Battle of the Third Reich Chapter 446: [Mussolini] Defense Line (4)

Italy is a small country. The Alps and the Apennines seem to be quite far away. In fact, the distance between Verona and Bologna is only more than 100 kilometers, which is about the distance from Shanghai to Wuxi, and Hangzhou is farther than this. .

The quality of the Italian roads is very good. Mussolini is very enthusiastic about the infrastructure construction in Italy. Just like he likes architectural monuments and landmarks, the new century Caesar is keen on everything that can make his name go down in history s project. These road networks can often be traced back to the Middle Ages, or even more distant Roman Empire. After being reconstructed and reinforced with modern building materials, most of them can withstand the traffic of heavy vehicles.

Just don’t confuse the 1940s with modern times. At that time, automobile transportation was basically less than ten tons. For example, the trucks used by the German army had a payload of one and a half to three tons, and some were heavy. Trucks, like Mercedes and Mann, can only carry six tons. Of course, this is only the load under bad road conditions. When encountering high-quality roads or additional tows, additional calculations are required. Under normal circumstances, German logistics units will secretly overload them, but this amount usually does not exceed twice the effective load because of mechanical transition Wear and tear will also increase logistical troubles.

For this war, the German Army deliberately organized the Austrian quick-reaction cluster, but when the war really started, considering the deployment and supply of the front, only eight infantry divisions and two armors have been invested in Italy so far. The division, plus some logistics and engineering auxiliary units, the total strength of almost 200,000 people, which is only the number needed for a second-line battle in the European war, but for the Kingdom of Italy, this has made them feel It's unbearable.

The number of casualties that can be confirmed by the Royal Italian Army in four days has exceeded 30,000, and it can be organized into two infantry divisions. Of these, more than 8,000 died in battle, and the rest are all kinds of casualties, including Some soldiers who were traumatized.

In addition, more than 150,000 army officers and soldiers have put down their weapons, most of which are troops from the Alpine Defense Line and the Northwest Region. They have been compressed and surrounded by France and Germany from the east and west lines. Many troops are basically There was no decent resistance, and he directly surrendered to the strong aggressor.

Their generals seem to have reached some sort of deal with the Germans, and these once the most elite troops in the Italian army have already consumed the last remaining morale in the confrontation with the French army. , So after receiving orders from superiors, the Italians almost happily poured into the prisoner-of-war camp established by the Germans.

However, in a report sent to Mussolini by the Roman High Command, a group of "brave Italian men" still stubbornly resisted the attack by the German and French forces in the north. These troops successfully reopened near Pavia. Assembled and blocked the German attack there, but the troops suffered severe losses in the battle, and more than half of the materials were consumed. They will soon run out of ammunition and food, and Rome urgently needs assistance.

This is really an inspiring and moving deed. Mussolini told the story to all Italians on the radio of Rome on the same day, and personally ordered the only two transport aircraft squadrons in Rome to move out. The warriors of Pavia dropped urgently needed military supplies.

In order to show the Italian people his importance on this matter, Mussolini even sent his own special plane. Interestingly, it was a German Junker JU52, which was one of Hitler's personal gifts. .

At that time, a total of thirteen transport planes took off from Rome’s airport. The cabins were filled with canned food and ammunition. Legend has it that Mussolini’s personally issued awards and boxes of bronze medals of courage were in the cargo.

The transport planes took off in the magnificent military music and cheers of a group of reporters and people. This was the last time people saw these planes. None of all 13 planes returned to the base. No one knows what happened to them during the voyage. thing.

After a long time, some curious historical researchers finally found the last trace of this group of planes from the piles of decrypted documents of the German army. A German fighter group was waiting in a certain area of ​​airspace in accordance with the order of its superiors, ambushing and annihilating a group of "Italian bombers". The report specifically pointed out that one of the aircraft was suspected to be a German Junker aircraft with a gorgeous Italian emblem painted on the fuselage. , And the combat position recorded in this report coincides with the scheduled airdrop zone of the transport plane.

The scholar sniffed out the conspiracy, and originally wanted to investigate the root cause, but soon he was pressured by the Italian government. The investigation could only be stopped, and some of the information was destroyed, and there was no one ever since. Know the secret behind the incident.

The indestructible [Mussolini] line of defense only exists on government documents and the map of the command. This gave birth to the biggest mystery in the Italian war. Why did the German army give up the handy victory in the face of a mountain range guarded by only a few Italian troops, order the troops to stop and continue to advance, and it is not worth comparing to them. The defenders mentioned that they faced off on that simple line of defense for three days, which is totally illogical.

Some people think that the German army has a supply problem, and the poor road conditions in Italy are holding back the German army. But in fact, the roads in Italy are very good. The German logistics commander stated in the report more than once that he was very satisfied with the traffic conditions in Italy, because the delays caused by the roads were not as many as the number of traffic accidents. The German military station system was established all the way. After the war, most of them were handed over to the Italian army for continued use, which proved that the German army’s halt was obviously not a logistical problem.

Some people also think that this was to cover the Anzio landing operation. The Germans deliberately attracted the attention of Rome. This was approved by most researchers, because there was no other reasonable explanation.

As for the claim that the great Prime Minister Badoglio had colluded with the German head of state, this is completely nonsense. This is a rumor released by hostile forces and an insult to the noble personality of the Supreme Imperial Marshal of Badoglio.

On October 26th, the last black shirt army in Rome was transferred to the Apennines~IndoMTL.com~Many of these soldiers were recruits recruited within this week, and they were all loyal fascist countries. Party members, Mussolini can't say how loyal they will be to him, but the leader is convinced that these people, like himself, are full of love for the Kingdom of Italy.

At this time, the magnificent Roman city became a city without military garrison. Only the police and a small number of military police maintained the order of the city.

The Romans are very grateful that the Germans have not bombed the ancient capital. The government wants to attribute this to the Italian Air Force and Mussolini, but no Italian believes that there is a German reconnaissance plane that is on time almost every afternoon. After a few laps in the center of the city, I didn't see any Italian fighter jets driving up.

Many among the citizens of Rome believed that the outcome of the war was very clear. The kingdom could not stand against the three powers on its own, and Mussolini could not win this war. There are various versions of rumors circulating in the city, none of which is beneficial to this leader, and the government's battle report has completely lost its credibility. The reason is simple, since Italy is steadily victorious, why the daily rationing standards of citizens are still decreasing.

In less than a week after the war began, there was a serious food shortage in Rome. The army has taken away a large amount of strategic reserves in the warehouse. There were not many materials left for the citizens. Now they have to squeeze out a part of the supply front every day, and some have been secretly transferred to the black market by the bureaucrats.

The city of Rome has no food self-sufficiency. The materials consumed in this capital come from all of Italy. Now the main food production areas are in the German control area, so the Romans can only be obediently prepared to be hungry.

PS: The second chapter is here. (To be continued.) What a book, home of book friends! Unique URL: