Zhang Chi couldn't believe his ears.

Everything he did was like introducing the Italian 133 Panzer Division into Alexandria, and then luring the German 21st Panzer Division to rescue and defeat it, in order to consume the German alive power to facilitate the British to launch a counterattack against the German defense line.

But now that we have come to this point, Montgomery actually told him that "the situation has changed"!

Zhang Chi sensitively realized that the British might have given up the idea of ​​counterattack again.

With doubts, Zhang Chi hurried back to Port Said to attend the meeting convened by Montgomery.

As soon as Zhang Chi pushed open the door of the conference room, there was a burst of warm applause.

Montgomery, like a drama actor, said to the heroes in an exaggerated and passionate manner: "Gentlemen, welcome our heroes from faraway China, General Zhang Chi!"

"Wow!" There was another fierce applause, accompanied by applause, and many officers came up to shake hands with Zhang Chi from time to time.

But none of this dispelled Zhang Chi's doubts.

He sat down in his position, and after the applause was quieter, he asked Montgomery: "General, I want to know, what's going on with what you said, 'The situation has changed'?"

"Major General!" Montgomery replied: "I admire your decisive character very much, but I think you should take a break after this battle. Perhaps a cup of coffee is a good choice!"

As he said that, Montgomery raised his hand to the coffee in front of Zhang Chi.

"General!" Zhang Chi replied: "I am bluntly speaking, as planned, we should launch a counterattack at this time. This is our once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It is wrong to waste any second!"

"Why?" asked Montgomery.

Montgomery's words couldn't help but make Zhang Chi irritated.

"Isn't the reason obvious?" Zhang Chi replied: "The German and Italian troops have been attacking all the time. Because they can always succeed in attacking, their defense is not tight, and at the same time, they don't have so many troops to build a tight line of defense!"

Everyone knows this. The Commonwealth Army has more than 200,000 people, while the German and Italian troops have only 80,000 people. Even if some reinforcements are added, it will not exceed 100,000 people.

In the desert terrain, even the more than 200,000 Commonwealth Army troops could not build a tight line of defense, let alone the German army had less than half of its troops.

"Yes!" said Montgomery, "What else?"

"This means that Germany, the Italian army is not prepared enough and the troops are insufficient!" Zhang Chi replied: "And just now, we annihilated the German and Italian armoured divisions, which will inevitably cause loopholes in the defense line of Germany and Italian army. All we have to do is attack, and then find this loophole and then break through, so that Rommel's African army can be defeated, right?"

"I appreciate your courage, Major General!" Montgomery said: "There is one thing that Prime Minister Churchill is right. He compared you to Rommel. You, like Rommel, always emphasize offense. But, Major General... The situation is that we have no air supremacy. How do we launch a counterattack without air supremacy?"

So that's what Montgomery said, "The situation has changed" means that the original even-match air supremacy completely turned to the German army.

It should be said that Montgomery's statement is reasonable to some extent, because combat air supremacy in desert terrain is indeed very important, just like the Battle of Alexandria. Without air supremacy, Zhang Chi had to hide all the armored troops in Alexandria and could not participate in the war, otherwise they would become excellent targets for enemy fighters.

By the same token, it is unimaginable to launch an attack on the German and Italian defense lines without air supremacy, unless the British army launches an attack with pure infantry without tank cover... and this obviously cannot break through the defense line built by Germany and Italian troops.

However, nothing on the battlefield is absolute. For example, Zhang Chi won the Battle of Alexandria without air supremacy.

"General, we can choose to attack at night!" Zhang Chi suggested.

"Major General!" Montgomery replied helplessly: "You forgot that our tanks do not have night combat capabilities, including the 'Sheerman' tank!"

"Of course I haven't forgotten!" Zhang Chi replied: "But the German tanks also do not have the ability to fight night battles. As well as their 88 anti-aircraft guns used as anti-tank guns, it is difficult to exert their advantages of long range at night!"

As we all know, night battles are the best way to avoid air superiority. Even on the battlefield of resisting U.S. aggression and aiding Korea after World War II, the volunteers also used night battles to avoid joint air superiority and other equipment advantages.

After a moment of silence in the conference room, Montgomery replied helplessly: "Major General, there is another thing you don't understand. You cannot measure the Commonwealth Army by the quality of the squadron... If the troops in my hands can be like the squadron, even if there are two divisions, I will immediately attack the German defense line!"

After pausing, Montgomery continued, "But it's not possible now, we are not ready for an offense yet! On the other hand, our original strategic purpose was to attract the firepower of the Luftwaffe to relieve the pressure on the island of Malta. Now we have done it, right?"

As he said that, Montgomery winked at Ramsden on the side. Ramsden was stunned for a moment, then nodded and said, "Yes, Major General. Look, if the Germans want to defend the defense line, they must maintain their air superiority, that is, they must place an air team in our direction, which has relieved half of the pressure on the island of Malta. Once the Germans withdraw this air team, it will be time for us to attack..."

"Didn't you think that the attack might be too late at that time?" Zhang Chi emphasized: "The Germans will perfect their fortifications, which will cost us exponentially or even fail!"

Zhang Chi glanced at everyone in the conference room and continued, "And, have you never thought that the Germans' supplies were still in short supply? Although their supply situation improved due to the arrival of the aviation brigade and the bombing of Malta, it was just the beginning to improve! In addition, the German army dispatched so many aircraft and tanks in the battle to attack Alexandria, and their fuel was probably consumed almost all, but at this time we stopped the attack and gave them the opportunity..."
Chapter completed!