Battle of the Third Reich Chapter 407: Pioneer (1)

"Marco Marco Costantino, Corporal Costantino!" The company commander, Captain Quinto, called out Marco's name loudly. This is a pretty good guy in normal times, but he becomes nervous when he gets nervous. The bluffing was distracting.

"Come on, Lieutenant!" Marco put the half-eaten dry bread into his arms, stood up and took the rifle leaning against the stone wall, and ran quickly towards the company commander.

"We should be in this position now, and Sanlian should follow us."

Lieutenant Quinto squatted beside a rock, and the company ordermen spliced ​​several pieces of German individual ponchos together to prop up a canopy above the company commander’s head. Two platoon commanders and several staff officers surrounded the canopy. After a lap, I watched the company commander gesturing the current marching route on a waterproof map.

"It should have been like this, but the third company is now gone. I have sent soldiers to look back. No one knows when they ran away with us."

"Did we go the wrong way? I think this terrain is a bit different from the map." The communications sergeant interjected.

"Every **** mountain here looks the same. The only way to march is this. How could it be in the wrong direction." The deputy commander, Lieutenant Sabbatino, is an outspoken guy, and only a company commander. Only a good character can tolerate it.

"Sir, you call me." Costantino trot out to the canopy, stood still and saluted several officers.

"Corporal Costantino, you immediately take your squad. Go ahead and scout. The map shows that there is a mountain village two kilometers ahead. If there is no problem, you will occupy that village and the company will go there. Rest and recuperation, the rain began to fall and heavier. Before dinner, you must find a place to avoid the rain, otherwise there will be a lot of people catching a cold tomorrow. It is no joke to be sick in this place." Captain Quinto told the company's most capable infantryman The monitor gave the order.

"Yes, sir." Marco agreed unambiguously, and after another military salute, he turned and ran towards his men.

The 23rd Firana Infantry Division of the Italian Army, also known as the Broadblade Infantry Division, is a new force formed only last April, the result of Mussolini's blind expansion.

This infantry division is new from officers to soldiers. Just like the uniforms on them, most of the soldiers were recruited from the Adriatic Muge area, consisting of ordinary urban residents, industrial and commercial workers, and Farmer in the country farm. These people had just received the most basic infantry training and were transported to Albania by the Italian government as occupying forces. Many of them even got their own weapons after arriving there.

The Twenty-Three Infantry Division is organized as a standard Italian Infantry Division. The organization includes the 47th and 48th Firana Infantry Regiment, the 14th Artillery Regiment, and the 82nd National The Volunteer Corps is the Black Shirt Army, the 23rd Mortar Battalion, the 23rd Anti-tank Company, the 23rd Communications Company, the 58th Reconnaissance Company, the 127th Health Company, and the 3rd The Bread Company, with a staff of 9,200, and a 3,500-member Albanian Auxiliary Regiment to help guard and transport the luggage. When the war broke out, the 23 Infantry Division had a strength of 10,000 on paper. More than two thousand seven hundred.

This is already one of the few fully-filled infantry divisions in the Italian army. At present, there is a serious shortage of infantry divisions in Italy, because the soldiers retired temporarily and went home to help the autumn harvest. Many infantry The division was left with an empty shelf, waiting for the soldiers to return to the team after the autumn harvest was over before reorganizing.

This is something that Italy’s weird government would do, because Mussolini’s army expansion was too fast and took up a lot of rural labor. When the farming season is busy, these farmers have to let these farmers go back to work, otherwise Italy the next year People just wait for everyone to go hungry.

Invading Greece is the only thing Mussolini can do right now. Originally, he tried to unite Bulgaria and move Yugoslavia, but the Bulgarians ignored him at all. The czar was not stupid. A group of French soldiers could beat the Italians violently. Now, who else in Europe can believe this big jaw.

Italy has shrunk and strengthened the defenses around the Alps. The Gauls are now the manifestations of the Roman gods before they rushed to the mountain and hit the ground. At this moment, where can Mussolini dare to have other nonsense miss you.

The road of expansion towards the Balkans has been blocked, and the African colonies are currently being doubled between Britain and France. At present, even self-protection is somewhat difficult. Mussolini could foresee that once Britain and France were relieved, they would surely attack these colonies, and relying on the current strength of Italy, it would be impossible to defend such a large area.

To break this deadlock, unless Italy can get the support of Germany again, but now it seems that this hope is very slim. The relationship between Germany and Italy is on the verge of rupture, and the top leaders on both sides seem to have no intention. In remedial action, Mussolini would rather die than put down his body and bowed his head to the "blonde boy" in his eyes for help.

Many forces in Italy have expressed dissatisfaction with the current situation explicitly or implicitly. They see that the contradiction between Italy and Germany is purely Mussolini's dispute of will, and they have now abandoned their troops. He humiliated the country, and watched a lot of benefits slip away from him.

As the Italian army failed again and again, Mussolini's domestic reputation began to slowly decline. He must find a breakthrough as soon as possible and re-establish his authority in the hearts of the Italian people.

Looking at the surrounding area, Mussolini took a fancy to Greece beside him. Compared with Italy at the time, Greece looks really weak. This country does not have many resources, let alone any industry developed. All the weapons, equipment, ammunition, and even clothing of the Greek army must be imported from abroad. As long as its external channels are cut off, the country will not even fight itself.

Greece’s current leader is Giannis Metaxas, a complete military dictator. Under the prime minister’s rule, the Greek royal family has become a rubber stamp-like existence, if it weren’t for the royal family’s presence in the civilian population. There are many followers, and at the same time they have marriages and blood ties with other royal families in Europe, and they also cleverly expressed their full support for the current government, which has not been overthrown by the prime minister who actually holds the power of the country.

The Prime Minister’s attitude is biased towards Germany. Before the outbreak of the war, Greece and Germany had extensive trade relations, while the Greek king was a pro-British member. So after the war, Britain immediately announced that Greece’s security would be affected. Protection of the British Empire.

In the eyes of ordinary people, based on Greece's previous performance, it is tantamount to standing on the opposite side of Germany. Obviously, Germany will not stand out for this country. After the defeat of the United Kingdom, although the Royal Fleet was still active in the Mediterranean, the British Army and Air Force suffered great losses in the war. The force in the Mediterranean region is temporarily only enough to maintain the security of Africa and the canal zone and other colonies. Too much power has been exerted to interfere with the problems of Greece.

When the two biggest obstacles were stripped away, in Mussolini's eyes, Greece became meat on a chopping board. He only needs to reach out his hand to easily put this territory into his pocket. Occupying Greece, Italy is equivalent to occupying a third of the Mediterranean Sea. It is a big step forward from Mussolini's goal of rebuilding Rome. The Roman army will step into Athens again, and it will surely win the favor of Italian civilians.

There have been some island and territorial disputes between Italy and Greece for a long time. Although the relations between the two countries eased in the 1920s and 1930s, these issues were once again brought to the table when Mussolini came to power.

This dictator is full of ambitions and desires for territory, and wants to become a new generation of Roman emperor. In order to achieve this goal, he did not hesitate to send an entire generation of Italians to the **** battlefield.

The plan to invade Greece was sloppy and rough. The General Staff of Rome didn't even complete the preliminary data calculation, so it directly handed over the task to the 25th Army stationed in Albania.

But it is also understandable that when Mussolini’s combat intentions were reached, Italy was in a busy farming season, a large number of soldiers were undergoing temporary retirement procedures, and the country roads were full of soldiers returning home in military uniforms. Many troops have been herding sheep, and there is no way to regroup.

According to the information obtained by the Eye of Odin before, a large number of Alpine Northern Line troops were transferred back to southern Italy. In fact, most of them were transferred for this matter, which made the Germans think that the Italians were preparing for something big. The scale of military operations.

"Everyone listen carefully, arrange the equipment, and set off in five minutes." Corporal Costantino walked to his squad and gave orders to the soldiers.

This is a standard ten-man infantry squad. In addition to the squad leader, there are six riflemen and two machine gunners, carrying a Beretta 1930 light machine gun, which is a complex weapon. Known for easy failure.

The riflemen each carry a Carcano 1891 rifle with a caliber of 6.5 mm. You can see how old this thing is by looking at the product model. Since it was finalized, there has been little improvement.

As a corporal squad leader, Costantino received a Carcano 91 Cavalry carbine. This carbine, which is only two-thirds of the standard rifle, is not only issued to cavalry but also to Alpine Mountain Hunter. The standard equipment is also distributed to infantry hunters and middle and lower rank army non-commissioned officers.

God knows why the Italians distribute carbines to the snipers. Perhaps the starting point was to reduce the gunner’s weight~IndoMTL.com~ But the result is that the Italian hunters are competing with French and British shooters with standard rifles. The confrontation suffered heavy losses.

"God, please forgive me, they won't send anyone else. Is the whole company only usable for the infantry squad?" Machine gunner Otokino complained loudly.

"Shut up, superior soldiers, there is always someone to do this job." Deputy squad leader Giuliano stopped the machine gunner's grumble, he lowered his head to check the armed belt on his waist, except for the black leather belt hanging two In addition to a standard bullet box, there are two red shell 35 grenades, which look round and round like a baby bottle with a lid.

"Line up!" Castantino called out. Nine soldiers braved the dense drizzle and stood in a row beside the mountain road.

"Maricino and I served as vanguard soldiers. The others were in the middle. The deputy squad leader took Oshio with a machine gun. The target was a mountain village two kilometers ahead. We are going to occupy that village. Today, we may camp there. Everyone wants Stay vigilant, there is likely to be a Greek skirmisher nearby. Don't open fire at will without my order to avoid exposing the whereabouts of the team. Did you understand everything?" The squad leader asked loudly.

"Understood, squad leader." The soldiers replied loudly.

"Very good, let's go." Costantino is satisfied with the current morale of his subordinates. Although these guys are all rookies with no combat experience, they can still be trusted at the critical moment.

Breaking the cold autumn rain, a group of Italian soldiers hobbled along the mountain road and embarked on the journey again. No one knew what was waiting for them. At this moment, everyone was full of confidence in winning the war.

: I still have some fever today, but I finally finished this chapter. Thank you for your understanding and support.

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