Graziani was so ignorant and only knew about flaws and shortcomings that Mussolini didn't like to hear, so Mussolini was not prepared to leave the war in North Africa to him.
After much deliberation, Mussolini decided to leave the opportunity to make achievements in North Africa to Balbo, the old man who had followed him the longest.
"Governor Balbo, I will give you full command of this North African war, so go ahead and do it." On the hospital bed, Mussolini closed his eyes and said beautifully.
In his opinion, leaving Balbo with the opportunity to make achievements in North Africa was giving the other party unlimited glory.
Balbo had 200,000 men at his disposal, which he could use to defeat the British 40,000 men. Moreover, he also had a huge air force to rely on, so he was almost guaranteed to win.
I'll let you pick the fruits of a sure victory, why don't you thank me for your thanks, this is what Mussolini thought.
Unfortunately, Balbo, an Italian air force expert, seems to be as ignorant as Graziani.
His first reaction was not to brag about the wisdom and prowess of his leader and to be grateful for giving him this opportunity to make great achievements, but rather to look worried and once again utter unfavorable advice that Mussolini did not like to hear.
"Leader, based on what I have seen in North Africa over the years, I dare not make any other conclusions. However, it is absolutely impossible for our air force in North Africa to compete for air supremacy from the British."
Balbo worriedly detailed: "In addition to being large in number, most of the fighters we deployed in North Africa are backward biplanes. The new fighters we jointly developed and produced with the Germans are not only scarce in number, but also all of them are left behind.
If we cannot get new fighter planes at home, North Africa will not be able to win the air war with the British."
Indeed, although Italy has already produced new fighter jets under the guidance of German experts, the new fighter jets cannot be built as soon as they are built. Not only are they not in large numbers, but their performance has yet to be tested.
Of course, no matter how poor the performance is, it will definitely be a hundred times better than the backward bi-wing fighters deployed by the Italian Air Force in North Africa.
"These are not problems!" Mussolini, who had closed his eyes and was ready to enjoy the praise, now widened his eyes again and stared at the ignorant Barber.
"We have a huge number of fighter planes in North Africa. Even if we exchange two for one, we should eliminate all the British planes there!" Mussolini said forcefully.
There is no such analysis!
Balbo and other professionals were dumbfounded.
If two can be exchanged for one casually, then why fight? Just go to full power to build aircraft, regardless of quality, just use quantity to kill the enemy.
You know, even Reinhard knew that Italian aircraft had become "the best items in the museum." He really couldn't stand the heroic Italian pilots happily killing people in backward biplanes, thus causing
A joint German-Italian fighter development to develop high-quality fighters for the Italians.
But even so, Mussolini, the leader of Italy, turned a deaf ear and was still immersed in the dream of winning by having more planes.
Balbo saw that Mussolini, his old friend, had made up his mind to launch an attack in Africa, so he said no more.
However, he still had to fight for the chance of victory in this war.
"Then, we can call on the Germans to take any action." Balbo started from reason and analyzed Mussolini on the hospital bed: "The Germans will actually be very willing to help us, seize the initiative in the Mediterranean, and vigorously
Attack the British."
Balbo thought very simply. Since Germany and Britain are also at war, and recently Reinhardt and Churchill have been tit for tat all day long. You are making speeches and mocking each other, then the situation between Germany and Britain will definitely become
A state of immortality.
At this time, with Italy helping to contain the British forces, there was no reason for Reinhardt to be reluctant.
It's a pity that after listening to Balbo's suggestion, Mussolini not only didn't nod in agreement, but jumped down from the hospital bed, stepped on the ground with bare feet, and roared angrily: "No! You must not be looking for Germany."
People!"
Then, with an excited expression that was incompatible with his status as a patient, Mussolini waved his fist and shouted: "I don't want that guy Reinhardt's help, I don't want his charity! We Italians, too, ourselves
Can win the war!"
Looking at the furious Mussolini, Balbo suddenly remembered that his leader seemed to be hospitalized because of Reinhardt.
At this time, mentioning asking the Germans for help in front of him seemed to be a bit like adding salt to the wound.
In fact, there is no need for Balbo to remind Reinhardt that as early as a week ago, shortly after the end of the Battle of France, Reinhard had kindly suggested to Mussolini that the Third Reich was willing to help Italy and that the two countries could jointly attack and win the
Improving and optimizing Italy's Mediterranean posture on the island of Malta at the intersection of sea lanes from Gibraltar to Suez and from Italy to Libya.
Reinhard was willing to help Mussolini destroy the British Fleet H in the Mediterranean. Unfortunately, the one who finally refused Germany's help repeatedly was none other than Mussolini himself.
Although Mussolini also had his own considerations.
First, he wanted to win this "parallel war" alone and increase Italy's voice in the Allies.
Second, he was also afraid that Germany would use this opportunity to expand its influence to southern Europe and affect Italy's status as the hegemon in southern Europe.
Mussolini always felt that once Italy accepted Germany's help, it would lose its equal status with Germany in the alliance.
Therefore, he not only refused the German Navy's help in attacking Fleet H, but also rejected Reinhard's proposal to let the German Army assist Italy in defeating the British forces in Africa.
Mussolini's reason for refusal was even more bizarre. He claimed: "In the hot North Africa, the Germans must not be as brave and good at fighting as the Italians."
And Reinhard didn't try to persuade him. Anyway, it won't be Reinhard who will be embarrassed when the time comes.
So, after Reinhard left a sentence: "Let's wait and see.", he never mentioned the North African alliance again.
However, he did not mention it. In private, Reinhard still secretly ordered Rommel to lead a German armored division and a German infantry division to conduct desert combat training and prepare to send troops to North Africa at any time.
As for helping Italy attack Malta, we really can only put it aside for the time being.
After all, the German navy still has to be used for business in the English Channel!
Even so, the German submarine force has already done Italy a big favor, capturing the British Forbes Fleet, and also prevented a "British version of Operation Rainbow" that was enough to make Mussolini heartbroken.
