist the German army sweeping Europe and the entire Italian navy and air force. Foreign Minister Aiden will explain this to President Roosevelt and the relevant members of the parliament. I think the American people will understand us."

"Great!" This is the only feeling that surging people's hearts. Although the war between North Africa and the Middle East has not yet been settled, the Prime Minister has packaged this world-renowned defeat as a spirit of resistance that has been unable to support the struggle but has persisted until the end, and has labeled himself as a "mainstay" - this is really a good politician, and it is unreasonable to be a prime minister.

Before everyone could react, Churchill changed his mind and touched on the technical issues of the tank: "What suggestions do the military department have for subsequent tank development? It is terrible that there is no new, and it is excellent enough tanks. This will have an impact on the soldiers' hearts, such as battleships and cruisers facing the enemy. No matter how brave or smart the cruiser is, it may not pose a sufficient threat to the battleships. We must make some changes."

"The experts think the 17-pound gun is a good anti-tank gun and intend to load them onto the tanks. At the moment, Sherman is a good platform."

Churchill quickly asked, "What does it mean to be good? A new tank that can deal with the enemy?"

"This..." Brooke said hesitantly, "I'm afraid it's a bit difficult, but at least it can deal with t-34."

Speaking of T-34, Churchill was furious again and couldn't help but curse: "The damn Russians have made the Germans seize so many, and then they were used in North Africa by the Germans. It's really a shame for Stalin."

Brooke ignored Churchill's complaint and continued: "First, install the 17-pound gun on Sherman as planned, and accelerate the transformation and upgrading of this tank; Second, increase research efforts and design a new tank - it must be able to compete with the enemy's new tank. If we can't do it, we will jointly develop it with the Americans; Third, we will improve the existing tanks. We have designed and completed the new tank of the "Cromwell" model. It was originally planned to be produced next month, but from the actual situation, the firepower seems too weak (57mm caliber), the armor is not thick, and the speed is no longer necessary. Therefore, I think it is necessary to thicken the armor and replace it with the 75mm gun, and reduce the speed appropriately - at least it should be able to compete with the T-34 or the new German No. 4 tank."

Cromwell is the successor of the Crusader tank, weighing 28 tons and having 5 crew members. It is considered a new cruiser tank. But I didn’t expect that the relevant design indicators were outdated before they were completed. In history, the British won the North African battle, and Cromwell’s faults were still unsightly. Now North Africa has suffered a crushing defeat and the lack of armored power has been exposed at once.

Churchill nodded: "Please evaluate whether the Army Ordnance authorities have the need to continue production of tanks such as Matilda, Valentine, Crusader, etc., and whether it is possible to transform into the production of American Sherman styles? Can Sherman, who has installed 17-pound guns, be put into production as soon as possible? Can Cromwell's improvement be completed as soon as possible? As Germany and Italy reach closer cooperation in command system, equipment production and development, joint combat, etc., Italy's pitiful industrial capabilities have also begun to be exerted, and we should also achieve such a transformation - if Sherman is indeed a good car, why can't we produce it? It's too passive to expect the Americans to give us."

Finally, a unified opinion was reached, and the priority construction levels of the new Sherman tank and the Navy's three battleships were all upgraded to a1.

Seeing that the Army and the Navy had gained benefits, the Chief of Staff of the Royal Air Force, Admiral Charles Porter, could not sit still. He was about to stand up and fight for some benefits for the Air Force, but Churchill blocked his mouth first: "I know the Air Force needs new aircraft, and the Fire Spitfire 9 is very good, so let's produce 2,000 more aircraft."

"But..." He had to say a few more words, at least try to get some bombers. Attlee had already frowned, "How much does it cost to produce so much equipment?"

"I don't know..." Churchill shrugged and said in a helpless tone, "Prepare to issue another 500 million pounds of treasury bonds."

Everyone's hearts are bleeding, 500 million pounds - the military expenditure is expected to reach 4.8 billion pounds in the fiscal year 1943, while the national income is only 8 billion pounds. If you add 500 million pounds, the British Empire still doesn't know if it can bear it. (Note: 1 pound is roughly equivalent to 5 US dollars, and 1 US dollar is about 2.5 Empire marks) However, as soon as this is said, Porter would have to stop.

Admiral Alexander, commander-in-chief of London's random intervention, was so angry that he hated Major General Ramsden even more. He didn't know that this was specially instructed by Montgomery when he parted. The latter knew Alexander's nature of escaping and was afraid that the Egyptian army would eventually become cannon fodder to cover the retreat of other troops, so he told Ramsden to send the telegram directly to London when sent to the command of the Middle East War Zone, so that the Prime Minister would suppress Alexander. If the order to Churchill was usually General Alexander would definitely rebound, but now that Egypt's defeat has begun to appear, he cannot do anything against the Prime Minister, otherwise the future will be unpredictable. So he reluctantly dispatched a brigade to the port as if he had swallowed a fly, hoping to take the opportunity to withstand the German army for 4-5 days.

But the Canal Group Army used practical actions to tell him that there was no need to be futile. Just when Alexander's reinforcements were still halfway, Rommel instructed General Student to personally lead three paratrooper battalions to land behind the port of Alexander in the early morning of the 14th. The panicked defensive troops did not expect the Germans to appear behind them. In addition, the surroundings were pitch black, and they immediately fell into a large-scale melee. The paratrooper battalions in the street battle had equipment such as stg43, Iron Fist No. 1, and exerted great power, which made the British army retreat. At dawn, the Suez Quick Strike Group set out from Fort Arabia cleared all resistance along the way, and rushed to the outskirts of the port, directly attacking the defense line.

Although the defenders and the port marines tried to set fire to destroy all kinds of supplies, due to too much supplies, the fighting situation between the two sides was intertwined, and the defenders only had time to destroy a small part of them fled in a hurry. Seeing that the situation was not good, Andrew led the fleet to lead all transport ships and well-moving destroyers to run wildly towards the outer sea, preparing to sneak into the canal as soon as possible to escape. The Suez Quick Strike Group on the shore took a little effort to solve the shore defense fortifications and the Marines. When they arrived at the dock, all the ships were already there, and they could only sigh at the sea and were so anxious that they wanted to call the German Air Force to sink them. But Rommel looked at their slow speed and sneered: "Some people are dealing with them and let the Air Force save some strength."

So the Air Force let the fleet go and dropped bombs on the 128th British Brigade who came to support it, delaying their attacks, and seeking convenient conditions for the rapid strike group to fully control the port and clear up.
Chapter completed!