0p0 Third Reich Episode 258
Third Reich Episode 258
Fearing that the French would only admit that they were under the hands of Germany, so as not to regard Italy as a victorious country, Mussolini urged the black shirts to work harder and must penetrate the French defense line to open up the situation.
"Our offensive on the front line cannot stop, we must muster up the courage and work harder." Mussolini shouted to the generals who stayed by his side: "I have written to Reinhardt and asked him to try his best." Accept the French request for peace talks a few days later. The purpose is to give our army time to win the battle and let Italy join the peace talks as a victorious country.”
When Mussolini said this, his angry voice trembled a little.
Attacking the routed French troops from behind, the 32 Italian main divisions were held back by the 10 French garrison divisions!
What made Mussolini even more angry was that at this critical juncture, French Prime Minister Renault had stepped down, and the new government established by Petain demanded an immediate armistice and expressed that France was willing to surrender to Germany.
Is it enough to just surrender to Germany?
Where does this make the face of Benito Mussolini, the dignified Italian Prime Minister? !
You know, Mussolini's original plan was to cut off a large amount of French territory, receive the complete French fleet, and even take away the masterpieces of Italian paintings in the French art museum.
As a result, the French do not intend to surrender to Italy at all now, how embarrassing it is!
What's even more embarrassing is that Italy still can't do anything to the French. The high-profile military operations have not had any effect, and the French have completely blocked the main force of the entire Italian army.
no!Although no capital has been obtained yet, the goal cannot be given up.
In Mussolini's eyes, the annexation of the French fleet had an extremely important impact on his Mediterranean strategy.Even without mentioning the territorial claims on France, Italy must win a decisive victory on the battlefield just to get the powerful fleet of the French army!
"Ciano!" Mussolini said to his "reliable" son-in-law full of determination: "Let's talk about it, I want to give a victory speech in advance."
Victory speech? !
Ciano obviously didn't keep up with his father-in-law's thinking.Where did Italy win, why didn't he hear about it?
However, without waiting for Ciano to wonder for too long, Mussolini revealed his thoughts: "I want to put a little pressure on the frontline troops and let them know that I will hold a victory speech tomorrow. In this way, they will encourage Do your best to win before I can speak and live up to my expectations."
"That's... alright, leader." Although Ciano didn't like his father-in-law's motivation method very much, he didn't dare to refute it, so he had to bite the bullet and agree.
Anyway, when the time comes, Ciano is not the one who is ashamed, is he?
Body 4 Chapter [-] A Dialogue Between Two Famous Generals
When the German army went all the way south and the Italian army went north to attack the French mainland, the French army finally couldn't hold on.
Facing the North-South attack from the Allies, they seemed to have only one choice.
At the same time, in an office of the French government that has moved to Bordeaux, under the dim light, two old men sat face to face.
They were silent, looking at the "Draft of the German-French Peace Treaty" on the table in silence.
These two may be feeling sad in their hearts at this moment, or they may be feeling emotional.
What they were sad about was the final failure of the German-French campaign, and what they lamented was that France, with so many troops, was about to lose its country and sovereignty.
They are also sighing, the future of Western Europe, the whole of Europe, and even the whole world. Could it be that Reinhardt's allies are really going to lead the world?
After thinking about it, they stopped thinking about it, because this is not what they should be thinking about now.
All they need to think about now is the future of themselves and their country.
The old man's face is full of grooves, and the signs of aging are all over his face. Coupled with the contrast of the lights, his face looks even more distorted. Perhaps his own mood is not good at all, so that his whole body People become more sick.
The old man now feels like a patient who is seriously ill in bed, dying and powerless.
In connection with the current situation of the French army, it can only be said that it is not surprising that the old marshal behaved like this.
And the complexion of the other old man is not very good. Although he has so many wrinkles in the old man, although he does not look old, he also shows a decadent temperament at the moment, as if his heart was covered by heavy snow and ice. It's like being blocked, and the whole person has no energy, showing the same sickness.
The two sat there for a long time, but neither said a word, as if they were waiting for the other to speak first.
After a while, the younger general couldn't bear it any longer. He took the lead in breaking the dead silence and said, "Marshal Pétain, do you think there is still hope for our French army? Has the matter reached such an irreversible point?" Is it? Is there really no room for maneuver?"
He grabbed the hand of the old gentleman, Marshal Pétain, and his tone was full of unwillingness and helplessness.
Yes, this old man is the famous French Marshal Petain who was famous all over the world during the First World War.
It has to be said that Marshal Petain has excellent military command skills.
It was because of him that France was able to turn the crisis into safety during the First World War, and successfully prevented the German attack under William II.
You know, when he left the slogan "They can't pass" in Verdun, it once became the field motto of the French army at that time.
But now, facing the current situation, the former savior of France has nothing to do.
The other old man was also the famous French general Weygand.
He didn't want everyone's efforts so far to go to waste. After all, he also set up the Weygand Line of Defense to defend France. Although the ending was not satisfactory, it was considered painstaking efforts for national security.
But at this point in the battle, he had no choice but to give up resistance and surrender to his enemy, which would not be comfortable no matter who it was placed on.
"Weigand, we have tried our best. We can't blame us, but we still can't save our France." Marshal Petain said angrily, his eyes were full of unwillingness but helplessness.
"I think it's time for us to seek a decent ending for our motherland." After that, Marshal Pétain turned his head out of the window, looking at the dark night sky.
After another period of silence, Petain turned his head and smiled at the haggard Wey Gang.He smiled reluctantly, and there was a trace of despair in his eyes.
However, Petain continued to analyze calmly: "The current situation is different from that of the last war. In the First World War, we grasped too much initiative, and I can stabilize the morale of the army. Now, the initiative is all In Germany, we even lost our own capital to others in such a mess."
"In the last world war, we fought in Belgium and some border areas. No matter how the war is fought, it will destroy other countries after all, and our country will naturally consume it. Because even if we smash those areas to pieces, France will not There were irreparable losses. At that time, like the British Expeditionary Force now, we were not fighting in the heart of our country."
"Why did we rush to the south without firing a single shot in Paris? Isn't it also because we also don't want to see Paris suffer from the baptism of war, don't we want to see Paris turned into ruins!" Pétain was very straightforward, In one sentence, the reason why the French army did not dare to compete with the German army was explained.
Immediately afterwards, he continued: "We can afford to fight on other people's land, or on the already barren land. However, we don't have the capital to fight in our own core area. Of course, I don't want to see To their own country, the homeland of their people, to be devastated by the flames of war."
Petain pointed to a map of France hanging on the wall of the war room, and continued: "But, General Weygand, have you ever thought about where we would be if we continue to fight? Lyon, Chalon, Dijon Or where? I can't think of any other places than these."
"But these places, no matter where they are, belong to the core area of our country. Once the war starts, it will be a devastating disaster. We will lose our land, our houses, our money and our people. We will lose our France for so many years The historical property that we have come to lose what we cannot make up for. Even if we finally win after many years of fighting, what will be left in France? It is nothing more than a few more families, wives and children, families are destroyed, and the French economy and culture start all over again!"
Marshal Petain paused, took a sip of water, looked at Weygand, sighed and continued: "The British naturally hope that we will continue to fight. They hope that we can fight for as long as possible, so that we can die together with Germany. They just sat at home and made war fortune, even sold us weapons and equipment, and watched us spend a lot of national strength and money to bring down Germany, so that they will lose two powerful competitors in the future."
"However, we also know that only a fool would use all of his family's belongings to help others fight a war of unknown outcome!" Bell became angrier when he said this, but he would not show it when he was extremely angry Instead, he sneered and said, "The British Prime Minister Churchill really regarded the French as fools? He actually hoped that we would resist until the last soldier!"
Body 4 Chapter [-] Heroes of France
"Speaking of it, the reason for the situation today is not because of the British idiots who want to maintain the balance of power in Europe? Why should we leave the mess they made to us in France? We can bear it. I'm sorry!" Wei Gang remembered that when Germany was still weak, the British helped Germany heal the trauma of the Ruhr War and suppressed France.My heart was suddenly full of annoyance.
Marshal Petain glanced at Weygand, and nodded meaningfully: "The British, and even the Americans on the other side of the ocean, they have long known that Germany will rise. And they have been providing loans to Germany to help Germany revive its economy. What they do is to rely on Germany to contain our other major European countries. These damned British and Americans are playing a strategy of making Germany and France contain each other."
Petain, who is getting older, has obviously done research on the previous strategies of the United Kingdom and the United States, so now he speaks clearly and analyzes very thoroughly.
"When we were implementing the Treaty of Versailles, the British had been covering for the Germans."
Petain cited an example, a secret that has long been a secret: "But they didn't think that the Germans hid it too deeply. Their development speed was stronger than the British thought. In addition, they later annexed It has conquered too many countries, and its strength has been greatly strengthened, which has far exceeded the imagination of the British. Therefore, the defeat of the British in Dunkirk can be said to be self-inflicted, and they lifted a rock and shot themselves in the foot."