"Marshal Balbo, you said..." On the occasion of parting, Ciano, as Mussolini's son-in-law, accompanied Balbo to the airport very respectfully, and frowned all the way: "
This time we concealed the secret from our German allies and planned such a huge offensive by attacking first and then telling the story later. Will they know if they know...?"
After all, Ciano is the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Italy, and he knows what is going on in his position. He has never been very optimistic about Italy's diplomatic results.
Although Mussolini and Reinhardt became superficial brothers, and Italy formally formed a military alliance with Germany, there were always grievances in the cooperation between the two countries.
This time, Italy directly decided on the combat operations in North Africa without consulting its German allies. It only sent a telegram to the German allies afterwards to inform them. From the perspective of the military alliance, this approach is
It's obviously disadvantageous.
After all, as two military allies, they should discuss strategic actions with each other to avoid conflict with each other.
However, Mussolini never informed his German allies about the relevant matters simply because he was angry. Only when the outbreak was approaching did he inform Reinhardt of the date of the operation, which was regarded as a warning.
If something goes wrong with today's military plan in the future, and the Germans are asked for help, others will have plenty of excuses to refuse.
However, compared with Ciano's worry, Balbo seemed much calmer: "Count Ciano, you think too much. To be honest, we really don't need to care about the opinions of a country that has too much time to take care of itself."
Balbo, the only marshal of the Italian Air Force who led the organization of the North African War, also held titles such as the veteran of the Black Cedar Party, the head of Mussolini's "Four Famous Generals", and the Governor of Libya.
Although he initially advocated bringing together the Germans to fight together, after Mussolini made it clear that Italy must go it alone, Balbo no longer considered Germany as an external force.
Yes, the Germans are slightly better at fighting than the Italians.
But they also have many problems of their own. On the one hand, they seem to have been engaged in an air battle with the British recently and are rushing to prepare for the landing. On the other hand, they have mobilized a large number of troops to the east to guard against the three Baltic countries and the two northern Romania.
Province of the USSR.
Compared with Italy's advantageous defensive geographical environment where it can advance, attack, retreat and defend, the Germans, who were attacked on both fronts, should be most worried about their own safety.
Not to mention that they have no control over where Italy wants to fight. If Italy is really holding back, it would be allowing the British to send African garrison troops back to the country to strengthen the homeland.
Once this happens, Germany's landing operations will become even more difficult.
Therefore, from the perspective of Germany's interests, they should be eager for Italy to send troops to Africa as soon as possible to help them contain the main force of the British army.
Balbo turned his head and said to Ciano, who was still worried: "Germany is a country that you must know very well. They will only respect the person who wins, whether that person is one of their own or one of their own.
allies, and even their enemies. As long as they are strong enough and can win the battle, they will respect them!"
Looking into Ciano's eyes, Balbo said calmly: "Faced with this ally who only has iron and blood, the harder I fight on the front line, the more say you will have at the diplomatic level. As for cooperation and discussion, those
All of them have no effect at all.”
Balbo, the old Italian marshal, was quite thorough in his analysis of Germany.
Feeling that what the other party said made sense, Ciano felt a little more at ease: "I hope we can win smoothly and keep Italy's position at the bottom of the league."
Ciano actually didn't know much about the German nation, and all his insights were only superficial.
He was born into a noble family in Livorno, Italy. His father, Costanzo Ciano, Count of Capri, was a close friend of Mussolini, a fascist senator, and a major member of the group who jointly planned the March on Rome with Mussolini.
With such a life experience, Ciano can be said to have been born with a silver spoon in his mouth. In addition, he was related to Mussolini, so it can be said that he was destined to obtain a high official and a generous salary early on.
Therefore, although he is the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy, the origin of this position is undoubtedly full of water.
This led to the fact that even though Ciano participated in major events such as the Munich Conference and the German-Italian alliance, he never calmed down and got to know the German nation as Italy's ally like an official who should have real talents and knowledge.
To sum up what Ciano saw and heard during his several visits to Germany, the German nation is a barbaric, vulgar, and devoid of artistic elements.
In just a few short months, the beautiful mountains and forests on their border would turn into a pile of sandbags and isolation nets, filled with ugly high-strength concrete bunkers like grave bags, and the air would be filled with
A base that smells of sweat and cold steel.
Ciano always felt that unlike the Italian soldiers, everything the German soldiers did seemed to be to suffocate themselves to death.
Their poor minds seem unable to accept and appreciate all romantic things. They are only interested in rigid discipline, boring training and their ugly tanks, battleships and weapons.
In Ciano's eyes, even if those Germans conquered the whole world, they would still be pathetic because their lives were completely meaningless!
If the life of the Italians is like a beautiful lakeside, then the life of the Germans is like a depressing and gray garbage factory without any color! Those German soldiers who are rigid, have no artistic cells, and do not understand life are dead.
They should not go into the grave, but should be thrown into the metal scrap recycling bin!
How did they sing the phrase "Jung Ge"?
"If we are doomed, at least our loyal tanks will give us a metal tomb."
That's right, Ciano always felt that German soldiers could only be thrown into this kind of metal tomb.
Although Italy had formed an alliance with Germany, Taciano disliked the German nation from the bottom of his heart.
However, there is one thing that Ciano cannot deny and cannot understand.
That is, this German nation, which in his eyes is rigid and unromantic, has produced a large number of world-famous writers, poets, philosophers and musicians such as Goethe, Schiller, Bach, and Beethoven in its hundreds of years of history.
.
Finally, when Ciano and Balbo arrived at the airport, the old-timer Balbo patted him on the shoulder and said: "Minister Ciano, don't worry too much. The Germans are not as complicated as you think. Our Italian army
It’s not without merit. As long as we can win on our own, why should we care what the Germans think?”
"I hope so." Ciano smiled, shook hands with Balbo and said goodbye: "Then I wish the marshal a great victory in North Africa!"
