“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.
“Not so fast, Paulus,” he said. “I must tell you that I have been having second thoughts about this business in North Africa. Greece has fallen, and we have the Balkans in our possession now. I have troops sitting right on the Turkish frontier at this very moment. One good push and we can take Istanbul and seize the Bosporus.”
“It will do us no good as long as the Soviets still control the Black Sea,” Paulus warned.
