Leonard Capet has been deeply bound to the interests of Southern Africa. In addition to interpersonal relationships, what is more important is interests. If there are no big surprises, Leonard Capet will definitely be the first choice.
Of course, because of the principle of not putting all your eggs in one basket, there must be backup options.
Fat Bald's resignation does not mean that Italy will join the Allies immediately. Italy has not even withdrawn from the war. In Marshal Badoglio's foreign statement, Italy will fight side by side with Germany and continue to safeguard the interests of the Kingdom of Italy until
The war is completely over.
This statement is very intriguing.
Fighting side by side with Germany is to safeguard the interests of the Kingdom of Italy.
Joining the Allies in the future will also be to safeguard the interests of the Kingdom of Italy.
The new government led by Badoglio is also swinging between left and right.
This is very annoying.
It's also very frustrating.
The world is not black and white. Most countries do not have the power to decide their own destiny and can only follow the trend.
Fat Bald's fall did not have an immediate impact on the war.
The Russian battlefield is still bloody and hand-to-hand. The German Air Force and the Russian Air Force are still fighting fiercely in the Caucasus. The combined losses of both sides exceed 1,500 aircraft.
Although Russia lost more aircraft, the losses could be made up because the Allies strengthened their assistance to Russia after the Casablanca Conference.
The Germans' problems became more and more serious. The lost aircraft could not be replaced in time, and the losses of pilots were particularly serious.
The Germans still maintained an advantage in the number of ace pilots. Erich Hartmann now shot down more than 80 aircraft, breaking the record set by Red Baron Manfred von Richthofen in World War I.
Shootdown record.
As the battle for Sicily continued, Patton and Montgomery finally stopped their foolish airborne operations and focused their main efforts on ground advancement.
The effect was immediate. The Italian army was no match for the powerful Allied armored forces in ground combat.
The number of German armored forces was too small and unable to fight against the swarming Allied tanks.
In mid-May, Mustache became increasingly dissatisfied with the performance of the German Commander-in-Chief on the Southern Front, Kesselring, so he thought of Rommel who was "recuperating" in Berlin.
Rommel brought a new force equipped with new "Tiger" tanks, and asked that the commander-in-chief of the German army in Sicily be replaced by the battle-hardened armored general Hans Valentin Hube.
Hube participated in World War I. After the war, he continued to serve in the German Army as one of the 100,000 retained army elites. During the Battle of Volgograd, Hube left on a plane at the last minute and had just been promoted to general of armored forces.
The former commander-in-chief of the German army in Sicily was Stacher. He was an air force general and was not familiar with the command of armored forces. During the previous Allied landing operations, Stacher even sent German troops equipped with "Tiger" tanks.
The armored troops went to the beach to shoot at the Allied fleet. This was the legendary and famous "Tiger tank versus battleship".
The "Tiger" is Germany's most advanced heavy tank, with a total combat weight of 56 tons.
The displacement of a battleship is often tens of thousands of tons, and the weight of the main gun is thousands of tons. The "Tiger" and the battleship are just a joke. The real situation is a cruiser, and a light cruiser at that.
Even light patrols are not something the "Tiger" can resist.
Take the United States' Cleveland-class light cruiser as an example. The ship has 12 152mm naval guns, plus 12 127mm high-level and flat dual-purpose guns, as well as 28 40mm and 10 20mm anti-aircraft guns. The firepower of a warship is
The delivery capacity is roughly equivalent to that of a tank battalion in Germany.
The 88mm gun of the "Tiger" tank has a shell weight of only 10 kilograms, which is very annoying when hit on a cruiser.
The weight of the warhead alone of the shells of the 152 naval gun reaches nearly 60 kilograms. If it hits a "Tiger" tank, it will flatten the "Tiger" even if it does not explode.
With such a huge gap in strength, the results must be miserable.
Only one of the 17 "Tiger" vehicles that participated in the battle escaped, and the rest were wiped out.
There is no data on the casualties on the Allied side. There is a high probability that there are no casualties, because the range is determined. The "Tiger" cannot hit warships, but the warships can stop at a safe distance and attack the "Tiger" one by one.
It was obvious that the next battle would be dominated by armored forces, so Kesselin agreed to Rommel's request and appointed Hube as the commander-in-chief of the German forces in Sicily.
Huber was cautious and pragmatic. He made a correct combat plan based on the specific conditions of the battle and the terrain of Sicily. He ordered the troops to deploy five lines of defense based on Mount Etna in the northeastern corner of Sicily to block the Allied attack.
These five lines of defense are interlocking. As the terrain shrinks, the frontal defense area of each line of defense is decreasing.
This means that the German army's defense strength will continue to increase, and the armored forces of the British and American armies will be greatly restricted in the mountain environment, which allows Hubei to easily organize defense.
Patton and Montgomery did not know at this time that the German army had changed commanders before the battle.
After more and more Allied troops landed, it seemed to Patton and Montgomery that victory was beckoning to them.
Therefore, capturing Messina became the ultimate goal of Patton and Montgomery. The two forces were racing. Whoever captured Messina first would be the biggest beneficiary of this battle.
Under such circumstances, the British and American coalition forces knocked down the chain of defense lines carefully laid out by Hubei.
At this time, Hube had troops in his hands, in addition to the "Goering" division, there were also the 15th Panzergrenadier Division and the 29th Panzergrenadier Division.
Panzergrenadiers are special units formed by Germany with special functions and to perform special combat missions. In addition to being equipped with conventional weapons, they are also equipped with tanks, armored vehicles, rocket launchers and other heavy equipment.
It can also be seen from this point that Mustache is indeed sparing no effort to support Italy.
Mustache himself has a very ambivalent attitude towards Italy. On the one hand, he is supporting Italy and keeping Italy in the Axis camp.
On the other hand, Catherine and Rommel were ordered to withdraw the German army to the Apennine Peninsula through the Strait of Messina once the war situation went unfavorable.
This order was secret. Not only did the Italians not know about it, Mustache also requested that the information be blocked from the German army to avoid destabilizing the morale of the military.
What Mustache didn't know was that the German troops in Sicily had been demoralized and demoralized due to their defeat in the Russian battlefield. Many German officers and soldiers were worried that they would suffer the same fate of being surrounded and annihilated in Sicily as the German troops in Volgograd.
Hube did not carry out Mustache's orders. He had personally experienced the Battle of Volgograd and knew the importance of hope to morale. Therefore, after Hube took office, he immediately convened a military meeting and announced to his generals that the German army was about to leave Sicily. The news of the evacuation of the island effectively improved the morale of the German army. In order to survive, all three German armies sacrificed their lives, and morale was greatly boosted.
Under such circumstances, the British and American forces collided head-on, and the battle first broke out in the small town of Troina.
Troina is an important transportation route in the northwest of Sicily, with Mount Etna behind it. If the Allied forces want to attack Messina from the land, they must capture Troina.
Hube was well aware of the importance of Troina, so he deployed the German army's most powerful "Goering" division there.
The "Göring" division is an airborne division in name, but in fact it is a standard armored division. Although the number of tanks equipped is not as advanced as that of the Russian battlefield, and the number is not too large, it also has a No. 3 tank battalion and a No. 4 tank battalion. and an assault gun battalion, equipped with a total of 45 Panzer III tanks, 45 Panzer IV tanks, and 45 Panzer III G assault guns.
Before the Battle of Sicily broke out, the "Göring" Division received reinforcements from Germany. The "Tiger" tank company that Stacher lost on the beach came from the "Göring" Division.
After Rommel took office, the "Göring" Division once again received 18 "Tiger" tanks, greatly increasing its strength. Patton and Montgomery did not grasp this situation.
The first to arrive at Troina was the U.S. Second Army led by Patton. The First Army did not participate in the Sicily landing campaign due to heavy losses in the final battle in North Africa.
The Second Army was reorganized and had a new look. In addition to the "Sherman" tanks produced in the United States, it also equipped some "Leopard" tanks from southern Africa.
After the Battle of Sicily broke out, the Second Army progressed smoothly and did not encounter strong resistance early on. Patton was therefore confident and determined to capture Messina before Montgomery and win his first victory.
The defense of the "Göring" Division relied on Mount Etna. Hube was experienced and implemented a scorched-earth policy during the retreat of the German troops, destroying all roads, bridges, and towns along the way. The advance of the second army caused huge trouble.
The Panzer III and Panzer IV tanks equipped by the "Goering" division were no match for the "Sherman" and "Panther".
However, the German army took advantage of the terrain to cleverly arrange its positions, instead of engaging in frontal combat with the Second Army, and made full use of various anti-tank rifles and anti-tank artillery. The Second Army was caught off guard and suffered heavy losses.
When the news returned to Algiers, Marshal Patton, who had been paying attention to the Sicily campaign, was quite critical.
"The Germans are organizing fleets to retreat through the Strait of Messina. Why haven't Eisenhower and Alexander cut off the Strait of Messina yet?" When the battle reached this level, Patton was also speechless.
Don't listen to the British and Americans boasting about the Battle of Sicily. This was actually a typical failure case of hasty organization, loopholes in the process, lack of coordination, and even lack of clear strategic goals.
According to the design of Eisenhower and Alexander, the purpose of the Sicily Campaign was to cooperate with the Russian battlefield to continuously attack the Axis forces, force Italy to surrender or withdraw from the war, and fully demonstrate the strength of the Allied forces.
This did not include the total annihilation of the Sicilian defenders.
According to the custom of the southern African army, attacking a certain area and annihilating the enemy defenders are just a matter of hunting rabbits. There is no delay in doing so, and there is no need to deliberately bring it up.
When Eisenhower and Alexander made the plan, they did not consider blocking the Strait of Messina at all, which allowed Kesselring and Rommel to organize their fleets and retreat calmly through the Strait of Messina.
So far, Kesselring and Rommel have transported nearly 100,000 Italian troops, 50,000 vehicles, and hundreds of thousands of tons of various supplies through the Strait of Messina.
"We reminded the British and Americans respectively, but they didn't seem to care." De Gaulle was also speechless. This was simply a return to the mountain.
"Is it possible that the British and Americans don't want to cut off the strait at all?" Oscar, the chief of general staff of the Third Army, said directly. Otherwise, there is no explanation at all.
Patton and de Gaulle looked at each other and immediately looked away.
Oscar's speculation is extremely likely.
Some things cannot be said too bluntly.
"Let's discuss the new Italian government. Marshal Badoglio still doesn't agree to hand over someone to us?" Patton took the initiative to change the topic.
The fat bald man is now under house arrest by the new Italian government. The place of house arrest is supposed to be kept secret, but the Italians are not worried about leaking the news.
arrive.
As Germany's most important ally, Italy will definitely not sit back and watch the fat bald man be overthrown.
So the Germans may have a plan to target the fat bald man now. As long as the fat bald man can be rescued, it will be easy to establish a puppet government completely controlled by Germany based on the degree of Germany's penetration into Italy.
Victor Emmanuel III and Marshal Badoglio are incompatible with each other. They do not want to bear the responsibility for the war, but want to play both sides repeatedly. This kind of bipolar behavior will not please both sides, and they will be punished in the future.
of.
After Fat Baldy stepped down, Patton was most worried about this issue, so he hoped that the new Italian government could hand over Fat Baldy to the Allies, which would completely cut off the hope of Mustache's "restoration" in Italy.
The new Italian government refused to accept it. After all, the fat bald man was once the Prime Minister of Italy, and the new government was not willing to completely offend Mustache. If cooperation with the Allies was not reached, Italy could still repair its relationship with Germany as long as Mustache was in hand.
.
"The new government agrees in principle, but it requires us to promise Fat Bald's safety, accept Italy, and guarantee the status of the king and the new government in Italy." Oscar sneered. The Italians also spoke loudly and did not understand the situation.
"Very good, find out where the fat bald man is being held, and find a way to get the fat bald man." Patton was not used to Italians, so he came directly to force him.
"Isn't this good?" Oscar was worried that he would anger the Italians.
"There is nothing wrong with it. Italians are always like this. They have to be taught a real lesson before they will face reality." De Gaulle was positive. He was the one who was most opposed to Italy joining the Allies.
As Italy's old rival in the Mediterranean, the French hope that Italy, like Germany after the end of the last world war, will never be able to stand up.
In the last world war, Italy escaped disaster, something de Gaulle has always regretted.
Twenty years ago, Charles de Gaulle was a man of few words and had no say.
Now that de Gaulle is the president of Free France, his words still carry weight.
