0p0 Third Reich Episode 295
Third Reich Episode 295
Text Chapter 461 Italian-English Showdown
As Reinhardt's apparent brother, Mussolini finally fell ill.
That's right, angry.
When he returned to Italy, he first received all the war reparations of 40 francs from Germany.
Then, Reinhardt sent someone to inform Italy to go to Oran Port as soon as possible to claim the abandoned French ships.
Coupled with the news that the Congo, which knew that it was about to be "claimed" by Italian troops, was inclined to the free French colonies, and quickly fell to the Governor of Algeria, Berente, and it was considered to have joined Vichy France.
As a famous anti-Italian hero in France, Berente, who counterattacked 5 Italian divisions with 32 divisions in the Alps, directly rejected Italy's colonial claims to France.
Now Belante has more than 5 divisions under his command.
Not to mention that Vichy France has become a member of the Allies and is in the same camp as Italy.
If Mussolini didn't mind asking his generals to challenge Berente, the famous French general, he would of course have the opportunity to send troops to "claim".
However, this time it is impossible to send only "mere" 32 divisions.
As for how many people are sure to send, Mussolini himself can't tell.
So, Mr. Leader, who was still looking happy when he got off the plane, was admitted to the most famous San Giovanni Hospital in downtown Italy for treatment the next day.
A person familiar with the matter broke the news that Mussolini was so angry that his face was blue at the time, and when he was sent to the hospital, he was already delirious with anger.
The next day, when Mussolini woke up, the first thing he did when he got up was to fight a battle that would impress the whole world and the Germans, and re-establish the prestige of Italy and himself in the world.
After much deliberation, Mussolini identified this opponent as the former superpower and the British Empire that is now being pressed by Germany.
"We can't be a follower after only following Germany." Although the lower body is still covered with a white quilt on the hospital bed, Mussolini does not behave like a patient now.
He said ambitiously: "Tomorrow's Europe will no longer have the place of a small country. Therefore, if we, the Kingdom of Italy, want to regain our voice in the world, we must launch a large-scale military operation that attracts the attention of the world as soon as possible. "
Everyone didn't understand, did Mussolini regain his sanity after waking up, or did he sleep more stupidly?
What is he trying to do with a huge military operation? !
However, before everyone spoke to persuade, Mussolini issued the first order to wake up on his own: "I order you as a leader to quickly let the Italian army stationed in Libya change its deployment. The previous defensive posture has been changed to offensive. The British are no longer a concern, and now is the best time for us to eliminate them!"
"Balbo." Mussolini called his personal friend's name abruptly.
As the governor of Italy's Libyan colony, Italo Balbo spent seven years transforming Libya from a backward colony into a model of an Italian province, known as Italy's fourth coast.
And this time Mussolini was so angry that he was admitted to the San Giovanni Hospital by Reinhardt angrily. Balbo also rushed back from Libya overnight to Rome, the capital of Italy, to look at the leader.
But Balbo didn't expect that upon his return, he would be tasked with such a big task immediately.
"Leader, do you have any instructions?" Hearing Mussolini call his name, Balbo probably also guessed that the Libyan army would probably let himself, the governor of Libya, command the attack on the British army.
So, he took two steps forward and walked towards the head of the hospital bed where Mussolini was leaning on.
"This decisive battle in North Africa will be left to you." Mussolini said to Balbo with unprecedented confidence: "Take Egypt for me and take control of the Suez Canal."
After all, Mussolini snorted coldly and said: "This time, I will not share the benefits of Suez with that bastard Reinhard. At that time, he will beg me enough."
In fact, in order to dominate Africa and plunder the British colonies there, Mussolini assembled a large number of troops in Africa as early as the beginning of this year. Shangdi outside the homeland.
This time, Mussolini is not confident. After all, Italy already has about 22 troops stationed along the coast of North Africa.
In Tripolitania, the Italian Army deployed 6 regular divisions and 2 militia divisions.
In Planica, the Italian Army also deployed 2 regular divisions and 2 militia divisions.
In addition, Italy still has a large number of scattered border guards in North Africa, equivalent to the strength of about 3 divisions.
In other words, the total force that Balbo can deploy in North Africa is a total of 15 divisions.
But the British are different. According to the information provided by Reinhardt instructing the German Gestapo in friendship, coupled with the verification of the news from Italy’s own intelligence agency, the total number of British troops in Egypt is only about 5.
Among them were the entire strength of the British 14th Armored Division, two-thirds of the Fourth Indian Division, one-third of the New Zealand Division, 2 British Battalions and [-] Royal Artillery Regiments.
Moreover, the troops of the British army to defend the western border of Egypt and maintain the internal security of Egypt will also be drawn from the above-mentioned troops.
Therefore, the United Kingdom actually had less than 4.5 troops that could be dispatched on the North African battlefield, and it could only be based on a small number of people.
Moreover, the Italian Air Force deployed in North Africa is far more than the Royal Air Force's aircraft left in North Africa.
The situation of the British army in North Africa has become more and more difficult. The threat from Kassala is extending to Kashangmu in the west, and panic is pervasive in Kenya.
The British feared that the Italian expeditionary force would advance 400 miles south from Abyssinia, towards the Tana River and Nairobi, and invade British Somalia.
But all these worries were trivial compared with the Italian armed invasion of Egypt.
Obviously, as long as Churchill's intelligence service is not paralyzed, they will find out that Italy is preparing to invade Egypt on the largest scale.
Not long ago, Mussolini brazenly continued to send troops to the east of Egypt, and built a wide road along the coast, starting from the main Italian base in Tripoli, passing through Tripolitania and Cyrenaica to Egypt border.
The transportation of arms and materials along this road has been very busy in recent months.
Moreover, along this road, Italy has slowly assembled and deployed an army of [-] to [-] with some modern equipment at the end close to the Egyptian border.
Mussolini thought that if his mighty army with modern equipment could continue to advance eastward, the victory would surely belong to Italy.
If it could capture the fertile lands of the delta, the conquest of Egypt would be a sure thing.
Faced with this situation, Mussolini believed that the opportunity was not lost, and forced his subordinates to act quickly.
However, Graziani, Chief of Staff of the Italian Army, was hesitant to act. They knew the equipment and morale of the Italian African troops very well, so they dissuaded Mussolini and said: "This is simply going to failure. Fighting in the desert is inevitable." It will turn into a catastrophe quickly and comprehensively!"
This makes sense, not only the Italian garrison in North Africa, but the entire Italian army is outdated and has very few anti-tank weapons.
Especially in North Africa, where the Italian army has almost no cannons, motorized transportation is very scarce, and gasoline reserves are pitiful.
If you want to defeat the British army in North Africa, you may not necessarily be able to win just by relying on a large number of people...
Text Chapter 462 Southern European Overlord Italy
It turns out that Graziani is so ignorant and only knows about the flaws and shortcomings that Mussolini didn't like to hear, so Mussolini is not going to hand over the war in North Africa to him.
After much deliberation, Mussolini still decided to leave the opportunity to make contributions in North Africa to Balbo, the old man who followed him the longest.
"Governor Balbo, I will give you full command of this war in North Africa, so go ahead and do it at ease." On the hospital bed, Mussolini closed his eyes and said beautifully.
In his view, leaving the opportunity to make contributions in North Africa to Balbo is to give the other party infinite glory.
Balbo has 20 people in his hands, which can be used to fight against the 4 people in Britain.Moreover, he also has a large number of air forces as a reliance, which is almost a sure win situation.