Fearing that the sea supply line was cut off, the British were swaying back and forth between defending and abandoning Cyrenega. Lieutenant General Robeck insisted that the Royal Navy Mediterranean fleet he commanded was far from enough to ensure the safety of maritime passages at all, and hoped to shrink its forces and make every effort to defend the Suez Canal area.

, to avoid the war to Egypt. General Wingate, the British Governor of Cairo, tended toward Murray. Before the war, the British had about 100,000 troops in Egypt, but in order to attack Turkey, Britain and France organized nearly 500,000 expeditionary forces during the Battle of Galipoli. This part of the expeditionary forces was commanded by Sir Hamilton. During the failed Battle of Galipoli, the British and French expeditionary forces lost nearly 150,000 people, and some of the French troops later withdrew from the country.

After Malta fell, the British Middle East Expeditionary Force remained in Egypt to prevent the Suez Canal from being occupied by the German-Turkish coalition or Austro-Hungary.

Currently, the total British army in Egypt has about 350,000 troops, and there are two French divisions. More importantly, the 120,000 Serbian troops withdrawn from the Balkans, after being trimmed and replenished, they also joined the sequence of British troops in North Africa. In contrast, the Austro-Hungarian North African army had less than 100,000 troops. However, the British were mainly devoted to the Arabian Peninsula to prevent the Turks from attacking. Enverpasha was more eager to restore the Ottoman Empire's rule over Egypt.

Lieutenant General Horwald divided the only two army divisions in his hand into two parts. The 21st Division advanced from Benghazi to Delna, while the 7th Croatian Division had to cross the desert and attack Birhakim, an important stronghold in the south of Tobrook, and then went straight to the small town of Baldia on the border between Cyrenega and Egypt. According to the combat plan formulated with Admiral Meyer, the 5th Marine Division would land at Serum under the escort of the Pachna fleet and cut off the British supply line behind the British.

Major General State led the 7th Croatian Division, which had completed the mechanized reorganization, left the coast with convenient supply, entered the depths of the dried green mountains, and marched towards Tobruk along the rugged trade roads between the deserts.

The 7th Croatian Division belongs to the latest light armored division equipped by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, with an armored regiment, two mechanized infantry regiments and one division artillery regiment. It has 168 tanks, 24 76mm self-propelled artillery, 56 tracked armored vehicles, 82 wheeled armored vehicles and 1,362 cars. The division artillery regiment has 24 105mm howitzers and 12 150mm heavy artillery. Such a firepower is several times stronger than previous infantry divisions, but the corresponding logistical requirements and supply pressure have also increased a lot.

For this desert march, General Horwald specially equipped them with more than 120 water transport trucks.

The armored regiment led by Colonel Melzin was the vanguard of attacking Bill Hakim. The troops marched in the desert in the hot summer of Cyrenega. The temperature on the ground exceeded 35 degrees, and the inside of the tank looked like a steamer. The colonel poked his upper half from the turret top cover of the Isleya Third tank. The sand and dust rising around made it impossible to see the surrounding situation.

The business road to Bill Hakim was originally a rugged path that could only allow the camels to pass. After being crushed by the vehicles in front, it was even more bumpy and dusty. Since the troops entered the desert, they had basically not experienced any battles, but it took the 7th Armored Division to travel more than 200 kilometers from Benghazi to Bill Hakim. On the evening of May 17, the 7th Armored Division of Croatia finally passed through dry riverbeds and approached the periphery of Bill Hakim.

The soldiers didn't have time to have dinner, and immediately maintained the vehicle. The air filter, engine, exhaust pipe, gearbox, transmission shaft, and even turret races. Almost every rotating place on the tank was blocked by fine sand and dust. Marine seemed even more difficult than combat.

Bill Hakim controls several important business roads leading to Cyraniga and Tobruk. If it is lost here, Tobruk, the most important strategic support point of the British army, will be immediately threatened directly. The British army deployed a division of defensive forces here and built a solid defensive position. It seems that they will not give up easily.

General State finally rushed from behind after the sun set. He and his staff climbed a hill southwest of the town and observed Bill Hakim's situation. It was obvious that the British had prepared a lot and dug three solid circular defense lines outside the town and arranged a minefield.

"It should be the Serbian Legion." Chief of Staff Colonel Kasich said, pointing to the flag planted in the enemy's position.

"But we must occupy it, and this is the gate to Tobrook," said Stet. "It's a tragedy that the British are using Serbians as gun helmets. But we two Slavic troops are going to fight each other for the sake of the British?"

"Are we trying to send a letter of surrender to the commander opposite?" Kasichi said.

"You can try it, but I don't think it will work." General State said, "Emperor Fredrich has issued an announcement to allow King Peter II to return to Serbia and declare that the empire has no intention of annexing Serbian territory, but they are determined to follow the British."

The 3rd Serbian Infantry Division defended Bill Hakim was the commander of this division, General Stankovic, with more than 13,000 people. After more than a year of rest and replenishment, the Serbian troops had already recovered from their original weakness.

Stankovic received a letter from State at around 9 pm. State said he did not want to see two Slavic brothers fighting to the death on the battlefield. If the Serbian troops choose to surrender, he promised to give them the best treatment.

General Stankovic's answer was: "If you surrender, I allow the officers to retain their self-defense weapons!" For the honor of Serbia, he was determined to fight to the death with the Austro-Hungarian army.

The battle was inevitable, and General State decided to start an attack after dawn.

Bill Hakim is located in an open area in the Gobi Desert, surrounded by vast deserts. There are several paths through which camels lead to the town. The wilderness is full of gravel eroded by wind and sand. In fact, there is no terrain here. There are two small hills outside the town, and there is a dry riverbed outside the town.

However, the Serbs dug three trenches around the town, two of which were dug very wide, and anti-tank guns were arranged behind them, and the tanks could not pass directly. It seems that since the war was going on, all parties have begun to notice the breakthrough of defending against the opponent's tanks and armored vehicles.

But State never thought that this battle would be so hard.
Chapter completed!