On December 15, the Canal Army completely controlled the entire Alexandria. Although sporadic firefighting continued, it was obviously no longer mainstream. Many Egyptians took the initiative to guide the British army to hide in the German army, causing them to be discovered and disarmed one by one.

While the port was fighting fiercely, Keselin and Iakino led the main force of the German and Italian fleet to rush towards Alexandria overnight. They soon caught the slow and large transport fleet shortly after leaving the port according to Rommel's instructions. Faced with the axial fleet that was coming like a forest, Andrew, who was leading the crowd to escape, was ashamed. Such a huge force was only able to fight at the Mediterranean fleet at its peak. Now he only had a few small sampans in his hands. Not to mention confronting the battleships, he could not stand the two extra heavy cruisers. Faced with the situation where he could not escape and could not defeat him, all the navy soldiers were confused, and the seamen on the transport ship were even more panicked.

"Invent the code telegram, whisper the flag, and call them all to surrender." Kesseling, who knew the nature of the British, added a letter at the end of the telegram, "Don't sink a ship yourself, otherwise it will be regarded as a resistance, and all personnel in the ship will be killed without any hesitation."

With such a clear message and the black muzzle, Andrew had no choice but to order the ships to raise white flags and declare surrender. The captains or captains of several ships were unwilling to fail and attempted to order their subordinates to open the Tonghai Valve to sink, but they were beaten to the point of being blue and swollen by the angry seamen and soldiers - do you want to die?

Only one destroyer chose to sank itself as if he was killed. As a result, the Germans also fulfilled their promise with murderous intent: first use 12 203mm naval cannons to hit the slowly sinking hull, and then use 20mm machine cannons to sweep the sea. The sea water was so red that no living person escaped. This scene made everyone twitch in their hearts.

Perhaps shocked by the murderous aura of the Germans, the escape fleet was finally escorted back to Alexandria. He acted more respectfully than a sheep.

In fact, Britain and the United States lied to Stalin. The materials transported to the Red Army were not along Africa at all, but had already reached the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula. Because the Eighth Army had been requesting material support, it temporarily changed to Egypt. Churchill planned to let the Red Army take a batch of supplies - originally intended to provide the British army in North Africa. The United States recognized this temporary adjustment. These things were on the transport ship. Before many goods had even had time to count and unload, they fell into the hands of the Germans with the ship.

Iakino divided part of the fleet to escort the fleet back to the port. He led the rest of the fleet to rush towards the Sed Port at the mouth of the canal at the fastest speed. On land, Rommel, despite the sporadic resistance in the city, ordered the Suez strike group to attack the canal area quickly - everyone was worried that the British would jump to the wall to destroy the canal. As for the 128th Brigade sent by Alexander from Cairo, he heard from the defeated troops that the port had fallen. He turned back to Cairo without even meeting.

From the afternoon of that day to the evening of the next day, the Canal Group Army deployed its troops. Except for the remaining 2,000 people left to defend Alexandria, the rest of the troops rushed like a clockwork. The entire army rushed forward more than 200 kilometers along the coastal highways of Rashid, Batim and Damietta, until the port of Said was occupied by the canal. Three divisions and one brigade, a total of 60,000 people, grew into a team of more than 300 kilometers, and seemed to have found the passion to fight from Tobruk to Alahman.

Gauss and Balk were both worried that the British Egyptian army would seize this opportunity to attack their flanks, and reminded Rommel many times to pay attention to safety and not let the British take advantage of loopholes, but the latter firmly expressed his determination to continue moving forward and not worry about attacks from the flanks. He comforted several subordinates: "I fought with the British during the French Battle. I fought with them for another year and a half in North Africa. I know their virtues - don't be afraid. They dare not come! Don't say that their troops are only half of ours now, even if they are the same as us, they are even half more than me, and Alexander dares not attack. The British do not have three times my tanks and troops, and they do not dare to attack without enough aircraft support. If they dare to attack, I still want to do so, it means that I can clear them out faster."

Although Balk was skeptical, the facts proved that Rommel said it was true. In the face of the terrifying momentum of planes covering the sky and the roar of tanks on the ground, the British security forces stationed in various places either surrendered obediently or fled towards Cairo, and no one tried to resist. The British troops in Cairo were trembling with fear, and even some German planes could flee in the air raid, relying on the efforts of officers at all levels to maintain the situation. In such a state of fluctuation, General Alexander, anxiously like an ant on a hot pan, not to mention actively attacking the Canal Army, even being able to truly grasp the order of the troops was considered valuable.

At this time, we can see that Pound's clear understanding of the infeasibility of the plan to destroy the canal: it is impossible to block the canal without a plan or preparation. Instead of wasting our efforts, it is better to strengthen the defense in Cairo.

Alexander shot three consecutive telegrams to report to London that the port was lost and Cairo's defense system was incomplete, so he suggested retreat. However, because the Egyptian army led by Ramsden had not yet arrived, Churchill not only did not approve his request for retreat, but instead asked him to rectify the city defense and work with the upcoming Egyptian army to defend Cairo, and buy time for the arrival of maritime reinforcements. Finally, in the early morning of the 17th, he received a rare good news: Ramsden sent a telegram to tell him that the Egyptian army had only been more than 100 kilometers away from Ronaldo and was expected to arrive in the early morning of tomorrow.

Ted reported to Alexander the results of the air force's reconnaissance in a worried tone: the German Canal Army's semi-circular encirclement of Cairo was also begun to be built, especially at noon that day, after the German vanguard controlled the mouth of the Suez Canal, German troops appeared in the west, north and east of Cairo, and the main force of the German-Italy Combined Fleet also began to enter the canal area. Now, the British may even appear near the canal area by triple attacks from the ground, water, and air firepower.

Alexander hoped that the Air Force would attack the German and Italian fleets, but Ted replied with a wry smile that this was impossible: not only because the number of air force aircraft dropped to a terrible level, but also because of the hasty retreat, now there is not enough skilled ground staff and supporting staff. The loss of Alexandria has exacerbated this situation even more. However, he promised to try his best to reconnaise, grasp the enemy's movements, and at the same time defend Cairo as much as possible. Alexander was stunned for a moment and could only agree helplessly.

The only way to the south of Cairo is still smooth. Rommel attempted to force Alexander to escape from Cairo by "surrounding three and one missing one" - Hoffman repeatedly told him to avoid street fighting with the British army as much as possible. Alexander actually didn't want to defend, but he was still responsible for the heavy responsibility of supporting the Egyptian army. Even in the face of the German encirclement, he could only grit his teeth and continue to hold on. Finally, late that night, Ramsden's Egyptian army went through a lot of hardships, bypassed the German defense line, avoided the pursuit of the German Air Force, and drove into Cairo one after another.

This large army of more than 30,000 people traveled a long distance in the desert for a week. The physical strength and endurance of the officers to soldiers had reached the extreme. Without Montgomery's transfer of numerous vehicles and supplies, and without the road that was demarcated for the troops, Ramsden would not dare to imagine whether he could grit his teeth and return to Cairo again. Including him, many officers and soldiers generally weighed 10-15 pounds, which was completely supported by perseverance and fighting spirit.

The moment they arrived in Cairo, everyone felt that they had collapsed. The British Empire officers and soldiers who were most concerned about their demeanor and image were exhausted at this moment, and even found an open space on the road and lay down on the ground. Although they were so embarrassed, they were injecting a needle into the defenders. With more than 60,000 people in their hands, General Alexander felt that he could finally sleep peacefully at night.

But this good mood lasted only for more than five hours. In the early morning, he received a telegram from Admiral Cunningham, and his face became ugly again.

Cunningham told him in a telegram that the rapid support force has traveled at the fastest speed and has crossed the line between Mogadishu and the Seychelles. However, due to the long high-speed travel along the way, the ships have mechanical failures from time to time. At the same time, due to the bad weather, the current center of the fleet is still in the waters about 500 kilometers east of Mogadishu, and there is at least 2,000 nautical miles away from Egypt. In other words, it is impossible for him to arrive on the night of the 20th, and it may be delayed by 3-4 days than the scheduled plan.

Alexander, who had no choice but to continue waiting - after the Germans occupied the canal area and pressed step by step, his troops had lost the conditions to cross the canal to evacuate to the Sinai Peninsula and Persia, and he now had only two choices:

First, stand firm in Cairo and wait for Cunningham’s reinforcements to come up to counterattack;

Second, wait for Cunningham's fleet to arrive to pick up his troops.

No matter which option he had to wait for the arrival of Cunningham's fleet. As for the third method, he had never thought about it - he gave up Cairo and retreated upward to Egypt and waited for an opportunity to retreat into Ethiopia and East Africa. He believed that the troops' supplies and supplies were not enough to support such a long-distance march. Moreover, the German and Italian fleet had entered the canal area. They had a complete way to go downstream and pursue the retreating troops. He called this road "dead road!"
Chapter completed!