Chapter two hundred and fifteen the division of the heroes
The reason why Mussolini was so confident was actually due to Reinhardt.
Reinhardt provided him with a piece of intelligence to conquer Rossi, Italy's second-largest figure, and Rossi used this intelligence to successively find nearly 10,000 barrels of sealed crude oil hidden in three tunnels in La Spezia, northern Italy.
During World War II, the Italian Navy repeatedly canceled plans to sail large warships due to lack of oil. Now, with nearly 10,000 barrels of crude oil, Mussolini's ambition to separatize the Mediterranean Sea will be more secure.
The Italian royal family, which had always been critical of Mussolini's dictatorship, also reached a certain consensus with Mussolini because of its unclear relationship with this batch of privately owned crude oil.
Everyone is not a fool. Who in Italy has the ability to hide so much crude oil in advance? Both parties know it well. Some things are just tacitly understood. Mussolini did not pursue the relationship between the Italian royal family and this matter.
The Italian royal family also allowed Mussolini's dictatorship to become even more indulgent.
Prior to this, in order to get the royal family to shut up, Mussolini, who hated being told what to do, even sent a second-rate army on the Western Front (this was a second-rate army in the Italian Army, including the Black Cedar Army).
It was time to move to the third rate) nearly 100,000 people were placed under the command of Prince Pinsabetto of the Savoy royal family in Italy.
How glorious it is to regard the heroes of the world as being like a bull's-eye!
Since Czechoslovakia, Austria, and Poland, the seventh, sixth, and fifth largest military powers in Europe, were successively annexed by Germany, looking at the European continent, there are only four countries in Europe, Britain, France, Germany, and Italy, which can be considered great powers!
Yes, Italy is a big country and an important player in determining the Vienna System and consolidating the balance of power in Europe!
After all, it is still only the end of 1939. Although Europe has ushered in a strong emerging force like the German Third Reich, overall, it cannot be called a situation dominated by Germany.
To the south of the European continent, Italy has been recuperating its strength and has hundreds of divisions of troops, but it has always been at both ends, facing competition between Britain, France and Germany to woo them and take advantage of it.
To the north, there is Britain, which has controlled the development of the European continent for nearly a century and is known as the "Empire on which the Sun Never Sets."
In terms of national strength, Britain is the largest colonial empire in the world!
The British Empire comprised about 30 million square kilometers of colonies, equivalent to 1/4 of the world's land area.
In addition, its total population exceeds 400 million, accounting for 1/6 of the world's total population!
Since the last world war, Britain has controlled almost all sea routes in the world except Panama. It has the monopoly of world trade and is a veritable superpower!
Not to mention anything else, with just a Mediterranean squadron, Britain can compete with the entire Italian navy in the Mediterranean. With a local fleet, it can even force the German naval commander Raeder not to dare to cross the thunder pool!
In terms of technology, at least until the end of the last world war, no country could catch up with the level of the British Empire.
This kind of strength is enough to allow Britain to watch the fire from the other side with confidence and boldness before.
In the northwest corner, France, known as the "most powerful country in Europe", has now relied on preliminary mobilization to have 123 infantry divisions with a total of 2.5 million infantry. In addition, the French army already has 3,250 tanks, of which the main
The performance of the battle tank Soma S-35 medium tank is even better than the Panzer 3 tank historically developed by Germany.
Counting the French army's 10,700 large-caliber artillery pieces, its artillery firepower has completely surpassed the German artillery that pursues mobility, and it dominates the throne of the king of European artillery.
Not only is the army powerful, but even the French navy, which is overshadowed by the power of the army, also has 3 battleships, 7 heavy cruisers, 12 light cruisers, more than 50 destroyers of various types, 101 submarines, plus a "Béarn"
"USS aircraft carrier!"
In terms of comprehensive strength ranking, the French Army claims to be the first in the world, and the Navy dares to claim to be the fourth in the world. The French Third Republic has been the most formidable force on the European continent since the end of World War I.
In terms of air force, the French Third Republic also has more than 1,500 combat aircraft of various types, including 700 fighters, 260 bombers, 180 reconnaissance aircraft and 400 ground attack aircraft.
Then there is Belgium, which has been firmly on the same front as France since the invasion of Germany's Ruhr area. Once France takes any war action, the Belgian army has a 99% chance of providing a large amount of ammunition to the Third French Republic.
force.
Although the Belgian army is poorly equipped and the quality of its troops is generally low, its huge base of 22 infantry divisions is also a local force that cannot be underestimated.
Needless to say, the German Third Reich was in the heart of Europe. Since the day it re-garrisoned troops in the Rhineland, the German Wehrmacht has been arming itself at an alarming rate. It has blatantly restored the conscript system and expanded to 36 soldiers.
Each division has a total of 500,000 troops.
As of the eve of the merger of Germany and Austria, the size of the Wehrmacht of the Third Reich had further expanded to 600,000 men! The peaceful annexation of Austria provided the Third Reich with another 300,000 well-trained standing army.
Through the "Munich Conspiracy", Reinhardt took advantage of the situation and annexed Czechoslovakia, which had expanded its army to one million, more than doubling the number of troops in the Third Reich! Even though Czechoslovakia had expanded its army by one million
A large proportion of the ten thousand troops are not fully trained, but with time and training, they can all become the main force of the German army in the future.
Hungary's unexpected entry into Germany provided Reinhardt's new Third Reich with 100,000 additional non-elite troops (the ownership of these troops was temporarily classified under the jurisdiction of the second-line SS), and provided
A large forward base for the German army to enter the Balkan Peninsula in the future.
As of October 16, 1939, Germany, which ranked fourth in terms of military power in Europe, Poland, which ranked fifth, Austria and Czechoslovakia, which ranked sixth and seventh, and Hungary, which barely ranked tenth, had basically become various components of the same country.
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Because of this series of miraculous expansions, the German Third Reich became the nominal third military power in Europe, surpassing Italy, which was originally recognized as third.
Now, the actual strength of the Wehrmacht of the Third Reich, which Reinhard has always concealed, has actually reached 3.35 million! In addition, there are 350,000 armed SS troops outside the Wehrmacht establishment (100,000 of which are equipped with poor quality equipment).
Hungarian troops, the combat effectiveness of this group of people is not ideal.)
As for the German Imperial Air Force, with the backbone of personnel secretly trained in the Soviet Union, plus those produced by Germany itself, those annexed by Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and some captured in Poland, there are currently a total of 3,950 combat aircraft.
And most of them were the latest fighter aircraft at the time.
There is no room for two tigers in one mountain, not to mention that there are currently four major European powers on the European continent. No one of them has an absolute advantage. Only by drawing together allies and competing with each other can we gain a stable foothold.
At this point, Britain and France came together, and Germany and Italy became one.